Exodus

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Studying the Bible...

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[exodus]

Additional Reading:

Fee, Gordon D. How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth. Grand Rapids, Michigan : Zondervan, 2003.

Introduction to the book of Exodus:

The book of Exodus, though less controversial than Genesis, is still a key component to the way Israel understands its natural identity.

The book of Exodus is the story of Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian tyranny, and its establishment as a nation.

Audience:

Once again, one of the great certainties we see with the book of Exodus is its intended audience. This book was written to the Israelites/ Hebrews as part of the foundational 5 books of their law. This Pentateuch forms the basis for almost every aspect of Jewish life and worship. Therefore who else could it have been written to?

Once again, this means that the central question we will be asking as we read through this book is: “What does the author want to say to the Jews, or influence them to do.” Keep in mind what we talked about last week, one of the most important things is to consider what the Author was trying to convey to his Audience.

Author:

As with Genesis, there is a great deal of speculation and debate over the authorship of the book of Exodus. Some, who are concerned with literary criticism have noticed a number of different themes running through the book and make the claim that this illustrates a number of different authors or editors over time who took Oral tradition and social memory and edited it together into the narrative which we have today.

Despite the theories of many scholars to this effect, who try to break the book down into its subsequent authors/editors, it is just a theory. There is no evidence to solidly prove it.

I once again hold more to the side of traditional authorship of the book of Exodus and attribute it to Moses. By way of review, Moses was a Hebrew, raised in the palace of Egypt, likely to be highly educated and skilled in both reading and writing. In addition (unlike the events in Genesis) Moses was the primary eyewitness for almost all if not all of the events in the book of Exodus. Who would be better suited to record and

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report the events than Moses himself. In many cases, (the burning bush for example) the only person capable of telling the story if it is true at all would have to have been Moses. It is true that someone could have later composed these oral traditions into a book, but it is not necessary.

Time:

If Moses is the author of this work, then we can reasonably assume that it comes sometime after the Exodus, and before Moses’ death (at least most of it... someone other than Moses records his death).

If we give it nice, neat round numbers, it has to fall somewhere between 1450 and 1405 BC.

Once again, for our purposes I am operating under the assumption that Moses wrote these books to deal with something during his time period, and thus they fit within the chronology of his later life somewhere after (or during, though probably after) his death.

Culture:

See the Genesis handout for more details. It is likely that the Israelites who had constantly rebelled against God set the background for the writing of this text. Once again, remember that the god was not seen as universal as it is today. Sometimes gods were seen as being regional, or specific to a location, therefore when you live there, or pass through there, you worship that god. They were also respected based on the power of a nation, so the strong nations were strong because they had strong gods, and the weak were weak because they had weak gods.

Here is Israel, surrounded by nations that they percieved as being stronger, and in the lands that “belonged” to these gods continued to fall away from worshiping the true God to worshiping false gods (idols).

Moses, stuck leading these people who continually rebelled against God had the responsibility of continuing to encourage them to be faithful to YHWH, and to serve Him instead of the other gods they were going after. So this book is written within the context of a rebellious people.

Purpose:

When looking at the book of Exodus, the question becomes (as with all books) for what purpose did Moses write this book to the children of Israel? Some would suggest that this book is merely a historical composition which is intended to preserve the events of the Exodus for future generations. Though I would agree that it functions (intentionally/unintentionally) as a historical record, its main purpose was not simply to record straight history; rather it was to record history for a purpose. Similar to the purpose of Genesis, it is to call the Israelites to worship and serve YHWH instead of turning to idols. Thus, this demonstrates God’s continuing love and care for his people, it shows his power over the Egyptian gods (and thus his superiority and worthiness

Studying the Bible for worship). It also shows his patience with the Israelites despite their constant wining and complaining, and their complete disobedience to him. In this comparison, God is shown to be worthy, good, just, and merciful, and the Israelites are shown to be wicked, unfaithful, and fickle.

As an extension of this demonstration (that God is worthy and the Israelites are not) God goes on to begin to develop the laws and shape of the community because he is the only one who has the right to command them to do these things. Look at all God has done (genesis to exodus): He is the creator of everything, he is more powerful than any god. YHWH has always been the God of the Israelites, and he is the the one who deserves to be worshiped. In addition we see through the narrative of Exodus that God is the one who delivers from slavery, who overcomes the Egyptian gods, who preforms miracles and delivers them in a huge way. He is loving, and patient, and powerful, and merciful, and he is the one who deserves to rule Israel. Thus Exodus is really an apology against the rebellious Israelites telling them that they need to step up and be obedient.

Notes about Exodus

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