A New Book, A New Set of Questions:
You didn't think we were going to stop with just Genesis, did you?
Well, we have made it to the next book of the Bible, Exodus. As was done with the previous book a verse or set of verses will be noted and will then be followed by a question or a series of questions. If you would like to answer any of these questions please do so at the comment link at the end of this posting. These questions are part of why I do not believe in the Bible as truth, or in the existence of God. If you ARE a believer of both God and Bible please be so kind as to note such in the comment section.
1. Exodus 1:7
7 But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.
Questions
1) Did the Israelites grow and reproduce quickly because of their habit of marrying blood relatives instead of outsiders?
2. Exodus 1:8-10
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.
10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
Questions
1) I am curious as to why the new king in Egypt did not know of Joseph considering that the ancient Egyptians were outstanding records keepers, probably the best of their time?
2) The Egyptian kings were educated very well, so again, why didn't the new king here know about his predecessor?
3) Is there any SOLID supporting historical evidence that is free from speculation and clearly points to the ancient Egyptians having enslaved the Hebrews?
3. Exodus 1:11-14
11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.
12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.
13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves
14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.
Questions
1) How were servants to the ancient Egyptians treated?
2) What was the classification of slaves in ancient Egypt?
3) Did the ancient Egyptians ever enslave an ENTIRE people, much less an ENTIRE people for the length of 430 years?
4) Did the ancient Egyptians ever treat their slaves with persistent ruthlessness?
4. Exodus 1:15-16
15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,
16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”
Questions
1) Is there any verifiable historical information that points to any king or pharaoh of ancient Egypt ordering the deaths of Hebrew baby boys?
2) Why were there only TWO Hebrew midwives mentioned if the Hebrew people were supposed to be so numerous?
3) Are we to believe that only TWO women were the midwives for what had to be a considerable number of people?
5. Exodus 1:17
17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.
Questions
1) Is there any mention in the ancient Egyptian texts that indicate a pharaoh ordered midwives to kill the Hebrew baby boys with the result that the midwives disobeyed him on account of fear of the Hebrew God?
2) What happened to people who disobeyed the direct order of a pharaoh?
6. Exodus 1:19
19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
Questions
1) Is this verse supposed to be an example of the wondrous blessings heaped upon the captive Hebrews, that even though they were held captive God was still there with them, taking care of them, aiding them, sustaining them, and making them stronger than the Egyptians?
7. Exodus 1:20-22
20 So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong.
21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.
22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”
Questions
1) Sooo...did God deal well with the midwives because they chose to disobey pharaoh, or because they straight up lied to pharaoh?
2) If the midwives HAD listened to the pharaoh's order would God have prevented them from being able to have families?
8. Exodus 2:1
1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman.
Questions
1) Considering God's apparent delight with incest as a means of procreation, was this Levite man closely related to the relative he married or are we talking a cousin five or six times removed?
9. Exodus 2:6-8
6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”
8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother.
Questions
1) How did Pharaoh's daughter know the baby was Hebrew? Did the mother leave a note? Was he circumcised? Was it the way he was clothed?
2) Why does God seemingly find it necessary to manipulate every damn situation so that He can try to mold it into some bullshit story of how He rendered yet another mind-blowing miracle on His chosen people?
3) Is the purpose for God performing or allowing things like baby Moses being found to distract His chosen people from remembering exactly WHO was responsible for their captivity in the first damn place (that would be God)?
10. Exodus 2:11-12
11 One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.
12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
Questions
1) So, was Moses informed of his Hebrew heritage and where is the proof of this being mentioned?
2) If Moses witnessed this 'beating' of an Hebrew slave taking place, and if Moses looks around to see if anyone is watching, does the verse mean looking to see if any Egyptians were watching or if any Hebrews were watching or if ANYONE at all was watching?
3) If Moses thought that no one was watching at all, exactly where was he when he did this terrible deed?
4) These verses make it sound like Moses was in an area virtually empty of people/slaves. Now, you would think that if this incident took place in an area where many slaves were working that there would be far more people present, enough to have made Moses' action of looking this way and that more or less pointless. Where was Moses when he did this thing? A cloakroom? Probably not considering that Moses hid the body in the sand and not a closet. So, HOW did Moses do this, who was likely to be around, and who would have reported such a thing to the pharaoh?
11. Exodus 2:13-14
13 When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?”
14 He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”
Questions
1) Now these fellows apparently witnessed what Moses had done to the Egyptian the previous day. Where were they when they saw what Moses did? Were they in view of Moses? Were they hiding? Would it have even been possible for any Hebrew slave to hide anywhere considering the supposed ruthlessness and watchfulness of the Egyptian slave masters?
