"Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Israel: Another Creation Story

In Walking the Bible Bruce Feiler writes:

The dramatic events surrounding the crossing of the sea hearken back unavoidably to the opening verses of Genesis: the dividing of the Red Sea recalls the splitting of the watery world into two; the destroying of the Egyptian army evokes the slaying of the forces of chaos.  In this passage, the Bible serves up yet another creation story.  And this time the product is not the world; it's the nation of Israel.  As Avner said, "Now the people are free. Now the real work begins." 


So I thought why a chosen people? What "real work"?  Was God a universal god or just for the Israelites? 

Why did God "create" Israel?

And here we are talking about Israel of long ago. Not this current Zionist state.  Just wanted to be clear.


Thoughts?


(pg. 190)

8 comments:

Amber said...

You have to start somewhere? :)

Suroor said...

Because the author was from Israel? :-D

Susanne said...

Y'all are funny! :-D

Wafa said...

Is God only a father after all ? a parent who prefers one to another?
i heard that's what parents do !!!

Anyway, i don't believe it at all. Beside do you know that rumors say that Muslims are the favorite kids NOW !!
no wonder Christians never claim that( unless you do and no one told me) Jews and Muslims are cousins :P

Susanne said...

Wafa', nooooooooooo, no! I am the favorite! ;-D

Ha, ha! You made me smile! :)

Lat said...

Many prophets are from Isreal and their stories are more fascinating than the ones that went to China and India :)

Maybe the world then wasn't like it is now,with countries separated much by oceans and seas.You know before the big bang theory? All land was clumped togther.So maybe there wasn't a Europe then.So the big mess of land was somewhere in the middle where most of the divine inspiration seem to have occured.I'm sure that God left room for divine inspiration for other ethnic groups too.Just that they aren't as popular as OT prophets? But I'm sure that God never leaves anyone behind!

Amber said...

Pangaea? Wasn't that like 250 million years ago or something? Paleozoic age?

Maybe the other peoples had prophets but they got mixed into native mythology and aren't recognizable as prophets any more? (Just playing devils advocate here...) I stand by my original answer. God had to pick somewhere to start! :)

Susanne said...

Lat, that's an interesting thought! I wonder why the Jewish prophets' stories survived so well. I guess others did also; I'm just not very familiar with them. It would be neat to know their interaction with God in the same way I can read of God and Israel in the OT.

It's funny how the Jewish story lives on and is well-known and accepted by millions worldwide. Just stuff I was puzzling about, I suppose. :)


Amber, true! I guess I was curious about this Jewish man's thoughts of why God created Israel. WHY this new creation of them? Set them free for what? I have my own thoughts of that, but I wish I could know HIS more. :)