I'm BACK!!

I'm going to try and finish reading the Bible this time! YAY!
My questions, concerns, thoughts and other comments will be posted here.

Exodus:Chapter 4 Questions and Comments

Ch. 4, 8:

"if they will not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, they should believe the message of the second"

• Question: If he gave the Egyptians hints before his plagues, will he infact give us hints before the end of our world?
• I'm sure plenty of people will understand the foreshadowing ...

Ch. 4, 21:

"I will make him obstinate, however, so that he will not let the people go"

Ch, 4, 23:

"hence, I tell you. Let my son go, that he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, I warn you, I will kill your son, your first-born"

• My Question is for both quotes above.
• Obstinate = stubborn
• Why make the Pharaoh stubborn?
• So, instead of just having the Pharaoh say yes he wants confrontation? Drammatic much?
• he wants to kill off all the 1st borns and really gives the Pharaoh no choice in the matter
• Horrible!
• Why would he do this?

Ch. 4, 24-26:

• I'm really just confused about the circumcision
• Question: Why was God about to kill Moses after all that had happened?
• Moses didn't even want to go to Egypt and talk to the Pharaoh and God yelled at him and told him he had to, then he goes and almost kills him? If Zipporah hadn't spilled his blood, God would have.

See how it can all be confusing? I would really love to hear your explanations. :)

Exodus:Chapter 3 Questions and Comments

Ch. 3, 14:

"I am who am" / "I am sent me to you"

• I didn't even know what this meant?!?! Looking in the references portion of my bible it said in astericks that phrase became the source of the word 'Yahweh' the proper personal name of the God of Israel.
• Question: Why exactly did he say this, in that way?
• Was he humanizing, or rather personalizing, himself for others to understand him in a new way?

Ch. 3, 22:

"thus you will despoil the Egyptians"

• Is this a reference to 'the rich giving to the poor' in present time?
• He is not saying you cannot be rich, there are many references in Genesis where he says he will make them rich if they pray to him.
• If your rich/corrupted/bad: you should therefore give to the poor and all will be good?
• Movies/people today say that the rich should always give to the poor, being rich is bad if you dont help people with it.
• Robin Hood is about taking money from the king and giving it to his people...
• What exactly does he mean by "despoiling" the eqyptians?

Exodus:Chapter 2 Questions and Comments

Ch. 2, 24:

"As their cry for release went up to God he heard their groaning and was mindful of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He saw the Israelites and knew..."

• I would like to think that bad times/suffering happens for a reason.
• When nothing changes in your life, something is changing somewhere else, so the effects wont greet you right away, but in the future when you will appreaciate it more.
• Am I correct with the meaning?
• God heard their cries and ends up sending Moses for their release in the future.

Exodus: Chapters 1 Questions and Comments

With Genesis done and read, I've moved on to the second book of the Old Testament. From the beginning I was already confused.

Ch. 1, 8:

"then a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph, came to power in Egypt."

• Exodus starts off in the time when Joseph and a couple of generations after him have already died.
• The New Pharaoh hates the Israelite people, believes that since they are multiplying like crazy that they will one day join his enemies and fight against him.
• so he decides to enslave them, to keep them as a rare minority, but instead of dying out, the Israelite people end up multiplying even more.
• 1st Question: Why would there be a Pharaoh who doesn't know the story of Joseph? Wouldn't the people remember him? He was pretty important; a foreigner, servant of a courtier, who ended up being an equal to the Pharaoh and still managed to help Egypt survive its years of famine. You would think that people knew their history and still favored what he did to their country.
• No written records? I don't really believe that.

Ch. 1, 14:

"hard work in mortar and brick"

• I just thought this was funny, since we still use this term today.
• Brick and mortar, was this the first time it was said or written down?

Ch. 1, 21:

"and because the midwives feared God, he built up families for them"

• Question: Does God want us to fear him? Why?
• Is it the fact that he is God and can do whatever he wants?