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Reflection on the book of exodus
Reflection on the book of exodus
Reflection on the book of exodus
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I. Introduction:
Exodus 16:9-18 9Then Moses said to Aaron, "Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, 'Come near before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling. '" 10And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11And the LORD said to Moses, 12"I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, 'At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God. '”13In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. 14And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness
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Each of the listed objectives will help the reader engage efficiently with the text. Exodus 16:9-18 is a passage that depicts the continual redemption story and concludes with the work of Jesus found in the New Testament. It is important to understand the elements of this plan, so that we can relate to and understand God in deeper …show more content…
God seems to look past the grumbling and act from His loving capacity. The concept of grace is highlighted distinctly in this single act of God. As a the 21st century church, we often times focus only on the New Testament to teach us about God’s infinite grace. But the Old Testament clearly illustrates that God cares about his people and is willing to meet their needs. Another theological implication is God does not meet Israelite’s needs only to satisfy them with food, but in order that they may gain the revelation of who He is (v. 12). Out of this revelation the Israelites will have to be dependent on God daily for provision. Peter Enns puts God’s gracious provision this
In relation, of the African American slaves’ and their identification with the experiences of the Hebrew slaves in the “Book of Exodus” have been evidently strong historically. Slavery in America began when Europeans brought the first African slaves to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. They African slaves were brought in to aid in the production of lucrative crops such as tobacco, cotton, and sugar. In addition, are the Hebrew/Israelites slaves in the “Book of Exodus,” it tells how the Israelites leaves their bondages with Egypt’s Pharaohs at the time. The Hebrew, escaped their grip through the strength of “Yahweh” is the name of God in Judaism.
In the book “The Art of Biblical Narrative” by Robert Alter, there is one chapter (Chapter 3) titled “Biblical Type-Scenes and the Uses of Convention” (Alter 47). Alter describes several different stories (but similar in some ways) in the Old Testament that can be difficult to interpret in today’s culture. Alter describes how reading any book (more specifically the Bible), requires use of conventions, which he describes as “… an elaborate set of tacit agreements between artist and audience about the ordering of the art work is at all times the enabling context in which the complex communication of art occurs” (Alter 47). In other words, an agreement of how the writing is done; it can be pretty complex as well. He states that there are stories in the Bible that have the same stories of narrative, but there are different characters, they often are told several times in the Bible. Alter uses several of examples, like how patriarch is driven by famine; or where someone is found and is invited to eat with them, or a betrothal (engagement) near a well/body
The Old Testament and the Bible itself has been studied extensively for centuries. Archeologists and Scholars have labored and pondered over texts trying to decipher its clues. It does not matter how many times the Old Testament has been studied there will always be something new to learn about it or the history surrounding it. In the book Reading the Old Testament: an Introduction, the author Lawrence Boadt presents us with a few different authors of the Old Testament that used different names for God and had a unique insight into the texts. These four sources are titled P for priests, E for Elohim, J for Jehovah, and Y for Yahweh (95). These four unique sources help us realize that there is more than one author of the Pentateuch. These authors took the text and adapted for their culture. This independent source is used by scholars to help gain insight into what was behind the texts of the bible so we are not left with an incomplete picture of what went into the creation of the bible. Julius Wellhausen used these four sources to publish a book to able us to better understand the sources and to give it credibility with the Protestant scholars at the time (Boadt 94). These sources that is independent of the bible as in the DVD Who Wrote the Bible? and the Nova website aide in shedding light on the history that surrounded the writers who wrote the text and what inspired them to write it in the first place. The DVD shows the discovery of The Dead Sea Scrolls and the extensive history of the texts and all its sources in an effort to try to find exactly who wrote the bible (Who Wrote). These scrolls have aided scholars immensely by giving us some of the oldest known manuscripts of the bible in the world today. It shows that the bible w...
N.T Wright (2008) stated that “When we read the scriptures as Christians, we read it precisely as people of the new covenant and of the new creation” (p.281). In this statement, the author reveals a paradigm of scriptural interpretation that exists for him as a Christian, theologian, and profession and Bishop. When one surveys the entirety of modern Christendom, one finds a variety of methods and perspectives on biblical interpretation, and indeed on the how one defines the meaning in the parables of Jesus. Capon (2002) and Snodgrass (2008) offer differing perspectives on how one should approach the scriptures and how the true sense of meaning should be extracted. This paper will serve as a brief examination of the methodologies presented by these two authors. Let us begin, with an
Exodus 21-24 was definitely quite an instructive piece of literature. It was almost raw in its nature as a text or “book” but more of reading an excerpt from a piece of non-fiction most similar to an instruction manual of some sort that you get when you buy a dissembled bike or desk. Something like being enrolled in a police academy there was definite sense of a master-slave relationship in the air. It is like something never before seen in the Torah, these chapters showed a whole new YHWH. The YHWH who is feared like the school principal in an elementary school, not even mom and dad has come on so strong as to the dos and donts of living life. It seems as if YHWH was pushed to such a point where YHWH has no choice but intervene into the lives of his children, and set the rules for the pl...
