The Genesis account of Abraham and his immediate descendants indicate that there was three main waves of early Hebrew settlement in Canaan. The First is associated with Abraham and Hebron and took place in about 1850 before Christ. A second wave of immigration was linked with Abraham’s grandson Jacob and they settled in Shechem, which is now the Arab town of Nablus on the West Bank. Some of these descendants of Jacob emigrated to Egypt during a severe famine in Canaan and worked for grain in Egypt. These people in turn returned from Egypt to Canaan in about 1200 before Christ claiming that they have been liberated by a deity called Yahweh, who was the God of their leader, Moses. They allied themselves with the Hebrews in Canaan and forcibly settled themselves there. To distinguish between the two groups, the group that took part in the Exodus, is referred to as the Joseph people followers of the gods of the patriarchs and those who witnessed the origin of the Law at Sinai, as the Moses people.
The people who left Egypt and were present at Sinai were not an homogenous group, in Genesis 1 to 10 reference is made alternatively to Israelites and Hebrews, and the Hebrew references end precisely where the Exodus starts. After that, references are to Israelites only. Up to the time of Saul the Hebrews and the Israelites did not form a homogenous group. In Egypt there was different groups who worshipped a “God of the fathers” and that is why Moses had to know which God of the fathers was speaking so he could know which group of people were involved. If we look at some new aspects of God that arise from the moment Moses received the law onwards
Moses and Yahweh
It was Moses, a Midianite priest that introduced to some Hebrews tribes the god Yahweh and reputedly received the Law from God. According to the Bible Moses was born and bred in Africa. He was taken into the Royal house of the Pharaoh as recorded in Exodus 2:10, 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, ‘‘I drew him out of the water.” Later as an adult he killed an Egyptian and fled to Midian. Exodus 2:12-16 12 Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, ‘‘Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” 14 The man said, ‘‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, ‘‘What I did must have become known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian.” In Midian Moses married a Midianite priest’s daughter Exodus 2:21 “21 Moses agreed to stay with the Jethro, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.” This priest was an Yahweh worshipper and it is through Moses Israel was acquainted with Yahweh. If we read Exodus 3:13 “Moses replied, “When I go to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your ancestors sent me to you, “they will ask me, “What is his name?” What shall I answer them.” The normal way in Hebrew to ask for a name is to use the pronoun mi, to use mah as Moses did, invites an answer which goes further, and gives the meaning “what?” or substance of name. The reply, namely,” I AM WHO I AM” (ehyeh aser ehyeh), “Say this to the people of Israel “I AM has sent me to you (Exodus 3:14) By this God was announcing a new name not to Moses but to Israel, nor is it called a “name’; it is the inner meaning of the name Moses knew, We have here a play on words; Yahweh is interpreted as “ehyeh” thus meaning “I will be as I will be”, thus God is expounding his promise of his enduring presence and his power as Moses always knew him in the process of deliverance. This name the Yahwist writer made the God of the fathers when he wrote further in verse 15 “Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name for ever.” It is interesting here to ask why Moses previous to this had to ask after the name of the “God of the fathers” of the group in Egypt. Had Moses been one of them the name would surely have been known to him and he would have known what names the people would recognise and what they would not. Also there is an un-called for emphasis to establish the name of God as Yahweh for ever in verse 15 because if it was the name they knew God by then there would have been no need for a discussion between Moses and God as to His name.
This is means that Moses was not closely connected with the Egyptian group as the Yahwist tradition represented it, after all according to Exodus 2:23, Moses lived in Midian for several years even after the death of the Pharaoh that wanted to have Moses killed. We must also take into account Exodus 3:6 describing the revelation made to Moses at the burning bush. After the opening words God introduces himself, “I am the God (Elohim) of your father. This assumes that Moses would know the name of his father’s God. When God announces his purpose of delivering Israel by the hand of Moses, it is then that Moses shows reluctance and begins to make excuse.
Taking Exodus 3:13 into account again First, is that God take on the cause of an oppressed minority group calling on him Exodus 3:7 The LORD said, ‘‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concurred about their suffering.” God thus intervenes in history to demonstrate his powers of salvation , in rescuing the weak and the powerless. Secondly , is that the God of the fathers is seen as a War-god. whereas most other nations believes that their gods helped them to be victorious in battle, this god himself defeats the armies of Egypt without the help of a human army. Exodus 14:25 He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, ‘‘Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.” Thirdly God rules over nature; the waters of the sea are driven back. God triumphed over the gods of the sea Isaiah 51:9-10 9 Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through? 10 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over?” And finally the God of the fathers does not have next to himself a god of war or a god of the sea or a god of fertility etc. All these properties that in most other religions of the time where ascribed to various deities was attributed to the one and the same God. The faith of the Joseph people at Sinai was in some respects similar to that of the patriarchs and here too is no mention of a pantheon of gods, no mythology, and no priests. These people call direct to their God. Here too is a promise of land. He too is known as the God of the fathers and is not anonymous. But through Moses there are other characteristics which did not form part of the patriarchal faith in god. Moses was as we said married to the daughter of Midianite priest.
More coming soon!