2) Is this verse a pre-cursor to the New Testament verse that references plucking out the log in your own eye before plucking the splinter from another's eye?
3) Is this verse intended to deliver the same message as the verse that states something along the lines of let he who is not-guilty cast the first stone?
12. Exodus 2:15
15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.
Questions
1) Sooo...if Pharaoh heard of what Moses had done WHO told Pharaoh?
2) Did the bickering slaves tell Pharaoh? Was there a roll call and the murdered guard was absent and Pharaoh put two and two together?
3) Did the slaves play a game of ancient telephone and tell one person who told another who told another who told another, and so on and so forth?
4) If the Egyptians supposedly treated the Hebrew slaves so poorly would any Egyptian, much less Pharaoh believe what the slaves had to say in regards to Moses murdering the man?
5) Again, I ask you WHO else saw what Moses had done and how did that information reach Pharaoh so damn quick?
13. Exodus 2:23-25
23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.
24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
Questions
1) Why would the people of Israel have to cry out to God in order for God to hear or know that their situation was so damn dire?
2) Wouldn't God ALREADY KNOW of the plight of the people of Israel since God was the one Who put them there in the first place?
3) God remembers His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Had He forgotten?
4) Did God purposely put the people of Israel in a bad situation in order that He could get them to think He was the shizz-nit when He swooped in and miraculously delivered them from the clutches of Egypt and its pharaoh?
5) Wouldn't such a thing as planning out and executing this ridiculous and murderous plan make God's actions rather devious?
6) So, if God is devious but at the same time absolutely perfect does that excuse God for the shitty things He does to people who sometimes turn out to be His own chosen people?
14. Exodus 3:2-3
2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.
3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
Questions
1) Why why WHY does the LORD insist on sending angels in His stead when by nature He is already everywhere and in all things? Wouldn't God then be wasting His own time? Isn't wastefulness a sin? Would God get a free pass on that, too?
2) Of all the things that the LORD could have done to make Himself known and revealed to His chosen people (such as ceasing to be in-fucking-visible)...of all these things He picks turning into a BURNING BUSH?
3) Why didn't the LORD simply speak to Moses' heart, just like all of the televangelists of the present day claim that God does for them?
4) Was the burning bush for dramatic effect? Did the LORD appear as a burning bush for the purposes of 'shock and awe' since a bush burning in defiance of natural laws looked and probably sounded a whole lot more interesting than simply speaking to Moses' heart?
15. Exodus 3:4
4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
Questions
1) In the previous verse it is noted that the angel of the LORD was in that burning bush, but here it says the LORD. What the hell happened to the angel of the LORD? Was He demoted? Called away on duty? Went on a bathroom break?
2) In the first part of this verse it says that when the LORD saw that Moses was intrigued by the sight of the freak of nature burning bush and began to walk over to investigate, THEN the LORD called out of the fiery bush. Doesn't this sound suspiciously like a subtle form of lying in wait?
3) In modern times is it even plausible that anyone, God-fearing or not, would believe Moses' story?
4) Sooo...if we are to take this story as truth is it so far fetched for people nowadays to see the Virgin Mary in a billboard, baby Jesus in a floor tile, John the Baptist in a hoagie, or Satan in the billowing smoke and flames of a petroleum plant explosion?
16. Exodus 3:5
5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
Questions
1) Okay, here we find ourselves in a bit of a pickle when it comes to the LORD'S/God's/Jehovah's omni-presence. If the ground upon which the LORD is present is holy ground due to that very presence, how the hell isn't all of the ground of this planet holy, considering that the LORD is every where, at all times?
2) If ALL of this planet's surface/ground is holy due to the omni-presence of the LORD...well, wouldn't we ALL be traipsing around shoe-less?
17. Exodus 3:6
6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Questions
1) You know one of the more bothersome questions that cross my mind in relation to this verse is that God introduces Himself as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Why does this sound suspiciously like there ARE other gods, and God just happens to be the one picked by these guys?
2) Why doesn't God simply refer to Himself as THE God and save a lot of trouble for a lot of people?
3) Why is God so obviously obsessed with making people fear Him? Is the fear what gives Him power and substance?
18. Exodus 3:8-9
8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
Questions
1) Does God assisting the people of Israel to flee Egypt deserve ANY kudos whatsoever considering God is the one who put them in Egypt in a damn fix to begin with?
2) Sooo...God tells His people that He will give them this great land, and yada-yada, plucka-plucka. God even tells His people the land is already occupied. Now how do you suppose God is going to get those dwelling on this land out and the people of Israel in?
3) Wouldn't harassing and harming and mistreating and killing and robbing the inhabitants of the promised land qualify as oppressing these people?
