Exodus

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Exodus, by Waldemar Janzen (Believers Church Bible Commentary)

Introduction

Relevance

Exodus is the name of the second book of the Old Testament as well as of the Torah (Pentateuch, Five Books of Moses). It means going out and was probably suggested by Exodus 19:1, where the Septuagint (LXX, the Greek translation of the Old Testament) uses exodou (Genitive: of the going out), which was also taken up by the Latin Vulgate as the name of the book Exodus. In Hebrew, this book is called šemot ("names"), following the tradition of naming biblical books by the first word, or one of the first, in the book’s opening; in this case, “These are the names of the sons of Israel” (Exodus 1:1).

The book of Exodus is pivotal for the Old Testament narrative and the faith that it sustains. In Exodus, God's double promise of descendants and land to Abraham and Sarah (Gen 12:1-3) is beginning to be fulfilled; Israel multiplies into a great people (Exod 1), and God initiates their setting out towards the promised land (3:7-8). In this book, God reveals the Divine name, Yahweh (the LORD), for all time and fills that name with its central meaning: Savior and Lord. In Exodus, the descendants of Jacob/Israel become a people with a special commission, established by the covenant relationship to Yahweh mediated through Moses at Mt. Sinai. In the context of this covenant, Israel commits itself to a new life governed by the Torah (Law) that has largely molded the ethics of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the cultures they have shaped. Finally, Exodus introduces the form of worship that characterizes biblical religion and its successors. The themes and patterns of the book of Exodus reappear in and inform much of the remainder of the Old Testament's writings and extend their faith-shaping influence into the New Testament and into our own time.

Approach, Form, Style, Implied Reader

Canonical-Literary Approach. The approach taken in this article is a "canonical-literary" one. In other words, it regards the final, or canonical, text of the book to be a coherent literary unit. It studies this unit by way of literary analysis, using categories such as structure, form, character, plot, style, implied reader, and other literary aspects in search of the book's meaning(s). Since Exodus comes to us from the world of ancient Israel, however, historical, cultural, religious, legal, and other information regarding that world will often be required in the interpretive process. Further, the awareness that the present canonical text came into being through centuries of oral and written composition and transmission will also be kept in mind and will clarify some of the text's features.

Form. Exodus is a complex book. Its framework is prose narrative. Into it are inserted: (1) One longer poetic text (the Song of the Sea, 15:1-18). (2) Two distinct law codes plus additional laws, the Ten Commandments, 20:1-17, and the Book of the Covenant, 20:22--23:33; the laws of Passover and Firstborn, 12--13; and the covenant renewal laws, 34:11-26. (3) A long account of Divine instruction to Moses for building the tabernacle (25--31). These inclusions, however, do not stand apart as separate blocks of material interrupting the flow of the narrative, but have been incorporated into it and are firmly anchored in it.

Narrative Style. The strictly narrative sections vary greatly in style. The stylistic variations become clear when we compare: (1) The terse, fast-moving vignettes of Pharaoh's oppression and Moses' early life (chs. 1--2). (2) The extensive dialogue between Moses and God (3:1--4:17). (3) The dramatic encounters between Moses (and Aaron) with Pharaoh (5--14). (4) The depressing sequence of rebellion scenes in the wilderness, always accompanied by God’s grace (15--17). (5) The relaxed and familial reunion scene with Jethro (18). (6) The awe-filled theophany at Mt. Sinai (19; 24), bracketing two law codes. (7) The staccato events of rebellion and reconciliation (32--34). (8) The detailed but enthusiastic account of tabernacle building by a chastened people (35--40). All these sections, to name but the major ones, thrust the reader up and down on a literary roller-coaster moving in various directions and at unpredictable speeds.

Implied Reader. Who is meant to be the reader of the final, canonical form of Exodus? The book itself does not make this explicit. There are various cues, however, that point to a person I have called the "repeat-reader." This repeat-reader stands in contrast to the "first-time-reader."

The first-time reader--sometimes called the "narratee" in literary theory--is an imaginary reader who knows the story only as far as he or she has read into the book of Exodus. Such a reader would run into repeated difficulties. He or she would be confused, for example, by terms and items assumed to be known before their proper introduction in the story (e.g. the "[ark of the] covenant," 16:34; or the "ephod," 25:7). Again, the first-time reader would be confused by an account of Israel's march through Edom and Canaan after the crossing of the sea (15:13-18), when Israel has only barely crossed the sea at that point in the story.

The repeat-reader, on the other hand, is someone who already "knows his/her Bible," i.e. someone who not only knows the story preceding Exodus (i.e. Genesis), but also the rest of Exodus, and much of Israel's later story. This reader has no problems of the kind just mentioned; he/she knows the ark of the covenant or the ephod as parts of the long tradition in which he/she stands. For this reader, the final author(s) can introduce various features before their logical time in the story. For example, Aaron can already put a jar of manna into the ark before its construction has been commanded and carried out (16:33-36). The advance of Israel into Canaan, to cite another example, can already be proclaimed just after Israel passed through the Red Sea (15:13-18).

