Prophecy and Fulfillment The archetype, prophecy and fulfillment, is demonstrated in Jean Stafford's "The Liberation" and in the life of Moses, as recorded in the Bible. This archetype involves the prediction of an occurrence, and then it occurring. Polly, of "The Liberation", and Moses have many similar experiences when they must confront their family and deliver important news. Polly had the unfortunate task of telling her elderly aunt and uncle that she was getting married to a man in Boston. She knew that she would be viewed as a traitor to her family for leaving her hometown. Previous deserters were "spoken of thereafter as if they were unredeemed, treasonous, and debauched" (Stafford 71). Polly knew her aunt and uncle would pull out all the stops to try and get her to reconsider her actions. In short, making her feel as though she was betraying her ancestors. Upon approaching the house, she sat and planned out what she would say to convince them. Polly was nervous and unsure of herself, but knew she had to tell them, or she would never have another chance at happiness. Moses was given a message from the Lord through the burning bush (Leeming 249). He was told to return to Egypt and to free his people from captivity. Moses showed his uneasiness, but God pushed him and reassured him that he would be by his side. However, He continued on to say that He knew Pharaoh would not let the Israelites go and that He would "stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt will all my wonders" (Leeming 250). Moses did as the Lord told him and confronted Pharaoh, someone he considered family for many years. Moses pleaded with Pharaoh to release the slaves. But as the Lord predicted, Pharaoh did not listen and Egypt was now subject to the wrath of God. He watched as the plagues destroyed the vast Egyptian Empire and a sense of betrayal to his "family" swept over him, but he knew this was as it should be. Moses and Polly had to confront those closest to them and they were forced to see the pain and suffering it brought to them.
Eliza’s blatant disregard for the concern of those around her contributed heavily to her demise. Had she listened to her friends and family when they told her to marry Mr...
Theologian Vern S. Poythress wrote, “Theological systems, whether dispensationalist, covenantal, Calvinist, Arminian, or even modernist, have a profound influence on the way we approach a given [biblical] text.” There is no portion of scripture that is more influenced by the theological system of dispensationalist than that of biblical prophecy, particularly in the area of God’s redemptive plan from for humanity. The purpose of this essay is to establish that an appropriate understanding of biblical eschatology can best be achieved through a dispensational theological perspective.
God’s people found themselves in captivity in Egypt after the death of Joseph and the Pharaoh that had knowledge of the good done by children of Israel (Ex. 1:8-14). God saw the oppression of His people and sent Moses and Aaron to deliver His people from slavery (Ex. 3:10, 4:14-16).
In the Biblical Book of Exodus, Moses was not originally supposed to be born under the Pharaoh’s rule because he was an Israelite male. Pharaoh decreed all Hebrew boys born were to be killed in the Nile River. Moses survived because Pharaoh’s servants feared God more. This law was one of Pharaoh’s ways to oppress the Hebrew people. It was a tactic to keep the majority of the population from growing as well as implementing slavery. However, that did not stop the Israelites from multiplying in size: “’And now indeed the cry of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them. So now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt’” (New English Translation, Exodus 3:9-10). In this passage, God is speaking to Moses in the form of a burning bush that he has seen the hardships Pharaoh put the Israelites through, and that he will deliver them from their sufferings. M...
All boys born were to be killed, however, a Hebrew boy by the name of Moses was born and wrapped delicately in a woven basket and set in to the Nile River, only to be found by the daughter of the pharaoh. Moses later was able to become a prince in the Pharaoh’s palace for many years until he observes the beating of a Hebrew by an Egyptian taskmaster whom he kills. Once overheard by the person of the land Moses was then forced to become an outcast and was sent to the desert land. While there, God often visited Moses and had abundant conversations regarding Mosses’ return to Egypt. After several talks between God and Moses and forty years later, Moses agreed to return to Egypt and take the brave step in leading God’s people out of slavery. Pharaoh was confronted and appalled, yet, through a challenging cycle of plagues, promises, and the death of Pharaohs eldest, Israel was broken from his grasp. Accumulating and moving the mass of God’s civilization was not an easy task, however, they marched out of Egypt, through the depths of the Red Sea, and into the desert, all behind the lead of Moses, destroying the pharaoh in the
According to Max Dublins THE POWER OF PROPHECY, He seems to want to give a feeling that prophecy is all in the listeners mind and that Prophets are mostly very manipulative people and can influence people greatly. I tend to agree with this to some degree.
This essay argues that the eschatology of the Book of Revelation is an integral part of John’s attempt to form a literary world in which the forms, figures, and forces of the earthly realm are critiqued and unmasked through the re-focalization of existence from the perspective of heaven. It attempts to show that, in response to the social, political, religious, and economic circumstances of his readers, the Book of Revelation forms a counter imaginative reality. Through drawing upon an inaugurated sense of eschatology and evocative imagery, John pulls the reader in and shows them the true face of the imperial world and consequences of its ideology, forcing the reader's allegiance to fall with either ‘Babylon’ or the New Jerusalem. Before beginning this essay proper, it is important to first comprehend some of what is meant by the term eschatology, and how it is understood in the Book of Revelation. Eschatology is that part of theology which deals with conceptions of the ‘end times’ and of the final things of the world and humanity.
Moses and the Plagues in which God punishes the Egyptians with ten plagues and secures the Israelite’s freedom (Exodus 7:14).
