Bible Characters for your weekly Bible study — December 7 - 13, 2009
Weekly Bible Study Resources
Bible Characters for Your Weekly Bible Study
Compiled by Lt Gen C. Norman Wood, USAF (Ret), Burke, VA 22015
For week of December 7 - 13, 2009
Kreutz, Christa (Elsah, IL), “Saved By God’s Liberating Messages,” IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BIBLE LESSON: God the Preserver of Man, Christian Science Sentinel, Vol.110 (6 June 2008), p. 21.
--The Exodus story of the Israelites escaping slavery in Egypt [shows] that there is no destructive evil force that can hold people in bondage, and that in the presence of divine Love, evil is self-destroyed.
• At first glance it might look as if God were rescuing the Israelites from evil people, the Egyptians.
---But it is the evil practices of oppression and slavery that have to give way to God’s liberating compassion.
--Pharaoh’s Egypt could be viewed as a metaphor for self-glorification and self-interest—enslaving others to build up oneself or one’s own nation.
• But self-glorification ultimately proves to be self-destructive.
SECTION I: The Burning Bush, Moses’ Call, and His First Objection (Ex 3: 1, 2, 4, 7, 8 [to;], 10-12[to ;])
RELATED SCRIPTURE: Jer 1: 1-10
TIME LINE AND AUTHOR: Written by Moses 1445-1405 BC. The event occurred @1500 BC.
"The pastoral life is always one that favors contemplation." (Peloubet's Select Notes) “Moses worked as a shepherd while living with his father-in-law, a life and occupation quite different from the privilege and prestige associated with his life in Pharaoh’s court.” (MacArthur Commentary)
“The names Horeb and Sinai seem to be synonymous, though it has been suggested that Horeb is the name given to the entire mountain range, while Sinai denotes the particular mountain where the Law was given.” (Dummelow Commentary)
"Who is it that appears to Moses? The narrator calls him first 'the angel' (lit. messenger) of YHWH ('the Lord') (v.2), and then in one verse (4) both YHWH ('the Lord') and 'ēlōhǐm ('God')." (Oxford Bible Commentary)
"The emphasis [I have surely seen…have heard, v.7] is on God's having been well aware of the separate situation of Israel." (MacArthur Bible Commentary)
“As in some other biblical narratives (e.g., Jer 1:1-10), Moses resists the call and raises a number of objections to which God responds. Moses complains of his own lack of qualifications [v.11].” (Theological Bible Commentary)
“The divine promise [I will be with thee, v.12], one given also to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, should have been sufficient to quell all the chosen agent’s fears and sense of inadequacy for the task.” (Ibid)
Moses
[Mō’zez] (Egyp. “extraction, a son”/Heb. “drawn from the water”)
“MOSES. A corporeal mortal; moral courage; a type of moral law and the demonstration thereof; the proof that, without the gospel, — the union of justice and affection, — there is something spiritually lacking, since justice demands penalties under the law.” (S&H 592: 11)
(Abbreviated)
Moses was the first and preeminent Hebrew leader, who led the people in their exodus out of Egypt to the threshold of the Promised Land; and he was a lawgiver and the archetypical prophet. He "is the most majestic figure in the Old Testament. His role was so central that the Pentateuch was called the Five Books of Moses, and the code of religious laws, the Law of Moses." (Who's Who in the Old Testament) For all his greatness, Moses never loses his humanness, displaying anger, frustration, and lack of self-confidence in addition to his leadership abilities, humility, and perseverance….
AT THE BURNING BUSH: Called to Leadership
"Moses does not volunteer to be the liberator of Israel." (Interpreters Dictionary) “One day as Moses was tending his flocks on the mountainside—a place called ‘Horeb, the mountain of God’ (elsewhere identified with Mount Sinai), he saw flames in the center of a bush (in tradition, a blossoming green thornbush).” (All the People of the Bible/Mysteries of the Bible) He turned aside to examine a strange sight: a bush that was burning without being consumed. God’s voice came out of the bush demanding him to halt and remove his shoes as he was on holy ground. Moses was told that he had been chosen to lead his brethren out of their oppression, and bring them to the Promised Land. Moses shrank from this task, saying: “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? (Ex 3:11). Slowly his reaction changed from curiosity to awe as he realized that he was in God’s presence.