Further, the repeat-reader understands the text more fully than the first-time reader. While the latter might perhaps think of the new Pharaoh's fears about Israel's growing numbers as legitimate political caution (1:8-10), the repeat-reader knows that an enemy will indeed come; that Israel will indeed join that enemy; and that Israel will indeed escape. This reader also knows that this enemy will be God, and that the new Pharaoh is embarking on a collision course with God here already, even though God has so far hardly been mentioned. The repeat-reader, standing in the worship tradition of his people, will also readily be in tune with the author when the latter blends historical experience with worship practice (e.g. in the Passover account, ch. 12; or in the theophany account, ch. 19). Readers will find the distinction between first-time reader and repeat reader helpful at various points where the text would otherwise make poor sense. [Narrative Technique]

Structure and Unity of Exodus

Can a unifying structure be discerned in the diversity of the final Exodus text? Commentators vary in their assessments. Historical critics focus on the prehistory of our extant canonical text, attempting to find explanations for the quiltwork of its formally and stylistically disparate sections in the coming together of various originally separate oral or written traditions [Source Theory]. More recently, many interpreters concentrate on the final, canonical text and find in it considerable literary cohesion, in spite of its obviously composite nature (e.g., Childs, Durham, Fretheim, and my own proposal below).

One test of unity is the ease or difficulty with which a clear structure can be discerned convincingly. Several plausible outlines suggest themselves immediately: Geographically, one could segment the story into 1) Israel in Egypt. 2) Israel wandering in the wilderness. 3) Israel at Mt. Sinai. Such a geographical structuring, however, remains external to the message. Or one could see a twofold division: 1) Exodus from Egypt. 2) Covenant conclusion at Sinai. Proponents of this structure tend to take either the Song of the sea (15:1-21) or the theophany at Mount Sinai (ch. 19) as the narrative’s dividing mid-point, and there are good arguments in favor of each. Yet a division into only two parts, whether correct or not, is insufficient to structure so long a book helpfully. Further, such a division tends to support the traditional but unfortunate theological separation of grace (exodus) and law (covenant). Several commentators have therefore chosen to sub-divide the book into a series of consecutive major sections, without attempting to discern an overarching and meaningful structural pattern (e.g. Childs, 1974).

To suggest an overarching structure is always a more or less convincingly super-imposed interpretive move (Janzen, 2009a). Without denying the validity of other approaches, I have taken my cue for the structure of Exodus from the twofold appearance of Moses' father-in-law, Jethro (or Reuel). Commentators have been baffled by his appearance in 2:16-22; 3:1; 4:18-19, and then not again until ch. 18, after which he disappears from the scene. In each case, Jethro plays the same role, namely that of the father figure and host receiving the fugitive(s) from Egypt--first Moses, and later Moses and his people--home into nomadic shepherd life (Janzen, 2000 [in further references, simply “Commentary”], on 2:16-22; 18:1-7,8-12; and Janzen, 2009a). In each case this homecoming is followed immediately by a theophany (at the burning bush, 3:1--4:17; and at Mt. Sinai, ch. 19) that catapults Moses and Israel, respectively, into a Divine commission for service not at all anticipated before. This pattern of events, as first experienced by Moses, clearly anticipates the fuller but parallel set of events experienced by Israel.

These observations led me to discern the following structure of the book of Exodus:

A. Anticipation (1:1--7:7) I. The Salvation (Deliverance) of Moses (1:1--2:25) II. The Commissioning of Moses (3:1--7:7) B. Realization (7:8--40:38) III. The Salvation (Deliverance) of Israel (7:8--18:27) IV. The Commissioning of Israel (19:1--40:38) (See Commentary, 18-22; Janzen, 2009a for fuller discussion).

This outline highlights God as the main actor. God saves and then commissions to service; this is God's agenda. God, Israel's rightful Master, wrests his people from the grip of the illegitimate master, Pharaoh. God's agenda and Pharaoh's agenda run on a collision course. Israel's agenda, however, also stands in some tension to God's agenda, especially from 14:10-12 on, when the people repeatedly brace themselves against their own salvation. Instead of joyfully accepting God's new initiative, the people waver between moments of trust (e.g. 12:50; 14:30f.; 19:8; 24:3; 35--40) and a persistent tendency to look back to the oppressive but familiar security of Egypt (e.g. 5:20f.; 14:10-12; 16:1-3; 17:1-7; cf. 32:1-6).

