03.14.23 Recap - Bible Timeline - Exodus

Northern Virginia Catholic Bible Study & Apologetics Online via Meetup/Zoom or In Person at St. John Neumann Catholic Church 11900 Lawyers Road, Reston, VA 20191 https://saintjn.org/ House rules/notes… 1. Meetup is www.meetup.com/catholicbiblestudy Zoom Meeting Logon info is the same every week: Zoom ID: 861 1782 2081 Password: 406952 2. I will send out Meeting Recaps the same night as our sessions – these are unedited versions without pictures. An edited version with pictures will be posted on our website https://catholiccatacombs.wixsite.com/website/recaps before the next meeting. Taylor will notify everyone at that time. 3. Questions encouraged. If you have questions about anything, you can ask in the chat box, email the Meetup group, or me at ron@hallagan.net. 4. Respectfulness. We will be discussing differences between religions and Christian denominations, and we agree to be respectful at all times. Specifically, Protestants are our friends and brothers in Christ; in fact, I personally owe part of my return to the faith to them! 5. No politics. It would be easy for us to self-destruct, but that’s not our goal. Our goal is to learn/understand/apply the Bible and our Catholic faith. 6. Catholic Prayer & Fellowship. Are you interested in praying with other Catholics during the week? Fellow member Jason Goldberg has started “Catholic Prayer, Fellowship, and Spirituality Meetup.” Sign up at: https://www.meetup.com/online-catholic-prayer-fellowship-and-spirituality/. 7. “The Chosen” TV series. All of us seek a relationship with Jesus Christ, which is not always easy. It can help if we have seen and heard Him. The Chosen captures the real Jesus as close as any show I have ever seen. Just watch the first two with Mary Magdalene and you will see what I mean. 8. RSVP Reminder: Please RSVP whether you are attending the meeting or just reading the Recaps afterwards. The more RSVPs, the more Meetup will give exposure to “Catholic Bible Study” – a good thing! Consider it your way of evangelizing! Please RSVP when you get the Meetup invite weekly. Our Bible Study Format: 5 min greeting/prayers, 10-15 min Catholic topic, 40-45 min on the main topic from weekly List below: Week 1: Mar 7 - Gospel Week: Sermon on the Mount, cont’d Week 2: Mar 14 – Bible Week (Gen àRev): We are in EXODUS, the 2nd book of Moses. Week 3: Mar 21 – Survey Topics Voted on by Members: We are currently beginning Christian Comparisons/World Religions.

Ö 1) Jesus’ Greatest Parables Ö 2) Hell, Purgatory, Heaven 3) Christian Comparisons/World Religions 4) Great Women in the Bible 5) World Religions 6) Book of Revelation 7) Major Heresies and Church Councils Week 4: Mar 21 – Member Questions – finish Comparative Religions 1. You said Gen 1-3 (Creation/The Fall of Man) is at least partly allegory. How do you think things actually happened? Deepest mysteries of the universe! 2. The History of the Mass going back to Cain & Abel, all leading to the sublime meaning of the Eucharist. 3. Can you review origin and meaning of the 12 statements of belief in the Creed? 4. “Who am I?” It seems we all ask this question at some point in our lives. Some ask it all the time. How do you answer this? 5. Are Charity and Love synonymous? How are they different? What are the 4 highest forms of Charity? 6. a) Why did Jesus have to die? b) Why did Jesus say, “Father, why hath thou forsaken me?” 7. How many Gospels have the story of Jesus’ calming the storm? Are they the same story? 8. Why was God full of vengeance and violence in the OT? Or was that simply an interpretation by those of that time? Next major upcoming events in the Church Lent – Wed, Feb 22 – Thurs April 6 Triduum – Friday, Apr 7–Sun Apr 9 Easter – April 9 Catholic Catacombs Website: https://catholiccatacombs.wixsite.com/website/recaps Opening Prayer Father in Heaven, we thank you for your Word. We give you praise and glory for who you are and what you do for us. We ask that you please be with us tonight as we continue our Lenten journey with you, and your travels with Moses and the Israelites as they reach Mt. Sinai. Enlighten us, please, in Jesus’ name we pray. And as You taught us to pray: Our Father Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread; And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us all. Amen.

