Exodus begins with the death of Joseph and the ascension of a new pharaoh "who did not know Joseph" (Exodus 1:8). The author has written all of these symmetries that develop throughout the journey, but the structure of the story goes one level deeper. This message is repeated about 100 times in the Tanakh. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord) is a late addition to the original book. [3] The majority position is that the biblical Exodus narrative has some historical basis, although there is little of historical worth in it. [37][38], Despite the absence of any archaeological evidence, most scholars nonetheless hold the view that the Exodus probably has some sort of historical basis,[6][23] with Kenton Sparks referring to it as "mythologized history". American "founding fathers" Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin recommended for the Great Seal of the United States to depict Moses leading the Israelites across the Red Sea. Written in a clear and accessible style, this major, up-to-date, evangelical, exegetical commentary opens up the riches of the book of Exodus. [84] The earliest non-biblical account is that of Hecataeus of Abdera (c. 320 BCE), as preserved in the first century CE Jewish historian Josephus in his work Against Apion and in a variant version by the first-century BCE Greek historian Diodorus. As desert life proves arduous, the Israelites complain and long for Egypt, but God miraculously provides manna for them to eat and water to drink. The exact date or year of the book when it was written is not known. [32] The Bible did not mention the names of any of the pharaohs involved in the Exodus narrative, making it difficult for modern scholars to match Egyptian history and the biblical narrative. [27] 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. God was also concerned about the suffering of the people and finally rescued them. [5], Mainstream scholarship no longer accepts the biblical Exodus account as historical for a number of reasons. [63] Pauline Viviano, however, concluded that neither the references to Jeroboam's calves in Hosea (Hosea 8:6 and 10:5) nor the frequent prohibitions of idol worship in the seventh-century southern prophet Jeremiah show any knowledge of a tradition of a golden calf having been created in Sinai. The tabernacle occupies 40% of the book of Exodus - 16 out of 40 chapters. Exodus and Deuteronomy are all written in the third person by Moses, never using I or me. We find value in these epistles in that they provide us with timeless truths on difficult issues that still arise today. The historical context to the. He established a system of sacrifice, which guided them in appropriate worship behavior. [39][40] Most scholars who accept a historical core of the exodus date this possible exodus group to the thirteenth century BCE at the time of Ramses II, with some instead dating it to the twelfth century BCE at the time of Ramses III. The people gather at the foot of the mountain, and with thunder and lightning, fire and clouds of smoke, the sound of trumpets, and the trembling of the mountain, God appears on the peak, and the people see the cloud and hear the voice (or possibly sound) of God. Aaron becomes the first hereditary high priest. Who makes him deaf or mute? Some of the traditions contributing to this narrative are older, since allusions to the story are made by 8th-century BCE prophets such as Amos and Hosea. The spies discover that the Canaanites are strong, and, believing that the Israelites cannot defeat them, the spies falsely report to the Israelites that Canaan is full of giants so that the Israelites will not invade (Numbers 13:31-33). [111] Other parallels in Matthew include that he is baptized by water (Matt 3:13-17), and tested in the desert; unlike the Israelites, he is able to resist temptation (Matt. Pamela Barmash argued that the psalm is a polemic against the Northern Kingdom; as it fails to mention that kingdom's destruction in 722 BCE, she concluded that it must have been written before then. It contains various information that is considered to be of utmost religious importance. Read | Degrees of Sin and Punishment in Hell. It is among the books of Torah. C. Law, Exodus 20-23. [78] The first of these, Persian Imperial authorisation, advanced by Peter Frei in 1985, is that the Persian authorities required the Jews of Jerusalem to present a single body of law as the price of local autonomy. Horizontally they move from Egypt to Mt. In Exodus we witness God beginning to fulfill His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The events throughout the book correspond to objects in each section of the tabernacle. What is Mark of Cain in the Bible? Exodus is the second book in the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament), or Torah (from "law" or "instruction" in Hebrew). Is it not I, the LORD? Russell suggested that the connection to Jeroboam may have been later, possibly coming from a Judahite redactor. [20], Although patent mythical elements are not so prominent in Exodus as in Genesis, ancient legends may have an influence on the book's form or content: for example, the story of the infant Moses's salvation from the Nile is argued to be based on an earlier legend of king Sargon of Akkad, while the story of the parting of the Red Sea may trade on Mesopotamian creation mythology. The majority of the times this unfamiliar freedom came when the people followed and obeyed God felt uncomfortable and even painful in the initial stages. [45][46][47] Alternatively, Nadav Na'aman argued that oppressive Egyptian rule of Canaan during the Nineteenth and especially the Twentieth Dynasty may have inspired the Exodus narrative, forming a "collective memory" of Egyptian oppression that was transferred from Canaan to Egypt itself in the popular