Page 8 - FLIP BOOK TOPICS (A)

Moses.
While no account has been preserved concerning the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt, the
history of the Exodus itself, which signifies the birth of Israel as a nation, is fully reported. In
this crisis Moses is the prophetical mediator through whom the wonderful deed of God is
accomplished. All the deeds of God, when interpreted by this prophet, become revelations for
the people. Moses himself had no other authority or power than that which was secured for
him through his office as the organ of God. He was the human instrument to bring about the
synthesis between Israel and Yahweh for all times. He had, in doing this, indeed proclaimed
the old God of the fathers, but under the new, or at any rate hitherto to the people unknown,
name of Yahweh, which is a characteristic mark of the Mosaic revelations to such an extent,
that the more accurate narrators (E and P) begin to make use of this name only from this
period of time on. In the name of this absolute sovereign, God, Moses claims liberty for
Israel, since this people was Yahweh’s firstborn (Ex 4:22). The contest which Moses carries
on in the name of this God with Pharaoh becomes more and more a struggle between this
God and the gods of Egypt, whose earthly representative Pharaoh is. The plagues which
come over Egypt are all founded on the natural conditions of the country, but they occur in
such extraordinary strength and rapidity at Moses’ prediction, and even appear at his
command, that they convince the people, and finally Pharaoh himself, of the omnipotence of
this God on the soil of this country. In the same way the act of deliverance at the Red Sea can
be explained as the cooperation of natural causes, namely wind and tide. But the fact that
these elementary. forces, just at this critical time, proved so serviceable to the people of God
and destructive to their enemies, shows unmistakably the miraculous activity of God. This
the Israelites experienced still further on the journey through the desert, when they were
entirely dependent on Divine leadership and care. The outcome of these experiences, and at
the same time its grandest demonstration, was the conclusion of the covenant at Mt. Sinai.
From this time on Yahweh was Israel’s God and Israel was the people of Yahweh. This God
claimed to be the only and absolute ruler over the tribes that were now inwardly united into
one nation. From this resulted as a matter of course, that Moses as the recognized organ of
this God was not only the authority, who was to decide in all disputes concerning right, but
also the one from whom a new and complete order of legal enactments proceeded. Moses
became the lawgiver of Israel.