Mark's Gospel as sequel: Understanding the backstory, part I: Moses
From the very first verses of his Gospel, Mark plugs his story into the narrative of the Hebrew Scriptures (i.e., Old Testament). Mark has written a story (Gospel) about a first-century Jew who lived in Northern Palestine (Galilee). Mark is presenting the story of Jesus as the fulfillment of the story of Israel , which began in Gn. 12.1-3 with God’s calling of Abra(ha)m. Abraham , Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and all the other OT characters were part of the “people of God” , the family that God promised to give to Abraham that would be God’s agent of salvation in the world. God revealed his name ( Yahweh ) to Moses in Ex. 3.14, and as the Israelites gathered at the base of Mt. Sinai, Yahweh renewed and expanded the covenant that he had first established with Abraham (Ex. 19—20; cf. Gn. 12, 15, 17). A covenant is a sacred agreement made between God and his people, with promises of blessing for faithfulness and cursing for unfaithfulness (cf. Dt. 28—30). Mark’s