Jews In Wilderness Essay, Research Paper
After the fifteenth day of the second month in the wilderness the people of Israel cursed Moses and Aaron for taking them away from the fleshpots of Egypt where they ate bread to the full, to this horrid wilderness to be killed with hunger. The Lord heard there murmurings and said to Moses that every morning he would rain bread, which the house of Israel called manna. If the people stored the manna it would breed worms and become foul, but for a while some mistrusting Israelites stored the manna. On the sixth dayThe Lord would rain a double portion of manna for the Israelites. They were to save half thedouble portion to eat on the Sabbath, because the Sabbath was a day when God and Man shouldrest. On that day no manna would fall from the sky and no man should go out looking forit, but rest inside and eat the leftover manna, although some mistrusting Israelites wentout on the Sabbath to look for the manna. After that The Lord had to correct themistrusting Israelites by asking “‘How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and mylaws? See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore on the sixth day he gives youbread for two days; remain every man of you in his place, let no man go out of his place onthe seventh day” so the people rested on the seventh day’ Now the Israelites were in Reph’dim, and even now they found fault in Moses and their Lord. They asked Moses to five them water to drink, and Moses asked ‘why do you find fault with me? Why do you put the Lord to the proof?’1 Yet the people still thirsted for water and cursed Moses and asked him why he brought them out here away from Egypt so that our families and cattle will die of thirst. ‘So Moses asked the Lord what shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me?’ ‘ The Lord said to take with you some of the elders of Israel and take the rod that you touched the Nile with, and go. I will
come before you on the rock at Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink.’ Then there was Am’alek and fought Israel. Israel fought Am’alek, Moses stood on the top of the hill with the rod in his hand. When Moses held up his hands with the rod in them Israel would be winning, when his hands were down they would be losing. After holding his arms up for a while he grew weary, so Aaron and Hur held up his hands so that in the end Israel won. Then Jethro (Moses’ father in law) came and helped Moses set up a judicial system, where there would be trustworthy men chosen to rule over thousand, hundreds, fifties, and tens. They would judge all small incidents and would bring all great matters to Moses. Then the Lord came down to mount Sinai and only Moses would come to visit him, any one else who touched the mountain would be zapped. Then God gave Moses The Ten Commandments. Then the Lord gave Israel laws protecting human beings, laws dealing with property and miscellaneous social and cultic laws. He then told them to build the ark of the covenant which would hold The Ten Commandments, then told them to build an altar and the court. When Moses was up receiving the tablets which had on them The Ten Commandments, the Lord told him that Israel was breaking the covenant by worshipping a false god. Moses ran down the mountain and saw them worshipping a gold bull, much like the worship in Crete and other Greek and pagan civilizations. God was angry and wanted to annihilate the entire community for this blasphemous act, but Moses told the Lord that the Egyptians would make fools of them saying that the Lord led them to the mountains to slay them, and the Lord changed his mind, but did slaughter many Israelites, but he did not annihilate them.