Could the Israelites

[stormy weather]

have been said to have been "practicing" Israelites while they were in captivity in Egypt. Were they offering sacrafices? I realized the other night while talking to a friend that I always assumed they weren't and didn't even know how since they didn't have the books of the law yet. Which seemed to explain to me the golden calf incident while Moses was talking to God and getting the ten commandments. But then I was reading Exodus 8 where Moses is talking to Pharoh about releasing the Israelites and in verse 25 Pharoh tells him to go sacrafice in the land so presumably they knew how to sacrafice but weren't allowed to. Of couse they weren't always slaves in Egypt but were once shepherds in Goshen. What would their worship and sacrafices have looked like before the tabernacle and the books of the law? I've been mulling this over and wondered what others thought.

[Jean in Newcastle]

They could have sacrificed as Abraham did but not like they did in the tabernacle.

[Carol in Cal.]

...before the time of the Captivity there were already some established practices. There was tithing, there was animal sacrifice, there was building of monuments in memory of God's intervention; all of these were familiar. Also, the story of God's promises was passed down from generation to generation. It's not clear from the Bible, though, what portion of the Israelites remembered this or whether they continued their worship practices while they were in Egypt.

 

However, undoubtedly they would have been familiar with Egyptian practices and teachings just from propinquity. (A side note: It was awesome to tour the King Tut exhibit last spring just after intensively studying Genesis and Exodus. There are so many common themes. A royal silver trumpet, breastplates, cherubim, arks.) And the idea of offering up sacrifices in a specific place was already common in the older Israelite stories, and not inconsistent with Egyptian practices as well. So when Moses told Pharoah that God wanted everyone to come out into the desert to worship for three days, Pharoah knew what worship was, what sacrifices were, and probably that the fact that they were leaving to worship meant that they would just as soon not come back; that that would pull them together and tie them to a new physical location.

[Caribbean Queen]

There were a lot of sacrifices before Moses.

 

Cain and Abel made sacrifices. Cain got jealus because God was pleased with Abel's but not his.

 

Noah sarificed some animals after the flood.

 

Abraham was going to sacrifice Issac, but God told him not to. He sacrificed a ram.

[stormy weather]

I did know that there were animal sacrifices.:tongue_smilie: I suppposed they were not the norm but just happened as God asked for them, more of a personal type relationship than the sacrifices of the law. I need to read The old testament again. My grand plan for school was that as we were reading through history I would read along in my bible. That didn't go according to plan. :blush: I did not know there was tithing before the law,you don't happen to know a scripture reference for that? Thanks

Edited February 9, 2010 by stormy weather
brain working ahead of hands

[Carol in Cal.]

I did know that there were animal sacrifices.:tongue_smilie: I suppposed they were not the norm but just happened as God asked for them, more of a personal type relationship than the sacrifices of the law. I need to read The old testament again. My grand plan for school was that as we were reading through history I would read along in my bible. That didn't go according to plan. :blush: I did not know there was tithing before the law,you don't happen to know a scripture reference for that? Thanks

 

Abraham meets Melchizedek, and gives him 10% of all of his wealth. Melchizedek is called a priest in two other places in the Bible, I believe; once in the Psalms and once in Hebrews. I can't look up the passages right now, but I think that you could google Melchizedek and find them all pretty quickly.

[VaKim]

Abraham meets Melchizedek, and gives him 10% of all of his wealth. Melchizedek is called a priest in two other places in the Bible, I believe; once in the Psalms and once in Hebrews. I can't look up the passages right now, but I think that you could google Melchizedek and find them all pretty quickly.

 

Hebrews 7. And Abraham didn't give him a tenth of his wealth, but rather a tenth of the spoils from the slaughter of the kings.

[HayesW]

Yep! Pharoah actually agreed to let the PEOPLE go, but Moses said they had to have their animals so they could sacrifice appropriately.