According to rabbinical commentary, however, Moses doesn't just simply the raise his staff and part the waters -- more has to happen first, and the more that happens is hugely influential in shaping the new relationship that the Hebrews are forming with God, and the new role for man that this creates.
The Biblical narrative as it currently stands tells the story in the following manner: the people, trapped between the sea and the approaching army, begin complaining to Moses, "What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, "Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians"? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!'" (Exodus 14: 11-2). Moses tells them to trust in God, "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground'" (Exodus 14: 15-6). The text certainly suggest an exasperation on God's part, and a desire that Moses and the people try to do something to help themselves instead of solely and automatically turning to God.
This sense of God's desire for man's more active involvement in shaping his future is borne out by rabbinical commentary, which states that a man named Naschon ben Aminadav, hearing the bickering all around of him of who was to test the crossing first by taking an ultimate leap of faith into the waters of the sea, jumped in and began to sink. It is at this point that God tells Moses to stop praying and to see what is going on, and it is not until Naschon ben Aminadav is "up to his nostrils that the water was actually parted" (Peretz, par. 6). God was unwilling to help until man helped himself, and until man showed a proactive faith in assistance rather than a reactive faith of retribution. Naschon ben Aminadav did not act out of a fear of punishment, that is, but rather out of a hope of redemption.
The story of Exodus as a whole is, of course, one of redemption, as the Hebrews are taken from a foreign land where they have been slaves for generations and returned to their homeland where, for a time at least, they can live life freely and under their own religious and political rule. This story is in many ways the beginning of the true redemption that appears in the Book of Exodus, as up until now pretty much everything the Hebrews have endured has been a hardship, not the least of which was leaving the vast majority of their possessions and the only homes most (if not...
Fortunately for them, Joseph, who is Jacob's son, invites them into that land and he was a man who had been sold off earlier to an Egyptian person by his jealous brothers earlier. Joseph, being possessed of the extremely uncanny ability to read and interpret dreams, is recognized for that very fact, and is soon promoted into being a prestigious member of the Egyptian Courts. However, one thing must
Genesis 1 (in the Old Testament) and the pronouncement of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 (of the Old Testament). Be sure to include the purpose of Exodus 20 and how it is related to Genesis 1. Comparing and contrasting Genesis 1 and Exodus 20 of the Old Testament The story of creation [Primeval story] in the Book of Genesis is one of the most read stories of all times. It
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But it was not like that from the beginning." The Reformed Theology looks at marriage and divorce from the standpoint of being covenantal. They quote the Bible as saying in Malachi 2:14, "…because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant" (Fielding, 2010). Fielding goes on to say, "In the Old Testament, "divorce" was carried out by a literal physical execution of
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