Before the days of Moses

Traditionally, before the Moses era, the children of Israel had referred to their god as the "Unknown God". The story and apparent history of the three main patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, would have been shrouded in mist, if at all remembered.

Just by Moses' confusion alone is enough evidence that the Children of Israel possessed no strong religious system of belief, except that of the Egyptian deities. They were entirely infused into Egyptian society. Egyptian wall inscriptions dating back to that era makes no distinction of an alien peoples living amongst them and who were later enslaved. Egyptian history is well documented upon its ancient walls and there is no mention of "Israel", except once briefly, and insignificantly, and at a much later period where a Pharaoh lists Israel as one of the peoples he has conquered, and which simply states…."and Israel is no more."

Traditionally the collective tribes of Israel are known as the Hebrews, and would have referred to themselves as Hebrews during the Egyptian era. At that point of history the name Israel would have bore little significance, if at all it had been known. The name "Israel" could only have come about through the knowledge of Moses. How Moses came upon, or knew of this name will be discussed in later discourses. For now we must consider the possibility that it was Moses who brought back the ancient religion of his ancestors and again organized the Hebrews into twelve distinctive Houses. The House of Levi was designated the priestly cast and possessed the privilege of the then forming, what we can only term, the religion of Moses. The House of Judah did not possess or was given any jurisdiction over the religious, spiritual well being of the new religion but yet, today, we know it as Judaism.

 It had been some 400 years since the death of Jacob, who bore the name Israel, and it was through his son, Joseph[1], by whose invitation the other tribes had settled in Egypt. Before Moses there were no written records, no Biblical law, no anything, except perhaps, for a few distant and distorted myths retained by Israelite elders that would have provided any hint of who they were. They were indeed the children of an "Unknown God." Much later, while kneeling before the "burning bush", Moses himself queried, who are you? Who shall I say has sent me?