Identity

1. Identity Identities are complex and multiple and grow out of a history of changing responses to economic, political, and cultural forces, almost always in opposition to other identities. - Kwame Anthony Appiah

2. Identity Questions • How do we identify ourselves to other people? • What things constitute our self-understanding?

3. List Moses’ different ways of identifying himself/being identified by others Moses

4. Exod 3:6 “ I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” Exod 3:11 “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Exod 3:13-15 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The god of yourancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of yourancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my title for all generations.” The Burning Bush

5. Generic name for God is ‘elohim The Tetragrammaton is the personal name of God. It is considered sacred and so not said aloud. YHWH or hwhy hyha‘ehyeh is used in 3:14 Hebrew verb ‘to be’ is hyh or ‘hyh. Exod 3:14 is a 1cs form. The divine name is like a 3ms form. The Masoretes knew you do not pronounce the name. So when they added vowels, they remind us of the tradition and put the vowels for ‘adonai or ‘lord’ on the four letters The result is Yahowaih – which becomes in English “Jehovah.” The Tetragrammaton

6. Isaac his Abraham’s son; He marries Rebekah; Rebekah is Abraham’s great niece and Isaac’s 1st cousin once removed; Rebekah is Jacob’s mother; Rachel and Leah are Jacob’s wives and his mother’s nieces; Isaac is Jacob’s father; Rachel and Leah are his 1st cousins twice removed

7. Beersheba – Families shared homes or lived in proximity to one another Pillars subdivide the rooms Work areas and living areas Courtyard for stabling animals Household tasks done near the entrance Long-term storage often in the back 2nd floor could be added for sleeping Roof was generally on poles and made of branches Four-Room House

8. Family is a primary source of identity in this ancient period The bet ‘av or father’s house is the building block; the mispacha or clan is next You were known by who your parents (with emphasis on the father) were. Father/mother, husband/wife, son-in-law/daughter-in-law, brother/sister were just some of the roles you could assume. Of course, you were often many of these things simultaneously. Death could really rearrange the family structure. Births and marriages did so to a lesser extent. Other familiar forms of identifying oneself have not yet come into play There are no set geographical borders to give you any sense of a national identity and government as well as judicial affairs tended to be handled by families and so you would not have identity as a resident of a particular village The “people” of God were not yet known as the “people of Israel.” While Jacob’s name is changed in Gen 32:28 to Israel, the line continues to be his family. It is safe to say “Israelites” or “those descended from Jacob” by the time Exodus gets going, but the unification of this people as a people must wait for the covenant and then is consolidated when they come into the land and start really building a nation Some Tentative Conclusions