Abraham and Moses

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Abram is presented to us as an old man without an offspring or heir. He is at the age of seventy-five when God comes to him with the offer of the covenant. Abraham stands for devotion, justice, compassion, faith, tact, and personal integrity. He is also seen as cunning, humorous, and pragmatic throughout the story. Abram is a man looking for his faith, and God asks Abram to leave his land and kinship to a land which God will show him. In exchange for Abram's faith and compliance, God will make of Abram a great nation, make his name great, bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him, and finally all the communities of the Earth will find blessing in him.

The covenant is a basic understanding between Abram and God that Abram and his people will assume that God is the one and only God. In exchange for their faith, God will initially provide them lands (Canaan) and riches. After Abraham is provided the lands and riches, he still needs a son or heir to carry on his name and provide descendants of his lineage. God comes through for Abraham, and provides him a child when he is 100 years old and Sarah is 99 years old. Although Abraham laughed when God told him that Sarah would give birth at her old age, Abraham had faith in God and believed that God would eventually provide Abraham with a worthy heir or successor in Isaac. Abraham continued to have faith in God whenever God spoke to Abraham, and as a final test of Abraham's faith, God asked Abraham to do the unthinkable.

God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to the Lord in order to test Abraham's faith. God knew that if Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, Abraham must truly believe in God. Abraham took Isaac away from their lands and traveled to where God ...

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...aith in God after witnessing the burning bush and the ten plagues on Egypt, but the faith and trust of his people is always changing. Moses has to lead them to the Promised Land, so Moses can never lose his own faith because that would doom the people and break the covenant. Moses must also have faith in the laws or 10 commandments which God hands down to him. Moses must instruct his people to live by these laws or else they shall be doomed. On his first descent from Mount Sinai, Moses strikes down all of those who worshipped the golden calf in an idolatrous manner. On his second descent, Moses strikes awe in his people because of the luminous horns. Moses knows the immense and wonderful power of God, so he knows that he must have faith because he truly believes God will provide what he promised in the covenant as long as Moses fulfills his part or the covenant.

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