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Exodus

This article is about the second book in the Torah. Discussion of the Exodus, a major event in the book, is in a separate article. For other uses of the name, see Exodus (disambiguation).
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Torah | Nevi'im | Ketuvim
Books of the Torah
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy

Exodus is the second book of the Torah, the Tanakh, and the Old Testament. The major events of the book concern the Exodus, a departure of Hebrew slaves from Egypt under the leadership of Moses.

Jews call the book by its first words Ve-eleh shemot (Hebrew: ואלה שמות) (i.e., "And these are the names") or simply "Shemot" (שמות). The Septuagint designates the second book of the Pentateuch as "Exodus" (Greek: Ἔξοδος), meaning "departure" or "out-going". The Latin translation adopted the name, which passed into other languages.

The book is generally broken into six sections:

A major Chiastic structure runs throughout the second half of Exodus, centred on the episode of the golden calf.


Contents

Summary

The Israelites and their escape from slavery (1-12)

The later chapters of Genesis describe a great famine which had struck the Promised Land, causing the Hebrews to relocate to Egypt. For their kinsman Joseph had risen to a position of great power there; thanks largely to his administrative skills, food in Egypt remained plentiful. Joseph persuades his entire extended family to come live under his protection so that he can support them for the duration of the famine.

Once the famine ends, however, the Hebrews do not return to the Promised Land. Rather, they proceed to settle down in Egypt and remain there for many generations.

Then a new Pharaoh, who knew not Joseph, becomes concerned about the military implications of the large increase in the Israelite population. He enslaves and oppresses them with forced labour, ordering the Hebrew midwives to kill all male babies. However, a daughter of Pharaoh finds the male infant of a Levite, calling him Moses (translating as drawn out). Moses is brought up as an Egyptian. As his past becomes revealed (that he is actually an Israelite), he takes sympathy for one of the slaves that is being whipped by the guards. He kills the guard and buries his body in the sand.

To escape from pharaoh (the punishment for killing a man was death), Moses flees the country. Moses' exile takes him to Midian, where he becomes shepherd to the priest Jethro and marries his daughter, Zipporah. As he feeds the sheep on Mount Horeb, God appears to him from a burning bush, which fails to turn to ash. God orders Moses to demand the release of the Israelites from Pharaoh and gives him the power to perform two miraculous signs to show his authority. Aaron, mentioned for the first time and identified as Moses' brother, is appointed to assist him. On his return to Egypt, God tries to kill Moses, but Zipporah, at the inn, circumcises Moses' son, fulfilling the Abrahamic covenant and saving Moses' life. (1-4)

The Pharaoh refuses Moses' request and oppresses the people still further, ordering them to make bricks without straw. Moses subsequently complains to God, who announces to him that he will display his power to such an extent that the Pharaoh will be keen to send the Israelites away, even with all the jewelery of the Egyptians. The genealogy of Moses and his family appears at this point, rather than at the beginning of the story. (5-6)

God sends a series of plagues onto Egypt, each time acting through Moses. Since each one has respite, and the Egyptian magicians are capable of duplicating some of them, the pharaoh becomes increasingly stubborn (7-10). Finally, a great plague, killing all the firstborn, occurs, passing over the houses of the Israelites, since they have completed the passover ritual, marking their houses. Pharaoh consequently relents and is only too glad to get rid of the Israelites (11-12).

The journey through the wilderness to Mount Sinai (13-18)

The Exodus begins after Pharaoh's consent, and the Israelites leave Ahmose to go to Succoth. The nobles of Egypt object to Pharaoh's consent, and so Pharaoh gathers together a large army to chase after the Israelites, who have by this point reached what is referred to as the 'Reed Sea' (often mistranslated as the Red Sea). Fortunately for the Israelites, they are divinely guarded, and are able to passage of Red Sea, when Moses causes the waters to part. The waters collapse once the Israelites have passed, defeating Pharaoh, and the Israelites joyfully sing the Song of the Sea (13-14). 13:21 contains the lines about the Lord going forth as a pillar of cloud by day, and a pilar of fire by night to lead the Israelites.

The Israelites continue their journey into the desert, and once in the Wilderness of Sin, they complain about the lack of food. Listening to their complaint, God sends them a shower of quail, and subsequently provides a daily shower of manna from heaven. Once at Rephidim, the thirst of the people gets to them, so water is miraculously provided from a rock. The Amalekites perform a sneak attack on the Israelites, and although Joshua manages to lead an army to vanquish them, God still orders an eternal war against Amalek (15-17). Jethro hears of Moses' approach, and visits him, advising Moses to appoint judges (18).

