1 Introduction to the Book of Exodus BOT

1. Introduction to the Book of Exodus BOT 641/BHE 641 Exegesis of Exodus

General Statements • "The principal aim of the Pentateuch is to recount the prehistory of the Israelite people prior to the conquest of its land. This narrative reaches its climax in the episode most abounding in manifestations of God's miraculous acts, namely, the account of the Exodus from Egypt. In this story a group of slaves becomes an independent nation, henceforth enslaved to the LORD their God alone. The LORD, by bringing His people out of the house of bondage, becomes the God of Israel, and the Israelites simultaneously become His treasured people. " [Loewenstamm, The Evolution of the Exodus Tradition, 13]

Name • "The second book of the Torah was given its name from the opening words twmv hlaw ("and these are the names"), which were sometimes shortened by the Jews to twmv ("names"). It was the LXX that designated the work according to its principal theme, VExodoj (Ex 19. 1), and this was followed by the Vulgate (Exodus) and the English versions. " [Harrison, Introduction to the OT, 566]

Name • "One other name is homes] s]el|= "the second fifth" (of the Pentateuch) (Sota 36 b). " [Sarna, "Exodus, Book of, " ABD, II, 690]

Textual Traditions 1. Introduction: 1. 1 "The present division of the books of the Hebrew Bible into chapters is a late innovation. It is Christian in origin and was transferred from the Latin Bible into Hebrew manuscript by R. Salomon b. Ishmael ca. 1330 C. E. " [Sarna, "Exodus, Book of, " ABD, II, 690]

Textual Traditions 1. 2 "The book of Exodus, however, provides a clear example of two editions of a biblical book. The different edition preserved in the Samaritan Pentateuch (SP) has been known since the seventeenth century, but its significance was capable of being dismissed, because the major differences were considered the work of the marginalized Samaritans, With the discovery of 4 Qpaleo. Exodm, however, we see that the book of Exodus circulated in Judaism in two editions. One was the form traditionally

Textual Traditions found in the MT and translated in the LXX, and the other an intentionally expanded version with most of the features characteristic of the Samaritan version except the two specifically Samaritan features (namely, the addition of the commandment to build an altar on Mt. Gerizim, and the systematic use of the past, and not the future, of the verb in the formula "the place that the Lord has chosen" [not "will choose"]). " [Eugene Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of the Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdman Publishing Co. , 1999), 25]

Textual Traditions 2. LXX: 2. 1 "The Hebrew behind the Greek Exodus seems to have differed from MT more than the other books of the Pentateuch. It also differs from it in arrangement of contents in two main respects (1) within the Decalog (chap. 20), the order of the commandments in Codex Vaticanus (B) is 7, 8, and 6; (2) while it closely corresponds to MT in chaps. 25 -31, there are considerable differences in the parallel account in chaps 35 -40. The section dealing with the ornaments and garments of the priesthood (39. 2 -31[MT]), which in MT follows the

Textual Traditions description of the structure of the tabernacle and its furnishings, is shifted in LXX to head the entire section (36. 9 -40[LXX]) within the subsections of that pericope (Swete 1902: 23136). " [Sarna, "Exodus, Book of, " ABD, II, 691] 2. 2 "In the various translation-technical studies which describe the translators' way of handling typically Hebrew syntactical phenomena, Exodus has proved to be one of the most freely translated books in the LXX and one of those in which the requirements of Greek idiom have been best taken into account. This translator was capable of using free renderings that are

Textual Traditions perfectly appropriate in their context, but he also used literal renderings. He was capable of changing grammatical construction in order better to meet the requirements of Greek, but he did not always do so. He was free enough to change the word-order of the original, but, actually, most of the time he followed the original word-order. He could add and omit word and grammatical items but he obviously did not do so out of indifference or carelessness. Even in the free renderings he mostly proves to be faithful to the original. He may be characterized as a competent translator, one of

Textual Traditions the best, but still not perfect. He made his mistakes too. " [Aejmelaeus, A. , "Septuagintal Translation Techniques - A Solution to the Problem of the Tabernacle Account, " in Septuagint, Scrolls and Cognate Writings, eds. Brooke & Lindars, p. 388 -389] 2. 3 "The text of the Vorlage of the LXX actually represented a halfway phase in the development. It was incomplete and inconsistent and had perhaps also suffered in the hands of scribes. Through editorial additions, harmonizations and rearrangements the development was brought to an end in the MT, but in a way that had changed the nature of the second section from a report of the work

