Religion In Ancient Hebrew Culture

Religion has been a significant part of human culture since the Paleolithic era. Humans have been trying to find an understanding of their world and life around them for millennia. Over time, there have been many different accounts of a man’s connection to a god or gods. These consist of various religious scriptures from different religions formed around the world. Humans have always had a spiritual connection to the world around them, and through religion, they are able to better understand that connection. Religion has also served as a basis for a structured governing system. In many ancient civilizations, religion posed as the main form of law and justice, instructing people how they should live their lives and what is best for them.
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During the rule of a new Egyptian Pharaoh, the Israelites’ expansion was feared as they were growing rapidly in numbers. The Pharaoh forced the Israelites into slavery and demanded that all male Hebrew babies be thrown into the Nile River. One day when the Pharaohs daughter was walking by the river, she spotted a basket with a Hebrew baby inside. She took the baby out of the river and feeling sorry for him, she decided to name him Moses and raise him as an Egyptian prince. Moses meaning “drawn from water”. When Moses grew older and learned that he was an Israelite, he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. Moses killed the Egyptian and thus fled to avoid persecution. It was at this time that Moses had an encounter with god, in which he was given powers to try to convince the Egyptian Pharaoh to release the Israelites from slavery. These powers came in the form of plagues that Moses inflicted upon the Egyptians. Trying to break the will of the Pharaoh, Moses turned the Nile river into blood, spawned a swarm of locusts that destroyed all of the Egyptian’s crops, and finally the last and most effective of all he inflicted a plague that killed all of the first born Egyptian children. This finally convinced the Pharaoh to release the Israelites from slavery. When the Israelites were gone, the Egyptians realized they made a mistake. They were now without the Israelites services. Changing their minds, they assembled an army and pursued the Israelites through the desert. “The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly”. (Bible: Exodus, Milestone Documents) Moses and his followers were at the red sea when god told Moses to split the red sea so the Israelites could walk through on dry land. “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The