Lenten apologetics… On Ash Wednesday, to kick off the penitential season of Lent in preparation for Easter, many of us go to Mass and receive ashes on our foreheads as a reminder of death and of the fleeting nature of worldly things. When we receive the ashes, we are told by the priest, “Remember, you are dust, and unto dust you shall return” or “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.” Have you noticed that we cannot see the ashes on our own forehead? Does this imply the ashes are meant for others to see? But wait, didn’t Jesus say not to be show off our sacrifices and penances? “And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matt. 6:16-18). Q: Doesn’t Ash Wednesday contradict this? Jesus himself would not contradict scripture, nor would he want us to do that. Note the prophet Jeremiah, whom Jesus quotes several times: Thus says the Lord … “O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth and put on ashes! Make mourning as for an only son, a most bitter lamentation, for the plunderer will soon be upon us” (Jer 6:26). So what is the answer? The answer is tied to everything Jesus has been teaching us in the Sermon of the Mount: it is our innermost thoughts and intentions that dictate who we are on the outside. In Jesus’ example above about the hypocritical Pharisees, what are their intentions? To be seen by others! What is the intention in Jeremiah’s example? Humility and repentance. In Lent, our primary goal is to humble ourselves as a reminder of our fallenness (our self-centeredness and independence from God). What Jesus was talking about is ostentatious flaunting. If any of you ran around pointing to your ashes to make sure everyone saw you, you would fall into that category. I haven’t met anyone yet doing that. Wearing our ashes is a humble reminder that this world is temporary and that we can all do more to become Christ-like. If others happen to see our ashes, it can be a reminder to them as well.

EXODUS #6 Where we left off…

Chapter 14: Pharaoh has a change of heart (for the 10th time!) When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.” So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him.

The Red Sea Pharaoh closed in on the Israelites as they came upon the Red Sea. The people panicked and cried out to Moses – why had he brought them there to die like that? The angel of the Lord then stood as a pillar of cloud between the Egyptians and the Israelites until the night passed.

Then the Lord told Moses to stretch forth his hand and rod and separate the sea so the Israelites could pass through on dry land. The people passed through with a wall of water to their right and to their left. When they were through, the pillar of cloud moved on and the Egyptians pursued them into the divided sea. Once they were in, the floor of the sea became soft again and the wheels of their chariots became mired in the mud. The Lord told Moses to again stretch out his hand over the sea. Moses did so and the sea closed back upon the Egyptians, their chariots, and their horsemen.

Chapter 15: The Songs of Miriam

Then Moses and the Israelites sang songs to the Lord (songs continue for 20 verses…) Then Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand and all the women went out after her with timbrels and dancing. And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.” – Exodus 15:21 Moses and the people head inland and after three days they come upon water, but the water is bad. The people complain to Moses again for bringing them out of Egypt where in captivity they ate perfectly well! Moses seeks Yahweh’s help. Yahweh tells Moses to cut down a nearby tree and throw it into the water. The water turns clean. Next, Moses and the people head south and encamp at E’lim where there are palm trees and plenty of water.

They stay there a while and then they head south into the Wilderness of Sin (does not mean “sin” as we think, perhaps an offshoot of Sinai). They are now in the second month since leaving Egypt. The people are running low on food and the people are murmuring against Moses about bringing them out to this forsaken place to die. In Egypt, “we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you brought us into this desert to start to death!” You will notice a trend here. This is the third time the people have grumbled about their situation and “murmured” their discontent with Moses, in spite of their being set free from a powerful nation, the show of God’s power at the Red Sea, and the purifying of the water. They have no faith. If they did, perhaps they might ask God for help before blaming and despairing. Chapter 16: Manna from Heaven Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from Heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather enough for that day only.” God also sent quail in the evenings, so they would have meat to eat. God also instructs Moses to tell them to gather twice as much on the sixth day of the week as they gather on the other days. Q: Why were they supposed to gather two days’ worth on the 6th day? Because the 7th day was the Sabbath, a day of rest dedicated to the Lord.