Textual Traditions done to a repetition of the instructions in the past tense. " [Aejmelaeus, A. , "Septuagintal Translation Techniques - A Solution to the Problem of the Tabernacle Account, " in Septuagint, Scrolls and Cognate Writings, eds. Brooke & Lindars, p. 397 -398]

Textual Traditions 3. Samaritan Pentateuch: 3. 1 "The Samaritan text is characterized by a number of major expansions, conflate readings, and interpolations. Thus Exod 18. 24 is supplemented by Deut 1. 9 -18, the tenth commandment in Exod 20. 17 has been augmented by citations from Deut 11. 29 and 27. 2 -7, Exod 20. 19 has been enlarged by Deut 5. 24 -27, and Exod 20. 22 by the excerpts from Deut 5. 28 -31. " [Sarna, "Exodus, Book of, " ABD, II, 691]

Textual Traditions 4. Qumran: 4. 1 "A total of fifteen Hebrew scrolls of Exodus, all fragmentary, were uncovered at Qumran. Thirteen were found in cave 4; two of them written in the Paleo-Hebrew script. Other fragments were found in cave 1, which feature Exod 16. 12 -16; 19. 24 -20. 1; 20. 25 -21. 1; 21. 4 -5, and in the 'small caves, ' that is, in cave 2 that held Exod 1. 11 -14; 7. 1 -14; 9. 27 -29; 11. 3 -7; 12. 32 -41; 21. 18 -20(? ); 26. 11 -13; 30. 21(? ); 32. 3234 and another group containing Exod 4. 31; 12. 26 -27(? ); 18. 21 -22; 21. 27 -22. 2; 22. 15 -19; 27. 17 -19; 31. 16 -17; 19. 9; and 34. 10; and a third represented by 5. 3 -5. In cave 7 were found

Textual Traditions Exod 28. 4 -6 and v 7 in Greek translation. In addition, fragments of Hebrew Exod 4. 28 -31; 5. 3; and 6. 5 -11 were preserved at Murabba'at. " [Sarna, "Exodus, Book of, " ABD, II, 691] 4. 2 "The field of text criticism of the Hebrew Bible in general and specifically in the Pentateuch or more narrowly in the book of Exodus and Numbers has been changing in the last few years. At the forefront has been Emanuel Tov, who, through many articles and books has presented a new perspective on the texts. Tov argues that the traditional "three textual traditions, " is no longer a viable approach. The Qumran scrolls have shown us

Textual Traditions that the "three" are "just three texts of the O. T. , similar to other texts which were current in the Second Temple period and that there were a "great variety of texts for each book" during this period. Language such as "recensions, " and "text-types, " should give way to such "minimal terms. . . as source, textual witness or simply text. " However, Tov does give a grouping of these texts instead of a infinite number of isolated "texts. " For example a proto-Masoretic group is extant at Qumran. This group is characterized as being one in which changes were not made after a certain period. Similarly there were texts that

Textual Traditions link closely with the LXX at Qumran which also, were conservative when it came to emendations. Finally, 4 Qpaleo. Exm and 4 QNumb can be linked with the Samaritan Pentateuch, but represent a "free approach to the biblical text allowed for orthographic modernization, as well as contextual and grammatical changes, including harmonizations of various types. " Tov and others have also identified two other groups of significance. The first are those written in the Qumran style of orthography and morphology. While the last group found at Qumran is called the "Non-Aligned Texts. " Tov describes these

Textual Traditions as those texts that "agree sometimes significantly, with MT against the other texts, or they agree with SP and / or LXX against the other texts, but the non-aligned texts also disagree with the other texts to the same extent. They furthermore contain readings not known from one of the other texts or groups. " The works of Judith Sanderson on the 4 Qpaleo. Exodm scroll and Nathan Jastram on the 4 QNumb scroll have further refined our understand of the so-called "Pre-Samaritan group in relations to the texts of Exodus and Numbers.

Canonical Context • "The links with Genesis are discernible in the initial verses. Verse 1 cites Gen 46. 1, and v 5 is dependent on Gen 46. 26 -27. The list of tribes in Exod 1. 2 -4 is drawn from Gen 35. 23 -26, because that chapter (vv 11 -12) contains the divine promises to Jacob. . Exod 1. 7 tacitly affirms that the blessing of fertility has been realized; the fulfillment of the promise of national territory is about to be set in motion. In addition, the references to Joseph in 1. 5 -6 presuppose a knowledge of his identity and activities (cf. 3. 16 and 13. 19 with Gen 50. 24 -25). Still other instances of dependency on the Genesis narrative lie in the repeated invocation of the divine promises to the

