Saturday, November 12, 2005

Stop 0 - God’s revelation to Moses

E account - Moses is tending Yethrau, his father-in-law’s sheep and he arrives at the mountain of God, Choreb.
God calls to him from the bush and says "Moses, Moses... I am the god of your father, the god of Abraham, the god of Isaac and the god of Jacob. Moses hides his face because he is afraid to stare at God.
God says "the cry of the children of Israel has come to me and I am now sending you to Paraoh to extract the children of Israel from Egypt".
Moses says "Who am I that I shall go to Paraoh and extract the children of Israel from Egypt?" God says "for I will be with you and this will be your sign that I have sent you: After you extract the people from Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain".
Moses says "behold, I will come to the children of Israel and I will say to them ‘the god of your forefathers has sent me to you’ and they will ask me ‘what is his name?’, what shall I say to them?
God says to Moses "ahyehAsherAhyeh (=I will be what I shall be) is my name; thus shall you say to the children of Israel ‘I shall be’ has sent me to you. Thus shall you say to the children of Israel ‘Yahweh the god of your fathers, the god of abraham, the god of isaac and the god of Jacob has sent me to you’. This is my name forever and this is my remembrance for generations".

J account - Moses sees the angel of God in a firy flame from within the bush and turns towards the bush to see why the fire does not consume the bush.
God says "Do not come any closer; remove your sandals from your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground".
God says " I have seen the pain of my people in Egypt and I have heard their cry. I will now descend to rescue him from Egypt and bring him up from that land to a good expansive land, a land that flows milk and honey, the place of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them...
Moses says "But they will not believe me and they will not listen to my voice, for they will say yhwh has not revealed himself to you.

God then shows Moses three signs to perform before the elders in order to prove his mission.

1. Moses’ staff is thrown to the ground and turned into a snake. When the tail is grasped, the snake turns into a staff again.
2. Hand is placed in bosom and becomes leprous and then healed when placed in the bosom again.
3. Water from the river is poured unto the dry land and is turned into blood.

P Account - God reveals himself to Moses and says "I am Yahweh; I have revealed myself to to the forefathers in the name ‘Shadai’ (=breasts/fertility) and I have not notified them of my Yahweh name... and so say to the children of Israel ‘I am yahweh and I will extract you from being under the hard work of Egypt and I will rescue you from their servitude and I will redeem you with a bent arm and big judgments. I will take you to be my people (you shall serve me) and I will be your God and you will know that I am Yahweh your god who is extracting you from the hard work of Egypt. I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to the patriarchs; I will give it to you as an inheritance".
Moses relates the word of God to the Israelites but the Israelites refuse to believe him because the work is so hard.
God asks Moses to go to Paraoh and ask him to release the Israelites from his land but Moses says "Behold, the children of Israel have refused to listen to me and how will Paraoh listen to me being that I have uncircumcised lips?"
God replies "Look, you will be like God to Paraoh and Aaron will be your messenger. You will speak to Aaron whatever I command you and Aaron will speak to Paraoh..."
God then tells Moses to perform several "wonders" if Paraoh asks for them.

1. Aaron drops his staff before Paraoh and it turns into a crocodile.
2. Aaron bends his staff on the rivers and lakes of egypt and the water turns into blood.
3. Aaron bends his staff on the rivers of Egypt and frogs emerge and cover the entire country.
4. Aaron bends his staff and smites the dirt of the land and the dirt turns into lice, which spread over the entire country and afflict both humans and animals
5. Moses and Aaron take soot from a furnace and sprinkle it towards the heaven. The dust spreads over the entire country and causes humans and animals to develop boils/bubbles.

Are the Egyptian Horoscopist able to replicate Aaron’s wonders?

1. Yes, but Aaron’s crocodile swallows the horoscopists’ crocodiles thus demonstrating the superiority of yahweh.
2. Yes, Egyptian horoscopists are able to perform the same wonder and so the supremity of Yahweh over the Egyptian gods is not demonstrated.
3. Yes. Same as 2.
4. No! Horoscopists tried to replicate Aaron’s wonder and produce lice from dirt but they were unsuccessful. They said "it is the finger of Yahweh" meaning that since they are unable to do it in the name of the Egyptian gods, it must be attributed to the Hebrew god Yahweh.
5. Not stated. The horoscopists were unable to stand in front of Moses because of the bubbles and perhaps this is why they never had a chance to try to replicate this wonder.

