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Procursus, Extracts 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7, 8-9.

Content created: 2018-07-10
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Hebrew Sacred History (5-6)

Extract 5: Moses, Prince of Egypt

Dramatis Personae

Background: In passages omitted here, Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah, fathers twelve sons. Of them, one, Joseph, is sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt, where his good looks, charm, intelligence, talent, and favor with God combine to result in his becoming a trusted official. (He also becomes the lead in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway musical, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”)

When drought strikes Canaan again, the brothers become refugees in Egypt, where they encounter Joseph, whom they do not initially recognize, never having imagined that he would turn up as an Egyptian official.

Joseph forgives them and allows them to remain in Egypt. Once settled, they and their descendants thrive, probably during the 15th dynasty, about 1750 to 1580, when the country was ruled by a people called the Hyksos. The Hebrews, despite remaining in Egypt, do not really assimilate. Traditionally the twelve brothers are the apical ancestors (definition) of the “twelve tribes” of Israel. Also traditionally, the Hebrews in Egypt come to be less and less welcome and eventually to become slaves.

More Background: Rumors circulate in Egypt about the birth of a “liberator” of the Hebrew people, and the pharaoh decides to have newborn Hebrew boys killed as a security measure. One new mother, fearing her baby son will be killed, sets him afloat in a reed basket just upstream from the palace, where, just as she anticipated (and reminiscent of King Sargon, founder of the Akkadian empire), he is found by servants of the pharaoh’s daughter and is educated at the royal court as a minor prince. We join the story when this baby, Moses, is already a grown-up.

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[Exodus 2: 11] In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers and saw their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers. [12] He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

[13] He went out the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting with each other. He said to him who did the wrong, “Why do you strike your fellow?”

[14] He said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was afraid, and said to himself, “Surely this thing is known.”

[15] Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the Pharaoh, and settled in the land of Midian, near a well.

[16] Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters [but no sons]. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. [17] The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. [18] When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, “How is it that you have returned so early today?”

[19] They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock.”

[20] He said to his daughters, “Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”

[21] Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter. [22] She bore a son, and he named him Gershom [“alien”], for he said, “I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land.”

[23] After many years, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. [24] God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. [25] God saw the children of Israel, and God was concerned about them.

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Extract 6: The Burning Bush and the Exodus (Covenant 3a)

Dramatis Personae

Synopsis: Living contentedly as a shepherd in the household of his father-in-law Jethro, Moses has probably largely forgotten about the Hebrews he left back in Egypt, when he is suddenly given the task of returning to Egypt and leading them out of bondage into the desert lands that God had promised to Abraham. It strikes him as an overwhelming task, but he is given no choice. Fortunately, God promises to help.

[Exodus 3: 1] Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb. [2] the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed. [3] Moses said, “I will go now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”

[4] When the Lord saw that he came over to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!”

He answered, “Here I am.”

[5] God said, “Don’t come close. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.” [6] Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

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[7] The Lord said, “I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. [8] I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. [9] Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. [10] Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

[11] Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

[12] He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall all worship God on this mountain.”

[13] Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I tell them?”

[14] God said to Moses, “I AM —that is who I am,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” [15] God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Jehovah, 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, and this is my memorial to all generations.

[16] “Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt. [17] I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’

[18] “They will listen to your voice. You shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, ‘the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord, our God.’ [19] I know that the king of Egypt won’t give you permission to go, no, not by a mighty hand. [20] I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do among them, and after that he will let you go.

[21] “I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will happen that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed. [22] But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who visits her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing. You shall put them on your sons, and on your daughters. You shall plunder the Egyptians.”

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Synopsis: Reluctantly, Moses returns to Egypt and confronts the pharaoh. After the Lord sends a series of disasters —the famous “plagues of Egypt”— which inflict great suffering and death among the Egyptians but pass over the Hebrews, the king allows them to leave. (This is the event celebrated in the modern Jewish festival of Passover.)

But as soon as they have left, the pharaoh changes his mind and pursues them. When the Hebrews reach the Red Sea, it parts before them leaving a temporary corridor to permit them to cross. When the Egyptian troops try to follow them, the sea then snaps shut, drowning them.

The Hebrews wander for forty years in the wilderness, fed in part by a food —manna (Hebrew mān מָן‎)— that appears mysteriously when needed. (Hence the English expression “manna from heaven” to denote an unexpected but fortuitous resource.) In the course of things, Moses receives from God stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. (The text of the ten commandments is available on this web site. Link) The tablets are kept in a special box (the “Ark of the Covenant”) throughout their wanderings until they finally arrive in the area of modern Jerusalem, where a series of kings —Saul, David, and Solomon— establish a royal line governing from Jerusalem.

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Review quizzes are available for Extracts 5 and 6.
Questions arranged in two "wimp" versions: 1, 2
The same questions arranged in one "normal" version: 1

Background Design: Hebrew Lines From the Book of Jonah