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Exodus 14 Moses And The Israelite Analysis

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Intro: “…one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” And so finishes the Pledge of Allegiance for the United States of America. Whether or not a person would wish to identify our nation as a Christian one, there is certainly no doubt that the very oath that binds a person into serving it includes serving God. As it follows, many of our laws are centered around our understanding of the Bible, and the morality that can be gleaned from it. Even in our modern time, where the lines are becoming more and more blurred, eighty-three percent of Americans still identify themselves as Christian. A common national ideology is that our country has a favored nation status with God; thus it is our responsibility to ‘sow the …show more content…

In Exodus 14, Moses and the Israelites have become sandwiched between the Egyptian military and the chaotic Reed Sea. Yet YHWH’s instruction to them is not to turn and fight, but rather ‘be silent’ (Exodus 14:14). YHWH promised to come and fight on their behalf. Fast forward to Deuteronomy 2:26-35, and we get yet another story of Israel and potential military activity. Regardless of whether you read the text as actual warfare taking place, or that of an ideological battle (of which the argument can be made for), I want to note two things: Moses initially tried to make a peace agreement with King Sihon, of which Sihon refused. In addition, we clearly see that it is Heshbon who attacks Israel, and not the other way around. Finally, coming to the story just before Ai in the Joshua narrative, we are given the story of the siege of Jericho (Joshua 6). In the Jericho passage, we see that YHWH is the voice giving Joshua instruction regarding how they are to enter the city. Despite YHWH’s instruction, there are multiple instances in this text where Joshua technically disobeys the voice of YHWH, of which I would ascribe to the resulting destruction. The reason I bring up Jericho and Heshbon, are because they stand in contrast with the Ai narrative in that, like Egypt and Heshbon, YHWH’s voice was present in the happenings. With Ai this is not the case. Joshua will attack Ai without the voice of YHWH preceding the

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