Book of Exodus
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The Book of Exodus (from
Traditionally
Title
The English name Exodus comes from the
Historicity
Most mainstream scholars do not accept the biblical Exodus account as historical for a number of reasons. It is generally agreed that the Exodus stories were written centuries after the apparent setting of the stories.[6] Archaeologists Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman argue that archaeology has not found evidence for even a small band of wandering Israelites living in the Sinai: "The conclusion – that Exodus did not happen at the time and in the manner described in the Bible – seems irrefutable [...] repeated excavations and surveys throughout the entire area have not provided even the slightest evidence".[8] Instead, they argue how modern archaeology suggests continuity between Canaanite and Israelite settlements, indicating a heavily Canaanite origin for Israel, with little suggestion that a group of foreigners from Egypt comprised early Israel.[9][10]
However, a majority of scholars believe that the story has some historical basis,
Structure
There is no unanimous agreement among scholars on the structure of Exodus. One strong possibility is that it is a
Summary
The text of the Book of Exodus begins after the events at the end of the
Later, a grown Moses goes out to see his kinsmen. He witnesses the abuse of a Hebrew slave by an Egyptian overseer. Angered, Moses kills him and flees into
Moses reunites with his brother
As desert life proves arduous, the Israelites complain and long for Egypt, but God miraculously provides
God gives Moses instructions for the construction of the
While Moses is with God, Aaron casts a
Moses descends from the mountain with a transformed face; from that time onwards he must hide his face with a veil. Moses assembles the Hebrews and repeats to them the commandments he has received from God, which are to keep the Sabbath and to construct the Tabernacle. The Israelites do as they are commanded. From that time God dwells in the Tabernacle and orders the travels of the Hebrews.
Composition
Authorship
Jewish and Christian tradition viewed Moses as the author of Exodus and the entire Torah, but by the end of the 19th century the increasing awareness of discrepancies, inconsistencies, repetitions and other features of the Pentateuch had led scholars to abandon this idea.[20] In approximate round dates, the process which produced Exodus and the Pentateuch probably began around 600 BCE when existing oral and written traditions were brought together to form books recognizable as those we know, reaching their final form as unchangeable sacred texts around 400 BCE.[21]
Sources
 | This section relies largely or entirely upon a single source. (August 2022) ) |
Although patent mythical elements are not so prominent in Exodus as in
Textual witnesses
Themes
Salvation
Biblical scholars describe the Bible's theologically-motivated history writing as "
Theophany
A theophany is a manifestation (appearance) of a god – in the Bible, an appearance of the God of Israel, accompanied by storms – the earth trembles, the mountains quake, the heavens pour rain, thunder peals and lightning flashes.[24] The theophany in Exodus begins "the third day" from their arrival at Sinai in chapter 19: Yahweh and the people meet at the mountain, God appears in the storm and converses with Moses, giving him the Ten Commandments while the people listen. The theophany is therefore a public experience of divine law.[25]
The second half of Exodus marks the point at which, and describes the process through which, God's theophany becomes a permanent presence for Israel via the Tabernacle. That so much of the book (chapters 25–31, 35–40) describes the plans of the Tabernacle demonstrates the importance it played in the perception of Second Temple Judaism at the time of the text's redaction by the Priestly writers: the Tabernacle is the place where God is physically present, where, through the priesthood, Israel could be in direct, literal communion with him.[26]
Covenant
The heart of Exodus is the Sinaitic covenant.[27] A covenant is a legal document binding two parties to take on certain obligations towards each other.[28] There are several covenants in the Bible, and in each case they exhibit at least some of the elements in real-life treaties of the ancient Middle East: a preamble, historical prologue, stipulations, deposition and reading, list of witnesses, blessings and curses, and ratification by animal sacrifice.[29] Biblical covenants, in contrast to Eastern covenants in general, are between a god, Yahweh, and a people, Israel, instead of between a strong ruler and a weaker vassal.[30]
Election of Israel
God elects Israel for salvation because the "sons of Israel" are "the firstborn son" of the God of Israel, descended through Shem and Abraham to the chosen line of
Judaism's weekly Torah portions in the Book of Exodus
List of Torah portions in the Book of Exodus:[32]
- Shemot, on Exodus 1–5: Affliction in Egypt, discovery of baby Moses, Pharaoh
- Va'eira, on Exodus 6–9: Plagues 1 to 7 of Egypt
- Bo, on Exodus 10–13: Last plagues of Egypt, first Passover
- Beshalach, on Exodus 13–17: Parting the Sea, water, manna, Amalek
- Yitro, on Exodus 18–20: Jethro's advice, The Ten Commandments
- Mishpatim, on Exodus 21–24: The Covenant Code
- Terumah, on Exodus 25–27: God's instructions on the Tabernacle and furnishings
- Tetzaveh, on Exodus 27–30: God's instructions on the first priests
- Ki Tissa, on Exodus 30–34: Census, anointing oil, golden calf, stone tablets, Moses radiant
- Vayakhel, on Exodus 35–38: Israelites collect gifts, make the Tabernacle and furnishings
- Pekudei, on Exodus 38–40: Setting up and filling of The Tabernacle
See also
- Film adaptations of the Book of Exodus
- History of the Jews in Ancient Egypt
- Ketef Hinnom
- Song of the Sea
References
Citations
- ^ Johnstone 2003, p. 72.
- ^ Finkelstein & Silberman 2002, p. 68.
- ^ Meyers, p. xv.
- ^ Grabbe 2017, p. 36.