For two reasons, I have deliberately named two of the four major sections "The Salvation of Moses" and "The Salvation of Israel," avoiding the widely current term "liberation." First, "liberation" tends to suggest political-social freedom to be the aim of God's acting. Exodus is indeed a story of great political-social relevance, but it also transcends this as it leads Israel beyond liberation, into the new service of its rightful Master. Second, my use of "salvation"--a term occurring twice in Exodus: 14:13 (yeshu’ah; NRSV: "deliverance) and 15:2--is intended to link God's saving acts in the Old Testament to those in the New, for which Christians have often reserved the term "salvation." God's aim for Israel in Exodus is not of a lower order, but also aims at leading the people "all the way," as we read in the concise summary of 19:4:

You have seen what I [God] did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.

Exodus within the Tetrateuch (Genesis to Numbers)

The story told in Exodus begins in Genesis and continues in Leviticus and Numbers. To what extent, then, is the book of Exodus merely an excerpt from a longer narrative, and to what extent is it a story complete in itself?

Continuity. There are clear marks of continuity between Genesis and Exodus. They are concentrated especially in the opening chapters of Exodus, and then again in the final chapters. The book of Exodus begins with an introduction of the descendants of Israel that had followed their brother Joseph to Egypt (Gen. 45--47). The first thing reported about them is that they multiply greatly, in keeping with God's creation promise (Gen. 1: 28; cf. 9:1) and God's promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3, and often). When God takes the initiative to save Israel from Pharaoh, God does so because God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (2:24; cf. 6:5), a covenant that included the promise of the land to which God would now lead his people (3:7-12; 6:2-8). When God introduces his new name, Yahweh, to Moses, God links it to the God of Moses' father(s), the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (3:6; cf. 3:15f.; 6:2). The latter sections of Exodus, dealing with the covenant conclusion (chs. 19--24) and the rebellion associated with the Golden Calf (chs. 32--34), reflect and parallel the sequence of creation and fall (Gen. 1--2, and 3ff., respectively. (Commentary, 368-70, 378-79; Rendtorff, 1993: 125-34).

The continuity between Exodus and Leviticus/Numbers is even more seamless. Leviticus and Numbers continue the legislation regarding the tabernacle, its priesthood and its worship, begun in Exod 25--31; 35--40, and report its implementation while Israel is still at Mt. Sinai. In Num 9:15ff., Israel is told to prepare for continuing the journey through the wilderness begun in Exod 15--17. In Num 10:10ff., Israel sets out on the continuation of that journey heading for the promised land, a journey continuing the grumbling and rebellion begun in in Exodus 15--17. Several characters introduced in Exodus also continue to figure in Leviticus and Numbers, most prominent among them Moses, Aaron and his sons, Miriam, and Joshua.

Distinctiveness. On the other hand, there are features that set the book of Exodus apart as a separate and complete literary unit. The structure suggested above demonstrates convincingly a thematic symmetry that conveys a sense of wholeness, balance, and completion: the oppressed--first Moses, then all Israel--are saved, and then immediately commissioned to become agents of salvation for others.

Other features also suggest wholeness and completion. Exodus introduces the Israelites as enslaved to a wrongful master, Pharaoh. The book concludes by showing the same people as freely committed in covenant to their legitimate Master, God. In the beginning, the Israelites do forced labor as builders for Pharaoh; in the end, they are builders again, this time building freely and enthusiastically for God. In the beginning, this God is apparently absent (chs. 1--2); at the end, the cloud of God's presence settles over the tabernacle in the midst of God's people (40:34-38). God has truly redeemed his people and brought them to myself, as 19:4 says succinctly (cf. also 15:17f.) Although the story moves on toward the promised land, a central transaction is begun and completed in the book of Exodus: The change of masters is accomplished, and the rightful master reigns in the midst of his loyal people. (Parenthetically, this completed arc from master to master and from building to building shows clearly how wrong it is to neglect adequate treatment of the tabernacle chapters when interpreting the book of Exodus, as is done so often).

Summary of Content

Anticipation: Focus on Moses (Exodus 1:1--7:7)

1. The Salvation (Deliverance) of Moses--Exodus 1:1–2:25 Terse storytelling and fast forward movement mark this section of Exodus. Jacob/Israel and his eleven sons have followed Joseph into Egypt. Their descendants have multiplied and become a great people there. A new Pharaoh, not knowing the story of Joseph, is alarmed and fears for his power. He tries to decimate Israel through hard labor. As this fails, he orders the two midwives secretly to kill all Israelite male babies at birth. When the midwives, fearing God, thwart this scheme, Pharaoh reacts with brute force, ordering all Israelite male babies to be thrown into the Nile.

Although anchored in historical memory, this story reduces details to what is essential. Few actors, a small stage, and an intimacy of interaction characterize it. Only two midwives serve the great multitude of Israelites, and the king appears to live right next door, talking to them without distance or protocol. Historical complexity is cast here in the simple mode of storytelling [Narrative Technique].