The Covenant and its Laws (19-24)

In the third month the Israelites arrive at Mount Sinai, and God announces, via Moses, that the Israelites are God's people, because he has liberated them by his omnipotence. The Israelites accept this call, and so, with thunder and lightning, clouds of smoke, and the noise of trumpets, God appears to them at the top of Mount Sinai (19).

God then announces a summarised moral law, the Ethical Decalogue (20). A more detailed Covenant Code is subsequently provided, concerning both ritual and civil law, and God promises Canaan to the Israelites if they obey, but warns against the paganism of its inhabitants (21-23). God calls Moses up into the mountain to receive a set of stone tablets containing the law, and further instructions (24).

This section includes the famous phrase "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live".

The Instructions for a Tabernacle, vestments, and associated ritual objects (25-31)

Intricate instructions, forming one of the least readable portions of the Torah, are then given detailing the construction of a tabernacle, so that God can dwell permanently amongst the Israelites (25-28). These directions provide for a particularly extensive construction:

Instructions are also given for the garments of the priests (28):

Following these instructions are details of the ritual to be used to ordain the priests, including robing, anointing, and seven days of sacrifices. There are also instructions for daily morning and evening offerings of a lamb (29). The specifications for construction of the tabernacle is then continued with directions for making a golden altar of incense, laver, anointing oil, and perfume (30). Bezaleel and Aholiab are identified, by God, as the appointed craftsmen to construct these things (31).

The golden calf, and regiving of the law (32-34)

Whilst Moses is up the mountain, the people become impatient and urge Aaron to make them a golden calf, which they worship with joy. God informs Moses that they have become idolatrous, threatening to abandon Israel, but Moses intercedes for them. However, when he comes down, he sees what they have done, and in anger smashes the two tablets of the law. After pronouncing judgment upon Aaron and the people Moses again ascends to God to implore forgiveness, and is successful (32-33). Moses consequently is commanded to make two new tablets on which God will personally write the commandments. God then gives the Ritual Decalogue, writing the ten commandments onto the tablets. Moses then returns to the people, who listen to him in respectful silence (34).

The Construction of a Tabernacle, vestments, and associated ritual objects (35-40)

Moses collects the congregation, enjoins upon them the keeping of the Sabbath, and requests gifts for the sanctuary. The entire people respond willingly, and under the direction of Bezaleel, and Aholiab, they complete all the instructions, for making the tabernacle, its contents, and the priestly robes, and the Israelites put it together on the first day of the second month (35-40). This section is almost, but not completely, a word for word copy of Chapters 25-31.

Authorship

Like for the remainder of the Tanakh, it is an article of faith of Orthodox Judaism that the text of Exodus was dictated to Moses himself. Biblical scholarship regards the text as a production of either the Kingdom of Judah (7th c. BCE) or post-exilic times (6th or 5th c. BCE). The documentary hypothesis postulates that there were several, post-Moses, authors, whose stories have been intertwined by a later redactor. The three main authors of the work are said, in this hypothesis, to be the Jahwist, Elohist, and Priestly source. In addition, the poetic Song of the Sea, and the prose Covenant Code, are thought to have been originally independent works which the associated author, of these three, chose to embed in their works.

Of these, in the hypothesis, the Elohist is identified as uniquely responsible for the episode of the golden calf, and the priestly source as uniquely responsible for the chiastic, and monotonous, instructions for creating the tabernacle, vestments, and ritual objects, and the account of their creation. Notable, the three main authors are also each uniquely associated with one part of the law code - the Elohist with the Covenant Code, the Priestly source with the Ethical Decalogue, and the Jahwist with the Ritual Decalogue.

The other parts of the book are believed to have been constructed by intertwining the Jahwist, Elohist, and Priestly, versions of each of the stories. Deconstructions of the stories into these sources, applying the hypothesis, identify heavy variations between stories, for example, the Priestly Source never warning Pharaoh about the plagues, but instead presenting the plagues as a test of his magicians, and always involving Aaron, whereas the Elohist always provides a warning, the Pharaoh is always described as giving in, but then hardening when Moses undoes the plague, and hardly ever includes Aaron in a positive light.

Historicity

Main article: the Exodus

The time-span in this book, from the death of Joseph to the erection of the tabernacle in the wilderness, covers about one hundred and forty-five years, on the supposition that one computes the four hundred and thirty years (12:40) from the time of the promises made to Abraham (Gal. 3:17).

There have been several attempts to fix the date of the events in the book to a precise point on the Gregorian Calendar. These attempts generally rest on three considerations

Generally, fixing the identification of the Pharaoh is considered the key, and two dynasties are usually suggested:

See also

References

Online versions and translations of Exodus

Arabic translations

Jewish translations

Christian translations

Translations identifying sources


Categories


Old Testament books | Tabernacle and Jerusalem Temples | Torah | Year of work unknown

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