A. "[73] In addition, there is widespread agreement that the revelation of the law in Deuteronomy was originally separate from the Exodus:[74] the original version of Deuteronomy is generally dated to the 7th century BCE. [5], Mainstream scholarship no longer accepts the biblical Exodus account as historical for a number of reasons. Most scholars agree that the Exodus stories were written centuries after the apparent setting of the stories. The strong consensus of biblical scholars is that Exodus was written for the main part by two anonymous authors who were also contributors to the Book of Genesis. So literary access to the tabernacle was the only access they had. [59] Stephen Russell dated this tradition to "the eighth century BCE or earlier", and argued that it preserves a genuine Exodus tradition from the Northern Kingdom, but in a Judahite recension. 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. Purpose of Writing: The word "exodus" means depar. [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. Moses goes up the mountain into the presence of God, who pronounces the Covenant Code of ritual and civil law and promises Canaan to them if they obey. The book of Exodus is organized into 3 sections that follow the Israelites from Egypt through the wilderness to Mt. After He rescued them from slavery, God provided the Law, which gave instructions on how the people could be consecrated or made holy. [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. The word exodus means "exit" or "departure.". He believed in every word said by him and also used different prayers for worshiping him. [6][7], The biblical Exodus is central in Judaism. This particular book is considered to be having tremendous spiritual significance among the people. [33], While ancient Egyptian texts from the New Kingdom mention "Asiatics" living in Egypt as slaves and workers, these people cannot be securely connected to the Israelites, and no contemporary Egyptian text mentions a large-scale exodus of slaves like that described in the Bible. [59] The northern psalms 80 and 81 state that God "brought a vine out of Egypt" (Psalm 80:8) and record ritual observances of Israel's deliverance from Egypt as well as a version of part of the Ten Commandments (Psalm 81:10-11). SPECIAL TOPIC: LAWS IN THE ANE. SPECIAL TOPIC: OT HISTORICAL NARRATIVE. 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. [61] Egyptologist Jan Assmann suggested that event, which would have taken place around 931 BCE, may be partially historical due to its association with the historical pharaoh Sheshonq I (the biblical Shishak). It is mentioned in this book that God rescues and then delivered his people while guiding them into the unfamiliar desert. A: Command to kill boys. Just as significantly, God provided detailed directions on the building of His tabernacle, or tent. They camped at Mount Sinai, where Moses received Gods commandments. [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. Date of Writing: The Book of Exodus was written between 1440 and 1400 B.C. A "store city" or "supply city" was a city used to store provisions and garrison an important campaign route. Many early American settlers interpreted their flight from Europe to a new life in America as a new exodus. [3] The majority position is that the biblical Exodus narrative has some historical basis, although there is little of historical worth in it. '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. The storyline of the Exodus, of a people fleeing from a humiliating slavery, suggests elements that are historically credible. The exact date when this book was written is not confirmed, but various pieces of evidence have been found in the history which hint that this particular book was written somewhere between the period was the great Moses from the Bible was alive. [42] Scholarly estimates for how many people could have been involved in such an exodus range from a few hundred to a few thousand people. III. Thus, a span of around 40 years is considered to be the exact period in which this great book was written. Scholars relate Jeroboam's calves to the golden calf made by Aaron of Exodus 32. the book of exodus preserves the truth about the scribe's familiarity about egyptian calendar by mentioning the feast of ingathering in year end using egyptian based on the seasonal cycles of river nile while the other books in the law mentions it as feast of tabernacles in seventh month using the calendar given by god based on the seasons in C. Law, Exodus 20-23. The Hebrew people lived in the lands outside of the promised land for forty years. These sources are now known as the Yahwist and the Priestly Source. 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. [75] The contents of the books of Leviticus and Numbers are late additions to the narrative by priestly sources. 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. [77] Many theories have been advanced to explain the composition of the first five books of the Bible, but two have been especially influential. [62] Russell and Frank Moore Cross argued that the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom may have believed that the calves at Bethel and Dan were made by Aaron. to the study of this specific group of Israel's ancestors. [112], In Romans 9:17, Paul interprets the hardened heart of Pharaoh during the Plagues of Egypt as referring to the hardened hearts of the Jews who rejected Christ. A literary composition that is so impressive could suggest that writing a theological treatise was the full achievement. In reality, however, both G. The book of Exodus in the Bible is the second after Genesis. Literary structure (chiasm, chiasmus) of Book of Exodus Chiastic Structure and Concentric Structure and Parallel of each pericope [1]Introduction ( Exod 1:1-7) List of people who going down to Egypt A: Increasing Israel people. 