Canonical Context three patriarchs (Exod 2. 24; 6. 3 -4, 8; 32. 13; 33. 1; cf. Gen 12. 1 -3; 15. 5, 7, 18; 17. 2; 28. 13 -14; 46. 3; Fishbane 1979: 63 -64). . The closing chapters of Exodus that recount the construction and dedication of the tabernacle in the wilderness provide the background and rationale for the main theme of the books of Leviticus and Numbers, which is the ordering of the cultic institutions and religious life of Israel. " [Sarna, "Exodus, Book of, " ABD, II, 690]

Literary Analysis 1. Ironic reversals: 1. 1 The use of @Ws in 2. 3, Moses' basket and the @Ws-~y in 13. 18 and 15. 4. 1. 2 Moses' mother is actually paid to nurse him. 1. 3 Moses' name meaning "He who draws out (from the water)" becomes significant in light of the @Ws-~y.

Literary Analysis 2. Literary structure: 2. 1 "Ten Plagues. . . three series of three, with two announce and the third not. The first of each series is "in the morning", but the next two lack time indication. "The instruction given to Moses in the first of each series begins with "Station yourself. . . " and in the second of each it is, "Go to Pharaoh, " while third is consistently without any such instruction. The entire first series is brought about through the agency of Aaron, the entire third series through the instrumentality of Moses. " [Sarna, "Exodus, Book of, " ABD, II, 695]

Literary Analysis 3. Repetitive Motifs and key words: 3. 1 Between chapters 4 -14, Pharaoh's heart is mentioned 20 times: 10 times it is the king's obstinacy (Ex 7. 13, 14, 22; 8. 11, 15, 28; 9. 7, 34, 35; 13. 5) and 10 times it is a product of divine intent (Ex 4. 21; 7. 3; 9. 12; 10. 1, 20, 27; 11. 10; 14. 4, 8, 17). 3. 2 Ex 1. 15 -21 the term midwife = 7 x. Ex 2. 1 -10 "child" = 7 x. Ex 5. 7 -19 the stem lbn for building bricks etc.

Literary Analysis 4. Deliberate Chronological Displacement of an Episode: 4. 1 Ex 18's Jethro's visit must have occurred after the revelation at Sinai not before. Note (18. 15 verses 19. 1 -2) (18. 16, 20). 4. 2 The location of Ex 32. 1 -34. 35 is problematic

Structure 1. "The structure of Exodus is very different from that of Genesis. There is no series of genealogical formulae to provide clearly marked divisions. Although there is an itinerary from the priestly source (12. 37 a; 13. 20; 14. 1 f; 15. 22 a; 17. 1 a; 19. 2), it neither extends the whole length of the book nor provides an overarching framework. The itinerary is picked up again in Numbers. " [Childs, Introduction to the OT as Scripture, 170]

Structure 2. "The chapters are very unevenly divided in terms of the detail by which the passage of chronological time is recorded. Exodus 12. 41 fixes the period of the Egyptian captivity at 430 years, yet the bulk of chs. 112 relate to a very short period before deliverance. Similarly, the last chapters from 19 -40 cover a period of less than a year (19. 1; 40. 17). . the interest of the writer falls on certain specific moments within the history. " [Childs, Introduction to the OT as Scripture, 170]

Structure 3. "There is no obvious way to divide the book into its parts. Chapters 1 -15 cover the exodus from Egypt, 15. 22 -18. 27 the wilderness journey, and 19 -40 the covenant at Sinai and its ordinances. Yet such divisions are based on the elements of general content and do not rest on formal literary markers. It would seem that the general structure of the book reveals little conscious canonical shaping. " [Childs, Introduction to the OT as Scripture, 170 -171]

Structure I. Israel in Egypt: 1. 1 -13. 16 A. The Progeny of Israel, the Persecution and Deliverance (1. 1 -2. 25) B. The Call of the Deliverer, His Commission, and His Obedience (3. 1 -7. 7) C. The Ten Mighty Acts and the Exodus: The Proof of Yahweh's Presence (7. 813. 16) II. Israel in the Wilderness: 13. 17 -18. 27

Structure III. Israel at Sinai: 19. 1 -40. 38 A. The Advent of Yahweh's Presence and the Making of the Covenant (19. 1 -24. 18) B. Yahweh's Instructions for the Media of Worship (25. 1 -31. 18) C. Israel's First Disobedience and Its Aftermath (32. 1 -34. 35) D. Israel's Obedience of Yahweh's Instructions (35. 1 -40. 38)

