Hebrew Bible

Abraham is the founding patriarch of the Israelite line, the person whom G-d calls to enter a covenantal relationship of trust and faithfulness. Abraham is from the Mesopotamian city of Ur, one of the great urban centers of early civilization in the Fertile Crescent, and later lives in Haran, another city in northern Mesopotamia. He is already 75 years old when G-d calls him, and in response, he leaves his homeland, traveling from Haran to Canaan. In the early chapters of his story, he is referred to as Abram, only later modified by G-d to reflect his prophesied identity as “the father of a multitude of nations” (Genesis 17.5). Indeed, Abraham becomes the progenitor not only of the Israelites (and thus of modern Jews) but also of other national groups as well, including Ishmaelites (whom modern Arabs claim as ancestors) and Edomites. 

G-d’s covenant-promise to Abraham is to bless him and make his descendants a blessing to the whole earth, as well as to give the entire land of Canaan as the future inheritance of his family. Abraham believes G-d, even though both sets of promises—land and descendants—look to be extremely unlikely. Due to their advanced age, it is doubtful that Abraham and his wife, Sarah, can have children, and none of the circumstances of Abraham’s life in Canaan suggest that the entire land will become his possession. Abraham and Sarah take matters into their own hands, having Abraham sire his first son, Ishmael, through the maidservant Hagar, but shortly thereafter, G-d miraculously fulfills his promise of a legitimate heir by having Sarah bear a son of her own, Isaac. 

It is from Isaac’s line that the nation of Israel comes, but G-d asks Abraham to undertake a further act of faith: offering up Isaac as a sacrifice to be slain. Abraham is ready to obey, but G-d stops him before the sacrifice is offered. Abraham’s faith in G-d, shown in the fullest possible degree, thus becomes paradigmatic for the faith of Israel. He represents the theological principle that faithful obedience to G-d should be the fundamental priority of one’s life, an idea that undergirds the whole theology of the Hebrew Bible. Abraham passes away and is buried in Canaan, and his son Isaac takes up the leadership of the family.

Moses holds a central place in the history and religious life of the Israelite nation as both the great lawgiver and a prototypical figure in the prophetic and priestly traditions. Moses is born into an Israelite family in the Levite tribe when the Egyptian pharaoh is pursuing a genocidal course against the Israelites. To save his life, Moses’ mother sends him down the Nile in a basket, and he is found by an Egyptian princess who raises him in the royal house. At the age of 40, Moses has to flee into the desert, where he takes up a new life as a shepherd in Midian. After another 40 years there, he is startled to encounter the presence of G-d in a burning bush, who calls him to go back to Egypt and proclaim G-d’s demand that the pharaoh must let the Israelites go. Although initially reluctant, Moses obeys G-d’s call and bears the message to the pharaoh. The pharaoh refuses repeatedly, sparking a series of 10 plagues of judgment against Egypt, which eventually persuade the pharaoh to release the enslaved Israelites. Moses, having instructed the Israelites how to escape the final plague through a sacrificial rite (which would later be enshrined in Passover), now leads the whole company out of Egypt. 

After the drama of their flight from Egypt is complete, the next phase of Moses’ story begins: He is to guide the people through the desert to Mount Sinai, there to receive G-d’s laws, and then lead them to the promised land of Canaan. There, he comes into his role as Israel’s lawgiver, the one to whom G-d relates the whole code of his covenant-law. This code of laws, capped with the Ten Commandments but stretching to include all the commands enshrined in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, makes up the content of G-d’s covenant with the people of Israel. Under this covenant, if the people are careful to keep the laws and rites that G-d has given, then they have the promise of G-d’s blessing over every aspect of their lives. Unfortunately, the people of Israel prove incapable of faithfully following G-d’s laws, and because of their disobedience, they spend the next 40 years wandering in the desert. Moses serves as their leader throughout this period, exercising a prophetic office as the bearer of G-d’s messages for his people, while also affirming and upholding the priestly office of his brother Aaron, who puts the ritual aspects of the law in practice by serving as high priest. Like most heroes of the Hebrew Bible, Moses is far from perfect, and a flaw of his temper leads to him disobey one of G-d’s directives. Because of this, G-d decides that Moses will not be able to enter the promised land but will die shortly before the next generation of Israelites prepares to cross into their inheritance.