The Exodus and the Sinai Covenant
Description
Each of the questions below are to be substantive and will likely run two or more paragraphs. You should state clearly your answer to the question and then support your answer with references to course material or other research. Remember to document any sources used. 1. Pick either the Covenant Code (Exodus 21-23) or the elements of Israelite religion (sacrifices, festivals, and the tabernacle). What does your chosen material say about the character of God? List the character trait(s) of God you see revealed in the text. For each trait, quote a Bible passage from your chosen material that illustrates this trait. 2. Whose behavior is stranger to you: that of Moses or that of the Israelites? Why? How might a liberationist like Gilbert Lozano from Brazil explain their behavior? How might his perspective shape your analysis? 3. How does the Exodus event both reflect God’s promises to Abraham and set up the giving of the Ten Commandments? 4. God said to Samuel, “it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king” (1 Samuel 8:7). How was the adoption of a king by Israel a rejection of God? How did God turn Israel’s rejection of God onto a promise by God? 5. Prophets are chosen by God. Would you want to be one? Then and/or now? Why or why not? 6. Pick a message of hope from Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel and summarize it. How might one of the two global writers relate to your text (Be sure to quote something specific from their work in support of your analysis.)? Discuss the broader applicability of the text to something you have experienced or observed in a situation of loss.
