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Exodus (Greek: ἔξοδος, exodos, meaning "departure") or Shemot (Hebrew: שמות, literally "names") is the second book of the Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament, and the second of five books of the Jewish Torah or Pentateuch.
The book tells how Moses leads the Hebrews out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the Mountain of God Sinai. There YHWH, through Moses, gives the Hebrews their laws and enters into a covenant with them, by which he will give them the land of Canaan in return for their faithfulness. The book ends with the construction of the Tabernacle.
According to tradition, Exodus and the other four books of the Torah were written by Moses. Modern biblical scholarship places its final textual in the mid 5th century BC, i.e. post-exilic but earlier than the Hellenistic period,[1] although some parts, such as the Song of the sea and the Covenant Code may date to as early as the 9th to 10th century BC.
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Title
In Hebrew the book is called Shemot, meaning "Names", from the first word of the Hebrew text, in line with the other four books of the Torah. When the Bible was translated into Greek in the 3rd century BCE to produce the Septuagint, the name given was Exodus (Greek: έξοδος, exodos) meaning "departure", in line with the Septuagint use of subject themes as book names. The Greek title has continued to be used in all subsequent Latin and English versions of the book, and most other languages.
Summary
Bondage in Egypt
An unnamed Pharaoh, fearful of the Israelites' numbers, orders that all newborn boys be thrown into the Nile. A Levite woman saves her baby by setting him adrift on the river in an ark of bulrushes. The pharaoh's daughter finds the child, and names him Moses, and brings him up as her own. But Moses is aware of his origins, and one day, when grown, kills an Egyptian overseer who is beating a Hebrew man, and has to flee into Midian[2] There he marries, and while herding the flocks of his father-in-law Jethro[3] on Mount Horeb,[4] encounters God in a burning bush. God reveals his name, YHWH, to Moses, and tells him to return to Egypt and lead the Hebrews into Canaan, the land promised to Abraham.
Moses returns to Egypt, where God again says his name to Moses. God instructs Moses to appear before the pharaoh and inform him of God's demand that he let God's people go. Moses and his brother Aaron do so, but pharaoh refuses. God causes a series of plagues to strike Egypt, but pharaoh does not relent. God instructs Moses to institute the Passover sacrifice among the Israelites, and kills all the firstborn children and livestock throughout Egypt. The pharaoh then agrees to let the Israelites go. Moses explains the meaning of the Passover: it is for Israel's salvation from Egypt, so that the Israelites will not be required to sacrifice their own sons, but to redeem them.
Journey through the wilderness to Sinai
The Exodus begins. The Israelites, 600,000 men plus women and children and a mixed multitude, with their flocks and herds, set out for the mountain of God. The pharaoh pursues them, and Yahweh destroys the Egyptian army at the crossing of the Red Sea (Yam Suf). The Israelites celebrate. The desert proves arduous, and the Israelites complain and long for Egypt, but God provides manna and miraculous water for them. The Israelites arrive at the mountain of God, where Moses' father-in-law Jethro visits Moses; at his suggestion Moses appoints judges over Israel.
At Sinai: Covenant and laws
The Israelites arrive at the mountain of God. Yahweh asks whether they will agree to be his people, and they accept. The people gather at the foot of the mountain, and with thunder and lightning, fire and clouds of smoke, and 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" of God [5] Moses and Aaron are told to ascend the mountain.[6] God pronounces the Ten Commandments (the Ethical Decalogue) in the hearing of all Israel.[7]
Moses goes up the mountain into the presence of God, who pronounces the Covenant Code,[8] (a detailed code of ritual and civil law), and promises Canaan to the Hebrews if they obey.[9] Moses descends and writes down Yahweh's words and the people agree to keep them. Yahweh calls Moses up the mountain together with Aaron and the elders of Israel, and they feast in the presence of Yahweh. Yahweh calls Moses up the mountain to receive a set of stone tablets containing the law, and he and Joshua go up, leaving Aaron in charge. Yahweh appears on the mountain "like a consuming fire" and calls Moses to go up, and Moses goes up the mountain.[10]
Yahweh gives Moses instructions for the construction of the tabernacle so that God can dwell permanently amongst his chosen people, as well as instructions for the priestly vestments, the altar and its appurtenances, the ritual to be used to ordain the priests, and the daily sacrifices to be offered. Aaron is appointed as the first High Priest, and the priesthood is to be hereditary in his line. Then Yahweh gives to Moses the two stone tablets containing these instructions, written by God's own finger.