Q: What happened if people gathered more than a day’s bread (or two on the 6th day)? It became infested with maggots. Q: What was God teaching them by only gathering one days’ portion at a time? He was teaching them to depend on Him – daily dependence on God. After 400 years of enculturation with Egyptian gods, Yahweh needed to reform their thinking and their habits. Q: What lesson is there in this for us? Daily dependence on God is called relationship with God. It is the remedy for independence from God and the Fall of Man. “Give us this day our daily bread” hearkens back to the manna. It is so much more than about physical bread. Q: What the manna was like? According to Exodus 16:31, it was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. Chapter 17: Amalek Attacks the Israelites

Moses led the people further south out of the Wilderness of Sin and camped at Rephidim. While they were there, the Amalek people came to do battle with them. Moses told Joshua to gather able men and go out to meet them while he stood on the hill overseeing them holding up the same rod that he held to part the Red Sea. Joshua did as instructed and the next morning went out to fight the Amalekites.

Whenever Moses held his hand high, Israel prevailed. Whenever his hand lowered, the Amalekites prevailed. Moses hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him and he sat upon it, and Aaron and Hur held up his arms, one on each side. They held his arms up even as the sun was going down. And Joshua conquered all the Amalekites. Moses built an altar there in memorial, saying, “The Lord is my banner!” To this day, Jews and Christians see Moses’ actions during the battle as a gesture of prayer exhibited by his extended hands. The point is that it demonstrates the importance of prayer and perseverance in accomplishing God’s will. Q: What lesson might this story give the grumbling Israelites? The people’s constant murmuring against Moses is actually a vote of no confidence in God. It shows that humans have a short memory and are quick to say, “What have you done for me lately?” Yet, this is the opposite of the humble and persistent prayer that “faith” requires of us. Chapter 18: Jethro’s Counsel to Moses

Who was Jethro? Jethro was the Priest of Midian, Moses’ father in law, and father of Moses’ wife, Zipporah. When Moses left Midian after the burning bush and returned to Egypt to free the Hebrews, he left Zipporah and his two sons with Jethro. Now Jethro gets word that Moses has successfully brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and so he takes Zipporah and the boys to go meet Moses in the wilderness. It is a joyous reunion and Moses brings Jethro up to date on all the events that have occurred. The following passages show Moses meeting with his people daily from morning to night to resolve conflicts between the tribes and trying to adhere to God’s statutes in judging all matters brought before him. At the end of each night, Moses is spent. Jethro witnesses this for a time and then finally pulls Moses aside and says this is not a good process: When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?” Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.” – Exodus 18:14-16 Jethro tells Moses this is not working, and he makes the following suggestion to Moses: Select capable men from all the people—men who fear God who hate dishonesty—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share the load with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” Moses listened to his father-in-law and followed all his recommendations. – Exodus 18:22-24