Theological Significance to the Structure 1. "It is theologically significant to observe that the events of Sinai are both preceded and followed by the stories of the people's resistance which is characteristic of the entire wilderness wanderings. The narrative material testifies to those moments in Israel's history in which God made himself known. For Israel to learn the will of God necessitated an act of self-revelation. Israel could not discover it for herself. " [Childs, Introduction to the OT as Scripture, 174]

Theological Significance to the Structure 2. "The placing of the Decalogue. . The prologue (20. 2) summarizes the previous narrative of the first eighteen chapters. The commandments are addressed to the people who have been rescued from slavery in Egypt. However, the decalogue also serves as an interpretive guide to all the succeeding legal material. " [Childs, Introduction to the OT as Scripture, 174]

Theological Significance to the Structure 3. ". . . the Book of the Covenant (21 -23). . The material is now placed within a narrative setting which legitimizes Moses' role as interpreter of the law (20. 18 ff). The canon thus recognizes the different form of the divine law in the decalogue and the laws which follow, and it does not fuse the two. . The commands are to be understood in closest relation to the God of the covenant who laid claim upon a people and pointed them to a new life as the people of God. " [Childs, Introduction to the OT as Scripture, 174]

Theological Significance to the Structure 4. "The canonical function of Ex 32 -34 is to place the institutions of Israel's worship within theological framework of sin and forgiveness. . The worship inaugurated at Sinai did not reflect an ideal period of obedience on Israel's part, but he response of a people who were portrayed from the outset as the forgiven and restored community. If ever there were a danger of misunderstanding Sinai as a pact between partners, the positioning of Ex 32 -34 made clear the foundation of the covenant was, above all, divine mercy and forgiveness. " [Childs, Introduction to the OT as Scripture, 175 -176]

Theological Significance to the Structure 5. "One of the most significant examples of canonical shaping in the book of Exodus involves the use of literary technique which combined the account of an original event with the portrayal of the continuous celebration of that same event. [Chp 13 > 15; 12]. . The canonical effect of this literary device is of profound theological significance. The original events are not robbed of their historical particularity; nevertheless, the means for their actualization for future Israel is offered in the shape of scripture itself. " [Childs, Introduction to the OT as Scripture, 176]

Dating the Exodus Period 1. First half of 13 th Century: 1. 1 "Among Biblical scholars and archaeologist it is almost axiomatic that the Israelites entered Canaan about 1230 -1220 B. C. In terms of archaeological periods, this would be towards the end of the Late Bronze Age, for which the GAD is 1550 -1200 B. C. " [Bimson & Livingston, "Redating the Exodus, " BAR, (Sept/Oct, 1987), 40] 1. 2 "But while the exact dates can be set for neither events [exodus/conquest], we may be fairly certain that the exodus took place no earlier than the thirteenth century. . If

Dating the Exodus Period Hebrews labored at Avaris, then they must have been in Egypt at least in the reign of Sethos I (ca. 1305 -1290), and probably of Ramesses II (ca 1290 -1224), under whom the rebuilding of that city was accomplished. On the other hand, if the destruction of various Palestinian cities late in the thirteenth century is to be connected with the Israelites conquest, as many have believed, the exodus from Egypt must have taken place perhaps a generation before that. " [Bright, A History of Israel, 3 rd ed. , 123]

Dating the Exodus Period 2. Arguments for 13 th Century: 2. 1 “The Israel stele of Merneptah indicates that Merneptah encountered Israel in Palestine in his fifth year, ca. 1220. ” [La Sor & Hubbard & Bush, Old Testament Survey, 125 -126] 2. 2 Ex 1. 11’s store cities of Pithom and Raamses fit into Rameses II’s building program, therefore ca. 1300. 2. 3 Edom and Moab (Num 3 -20: 14 -21) did not exist until ca. 1300. Also the sites of Lachish, Bethel, Hazor, Tell Beit Mirsim and Tell el. Hesi’s destruction seems to call for a 1300 date.

Dating the Exodus Period 2. 4 Egyptian documents of Merneptah and Rameses II period provide historical parallels, like ‘Apiru as slave. 2. 5 Joseph setting then becomes the Hyksos period.

