The Israelites Meeting to Inquire of Yahweh

I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation. “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to

Busenitz’ article offers an in depth understanding of covenants and how they play a prominent role in the Old Testament life including social, political, and religious settings. The author brings to light the definition of the term covenant and provides specific examples of how the term is used within the 39 books of the Old Testament. Busenitz’ establishes the Old Testament usage of the term, covenant, including how it is phrased,

Moses was tending to his father-in-law’s sheep when he saw a burning bush. The bush was not being consumed by the fire. God called out to him and told him he was on Holy ground. God then explained that the Hebrews were suffering and that He was going to send them to a great land flowing with milk and honey. This place was called the Promised Land. God sent Moses to the Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go. Moses questioned his authority to do what God told him. God explained that He would be with Moses on his journey. Moses questioned whether the Hebrews will know who God is. God then says “I am who I am” this was what Moses was to tell the Hebrews.

It is at this time that God reveals himself to him in the presence of a “Burning Bush” at Mount Horeb (Sinai) as it is well known. This is when Moses is told that he was needed to go back to Egypt and free his people from slavery, Moses was shaken and he even refused several times causing God to become angry at him but, and still God beckoned him to do this task. Finally Moses agreed, but Moses was worried as to how he would be able to accomplish such and enormous task. That is when God told him not to worry because he would be with him the entire way. Moses still had one big question for God and that is “ Who is he that he could go to the Pharaoh and tell him to let my people go” and God responded “that we has his messenger and that he was to lead his children out of Egypt and out of Slavery” and that “ He would be with him always”.

Exodus 34: 29 Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; 34 but whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Abraham was called by God to depart from home and migrate to a new land and receive greatness among the nations in return. The fulfillment of these promises became the stimulus for the people’s response of worship and thanksgiving. At Hebron, Abraham constructed the first alter to Yahweh in thanksgiving for the promise of land as seen in Genesis 13:18. Worship was also offered to Yahweh after Abraham defeated the four kings as found in Genesis 14: 17-24. Melchizedek, the priest of God Most High, administered the worship. Prior to the Exodus, the basic elements of Israel’s worship included the practice theophany, also known as an appearance from God, the utilization of an alter to make sacrifices, and a sacrament utilizing bread and wine that is commonly referred to as a cultic celebration. After the Exodus, the worship of Israel became more formalized, characterized by the Mosaic institutions and regulations. The commitment to the law of the covenant became the central figure of Israelite worship. Israel’s deliverance from Egypt embodied the essence of Yahweh’s relationship with humanity. The Song of Moses, as seen in Exodus 15, reveals God’s faithfulness. Despite the murmurings through the desert wanderings, the Israelites learned to know Yahweh as the ultimate provider. The desert experience in later worship became symbolic of God’s provision and care, as seen in Deuteronomy 8: 1- 20. Because of Yahweh’s faithfulness, the Israelites strived for covenant relationship with Yahweh. Yahweh’s instructions for the building and arrangement of the tabernacle and the details pertaining to the priesthood, the sacrifices, and the worship service were very specific . Many chapters of the Pentateuch are dedicated to the details of the tabernacles construction. The tent of meeting illustrated the mobility of Yahweh. Unlike the pagan gods, deities that were limited to

In this paper, I will write a scriptural response to the assigned reading of the NIV Study Bible and the Wiersbe Bible Commentary. I will write my response to the reading from Deuteronomy in the NIV Study Bible and Wiersbe Bible Commentary.

Christopher begins Returning to the Sources with a description of the Hebrew Bible and important events in the history of the Hebrew people. He explains how it’s organized including an overview of the books and major sections of the Hebrew Bible. Ultimately, Christopher discusses some of the problems associated with biblical analysis and the “Documentary Hypothesis” utilized to analyze the first books.

Understanding the dynamic concept of covenant permeates everything God says in His Word and everything He does in a believer’s life. The following word study will examine the text of Exodus 19:1-8. The text begins with an obscure and severely brutalized people who are saved from slavery and are on the verge of a new covenant between God and man. The word in study is the Hebrew word האמנה, translated “covenant.”

The Israelites reach the borders of the Promised Land and Moses reviews the people’s history in the wilderness and pleads with them to be faithful to the law and to be obedient after they posses the land. Moses is old by this time and he stresses the covenant made between God and Israel through Abraham, Moses and the people reaffirm the covenant and reminding them of the blessings that will come if the people are obedient. The Lord will not allow Moses to cross the river Jordan with them and Joshua becomes his Successor.

     “Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father in law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Horev, the mountain of Elohim. The angel of YHVH appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush. He gazed: the

Joshua brings the transition from experience of covenant curse to experience of covenant obedience and renewal. In several ways, then Joshua marks a transition. The transitions lead to a unique place in Israel’s literature, history, and theology. Theologically, the Book of Joshua features the leader never punished for serious personal sin; the loyal people who realize their objective and experience divine blessing; the land given, conquered, distributed, settled, incomplete, and threatened; the law to be read, meditated on, and eventually added to; and especially the Lord who stands behind all that Israel experiences.

To speak of the Hebrew Scripture is to speak of story, a story stretching from the very beginning of time to only a few centuries before the beginning of the Common Era. It is to speak of richness of content, of purpose and of reality and to engross oneself in an overarching narrative that, depending on your personal convictions, continues to the present day. Within this richness is found a wide variety of different events and experience, told through a series of genre ranging from foundational myth to apocalypse, law giving to poetry, genealogy to wisdom and many more. Within this diversity however, three broad sections can be discerned that speak to a shared purpose and content, these are the sections of Law, Prophecy and Writings. It

The book of exodus is divided in to two main parts; A first part tells the story of God’s rescue of people of Israel from Egypt and his bringing them to mount Sinai (Chaps. 1-19), and a second part describes his covenant with them, made as they encamped at mount Sinai (Chaps. 20-40). Exodus is a book which talks about the rescue from human bondages and bondage from sins. The text of the book of Exodus is on the whole rather well preserved in the Masoretic tradition. Moses spent almost thirty nine years to write Exodus. We can reasonably think that he wrote this book for the second postexodus generation, the ones who were preparing themselves to enter the promise land. There are basically six themes which exodus talks about: Bondage-Deliverer-The Law-Sacrifice-The Tabernacle-Presence-Continuation-Anticipation. In this paper we will be discussing about the laws which was made to

In Exodus, the term “theophany” is almost synonymous with Moses, for he had one of the most famous encounters with God in history. During this time, Egypt was prospering in the New Kingdom after the expulsion of the Hyksos Dynasty. “The