consciousness. [103], Shavuot celebrates the granting of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai; Jews are called to rededicate themselves to the covenant on this day. [29] The Book of Numbers further states that the number of Israelite males aged 20 years and older in the desert during the wandering were 603,550, including 22,273 first-borns, which modern estimates put at 2.5-3 million total Israelites, a number that could not be supported by the Sinai Desert through natural means. The setting is at Mount Sinai which comes from Exodus 31:18 (The Open Bible:127). [98][99] Passover involves a ritual meal called a Seder during which parts of the exodus narrative are retold. Israel in Egypt, Israel in the wilderness, and Israel at Mt. . [34] The earliest surviving historical mention of the Israelites, the Egyptian Merneptah Stele (c. 1207 BCE), appears to place them in or around Canaan and gives no indication of any exodus. [87][88][86] Other versions of the story are recorded by the first-century BCE Egyptian grammarian Lysimachus of Alexandria, who set the story in the time of Pharaoh Bakenranef (Bocchoris), the first-century CE Egyptian historian Chaeremon of Alexandria, and the first-century BCE Gallo-Roman historian Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus. [17] After each plague Pharaoh allows the Israelites to worship Yahweh to remove the plague, then refuses to free them. Since then, it is being referred to by millions of people all around the world for religious work and for taking guidance. They then conquer the lands of Og and Sihon in Transjordan, settling the Gadites, Reubenites, and half the Tribe of Manasseh there. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through the strength of Yahweh, who has chosen them as his people. [80] The second theory, associated with Joel P. Weinberg and called the "Citizen-Temple Community", is that the Exodus story was composed to serve the needs of a post-exilic Jewish community organized around the Temple, which acted in effect as a bank for those who belonged to it. This episode in Exodus is "widely regarded as a tendentious narrative against the Bethel calves". But it was only after Christians began to fast specifically prior to Easter, about 300 years after Jesuss death, that anyone looked to the Bible to find a source for the practice. Updated: May 22nd, 2020. Moses reunites with his brother Aaron and, returning to Egypt, convenes the Israelite elders, preparing them to go into the wilderness to worship God in a spring festival. A. The Israelites then journey with the prophet Moses to Mount Sinai, where Yahweh gives the 10 commandments and they enter into a covenant with Yahweh, who promises to make them a "holy nation, and a kingdom of priests" on condition of their faithfulness. Please contact us or click here to learn more about how to enable JavaScript on your browser. Read | 100+ Names of Animals in the Bible, A to Z, And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. But the numerical connections are only the beginning. The Mosaic Covenant, unveiled initially through the Decalogue (Ten Commandments), provides the foundation for the beliefs and practices of Judaism, from common eating practices to complex worship regulations. The overall theme of Exodus is redemptionhow God delivered the Israelites and made them His special people. It was written by Leon Uris. In Hebrew the book's title is , shemt, "Names", from the beginning words of the text: "These are the names of the sons of Israel" (Hebrew: ). The identification of Osarseph with Moses in Manetho's account may be an interpolation or may come from Manetho. That so much of the book (chapters 2531, 3540) 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. SPECIAL TOPIC: OT HISTORICAL NARRATIVE. Purpose of Writing: The word "exodus" means departure. Moses comes down from the mountain, smashes the stone tablets in anger, and commands the Levites to massacre the unfaithful Israelites. The traditional (i.e. [11], The story of the Exodus is told in the first half of Exodus, with the remainder recounting the 1st year in the wilderness, and followed by a narrative of 39 more years in the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the last four of the first five books of the Bible (also called the Torah or Pentateuch). After He rescued them from slavery, God provided the Law, which gave instructions on how the people could be consecrated or made holy. Read | Ordinary Time in the Christian Liturgical Year. [92] There is general agreement that the stories originally had nothing to do with the Jews. While I agree that it is most likely that there was such a group, I must stress that this is based on an overall understanding of the development of collective memory and of the authorship of the texts (and their editorial process). 'Departure from Egypt'[a]) is the founding myth[b] of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four books of the Torah (or Pentateuch, corresponding to the first five books of the Bible), namely Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. So literary access to the tabernacle was the only access they had. The Israelites try to go around Edom, but the Israelites complain about lack of bread and water, so Yahweh sends a plague of poisonous snakes to afflict them. The Bible is Art is the website to accompany the YouTube channel that explores the literary art of the Bible. However, in Moses's absence the Israelites sin against Yahweh by creating the idol of a golden calf, and as retaliation Yahweh has the Levites kill three thousand people (Exodus 32:28), and Yahweh sends a plague on the Israelites. [11] Scholars posit that a small group of people of Egyptian origin may have joined the early Israelites, and then contributed their own Egyptian Exodus story to all of