Moses’ new “organization chart” for judging the people and managing conflict Apologetics Question: Who is the author of Exodus? Answer: Moses Problem: There are endless critics of the Bible trying to prove things didn’t happen. It is to be expected that it is the natural inclination of most non-believers to do this, but we don’t have a problem ourselves seeking to show – whenever there is surviving evidence available – that such events did happen. Just beware that negative claims are easy to make sound intelligent because artifactual evidence will always be slim when going back 2000 or 3000 years (like Exodus - 3,400 years ago). For instance, it’s easy to say that we don’t have any evidence of the Jews being in the desert for 40 years. But wait! Consider that they didn’t build any cities while they were there – they were escaped slaves who don’t tend to leave permanent footprints in the desert. If there was any evidence, it would have been windswept in a few years, not to mention thousands of years. To simply say there was no evidence and so therefore Exodus couldn’t have happened has less credibility than an internet rumor. It is worth noting that such claims against things that supposedly did or didn’t happen in the Bible have been about as common as internet rumors ever since the 17th century “Enlightenment Age” began, a primary goal of which was to prove that God did not exist. This is your background for hearing such claims, which was no less frivolous than those made by Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code. On the other hand, over the past hundred years there have been numerous discoveries about Biblical events that debunked spurious claims such as “Jesus didn’t exist” and “King David was a myth.” The Bible itself was called into question until they discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, whose documents dated back to 200 BC. Surprise, the Catholic Bible (translated from the Greek Septuagint) was amazingly accurate after all. Another claim in the last century was that there were no records that Pontius Pilate ever existed, which of course can only mean that “Jesus” was not condemned to death by any Roman official ever. But wait! In 1961 they uncovered a 1st century slab with the inscription containing the words, “Tiberium Pontius Pilate Prefect of Judea” the name and title of the same Pontius Pilate who condemned Jesus to death. Well, whadd’ya know! They also claimed the chief priest at the time of Jesus, “Caiaphas,” did not exist either; but then in the early 1990’s they discovered his family tomb just south of Jerusalem with his name inscribed on it. Another excellent example of this deals with the Book of Joshua. Joshua was the right hand of Moses who led the people from the desert into the Promised Land after Moses died. This example is as follows:

The missing city of Ai “The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid. Take an army with you and prepare to capture Ai. I will deliver the king of Ai into your hands…” Joshua 8:1 There was a claim that the strategic city of Ai (near Jericho) that Joshua conquered did not exist, which was then proof that the Biblical account never happened. Well-known scholars claimed that the actual site of Ai was really Et-Tell near the Sea of Galilee), and since this lacked evidence of any occupation and destruction at the time the Bible describes, it was a false story. This led Joseph Callaway, who excavated at et-Tell from 1964 –70, to conclude: “Ai is simply an embarrassment to every view of the conquest that takes the biblical and archaeological evidence seriously.” This was the standard belief until, 43 years later in 2013, excavations 14 miles northwest of Jericho uncovered a fortified settlement from the time of Joshua that had been destroyed by fire and matched every Biblical criteria for Joshua’s Ai. Perhaps it was Joseph Callaway’s turn to be embarrassed.

For the past 50 years, the “Israel Antiquities Authority” carefully regulates, investigates, and conserves all excavational findings in the Holy Land. If you subscribe to the Biblical Archeology Magazine, you will find that they continue to discover more and more every year.

Back to Exodus, one common claim is that Moses couldn’t have written the books that are attributed to him since they are so extensive and well-written, especially since it was said to take place sometime between 1200 and 1500 BC. For your reference, the first five books of the Bible were originally ONE BOOK written by Moses. They were only divided into five books over a thousand years later.

But if you consider that other writings from other societies far older than Exodus have similar written records, then suddenly it isn’t such a stretch that Moses could do so. In fact, centuries earlier Sumeria, Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia were full of schools and libraries that produced works of history, poetry, and theology as well as dictionaries in multiple languages. Let us also remember that Moses was extremely literate, raised in Pharaoh’s house by the best teachers in the world at the time. He was more than literate enough have written the Torah and he had 40 years to write it, let alone that Moses also had God’s inspired assistance.

Before we go any further, just so no one falls into the hole of thinking that the Jews made-up Moses as the author much later out of thin air, let’s acquaint ourselves with the just a sampling of the large number of references to Moses’ authorship in the Bible itself, including instructions from God in Exodus.

The following OT references are followed by NT references. Also, these are referring to the same Scripture Jesus had and that we have today. Jesus’ references alone tell us that he considered them to be inspired.

