Alternative interpretations - Reading between the lines Part I (Revelation, believe, Moses)
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NOTE: This topic is not going to be for those who are biblical literalists who are not interested in any other explanations.
The first story up for discussion is the story of Moses meeting god at the burning bush. On the surface, the story, though incredulous sounds plausible to the ear of those of faith, but there may be a more reality based answer.
AS the story goes, Moses escaped Egypt to Midian and meets a priest by the name of Jethro. He even marries one of his daughters. Jethro, we are told, was a priest and it appears he is a priest of the desert god of nomads - Yahweh. Interestingly enough, Yahweh is the same god who meets Moses and while Jethro knows of this god, Moses doesn't and Yahweh has to introduce himself.
Later we are told that Jethro plays a key role in advising Moses and even helps him set up the mobile Israelite structure of government while the Israelites wandered in the wilderness. This has led some to believe that Jethro, priest of Yahweh/El, may have actually been the one who taught Moses about Yahweh and the story of the burning bush, like the story of Muhammad being in a cave in meditation, was a "miraculous" story thrown out there to remove any idea that the revelation of "god" was merely a human invention. Why is Jethro so involved in the process? Was his influence much deeper than we know? Remember, Midian was a son of Abraham (if I recall).
NOTE: This topic is not going to be for those who are biblical literalists who are not interested in any other explanations.
The first story up for discussion is the story of Moses meeting god at the burning bush. On the surface, the story, though incredulous sounds plausible to the ear of those of faith, but there may be a more reality based answer.
AS the story goes, Moses escaped Egypt to Midian and meets a priest by the name of Jethro. He even marries one of his daughters. Jethro, we are told, was a priest and it appears he is a priest of the desert god of nomads - Yahweh. Interestingly enough, Yahweh is the same god who meets Moses and while Jethro knows of this god, Moses doesn't and Yahweh has to introduce himself.
Later we are told that Jethro plays a key role in advising Moses and even helps him set up the mobile Israelite structure of government while the Israelites wandered in the wilderness. This has led some to believe that Jethro, priest of Yahweh/El, may have actually been the one who taught Moses about Yahweh and the story of the burning bush, like the story of Muhammad being in a cave in meditation, was a "miraculous" story thrown out there to remove any idea that the revelation of "god" was merely a human invention. Why is Jethro so involved in the process? Was his influence much deeper than we know? Remember, Midian was a son of Abraham (if I recall).
Thoughts?
The burning bush thing certainly didn't hurt his cause... And it seems his Midianite wanderings helped him in knowing the terrain when he led the Israelites out of Egypt. I don't take the bush-burning itself as literal.. no doubt it could have been any number of natural things that were attributed to God by a primitive people.
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