"Where did we all come from?"
With such an answer, when no other could be given, as "O you all come from a great way off somewhere beyond the sea."
"Aye, but how did we get over the sea?"
"Oh, why the sea dired up, and let you through. Ye see, that was a very particular sort of sea: it was a red sea."
"But when we were come over, how did we get any victuals?"
"Victuals! Oh, why it rained victuals. The nicest apple-dumplings and roast mutton you ever ate in your life."
"What did you call it?"
"Yes that was what we called it. What d'ye call it was the very name of it, Manna! - they called it What d'ye call it. It was angel's food."
"And how did we do for clothes?"
"Oh, the clothes that you came out of Egypt with were a sort of clothes that never wore out."
"But what did the people say when we came and drove them out of their land, and took possession of it for ourselves?"
"O, you cut their throats, and then, you know, they said nothing."
"But what right had we to do so?"
"Ah! but such religious people as you have no occasion to inquire about right, - God Almighty gave you a right."
"And where was God Almighty all the while?"
"Why, you carried him along with you in a box, made of shittim wood."
Such, Sirs, even such, is the natural genealogy of an Exodus. [Robert Taylor, 1830]
| Exodus 2:11-12 | Moses murders an Egyptian. I'm a bit concerned about what moral message this sends. If this had been in today's society Moses would have been hunted down as a murderer and arrested and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison or he even might have been given the death penalty, but in the Bible story here he is never arrested or punished, possibly because the person he killed was a foreigner. The commandment about not murdering people applies only to Jews murdering other Jews. "Moses was a murderer, but this was not a character flaw because his victum was an Egyptian."[1] |
| Exodus 5:1 | Does the Bible say, "Thou shalt not lie"? Apparently it's OK to lie if it might get you what you want. Here Moses is lying to Pharaoh. The request is for temporary leave, but of course Moses has no intention of returning if granted this leave. |
| Exodus 7:8-12 | It is possible that the trick of turning a staff into a serpent was a standard effect used by magicians in the Near East. Houdini spoke on this years ago. "The Egyptian Priest knew of a snake which became rigid when pressure was exerted on a nerve center at the base of the skull, and which was set squirming again by pressure on a nerve center at the tail. Aaron, no doubt, learned the secret from some priest." - Houdini [Bookman Magazine of January 1927, article titled, "Houdini's Literary Escape," by Prosper Buranellie,.] |
| Exodus 8:27 | Again Moses is lying to Pharaoh. The request is for a three-day leave, but of course Moses has no intention of returning if granted this leave. |
| Exodus 11:4-7 | "God appeared in some passages to be not only a nationalistic deity but also a sadistic one who delighted in killing the firstborn in every Egyptian household. The purpose of this exercise, said the biblical writer, was so that all would know 'that the Lord makes a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel.'"[2] |
| Exodus 14:16-15:21 | "The Bible confronted me with the picture of God rejoicing over the drowning of the Egyptians at the Red Sea. Was this God not also the God of the Egyptians? I wondered."[3] |
| Exodus 15:26 | "Exodus 15:26 is an incantation mentioned in the Mishna." [4,p.364] |
| Exodus 21:1-7 | Laws governing slavery. Various scriptures concerning slavery were used by the southern states of the U.S. to justify slavery. |
| Exodus 20:1-17 | Ten Commandments |
| Exodus 22:20 | A very good way to insure the survival of your religion is to "utterly destroy" anyone who practices any other religion. |
| Exodus 32:19 | I have seen this verse quoted by a pastor who felt that dancing was immoral as evidence that the Bible supports his injunction against dancing, although it is quite obvious from the context that Moses is mad not because the people were dancing but because they were worshiping another god. Notice here that Moses is poised to be the supreme high priest of all the people, a very high position where he will be the ruler and treated like a king. So possibly Moses is very upset that the people are no longer treating him as the high priest ruler. He is in danger of loosing his precious position of power, so naturally he is very mad. He wants to live the good life, but if the people don't treat him as the high priest who talks directly to God, then he will not have the good life. |
| Exodus 34:10-26 | Ten Commandments |
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