Grandma Moses

Israel did not ask for God to adopt her so it is inappropriate to chastise her as a whore. Although always inappropriate to address someone as a whore, Israel never asked to be taken in as a special people for generations to come. However, some will argue against this as they asked for help. Despite the position one takes on this, it can be agreed upon that in the metaphor of an adopted child God used in His anger is quite shocking when paired with whore. Israel was promised to be a great…

divine approbation for Moses’ call after the initial failed confrontation with Pharaoh. The first call narrative contains five objections of Moses to God’s call and the passage Exodus 3:13-15 is the second objections from Moses. God’s call is not one-sided, but quite dialogical. The objection is a regular element of the call narratives, stating the people’s struggling and complaining and God’s trying to convince the people. God reveal the name Yahweh and “I AM” upon Moses’ second objection…

"The Road to Mecca", is a book written by Muhammad Asad. He is an Austrian Jewish who converted to Islam by the end of the 1920's. The Road to Mecca was not only a description for the author's trip to Mecca, but an intellectual, historical, political and novel book that describes the author's feeling of Islam and the Muslim World. Muhammad Asad was a journalist, traveler, philosopher, historian, diplomat, thinker, scholar and a great believer in the religion he decided to convert to. In this…

The Epic of Gilgamesh has very many similarities to the Old Testament in the Bible. Some of the characters, events, and story lines seem to have drawn a lot of influence from the Bible. Many times while reading this iconic epic the reader may relate to the stories they were told as a young child in Sunday school. These two have very different endings, lengths, and meanings but they have a lot of the similar stories. A few of the more popular stories this epic really relates to are Noah and the…

In the “Tale of Sinuhe,” the protagonist, Sinuhe, is a servant of the god-king, who rules with divine jurisdiction. Sinuhe’s self perception is defined by his sub-ordinal relationship to the pharaoh. At the start of the tale, Sinuhe describes himself to the readers as “a follower who followed his lord” (Sinuhe, 27). Here, Sinuhe is identifying himself as someone who is ruled by another’s will rather than his own. When Sinuhe learns of the death of his lord, his identity and purpose are…

Many people like to read the Book of Joel in today’s time. The prophet that wrote the Book of Joel was the prophet Joel. The Book of Joel was written between 835 and 400 B.C. The prophet Joel wrote to the Jews during this time period (Allen). The audience the prophet Joel wrote to was the Jews. Joel was talking to the Jews in the Babylonian Exile. At the time Joel lived the Exile was going on. The Book of Joel in the Bible stressed four main points. Joel wanted to warn the people of Judah, that…

Genesis is a book that should be divided in two. The sections, though not equal in length, are 1-11 and 12-50. It should come as no surprise to know that Genesis 1-11 and 12-50 go together. One must know what happened in 1-11 to truly understand 12-50. Genesis 1-11 provides the framework from which the rest of the Bible should be read. Genesis opens with the God creating and structuring all things. The pinnacle of creation is mankind. The creator looks on his creation and recognizes that all…

Abraham and Jacob are alike in many ways. Both men are looked upon with favor by God. Both men had families, are portrayed as heroes in the Book of Genesis, and have entered into covenants with God. God promised them that they would be fruitful and multiply implying that they would have many descendants. In the Book of Genesis there are verses where God says their descendants will be like “the dust ” of the earth, or as the “number of stars in the sky”. When Abram was 99 years old the Lord…

2 Kings 18-25 – The story of 2 Kings continues with the introduction of King Hezekiah of Judah, who is like a breath of fresh air when compared to his predecessors. This is because he does what is right in the eyes of God and tries his best to obey His commandments. YHWH also alters the rhythm of the story a little because He takes a more active role in Judah’s history. When Judah is threatened by foreign invaders, YHWH acts as the defender of His people and does not allow the enemy to…

The flood stories of Noah and Utanapishtim have many similarities throughout the stories. Noah was a man who found great favor in God's eyes. The entire population of mankind had become evil and wicked and God decided to bring a flood to the earth to destroy everyone but Noah and his family. God told Noah to prepare an ark big enough to hold one male and one female from every kind of animal and creature. When it started raining, Noah brought his wife and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth and…