lecture 8 Biblical Backgrounds - Copy.pptx

Biblical Backgrounds 2

1. Religion of the Patriarchs How did they Worship and What did it Mean to them?

2. What Kind of Altars did they Make? Stone altars and pillars of the Kind that both Abraham and Jacob erected to the LORD were frequently raised in the Near East.

3. What did they Signify? They were often memorials to a Covenant or Sacred Vow, sometimes between two men, but often between a man and a god. Such covenants were basically private agreements or contracts similar in phrasing to political treaties of the day. In them a man would vow to Worship a particular god in return for aid and protection.

4. What was the Foundation of Hebrew early Faith? This concept of a personal god was the foundation of the Hebrews’ early Faith . The Covenant between the Lord and Abraham is described in chapters 15 and 17 of Genesis : “And I will establish my Covenant between me and you and your Descendants after you … for an everlasting Covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.. All the Land of Canaan, for an Everlasting Possession; and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:7-8).

5. How did they Demonstrate their Fidelity? In return, Abraham and his Descendants were to Signify their Fidelity to the LORD by the Ritual of Circumcision: “So shall my Covenant be in your Flesh an Everlasting Covenant” (Genesis 17:13).

6. Were the Hebrews Familiar with other Deities? Although the early Hebrews Worshiped the God of Abraham, they did not deny the Existence of other Deities. On one occasion Abraham made an explicit oath to El Elyon (God Most High ), the Creator-God of both Amorite and Canaanite belief, and it seems the Patriarchs’ religion was often practiced side by side with local cults. In fact, the idea of a Covenant described in terms of a family relationship with a god is Canaanite.

7. What did the Figures of the Patriarchs mean to the Hebrews? To later Israelites the figures of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob embodied the distant past from which their nation had emerged. In the course of many generations, the Patriarchs’ stories were shaped and written to emphasize the spiritual destiny that made Israel different from other nations-a destiny summed up in God’s promise to Abraham.

8. What did these Stories do to the Hebrews? These Stories gave Israel a feeling of continuity with the past-re-creating the nation’s origins from the earliest days in Haran to the Arrival of Joseph and his brothers in Egypt.