The biblical Hebrews had been in Egypt for generations, but apparently they became a threat, so one of the pharaohs enslaved them. It derived from Habiru, a variant spelling of Ḫapiru (Apiru), a designation of a class of people who made their living by hiring themselves out for various services. Originally the term Hebrew had nothing to do with race or ethnic origin. The date of MosesĪccording to the biblical account, Moses’ parents were from the tribe of Levi, one of the groups in Egypt called Hebrews. The aid of critical scholarship notwithstanding, the sources are so sketchy that the man Moses can be portrayed only in broad outline. The most accurate answer to a critical problem is therefore likely to come from the convergence of various lines of evidence. Other critical methods (studying the biblical text from the standpoint of literary form, oral tradition, style, redaction, and archaeology) are equally valid. The reconstruction of the documentary sources of the Pentateuch by literary critics is considered valid, but the sources are viewed as varying versions of one series of events ( see biblical literature: The Torah ). While the essence of the biblical story (narrated between Exodus 1:8 and Deuteronomy 34:12) is accepted, it is recognized that, during the centuries of oral and written transmission, the account acquired layers of accretions. Albright, presents a point of view that falls somewhere between these two extremes. This article, following the lead of the biblical archaeologist and historian W.F. He contended that the biblical story tracing the Hebrews from Egypt to Canaan resulted from an editor’s weaving separate themes and traditions around a main character Moses, actually an obscure person from Moab. Although recognizing a historical core beneath the Exodus and Sinai traditions, Noth believed that two different groups experienced these events and transmitted the stories independently of each other. Opposing this is the theory of the German scholar Martin Noth, who, while granting that Moses may have had something to do with the preparations for the conquest of Canaan, was very skeptical of the roles attributed to him by tradition. Early Jewish and Christian traditions considered him the author of the Torah (“Law,” or “Teaching”), also called the Pentateuch (“Five Books”), comprising the first five books of the Bible, and some conservative groups still believe in Mosaic authorship. The historical problem Historical views of Mosesįew historical figures have engendered such disparate interpretations as has Moses. His influence continues to be felt in the religious life, moral concerns, and social ethics of Western civilization, and therein lies his undying significance. In the Judaic tradition, he is revered as the greatest prophet and teacher, and Judaism has sometimes loosely been called Mosaism, or the Mosaic faith, in Western Christendom. As the interpreter of these Covenant stipulations, he was the organizer of the community’s religious and civil traditions. Sinai, where the Ten Commandments were promulgated, he founded the religious community known as Israel. Moses, Hebrew Moshe, (flourished 14th–13th century bce), Hebrew prophet, teacher, and leader who, in the 13th century bce (before the Common Era, or bc), delivered his people from Egyptian slavery.
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