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Assignment on exodus
Essay on the structure of Exodus
Essay on the structure of Exodus
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The Exodus of the Hebrew people out of Egypt as depicted in the Holy Bible is controversial. A literal, Biblical reading depicts inexplicable supernatural events suggesting the influence of the God of the Hebrews. There are three main theories about the Exodus Event. The first is that the event occurred exactly as accounted in the Bible, miraculous events included. Secondly, that the Exodus did occur, just not as the Bible describes. The last is that the event never occurred. The explanation of these theories will be presented in this paper. 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 …show more content…
This conclusion is based mainly upon the lack of archaeological proof (placing the Hebrews in Egypt, as slaves, or placing them Wandering in the Sinai Desert). Michael D. Coogan’s textbook, “A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in its Context” states that “no direct correlation exists between any person, or event found in Exodus 1-15 and non-biblical sources” (Coogan 89). If such a large number of individuals had spent such a long period of time in Egypt, and wandered in the desert for so many years, there should be innumerable archaeological evidence of the event and of the Hebrews journey. Without this evidence the event is simply a legend, giving an account of how the Hebrew people came to be, similar to other cultures, such as the Aztecs, Greeks, and Romans. Yet, if the Hebrew story of the Exodus is a myth, why would the Israelite people paint themselves in such an undignified light? Why would a nation relish and rejoice over their origins as slaves? If the Hebrews did depict themselves as a people who were starving from famine and ended up being prisoners in the land they had ventured into in order to seek refuge, there origin myth is unlike any other culture. Other origin tales depict the people as being might, brave, and victorious. While the Exodus story does end triumphantly, at least as far as leaving Egypt, it does begin in a rather unpleasant manner for the Hebrews. The victory is by no act of the Hebrews, but by their God’s. They are also depicted as being perpetually unfaithful for that God to continue to provide, often complaining of their circumstances after
Anson Rainey and R. Steven Notley are the authors of The Sacred Land Bridge, which is an Atlas of the biblical world and includes maps, pictures, and historical cementation as to the significance of this region. The biblical world that this atlas focuses on is defined as the eastern Mediterranean littoral, or more commonly called the Levant in modern archeological discussions. In my critique of this book I will be focusing on pages 30-34 which will define the boundaries and explain the importance of the Levant.
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.
New International Version. [Colorado Springs]: Biblica, 2011. BibleGateway.com. Web. 3 Mar 2011. Accessed 22 April 2014.
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.”
Gundry, Robert H., Ph.D. A Survey of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1970.
New Testament. Vol. 2. Edited by Gerhard Kittel. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1964.
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
...istory/faith-history of Israel” occurred (Fries 66). God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and sent him to save the Israelites from their suffering. God plagued the Egyptians with a series of ten plagues of increasing severity. The Israelites were then led to the Red Sea where Moses, by God’s grace, parted the waters allowing them to cross on dry land. The Egyptian army was drowned behind them. The Israelites had escaped.
Douglas Stuart, Exodus, NAC, vol. 2 (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, (2006), 20. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
Contained in the many intricate and poetic Surahs of the Qur’an are retellings of a number of famous stories of the Hebrew Bible, known to Jews as the Torah, Prophets, and Writings. However, the Qur’an’s account of the lives of certain biblical characters often differs in significant ways from the Jewish version. While a believer in the divine nature of the Qur’an may claim that differences in facts stem from distortions of G-d’s message as recorded in Jewish holy books, both Muslims and non-Muslims might agree that the differences in emphasis are intentional. A more cynical observer might claim that the Qur’an changed the known Bible stories to suit its purposes. By choosing to include certain parts of a famous story and leaving out others, the story itself takes on a very different significance. Occasionally, the Qur’an will also discuss parts of the story which are entirely left out of the Torah, in which case a Muslim may claim the Torah did not deem those facts important for its own reasons. A cynical observer would claim the Qur’an made these additions to make its own message clearer.
One day God spoke to Abraham with an intention of making a covenant with man whom he chose as his partner. Abraham was told by God to leave his home to a different land since the people of Ur worshipped idols of wood and stone. The covenant made between them had a lot of promises. Abraham left with his wife Sarai, Lot his nephew,
This was the Hebrew mass departure from Egypt. Moses the messenger of God came to lead the Hebrews to becoming a nation and uplifting there believe in Yahweh, the one God. The hieroglyphics detailed events of this era but not one of them referred specifically to the Israelites and Egypt. The Israelites returned to Canaan to rejoin the other Hebrews that stayed behind and did not join in the journey to Egypt. In the 722 B.C. many Hebrew were deported to the different parts of Assyrian empire. The Hebrew that was in a sense deported were dubbed the name ten lost tribes, and lost their identities as the people who had made a covenant with God. The Hebrew vied God as being One, Sovereign, Transcendent, Good, and Loving. They believed in devoting themselves to God and harming no one.
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.
Carson, D, & Moo, D. (2005) An introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Not all Jewish communities continued on their faith with YHWH. Before the exile, many communities began to scatter all over the Middle East, Egypt and Babylon; however, the exile...