God says "Paraoh will not listen to you, so that I will multiply my wonders in the land of Egypt".
NOTE: In J there are three signs. In E there is one sign. In P there is no sign before the Hebrews but there are five wonders performed before Paraoh. The wonders act primarilly to prove the superiority of Yahweh and thereby convince Paraoh to release the Hebrews. The wonders do cause some inconvenience to the Egyptians and seem to suggest that Yahweh is punishing the Egyptians for enslaving his people, the Hebrews. However, the contrast between Aaron’s act and that of the horoscopist suggests that the primary purpose of the these wonders was to demonstrate the superiority of Yahweh. They should certainly not be conidered "plauges" according to P. In fact, the term "plauge" (negah) is never mentioned by P in this account.
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Stop 1 - Departure from Egypt:

J account - Israelites slaughter the Pesach and firstborn Egyptians are smitten at midnight and paraoh sends his servants to moses (on the following day) to instruct the israelites that they can go.
E account - Firstborn Egyptians are smitten at midnight. Moses and Aaron are called before paraoh at night and told to leave immediately. The israelites leave immediately; their dough does not have a chance to become Chametz.
P account -
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Stop 1B - the route

E account - God does not lead the Israelites in the way of the land of the Phillistines, which is the close route. Instead, he leads them in the way of the wilderness, the Sea of reeds. This is done in order to avoid having to fight a war with the tough philistines.
Israelites complain to Moses "are there no graves in Egypt that you have taken us to die in the wilderness (due to lack of food and water)?"
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stop 2 - yhwh goes before the Israelites

J account - yhwh is going before the Israelites with a pillar of cloud during the day to show them the way and a pillar of fire (in the cloud perhaps?) during the night to provide lighting

E account - An angel of God goes before the Israelites
P account - ????
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stop 3 - the crossing of the Sea of Reeds

J account - yhwh is fighting for the Israelites through the pillar of cloud and fire. He establishes a strong eastern wind all night which causes the water to dry out (=freeze) so that Israel can pass. He melts the sea water after the Israelites pass through and the Egyptians are running towards a melted sea and are "shook up" and drowned.

E account - The "angel of God" who usually goes before the Israelites is now going behind them (to separate them from the Egyptians). The angel of God removes the wheel of the egyptian chariots and the egyptians thus get stuck in the water.

P Account - As the Egyptians pursue the Israelites and get closer, the Israelites cry out to yahweh. Following God’s order, Moses bends his staff on the ocean water and causes it to split and form two walls. The Israelites pass through on the dry land of the ocean floor and the Egyptians follow but when Moses bends his staff again upon the water, the water melts and the Egyptians who are still in the water are sunk.

NOTE: In JE yhwh’s presence is embodied in the pillar of cloud and fire. Yhwh fights the Egyptians through this presence like a king fighting to protect his people. However, no outright miracle is performed. Personal attributes are ascribed to this god. In P there is no physical presence of God but the manner in which the sea "splits" and forms two walls is absolutely miraculous and is controlled by the staff of Moses.
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stop 3B - The Song of the Sea

J account - Moses and the sons of Israel sing a lengthy poem to yhwh.

E account - Miriam, the sister of Aaron leads the women in singing a short song to yhwh. The women are playing tambourines and dancing.

P account - no song is mentioned
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stop 4 - No water in the Wilderness (Wilderness of Marah, MasaWumeribah/Choreb, Qadesh/ Tzin/Meribath Qadesh)

J account - (Wilderness of Marah) The Israelites go three days in the wilderness without water. The israelites complain. They finally arrive at a site that has bitter water. Moses, upon instruction from Yhwh, throws a piece of wood into the water and the water becomes sweet. The site is named "marah" (=bitter)

E Account - (MasaWumeribah) The israelites skirmish with Moses and ask him to provide water. Moses says "Why do you skirmigh with me and why are you probing Yhwh (whether Yhwh is in their midst)? Choreb is mentioned in the account. It is also possible that this occured in Rephidim since the E event immediately following this is the Amalekite Rephidim event.
The israelites complain "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to cause us to die here in thrist?" Upon instruction from Yhwh, Moses passes before the Israelites and strikes a stone in "Choreb" before the elders of Israel and water comes forth from the stone. The site is called "MasaWumeribah" (=test and skirmish).

P account - (Qadesh/ Wilderness of Tzin) According to P this even occurs at the very end of the 40-year Israelite journey in the wilderness at the site where Miriam died. There was no water for the congregation and the people quarelled with Moses and said "we wish we had died along with our brothers before yhwh. Why have you brought the congregation of yhwh to this wilderness to die here, us and our animals? Why have you brought us up from Egypt to bring us to this bad place? It is not a place of seed, figs, wine and pomegrandes, and there is no water to drink!"

