Moses as Mediator and Effects on Roles in Exodus - Essay Example

Moses as Mediator and Effects on Roles in Exodus Introduction Christians constitute one of the largest religious groups in the world with numerous dominions and organizations identifying as Christians but using different names. Bible is usually the main book of reference for Christians where preachers and believer reap the word of hope that is the word of God. The Bible has two major divisions; Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament talks more about laws and prophets of God. Exodus is one of the books, in fact the second book in the Old Testament of the Bible. The term Exodus means exit or going out as manifested by exit of Israelites from Egypt where they suffered in the hands of Pharaoh. As such, the Book of Exodus wholly talks and narrates about the plight of Israelites in Egypt and all the plans and efforts of God to liberate them from suppression. Exodus has details and depth about the life of Israelites from the founding of the nation to their eventual settlement in Canaan (the Promised Land). In the Book, Moses is the main character around whom all activities of God, Israelites and Egyptians as well as narrations revolve around. Born of Hebrews and brought up as an adopted child by Pharaoh’s daughter, Moses turned to become God’s favorite servant during the time. The Book of Exodus presents Moses as a beloved servant of God trained, powered and prepared for a particular purpose. During the birth time of Moses, Egypt was chaotic and unsupportive to Hebrew children. King Pharaoh gave orders to maidens and midwives to kill any male children born to Hebrew parents. Being one of the Hebrew male babies, Moses was going to die should the midwives have attended to his birth1. Other orders also existed that prohibited survival of any Hebrew male babies in Egypt. Due to intentions to save her child, Moses’ mother organized and hid the baby in swamps of the banks of River Nile where Pharaoh’s daughter could later find, save and adopt him is her child2. Moses passed through numerous challenges that, however, God enabled him to overcome. He became of the greatest servant of God who performed various responsibilities that included mediation3. Through God’s power and influence, Moses mediated between God and Israelites and between Israelites and non-Israelites. Impacts of mediation role on identity, vocation, behavior and choices The mediation role as played by Moses affected most of his affairs like his sense identity, vocation, behavior and choice. For better understanding of the impacts of Moses’ role as a mediator on his sense of identity, vocation, choice and behavior, it is important to explore the circumstances and events where he appeared to mediate different conflicting parties. The first circumstance that Moses acted as a mediator was when he killed an Egyptian who conflicted with an Israelite and hiding the deceased body in the sand. Moses did this despite the fact that he was still in Pharaoh’s house. The stay of Moses in Pharaoh’s house since birth to adulthood made him seem as not a Hebrew but an Egyptian (Exodus 2:11). In fact, many people in Egypt recognized him as one of the Pharaoh’s descendants considering his adoption while very young and maturing in the King’s house. Over long time, Egyptian Kingdom under Pharaoh had been abusing and enslaving Israelites. Hebrews and Israelites in general succumbed to hard labor that ranged from construction and building works, farming to home servants. In most cases, Israelites suffered from hunger and thirst while Egyptian hosts enjoyed plenty of the land. Israelites also endured high susceptibility to contracting diseases that killed many as well as weakening and paralyzing others. Male children within the Israelite communities were unacceptable by the Egyptian authorities. These facts angered Moses considering that he was a Hebrew who understood his ethnicity in the country. Moses had sought possibilities that could help him salvage the Israelites but lacked good opportunity to express his dissatisfaction. 4The move to kill the Egyptian was perhaps the sure way to Moses that could cause the King to listen to the grievances and displeasures of the Israelites in Egypt5. Moses had to drop his known identity as an Egyptian and become a full Hebrew. On hearing about the killing, King Pharaoh pursued Moses with threats of killing him. However, Moses knew implications of his actions, planned for earlier escape from Egypt, and joined to reside in Jethro’s house Midian. In another instance when Moses seemed as a mediator was when he found two Hebrews quarreling and fighting. On approaching the fighters, Moses asked the one overwhelming the other reasons that made him fight the other. He sought to know the reason for the two fighting, and even moved steps to remind them that they were brothers and did not have to fight at a time that unity of Israelites was most important (Exodus 2: 12). Moses asked, “Why are you striking your fellow?” at this point, Moses managed to mediate between the two adversaries, and made known his identity as a Hebrew to the two people. He understood that his mediation of the two Hebrews would help in preparing moments for escape and disempowerment of the Egyptians. His vision for a free and liberated Israel was beginning to develop through successful advocacy for peace and unity among the Israelites. While in Egypt, Israelites in general engaged in the worship of idol gods as instructed and practiced by the Egyptians. The God’s people stopped worshipping their Lord and instead believed in inferior gods and objects that could not even sense or see. This aggrieved and dismayed God who promised to do everything possible to ensure restoration of his people back to His worship. 