An Israelite couple has a baby boy. The mother hides him in a basket [literally: “ark”) in the rushes by the Nile, where Pharaoh's daughter finds him and eventually adopts him. She calls him Moses, and he grows up in the royal palace.

As an adult, however, Moses identifies with his own oppressed people. In his attempt to help them, he kills an Egyptian. As a consequence, he has to flee from Pharaoh's anger and escapes to the Midianites, a nomadic shepherd people in the wilderness east of Egypt. Thus he is, in a sense, retracing the way of Joseph, who had been forced by adverse circumstances to leave the nomadic shepherd life for Egypt. Welcomed into the home of Jethro (Reuel), priest of Midian, Moses soon marries Zipporah, Jethro’s daughter. She bears a son, whom Moses names Gershom, saying: I have been an alien [ger] residing in a foreign land (2:22, NRSV). Various versions and commentaries take the foreign land to refer to Midian and translate: I have become an alien in a foreign land (thus NIV). It is far better, however, to follow the NRSV reading, as above, understanding the foreign land as being Egypt (see Commentary, 48). Moses’ stay in Egypt was one of rejection and threat, while the story of his arrival and treatment in Midian has all the marks of a homecoming. Now Moses can settle down to a shepherd life like that of his ancestors before they followed Joseph into Egypt. Moses’ move prefigures Israel’s “homecoming,” also to be welcomed by Jethro (Exod18). Therefore, instead of calling this story “The Escape of a Refugee,” the repeat reader can already presage in God’s leading of Moses God’s comprehensive plan for the deliverance of all Israel.

But where is God in our story so far? Apart from one brief mention in connection with the midwives, God remains behind the scene. Yet several clues alert the reader, and especially the repeat reader, that God is at work to realize a larger plan for God’s people. First, Israel’s unstoppable increase, indicating the fulfillment of God’s promise of many descendants for Abraham, sets up the expectation of the coming fulfillment of God’s second promise to Abraham, the gift of the land. Second, a child (Moses) in a basket called an “ark” (tebah, like Noah’s ark; Genesis 8) floating on the Nile waters, although intended to bring his death, must surely be a sign of preservation. Finally, the repeat reader will recognize Moses’ “mini-exodus” as prefiguring the deliverance of his people in which he will be God’s central agent. To adapt Christian terminology, Moses, like Jesus Christ later, is the “first fruits” of those saved (1 Cor. 15:20; cf. 1 Cor. 15:20–24).

Meanwhile, the Israelites still in Egypt continue to suffer, even when a new Pharaoh ascends the throne. At the end of this section, however, readers receive a first explicit assurance that God has not forgotten them (2:23–25). The Israelites in the story, however, are not aware of this.

2. The Commissioning of Moses--Exodus 3:1–7:7 Having settled down to nomadic shepherd life, Moses tends the flocks of his father-in-law, Jethro, which takes him close to Horeb, the "mountain of God" (later also called Sinai). There he is stunned by a bush that burns but is not consumed. As he approaches, God calls to him: "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then he [God] said, "Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground" (3:5).

Then God orders him to go back to Egypt to demand from Pharaoh the release of the enslaved Israelites. God wants to lead them to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Israel will come to know this God of their ancestors by the new name Yahweh, the common modern rendering of the Hebrew letters YHWH (a form of the Hebrew verb hayah, “to be”), explained as "I WILL BE WHO/WHAT I WILL BE,” (a future form, preferable to the traditional “I Am Who I Am,” (see NRSV footnote, vs. NRSV text). This new name, to be used by Israel forever after, expresses God’s intention to reveal himself in a radically new way, and Moses is to be God’s instrument for bringing this about (3:7-15).

Moses, overcome by this theophany, resists his call by proffering various arguments for his inadequacy, including the claim that he has difficulty as a speaker. In response, a remarkably patient but totally unbending God tells him that his brother Aaron will be his spokesman, but insists that Moses must go. Overcome by God, Moses sets out for Egypt. On the way he is joined by Aaron. In Egypt, they share Moses’ commission with the elders of Israel, who are ready to accept it.

Next, Moses and Aaron confront Pharaoh and address him, in prophetic speech: “Thus says the LORD (Yahweh): Let my people go, so that they may worship me” (Exod 8:1). Pharaoh scorns this demand, saying: "Who is the LORD, that I should heed him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go" (Exod 8:2). Then Pharaoh increases the burden and harshness of Israel’s forced labor. The Israelites are broken in spirit and blame Moses and Aaron for their increased plight. Moses, in turn, cries out to God. God, however, reaffirms his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give their descendants the land of Canaan, saying: "I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring my people, the Israelites, company by company, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD (Yahweh), when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them" (Exod 7:3-5; emphasis added).

Recommended Essays in the Commentary

Yahweh War in Exodus

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—Waldemar Janzen