Monday, 26 June 2006: selections from the Exodus story in the Old Testament of the Bible (student provides; King James / Revised Standard version preferred);

Text-objective discussion leader: Cherie Correa

Review Objective 4: “National migration”

• This situation is different from that of immigrants because some groups immigrate as communities, and they have no intention of assimilating.

• Religion can be part of all aspects of the new community that is established, including economics and ethnic relations.

• Under special circumstances, such groups may become the dominant culture of a nation or area.

Passages:

No intention of assimilating:

Exodus 20: “The Ten Commandments”

“…the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant” (Exodus 31:16).

“After the doings of the land of Egypt…Canaan…shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. Ye shall keep my judgments, and keep mine ordinances…” (Leviticus 18:3-4).

“…thou shalt make no covenant with them…neither shalt thou make marriages with them…” (Deuteronomy 7:2-3).

Becoming the dominant culture:

“…all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away…” (Exodus 15:15).

“then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places…” (Numbers 33:52).

“But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell” (Numbers 33:55).

Question:

After reading the Exodus story, and knowing that we are about to delve into the colonization of America, how do specific details in the Exodus story parallel what we already know about settling in America?

What stories have we read that show similarities between the descriptions of Canaan and the descriptions of America?

Objective 3: Differences between immigrants and minorities

*Minorities may speak of exploitation instead of opportunity.

“…they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens” (Exodus 1:11).

“And the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor: and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigor” (Exodus 1:13-14).

“I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them” (Exodus 3:9).

“So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. And the taskmasters hasted them…” (Exodus 5:12-14).

Minority role-reversal

“For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you” (Exodus 12:23).

Question:

Are there any immigrant or minority similarities, especially when the Jews are in Egypt?