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Book of Exodus at a Glance
Essay on the structure of Exodus
Essay on the structure of Exodus
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Text Analysis Paper: Exodus 3
The book of Exodus is part of the Pentateuch which is a combination of the first five books of the Bible. The term Exodus means to “leave” or to “exit and that is basis of the book of Exodus. The book of Exodus is not a prehistory narrative, unlike Genesis, because it was written between 1446 and 1406 BC. Several of the texts in Exodus indicate that Moses was the author and wrote certain sections of the book. I believe that the book of Exodus is not about recording what happened but to give the experience of what happened.
In Exodus 1 and 2, we learn about the Israelites becoming enslaved in Egypt by a new pharaoh. Newborn Hebrew boys were to be thrown into the Nile River and drowned. Moses was a Hebrew boy, born by a Levi woman who left him in a water proof basket in the reeds of the Nile River, who was then saved by the pharaoh’s daughter. Pharaoh’s daughter was the one who actually named him Moses
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This passage had a meaning of the first sign of freedom to them. It gave them hope for the lives that they were originally promised to have because of the covenant between God, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This story shows God’s commitment to the covenant that He stays true to his word. Exodus 3 shows the turning point in the history of the nation Israel and is the beginning of the end of Egyptian oppression.
The story of Exodus was previously hinted at in Gen. 15: 13-15. The descendents of Abraham were going to be strangers in a country that wasn’t theirs and that they were going to be enslaved and mistreated. Exodus is sort of a continuation of Genesis and has parts that are woven together. Exodus plays an important role in the future references of Israel in other parts of the Bible because it is the start of their coming to an end. It also tells the story of the Ten Commandments and the Ten Commandments are brought in a lot of other Biblical
Moses appears at a burdensome time for the Israelites: slavery in Egypt. God uses him in the miraculous exodus of the Israelites. It is during the time of Moses that the Israelites finally become a nation.
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
When God first approaches Moses in the form of a burning bush, God says “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering. Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land,” (Exodus 3:7). Moses however, questioned God’s judgement, saying, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11). Moses continues to question God throughout the rest of the chapter, but eventually begins his journey to rescue his
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...
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...
Exodus is the second of the five “books of Moses” that tells the story of the Exodus of Israelites from Egypt through the Sinai Desert. When Moses was born, the Israelites were oppressed by the Egyptian Pharaoh and bound to a harsh life of labor taking part in building some of the great public works of Egypt such as the pyramids, fortresses, and installations to regulate the flow of the Nile River. For fear that the Israelite population would continue to increase, the Pharaoh insisted that every male Hebrew child would be killed at birth. Ironically, during this oppressive period, Moses, the “future deliverer of Israel”, was born. To protect his life, his mother sent him down the Nile in a specially woven ark. He was found by the Pharaoh’s daughter who took him in and, to add to the irony, she hired his mother to be his foster nurse. The baby boy grew up and was adopted into the Pharaoh’s household and named Moses. His name is derived from the Egyptian root “mose” meaning “son”, but in the Bible, it is said to hale from the Hebrew root meaning “drawn out of the water.”
The Mosaic Covenant from exodus is a promise made between God and the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai. To begin with, the pattern of the covenant is very similar to other ancient covenants of that time because it is between God and his people. In the textbook, it explains how the Hebrews have struggled with the pharaoh around 1250 B.C.E. Moses, who was a prince that grew up in the household of the pharaoh, ran away. After returning he led the Hebrew slaves at the bottom of Mount Sinai. God spoke to the Hebrews who he freed them and explained the Ten Commandments. In addition, a quote form the readings “ I am the lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” (Judaism, pg. 397) This quote is the first commandment stating that he,
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...
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”.
There are many people who believe that the Bible is the infallible word of God, therefore believing that the Exodus did in fact happen, exactly as described in the Bible. The biblical account states that God sent plagues upon the people of Egypt, causing strife. Once the ten plagues had been set upon Egypt, Pharaoh set the Israelites free from bondage. Then, God told Moses to change their path, placing them against the Red Sea. So, when Pharaoh changed his mind, and went after them, the Israelites were cornered between the Egyptians and the water. Moses then, by the command of God, stretched out his staff and the waters parted. The Hebrews crossed on the dry ground. After they reached the other side, God cause the water to fall onto the Egyptians chasing after them, killing them all.
Although Moses is initially timid, he consequently develops the willpower of a traditional hero through attaining a personal relationship with God and his people through the breaking of the clay tablets along with using the power God has given him through his staff to intimidate the Pharaoh and shows his urgency and pride as leader of a great nation. In one of the first conversations with God, Moses exposes his weak self-esteem and lack of confidence. After being given orders by God, Moses states, “Even the Israelites will not listen to me, so why should the king? I am such a poor speaker” (Exodus, 60). Being found in a river as a Hebrew child, the author of the text seems to integrate that Moses lack of knowledge for his parents seems to transfer over to not knowing his place in society.
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.
...he Red Sea. Ancient Egyptian historical records do not mention such an account, even thought the Bible claims that 603,550 adult men plus women and children(roughly two million) went out of Egypt. Another account mentioned by the Bible, but not by Egyptian contemporary records, was the plagues. Many of the places mentioned in the Exodus did not exist within the time-period they were mentioned in. Pithom and Raamses, the two “treasure cities”, claimed to be built by the Hebrews never existed at the same time.
According to the book of Exodus in the Bible, Israel's future leader, Moses, was born at a very risky time. It was a time when the Jews in Egypt had increased in number and prospered so much that the Egyptian pharaoh decreed that every male Jew who was born at that time was to be killed. Moses was born a Jew. However, when his mother realized that, the time came for him to be born; she decided not to let him be killed and was eager to hide him. It was not possible though to keep him with her, for she would be found. Consequently, she decided to hide him among the reeds in the River Nile (Exodus 1-2 and QB VI...
Tarwater explains that even through the small snippet of information how “the God we serve in the New Testament is the same God who worked on behalf of the people of Israel in Exodus.” Through the last chapters, I began to appreciate Jesus’ teachings and the correlation to the commandments of the Old Testament. Before this book, reading through the Old Testament did not bring about the importance within the books of Leviticus or Numbers. However, the author’s strong statement “the laws were meant to demonstrate how obedience and holiness were to permeate every aspect of the people’s lives” highlights the nature of the Bible to be a continual work highlighting God’s mercy and forgiveness. Digging deeper into the context of the stories through the author’s visual narrative that I could see how the theme of each book extended into another. Ultimately, the book of Leviticus is clarified with the realities of how sinful the people are and why God had to ultimately bring to earth His son to take away our