Moses, following god’s orders assembles the congregation to the face of the boulder and says "listen now, you rebels: shall we bring forth water from this boulder?" Moses then smites the boulder twice with his staff and lots of water emerges.

God says to Moses and Aaron "Because you did not have faith in me, to make me holy in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring the congregation to the land that I have given them". It seems that Moses was expected to talk to the boulder to produce water and thereby demonstrated the greatness and holiness of god and not produce the water by smiting it which would not seem so supernatural. The place is called MeiMeribah (= water of the quarrel) or MeribathQadesh (= quarrel of Qadesh).

NOTE: In J, there is almost no miracle involved in this event. It seems that God is showing Moses a certain kind of wood that sweetens bitter water naturally, thus allowing the israelites to quench their thirst through the available water. In E, water is produced miraculously by hitting the stone. In P, Moses is expected to go even further and not even hit the stone, just talk to it. He doesn’t trust god that this will work and he is serverely punished. P also explains why the place is called "qadesh"; it is because god was sanctified through the "water of the quarrel".
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Stop 5 - Food in the wilderness (Choreb?)

JE account - Yhwh says "I will cause bread to rain from heaven and the people shall depart from the camp and gather the bread daily (from around the camp), so that I may probe the people as to whether they will follow my teaching or not. On the sixth day, there will be double portions and they shall prepare what they bring (for the following day, Sabbath)".
They gathered the bread daily and when the sun warmed it, the bread melted. (I believe that this verse belongs to JE).

P Account - (Wilderness of Sin between ailim and Sinai on the fifteenth day of the second month of the Exodus from Egypt). The congregation complains to Moses and Aaron and say "We wish we died at the hands of yhwh (a natural disater) in the land of Egypt when we were sitting at the pot of meat and eating bread until full. Why bring us to this wilderness to kill us in hunger?

Moses says to the Israelites to come close before yhwh because he has heard their complaint and will provide meat in the evening and bread in the morning. The glory of yhwh was then revealed in a cloud and yhwh promised Moses as such.

In the evening quails came up and covered the camp and in the morning, after the dew disappeared, the Israelites noticed a small, round thing like drops of ice on the ground. Moses explained that this is the bread that yhwh has given them to eat and he laid forth the rules, namely, they must not take more than what they can eat for that day (= one omer per person).
Some people disobeyed Moses and left over the bread until the morning. The bread accumulated worms and produced a foul smell. Moses was angry at those people.

On the sixth day, some men collected double portions. The chieftains of the community told Moses but this time Moses agreed and said "That (collecting double portions on friday) is what yhwh spoke! Tomorrow is a holy Sabbath to yhwh. What has to be cooked and baked (for tomorrow) shall be done now and the remainder (whatever cannot be eaten today) you shall keep until the morning".

Once again, some people did not listen to Moses and went out on Sabbath to look for the "man" bread but did not find any. Yhwh was angry.

NOTE: In the JE account there is no meat. There is also no mention of any complaint on the part of the people that prompted the provision of "man". There is no direct mention in JE of the two incidents in which some people did not follow god’s "command and teaching": they left over until the morning and they went out on the Sabbath. However, the mention of a "test whether they will follow my teaching" in the JE account may allude to theese incidents which demonstrated that the people had failed the test. In JE, the bread melts at noon while in P the bread becomes rotten if left overnight (which implies that it does not melt at noon).
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Stop 6 - Amalek fights Israel (Rephidim, Negebh/mountain)

P account - **J account according to elliott** (occurs after sending of the spies in the region adjacent to the negebh/mountain) The Amalakite and Canaanite dwell in the mountain (which the spies used to enter the land?). Upon hearing yhwh’s decree following Israel’s refusal to conquer canaan due to the report of the spies, the people are very saddened and they changed their mind and said "we are ready, let us go up to the place that god said for we have sinned". The following morning they went up the mountain to fight the Amalekites and Canaanites against moses’ advice and they are defeated and pursued until "charmah" (=destruction).

E account - (occurs before the sending of spies in Rephidim) Amalek attacks Israel. Moses ascends to the top of the mountain and lifts up his hand holding the staff of god. This causes the Amaelkites to lose. Moses writes in the book of memories "Yhwh will erase the male Amalekites from underneath the heaven". Moses builds an altar named "YahwehNesi" (=yhwh is my flagstaff) and offers sacrifices to yhwh (assumed).

NOTE: The origin of the name charmah differs according to the two accounts. In P, the origin is as described above but in J, the canaanite king of Arad fights the Israelites in the Negebh and the Israelites eventually defeat him and destroy his cities and call the place charmah. (This is why I disagree with Elliott on the source of this account) In P, there is no mention of any battle with the Amalekites at Rephidim (which is identified as the place where the israelites camped before Sinai Ex 19:2). It is noteworthy that the two events of Amalek and Meribah seem to be connected chronologically in both accounts. According to E Amalek occured in Rephidim and Meribah occured in Choreb immediately afterwards. Even though the story of Meribah is told before Amalek in Ex chapter 17, it must have occured first, because we know from P that the Israelites went from Rephidim to Choreb/Sinai (Ex 19:2). According to P Amalek occured in Qadesh/Paran (Num 14:40) and Meribah occured in Qadesh/Tzin (Num 20) immediately afterwards. There seems to have been a tradition connecting the two events.
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stop 7 - Moses’ Father-in-law comes to the wilderness (the mountain of God in Choreb, Sinai)

J account - (at mount Sinai) Chabab the son of Reuel the Midianite visits Moses in the wilderness (to return his wife and kids?) and apparently spends some time there (assumed) and acts as the "eyes" of Israel. Moses asks him to go along with his people and that he will be rewarded once Israel conquers the land but Chabab refuses and returns to his land in Midian. Exodus 34.

E account - (at the mountain of God) Yethrau, a midianite priest brings moses’ wife and two kids to Moses who is camped at the mountain of God in the wilderness (of Choreb). Yethrau hears all that Yhwh had done for Israel and brings burnt offerings and peace offerings to God. Aaron and the elders of Israel join Yethrau for the meal held in front of God.

Moses Judges the people all day. When people come to "query god", Moses judges between the two litigants and notifies them the ordinances and teachings of God. Yethrau advises moses to function as an intermediary between god and the people ONLY, notifying them the ordinances and teachings of God but delegating regular judgements to "people of strength who fear god, men of truth who hate unjust gain". Yethrau returns to his land (Midian).

NOTE: It is almost certain that the E account occurs after Moses had issued the various laws contained in Parashath Mishpatim (Exodus 21-24) because in it Moses says "and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws". Furthermore, Yethrau is said to have come to the mountain of God and "mountain of god" is associated with the issue of the decalog in the E account (Ex 19:2-3 and Ex 24:13).

According to E, then, the order of things is as follows: departure from Egypt, crossing of the red sea, issue of statutes and judgements (in Marah?), provision of bread from heaven, Meribah, Amalek in Rephidim, Revelation at Mountain of God (Choreb), Yethrau at Mountain of God, Golden calf, tent of meeting, Taberah (burning), provison of quail at Qebroth Hatawah, snowwhite Miriam at Chatseroth, report of the spies in the wilderness of Paran (qadesh), Nehushtan, Bele’am.

According to J, the order is as follows: departure from Egypt, crossing of the red sea, Marah/Meribah, provision of bread from heaven, revelation at mount Sinai & issue of the Decalog, Chabab (Yethrau) at Sinai, report of the spies, Dathan and Abiram, circumvension of Edom, defeat of canaanites at Charmah, Defeat of Amorites and Bashanites, Heresy of Peor, Appointment of Joshua.
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stop 8 - The covenant (Choreb, Sinai)

E account (at the mountain of god, in Choreb?) - Israel camps against the mountain. Moses ascends the mountain of God and god proposes a covenant with Israel "You shall harken my voice and keep my covenant and in return I will choose you from amongst all the nations to be my precious jewel. You will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation". The elders of Israel agree and Moses notifies Yhwh.

Yhwh says "I will come (from heaven) to you in a thick cloud so that the people hear me speak to you and thus trust you forever". Moses notifies the people.

There was a loud sound of the trumpet (from the mountain of God) and the people were frightened. Moses led the people from the camp to the bottom of the mountain. He spoke to God and God answered him with a sound (emerging from the thick cloud). The scripture does not state what the topic of conversation was.

The people saw the lightning and smoking mounatin and heard the thunder and the sound of the trumpet and trembled and asked moses that God no longer speak to them (=to moses in front of them) lest they die. Moses explains that god came to lay forth the commandments and "test" israel whether they will keep them AND so that the fear of god will be on the Israelite faces and they will not sin. Nonetheless, moses agrees that God will no longer speak to them and god henceforth spoke only to moses from the thick cloud and the people stood from afar.

God speaks words and judgements to Moses (alone) on the mountain and Moses then relates those items to the people. The people say "we will do all the words that yahweh has said". The following day, Moses builds an altar and slaughters oxen as peace offerings to yhwh. Moses writes down the words of yhwh and reads the book of the covenant in the ears of the people; the people reply "we will do and listen to all that yhwh has said". Moses sprinkles half the blood on the people and half the blood on the altar and says "behold, this is the blood of the covenant that yhwh has made with you over all these words".

Moses, Aaron, the priests and the elders of Israel ascend the mountain but only Moses is allowed to go to the top. The others protrate, see god and "envision" God from afar; they eat and drink and then descend. Moses and his servant Joshua alone then ascend the mountain of God while Aaron and Chur remain with the people to judge them. God fashions two tablets of stone and engraves the law and the Commandment on them (both sides) over the course of 40 days and hands it to Moses. However, when Moses descends the mountain and sees the calf and the dancing, he shatters the tablets at the bottom of the mountain. It seems inappropriate to present the tablets of the law to a sinful people.

J account - (at mount Sinai) Moses says to the people to wash their clothes, abstain from sex and prepare for the third day on which yhwh will descend unto mount Sinai for all to see. Nobody may ascend the mountain until the yobel trumpet sounds. On the third day, in the morning there was thunder and lightning, a heavy cloud on the mountain, a loud sound of the trumpet and Mount Sinai was full of smoke because yhwh had descended unto it in a fire.
Yhwh calls Moses to the top of the mountain and instructs him to warn the people against ascending the mountain but moses says that he has already done so. Yhwh then says "descend and come back up with Aaron and the priests but the people shall not break through to come up lest yhwh will break forth among them". Moses descends to the people and tells them.

Finally, Moses (along with the preists) ascends to Mount Sinai (in the morning, still) and takes along two stone tablets. Yhwh descends unto the mountain in a cloud and stands alongside moses (for all to see). Moses calls in the name of yhwh and yhwh passes by and calls out "yhwh is a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth, keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity, disobedience and sin; but he will by no means clear the guilty completely, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children`s children, on the third and on the fourth generation."

Yhwh says "Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among which you are, shall see the work of Yahweh that he does with you, for he is fearful. In return, you shall keep whatever I command you today..." and Yhwh goes on issuing to Moses the ten articles of the covenant over the course of 40 days during which Moses did not eat or drink. Moses writes the ten articles of the covenant on the two stone tablets he had brought with him.

P Account - For six days a cloud covered mount Sinai and the glory of god manifested in the form of a consuming fire at the top of the mountain was visible to all the children of Israel. On the seventh day, yahweh called unto Moses from the cloud and Moses ascended the mountain and came into the cloud. God first relates the decalog directly to the people and then Moses spends some time on the mountain (probably 40 days) while God tells him all the laws of the tabernacle, incense and vestments (Chap. 25-28 and parts of 30) as well as ritual law (Chap. 29 and parts of 30) and lastly the law of Sabbath (Ex 31:12). When finished, God writes down the laws on "two stone tablets of the testimony" and gives them to Moses.

Moses descends the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands but he is not aware that the skin of his face had become shiny (burnt?) while speaking with yahweh. Aaron and the chieftains are afraid to approach Moses but when Moses calls them they return to him and Moses relates to them all that yahweh had spoken to him on Mount Sinai. When Moses is done delivering the sermon, he places a mask on his face so that people are not afarid to come close to him. He keeps the mask ONLY when not communicating with God or delivering Fod’s word to the people. It seems that the reason he does not don the mask while delivering his sermon is so that the people see his chiny face and learn to respect him. Once done with the sermon, he dons the mask so that ordinary people are not afraid to approach him.

NOTE: In JE the revelation at Sinai is depicted as an encounter between God and Moses, NOT a revelation to the general crowd. In J, the covenant proposal and the decalog is spoken to Moses while everyone is watching. This seems to confirm that Moses is indeed the messenger of God. However, God never communicates directly with the people. The language of Ex 34:10 clearly shows that God is speaking to Moses only. In E the purpose of the revelation is to establish the people’s trust in Moses as they witness God talking with Moses (Ex 19:9). Again, god is talking to Moses only, relating to him not only the decalog but the various statutes and judgements contained in Parashath Mishpatim (Ex 20:19-23:33). Only in P is the Sinai revelation depicted as a message from God directly to the people.

Moreover, in E, the decalog does not exist as a distinct entity altogether. Ex 23:12-24 is not separated from the rest of the laws in any way. They are just part of the general law code issued to Moses on the mountain of God which was later written down and read before the people (Ex 24:4-7). In J, there are no laws other than the Decalog (Ex 34:10-25). In essence, the declog is all the law the Israelites were ever given. Only in P is there a major distinction between the decalog (Ex 20:2-14) and the rest of the law which was given to Moses piecemeal at the two cherubs (Ex 25:22) over the course of Israel’s journey in the wilderness. How do I know that it wasn’t all given at once? Ex 34:34-35 describes a routine, not a one-time incident. In addition, Ex 35:1 describes how Moses related to Israel the first batch of laws about the Tabernacle and its ritual and Sabbath. No other laws are told to Moses in the preceding chapters and no other laws are related by Moses to the people in the ensuing chapters.

In J, the theme of three is commonplace: Israel goes three days in Marah without water (Ex 15:22), Israel prepares for the revelation at Sinai for the third day (Ex 19:10-11). In E, no preparation is mentioned. In P it is a six day preparation (Ex 24:16).

Who writes the code onto the tablets?

In J it is Moses who sculpts the tablets and it is Moses who then writes the decalog onto the tablets over the course of 40 days and gives them to Israel Ex 34:27-28). The tablets are never broken or replaced in J! In E it is God who creates the tablets and it is god who writes the "law and the commandment" on them (Ex 24:12). This seems to suggest that the entire covenant code (Ex 21:1-23:19) is written down, which is what we would expect since in E there is no distinction between the declog and the rest of the covenant code. These tablets are then broken by Moses in reaction to the Golden calf sin and they are never replaced! The story of a new set of tablets (Ex 34:1) seems to be RJE (redactor of JE) material in an attempt to find a niche for the J Sinai revelation story. In P, they are called "tablets of testimony", they are made of stone and are written by the finger of god (Ex 31:18). They are kept in a special gold-plated ark, the "ark of the testimony", which assumes major significance to the Israelites as a sign of yahweh’s presence. This ark is mentioned in J too but there it is called "ark of the covenant" and it does not state explicitly that the tablets were kept there (Ex 10:33-35).
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The golden calf episode

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stop 9 - The report of the Spies (Qadesh?)

J account - Moses sent spies to the land they intended to conquer. They visited the following:

* Amalekites who reside in the negebh, southern, desert region of palastine.
* Hittite, Jebusite and Amorites who reside in the mountain.
* Canaanites who reside alongside the ocean and alongside the Jordan.

They brough back some fruit, which looked good but the spies claimed that the people are too strong. Caleb, was the only spy who disagreed and said that the people are conquerable. And so the people wept and said "let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt".

Yhwh said to Moses "Until when will this people vex me and not have faith in me, in all the signs that I have performed in his midst?" Yhwh proposed to eradicate the Israelite people and create a new, more faithful, nation out of moses but moses pleaded with yhwh not do so and to forgive the people’s iniquity. Yhwh said that he will forgive; however, the generation that saw the glory of yhwh and his "signs" in Egypt and the wilderness but refused to harken the voice of yhwh, will not see the land, except for Caleb.
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stop 10 - The rebellion against Moses by Dathan and Abiram (Qadesh?)
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Stop 11 - Conquering the Transjordan Land of Sichon and Og (Amorites and Bashanites)

J account - The Israelites arrive at Qadesh at the border of Edom and ask permission from the edomites to pass their land. The Edomites refuse and the Israelites turned away from Edom (encircling the land instead).

The canaanite king of Arad feels threatened and attacks Israel. After initial success, he is eventually repelled and defeated. Israel destroys Arad and some of the neighboring canaanite cities and calls the place "charma". They apparently have no interest in settling the "negebh" desert lands and so they move east to go around Edom and then north with the intention of conquering some land in the transjordan north of Edom.

Israel passes the brook of Zered and enters Moabite territory and then arrives at the brook of Arnon. They request permission from Sichon the Amorite king of Cheshbon to pass through his land. Sichon refuses and gathers his entire people to fight the Israelites at "yahtza". The Israelites are victorious and inherit the land from the brook of Arnon in the south until the Yabok river to the north and the Ammonite border to the east.

The israelites then pass the Yabok river and ascend the way of the "bashan". Og the king of the Bashan and his entire people go out against them and fight them in "adrai". Once the again the israelites are victorious and they inherit his land.
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