Book of Exodus
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Template:Books of Torah Exodus is the second book of the Torah, the Tanakh, and the Old Testament. The major events of the book concern the Exodus, a departure of Hebrew slaves from Egypt under the leadership of Moses.
Jews call the book by its first words Ve-eleh shemot (Hebrew: ואלה שמות) (i.e., "And these are the names") or simply "Shemot" (שמות). The Septuagint designates the second book of the Pentateuch as "Exodus" (Greek: Ἔξοδος), meaning "departure" or "out-going". The Latin translation adopted the name, which passed into other languages.
The book is generally broken into six sections:
- The account of the growth of the Israelites into a people and their enslavement in Egypt
- The birth, exile and call of Moses
- Moses' ministry, the plagues, and the Passover
- The journey from Egypt to Mount Sinai (13-18)
- The formation of a covenant between God and the people, and its associated laws (19-24)
- Intricate instructions for the construction of a tabernacle, priestly robes, and other ritual objects (25-31)
- The episode of the golden calf, and the regiving of the law (32-34)
- The construction of the tabernacle, priestly robes, and other ritual objects (35-40)
A major Chiastic structure runs throughout the second half of Exodus, centered on the episode of the golden calf.
Summary
The story of the Exodus is both inspiring and fearsome. It is also interspersed with editorial interpretations, genealogies, and long lists of priestly regulations, moral codes, and building instructions for the portable religious sanctuary, or tabernacle, which the Israelites carried through the wilderness. The basic outline of the story is as follows:
The Israelites' enslavement in Egypt
The later chapters of Genesis describe a great famine which had struck the Promised Land, causing the Hebrews to relocate to Egypt. Their kinsman Joseph had risen to a position of great power there. Thanks largely to his administrative skills, food in Egypt remained plentiful. Joseph persuaded his entire extended family to come live under his protection so that he can support them for the duration of the famine. Once the famine ends, however, the Hebrews do not return to the Promised Land. Rather, they proceed to settle down in Egypt and remain there for many generations.
The Book of Exodus opens as a new Pharaoh, who knew not Joseph, becomes concerned about the military implications of the large increase in the Israelite population. He enslaves them and allows them only manual labour, ordering the Hebrew midwives to kill all male babies.
The birth, exile, and call of Moses
A Levite woman, later identified as Jochebed, the wife of Amram (6:20), avoids this fate for her son by placing him in a reed basket that she floats down the Nile. A daughter of the king of Egypt finds the infant, calling him Moses (translated as drawn out, from Hebrew but also related to the Egyptian word for "son).
After his own mother serves as wet nurse to the child, Moses is brought up as an Egyptian prince. When he becomes a man, he takes sympathy for one of the Hebrew laborers that is being whipped by his overlords. Moses kills the Egyptian oppressor and buries his body in the sand. Worse, the Hebrews themselves view his act as a threat and begin to spread the news of his deed.
To escape from Pharaoh, who seeks his life, Moses flees the country. Moses' exile takes him to Midian, where he becomes shepherd to the priest Jethro (here called Reuel) and marries his daughter, Zipporah. As he feeds the sheep on Mount Horeb, God beckons Moses from a burning bush. In one of the Bible's most memorable scenes, God reveals his true name of Yahweh, and orders Moses to return to Egypt to demand the release of the Israelites from Pharaoh. Moses at first demurs, saying the Israelites will not believe him, but and gives him the power to perform miraculous signs to show his authority. Moses still hesitates, and God's "anger burned against Moses." Aaron, mentioned now for the first time and identified as Moses' older brother, is appointed to assist him. On his return to Egypt, apparently still angry, tries to kill Moses, but Zipporah circumcises Moses' son, thus saving Moses' life.(2-4)
The plagues and the Passover
God calls Aaron and sends him to meet Moses in the wilderness. Aaron gives God's message to the Israelites and performs mircales. The people believe.
