Early Israel IV

   316. Moses-or Moshe in Hebrew-is the central human figure in the Hebrew Bible, the great lawbringer, and for Christians, the symbolic model for Jesus. Moses was saved after a king ordered the Jewish babies killed; Jesus was saved after a king ordered Jewish babies to be killed. Moses parted the waters; Jesus walked on the waters. Moses spent forty years in the wilderness; Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness. Moses went to a mountain and gave a sermon; Jesus gave a sermon on the mount. Moses delivered the covenant; Jesus delivered the new covenant.

   317. Aaron was Moses' older brother. He was a good speaker (Moses was not) and was sent by God to help Moses ask Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. He served as the first high priest of Israel. He and Moses were the leaders of the exile from Egypt.

   318. The escape from Egypt. Moses went before Pharaoh and demanded that his people be set free. The story of Moses-who was miraculously saved and raised as royalty, then lost his position due to immature violence, only to be called by God to greatness-is a wonderful riches-to-rags story. The plagues, the escape, and the parting of the Red Sea make it one of the most-told stories of all time.

   319. "The Song of Miriam," a victory chant led by the sister of Moses after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, is thought to be one of the oldest poetic verses in Hebrew Scriptures:

         "I will sing to the Lord'
            for He is highly exalted.
         The horse and its rider
            He has hurled into the sea."
                              Exodus 15:21

   320. The "Aaronic benediction" was given by God to Aaron. This extremely ancient blessing is still widely used in temples and churches today among both Jews and Christians:

         "The Lord bless you
           and keep you;
         the Lord make His face shine upon you
            and be gracious to you;
         the Lord turn His face toward you
            and give you peace."
                              Numbers 6:24-26

   321. God brought His people out of Egypt and they settled in the desert. The Israelites, as they come to be called, didn't always trust God as they should. They constantly forgot what a miracle their escape from Egypt was. As a result they suffered some difficult times and were eventually forbidden to go into the Promised Land God had for them until the entire first generation of people died off.

   322. A flakelike stuff as fine as frost, called manna, appeared each morning on the surface of the ground in the desert. When the ancient Israelites first encountered this miraculous provision of food from God in the desert, they asked, "What is it?!" And the name stuck. So "manna," the word the Israelites used to call the stuff on the ground, meant "whatchamacallit."

   323. The Great Commandment. "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" (Deut. 6:4-5). This is the Shema, the most commonly spoken prayer in Judaism, also traditionally called the "Great Commandment." Many Christians know it in the form that Jesus used in Mark 12:29.

   324. From out of Canaan.  As the Israelites approached the borders of the Promised Land, Moses sent scouts who reported giants in the land. The scouts were frightened and they returned to the camp carrying clusters of grapes and pomegranates as proof they had at least entered the land of Canaan.