Exodus Catastrophes Have Been Present Term Paper

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 be kept in mind before starting the Exodus, and this is the presence of the three important themes of Abraham being God's alliance and His Promise, Isaac, who is the spared sacrifice, and Jacob, who is doomed to struggle with God, or in other words, Israel. It is at this point that the description of the Exodus begins.

The Exodus is in fact a unique and exceptional account of the Birth of a Religion, and everything that is described within the Exodus alludes to the life of the people who lived in those rough terrains of Israel at that particular time in the History of the World. In fact, it is often noted that the Genesis is in itself a mere introduction to this most important excursion carried out by the people of Israel, in their exodus out of Egypt. This flight or exodus of the people out of Egypt in fact reveals the very origins and the identity of Israel, and the manner in which this journey took place divulges the very essence of the Fathers of the land, and the isolation of the people in the Desert and their journey towards their Promised Land did not, in fact, lead to the development of a stable culture, and maybe it was this very exclusiveness that gave rise to the jealousy and rivalry that Yahweh exhibited. Moses, Yahweh, and Israel thus happened to come together, and this had a great impact on the very nature of Israel.

It has been said that several generations of Hebrews had been living in Egypt from time immemorial, and now, these people were feeling that they were not at all welcome in this, their adoptive land, and, on top of this, the Pharaoh was keen on imposing all types of oppressive conditions on these people. The Hebrew community was a people without a real leader, and Moses was an individual who, despite being a Prince, was without a real Kingdom. God reveals his destiny that was yet to come, on top of the Mount Sinai, and this fact linked him more to these people, and, Israel's very identity as a nation, and as a people and as a religion happened to be shaped and molded by that one single revelation by God to Moses, and the Exodus of the people further into the desert confirms this idea.

Since all the people were isolated and were therefore away from the influences of other Gods and other peoples, and the various other cultures of Egypt, it became possible for Yahweh to start on a new bond, and the desert became an ideal and perfect place for this jealous God to make up and forge his own plan and ideas upon the various alliances that he could possibly bring about. Moses in introduced by God Himself, with a description of his birth, and soon, hierophany comes into the picture, and God reveals His presence by the sound of His voice, and also by the burning of the bush. It is at Mount Sinai, or the Mount Horeb, or the Mountain of the Gods, that the revelation takes place, and it is often stated that this setting was in fact representative of the geographical and the historical context that actually led to the Exodus, and in fact, this is the basis for much of the plot of the Exodus, wherein the spatio-temporal circumstances of the Exodus had to rely on the departure out of Egypt and the quest for the so-called Promised Land by the people.

Now, the parents of Moses belonged, in fact, to the Tribe of Levi, and Levis, interestingly, were also known as Hebrews. Since the Israelites had been domiciled in Egypt for a great many years previously, they had been ever growing in numbers, and this was beginning to scare the Pharaoh. Apart from the Hebrews, there were also a great number of slaves from several different countries within Egypt, who had actually been either prisoners of war, or some other types of slaves, and these people too were living their lives in several different parts of Egypt, and as time went by, they became free people, who even had high ranking positions in the Egyptian Court of Law. Some of the others who lived in Egypt were in fact immigrants who had migrated to that country for some reason, maybe a famine, or a drought, and had stayed on there.All this led to an overwhelming ethnic diversity, and this led to more problems, like for example, the quote that states, "Robbery is everywhere...Barbarians from outside have come to Egypt," and it was these barbarians who managed to bring in different cultures and even different religions into Egypt. Egyptians had traditionally been extremely tolerant of different Gods and also different cults, and cultures, and this has been a historical fact. However, archaeological sources do not accurately describe the facts as described in the Exodus, and one example of this fact is that the pharaoh is never identified, and no one can be sure who, exactly, he was. History reveals the fact that Hebrews had suffered greatly at the hands of the Egyptians, and most of these people were forced into slave labor into constructing the various fortresses and other buildings at the borders of the country.

History also reveals the date in which the Exodus did take place as being the thirteenth century, and the Hebrews, who had basically been a semi-nomadic tribe of people, because of the changes in the various policies of the land, as far as monarchy was concerned, were transformed into a strong and aggressive military power, and it was this type of people who populated Egypt at the time of the Exodus. In a similar manner, there is no archaeological evidence of the existence of Moses, but, however, his very authenticity and faith cannot be ignored. The narrative begins with the Pharaoh's command to cats out all the newborn Hebrew boy children into the River Nile to die, because, supposedly, Hebrew women had become so very fertile that their numbers were increasing alarmingly.

Moses' parents, fearing for their infant's life, attempted to hide him for some time, but when the baby grew up to a few months and it was no longer possible to hide him, Moses's mother put him into a watertight reed basket and leaves him to float on the Nile, from where he is seen by the Pharaoh's daughter. This girl likes the baby, and she takes him out of the river for herself, meanwhile, Moses's sister, who had been watching for the safety of the child, persuaded her to engage a nurse to look after the baby, and the baby is returned to his own mother to nurse him safely. Moses grew into manhood, and when the revelation occurs, Moses becomes the historical manifestation of the Promise that Yahweh had made to Israel, and Yahweh has chosen him because of the fact that he is Moses' mentor and guide. Moses now has the responsibility of fulfilling the promise that he had made, but at the same time, Moses does need outside help in fulfilling his mission, and this is why Aaron, his brother, becomes the spokesman for him, conveying his messages from and to the Pharaoh.

Another reason for Aaron's presence may be because of the fact that Moses was terrified of the Pharaoh, and would start to stammer, and thereby forget the instructions given to him by God, and this would make God angry in the assumption that Moses had refused to obey His Command. The people of Egypt are still to be released, and Yahweh makes up several different reasons with which he may be able to convince the Pharaoh of God's will, and one of the methods that he used was the famous 'plagues', and the real outcome of the Exodus is in fact influenced to a great extent by the quest for the Promised Land. However, Moses is faced with a strong dilemma at this pint, and this is when he starts to think and contemplate and wonder about the future of the people's faithfulness to Yahweh.

This is because, when these people were in the deserts, God's loving and guiding hands were always ready to safeguard and to protect them from dangers, and when they reach Canaan, maybe this type of ideal situation would have to inevitably come to an end, and this….....