Moses meets with the Egyptian ruler and, in Yahweh's name, demands permission to go a on a three-day piligrimage into the desert to hold a sacred feast. The king not onlyl refuses, but oppresses the people still further, accusing them of laziness and ordering them to gather their own straw to make bricks without diminishing the quota. Moses complains to God that his ministry is only resulting in increased suffering for the Israelites. God identifies himself again to Moses, this time explaining that Moses is the first of the Israelites to know his true name, which was unrevealed even to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God promises that he will redeem Israel "with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment."
God then sends a series of miraculous but terrible plagues onto Egypt. First, Aaron throws down his staff, and it becomes a snake. The kings magicians, however, perform the same feat. Aaron's snake swallows the Egyptian serpents, but the king only hardens his heart against the Isralites. Next Aaron turns the Nile to blood, killing its fish. Again, the Egyptian magicians accomplish the same feat, and again Pharaoh refused to relent. Aaron then causes frogs to emerge from the Nile to plague the land. The Egyptian magicians do the same. This time Pharaoh asks Moses to pray to Yahweh to take the frogs away. God responds to Moses' entreaty, but the king again hardens his heart. Aaron now performs a miracle that the Eyptians cannot duplicate: a plague of gnats. The magicians testify, "this is the finger of God," but Pharaoh stubbornly refuses to listen.
The pattern of miracles now shifts away from Aaron. Moses threatens the king with a plague of flies, and God directly brings it about. The country is so devasted by this catastrophe, that Pharaoh finally agrees that the Israelites may make their pilgrimage if Moses will ask Yahweh to take away the flies. Moses accomplishes this task, but Pharaoh, of course, changes his mind and renegs on the deal. Next comes a plague that kills Egyptian livestock but spares the Israelite cattle. Then Moses brings about a plague of boils. Even the Egyptian magicians are affected by the disease, but the king stubborn refuses to give in. Next God tells Moses to threaten a mighty hailstorm. Some of the Egyptians respond to the warning and move their cattle to shelter. The reaminder are devestated by the storm, while the Israelite areas remain untouched. Pharaoah actually admits his sin this time and promises to let the people go, but once again changes his mind when after the hail stops.
The Egyptian courtiers begin to lobby to let the Israelites have their festival, and the king begins to negotiate with Moses. Suspecting a trick, he agrees to let the men make their pilgrimage to offer sacrifice but not the Israelite women and children.
God and Moses respond with a plague of locusts that devour the crops not destroyed by the hail. Once again Pharaoh begs for forgiveness, Moses removes the plague and Pharaoah hardness his heart. God then plauges Egypt with three days of darkness. His will now almost broken, Pharaoh agrees that the women and children can join the pilgrimage, but not the cattle. Moses refuses to negotiate, and God hardens the king's heart one last time.
Finally, God send a truly horrendous plague, killing all the Egyptian firstborn. On his way, Yahweh passes over the houses of the Israelites, recognizing them by lamb's blood that Moses has ordered painted on each Hebrew home's door post. The narrator explains that story provides the background for the holiday of Passover. The king finally truly relents and allows the Israelites to make their three-day pilgrimage. The Egyptians send them on their way with gifts of gold and jewelry. (4-12)
The journey to Mount Sinai (13-18)
The Exodus thus begins, and Moses tells the Israelites leave that the plan is not just to offer sacrifices and return, but to go all the Canaan, a "land flowing with milk and honey." Paraoh, confirming his suspicion that the Israelite have fled, gathers a large army to persue them. The Israelites, led by a majestic pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day, have not reached the "Reed Sea" (Yam Suph — often mistranslated as the Red Sea).
In one of the Bible's most dramatic moments, Moses causes the waters of the sea to part, and the Israelites cross over on dry land. The waters collapse once the Israelites have passed, defeating Pharaoh and drowning his armies. Miriam leads the Israelites joyfully sing the what scholars consider to be one of the oldest verse in the Bible:
- Sing to the Lord,
- for he is highly exalted.
