Moses and the History of the Jewish People

In Level III this semester, our studies have taken us deep into the book of Exodus.  Studying that people whom God chose to be His own, we have become very familiar with the history of Israel.  From their enslavement in Egypt, to God's response in the call of Moses, and up through the Gift of the Law and their entry into the Promised Land.

These last few and upcoming weeks are the capstone and pinnacle of our studies.  If you have read this blog before, you might remember that we do 5 typology studies in CGS Level III.  Typology is just a fancy word for seeing "types" or "ties" between Old and New Testament events, as they both point to a future reality that we call  "Parousia"--what we adults might call the end of time, but which the children call that time "when God will be All in All." 1 Corinthians 15:28.

Moses is one of these typologies.  After meditating (discussing and thinking hard) about the connections between crossing the Red Sea and Baptism, between Moses and Jesus, and even manna and the Eucharist, our study turns to the present.

One of the sad realities of the past 100 years, and really the past 2000 years, is that the Jewish people have sometimes not been accepted in the countries to which they have spread (diaspora). The children (especially our American children) really have a hard time understanding the reality of something like the Holocaust, or as the Jewish people call it, the Shoah, because they can't imagine a world where one "people" considers itself so superior to another that it can treat them worse than animals or insects.  Hopefully this will be true for their whole lives.

Our last reflection on the History of the Jewish people (for now!) is that the Jewish people are still waiting.  They wait for the promises which the Lord has made to them that He will send a Messiah. When that Messiah comes:

"He shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land's afflicted... Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them.

The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the cobra's den, and the child lay his hand on the adder's lair.

There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea." Isaiah 11: 4a, 6-10

While we believe that Jesus was and is that Messiah, we also wait for that time when all is brought to perfect fulfillment.  We have so much in common with our elder brother, the Jews, as we await that time when "God will be All in All."

God Bless,
Mandie DeVries
Level III catechist and Director of Religious Education