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. Though the children of Israel were enslaved in a foreign land, God miraculously and dramatically delivered them to freedom. 1:11), as well as stating that 600,000 Israelite men were involved (Exodus 12:37). Yahweh leads the Israelites in the form of a pillar of cloud in the day and a pillar of fire at night. B: The midwives feared God. The majority of modern scholars date the composition of the Torah to the Middle Persian Period. Through the Law, God says that all of life relates to God. [6], Joel S. Baden[43] noted the presence of Semitic-speaking slaves in Egypt who sometimes escaped in small numbers as potential inspirations for the Exodus. The book of Exodus is the story of God rescuing the children of Israel from Egypt and forging a special relationship with them. [6] Evidence in favor of historical traditions forming a background to the Exodus myth include the documented movements of small groups of Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples into and out of Egypt during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties, some elements of Egyptian folklore and culture in the Exodus narrative,[41] and the names Moses, Aaron and Phinehas, which seem to have an Egyptian origin. D. Specifications for the Tabernacle, Exodus 25-31, and its construction, Exodus 35-40 A Judahite cultic object associated with the exodus was the brazen serpent or nehushtan: according to 2 Kings 18:4, the brazen serpent had been made by Moses and was worshiped in the temple in Jerusalem until the time of king Hezekiah of Judah, who destroyed it as part of a religious reform, possibly around 727 BCE. In the final plague, Yahweh kills all the firstborn sons of Egypt and the firstborn cattle, but the Israelites, with blood on their doorposts, are spared. Answer (1 of 25): Here is a good overview of the book of Exodus from GotQuestions.org: "Author: Moses was the author of the Book of Exodus (Exodus 17:14; 24:4-7; 34:27). Purpose of Writing: The word "exodus" means departure. In Egypt, Israel is enslaved and God calls Moses at the burning bush to deliver his people. Exodus 13:8, suggested pharaohs in the Exodus narrative, "Out of the Mists of History: The Exaltation of the Exodus in the Bible", "From Exile and Restoration to Exile and Reconstruction", "The Emergence of Iron Age Israel: On Origins and Habitus", Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions, "Kingdom, Messianic Authority, and the Re-Constituting of God's People: Tracing the Function of Exodus Material in Mark's Narrative", "New English Translation of the Septuagint: Electronic Version", "Bitter Lives: Israel In And Out of Egypt", "Moses Outside the Torah and the Construction of a Diaspora Identity", Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Exodus&oldid=1132750382, Articles containing Ancient Egyptian-language text, Articles containing Akkadian-language text, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages, Pages using Sister project links with wikidata mismatch, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, Pages using Sister project links with default search, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 10 January 2023, at 10:56. Yahweh commands the Israelites to destroy the Midianites, and Moses and Phinehas take another census. As with Genesis, early Jewish traditions name Moses as the most likely and best qualified person to have authored Exodus. 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. [95][97], For Jews, the Passover celebrates the freedom of the Israelites from captivity in Egypt, the settling of Canaan by the Israelites, and the "passing over" of the angel of death during the death of the first-born. GENRE - The book of Exodus includes four literary genres. Traditionally ascribed to Moses himself, modern scholars see its initial composition as a product of the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE), based on earlier written sources and oral traditions, with final revisions in the Persian post-exilic period (5th century BCE). God tells Moses to ascend the mountain. Just like the Book of Exodus is organized into three sections, geographically designed as Israel journeys from Egypt through the wilderness to Mt. Jethro (Moses' father-in-law) convinces Moses to appoint judges for the tribes of Israel. Sinai. ", Micah 6:45 ("I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. [66] Nadav Na'aman argued for other signs that the Exodus was a tradition in Judah before the destruction of the northern kingdom, including the Song of the Sea and Psalm 114, as well as the great political importance that the narrative came to assume there. Vertically, they begin low, at sea level at the Nile river and move up to a mountain. Some Israelites begin having sexual relations with Moabite women and worshipping Moabite gods, so Yahweh orders Moses to impale the idolators and sends a plague, but the full extent of Yahweh's wrath is averted when Phinehas impales an Israelite and a Midianite woman having intercourse (Numbers 25:7-9). Exodus and Deuteronomy are all written in the third person by Moses, never using I or me. Jacob's sons join their brother Joseph in Egypt with their families, where their people begin to grow in number. [5] The Book of Exodus itself attempts to ground the event firmly in history, dating the exodus to the 2666th year after creation (Exodus 12:40-41), the construction of the tabernacle to year 2667 (Exodus 40:1-2, 17), stating