On Sunday, Insight continued our study of Adam Hamilton’s series “Moses: The Reluctant Prophet.” The Egyptian pyramids and temples were both built hundreds of years before Moses. The Great Pyramid at Giza was constructed in about 3000 B.C. Hamilton said the temples were more to exalt the pharoahs, rather than the gods.
Raised in the royal household, Moses grew up in Thebes. Most of the slaves lived in Goshen, on the southeastern side of the Mediterranean Sea.
The Egyptians won and lost power and territory several times. When the Israelites grew more and more numerous, the Egyptians enslaved them. This is an early example of xenophobia (fear of strangers or “the other”).
The pharoah at the time became ruler of a unified Egypt, taking in both Upper and Lower Egypt. He ordered that all male Israelite babies be killed. However, in one story, the midwives refused to carry out his command. Thus we have the story of Moses’s mother putting him in a basket, which she then placed in a river, where he was found by Pharaoh’s daughter.
Our class discussed other examples of xenophobia throughout history, which have been aimed at black people, Jews, the Irish, Hispanics. Muslims, the Chinese and many others. We talked about differences that a society might accept versus those that are deemed unacceptable. Some may be racial, others cultural. Many are based in our fears.
Written by: Marie Price