Dating the Exodus Period 2. 5 “According to Gen 15: 13, the time spent in Egypt, viewed in prospect, would be 400 years, or according to Exod 12. 40, in retrospect, 430 years. Thus, if the Exodus occurred in the first half of the thirteenth century, the descent into Egypt would have taken place during the first half of the seventeenth century - in the Hyksos period. The principal objection on biblical grounds is that this date does not fit the 480 years that 1 Kgs 6. 1 gives between the Exodus and the foundation of Solomon’s temple ca. 970. This calculation would place the Exodus in the mid-fifteenth century. However, the OT, as an ancient Near Eastern book, does not necessarily

Dating the Exodus Period use numbers in the same way as modern chronology. Thus, the 480 years can be understood as an ‘aggregate’ or ‘round number, ’ probably based on the total of twelve generations of 40 years each. ” [La Sor & Hubbard & Bush, Old Testament Survey, 127]

Dating the Exodus Period 3. Chronology from within the Book of Exodus: 3. 1 The latest event mentioned in the book is Exod 40. 1, 7 where the tabernacle is erected in the wilderness. This was on "the new moon of the first month of the second year following the departure. 3. 2 "The other end of the chronological spectrum remains unclear. This is due to the book's silence about the interval between the death of Joseph and the accession of the tyrannical pharaoh, and about the duration of the slavery. On these points there are divergent traditions.

Dating the Exodus Period A comprehensive figure of 430 years is given in MT Exod 12. 40 -41, but LXX and Sam. Pent. include in this number also the length of stay in Canaan. According to Gen 15. 13, the predetermined period of slavery was to be 400 years, which is said to cover four generations (Gen 15. 16). This last tradition coordinates with the genealogy of Moses, who was the greatgrandson of Levi, son of Jacob (Exod 6. 1, 16, 18, 20) and more or less agrees with the notice that Joseph's great-grandson Jair, together with his sons, participated in Joshua's wars of conquest and the settlement of Canaan (Gen 50. 23; Num 32. 39 -41; Deut 3. 14; Josh 13. 1;

Dating the Exodus Period 17. 1). The genealogies, therefore, leave room for no more than about a century or so for the entire Egyptian episode. " [Sarna, "Exodus, Book of, " ABD, II, 690] 3. 3 "Moses himself must have been born, of course, after the onset of Egyptian oppression, and he was eighty years of age at the time of the Exodus (Exod 2. 1; 7. 7; Deut 34. 7). This means that the enslavement of Israel lasted that long at least. On the other hand, it would have required many more generations than two or three for a mere seventy souls and their families to have proliferated security of Egypt (Exod 1. 5, 7, 9 -10). At any rate, 19. 1 and 40. 17

Dating the Exodus Period show that the bulk of the book encompasses a period of just about one year. " [Sarna, "Exodus, Book of, " ABD, II, 690 -691] 4. The Bimson/Livingston Redating: 4. 1 "Move the date of the conquest back about 200 years, to shortly before 1400 B. C. Although this conflicts with the GAD for Israel's emergence in Canaan, it is in fact the date implied by the Bible itself. In 1 Kgs 6. 1, we are told that Solomon began building the Temple in the fourth year of his reign and that this was 480 years after the Exodus. Solomon's reign can be dated with considerable confidence to

Dating the Exodus Period about 971 -931 B. C. , so the fourth year of his reign would be 967 B. C. According to the Biblical chronology, this would place the Exodus 480 years earlier - about 1447 B. C. , or say 1450 B. C. for convenience. If we allow 40 years for the desert wanderings before the Israelite conquest of Canaan, we arrive at a date of about 1410 -1400 B. C. for the Israelite entry into Canaan. This is almost 200 years earlier than the GAD of 1230 -1220 B. C. " [Bimson & Livingston, "Redating the Exodus, " BAR, (Sept/Oct, 1987), 42]

Dating the Exodus Period 4. 2 ". . . the reference to "Pithom and Raamses" in Ex 1. 11 cannot be used to date the Exodus to the 13 th century B. C. Rather, the archaeological evidence makes best sense if Exodus 1. 11 refers to the beginning of the Israelites' enslavement (in about the 18 th century B. C. ), and not to the time of the Exodus. " [Bimson & Livingston, 34] 4. 3 "We would suggest a change in the date for the end of the period archaeologists designate Middle Bronze II (MBII). We would move the end of MBII down by over a century from 1550 B. C. to around 1420 B. C. " [Bimson & Livingston, 45]

Dating the Exodus Period 5. K. A. Kitchen's Objection to Bimson & Livingston's Redating: 5. 1 “However, this too simple solution is ruled out by the combined weight of all the other biblical data plus additional information from external data. So the interval from Exodus comes out not at 480 years but as over 553 years (by three unknown amounts), if we trouble to go carefully through all the known biblical figures for this period. It is evident that the 480 years cannot cover fully the 553 + X years. At best, it could be a selection from them, or else it is a schematic figure (12 X 40 years, or