- The horse and its rider
- he has hurled into the sea. (15:21)
The Israelites continue their journey into the desert, and once in the Wilderness of Sin, they complain about the lack of food. Listening to their complaint, God sends them a large quantify of low-flying quail, and subsequently provides a daily ration of manna. Once at Rephidim, thirst torments the people, and water is miraculously provided from a rock. However, a troubling pattern has emerged, as the Israelites display a lack of trust in Moses and seek to "put God to the test." (17:2)
Soon a tribe know as the Amalekites attack. The newly emergent military hero Joshua manages to vanquish them, and God orders an eternal war against Amalek until they are utterly obliterated. (Indeed, the Amalekites are a tribe unknown to history outside of the Bible.)
In Midian, Zipporah's father Jethro hears of Moses' approach and visits him. Although not an Israelite, he "offers sacrifices to God" and eats a sacred meal with "elders of Israel in God's presence." (18:12) Jethro also advises Moses to appoint judges to assist in the administration tribal affairs, and "Moses listend to his father-law and did everythng that he said to do. (18:24)
The Covenant and its Laws (19-24)
In the third month the Israelites arrive at Mount Sinai, and God declares, via Moses, that the Israelites are God's people, because he has liberated them by his omnipotence. The Israelites agree to a covenant of obiedience with Yahweh, and so, with thunder and lightning, clouds of smoke, and the noise of a mighty trumpet, God appears to them in a cloud at the top of Mount Sinai (19).
God then declared a verions of the Ten Commandments, sometime referred to as the Moral Decalogue(20). A serious of laws governing the rights and limits of slavery follow this. Capital punishment is declared to be the punishment for murder, kidnapping, attacking or cursing one's parents. Other personal injury and property laws are also enacted. (21-22) The death sentence is required for women convicted of sorcery. Bestiality likewise is punishable by death, as is the offering of sacrifes to gods other than Yahweh. Aliens and orphans, however, are to be protected. Usury, blamphemy, and the cursing of one's ruler are prohibted. God requires that first-born sons and cattle be offered to him on the eighth day after their birth. Cattle that die from being attacked by wild beasts must not be eaten. False witness and bribery are prohibited. Every seventh year, a field must be left uncultivated by their owner so that the poor may gain food from it. The sabbath must be observed every seventh day, and both slaves and livestock must be allowed to rest then as well. Various festival and ritual laws are enacted, including the prohibition against cooking a young goat in its mother's milk, the root of the Jewish tradition of never mixing milk and meat dishes.
Finally, God promises Israelites if they obey, he will fight for them against the Canaanites, establishing their borders "from the Yam Suph to the Sea of the Philistines (the Mediterranean), and from the desert to the (Euphrates) River." Covenants and coexistence with the Canaanites are prohibited. (23)
Moses then erects twelve stone pillars at the base of the sacred mountain, representing each of the Tribes of Israel. He seals the Israelites' covenant by sprinkling the congegation with the blood of a bull calf he has sacrficed to God. He them reads to them what he is written thus far in the "Book of the Covenant," and the people swear to obey its commandments.
Setting out with Joshua, Moses then ascended the mountain again, leaving Aaron and Hut in charge of the those remaining behind. He would be on the mountain for 40 days.(24)
The Tabernacle, vestments, and ritual objects (25-31)
While Moses is on the mountain, Yahweh gives him detailed instructions regardomg the construction of a the tabernacle, a potrable sanctuary in which God can dwell permanently among the Israelites. Elements include:
- The Ark of the Covenant, to contain the tablets of the Ten Commandments
- A mercy seat, with two golden cherubim on either side, serving as a throne for Yahweh.
- A menorah, never to be extinguished.
- A tent-like structure to contain these things.
- An outer court, involving pillars on bronze pedestals.
Instructions are also given for the garments of the priests:
- A [[ephod] of gold, attached to two ornate shoulder-pieces. It is to contain two onyx stones, each engraved with the names of six of the tribes of Israel.
- A breastplate containing Urim'' and ''Thummim for divination.
- Golden chains for holding the breastplate set with twelve specific precious stones, in four rows.
- A blue cloth robe with pomegranate-shaped tassels and bells around the seam.
