The Book Of Exodus Essay

The infamous plague, known as the Black Death, was a deadly disease which managed to spread throughout Europe and the Middle East in the 14th century. Although both the Europeans and the Empires of Islam experienced the Black Death, each region had different responses and reasons for the causes of the disease. Empires of Islam viewed the plague as a blessing from God while Europeans believed it was a punishment from Him. As a result of the Black Death, Europeans rebelled whereas Empires of Islam respected authority. Europeans used other religions as an explanation for the start of the Black Death while Islamic empires did not blame other religions, but rather had other explanations that caused the disease.

The plague was a disease that devastated Europe and the Christian population. Christians handled the plague very differently than the other groups it affected. The mortality rate for European Christians was an estimated 31%. (Robert S. Gottfried, The Black Death, New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1983.) They believed the plague was a cruel and horrible punishment on the men, women, and children of their society brought upon them by God.

Religion has always been a major theme in history, and even now does not fail to play an important role. The desire to gain more believers and convert people makes up the base of the reason for the differences in Muslim and Christian responses the Black Plague. As Gabriele de Mussis, a Christian chronicler during the Black Death, states, “I am overwhelmed, I can’t go on!...The hand of the Almighty strikes repeatedly to greater and greater effect.” On the contrary, Muhammad al Manbiji, an Islamic scholar, said that “…the plague is a blessing from God; at the least, a Muslim should devoutly accept the divine act.” (doc. 4) These two viewpoints of the plague are complete opposites; Christians are overwhelmed that their population is dying out while Muslims are accepting it as a blessing that their rival religion is suffering. These documents were combined to emphasize the contrast between

Who knew that in the 1300s, plague would strike along the trade routes (Doc 1) to the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe, killing nearly one-third of the population it exposed to it in just five short years? Many during this time period would say that God, not only knew, but also was the one responsible for bringing the plague known as the “Black Death, Great Pestilence, or even the Great Plague;” it was a combination of three different plagues from three different bacterial strains: bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic (Background Essay). No matter which type one was affected by, it almost always led to a death, agonizing death. When Europe and the Middle East were struck with the Black Death in the mid-14th century, religion was the

“People called the Flagellants believed that the plague was the judgement of God on sinful mankind. They traveled the country, men and women flogging one another. They preached that anyone doing this for thirty-three days would be cleansed of their sins.”(Paragraph 18). Some people felt that God was punishing them for their sins, which in return made a group of people who beat themselves to remove their sins. This was very ineffective due to the fact that when the flagellants would whip themselves this would spread more blood on people. This caused the Plague to infect more people. Overall the flagellants were not good for

War was when people were throwing their dead at one another and over walls. He could have created the anger and the push to want to hurt one another through the disease. Famine was when the plague made it very difficult to find food during those years. He could have created a shortage or made the civilians starved when he knew there was nothing left to eat. Death would have been the last to show up to the party. He would have waited until everyone was getting hungry, and suffocating over their own vomit and blood. Then he would reap, and reap over 55% of Europe’s population.. The four horsemen seem like a stretch, but it is a very persuasive side. He is the head reaper, someone who comes to collect the souls and the lives of those who need to pass on. If someone sees Death, then they are most likely next to die. Death was a huge part of the plague because of the excessive amount of people that were killed.

According to Mussis, the Black Death was the divine will of God, and was believed to possibly even be Rapture, the coming of Jesus Christ. The disease was said to be inescapable, effecting both the holy and unholy individuals during the 1300s. He was certain that the Plague had been caused so that they may be given the opportunity to repent for their grievous sins, Mussis writes, “We know that whatever we suffer is the just reward for our sins. Now, therefore, when the Lord is enraged, embrace acts of penance, so that you do not stray from the right path and perish.” He believed that the Plague was caused so that previously unfaithful people could turn themselves unto God to ask forgiveness and repentance in order to show them the error in

The Muslims and the Christians had similar approaches when it came to the causes and preventions of the Black Plague. Some of the Causes included “the stars and the planets, and the winds from the south”. The preventions included “The drinking of liquefied Armenian clay, and building of fires”. Although the Muslims and Christians were both truly devastated by the disease, their responses were totally different. The Muslims were taking the Black Death as a blessing from god while the Christians were taking the Black Death as a

First we are going to look at both faiths religious views on the Plague. Christians saw the Plague as a punishment from God. They prayed that god would lift from his people. On the other hand Islamics believed that the Plague was a blessing from God. They even stated that prayer for lifting the epidemic was abhorrent. Christians became more prone to evil and wickedness. Labourers and skilled workmen became rebellious. After the Plague the Christians fasted for three consecutive days, afterwards everyone went to the Great Mosque. When prayer was over everyone left together and outside the entire city of Damascus joined all in the favor of god.

Apparently the plague is noted to have not only triggered deaths and fear, but also the

In Exodus 6:12, the Hebrew phrase “Poor Speaker” (NRSV), does not mean a physical speech disability in a literal sense, but rather it is used as a metaphor to describe Moses’ hesitation to speak to Pharaoh which was not only his own self-consciousness, but was also a product of Israelites disinclination towards him.

In my village, my people describe the plague in various different ways, in so many ways that i don't know who or what to believe. Many of us believe that the plague was sent from God as a punishment for sins. Which caused certain people who we call the Flagellants to whip themselves and they believe if they do that it would take away their sins and give them favor in the eyes of God. Others blame witches and Jews and other

36). The natural disasters spread fear throughout the land. This fear was caused by the belief that God was responsible for the natural disasters and plague that cursed the area. The catholic belief at that time was that God created the world and was still heavily influenced by Him (Byrne p. 86). With his belief then it is easy to say that the disasters at the time were believed to be brought upon the population by God. The reason why God caused these disasters was also believed to be because his followers’ sins were far too many and thus he needed to purge the population of sinners (Article p. 273). The numerous amount of death that occurred during the Black Death made people think that the disease was not inconsistent with the biblical Apocalypse (Article p. 275). Many thought the end of the world was coming and they needed a way to repent for their sins to the fear of burning in Hell when their bodies died and their souls moved on.

travelling from town to town, ritually beating themselves in public acts of shame to a God who is evidently very angry. Violence is also taking place. Groups of people are attempting kill anyone who is suspected of carrying the plague.

The plague was one of the most horrific times in history. Lives were lost and the feelings of freedom was taken away from the people. This infectious illness was forced upon people and made them turn to unusual measures. These actions by the people and the spread of the disease relates to the happening in war. However the book The Plague by Albert Camus conveys a different understanding of war, specifically the Nazi occupation in Paris during World War II. The book quite obviously shows that the plague is an allegory of war. The author shows this through description describing the lack of purification, force among the people, and the feeling of suffering.