EXODUS

Biblical Allusions

An Ark of Bulrushes

In chapter one, as Huck tells us about his time living with the Widow Douglas, he recalls one evening when, “After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers, and I was in a sweat to find out all about him; but by and by she let it out […]

The Almighty

Lincoln declares “The Almighty has His own purposes.” While not a direct quote from the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments are replete with this teaching. One example is God’s words through Paul in ROMANS 9 : 15-17, quoting EXODUS 33 : 19 and EXODUS 9 : 16, respectively…

The Ark of the Covenant

Much like Patrick Henry in his Speech to the Virginia Convention, Whittier declares that there is a “Just God!” (See “Betrayed with a Kiss” for a discussion of that Biblical allusion.) Whittier goes on to speak of “Israel’s Ark of light,” an allusion to The Ark of the Covenant, also called The Ark of the […]

An Eye for an Eye

Mrs. Heathcliff tells Ellen Dean, in chapter 17, “On only one condition can I hope to forgive him [her husband]. It is, if I may take an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; for every wrench of agony return a wrench: reduce him to my level.” The law of Moses demanded, for […]