- A coat and girdle, tunic, sash, headband, and linen undergarments.
- A mitre with a golden plate with the inscription Holy to the Lord.
Following these instructions God specifies that ritual to be used to ordain the priests, including robing, anointing, and seven days of sacrifices. Instructions are also provided for morning and evening offerings of a lamb (29). Additional tabernacle instruction follow, involving the making of a golden altar of incense, laver, anointing oil, and perfume (30). Bezaleel and Aholiab are identified by God as the craftsmen to construct these things(31).
The golden calf (32-34)
Whilst Moses is up the mountain, the people become impatient and urge Aaron fashion an icon for their worship. He collects their golden jewelry and fashions a bull-calf, proclaim "Here is God, who brought you out of Egypt." (The word used is elohim, normally translated as God, but here often translated as "gods.") The Israelites worship with joy. Yahweh, however, is offended and informs Moses that the people have become idolatrous. He threatens to abandon Israel, but Moses intercedes. However, when he comes down with tablets in hand Moses become enraged and smashes the two tablets of the Law. After pronouncing judgment upon Aaron and the people, Moses again ascends to God to implore forgiveness, and is successful (32-33). Moses consequently is commanded to make two new tablets on which God will personally write the commandments. God then gives the Ritual Decalogue, writing the ten commandments onto the tablets. Moses then returns to the people, who listen to him in respectful silence (34). Moses slayed those who worshiped the golden calf (Exod 32:27) to rid himself of the doubters and dissenters.
The Construction of the tabernacle (35-40)
Moses collects the congregation, enjoins upon them the keeping of the Sabbath, and requests gifts for the sanctuary. The entire people respond willingly, and under the direction of Bezaleel, and Aholiab, they complete all the instructions, for making the tabernacle, its contents, and the priestly robes, and the Israelites put it together on the first day of the second month (35-40). This section largely copied for word copy of Chapters 25-31.
Authorship
As with for the other books of the Torah, both Orthodox Judaism and Christianity hold that the text of Exodus was dictated to Moses by God Himself. Modern biblical scholarship, however, regards the text as being compiled either the Kingdom of Judah (7th c. B.C.E.) or post-exilic times (6th or 5th c. BCE). This does not preclude the possibility, scholars admit, that some of the material in Exodus is quite old.
The documentary hypothesis postulates that there were several, post-Moses, authors, whose stories have been intertwined by a later redactor. The three main authors of the work are said, in this hypothesis, to be the Yahwist, Elohist, and Priestly source. In addition, the poetic Song of the Sea and the prose Covenant Code are thought to have been originally independent works one of the above writers included.
A particularly interesting episodes is the revelation of God's name, Yahweh, to Moses for the first time in Edodus --------. This story, thought to be from "P," contradicts the earlier Yahwist affirmation that the patriarchs called about "the name of Yahweh." Some scholars speculate that the two versions of the 10 commandments included in Exodus....
The Elohist is identified as uniquely responsible for the episode of the golden calf, and the priestly source as uniquely responsible for the instructions about creating the tabernacle, vestments, and ritual objects. The Elohist with the Covenant Code, the Priestly source with the Ethical Decalogue, and the Yahwist with the Ritual Decalogue.
The other parts of the book are believed to have been constructed by intertwining the Yahwist, Elohist, and Priestly, versions of each of the stories. Deconstructions of the stories into these sources identify heavy variations between stories. For example, the Priestly Source never provides a warning to Pharaoh about the plagues and always involves Aaron — the archetype of priesthood. The Elohist always provides a warning to Pharoah and hardly ever portarys Aaron in a positive light.
Historicity
The time-span in this book, from the death of Joseph to the erection of the tabernacle in the wilderness, covers about one hundred and forty-five years, on the supposition that one computes the four hundred and thirty years (12:40) from the time of the promises made to Abraham (Gal. 3:17).
