Many of us know Moses from The Bible, in the story of Exodus where he saved his Israelite people from enslavement in the Egyptian kingdom under the reign of a pharaoh. However, Moses appears in many other religious texts as well. For example he appears in the Islamic bible, The Quran and in the Torah. The story each book tells about Moses is fairly consistent, all books agree Moses freed the Israelites from Egypt into the promise land, thus to their freedom, however, there are few differences. Moses' significance in the Torah and the Quran may be looked at slightly different, though he is a key role in each book, he proves more influential in one than the other. With this essay I plan to compare the story of Moses in the Torah and in the Quran and decide in which book Moses' role was more significant. According to the Quran, Moses was born in Egypt to a family of Israelites. During the time of his birth Egypt was under a great divide, this divide placed the Israelites in the bottom class and they were often cast as slaves. The pharaoh at the time, had enslaved the Israelite people and used them to build up his own kingdom. It is said the pharaoh had a dream and his soothsayers interpreted Pharaoh's dream as a vision from Ra. This vision predicted the downfall of his reign. They foresaw that a Israelite boy would grow up to be the cause of Pharaoh's fall and with that Pharaoh set out to kill all newborn baby boys throughout his kingdom. Guards and spies were sent throughout the kingdom in search of all newborn baby boys. Once attained the infants were killed in hopes of preventing the soothsayer's predictions. The Quran states that God spoke to Moses' mother and told her to place her baby in a basket and send the child in the bas... ... middle of paper ... ... higher degree amongst the Jewish culture and religion because so much of the rest of Judaism relied on the fact that the Israelites escaped Egypt. Both stories are very similar however Moses' role in the Torah is much more significant. Works Cited Bucaille, Maurice. Moses and Pharaoh in the Bible, Quran and History. Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Book Trust, 2008. Print. This book Fleg, Edmond, and Stephen Haden Guest. The Life of Moses. New York: E.P. Dutton &, 1928. Print. Kaminsky, Joel S., and Joel N. Lohr. The Torah: A Beginner's Guide. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2011. Print. Rossel, Seymour. The Torah: Portion by Portion. Los Angeles, CA: Torah Aura Productions, 2007. Print. Shamoun, Sam, and Jochen Katz. "Qur'an Contradiction: Israel, the Quran and the Promised Land." Qur'an Contradiction: Israel, the Quran and the Promised Land. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
The Bible: The Old Testament. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Sarah Lawall et al. Vol 1. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1999. 47-97.
Introduction Judaism is a religion that can be traced back as far as 2000 B.C.E. It was founded in Canaan and it has an estimated 14 million followers. The sacred texts that are associated with it are the Torah, Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures), and the Talmud. Judaism has influenced a variety of religions, including Christianity and Islam. It promotes a single god belief for all Jewish people and the belief that all people are created in the image of God. There are a vast number of individuals who were influenced by the principles surrounding Judaism, and this dissertation will present the most significant figure in the history of Judaism, Moses Maimonides.
My essay will challenge the comparison and differentiation between a scene from the sacred text in The Hebrew Bible and The Yusuf Sura of the Koran. The scene I will be focusing is the one in which Joseph is seduced by the king’s wife. More specifically, I will be demonstrating that in the Koran good and evil are made explicit in the world of the story and for the reader, while the Bible suggest that you should identify good and evil for yourself.
Moses is characterized as a hard-working man who is very kind and intimate with nature. He is the last worker out in the fields on many days and he is extremely comfortable outside in nature. In Edward P. Jones’ excerpt from The Known World, the character of Moses is developed through the imagery that is used, the third person point of view, and the details that Jones chooses to use.
...yne A. The HarperCollins Study Bible New Revised Standard Edition . New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. 1645-1722. Print.
Einstein, Stephen. & Kukoff, Lydia. (1989). Every Person's Guide to Judaism. New York: UAHC Press.
While most westerners know the story of Joseph as a passage from the end of the book of Genesis in the Bible or the Torah, understanding the story and its intricacies in sura 12 of the Qur’an proves equally important. Joseph’s story in Genesis emphasizes his personal abilities and God rewarding him and his people’s loyalty and faith amidst hardship. The Qur’an takes the same plot and enforces the theme of monotheism and Joseph’s prophetic role in its spread. The Qur’an’s interpretation serves as a more influential religious text in the context of its body of belief, whereas the Biblical story of Joseph, with its thematically intriguing story line and embellishments, comparatively serves a greater literary purpose. By reading and understanding both passages, one can gain a clearer knowledge of what is regarded as important to the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faiths.
Moses' journey begins in Egypt. This is a land where the Pharaoh has ultimate control and power over the people. Campbell refers to this greedy, egocentric, possessive leader as the tyrant. At this time, Egypt is noticing a huge increase in the number of Hebrew slaves (Exodus 1:9). In order to maintain possession of the land, Pharaoh must stifle the future threat that the increasing population of Israelites represent. To do this he orders the first born son of every Hebrew to be thrown into the Nile. However, baby Moses floats to the Pharaoh's daughter and Moses is raised as an Egyptian prince. He grows up different than any other Hebrew. He learns how to become soldier for his Pharaoh, but something is always troubling him. One day Moses sees an Egyptian striking a Hebrew slave and Moses intervenes and kills the Egyptian (Exodus 2:12). The next day he sees two Hebrews struggling, and tries to intervene, but he discovers that his murder of yesterday is known. This conflict symbolizes what Campbell says is the "call t...
There are several Egyptian documents that not only mention the Israelites in their texts, but also tie the Bible to historical facts. Egyptian documents such as the Tell el-Amarna letters, a large “stele” of the Menephtah, and the Elephantine papyri not only tell the history of Egypt, they also coincide with biblical scripture. The documents confirm not only dates, certain numbers, and rituals, such as circumcision, but places and event, e.g. The Exodus, of biblical stories.
Robinson, B. A. (2008, March 30). Books of the Hebrew Scripture . Retrieved May 7, 2011, from Religious Tolerance: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_otb3.htm
Burns, Thomas J. Canonical Texts: Selections from Religious Wisdom Traditions. San Diego, CA: Cognella/U Readers, 2012. Print.
Harris, Stephen. Understanding The Bible. 6 ed. New York City: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2002. Print.
Smart, Ninian, and Richard D. Hecht. "Scripture and Tradition in Islam- The Qur'an and Hadith," Sacred texts of the world: A Universal Anthology, ed.. Crossroads Publishing, 1982. 130-32,135-41,144-46,150-53,158-59,162-64. Print.
The following paper examines a close reading of the figure of Moses in Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy with respect to the issue of why he is barred from entering the Promised Land of Canaan as well as in the Quran. Moreover, after considering the stories and character of Moses in these respective texts, I will then analyze the two accounts in order to examine their similarities and differences.
LaSor, W., Hubbard, D., Bush, F., & Allen, L. (1996). Old Testament survey: The message, form, and background of the Old Testament (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans