Exodus - outside reading

    The book of Exodus has popped up a lot in my life lately, whether it be personal reading or reading for two different classes this semester. I have had to evaluate the plight of Israel from an archeological perspective, a leadership perspective, and a religious perspective recently. Something that has really stood out to me is how similar I am to the Israelite people in my propensity to disobey God’s authority. I often do so with an initial shamelessness. Something that I think connects well to the topic of orality in this class is Moses’s inability to lead the people or speak to Pharaoh with his own voice. It sounds like Moses may have had some sort of speech impediment, which I had never noticed before. God knew this about Moses and acknowledged the importance of strong oral abilities by allowing his brother Aaron to be his mouthpiece. It was imperative that the Israelites had a person who could translate God’s words to Moses to them effectively.

I also found it interesting how comparable Moses and his relation to God was to the Oracle at Delphi that we talked about in class. The Oracle received divine words and they came out of her in a way that only the priests could understand. Then, they had to translate it for the general public. In a way, Moses does something similar. He receives direct words from God, tells Aaron what God told him, and then Aaron speaks to the Israelites.


April 10, 2022

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