- ^ Meyers 2005, pp. 6–7.
- ^ a b Moore & Kelle 2011, p. 81.
- ^ Dozeman 2009, p. 1.
- ^ Finkelstein & Silberman 2002, p. 63.
- ^ Barmash 2015, p. 4.
- ^ Shaw 2002, p. 313.
- ^ Faust 2015, p. 476.
- ^ Redmount 2001, p. 87.
- ^ Geraty 2015, p. 55.
- ^ Sparks 2010, p. 73.
- ^ Davies 2020, p. 152.
- ^ Russell 2009, p. 11.
- ^ Meyers, p. 17.
- ^ Stuart, p. 19.
- ^ Exodus 31:18; Deuteronomy 9:10
- ^ Meyers 2005, p. 16.
- ^ McEntire 2008, p. 8.
- ^ Kugler & Hartin 2009, p. 74.
- ^ Dozeman, p. 9.
- ^ Dozeman, p. 4.
- ^ Dozeman, p. 427.
- ^ Dempster, p. 107.
- ^ Wenham, p. 29.
- ^ Meyers, p. 148.
- ^ Meyers, pp. 149–150.
- ^ Meyers, p. 150.
- ^ Dempster, p. 100.
- ^ Weekly Torah Portions. Alephbeta
General bibliography
- Barmash, Pamela (2015). "Out of the Mists of History: The Exaltation of the Exodus in the Bible". In Barmash, Pamela; Nelson, W. David (eds.). Exodus in the Jewish Experience: Echoes and Reverberations. Lexington Books. pp. 1–22. ISBN 9781498502931.
- Childs, Brevard S (1979). The Book of Exodus. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780664229689.
- Collins, John J. (2005). The Bible After Babel: Historical Criticism in a Postmodern Age. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802828927.
- Davies, Graham (2004). "Was There an Exodus?". In Day, John (ed.). In Search of Pre-exilic Israel: Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar. Continuum. pp. 23–40. ISBN 9780567082060.
- Davies, Graham I. (2020). Exodus 1-18: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary: Volume 1: Chapters 1-10. ISBN 978-0-567-68869-9.
- Davies, Graham I. (2020b). Exodus 1-18: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary: Volume 2: Chapters 11-18. ISBN 978-0-567-68872-9.
- ISBN 9780830826155.
- Dozeman, Thomas B (2009). Commentary on Exodus. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802826176.
- Dozeman, Thomas B (2000). "Exodus, Book of". In David Noel, Freedman; Allen C., Myers (eds.). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Eerdmans. ISBN 9789053565032.
- Dozeman, Thomas B. (2010). Methods for Exodus. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139487382.
- ISBN 978-3-319-04768-3.
- ISBN 9780743223386.
- Fretheim, Terence E (1991). Exodus. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664237349.
- ISBN 978-3-319-04768-3.
- Grabbe, Lester (2017). Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-567-67043-4.
- Houston, Walter J (1998). "Exodus". In John Barton (ed.). Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198755005.
- Johnstone, William D. (2003). "Exodus". In James D. G. Dunn, John William Rogerson (ed.). Eerdmans Bible Commentary. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802837110.
- Kugler, Robert; Hartin, Patrick (2009). An Introduction to the Bible. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802846365.
- Levy, Thomas E., Thomas Schneider, William H.C. Propp. (2015). "Israel's Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective: Text, Archaeology, Culture, and Geoscience". Springer International Publishing.
- McEntire, Mark (2008). Struggling with God: An Introduction to the Pentateuch. Mercer University Press. ISBN 9780881461015.
- ISBN 9780521002912.
- Moore, Megan Bishop; Kelle, Brad E. (2011). Biblical History and Israel's Past. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802862600.
- Noonan, Benjamin J. (2016). "Egyptian Loanwords as Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus and Wilderness Traditions". In Hoffmeier, James K.; Millard, Alan R.; Rendsburg, Gary A. (eds.). "Did I Not Bring Israel Out of Egypt?": Biblical, Archaeological, and Egyptological Perspectives on the Exodus Narratives. Penn State Press. pp. 49–67. ISBN 978-1-57506-430-7.
- ISBN 0-8074-0055-6
- Redmount, Carol A. (2001) [1998]. "Bitter Lives: Israel In And Out of Egypt". In Coogan, Michael D. (ed.). The Oxford History of the Biblical World. OUP. pp. 58–89. ISBN 9780199881482.
- Russell, Stephen C. (2009). Images of Egypt in Early Biblical Literature. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110221718.
- Shaw, Ian (2002). "Israel, Israelites". In Shaw, Ian; Jameson, Robert (eds.). A Dictionary of Archaeology. Wiley Blackwell. ISBN 9780631235835.
- Sparks, Kenton L. (2010). "Genre Criticism". In Dozeman, Thomas B. (ed.). Methods for Exodus. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139487382.
- Stuart, Douglas K (2006). Exodus. B&H Publishing Group. ISBN 9780805401028.
- Wenham, Gordon (1979). The Book of Leviticus. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802825223.
External links
- Exodus at BibleGateway.com
- Exodus at Mechon-Mamre (Jewish Publication Society translation)
- Exodus (The Living Torah) Archived 2011-06-10 at the Wayback Machine—Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's translation and commentary at Ort.org
- Shemot—Exodus (Judaica Press) translation (with Rashi's commentary) at Chabad.org
- Shmot (Original Hebrew—English at Mechon-Mamre.org)
Exodus public domain audiobook at LibriVox—Various versions