that the Israelites dwelled in Egypt for 430 years (Exodus 12:40-41), and including place names such as Goshen (Gen. 46:28), Pithom, and Ramesses (Exod. The Israelites will have to remain in the wilderness for forty years,[19] and Yahweh kills the spies through a plague except for the righteous Joshua and Caleb, who will be allowed to enter the promised land. Read | Apocalypse Bible Meaning, Folklore and Synonyms. [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. There, he marries Zipporah, daughter of a Midianite priest Jethro, and suddenly encounters God in a burning bush. [56], The story may, therefore, have originated a few centuries earlier, perhaps in the 9th or 10th BCE, and there are signs that it took different forms in Israel, in the Transjordan region, and in the southern Kingdom of Judah before being unified in the Persian era. Similarly, the Covenant Code (the law code in Exodus 20:2223:33) has some similarities in both content and structure with the Laws of Hammurabi. [30] The geography is vague with regions such as Goshen unidentified, and there are internal problems with dating in the Pentateuch. [24], The second half of Exodus marks the point at which, and describes the process through which, God's theophany becomes a permanent presence for Israel via the Tabernacle. Orthodox) Jewish understanding is that God is the narrator (and God refers to itself in the 3rd person). [113] Early Christian authors such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Augustine all emphasized the supersession of the Old Covenant of Moses by the New Covenant of Christ, which was open to all people rather than limited to the Jews. The Israelites come to the oasis of Kadesh Barnea, where Miriam dies and the Israelites remain for forty years. Why was Exodus written? [13] Some scholars such as Benjamin J. Noonan have pointed out that the presence of Egyptian cognates in the Exodus and wilderness traditions entered Hebrew during the Late Bronze Age, precisely when we would expect them to have been borrowed if the events of these narratives really occurred, challenging the assumption of a post-exilic tradition. What is the genre of Exodus? These correspond to the fire of the burning bush or the plague of the fire from heaven and the crossing of the red sea. The Israelites do as they are commanded. "[3] There is no direct evidence for any of the people or Exodus events in non-biblical ancient texts or in archaeological remains, and this has led most scholars to omit the Exodus events from comprehensive histories of Israel. [70][h] In the Pentateuch, Moses creates the brazen serpent in Numbers 21:4-9. The identification of Osarseph with Moses in Manetho's account may be an interpolation or may come from Manetho. [65] The psalm's version of the Exodus contains some important differences from what is found in the Pentateuch: there is no mention of Moses, there are only seven plagues in Egypt, and the manna is described as "food of the mighty" rather than as bread in the wilderness. Please note, our website requires JavaScript to be supported. The Israelites now accept the covenant, which is reestablished, build a tabernacle for Yahweh, and receive their laws. So now, go. Finally, only with the help of the divine guidance of God and also the leadership, the people would be able to escape from this particular sin of slavery. All modern scholars believe that Genesis was written in the 6th century BCE by several different writers belonging to both the priestly class (those claiming to be descended from Moses) and from the land . Moving one section in to the most holy place you have a lampstand that provides the only light in the dark tent just like Gods glory cloud provides light to the Israelites. Copy. 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: ). [26] A covenant is a legal document binding two parties to take on certain obligations towards each other. I (Yhwh) was the one that saved you (brought you out of Egypt) and therefore you owe me fealty. The Israelites begin as servants to Pharaoh and end as servants to God. Israel complains about the food and God provides them with manna, bread from heaven. When the Lord called him for giving the opportunity, he replied to him by saying that he is not worth having that particular opportunity. Yahweh also speaks to Moses's brother Aaron; they both assemble the Israelites and perform signs so that they believe in Yahweh's promise. [109] Mark suggests that the outpouring of Jesus' blood creates a new covenant (Mark 14:24) in the same way that Moses' sacrifice of bulls had created a covenant (Exodus 24:5). [14] Furthermore, in direct response to popular claims that the Exodus wandering period lacks evidence in the Sinai region, various anthropologists of Near Eastern history have noted that a lack of material culture from the Israelites in the Book of Exodus is actually expected given what is known about historical and present semi-nomadic peoples. 2. He gives them their laws and instructions to build the Tabernacle, the means by which he will come from heaven and dwell with them and lead them in a holy war to possess the land of Canaan (the "Promised Land"), which had earlier, according to the story of Genesis, been promised to the seed of Abraham. 'way out', from -, ex-, 'out' and , hods, 'path', 'road'. Many characters are mentioned in the Second book of the Bible. . Once all the people were free and were living in the desert, the people then complained and begin to call for the familiar days of Egypt. 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. 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). 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