After class today, my friend Ada and I stayed and asked our Professor some questions... and like a good Rabbinic teacher, he challenged us with more questions... here are just some of the questions that were discussed:
1. Question- Is it possible that Abraham could have had an entirely different picture of who God was than that of the Hebrews which came later? Furthermore, is it possible that he worshiped a different idea of God than the one that we have today of God?
Answer- Yes, it is highly probable even. Where would Abraham have received any knowledge of the God that we know of after the Mt. Sinai incident?
2. Question- Is it possible that Moses worshipped a different God, than the God of the Hebrews?
Answer- The question should be, if he did have a different understanding of God, when did it change?
3. Question- If Moses knew the Hebrew God at Mt. Sinai (after he received the 2 tablets) then did he know Him at the burning bush?
Answer- Why would God have to appear to him at the burning bush if he already knew him?
4. Question- Moses was raised in an Egyptian home under the Pharaoh. Did he worship the several gods that they worshipped? If not, how would he know not too? At this time, there was no bible. Is it possible that some sort of oral tradition existed from the time of Abraham? But if Abraham didn't know the full revelation of God, including the creation story what would have been passed down to Moses through oral tradition?
Answer- How do you know that Moses was not raised with two cultures (one from his birth mother who was breast feeding him to an unknown age, and one from Egypt). How long was his biological mom or family with Moses? What did they teach him? Did he have an academic Egyptian upbringing and another "home life" upbringing? What did that consist of?
5. Question- If God did reveal the "real story" to Moses on Mt. Sinai what made the people who were ALL used to worshiping several gods and different creation stories not think Moses was a complete lunatic? Why didn't they think he was crazy?
Answer- Why didn't Moses' story just fizzle out because it was so different than what the people were used to?
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