MAKES FOUR EXCUSES
"Moses was reluctant to accept the task of bringing the Israelites out of Egypt and gave a series of excuses for which God provided retorts." (HarperCollins Dictionary) “For each of Moses’ weaknesses, God added a strength.” (Mysteries of the Bible)
Personal Unfitness.
Moses shrank from this task, saying, “Who am I, that I should go unto
Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Ex 3: 11)
Fears Unbelief of the People.
Lack of Eloquence.
Request Some Other Leader Be Sent….
Jethro
(Moses’ father-in-law; not significant for this passage)
Egyptians
"The Egyptians belonged to the white race, and their original home is still a matter of dispute. Many scholars believe that it was in Southern Arabia, and recent excavations have shown that the valley of the Nile was originally inhabited by a low-class population, perhaps belonging to the Nigritian stock, before the Egyptians of history entered it. The ancient Egyptian language, of which the latest form is Coptic, is distantly connected with the Semitic family of speech." (Easton Dictionary)
Modern usage refers to “one of the earliest and greatest civilizations of the ancient world, situated along the Nile River.” (Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible)
Pharaoh
"The title of Pharaoh, given to the Egyptian kings, is the Egyptian Per-aa, or 'Great House,' which may be compared to that of 'Sublime Porte.' It is found in very early Egyptian texts." (Easton Dictionary)
“The title occurs in the OT as a generic locution for the ‘king of Egypt.” (Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible)
Marshall, Troy Garner (Age 13), “I love the story of Moses…” FOR KIDS, Christian Science Sentinel, Vol.108 (24-31 July 2006), p. 28. [Word Search Game]
--When the grown-up Moses was out in the fields caring for sheep, God spoke to him in a burning bush.
• Moses had to be listening to hear God.
---And he had to be brave because God’s message was so important!
• God was calling on Moses to guide his people, the Israelites, out of slavery in Egypt.
---Moses honored God and asked Him what he should tell the people God’s name was so that they’d believe what he told them.
• And God answered, “I AM THAT I AM” (Ex 3:14).
---God spoke to Moses in many ways and showed him that He was with him so that Moses didn’t have to be afraid.
McCracken, William D. (CSD, Lecturer, and Editor), “’A land flowing with milk and honey’,” EDITORIAL, Christian Science Sentinel (6 July 1918), p. 891.
--Christian Science opens the eyes of those who are ready to see the real land flowing with milk and honey, the ever present spiritual reality of the kingdom of heaven.
• The materially greedy may picture the promised land as an opportunity for unlimited enjoyment; but those who are looking Spiritward think of it as a state of consciousness in which harmony and justice, joy and unselfishness, brotherly kindness and genuine friendship, are forever safeguarded from fear and hate.
---Through much labor the materially minded may enter a Canaan of their own imagination and taste of the fruits of the flesh until they revolt against these unsatisfying experiences and become receptive to truth.
• In the meantime, the righteous are led out of an Egypt of mental darkness, through the severe tests of the wilderness into a promised land which is spiritual and not material, which is full of scientific satisfaction and peace, sheltered by the Zion of God’s presence, and nourished with the milk of spiritual substance and the honey of divine Love.
Poyser, Thomas O. (CSB), “Who am I? Why am I here?,” POEM, Christian Science Journal, Vol.115 (August 1997), p. 23.
Who am I? you ponder.
You are the child of God.
Why am I here? You wonder.
To represent truly your Father-Mother God.
Who? A raindrop doesn’t ask;
It just carries moisture to a world thirsting.
To carry God’s message is no great task
When we know it provides for humanity’s nurturing.
Why? The wind doesn’t ask;
It just forces clouds to yield to light of sun.
To dispel a man’s error is not real task
When through Christ he learns that God and he are one….
Who am I? Now you concede
“I’m God’s perfect man.”
Why am I here? Now you proceed
“To bless mankind in every way I can.”
