Torah

Prior to the nineteenth century Germany was not a country but rather a group of German states. Germany was not fully unified until 1871. This dramatic change caused Germans to be forced to decide which rules, regulations, and restrictions would be set for the entire country to follow and which would not. In order for them to make these difficult decisions history was often looked to because what happened in the past often teaches people how to live now. Much of what nineteenth century German…

The history of Judaism, is a lengthy and very interesting one. Being one of the oldest organized religions in the world, Judaism has been studied by many scholars. Although the history of Judaism is pretty solid, there has always been a debate about one specific issue. The issue in question is the arrival date Ezra the scribe into Jerusalem, and whether he arrived before or after Nehemiah. This issue has been the topic of many scholarly publications, and it seems that many people have differing…

King David is identified in the superscription as the author of this psalm. David reigned as king from 1010 BC to 970 BC. While David’s exact date of birth and death are not certain, it is difficult to know exactly when this psalm was written. However, knowing when he reigned as king we can conclude that it was sometime around 1000 BC. The audience of this Psalm would have been the Israelites and Judahites. Israelites are an ethnic group claiming descent from Abraham and Isaac; the nation whom…

When observing the Hebrew Scriptures, one major theme prevalent in the Book of Genesis is deception. Throughout Genesis, many of the Lord’s prophets or “chosen people,” lie, trick, and deceive people into getting what they want. Whenever the Lord’s prophets deceive people, they are committing an act of sin. As the Ninth Commandment clearly states, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). Therefore, it would make sense for the Lord to punish the prophets. However,…

Judaism is one of the largest and oldest religion in the world, with 14 million Jews and 3500 years of history. In its history, there have been many individuals who have been important in the Jewish religion. One of the most important is Moses, a Jewish man who was raised as an Egyptian royal, led the Israelites out of Egyptian captivity, and gave the people commandments from God. Moses was born during a time where the Egyptians had decreed that the first borns be of every Jewish family be…

Tashlikh is a customary Jewish atonement ritual performed during the Holy Days. This ritual is performed on the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Hashanah. It is customary to gather by a body of water for this ritual which demonstrates that sin to be separate from their lives. Into the water they symbolically cast their sins of the past year, to start the new year with a clean slate. The ceremony includes reading the source passage for the practice. On October third The members of the United…

Following the Exodus from Egypt the Israelites wandered the Sinai wilderness for forty years. Not sure of their future they began worshipping the Canaanite Pantheon instead of God and only upon threats from Moses did they stop their worshipping the pagan deities. Substantial amount of evidence from various archaeological excavations throughout the Levant confirm that the Israelites and the Canaanites believed in the same Father-God named El. The Kingdom of Israel, ruled by Jeroboam I, began a…

The World Behind the Text Scripture comes from the Latin word "scriptura" meaning writings. Scripture is a body of writings that is considered to be sacred or authoritative to a community. Scriptures arise in religious communities to serve their particular needs as they struggle to understand their experiences of God and define themselves in relationship to the rest of their society. (Brown and Moloney 1). The oral culture of the Ancient World scriptures developed due to pressure. The formation…

The Author of Salvation As one of the most well-known names from the Bible, Moses’ story is one of faith and frustration. The basic of retold stories of Moses focus on the job he had to help set God’s people free from their enslavement in Egypt. At first look, he seems to be but a story within the Bible while other “characters” get much more focus and fame when in reality, with some further reading in the Bible, one will find Moses’ story had so much more take place and offered much more to…

Abdulmohsin Kulaiban Theo-200/ Test 2 10/19/2015 Covenant between God and Israel The covenants were made between God and Israel in the past ages when other prophets tried for the betterment of the people of this nation. Those covenants were not as obeyed as they were expected to be. The Israelis remained disobedient towards those covenants and the people of Jerusalem were not able to act according to the will of God. The prophets before Jesus were saved due to their faith and the people were…