The Bible shows God constantly pursuing His people and man rejecting him over and over again. This passage displays this ongoing struggle by showing all Jesus did for us and how the people still shunned and rejected him. However, this passage also gives reassurance that it is never too late to repent and accept the Lord. This passage displays some important themes of the Bible: man’s redemption, God’s forgiveness and grace, and the blessing of a relationship with God. This passage is essentially the message of the Bible in one small
Lord Jesus beseeches us to make the ultimate sacrifice in the parable of the Good Samaritan. It is an admirable example of love. During Christ’s times, the Samaritans and the Jews were in opposition in that the Samaritans had pagan ancestry. There was an increased tension towards Jew traveling through Samaria. Also, the Jews felt that they would be contaminated or polluted traveling though Samaria. In the face of their mutual dislike for one another, the parable of the Good Samaritan relates the greatest sacrifice. The Samaritan dismissed or diminished his feelings, and responded to an act of will, by putting the welfare of the man found on the Jericho road above his own. He picked him up, cared for him and provided for future care for
In the days of Christ’s life on this earth, believers did not have access to the Bible in its entirety as we know and are familiar with today. Believers in this ancient time period only had access to the Old Testament. However, through their access to the Old Testament, believers were provided a foundation for New Testament times. This foundation provided New Testament believers with the Lord’s established principles of right and wrong they were expected to follow. In addition, the Old Testament is overflowing with accounts of people whose lives exemplified the future life of Christ on this earth. These pictures allowed the Israelite nation to begin to have an understanding of why Christ needed to come as their Messiah and the work He needed to do on earth. Finally, there are common themes that are interwoven throughout the entire Old Testament. Three of these themes: transgression, redemption, and consummation point to the purpose of Christ’s atoning death on the cross. These themes portray God’s work both in the lives of Old Testament believers, but they also foreshadow God’s desire and plan for believers in New Testament times and beyond.
Following the creation story of the book of Genesis is the book of Exodus. In Genesis, God promised Abraham a “great nation from which all nations of the earth will be blessed (Gen 12:1-3)” and in Exodus God completes this promise through the creation of the holy nation, Israel. Exodus tells the story of the God who rescued his people out of Egypt because of the promise he had made to Abraham. God calls to Moses to complete his promise. God’s call to Moses is not only important because he liberates the Israelites but also because God reveals His name(s) along with His true Nature. God calls upon Moses and tells him that He’s back to help the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and that Moses is to lead them. God then gives him full instructions on what to tell the Pharaoh and, more importantly, the Israelites, who are promised, land “flowing with milk and honey”.
Surveying the Old Testament reveals the theme of God’s faithfulness to his people. In light of this understanding, the restoration of the Israelites prophesized in the Old Testament is essentially the fulfillment of every covenant with God. This perspective relates to the work of Christ and encourages any follower of God to trust in his faithfulness.
This section is one of the most difficult to interpret and translate in the entire New Testament, but it must be viewed and understood in the context of the book of 1 Peter and the entire Bible. We have broken verses 13-22 into two sections for the purpose of this essay, but when Peter wrote them, they were not sections, but a whole thought. He is simply continuing the thoughts of the 5 verses we just discussed. He says in verse 17 it is better to suffer for doing what is right than for doing what is wrong, and continues in verse 18 with the example Christ set by suffering unjustly for God's glorious purposes. His victory came through unjust suffering. Verse 18 is the doctrinal justification for verses 13-17, and is the finale to Peter's section on the unjust suffering of believers. This doctrinal justification is what gives the believer confidence in the face of persecution. Knowing Christ's suffering led to His victory gives assurance to believers that their suffering will a...
There are many themes running through the Old Testament myth of Exodus – slavery, rescue and redemption, guidance, commandments on how to live, the creation of a nation, and God’s power over other gods. In this paper I will explore what appears to be the chief reasoning behind the creation of the Exodus myth – the explanation of the creation of a monotheistic religion and the similarities of the Exodus myth to the ancient myths, as well as how one should approach the reading of the myth.
The people fell into religiously giving of their sacrifices. Not out of a heart of love and devotion but out of duty and obligation. God knew their heart and knew their sacrifices weren’t offered out of a contrite heart. They thought they could buy God’s forgiveness with their wealth, or they could offer sacrifices that weren’t acceptable in Gods sight. They just didn’t get it! God would rather have their love then have them pleased with themselves for following some religious rules or good deeds. God expresses through the Prophet Micah what pleases Him “What can we bring to the LORD? Should we bring him burnt offerings? Should we bow before God Most High with offerings of yearling calves? Should we offer him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins? No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
Around 1400 B.C. Exodus was written in Hebrew. The Exodus, which is one of the books in the Old Testament, are rules, similar to Hammurabi Code placed by God for the descendants of Abram. This literature gives insight into the structure of the Jewish community, which includes the hierarchy of their community as well as the roles important in this community. Scholars can further understand the Hebrew community by reading Genesis. Genesis consists of religious stories that talks about how farming, slavery, and the world came into being. But overall, scholars can see a society very much center on religion.
The daily application we can take from this passage of the Bible is the power of Godly wisdom. Without His wisdom, we will make choices that would not fully benefit us. God’s wisdom should be applied to every decision we make in our lives. God desires to be a part of every intricate detail of our lives, because He loves us so much. When we allow Him to be there for us, we will see no sorrow in it. What the Lord gives comes with no sorrow. Queen Esther, Mordecai and the Jews of Susa were made firm believers of this very true virtue as a believer of Jesus Christ. Just the Esther and her people discovered there is nothing impossible for Him to do for us. His wisdom will always prevail if we are willing to apply it to our daily lives. God is here to be our partner. He is our testimony of who we are in Him.