Dating the Exodus Period similar). But again, on other evidence to be considered, a date of ca. 1519 BC (966+553) and earlier is even less realistic for the Exodus. ” [Kitchen, “Exodus, The, ” ABD, II, 702] 5. 2 “From Egyptian data, a bottom date for the Exodus can also be set. In his 5 th year, 1209 BC, Merneptah (Rameses II’s successor) mentions four entities recently subdued in Canaan: Ascalon, Gexer, Yenoam, and Israel; by the hieroglyphic determinatives, clearly three territorial city-states and a people, respectively. The disposition of related reliefs at Karnak would confirm (in conjunction with the “Israel

Dating the Exodus Period area later known as Ephraim and (W) Manasseh, Hence, the Exodus, the sojourn in the wilderness, and the entry into Canaan can reasonably be limited to within ca. 1279 -1209 BC, a maximum of 70 years; or if within about 1260 -1220 BC, very nearly 300 years before the 4 th years of Solomon (966 BC). ” [Kitchen, “Exodus, The, ” ABD, II, 702]

Historical Background 1. The Rise of Egyptian Empire: 1. 1 In the 1550’s the Hurrian state of Mitanni controlled the northwest Mesopotamian region, from western Syria to the foothills of the Zagros mountains in the east. They were a mixture of Hurrian and Indo-Eurpoean descent. They revolutionized warfare by developing the chariot and the composite bow. 1. 2 In the 1550’s the Hurrian state of Mitanni controlled the northwest Mesopotamian region, from western Syria to the foothills of the Zagros mountains in the east. They were a mixture of Hurrian and Indo-Eurpoean descent.

Historical Background They revolutionized warfare by developing the chariot and the composite bow. 2. Egypto-Hititte War: 2. 1 Amenophis III and Akhenaten’s policies lead to an anarchy in Palestine. Suppiluliuma, a Hittite conquered much of Syria (Assyrian, Assur-uballit I, ca. 1356 -1321, took the northeastern part of Syria. By 1350 the Mitanni was no more! 2. 2 The Nineteenth-Dynasty of Egypt under Horemheb recovered from Egypt’s losing Palestian control. Rameses I followed, with Seti I beginning to regain some of Palestine.

Historical Background Rameses II (1290 -1224) began making in roads once again. After 25 years of reign made a treaty with Hattusilis III (1275 -1250), a Hittite. “Egypt also faced continuous pressure from the Peoples of the Sea, Aegeo-Cretan tribes that had begun moving upon them from the west in the early years of Ramese II, a movement undoubtedly related to that faced by the Hittites in Asia Minor. ” [La Sor & Hubbard & Bush, Old Testament Survey, 119]

Historical Background 3. Peoples of the Sea: 3. 1 Aegeo-Cretan “People of the Sea” were used as mercenary troops by both Egyptian and Hittites in Rameses II’s fifth battle. These were the forerunners of a vast movement that inudated the coast of Asia Minor, Palestine and Egypt. Merneptah faced them in 1220. The People of the Sea seems to have erased the Hittites in the following years. 3. 2 Egypt regained some of its power under Rameses III (1183 -1152) who inaugurated the Twentieth Dynasty. He began controlling Palestine up to Beth-shean in the Jezreel valley,

Historical Background but was not able to maintain this control because of the People of the Sea. 4. Conclusions: 4. 1 “First, Israel moved into a very advanced and cosmopolitan world when they left Egypt. During the period of the Egyptian empire extensive and unprecedented international contacts occurred in whole of the ancient Near East, producing the cultural diffusion and cross -fertilization that J. H. Breasted termed the “First Internationalism. ” [La Sor & Hubbard & Bush, Old Testament Survey, 122]

Historical Background 4. 2 Akkadian became the lingua franca. 4. 3 Embassies established, international politics caused alliances and treaties, necessitating international law. 4. 4 National religions were formed and introduced throughout by means of literature. 4. 5 The alphabet, developed shortly before 3000 BCE in both Mesopotamia and Egypt moves from syllabic and ideographic cuneiform and hieroglyphic systems to an alphabet with less than 30 symbols.