Kelly, Barbara L., “Inviolate being,” POEM, Christian Science Sentinel, Vol.96, No.26 (1994) p. 8.
Like the bush that burned
and was not consumed,
I’ve sometimes felt myself
engulfed by flames
of affliction and fear,
yet utterly untouched
because of who and what
I really am—
the forever child of God,
invulnerably spiritual.
Adams, Elizabeth Challis, “The Egyptians,” Christian Science Sentinel, Vol.26 (2 August 1924), p. 966.
--Who are the present-day Egyptians from whom we long to be freed?
• Are not our Egyptians nothing more or less than our failures to understand man’s relation to God, or our false belief’s of a selfhood apart from God, which claim to bind us to the matter myth with all that this myth involves of pain and fear and selfishness?
---These indeed are the Egyptians we have allowed to fetter us.
--As Mrs. Eddy puts it in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p.223): "Sooner or later we shall learn that the fetters of man's finite capacity are forged by the illusion that he lives in body instead of in Soul, in matter instead of in Spirit."
--The journey out of Egyptian darkness into the light of the knowledge of God may seem long, but its length will be exactly in proportion to our implicit trust in the divine Mind as the one reality, and our consequent denial of the false claims of matter. If the quality of our trust is pure—that is, unmixed with selfish motives and desires—the result will be loving obedience to divine Mind; and even the memory of Egyptian bondage will fade away.
SECTION II: The Children of Israel Cross Over the Red Sea (Ex 14: 5-7, 10 [to :], 13 [to :], 21, 22, 27 [to 1st ;], 30 [to :])
TIME LINE AND AUTHOR: Written by Moses 1445-1405 BC. The event occurred @1445 BC.
"In the final form of the text the drama is presented in three acts: 14:1-14,15-25, and 26-31. Each is introduced with the phrase, 'Then the Lord spoke/said to Moses'; the action is in every case initiated by the Lord: the hardening of Pharaoh's heart to pursue the fleeing Israelites; the hardening of the Egyptians' hearts to pursue Israel onto the dried-up bed of the Sea; and the drowning of the Egyptian host in the returning waters of the Sea." (Eerdmans Commentary)
“Hardened hearts lost all sensitivity to the recent tragedy and focused instead on the loss of the economic benefit Israel’s enslavement had provided [Why have we done this?, v.5].” (MacArthur Bible Commentary)
King of Egypt/Tuthmose III
(“Son of Thoth”)
Queen Hatshepsut (his Aunt and co-Regent)
King Tuthmose III (1479-1426 BC, 6th Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty)
King Amenhotep II (his son)
“During the first twenty-two years of Tuthmose’s reign he was co-regent with his aunt, Hatshepsut, who was named the pharaoh….He served as head of her armies.
“After her death and his later rise to being the pharaoh of the kingdom, he created the largest empire Egypt had ever seen; no fewer than seventeen campaigns were conducted, and he conquered from Niy in north Syria to the fourth waterfall of the Nile in Nubia.” (Wikipedia.org)
“children of Israel”
“CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. The representatives of Soul, not corporeal sense; the offspring of Spirit, who, having wrestled with error, sin, and sense, are governed by divine Science; some of the ideas of God beheld as men, casting out error and healing the sick; Christ's offspring.” (S&H 583: 5)
(Abbreviated)
"God's greatest gift and guarantee of the covenant with Israel was that of children. Despite every other gift, Abraham felt at a complete loss without children (Gen15:1-3). God’s promise of a numerous posterity to Abraham and Sarah was at the root of the biblical covenant (Gen 12:1-3)." (Anchor Bible Dictionary)
The word Israelites designates the descendants of the Patriarch Jacob (Israel). It corresponds to the Hebrew appellation "children of Israel," a name by which -- together with the simple form "Israel" -- the chosen people usually called themselves in Old-Testament times. Foreigners and Israelites speaking of themselves to foreigners used the term "Hebrews," commonly explained as denoting those who have come from "the other side" of the river (the Euphrates). “Despite [the] special esteem for children, they were the powerless ones on the bottom rung of Hebrew and other ancient societies.” (Ibid)