Bible and Values

The War
Examination Study Questions for Quarter 3

Examine and answer the following questions carefully, giving as much detail as you can:

1. How would you justify the severe discipline God gave to the Israelites
- Some people may argue that God’s discipline was too severe and therefore served
as some sort of punishment for the Israelites’ disobedience. This is simply not
true. Love and justice are a huge part of God’s laws and character. In Exodus
through to Deuteronomy, God showed love toward the Israelites. When they
strayed from His commands, He needed to bring them back on the right track --
because He knew what was best for them, always. The long time the spent in
slavery that God delivered them from made them lose faith at first, but bringing
them to the Promised Land was the final goal. They needed discipline to
remember and realign their faith.

2. Moses was one of the most faithful and capable servants God has ever had. While it is
true that he was disobedient toward God, it was not fair to not allow Moses to enter the
Promised Land. Argue to the contrary and justify God’s decision.
- The whole book of Exodus displays Moses’ faithfulness toward God. He followed
God’s every instruction even as to go risk his life in front of Pharoah (previously).
- Deuteronomy 32:51-52 reads, “... You broke faith with me in the presence of the
Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you
did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites. Therefore, you will see the land
only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of
Israel.”
a. This is (again) a display of God’s display toward His people. If you do not learn
or study God’s laws and character well, it may seem as if this is so unfair for
Moses. In the book of Exodus, Moses was given instruction to speak to a rock.
Instead, Moses struck the rock with His staff. This was a direct contradiction to
what God commanded Moses to do. In Moses’ frustration with the Israelites, he
forgot the God to whom he serves. Because of this, Moses was not allowed to
enter. Still, this may seem unfair. A mistake like this and a punishment so big?
Even after all Moses had done? In the whole of Exodus, Moses was to serve as a
leader and a prime example of how the Israelites should behave. In the previous
passage (Deuteronomy 32:51-52) Moses “broke faith...in the presence of the
Israelites”. Moses, in front of all of God’s people, disobeyed God’s law. This not
only affected Moses’ relationship with God, but also the relationship of the
Israelites with God. Your answer is good. See if you can find the analogy or
 symbolism from this historical account. Read BOE, Moses Fails on the Border of
Canaan.
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3. Compare and contrast how Nebuchadnezzar and Pharaoh responded to God.

- First off, both Nebuchadnezzar and Pharaoh were greedy and quite stubborn.
Nebuchadnezzar learned of the meaning of his dream and still built a tower
symbolizing his unbelief toward God’s warning. And Pharaoh was given so many
chances to let God’s people go, but his heart was hardened and made his own
people -- he Egyptians -- suffer instead of giving God what he commanded. Both
Nebuchadnezzar worshipped pagan gods. The Egyptians worshipped all sorts of
gods of nature and Nebuchadnezzar worshipped idols and made statues of
himself.
- There is a difference between Pharaoh’s and Nebuchadnezzar’s responses. Even
after letting the Israelites go (doing what God commanded through Moses),
Pharaoh did not want to believe God’s power over him. So Pharaoh went after the
Israelites -- but eventually fell. In Nebuchadnezzar’s case, it took some extreme
turns, but Nebuchadnezzar finally admitted to God being all powerful.

4. Nebuchadnezzar had no faith in the Hebrew God despite his praise. Give evidence to
argue against or support this statement.
- In most of the book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar showed no faith in God. All his
words and actions displayed lack of faith toward the God of the Israelites. Faith is
being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1).
If Nebuchadnezzar was anywhere close to being sure God existed he wouldn’t
have ignored God’s message through a dream by building a statue all for his own
glory and praise.

5. Can you assess the value of the fairness of the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus?
b. There is no value to the fairness of the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus. Priests and
Pharisees needed high levels of finessing to get Jesus on the cross. They were
already in a high position to push the wrong influence toward the people and
people in even higher power. Their advice to get rid of Jesus even made Pilate to
question his own credibility. Pilate found nothing wrong in Jesus but because of
his lack of faith and power of the Pharisees, he trusted the Pharisees instead of
what he really thought was right. If everyone knew how Jesus really was, instead
of jealous of Him, Jesus wouldn’t be crucified. Read more about the trial of Jesus
in The Humble Hero. It is uploaded on Schoology. There is more information you can
give for this question.
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