George Jejelava, Period 7, 12/17/21

 

Literacy and Learning:

    During our most recent unit on the bible, my group was tasked with giving a short presentation to the class on the story of Moses. While researching the story, I came to an interesting realization: the story of Moses has nothing to do with Moses himself. Rather, the story uses Moses as an extension of God himself. The true conflict of the story deals with the Pharaoh who refuses to acknowledge God’s will.

    When Moses entered the Pharaoh’s hall and told the Pharaoh that a plague of blood will come if he does not release the Jewish people, the Pharaoh laughed him off. When the first plague comes, Moses returns to the Pharaoh with proof that it is God’s will that the Jewish people be released. Moses warns the Pharaoh that yet another plague will come if the Pharaoh fails to act. The Pharaoh. once again, laughs Moses off and pays the price for it. This process is repeated another 8 times before the Pharaoh, at long last, acknowledges that he is condemning his people to the wrath of God. He finally follows God’s will and releases the Jewish people from their bondage in Egypt.

    When we think about the story from the Pharaoh’s perspective, a particular detail comes to rise. The Pharaoh was not punished for enslaving the Jewish people, nor was he punished for all of the crimes he committed against them. The Pharaoh was solely punished because of his refusal to follow God’s will. This detail poses an interesting question that I will leave the readers of this blog with: can morality ever exist outside of a religious context? Is God’s will truly supreme? Or can we be just through our own introspection?