- Jacob, called Israel after a divine manifestation, has twelve sons whose
descendants constitute the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The history of these
descendants leads to Egypt and eventually into bondage to the Pharaoh.
C. Moses and the Exodus
- “Let My People Go”
a. The book of Exodus tells the story of Moses. His life and role as a
prophet of Israel, and the expectation that there would be another like
him, shaped the stories of both Jesus and Muhammad.
b. The story of how Moses overmastered the Pharaoh is given more
detail in the Quran than even in the Bible, where it occupies a large
portion of Exodus. Through a series of negotiations, miracles and
divine revelations, Moses, under the guidance of God, managed to
secure the freedom for the nation of Israel.
c. What follows is the famous parting of the Red Sea to allow the
Israelites to escape the Pharaoh’s troops. - Across Sinai
a. Once the Israelites are freed from Egyptian slavery, they begin a
period of wandering in the Sinai for 40 years, setting into motion a
series of events which preserved the community’s integrity.
b. Moses is also the prophet the “Lord knew face to face” (Deut. 34:1) and
who brought down from Mount Sinai a law both moral and ceremonial,
the Torah—or the first five books of the Bible.
c. From that point on, the Israelites are bound together by three things:
(1) tribal identity, (2) belief in the one true God, and (3) the Law
handed down to Moses.
d. The Israelites got what territory in Canaan they could manage to hold by
force of arms. It expanded and shrank under different political circum-
stances, as it still does.
© F.E. Peters
Stone at the Dome of the Rock.