광야 출애굽 백성의 심리적 분석: 모세에 대한 원망을 중심으로

Abstract

The Israelites, who made an exodus from ancient Egypt, are described in the Pentateuch. When they complained about the hardships they experienced in the wilderness, they were rescued from those hardships through miracles given by God. However, they again complained when they next came to face new difficulties. This characteristic of theirs continued until they came to final destination in a barren land. While reading their story, I asked the question: Why do not they change themselves even as they repeatedly experience God’s miracles? For this question, I offer a persuasive answer based on object relations theory. In this theory, the bad object in the Israelites’ minds, an image that they had internalized from being abused by the Egyptians, was projected onto Moses, who was leading them into the troubled wilderness; they came to see him as a bad person, although he actually was not. I then explain the mechanism in detail. I hold that Moses may have helped them in their psychological development by showing empathic responses and leading them to reflect on their inner world. If it is assumed that they were members of the Wilderness Church, they could give some instructions to today’s church leaders as such: the leaders need to improve their understanding of the human mind and develop the capacity to help their members reflect upon and understand themselves; they need to increase their knowledge of psychology.