6To initiate the journey of rescuing Israelites by leading them out of Egypt to the Promised Canaan to regain His worship, God appeared to Moses in form of a bush fire and gave instructions about intentions and plans to exit Israelites7. At this point, we see God placing or recruiting Moses to become a mediator between Him and the Israelites8. He sends Moses to Egypt from Midian and alleviates any fears of communication difficulties by promising to provide support in the form of Aaron and miracles. Here, the mediation role is compelling Moses to abandon his initial choice of escaping and staying away from Egypt. He must make the most difficult decision and go meet the people who wanted to kill him. In another way, this mediation role is preparing Moses for a journey towards fulfillment and attainment of a vision to rescue and liberate Israelites from the suffrages of Egyptians. On a arriving in Egypt, Moses begins mediation process to make God and Pharaoh to agree and ensure release of the people of Israel. King Pharaoh develops a hard heart and refuses to comply with God’s commands thinking that his gods were superior to the God Lord who sent Moses9. In the process and in attempts by God to prove His might, Moses drops his stick on the ground and turns into a snake that eventually swallowed all other stick snakes belonging to Pharaoh’s sorcerers (Exodus 7: 10-14). Pharaoh remained adamant to let Israelites leave and more miracles would follow. Exodus Chapter 7 to 12 lists and describes all the nine miracles and events that eventually persuaded Pharaoh to release the Israelites. God promised to make Moses as a God to Pharaoh with Aaron acting as his prophet. God could speak through Moses who due to stammer was speaking through Aaron. 10This point transformed the identity of Moses as a human being to a superior being God. His powers overcame and overwhelmed those of Egyptian magicians and sorcerers. The sequence of the miracles occurred as follows: water turning into blood, the plague of the frogs, the plague of lice, death of Egyptian cattle, furnace dust, and hailstone rain, the plague of locust that destroyed all the plantations in Egypt, three days of darkness in Egypt and death of the first sons of Egypt. 11At the climax of every miracle, King Pharaoh expressed his tribulations and asked Moses to stop the consecutive plagues with a promise to release Israelites. However, due to hardened heart as promised by God, Pharaoh continued to break his promises at every instance of the miracles until the mysterious death of Egyptian first-born sons. This last plague persuaded and concentrated pressure on Pharaoh from Egyptians and leading to eventual release of Israelites for forty years journey in the wilderness (Exodus 12:31-32). The journey in the wilderness was difficult and attracted numerous suffrages to Israelites. People faced serious hunger and thirst to an extent of blaming Moses for moving them out of Egypt where they could find enough food for their stomachs. . Some even requested that Moses return them back to Egypt instead of continuing to suffer (Exodus 16:2-7). Once again, Moses mediated between God and Israelites by asking God to provide food and water. In response, God sent plenty of manna eaten for the 40 years spent in the wilderness. God also supplied water by instructing Moses to strike on a rock in the desert (Exodus 17: 4-6). At this point, Moses lost his identity as God and had to work under plain instructions and favors of God. Despite of witnessing the great accomplishments of God through Moses, Israelites spited Lord and continued to worship the visible Egyptian gods12. This further infuriated God who developed the Ten Commandments and used Moses to pass the laws to His people. Israelites continued to disobey the commandments, making Moses who was high-tempered to break the covenant tablet into pieces. Under this mediation role, Moses proved to have not changed from hot temper. His visions for a liberated Israel began to diminish for he thought that God was not going to accept sin and breach of His laws. Due to disbelief about existence of God that Moses prayed in the isolation and secrete away from the people, Israelites demanded that they wanted to see God. One day God descended among Israelites in the form of strong winds and storms that troubled Israelites who asked Moses to request God to go back. From that time, Israelites requested Moses to pray the God for provision of welfare and safety of the Israelites. In this section, the Book Exodus reinforced the prophetic duty of Moses Conclusion Mediation is the process or intervening between two or more parties to help resolve a conflict and reach to an agreement. The Book of Exodus presents Moses as one important mediator of different parties at different time. Born in Egypt by Hebrew parents, Moses infant life was in danger and the mother had to hide him beside the bank of River Nile where Pharaoh’s daughter picked and nurtured him to adulthood. As wide covered in the Book of Exodus, the main purpose of Moses was by the help of God liberate Israelites out of Egypt. This would happen through series of mediation between God and Israelites, God and Pharaoh, Israelites and Israelite, and Israelite and Egyptians. The mediation role Moses played had particular effects on his vocation, choice, behavior and identity. For instance, the need to mediate made Moses to accept Hebrew identity even as people attributed him to Pharaoh’s offspring. Bibliography Block, DI, The Gospel According to Moses: Theological and Ethical Reflections on the Book of Deuteronomy, Eugene, Or: Cascade Books, 2012, pg. 19. Childs, BS, The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary, Louisville, KY: Westminster Press, 2004, pg. 89. Goldman, V, The Book of Exodus: The Making and Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailers' Album of the Century, New York: Three Rivers Press, 2006, pg. 5-11. Handbook of Miracles. Xlibris Corp, 2013, pg. 15. Miller, WT, The Book of Exodus: Question by Question, New York: Paulist Press, 2009, pg. 23-67. Nealy, M, Ten X Plagues: A Novel, Uhrichsville, OH: Barbour Pub, 2011, pg. 11-267. Sivertsen, B J, The Parting of the Sea: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Plagues Shaped the Story of Exodus, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009, pg. 78. Weddle, DL, Miracles: Wonder and Meaning in World Religions, New York: New York University Press, 2010, pg. 61. Willis, JT. Yahweh and Moses in Conflict: The Role of Exodus 4:24-26 in the Book of Exodus. Bern: Peter Lang, 2010, pg. 53. Read More