Some Important Events in Hebrew History From Abraham to Moses

This past week I have been learning and studying about the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible. In this week’s essay I will be writing about the important events during Hebrew history from Abraham to Moses.

Abraham

Abraham believed that he had received a call from God, that stated for him to leave his home in the Mesopotamian city of Ur, and to travel west to the land of Canaan. Abraham also receives a Divine Promise from God, that promised that he and his descendants would possess this land of Canaan, and Abraham would become the father of a great nation. So Abraham does exactly what he was told, proving his faith.

Fast forward, Abraham now has a son named Isaac with his wife Sarah. Abraham loves and adores Isaac dearly, but he becomes convinced that God demands a sacrifice of his son. In those days people believed that blood was the most valuable thing you good offer to God in a sacrifice. But in the last minute Abraham spares his son, when an angel of God interrupts him. Abraham realizes that this was not the way to please God, so instead he finds a Ram, which he sacrifices instead.

Issac, Jacob, and Esau

Isaac, Abraham’s son, marries a woman named Rebekah(who his father choses), and has two son’s Jacob and Esau. Isaac himself lives an uneventful life as a herdsman. Isaac’s son Jacob is rather resentful towards his brother Esau, because Esau has more privileges because he is the eldest son.

One day Jacob finds his brother, who is very hungry. Jacob then proceeds to trick Esau into selling his birthright as the eldest son for a mess of pottage. Esau didn’t take this seriously whatsoever but Jacob did. Over the course of the years Isaac has become quite wealthy, so one day Isaac decides it is time to offer his blessing to his son Esau. So he calls for Esau.

But Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, favors Jacob through all of this, and persuades him to deceive Isaac his father, to receive the blessing himself. After all of this Esau of course finds out what has been done, which infuriates him, to the point that he announces that he intends to kill Jacob. Rebekah sends Jacob away, to ensure that Esau does not kill him. One night during Jacob’s journey he has a dream, in which there is a lander that comes down from heaven to earth, and above this ladder he could see God, who proceeds to renew the promise that was once made to Abraham. After this dream Jacob is in awe of what he has seen in his dream.

Jacob arrives at his Uncle Laban’s home, and begins to work for him. Laban has two daughters Leah and Rachel. Jacob ends up marrying both, and has twelve sons, two of which are the sons of Rachel. Jacob adores and favors his youngest son, Joseph, who is also the son of Rachel. 

Joseph 

Like I mentioned Joseph was favored and spoiled by his father; this made Joseph’s elder brothers very jealous and resentful towards him. Also Joseph would tell his brother’s about his dreams, which were about him being dominant or above them. Joseph’s brothers became so angry at him, that they sold him to some Egyptian merchants as a slave. They then lie to their father about what happened to Joseph.

Thus Joseph ends up in Egypt as a slave. He is then sold to the Pharaoh’s guard; he becomes a trusted servant to this guard, but unfortunately he is thrown into prison after a false accusation was made against him. In prison he meets a Butler and a Baker, who are also imprisoned. The Butler and the Baker both had strange dreams, they tell Joseph of these dreams, and Joseph is able to interpret them. Strangely enough Joseph’s interpretations of these dreams were correct, which brought the attention of the Pharaoh.

The Pharaoh himself has had unusual dreams, and wants to know the meaning of them, so he gets Joseph to explain the meaning of those dreams. Joseph tells the Pharaoh that his dreams state that a famine is coming. Thanks to Joseph’s interpretation the Pharaoh is able to prepare Egypt for this famine.

When the famine comes Joseph’s brothers flee the famine, and go to Egypt, where they encounter Joseph, who reveals himself to them. Joseph’s family and many other Hebrew people move to Egypt, to escape the famine. There in Egypt the Hebrews were treated well, until Joseph and the Pharaoh at the time died. After that things changed for the Hebrews negatively, which brings around another important part of Hebrew history.

Moses

In Egypt there was Pharaoh who was especially cruel to the Hebrews. This Pharaoh concluded that the Hebrews were growing in number, so to prevent the Hebrew population from growing he ordered that all Hebrew baby boys must be killed. Moses’s mother to save her baby boy, left him in a basket by the river. Amazingly, the Pharaoh’s daughter find’s baby Moses, and adopts him.

Because he grew up in the Pharaoh’s palace, his early life was much better and different than the average Hebrew person in Egypt, which made other Hebrew people distrust him, which is understandable because he lives under the roof of the oppressor of the Hebrews. Moses when he became older became interested in the Hebrew slaves, and one day he sees an Egyptian overseer who is mistreating a Hebrew slave. Moses becomes furious to the point that he kills this overseer. After this Moses life changes drastically, and the rest is history.

Conclusion

The events in the Old Testament from Abraham to Moses are very interesting, and pretty valuable to understand, at least in my opinion. This is my essay on the important events in Hebrew history from Moses to Abraham.