Aaron makes a golden calf, which the people worship. God informs Moses of their apostasy and threatens to kill them all, but relents when Moses pleads for them. Moses comes down from the mountain, smashes the tablets in anger, and commands the Levites to massacre the disobedient. Yahweh commands Moses to make two new tablets on which He will personally write the words that were on the first tablets. Moses ascends the mountain, God dictates the Ten Commandments (the Ritual Decalogue)[11], and Moses writes them on the tablets.[12]
Moses descends from the mountain, and his face is transformed, so that from that time onwards he has to hide his face with a veil. Moses assembles the Hebrews and repeats to them the commandments he has received from Yahweh, which are to keep the Sabbath and to construct the Tabernacle. "And all the construction of the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting was finished, and the children of Israel did according to everything that Yahweh had commanded Moses",[13] and from that time Yahweh dwelt in the Tabernacle and ordered the travels of the Hebrews.[14]
Structure and composition
See also
- The Exodus
- Moses
- Tabernacle
- Weekly Torah portions in Exodus: Shemot, Va'eira, Bo, Beshalach, Yitro, Mishpatim, Terumah, Tetzaveh, Ki Tisa, Vayakhel, and Pekudei
- Film adaptations of the Book of Exodus
References
- ^ Rolf Rendtorff, "Directions in Pentateuchal Studies", CR:BS5 (1997), pp.43-65; and David M. Carr, "Controversy and Convergence in Recent Studies of the Formation of the Pentateuch", RSR23 ((1997), pp.22-29
- ^ Midian: the desert region between Egypt and the Negev.
- ^ Moses' father-in-law is named Reuel and Jethro in the Torah, and Hobeb in Judges. Hobeb also appears in the Torah (in Numbers), but is identified there as a son of Reuel.
- ^ Horeb: an alternative name for mount Sinai
- ^ The Hebrew word beqol normally means voice, but a few verses earlier (Exodus 19:16) it has been used to mean "thunder", in the context of the thunder and lightning from the mountain. It is therefore not clear exactly what beqol means in this instance. The implication of Exodus 20:18-19 is that the people hear only thunder and trumpets and for this reason appoint Moses as their mediator with God: "And the people saw the thunder and the lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking...And they said [to Moses], "You speak with us, so we may listen, but let God not speak with us or we will die." Some translations therefore have "thunder" instead of "voice".
- ^ It is not totally clear who goes up the mountain - Exodus 19:24 has Yahweh instructing Moses and Aaron to go up while the people and priests remain below, but at Exodus 19:22 the priests are told they may approach Yahweh after consecrating themselves.
- ^ A slightly different version of the Commandments is given at Deuteronomy 5, the most striking variation being in the reason given for keeping the Sabbath: in Exodus, the Sabbath is kept because God made the heavens and earth in six days and rested on the seventh; in Deuteronomy, it is a memorial for Israel's deliverance from Egypt.
- ^ Exodus21:1-23:19
- ^ Exodus 21-23
- ^ This passage has a confusing sequence of events, as reflected in this summary.
- ^ The Ritual Decalogue, unlike the Ethical Decalogue, is explicitly called the "ten commandments" - see Exodus 34:28
- ^ At Exodus 34:1 God has told Moses that he, God, will personally write on the tablets, but at Exodus 34:27 he tells Moses to write them. Also, although God tells Moses that he is about to receive a copy of the first set of tablets, Exodus 24:12 makes clear that the first tablets contained the instructions for the tabernacle, while Exodus 34:27-28 makes it equally clear that the second set contain the Ritual Decalogue.
- ^ Exodus 39:32
- ^ This is a broad summary of the final verses, Exodus 40:34-38
External links
Online versions and translations of Exodus
Hebrew translations
- Exodus at Mechon-Mamre (Jewish Publication Society translation)
- Exodus (The Living Torah) Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's translation and commentary at Ort.org
- Shemot - Exodus (Judaica Press) translation with Rashi's commentary at Chabad.org
- Shmot (Original Hebrew - English at Mechon-Mamre.org)
Christian translations
- Exodus (Douay-Rheims Bible)
- Exodus (New American Bible)
- Exodus (King James Version)
- oremus Bible Browser (New Revised Standard Version)
- oremus Bible Browser (Anglicized New Revised Standard Version)
| Preceded by Genesis |
Hebrew Bible | Followed by Leviticus |
| Christian Old Testament |
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