Exodus and Leviticus

I remember my father asking us what we would do if we were with a group of 5,000 people that survived a plane crash in the middle of the desert, how we would govern, obtain food, etc. I now understand why he asked that.

Moses receives the law from God, including make and service of the tabernacle and the cleanliness of food. This was probably in part because the Israelites had proven themselves an unruly bunch back in the day when there was no law, so the law may have been instated to keep them as far away from such practices as idol worship, murmuring, desiring to return to Egypt, forgetting about God, and probably several other things.

Exodus 1-20

Prince of Egypt... Moses gets the people out of Egypt via the power of God. Interesting part of Pharaoh's first response to Moses:

7Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves.

 8And the ^atale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.

 9Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.

Pharaoh states that the people are being lazy and thus need more work put on them. This is the same statement that is made by some of the Nazi guards in Victor Frankel's Man's Search for Meaning.

Pharaoh is demonstrating a part of the human id. When the motivation to do something is gone, the person will not do it. Part of the natural man is a lack of motivation to follow God's commands, and so, when the plagues and chastisements of the Lord are removed from Egypt, with it is removed the motivation to follow God. This suggests that such motivation must come from something other than chastisement or fear, but rather love.

The children of Israel are removed from Egypt, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread is established. The people murmur because of want of food and water, and something other than manna. And apparently get pretty angry about it, because Moses comments that they are near the point of stoning him (17:4). He fights with Amalek, then receives the 10 Mandamientos from Dios.

End of Genesis

Joseph, son of Jacob, gets his brothers angry enough to sell him to Midianite merchantmen, who sell to him to Potiphar, Pharaoh's captain of the guard. He resists Potiphar's wife over an extended period of time, and is subsequently framed and thrown into jail. God, through Joseph, interprets the dreams of the butler and the baker and later Pharaoh, which earns him the position of governor in charge of saving Egypt from the famine that was foreseen as part of a revelation given to Joseph. When the famine arrives he finds his brothers and, after a bit of a process in finding out their true intentions and feelings, reveals himself to them and meets back up with his family. Pharaoh bestows the best part of the land of Egypt to Jacob and his family. Jacob dies and, many years later, Joseph dies too. Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, are blessed by Jacob, as well as all of Jacob's children. Here is the Abrahamic Covenant passed on to the 12 tribes of Israel (and/or Jacob). Christ prophesied about in chapter 49 and 50, called the Stone of Israel, Shiloh, the Shepherd, and the Messiah.

Genesis: the story of Isaac, Jacob, Esau, Laban, and their houses...

Isaac receives Rebekah to wife and bears Jacob and Esau. Esau sells his birthright for some food, then marries outside the covenant. Jacob, by the endorsement of his mother Rebekah, receives the blessing of his father instead of Esau, who Isaac had intended to bless instead. Jacob flees to the land where Laban is, works 14 years to have both Leah and Rachel to wife, then returns and reconciles with Esau. Some interesting portions...

Chapter 31:11-13 An "angel of God" appears to Jacob in a dream, but identifies himself as God

Chapter 32:24-32 Jacob wrestles with a man who displaces his hip joint, then blesses him and says his name is now Israel; but when Jacob asks for his name he does not tell. Then in chapter 35 God appears to him and says the exact same thing, but identifies Himself as God and pronounces the same blessing.