How the Israelites Went to Egypt and Came out of Egypt - Essay Example

What are the theological implications of coming out of Egypt? Introduction The need to find the theological consequentiality of various events and stories that took place in the bible in relation to modern day theology remains a major task for the church. Rightly so, there are various times in the growth of Christian church that the need to find the theological significance and interpretation to various biblical occurrences has arisen. For example, the struggle that the early church went through to recognize the biblical canon has been outlined by quote (year). Quote (year) also made mention of the struggle of the fourth century church in defining the personality of Christ, just as the eight century church struggled with the iconoclastic controversy. Even though the search for theological significance and truth have often led to various forms of divisions among theologians, such search for the truth can never be seen as irrelevant to the church. This is because it is as a result of such searches that the real place of the bible in modern practice of Christianity becomes better understood (quote). Such theological discussions and debates also makes it possible for there to be conclusive and convincing stance for practicing Christians, who are put in a better position to defending their faith against others who do not belong to the Christian faith. It is for such purposes as elaborated above that the current essay is being written. The story of how the Israelites went to Egypt and came out of Egypt is one of the most important biblical events that have been given various interpretations and meanings. The event or journey, often referred to as the Exodus is also one of the most controversial in terms of interpretation and relevance to the church that Christ was eventually coming to establish. In this essay, there is a particular scope for discussion, which has to do specifically with the theological implications of the Exodus, and thus the coming out of Egypt. This means that the topic shall not be given a generalized spiritual interpretation or inferences. Rather, there will be the use of both primary and secondary sources of data that seek to establish the theological place, relevance and implications of the Exodus. In literature, there are two major contextual perspectives from which the significance of the coming out of Egypt has taken. Two of these conceptual frameworks are the doctrine of revelation, which is largely based on arguments by protestant theologians, and historical facts, which is based on propositional church history. The essay shall be approached from the historical facts framework. The Exodus as God’s Self-Revelation There is no denying the fact that God was an important personality in the Exodus and thus the coming out of Egypt. In the very first theme that looks into the theological significance of coming out of Egypt therefore, there is a focus on the personality of God with the hypothesis that God wanted to make Himself better revealed to humankind through the Exodus. Even though there were existing accounts of God’s encounter with the patriarchs and Israel as a nation, the coming out of Egypt was more or less a bigger platform and avenue for God to reveal his personality and Himself to humankind as a whole (quote). This hypothesis will be tested with literature using two major sub-themes as outlined below. God’s place as the Lord of History The beginning of Israel’s corporate life has been identified to be linked to an event and that event was the coming out of Egypt and not necessarily the going into Egypt (quote). This is because that was the moment that God was actually going to have a personal encounter with Israel, as it was not possible to adequately do so at the time they were enslaved in Egypt. But even before this corporate life with Israel, much of which will be talked about later, Israel’s religion was largely based on a revelation of God in History (quote). This is because accounts of how fathers had encountered God and the outcome of the encounter had been handed over from one generation to the other. The Exodus therefore became an important moment for God to establish Himself as the Lord of History and a God of action as well. The activeness of God was clearly showed through what God did with Moses at the early days before coming out of Egypt. The Exodus was therefore significant in consolidating God’s place as the Lord of History, based on which a God of present action could be established. Quote (year) therefore mentioned that should this all important moment had not happened in the Exodus where God confirmed Himself as the Lord of History had not happened, the people would have hardly accepted Him as a God of action who could act as relevantly in present time as He did in history. Quote also cites the case of Moses’ first encounter with God, where Moses tried as much as possible to forsake the mission that was being given him. To Moses, if it was really the God he had heard about in history, he needed a proof that it was indeed that God of history. God therefore introduced Himself to Moses in by confirming who He was in history by stating of Himself as the God of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. After this historical introduction had been done, Moses would not believe till he witnessed something more dramatic, a reason for the miracle that was performed in the third chapter of the Book of Exodus where the staff of Moses was turned into a snake. This is therefore sufficient evidence to the effect that at any point where man would have a full believe in God, there has to be an establishment of who God was in history and who He is in present time (quote). The revelation of the Character of God The Exodus can also be noted to be theologically significant in revealing