4) Didn't the people of Israel get it through their skulls that what they were planning to do to the people already in the promised land (oppress them) was exactly what the Egyptians supposedly did to the people of Israel?
5) God is omni-present, correct? Exactly how long did the people of Israel have to cry out before God decided to stop His deaf ear act and actually render aid/help?
19. Exodus 3:12
12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
Questions
1) The 'sign' that God had indeed sent Moses to drag the people of Israel out of Egypt was that when all was said and done, Moses would serve God on the mountain? What kind of nonsense gibberish is that?
2) So, Moses wants a sign that he has indeed been chosen to do what God is telling him to do. God says Moses will receive a sign but Moses will not actually receive that sign until the people of Israel are out of Egypt and everything is after the fact?
20. Exodus 3:13
13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”
Questions
1) Is Moses really this fucking stupid?
2) Why would God trust ANY portion of His supposed divine plan for man with an individual so goddamn stupid as Moses? Isn't that about as bright as giving Jeffrey Dahmer a fork and knife and a new cellmate?
21. Exodus 3:18
18 And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’
Questions
1) So basically God is instructing Moses to LIE to pharaoh, because both Moses and the LORD God know for sure they have zero intention of actually returning to Egypt as such as their 'three day journey' makes it sound?
22. Exodus 3:19-20
19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand.
20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go.
Questions
1) And why WON'T the king of Egypt want to let the people of Israel go?
2) Is the LORD God's intentional hardening of the pharaoh's heart and the consequences of such considered the 'mighty hand' that compels pharaoh to eventually let the people of Israel go?
3) God absolutely could have simply told the pharaoh to let the people of Israel go, just like that and short and sweet. Pharaoh would have had to listen for who denies God, right? So, why DIDN'T God try that instead of hurting and maiming and frightening and murdering countless Egyptians?
4) Does God consider His victories more complete if He can arrange suffering and sorrow and death on a massive scale?
23. Exodus 3:21-22
21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty,
22 but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
Questions
1) So God is going to place the Egyptians in such a deep state of fear and despair that as the people of Israel leave Egypt they will be able to openly rob the Egyptians of valuables?
2) Why does God refer to this as the people of Israel finding favor in the eyes of the Egyptians when the truth is that the Egyptians were in such a state of fear and shock that they had NO CHOICE but to allow themselves to be robbed, because for all they knew there just might have been a worse plague than the angel of Death tiptoeing through Egypt and killing all of the firstborn?
24. Exodus 4:1-5
1 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’”
2 The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”
3 And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it.
4 But the LORD said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand—
5 “that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
Questions
1) Did either God or Moses truly think that a simple magic trick would impress the Egyptians into allowing the people of Israel to leave, or to convince the people of Israel of Moses' leadership abilities?
2) How would something like this work nowadays? Would the staff turn into a formerly misplaced/lost television remote?
25. Exodus 4:6-7
6 Again, the LORD said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.
7 Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.
Questions
1) How would something like this work nowadays? Would the hand come out of the cloak with a nice peppering of small pox or hemorrhagic fever or some other weird-ass, disgusting malady?
26. Exodus 4:9
9 If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”
Questions
1) IF they will not believe? IF?
2) Do you think Moses would like to have known how far God was going to carry out His threat/promise to harden the pharaoh's heart?
27. Exodus 4:10-11
11 Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
Questions
1) And WHO is the One who put the people of Israel into their predicament to begin with?
2) And WHO is the One Who is purposely hardening the pharaoh's heart in order that an excuse to totally annihilate the Egyptians be made?
28. Exodus 4:18-19
19 And the LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.”
Questions
1) This is the same goddamn thing as modern day criminals who participate in some horrible crime and then run off in hopes that sooner or later people will forget what he has done. Way to go, God. Way to fucking go. Hummm...how is this for holy justice?
29. Exodus 4:21, 23
21 And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.
23 and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’”
Questions
1) Aha! Is this where Moses finally finds out some of the more dark aspects of God's plan for mankind, that said plan absolutely DOES involved premeditated murder?
2) Say, if something like this went to the Nuremberg Trials do you think Moses' life would be spared on account that he was following God's orders under threat of death?
30. Exodus 4:24-26
24 At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death.
25 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!”
26 So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.
Questions
1) Doesn't this verse have sneaky, sly undertones of God lying in wait?
2) So, God cancels the kill contract because He was appeased by the foreskin of Moses' son being cut off?
31. Exodus 4:30-31
30 Aaron spoke all the words that the LORD had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people.
31 And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.
Questions
1) Doesn't this sound suspiciously like God is wowing and wooing the people of Israel with stupid tricks?
2) So, God has all of the power in the universe at His disposal and He chooses to turn a fucking STAFF into a snake as a means to convince people to believe in Him?
