The World Behind The Text

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were seen as people who failed to listen to God’s commandments. Despite knowing beforehand that they would be punished for their disobedience, they still continued to commit sin. God tried to deter their misbehavior by promising them many blessings, but it worked to no avail. Due to the insubordination of the Israelites, He made sure that the promises He made to them would be withheld and that they would face consequences.

Passover is, without a doubt, one of the most sacred holidays in Jewish culture, and in this reflection paper, I will take a look at the history of Passover and other important Jewish holy days, then I will go over how attaining my first Passover affected me. The holy day, know as Passover, has its origins in Exodus 12, which tells the story of how the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt by the Pharaoh who had begone to fear them, because of how fast their numbers were increasing. So, after several years of slavery and oppression, God made Himself known to a man named Moses. God instructs Moses to go tell the Pharaoh to let God's people go free. The Pharaoh of course refuses. So, God strikes the people of Egypt with ten different plagues. The

Without devotion to God, violence and death would flourish in Israel. These factors would impede God’s blessings of security and life; thus, the Mosaic covenant demonstrates the continual faithfulness of God in the Old Testament. Finally, God is faithful to Israel during the people’s complaints in the desert. Rather than abandoning the nation for its faithlessness, God provides them will nourishment and protection during their journey. These acts further reinforce the faithfulness of God, even when his followers stray. In all, the Pentateuch demonstrates the theme of God’s faithfulness.

3. The Lord threatens the Egyptian people that he will smite or whip there fist-born child until they are dead unless they free the Israelites. The Israelites represent the hebrew slaves.

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

To begin with, one reason I would follow Moses out of Egypt is because the Hebrews were slaves. For instance, the Hebrews were oppressed. According to Document 2, it tells us that Moses saw a Hebrew slave being mistreated. This means that the slaves were mistreated while being in Egypt. Document 2 supports my reason because it tells us that an innocent slave was being wronged.

In what context is this text presented? What cultural, historical, political, religious, or other impetus is compelling the speaker?

This phrase is repeated throughout the book to remind the people of Israel to not lose heart and trust in God.

captivity. They were rebuilding Jerusalem. But Nehemiah was burdened by the fact that the city

Throughout this well written passage the author reveals the character “Moses” through multiple literary elements and rhetorical devices. Some techniques that are used are metaphors, imagery, and selection of detail. The author reveals who Moses really is through deep connections. There are also multiple different devices that are intertwined within these techniques and descriptions that help reveal when Moses truly realizes his character throughout the detailed passage. The author, jones does not begin his description until midway through the passage where he states “he was the only man in the realm, slave or free”, this is believed because he wants to give background information about the character Moses before he tells all.

Furthermore showing that women are tied to men and whatever life the man lives the women does also. Honor and shame are the two main recurring motifs that drive this chapter and that we may use as morals for our own lives. A lot of the verses of this chapter have much deeper meaning, symbolism, and history. Different verses and phrases are described and explained in various encyclopedias and dictionaries. Verse 8 reads, “Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph”.

The Hebrew people were chosen as the people of God. After being enslaved in Egypt for centuries, God leads them out of oppression to the Promised land. He works through two Judges, Moses, and Joshua.

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”.

This paper will address these biblical passages in Isaiah 52 and 53, which describes a “suffering servant” to the Lord God. There has been a debate as to whether these passages where describing the Messiah who would come to restore Israel as God’s chosen people or if the passage was describing the nation of Israel as the “suffering servant”. Christian scholars and clergy view these passages as describing Jesus who they affirm as the Messiah. The text is written in a poetic form and flows from one subject to another, however, many view these passages as being extremely detailed prophecy about the Messiah to come. I will point out key passages and explain how these passages provide clarity about whom the writer was speaking. This paper will point out why Jesus is the “suffering servant”, who is mentioned in Isaiah and explain why the “suffering servant” is not the nation of Israel as others propose.

The reason behind this is the very nature of the content in it and the purpose the authors invoked when placing in it the stories they did. As noted before, within this section is what are called the ‘foundational myths’ of Israel, that is, the stories of how the people and nation came to be and the explanation of its purpose and uniqueness among the nations of the world. The existence of these stories, and so the purpose of this section, works as a uniting force for this new people and new nation, reminding them of their common past and of the God who rescued them and made a covenant with them. This remembrance also has the effect of reinforcing the importance of keeping the covenant as a response to the saving acts of their God and as the true way to ensure the rewards of the covenant rather than the curses.