the character of God. From the story of the creation, we read of God’s character in several different ways. For example, God had showed characteristics of love for mankind and extreme care for the wellbeing of mankind. This was manifested in the fact that God found a place for man in the Garden of Eden and provided for all the needs of man in that garden. Even after the fall of man, God continued to show Himself as a loving and caring God by ensuring to cover the nakedness of man. By that time, all the provisions of man had been provided for him in the forms of the environment that was created to support him. Sending man out of the Garden of Eden therefore did not amount to the absolute neglect of man. But as noted by quote (year), there was some level of separation between God and man, that did not make it possible for God’s actual character that prevailed before the fall of man to be manifested at the time man was set out of the Garden of Eden. The walk with the Israelites out of Egypt was therefore a very good moment for God to get closer to man and reveal is longstanding character (quote). As seen in Deuteronomy 7:7-8, God did not choose Israel because Israel was a more righteous and deserving nation than other nations. It was merely because God loved the people of Israel. Such an expression of love was in itself a very good way in which God could get closer to Israel to continue to display His character of love. It is not surprising therefore that through all the days through the journey out of Egypt, God was with the Israelites in the form of cloud of light ahead of them and a cloud of fire behind them. The Exodus thus manifested the divine character of absolute protection that God had for mankind, for which reason he first placed man in that secure Garden of Eden. Quote (year) therefore implies that the entire journey was a moment of putting mankind back to the Garden of Eden, where man could be nurtured by God in His character of love. Such love and care for man were seen at various times whiles on the journey, including when He fed them with Manner and turned the bitter water to a refreshing sweet water. The Exodus as an Old Testament Witness Before coming out of Egypt, a lot had gone on in terms of the relationship between God and humankind. Some of these events included what had taken place at the time of creation, the walk of God with the patriarchs, and the eventual monarchy that would be formed. Until that time, most Israelites had only heard of these testimonies without having any personalized encounters with them. Quote (year) therefore sees the coming out of Egypt as a platform by which God would give a better witness of events in the Old Testament; where Old Testament as used in this context refers to pre-Exodus events and even events that would occur before the coming of Christ. This theme therefore builds the proposition that the Exodus was significant in testifying such old events to the people of Israel so that through it Israel will be better informed to be later elected as God’s own people (quote). The witness on creation The event of coming out of Egypt has been explained to be an event with a more cosmic significance than an ordinary adventure of a bound people coming out of an endangered empire (quote). This is because through the walk with the Israelites out of Egypt, God was making provisions available for the people to understand that the story in the Book of Genesis about the creation was not merely hearsay or a folktale that had been handled down to them from history by their fathers. For instance once the Israelites were by the Red Sea and did not know how to escape out of the hands of the Egyptians, God gave a witness as to why He was the true creator by commanding absolute control over the sea. If indeed God was the one who spoke of the sea to come to being, then He was to have that authority to speak orders on the sea to divide itself apart. Right on the strange land of Egypt therefore, God made the witness on creation confirmed by showing command over the sea. The sea was not the only moment that God used the Exodus to manifest himself as the creator but the ten other miraculous signs that happened even ahead of the Red Sea miracle (quote). As with the story of the potter and the clay, the potter is known to have absolute control and dominion over the clay. Because of this, the potter chooses to do with the clay whatever he pleases. In the same way, God had created darkness and light and so showed dominion over it by calling for total darkness in Egypt at the time God pleased. Once God wanted there to be light instead of darkness, He showed Moses what to do and by doing so, it happened as God had wanted it to be. Knowing that at the very beginning of creation God called that there should be light and there was light, the beginning of the Exodus was an excellent witness that the creation story was indeed a true one. The same can be said of the control that God showed over life in its entirety when He took away the lives of the first born sons of the Egyptians. Coming out of Egypt was therefore of theological significance in giving witness about the creation. God and the Patriarchs In theological literature, there continues to be a bow of contention as to the real essence of God’s love for the Israelites. Whiles some school of thought argue that God loved Israel as a country and a people (quote), others say that the real scope of love was for the patriarchs, who God had had encounter with in the Book of Genesis (quote). According to the latter, God was taking the Israelites out of Egypt as a sign of fulfilling His promise to the patriarchs, while according to the former, God had indeed developed real love for Israel as a people. But from either side of the school of thought, there was an underlining fact that God had had an encounter with Joseph and promised him