The Between Moses And Jesus

One figure in American history immediately stands out. When comparing Moses to a charismatic leader, it is hard not to reflect on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There are so many similarities between these two historical figures. They both had a mission to free a people from oppression. They also surrounded themselves with the right people. Both these leaders could implement active patience. Most of all, these two leaders embraced the will of God.

In Matthew 1-2, the infant stories are used to prepare the ground for the theme of Jesus; the new and perfect Moses, the great teacher and interpreter of God’s ways. A parallel can be drawn between the experiences of the infant Jesus and the experience of Moses. This can be seen in Matthew 2:16-18, where the slaying of innocent male Hebrew children occurred around the time of the birth of Jesus, and in Exodus 1:15-22, where Hebrew children were also murdered at the time of Moses’ birth. Just as Moses came out of Egypt, leading the people of God, so does Jesus. Following the infancy stories, the rest of Matthew’s Gospel is structured around five long discourses where Jesus teaches. On each occasion, the evangelist indicates that a great teacher has been at work (Maloney, 1988, p. 133-34).

In the Old Testament of the Bible and in twentieth-century America, liberation from suppression and inequality, and the expedition of adamant people towards independence and equality prevail. At the forefront of these political, cultural, and social movements are Moses and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Both men have left lasting imprints on history. In Exodus and continued in Deuteronomy, through the leadership of Moses and his counsel of God, Moses frees the persecuted Hebrews from their enslavement to the Egyptians, and delivers them to the Promised Land. Similarly, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. successfully leads the Civil Rights movement to free the subjugated African Americans of racial inequality, and deliver them to the Promised Land where there is freedom for all. The Old Testament Prophet, Moses, and the modern day Prophet, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., are comparable through their leadership which is evident in their devotion to their respective people, causes, and God.

The Bible is divided into two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. This paper mainly focuses on the Old Testament. The Old Testament has 39 books in total which is also subdivided into four categories namely; Pentateuch books (5 books), the historical books (12 books), the poetic books (5 books) and the prophetic books (17 books). The Old Testament books were written back in 1400 B.C. The Pentateuch books were written by Moses during his time in Canaan, while the other 34 books were also written by different authors at different stated time. The aim of this paper is therefore, to analyze the authorship, dating, content, outline, themes, and unique features of one book of the Old Testament, and the book chosen is the book of Leviticus.

John H. Walton’s Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible is broken up into fourteen chapters. Those fourteen chapters are each part of one of five sections. This book also contains over twenty historical images. Before the introduction, the author gives readers a full appendix of all images used in this published work. The author then gives his acknowledgements followed by a list of abbreviations.

The life of Moses can be adequately summed up by the verse Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for saith the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you hope and a future.” Little did Moses’ mother know that God would use her child to change the history of the Israelite people forever.

Maimonides, a Jewish philosopher and Rabbinic scholar, is one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of Rabbinate Judaism and Torah Scholarship. Deeply embedded in Islam culture, Maimonides was well respect in Islam tradition, however, he rejected the Koran’s notion of hierarchical leadership by claiming that no prophet, including Muhammad, would ever surpass or achieve what Moses had in his prophecy. Therefore, while Maimonides did not reject Muhammad as a prophet, he did respond to the Islamic view of Moses as subordinate to Muhammad by framing Moses as the paradigm prophet. Thus, in contrast to the Koran, Maimonides viewed Moses as the ultimate philosopher to achieve prophecy in a metaphysical world. Therefore, while Maimonides takes up the same Muslim conversation, he further identifies with rabbinic tradition. Such distinctions and theological overlaps of Moses essentially raise issues of superiority and prophecy in Jewish and Muslim traditions.

The biblical event I chose was the story of Moses. When Moses was born the Hebrew were slaves in Egypt. When pharaoh saw the Hebrews population going up he took the drastic measures to kill every new born Hebrew boy. He sent his soldiers to do so. Moses’ mother hides him for 3 months without them finding him but she knew it wouldn’t be long before they killed Moses so she had to make a plan. She decided to put Moses into a basket and send him down the river. She sent her daughter to watch the basket as it went down the river. Moses ended up in the pharaoh’s daughter’s hands. Her daughter told pharaohs daughter that she knew a lady that could be Moses’ nurse from then on Moses’ real mom would be his nurse as he grew up. She took Moses to the

Bruggemann contrasts the alternative consciousness of Moses with the royal consciousness of Solomon and discusses the religious, social and political traditions that were present during their individual regimes. He states that there are three essential components that the Solomonic tradition values as a part of the royal consciousness, which include affluent economics, oppressive politics and religion of immanence. The shifts in the foundation of Israel, contrasted the basic values of economical equality with an emphasis on self-serving affluence. Israel was prosperous but its fortune was hierarchical and only benefited the people on top. The second characteristic of the royal consciousness involves the political state of the society. Moses

God sees and knows all the was, is, is to come, and the might have beens. I would like to use Moses as an example. When the Israelites were wandering the desert and complaining on the way to Canaan Moses disobeyed God by striking a rock instead of speaking to it. This was done out of frustration and cost him the victory of entering into the promised land with the israelites. God knew what was going to happen and the punishment that had ensued. God also knew the reward had Moses spoke to the rock as God had commanded. (Grudem 87).

When analyzing The Holy Scripture one often finds parallels between texts even when they have very different contexts and settings. An example of this is the analysis of exodus 1 and 2 along with the second chapter of the gospel of Matthew. To find the connections between these texts, one should first review the two plots, and then highlight the literary and theological themes by comparing the main characters side by side. Hence, one can conclude that Jesus is the Divine Moses of the New Testament.

Moses and Elijah signify the two-fold nature of Jesus and seek to coagulate him as the fulfillment of Jewish prophecy. Moses “the Lawgiver” is meant to speak to Jesus the character as the “word made flesh” or the embodiment of the law. Moses in this context is meant to display Jesus as the fulfilment of prophecy and stresses his humanity as one who consults the law that governs daily life. Both tactics are meant to attract the attention of a Jewish audience. The prophet Elijah is used to foreshadow the resurrection of Jesus. Elijah in this context stresses Jesus’ divinity, as one who defies the rules of mortality. Together, Moses and Elijah complete a symbolic circle of what Jesus is and what he is going to become in the

God is our creator and knows our inner soul. He knows our potential and what we are capable of. Furthermore, God loves us and we are his creation. Like a father, he teaches us, guides us, and believe in us. Even when we do not see a potential in ourselves, God does.

Who is Jesus? Depending on what perspective one has, he is either a mere historical figure, a Jew from a land occupied by the Roman Empire, or the savior of mankind. In Christian doctrine, he is the only Son of God, the Son of Man, who died for humanity’s sin on a cross and resurrected from death three days later. In the actual text, over the course of the gospels and epistles, some key features of the nature of Jesus is discussed. It establishes Jesus’ status as the Son of God, and builds from there. This paper aims to discuss Jesus’ relationship with the Old Testament, with textual evidences from both the Old and the New Testament, linked together with a quote from Gospel of Matthew, chapter 17, verse 2~3: “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun,and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.”

Throughout the book the author provides a thorough understanding of the New Testament from a historical perspective as well as literature and theology. Personally, I really enjoy the brief introduction of each of the main points the author discussed in his book. This brief, but straight to the point material, provides the reader an easy-to-understand perspective of the New Testament. There is no doubt in the reader’s mind that the author is very familiar with the social, as well as the theological mindset of the New