Exodus Reading

The reading we had in Exodus was really illuminating to me on the history of the Israelites and how important and crucial they are in God’s plan, history of the faith (both Judaism and the lead up to Early Christianity), and to the Scripture as a whole. In the Laws section, I found it particularly interesting how “to a tee” the laws were “written” and practiced, as well as upheld by traditional Jewish society and culture.

Some of the laws/concepts I found interesting were the following:

Exodus 21:24’s rendition of “eye for an eye” revenge

The treatment of “orphans” and “widows” specifically

The discussion of the consequences for not obeying the laws.

I think much of the discussion so far about the Old Testament, especially as we’ve seen in class as proclaimed from a chair is that it is not supposed to all be taken literally or that its utility can be derived from different sorts of readings of it. So, given that as background, as well as the idea that Genesis and the Old Testament are not “testaments” to good moral characters of high ethical standings, it is interesting to me the juxtaposition that has with the very extremely specific code of conduct given to the Israelites/Jews from our most recent reading.