that his descendants were not going to be in Egypt forever but go back to their own land some day. Until the Exodus, this was still a promise that the Israelites had read about in history. There therefore needed to be specific events as part of the Exodus to show that indeed the witness on God’s encounter with the patriarchs was being confirmed. According to quote (year), the witness of God’s encounter with the Fathers was at the very beginning when God first encountered Moses. This is because in the third Book of Exodus, God introduced Himself to Moses as the God of the Fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This was a manifestation that there was a direct mission for Moses to go and rescue the Israelites out of Egypt as part of the relationship that existed between God and the Patriarchs. This witness of the relationship between God and patriarchs can thus be said to have been carried along the entire journey out of Egypt. For example it has been noted that for the several instances of rebellion that the people showed against God, it was due to the love that God had for the Fathers and a need to commit Himself to what He had spoken to them that He would not forsake them. It was not surprising therefore that Moses could ask God to remember His promise to the Fathers and not destroy the whole nation of Israel. The Monarchy The Exodus as an announcement of the election of Israel The theological implication behind the selection of a specific nation to be called the nation of God or the particular people to be called the people of God continues to go on among historical theologians. In this context however, emphasis is placed on part of the significance of the coming out of Egypt as a means or an avenue through which God made his purpose better known to the entire world that He was indeed selecting His nation, and that was the nation of Israel. The genesis of the Exodus, which has to do with the times of slavery that the people of Israel went through in Egypt was sufficient preparatory ground for God to testify among the Egyptians that once God’s will of who He wanted to choose was up, not even slavery could be a hindrance to this course of action (quote). The Exodus as the medium by which God announced the election of Israel is therefore discussed below with the use of two sub-themes. The manifestation of God’s Gracious Act Israel’s Response to the Election The coming of the covenant The Exodus as a New Testament Witness Another personality who was very significant in the Exodus was Christ. But since Christ was going to be a New Testament person, the whole topic of the Exodus was theologically significant in giving a proof as to why the coming of Christ was relevant. The coming out of Egypt was thus a memorial that was going to be used to reveal the personality of Jesus Christ Himself and most of the things Jesus was coming to do. In the like manner, the Exodus was significant in making other events in the New Testament that were yet to take place such as the beginning of the Church and the Sacrament very relevant and pre-destined. In effect, the Exodus was very significant also for the modern church as explained in the three sub-themes below. Revelations of The Lord Jesus Christ Himself The Kerygma Doctrine Significance of the exodus on the Church and Sacraments Conclusion The discussions have been useful in establishing the place and significance of the coming out of Egypt in theology. This is especially so when the theological significance of the Exodus is taken from the historical fact perspective rather than the protestant theological perspective. Through the historical facts perspective, the Exodus has been noted to be a relevant event that served as a bridge on which there was a connection between the world before the coming out of Egypt and the world after coming out of Egypt. Before the coming out of Egypt, the personality of God was largely speculative. This is because among the very chosen people of God, who were the Israelites, there had not been any tangible exemplification of the personality of God. The activities and miraculous occurrences that characterized the coming out of Egypt served as important evidence not only to the Israelites but the Egyptians alike. The relationship between God and the patriarchs was also confirmed as a realistic entity through the coming out of Egypt because the Exodus was actually a promise God had made to selected patriarchs in Joseph (quote). At the other side of the bridge that the coming out of Egypt was shedding light on was the correlation between the Old Testament and the New Testament. More specifically, the Exodus was relevant in making the coming of Jesus Christ meaningful and relevant to a specific course that needed to be met. This is because as outlined in the discussions, the Exodus was significant in exposing the sins of mankind, which had been with him right from the Garden of Eden and the days of Noah. The journey out of Egypt became an opportune time for the sins of humankind to be exposed as Moses left the Israelites to meet the Lord. This made the coming of the covenant, which was manifested through the Law necessary but yet again, the Exodus showed that there was no way that laws written on stone tablets and sacrifices made in animal blood were going to be adequate in cleansing man from sins. After the Exodus had established the inadequacy of the Law and the animal sacrifices, the coming of a messiah had been justified and made relevant. Quote (year) stated that even though many people doubted Christ as the Messiah, the opposition would have been greater if the course built through the Exodus on the relevance of Jesus’ coming had not been established. Based on these points, there is no denying the fact that the coming out of Egypt had a lot of theological significance that were both reflective and revelation. Read More