Historical Background 4. 6 “Finally, the struggle for world empire in the third quarter of the second millennium ended in the death or exhaustion of all combatants. ” [La Sor & Hubbard & Bush, Old Testament Survey, 124]

Egyptian Coloration of Exodus [Sarna, "Exodus, Book of, " ABD, II, 697 -8] 1. "The descent of the Israelite shepherds into Egypt in the days of Joseph in order to escape famine finds an analogy in Papyrus Anastasi VI, in which a frontier official reports on the passage of Edomite Bedouin tribes from Asia into the delta of Egypt 'to keep them and their cattle alive. '(ANET, 259)" 2. "The title 'pharaoh, ' uniformly used for the king of Egypt, points to the development that took place during the late 18 th Dynasty when the term, meaning 'The Great House' and originally applied to the royal palace, came to be employed as a metonymy for the reigning monarch. "

Egyptian Coloration of Exodus 3. "The conscription of Israelites for work on state projects (Ex 1. 1 -10 correlates with the tradition preserved by Diodorus Siculus (1. 56) that Rameses II preferred to conscript foreigners rather than Egyptians for his vast building program. " 4. "The Israelites are said to have built the cities of Pithom and Raamses (Ex 1. 11). The first is the Egyptian P(r)'ltm, 'House of (the god) Atum, ' and the second is P(r)R'mss, 'House of Rameses, built Rameses II in the eastern delta of the Nile. Egyptian texts extol the beauty and glory of this city (ANET, 470 -471; cf. Gen 47. 5 -6, 11). "

Egyptian Coloration of Exodus 5. "The Israelites were also subjected to hard work in the fields (Ex 1. 14). The Egyptian texts known as the 'Satire on the Trades' emphasizes the harsh conditions under which agricultural laborers worked (ANET, 433; AEL 1: 187 -88; 2: 170). " 6. "The making of bricks proved to be an especially onerous imposition on the Israelites (Ex 1. 14; 5. 78, 13 -14). Alluvial mud supplied by the river Nile and shaped into bricks was the common building material in Egypt, other than for monumental architecture. Ordinary private dwellings as well as administrative building were mainly constructed of bricks and often reached a height of about 60 feet. it is estimated that the pyramids

Egyptian Coloration of Exodus of Sesostris III at Dahshur required about 24. 5 million bricks. The massive building program of Rameses II would have necessitated the manufacture of enormous quantities of bricks (Spencer 1979). Surviving records from the time of this pharaoh describe how a quota of 2000 bricks was assigned to each of a gang of forty men and how that target was rarely reached (Kitchen 1976). The aforementioned 'Satire on the Trade' describes the hardship endured by the brickmakers (ANET, 433). "

Egyptian Coloration of Exodus • "The small building contractor carries mud. . . He is dirtier than vines or pigs, from treading under his mud. His clothes are stiff with clay; his leather belt is going to ruin. Entering into the wind, he is miserable. His lamp goes out, though (still) in good condition. He pounds with his feet; he crushes with his own self, muddying the court of every house, when the water of the streets has flooded. " [ANET, 433]

Brick Making

Brick Making

Egyptian Coloration of Exodus 7. "The midwives play a prominent role in the early phase of the oppression (Ex 1. 15 -21). The craft was evidently held in high esteem in Egypt, for in one Egyptian tale it was practiced by three goddesses (AEL 1: 220). The name Shiphrah held by one of the Hebrew midwives has turned up as belonging to an Asiatic woman in a list of slaves attached to an Egyptian household (Albright 195: 229, no. 233). " 8. "Mention of the birth stool (Ex 1. 16) appears to be connected with the Egyptian custom of women experiencing parturition in a crouching or sitting position. The Egyptian hieroglyph for birth is a kneeling woman, and one text explicitly refers to 'sitting on bricks like a woman in labor' (ANET, 381). "

Egyptian Coloration of Exodus 9. "The story of the birth of Moses and his exposure in the Nile (Ex 2. 1 -10) reflects the widespread motif of the abandoned hero, known from the ANE and the classical world. A local Egyptian analogy exists in the story of the concealment of Horus from Seth. " 10. "The name of Moses (Ex 2. 10) is of Egyptian origin and appears as a frequent element in proper name, usually with the addition of a divine element (cf. Ahmose, Ramose, Ptahmose, Thutmose), and sometimes without it (EHI, 329). "

Egyptian Coloration of Exodus 11. "Although not explicitly stated, it may be inferred from Ex 2. 10 that Moses grew up and was educated in Egyptian court circles. Evidence exists for the presence of foreign students, especially Semites, in the royal schools in the Ramesside period. " 12. "The promised land is described for the first time as 'a land flowing with milk and honey' (Ex 3. 8). This matches the description of the land found in the Egyptian tale of Sinuhe (ANET, 1823, and the Annals of Thutmoses III (ANET, 23738; Fensham 1966)

