Hasso 1 Norman Hasso Professor Katz Reflection Paper #2 For many African-American preachers in the United States, they

preached sermons comparing the Israelites slavery in Egypt and ultimate rescue from bondage and transfer to the Holy Land as taught in the Hebrew Bible, with that of the African enslaved and taken to a foreign land such as America. Absalom Jones in his Thanksgiving Sermon draws upon the similarities of the plight of African-Americans and the Israelite slaves and their hope of exodus as delineated in the Hebrew Bible. Jones references Exodus, the major text of the Israelites journey out of Egypt, in which the Lord says I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt[and] am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians (69). This covenant that the Lord would deliver the Israelites from oppression is seen by Jones as applicative to the plight of Africans stolen to America. In his Thanksgiving Sermon, Jones focuses on the various aspects of slave life in Egypt to make connection between the covenant the Lord had with ancient Israel and modern day Africans in America and other localities and the ultimate freedom they would receive due to their figurative position as a chosen people by means of them being abused and faith in the Lord. Jones draws a connection between the slavery in Egypt and the slavery in America to show a connection between the suffering of the ancient Israelites and modern day African slaves in America. In reference to the Israelites he discusses how their food was of the cheapest kind and contained but little nourishment (70). This he compares to the slaves in America with nothing to satisfy their hunger but a scanty allowance of roots (71). This comparison of the Israelites and slaves is to show how the modern day situation is the same of that of old, in the fact that in both cases a people were transplanted to a foreign land and put through much misery.

Hasso 2 As Jones states thou hast made of one blood all people[and]we thank thee that thou hast appeared in the fullness of time in behalf of the nation from which most of the worshipping people now before thee are descended (74). Essentially whoever worships the Lord is promised blessing or freedom according to Jones and this is in connecting the story of the Israelites and their situation as the chosen people by worshiping the Lord, to the slaves in America who he claims are faithful in allegiance to the Lord. He also clearly states that all are of one blood and this in large part draws upon the idea the Lord is unprejudiced and that modern day Israel according to Protestants is composed of those who choose to worship the Lord from any background. Jones views the cease of the slave trade in 1808 as prescribed in 1788 by the Constitution to be the freedom of the Africans from further bondage by America and Britain. As he states, Dear land of our ancestors! Thou shall no more be stained by the blood of thy children (72). This passage is drawing upon the end of the slave trade and how the Lord has blessed the Africans to no longer be stolen from their homes and taken by boat to America. This also connects to the murder of the sons of the Israelites which caused their homes to be filled with lamentations over their sons (70). The Israelites underwent tremendous amounts of suffering and were ultimately freed from their bondage by the Lord. The end of the slave trade is a first step to the end of slavery which Jones sees as he views the African slaves as the modern day Israel. He discusses how they are the nation from which most of the worshipping people come from (74). Just as the Israelites were the ones who were praised for worshipping the Lord and freed from bondage, Jones views the modern day Africans as being the same as the Israelites in the sense that they are the ones following the Lord and as such he hopes that they will be freed. He seems convinced that freedom for the slaves is not far away and that the end of the slave

Hasso 3 trade is but a step towards the promise of thy everlasting covenant (75). He views that the covenant for God to free his people is continual to whoever worships him and as such will pass on to the slaves. The Israelites were enslaved in Egypt and toiled long hard hours under the burning rays of the sun just like the slaves in America who worked in the burning sun with scarcely as much clothing upon them as modesty required (69, 71). This is but one of many connections between the Israelites and slaves in America by Absalom Jones in his Thanksgiving Sermon. This is to show the similarities between Israel and the slaves. Essentially, Jones views the covenant the Lord had with Israel as continual to anyone who is faithful to the Lord and as such considers the end of the slave trade in 1808 to be the hand of the Lord and that the end of slavery will also come. He views African slaves as the modern day Israelites transplanted away from their homes and feels that due to their continual belief will eventually be fully free. Just as the Israelites were freed from their bondage in Egypt due to their faith and status as the chosen people, Jones views the slaves in America as receiving freedom in the future because of their faith making them the modern day Israel and granting them the continual covenant from days of old with the Israelites.