There have been several attempts to fix the date of the events in the book to a precise point on the Gregorian Calendar. These attempts generally rest on three considerations
- Who the unnamed pharaoh was
- The dates for non-biblical accounts of large numbers of semitic people leaving Egypt
- The date that archaeology implies Jericho was destroyed
Generally, fixing the identification of the Pharaoh is considered the key, and two dynasties are usually suggested:
- Ramses II or Merneptah of the 19th Dynasty, around 1290 B.C.E., favoured by the large majority of both religious and secular scholars, although this contradicts several key aspects of the biblical account, and neglects several recent archaeological discoveries in Tel el-Dab'a and Jericho. See Ramesses II#Pharaoh of Exodus.3F.
- Thutmose III or Amenhotep II of the 18th Dynasty, around 1444 B.C.E., favoured by a large minority of mostly religious scholars, since it precedes the destruction of Jericho, although some doubt surrounds the archaeological evidence supporting the Exodus and Canaanite conquest dating. However it should be noted that Egypt still dominated the Canaan at that period in history [1], making such a date less plausible. The carbon-dating tests at Jericho are also disputed in age.
- Akhenaton of the 18th Dynasty, around 1340 B.C.E. The link to Akhenaton is that, like Moses, this pharaoh was struggling to convert the people to monotheism. The brother of Akhenaton was named Tuth-Moses, and while it is often assumed that this Tuth-Moses died young Professor Cyril Aldred shows that he was the commander of the king's chariot forces. [1] The Jewish historian Josephus Flavius similarly records that Moses was an Egyptian prince and army commander (Antiquities 2:232, 2:241). [2]
- Many others have been suggested, such as Dudimose, the Hyksos expulsion, and others. See Dudimose and The Exodus Decoded.
See also
|
Book of Exodus Portal |
- The Exodus
- Moses
- Tabernacle
- Torah portions in Exodus: Shemot, Va'eira, Bo, Beshalach, Yitro, Mishpatim, Terumah, Tetzaveh, Ki Tisa, Vayakhel, and Pekudei
- Film adaptations of the Book of Exodus
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Colin J. Humphreys, The Miracles of Exodus: A Scientist’s Discovery of the Extraordinary Natural Causes of the Biblical Stories 2003, HarperSanFrancisco
- W. F. Albright From the Stone Age to Christianity (2nd edition) Doubleday/Anchor
- W. F. Albright Archaeology and the Religion of Israel (5th edition) 1969, Doubleday/Anchor
- Encyclopedia Judaica, Keter Publishing, entry on "Population", volume 13, column 866.
- Y. Shiloh, "The Population of Iron Age Palestine in the Light of a Sample Analysis of Urban Plans, Areas and Population Density." Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR), 1980, 239:25-35
- Exploring Exodus: The Origins of Biblical Israel Nahum Sarna, Shocken Books, 1986 (first edition), 1996 (reprint edition), chapter 5, "Six hundred thousand men on foot".
- "Those Amazing Biblical Numbers: Taking Stock of the Armies of Ancient Israel" William Sierichs, Jr.
- "The Rise of Ancient Israel : Symposium at the Smithsonian Institution October 26, 1991" by Hershel Shanks, William G. Dever, Baruch Halpern and P. Kyle McCarter, Biblical Archaeological Society, 1992.
- The Biblical Exodus in the Light of Recent Research: Is There Any Archaeological or Extra-Biblical Evidence?, Hershel Shanks, Editor, Biblical Archaeological Society, 1997
- Secrets of the Exodus: The Egyptian Origins of the Hebrew People", by Messod Sabbah, Roger Sabbath, Helios Press, 2004
External links
Online versions and translations of Exodus
Arabic translations
Jewish translations
- Exodus at Mechon-Mamre (Jewish Publication Society translation)
- Exodus (The Living Torah) 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)
Christian translations
- Exodus Douay-Rheims Bible
- Exodus New American Bible
- Online Bible at GospelHall.org
- Exodus at The Great Books (New Revised Standard Version)
- Exodus King James Version (English)
- Exodus at Wikisource (Authorized King James Version)
Translations identifying sources
- Book of Exodus article (Jewish Encyclopedia)
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