Moses

The story of Moses is really interesting, because it happens hundreds of years after Jacob and the regime that ruled Egypt in Jacobs time. Holding to the theme of the bible thus far, God picks Moses to undertake the task of freeing the Hebrews from Egyptian bondage. Of course Moses is very fearful of undertaking the task, considering that he had just left for killing a guard that was beating a Hebrew. But with God's divine influence and some compromises (God had to display powers to Moses, and finally got upset with him and told him to bring Aaron, since at least he could speak fluently) it is able to get Moses to travel back to Egypt and teach them a lesson. The really interesting part of this story is that God decides to harden the Pharaohs heart, so that he will not yield to Moses' will. God obviously had it out for the Egyptians when he took away the Pharaohs free will to answer. It seems to go against the contemporary idea of the choice between good and evil. There is also a lot of questioning of God's abilities in the story as well. Every time the Hebrews get into a bad situation, their like, well Moses what are we going to do now? It is interesting that within the first book of the bible that people have already forgot the power of God and he needs to come back to show his dominance. Moses even has to ask God what his name is, so that when they ask who the hell he's talking about he can say.... But in God's ultimate wisdom he quotes, "I AM WHO I AM, " or I'm everything as I take it. This story really pushes the idea that people easily forget that it is God that gives them life and it is God that can take it away. Even after all the things God grants the Israelites they still defy him at every chance that they get.

Another Account of Creation

Creations

In the first creation story it seems that everything was good. I wonder if God had seen good things before he created the earth, or if the creation of earth was his first understanding of "good?" The first creation story continues to list the good things God did to the earth. In the first creation a wind swept over the land and just through God's words the objects of the earth were created. In the second account of creation God came down to earth and physically breathed life into humans and planted the gardens of Eden. The second account also brings in little bit of vanity when the story explains the lay of the land and where gold and other precious metals can be found. This account of creation is much more fun, because it sets up mankind for their follies. God begins creation with a "look but don't touch spiel" about how to run about in his garden. Not after too long, Adam and Eve are tricked into eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of course, Adam blames the incident on his newly created life, knowing now that what he did was evil (wrong). It doesn't really say that God ever even told Eve that she couldn't eat from the tree, considering he told Adam before Eve was even created.

Within a few paragraphs, along with all the physical creations of the earth, God has created sexism, classism, vanity, deception, fear, and most of the things that give humans their distinct characteristics. The first creation story only gives the basic physical characteristics of creation. It doesn't give any of the emotion of what it means to be alive on the earth. I think this is where J's writing becomes so crucial in the bible, without it we wouldn't have an emotional connection with the writing. The cartoon I posted above gives a fun account of creation with children watching it. I think J would have really liked it, because it shows the inevitability of creation and destruction and the emotions that it brings about.