Literalist fundamentalists read Revelation’s multivalent visions as predictions of doom and threat, of punishment for the many and salvation for the elect few. Scholarly scientific readings seek to translate the book’s ambiguity into one-to-one meanings and to transpose its language of symbol and myth into description and facts. In Elisabeth Schûssler Fiorenza’s The Book of Revelation: Justice and Judgment, a third way of reading Revelation is depicted. The collection of essays in this book seeks to intervene in scholarly as well as popular discourses on the apocalypse from a liberationist feminist perspective.
over the Egyptian gods. Each plague was an attack on a particular Egyptian god. Moreover, not only was God’s purpose to reduce Pharaoh’s resistance and free the Israelites with the plagues, it also displayed God’s power conquering over the Egyptian gods; proving He is the one true God (Holiday Celebrations). Because of the plagues, Pharaoh finally surrendered and freed the Israelites from slavery.
As a one reads through the Old Testament, he will find the story as it unfolds of the children of Israel. Beginning in the book of Exodus the children of Israel are in Egyptian bondage and being forced to work as slaves. God appears to Moses in a burning bush and tells him that He [God] has heard His people and He is going to deliver them out of bondage. God at that time tells Moses that He has chosen him to be the leader of this people. After God brings ten plagues against Egypt the children of Israel are driven out of the land, and God promises to lead them to a land “flowing with milk and honey.” On their way to the “Promised Land” they cross the Red Sea in which Pharaoh and the Egyptian army is defeated by God. Then they go to Mount Sinai to receive the Law. After receiving the law they then go to the Promised Land, and there Moses sends twelve spies into the land. Ten of these spies come back and give a bad report to Moses and the children of Israel. Since they did this Israel was punished by God and made to wonder in the wilderness for forty years during which time all who were over the age of twenty perished. The only two that did not die was Caleb and Joshua who had come back with a good report, and told Moses and the children of Israel to go up at once and take the land. Once they had completed the wilderness wondering they returned to the Promised Land and took the land under the new leadership of Joshua. However, Israel did not drive out all the inhabitants as the Lord God had commanded them, thus the inhabitants that were not driven out would be a snare to them. Once they had established themselves in the land they began to chase after the gods of the inhabitants before them. God then sent judges to deliver them which ...
He then utilizes this to speak to Egypt in their sinful ways in the slavery of his people. God furthers this to indicate his power, embodying belief of him in his people, through victory amidst prevailing humanity. Equally, his glorious promises were the saving salvation, yet reiterate belief in him to follow his ways for redemption (Guzik). “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. . So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen” (14 Exod.: 21-23). All the Egyptians and the Pharaoh perished by Moses’s guidance, and God’s wrath as the Red Sea devoured
... like yet another example of being given a task that in Yahweh’s eyes the person seems not complete well enough, this time loosing the reward of the promise land. The only way to end up successful in the bible becomes to please Yahweh. It seems hard to understand why Yahweh chose not to let Moses into the promise land after Moses completed every task Yahweh told him to. An example being 7: 1-5 God told Moses, “Look at me. I’ll make you as a god to Pharaoh and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to speak everything I command you, and your brother Aaron will tell it to Pharaoh. Then he will release the Israelites from his land.” 7: 10 “Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did what God commanded.” Nevertheless in some way Moses failed to complete the task well enough and therefore readers need not to look to Moses as an example of success in the Bible.
As an infant Moses was tossed into the river with no chance to live. During this time taskmasters ordered patrons to kill their baby if they had a boy and keep it if it were a girl. I find this interesting regarding the ancient Chinese; they believe in a similar method, but vice-versa. They believed if you had a boy you kept it and if you had a girl you killed it. It’s interesting seeing the same similarities within ancient Chinese and the time of Moses. But Moses already had God on his side. The daughter of the Pharaoh luckily picked him up, where she took pity on Moses. After, the daughter of the Pharaoh handed Moses off to a woman who nursed him, and Moses grew into a man. After working with sheep he had an encounter with God, and God told him to go to the land of the Egypt. God wanted to redeem Moses for the hurt the Egyptians brought
As the confrontation grew over the future of Israel, and the Pharaoh’s anger and dissatisfaction becomes more apparent, God’s frustration was seen. Moses spoke to the Pharaoh, but with no success God began to send plagues like Moses had warned. The Pharaoh did not budge, but instead his heart hardened as a type of punishment by God for the Pharaoh not heeding God’s warnings . Since the Pharaoh did not listen to God, he would have to suffer through all the plagues by his own demise. As a result, ten plagues were sanctioned on Egypt due to the Pharaoh’s disobedience to God, which resulted in the release of the Hebrews. The Pharaoh released the Hebrews from bondage, and Moses began to lead the people to the Promise Land, sanctioned by God with the ancestors. The journey to freedom began in Exodus 12:37-39, but Israel wasn’t free yet. The Pharaoh began to chase after the Hebrews, not because of willfulness, but as the act of YHWH’s hardening of his heart . YHWH has purposely set this up for the reason, as said by YHWH, “I will get glory over Pharaoh!” (Ex. 14:1-4) . The Egyptians, through the departing of the Red Sea for the Hebrews with the closing on top of them, will see YHWH’s glory. The outcome of this power struggle will put the Pharaoh down, and the people shall come to know “I am Yahweh.” (Ex. 14:1-4) signifying that YHWH is king