{"id":19714,"date":"2012-04-07T17:37:05","date_gmt":"2012-04-07T09:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinahearsay.com\/?p=12597"},"modified":"2012-04-07T17:37:05","modified_gmt":"2012-04-07T09:37:05","slug":"a-harmonized-introduction-to-the-passover-holiday-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/2012\/04\/07\/a-harmonized-introduction-to-the-passover-holiday-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"A Harmonized Introduction to the Passover Holiday \u2013 Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When we left off discussing the Passover story yesterday, we were just about to meet the protagonist, Moses. Remember that the Israelites living in the province of Goshen were dealing with the excesses of misguided local officials who had erroneously interpreted the Center\u2019s population control policy. Whether first born male infants were actually drowned in the river Nile is a question for historians. Needless to say, this has been accepted as gospel<\/span> fact with respect to the Passover tradition.<\/p>\n

We are told in the Book of Exodus (conveniently for us, this is now Chapter Two) that the mother of Moses, in defiance of local officials, hid her son for three months after his birth. When this was no longer possible, she decided to break the law once again and attempt an illegal adoption. Of the two violations, say some Biblical scholars, the second was the more serious. Since the perceived danger to Moses was in reality the result of misguided local officials, it is possible that his parents could have petitioned the Pharaoh for redress. Instead of availing themselves of traditional legal recourse and opting for an illegal adoption, Moses therefore begins his life under a shadow. And we all know that you can\u2019t outrun your own shadow, or in this case, your foreshadow.<\/p>\n

The illegal adoption was handled in the following way. An ark of bulrushes was constructed, which may have violated local ordinances regarding use of agricultural products owned by the collective. This was no small infraction and was punishable by the revocation of one week\u2019s meals in the canteen. Moses was placed in the basket, which was strategically placed on the riverbank. The Pharaoh\u2019s daughter came along with her work group and noticed the ark, which was brought to her for inspection. The baby cried, she took pity on it, and thus Moses became a Princeling, which as everyone knows is a good thing, while it lasts.<\/p>\n

One interesting side note to the Moses story that has sparked some controversy among scholars. His name, we are told, derives from his being \u201cpulled from the water.\u201d One school of thought, which treats the story as pure allegory, argues that the origin and name of Moses was a criticism of hydrology projects that were being implemented along the Nile at the time. Although the goals of large-scale irrigation was commendable, these large infrastructure projects were riddled with corruption, displaced thousands of families, and many were built simply to enhance the prestige of local officials.<\/p>\n

But Moses\u2019 Princeling days were numbered. One day he witnessed an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, and his response was to slay the Egyptian. The Biblical account that is recognized today, however, is a redacted version of the original tale. We are now supposed to sympathize with the plight of the besmited Hebrew, and to a lesser degree with Moses\u2019 actions, so some of the details have been airbrushed out.<\/p>\n

In the original telling of this incident, Moses and a friend were riding in a chariot, an expensive jewel-encrusted model. A researcher at the University of Johannesburg has estimated that the vehicle would have been worth roughly twenty-five years\u2019 salary of the average Egyptian worker at the time. We are not told whether alcohol or any other mind-altering substances were involved, or whether the ensuing accident was simply the result of carelessness, but Moses ended up running down the Egyptian overseer of a Hebrew work crew that was building a dam.<\/p>\n

The overseer did not die, but was injured and demanded that Moses pay him a large sum for medical expenses. Moses refused, and when the authorities arrived, he told shouted \u201cMy mother is the Pharaoh\u2019s daughter\u201d and had the overseer thrown in jail for extortion. He then instituted a municipal tribunal, which he improperly influenced via bribes and threats, to condemn the man to death. The local officials, incensed that a Princeling was using his family relationship to override local authority and rule of law, released the prisoner. Moses responded by visiting a local agricultural academy and ordering all the students, who he brought in on specially-chartered barges, to surround the ex-prisoner\u2019s home and protest his release. During the course of the protest, a large stone hit the prisoner\u2019s head, killing him instantly.<\/p>\n

In the Biblical account, once Pharaoh learned of the Egyptian\u2019s death, he sought to have Moses slain. In the original telling of the story, Moses was seized by Pharaoh\u2019s security forces and brought home for a show trial, a political statement meant to show that not even Princelings were allowed to defy a Living God.<\/p>\n

The Book of Exodus tells us that Moses flees to the land of Midian, far to the East. Archeologists who have studied the region east of the Gulf of Aqaba have uncovered evidence that suggests Egypt was attempting to develop this region economically. A paper published last year by a Biblical scholar at Oral Roberts University speculates that Moses never actually \u201cfled\u201d to Midian, but was forced by Pharaoh to travel there and accept a local administrative position as punishment for the overseer\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Thus we begin the story of Moses\u2019 exile. To find out whether he is ultimately rehabilitated by Pharaoh or takes the path of class traitor, be sure to read Part III.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a9 Stan for China Hearsay<\/a>, 2012. |\nPermalink<\/a> |\nNo comment<\/a> |\nAdd to\ndel.icio.us<\/a>\n\nPost tags: Passover<\/a>\n<\/small><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In which we finally meet Moses, a Princeling who uses his family relationships to circumvent State authority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[213,194],"tags":[3660],"class_list":["post-19714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-china-news","category-news-chinese-law","tag-passover"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19714\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}