Israel. [85] Hecataeus tells how the Egyptians blamed a plague on foreigners and expelled them from the country, whereupon Moses, their leader, took them to Canaan. Exodus picks up where Genesis, the first book of Pentateuch, leaves off, and traces how God builds a nationIsrael, his chosen peopleout of the descendants of Genesis's patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Exodus is a fiction book. And the symbolic structure works both vertically and horizontally. Pharaoh's daughter finds the child, names him Moses, and out of sympathy for the Hebrew boy, brings him up as her own. After Moses throws the wood into the water, the water becomes sweet. It's the foundation myth of Israel. For the second book of the Bible, see. Early Christians frequently interpreted actions taken in the Exodus, and sometimes the Exodus as a whole, typologically to prefigure Jesus or actions of Jesus. The book of Exodus provides an account of Israel's departure from bondage in Egypt and their preparation to inherit the promised land as the Lord's covenant people. See full answer below. "[Hezekiah] broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it; it was called Nehushtan" (2 Kings 18:4). Aware of his origins, an adult Moses kills an Egyptian overseer who is beating a Hebrew slave and flees into Midian to escape punishment. 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. [26] Lester Grabbe, for instance, argued that "[t]here is no compelling reason that the exodus has to be rooted in history",[49] and that the details of the story more closely fit the seventh through the fifth centuries BCE than the traditional dating to the second millennium BCE. [30], List of Torah portions in the Book of Exodus:[31], This article is about the second book of the Torah and the Old Testament. [83] Erich S. Gruen suggested that it may have been the Jews themselves that inserted themselves into Manetho's narrative, in which various negative actions from the point of view of the Egyptians, such as desecrating temples, are interpreted positively. [c] The pharaoh also orders the slaughter at birth of all male Hebrew children. To understand this scripture, we must first look at who the writer is. [2], The consensus of modern scholars is that the Bible does not give an accurate account of the origins of the Israelites, who appear instead to have formed as an entity in the central highlands of Canaan in the late second millennium BCE from the indigenous Canaanite culture. The storyline of the Exodus, of a people fleeing from a humiliating slavery, suggests elements that are historically credible. [77] Many theories have been advanced to explain the composition of the first five books of the Bible, but two have been especially influential. In the Wilderness on the way to Mt. Read | Why Did Cain Kill Abel in Bible? Pharaoh, Pharaohs daughter, Jethro, and Joshua were also some of the characters of the book. Exodus is the second book of the Pentateuch (the five books of Moses ), and it's where we find the stories of the Ten Plagues, the first Passover, the parting of the Red Sea, and the Ten Commandments. [81] The books containing the Exodus story served as an "identity card" defining who belonged to this community (i.e., to Israel), thus reinforcing Israel's unity through its new institutions. From that time God dwells in the Tabernacle and orders the travels of the Hebrews. Date of Writing: The Book of Exodus was written between 1440 and 1400 B.C. [72] Joel S. Baden noted that "[t]he seams [between the Exodus and Wilderness traditions] still show: in the narrative of Israel's rescue from Egypt there is little hint that they will be brought anywhere other than Canaan yet they find themselves heading first, unexpectedly, and in no obvious geographical order, to an obscure mountain. Internal evidence (material found within the text of Exodus itself ) adds support for Mosess authorship. Many conversations, events, and geographical details could be known only by an eyewitness or participant. [e] William G. Dever cautiously identifies this group with the Tribe of Joseph, while Richard Elliott Friedman identifies it with the Tribe of Levi. [104] A third Jewish festival, Sukkot, the Festival of Booths, is associated with the Israelites living in booths after they left their previous homes in Egypt. The narrative has also resonated with various groups in more recent centuries, such as among the early American settlers fleeing religious persecution in Europe, and among African Americans striving for freedom and civil rights. They wreak havoc until the pharaoh and his son chase them out to the borders of Syria, where Osarseph gives the lepers a law code and changes his name to Moses. Yahweh commands Moses to take a census of the Israelites and establishes the duties of the Levites. [14] No modern attempt to identify an historical Egyptian prototype for Moses has found wide acceptance, and no period in Egyptian history matches the biblical accounts of the Exodus. After this, Yahweh begins inflicting the Plagues of Egypt on the Egyptians for each time that Moses goes to Pharaoh and Pharaoh refuses to release the Israelites. [28] 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. A: Command to kill boys. [100] Some denominations follow Shavuot with The Three Weeks, during which the "two most heinous sins committed by the Jews in their relationship to God" are mourned: the Golden Calf and the doubting of God's promise by the Twelve Spies. Both include a nearly identical dedication formula ("These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt", Exodus 32:8). Moses is then commanded to fix the first month of Aviv at the head of the Hebrew calendar. For instance, in the courtyard there is the altar for offerings and the bronze basin for washings. 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