Egyptian Coloration of Exodus 13. "The request of Moses to allow the Israelites a three-day release from their corvee labors in order to celebrate a religious festival (Ex 3. 18; 5. 13; 8. 22 -25) follows established precedent as attested by extant records kept by the supervisors of labor gangs (Erman 1971: 124; Kitchen 1975: 156 -57). " 14. "The exceptional role of wonder-working in the early Exodus narrative (Ex 4. 2 -5, 6 -9; 7. 8 -12, 22; 8. 3, 14 -15) must be viewed in the light of the extraordinary place of magic as an essential part of daily life at all levels of Egyptian society. The feat of turning rod into a snake finds analogy in the popular tale 'King Cheops (Khufu) and the

Egyptian Coloration of Exodus Magicians' (Erman 1966: 36 -38). As a matter of fact, the snake as stiff as a rod is still practiced in Egypt and has been well documented in modern times (Mannix 1960: 32). The specific selection of this trick in order to impress both the Israelites and the pharaoh and his court may have been conditioned by the ceremonial insignia of Egyptian monarchs. The rod, or scepter, was emblematic of royalty, power, and authority, and the uraeus, or stylized representation of the sacred cobra, was worn on the forehead by the pharaohs as a symbol of imperial authority. "

Egyptian Coloration of Exodus 15. "The turning of water into blood (Ex 4. 9; 7. 1722) is mentioned in Egyptian compositions. 'The admonitions of an Egyptian Sage' (ANET, 441), and the story of 'Setne Khamwas and Si-osire' (AEL 3: 148) both refer to it. " 16. "The ninth plague, darkness (Ex 10. 21 -23), may be compared with mention of a similar phenomenon in the 'Prophecies of Neferti' (ANET, 445) 17. "Finally, the ten plagues are described as 'judgments on the gods of Egypt' (Ex 12. 12; cf. Num 33. 4; Jer 46. 25), a verdict early interpreted to mean that they were a mockery of Egyptian

Egyptian Coloration of Exodus paganism (12. 23 -27; 16. 1 -14; cf. Ex 10. 2; Jud. 48. 5). Some of the plagues can be so explained if taken in a context of Egyptian religious beliefs. The Nile, the vital artery of the land, was personified as the god Hapi, and its annual inundation was regarded as a manifestation of Osiris. The first two plagues centered on the river and could certainly have been understood by the Egyptians as nullifying the powers of these two deities. The plague of frogs could well have been taken as mocking the frog goddess Heqt, who was fancied as assisting women in labor and who was the consort of Khnum, the one who fashioned human beings out of clay. The plague of darkness

Egyptian Coloration of Exodus represented the defeat of the sun god Re, symbol of cosmic order. To the Egyptian mind, it would have evoked the powerful cosmogonic myth in which the monster Apophis, symbolic of darkness and the embodiment of all that is terrible, daily vied for victory over Re. "

Theology of Exodus 1. "The exodus from Egypt provides a focus for the OT, and has influenced its understanding of God. He had brought Israel, his people, "out of Egypt. " Thus the recollection of this event established a basic understanding of the nature and purpose of Israel's God, which could be used to interpret other events and situations. The use of this "exodus pattern" is very marked in the prophecies of Isaiah 40 -55 relating to the forthcoming release of exiles from Babylon in the sixth century B. C. " [Clements, "The Book of Exodus, " IDBSupp, 310]

Theology of Exodus • "Since the Exodus is perceived in the Bible as a divine event, it serves as one of the most significant symbols of the biblical faith. One of the axioms of this faith is that Yahweh, and not any other deity, brought Israel out from Egypt. . . (Ex 20. 2; Deut 5. 6). The significance of these words is that the deity who brought Israel out of Egypt was the one who now spoke to them and laid on them obligations and commandments. " [Haran, "The Exodus, " IDBSupp, 304]

Theology of Exodus • "The memory of the Exodus is embedded in the injunction to celebrate the festivals and in many day-by-day commandments, not only in the particular phraseology of D (Deut 10. 19; 15. 15; 16. 3, 12; 24. 22, etc. ), but also in the language of the other sources (Ex 13. 8, 14; 22. 21 [H 20]; 23. 15; Lev 23. 43). " [Haran, "The Exodus, " IDBSupp, 304]

Theology of Exodus 2. "The centerpiece of this unity is theology of Yahweh present with and in the midst of his people Israel. Throughout the Book of Exodus in its canonical form, this theme is constantly in evidence, serving as a theological anchor and also as a kind of compass indicating the directions in which the book is to go. Indeed, the Book of Exodus may be seen as a series of interlocking concentric circles spreading outwards from the narratives of the coming of Yahweh: to Moses in chaps 3 and 4, to all Israel in chaps. 19, 20 and 24, and to Moses representing Israel in chaps 32, 33 and 34. " [Durham, WBC: Exodus, xxi]