Tag: Exodus
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The Exodus times Three
In its final form, Exodus, like the Bible’s other opening books, was a well-crafted compilation using a variety of oral and written source materials. These had originated, and then been expanded upon, for at least five centuries, in different locations, at diverse times, by numberless story tellers and writers. The final editors had exemplary respect […]
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The Enigmatic Moses
Was there a Moses? The most likely answer is, yes ! All the Hebrew Bible sources, from the earliest onwards, while often reflecting different perspectives, are in agreement here. Since there are details in their contributions which are rather ‘awkward’, this makes it unlikely that Moses was ‘custom built’ by the writers/editors, and more likely […]
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Exodus – the Burning Bush
In these Exodus blogs, I’m exploring some of the ways in which the writers/editors crafted their work. In my view, they were writing neither straightforward history, nor fiction, but what might be called ‘religious literature’, which they shaped into an inspiring eye, ear and imagination catching, ‘national epic’. I think of it as being mythicised […]
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Jesus, Moses, Matthew and Literature
As I see it, it’s unsustainable to regard the Gospels as history or biography as currently understood. The writer of Matthew’s Gospel wasn’t a ‘disinterested’ professional, assembling, evaluating, and presenting a comprehensive, strictly chronological, balanced account. He was a believer, writing an extended religious tract, to buttress the faith of other believers, and persuade the […]
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The Birth of Moses (i)
There was a time when it was taken for granted that Moses wrote the first five books of the Hebrew Bible – the ‘Torah’ if you’re Jewish, the ‘Pentateuch’ if you’re not. These books, however, don’t say that he did. They’re written from a third person perspective; and it’s hard to imagine Moses describing, in […]
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Me and the Hebrew Bible
I’ve never regretted choosing to specialise in ‘Hebrew and Old Testament’ when I studied ‘Divinity’ over 50 years ago. My only regret is that I did so as a very ‘conservative’ Christian, with a correspondingly semi-closed mind, but it’s never too late to remedy such things. Currently I’m reading through the first 15 chapters of […]
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Noah and Biblical Abuse – Slavery
The Bible pictured above, displayed at the ‘Museum of the Bible’ in Washington D.C., was used to educate slaves. Cut out of it, were passages which might encourage rebellion – “There is no difference between .. slaves and free people .. you are all one in union with Christ Jesus”. (Gal. 3:28). Other passages, not […]
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Exodus – A God who Mugs and Kills People
Some people have a simple approach to the Bible. If you want to know what God is like, the Bible will tell you all you need to know. There’s a problem with this approach. On some occasions. what we’re told about God is unacceptably shocking. For example, he kills people. At a global level, in […]
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