Old Testament

Then the LORD said to Moses: Write this down in a book as something to be remembered, and recite it to Joshua - Exodus 17:14

The LORD said to Moses: This is what you will say to the Israelites: You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven. Exodus 20:22

Moses then wrote down all the words of the LORD and, rising early in the morning, he built at the foot of the mountain an altar and twelve sacred stones* for the twelve tribes of Israel. Exodus 24:4

Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people, who answered, “All that the LORD has said, we will hear and do.” – Exodus 24:7

Moses recorded the starting points of the various stages at the direction of the LORD. Numbers 33:2

When Moses had finished writing down the law in their entirety, he gave the Levites who carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD this order: “Take this book of the law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD, your God, that there it may be a witness to you.” – Deut 31:9,24-26

Only be strong and steadfast, being careful to observe the entire law which Moses my servant enjoined on you. Do not swerve from it either to the right or to the left, that you may succeed wherever you go. Do not let this book of the law depart from your lips. Recite it by day and by night that you may carefully observe all that is written in it; then you will attain your goal; then you will succeed. – Joshua 1:7-8 (after Exodus ~ 1250 BC)

Keep the mandate of the LORD, your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees as they are written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in whatever you do, and wherever you turn. – 1 Kings 2:3 (era of King Solomon 950 BC)

But their children he did not put to death, according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD commanded: “Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their parents; only for one’s own crimes shall a person be put to death.” – 2 Kings 14:6 (after Solomon)

They set up the priests in their classes and the Levites in their divisions for the service of God in Jerusalem, as is prescribed in the book of Moses. – Ezra 6:18

Now when the seventh month came, the whole people gathered as one in the square in front of the Water Gate, and they called upon Ezra the scribe to bring forth the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had commanded for Israel. – Nehemiah 8:1

New Testament Gospels – I separated out the Gospel passages because these are quotes from Jesus, which means that he believed that Moses wrote the “Book of Moses.”

Jesus speaking to the Sadducees, referring to Exodus 3:6: As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?” – Mk 12:26

Then Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” – Mt 8:4

Jesus telling the parable of the poor beggar Lazarus: He said, ‘Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ Then Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.’” – Luke 16:30-31

Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. – Luke 24:27

Jesus said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” – Luke 24:44

Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” – John 1:44

Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: the one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” – John 5:47-47

New Testament Letters/Epistles

James at the council of Jerusalem: For Moses, for generations now, has had those who proclaim him in every town, as he has been read in the synagogues every sabbath.” – Acts 15:21

Moses writes about the righteousness that comes from [the] law, “The one who does these things will live by them.” – Romans 10:5

To this day, in fact, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts,f16but whenever a person turns to the Lord the veil is removed. – 2 Cor 3:15-16

They were holding God’s harps,a3and they sang the song of Moses,* the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: “Great and wonderful are your works, Lord God almighty. Just and true are your ways, O king of the nations.” – Rev 15:2-3

Passing the Torah down through the ages

As writings in ancient times were on parchment paper or tablets, they had to be recopied over the centuries to preserve them. This was one of the roles of the temple priests (for example, we see entire rooms dedicated to recopying Biblical writings in Qumran when they discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls from the first and second centuries BC).

Just as importantly, from the OT passages above we can see that the teachings from the Book of Moses were transmitted orally from fathers to sons, mothers to daughters, generation to generation. Without the distractions of modern times, they had ample time every meal and every Sabbath to memorize them, and they were required to do so.

Naturally, as war ravished Israel’s cities over the centuries, from the time of Joshua and Judges to the fall of the Northern Kingdom to the Assyrians in 722 BC, to the Babylonian Exile in 597 BC, various copies of writings were lost or separated from each other. Some were preserved, some lost and rediscovered later, and others recopied or recapitulated by priests and prophets in captivity. Of course, the oral tradition never ended – it was part of the Jewish DNA. But the fact that modern scholars found these writings separated and written at different times actually has no bearing on who the original author was.

Next Exodus Meeting: Moses goes up Mt. Sinai and the JEPD Myth

Closing Prayer

Songs of Miriam

I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.

The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance— the place, Lord, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, Lord, your hands established.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.