Entering Exodus (part 1)

Bible Survey

Exodus

• Title

The title of Exodus in Hebrew is Ve'elleh Shemoth, which is the first words of the book and means these are the names. Again Hebrew just takes the first words of the book and uses it as a title. Imagine if we did that in English. Can you guess the names of these famous books by their Hebrewized names: 1) In 1815, 2) As I walked, 3)You do not like, 4) In the beginning (The answers are here but backwards for those who might cheat: 1)selbariesim sel, 2)ssergorp s'mirglip eht, 3)mah dna sgge neerg, 4)elbib eht). Now wasn't that fun. In Greek, Latin, and English the title is Exodus, which in Greek means departure or exit.

• Author

God wrote the Bible, but he used human instruments. In this case, the text indicates at several points that the basic process of things was that God would speak to Moses, Moses would speak to the people, and then he would write down what God said (Exodus 24:4). There seems to be no good resume from the text to claim anything more than Mosaic authorship. Jewish and Christian tradition agree that Moses was the author. However German Biblical scholarship that happened over 2000 years later, claims otherwise.

• Date written (Assuming Mosaic Authorship)

Moses wrote Exodus during the wilderness wanderings, so we can date it around 1444 B.C.

• Purpose

The purpose of Exodus for Israel is to record the beginning of their history as a nation, how they received the Law from God through Moses, and the building of the tabernacle, which severed as a center of worship and a prototype for the Temple later on. What we can learn from it today are attributes of God. God reveals himself through action, ritual, symbols, and the Law. We can learn who he is and how he acted in history. Exodus is one of God's great bits of self-disclosure.

• The Main Players

The main man in Exodus is Moses. God takes him from the dust in Midian and brings him back to Egypt to emancipate his people. Throughout Moses is God's instrument. One of the great passages is Moses and God's interaction at the burning bush. Read it with fresh eyes in Exodus 3-4.
Another main player is Pharaoh. His main part is not letting God's people go. Rather than submitting to God, he believes in his strength, his gods, and the strength of the most powerful nation on earth. Check out some of their interactions in Exodus 5. There are several different Pharaohs that are believed to be the Pharaoh of this time. The two choices are Amenhotep II or Rameses II. These choices are based on the dating of the Exodus which will be discussed later.
Aaron is Moses brother and his mouthpiece. Aaron is essentially second behind Moses. Exodus 7:1-2
Miriam is Moses and Aaron's sister. She is also an accomplished singer/songwriter and the leader of the womans tamborine dancing parade (Exodus 15:20-21).
The last main player is the nation of Israel itself. They are God chosen people, chosen for his purposes. They were God's treasured possession, kingdom of priests, and his holy nation (Exodus 19:1-6)

Moses by Michelangelo
In St. Peter's Basilica in Rome
(Here is a fun trivia question: If you look at the top of Moses' head, he has horns, why? Anyone who gets this right gets 500, no 1,000 Eric Points)

• Literary Elements

Here is an outline of Exodus:

Exodus
Israel in Egypt	From Egypt to Sinai	At Sinai
Bondage (1)	Leaving Egypt (12:37-15:21)	Giving of Law	Giving of the Tabernacle
Moses early life (2-4)	Wilderness (16-18)	Preparation (19)	Planning the worship (25-31)
Pharaoh’s Oppression (5-6:28)		Law (20-23)	Israel and the Golden Calf (32)
God vs. Pharaoh (6:28-12:36)		Covenant Confirmed (24)	The LORD and Moses (33)
			Covenant Renewed (34)
			Tabernacle Renewed (25-40)

A couple important chapters to remember when reading Exodus are 19-20 (which is God choosing Israel as his nation) and 32-34 (which is the account of God revealing his glory to Moses)

And as promised here is an argument for the early date Exodus and late date Exodus.

• Date of Exodus

Early Date (1446)	Late Date (1266)
Amenophis II (1450-1425)	Rameses II (1304-1237)
1 Kings 6:1 indicates Solomon’s 4th year was 480 years after Exodus. If his reign is dated around 966 BC, then Exodus is 1446	The years 480 in 1 Kings 6:1 is symbolic for 12 generations, which roughly translates to 300 years, meaning Exodus is around 1266
The Merneptah Stela (1220 BC) indicates Israel is already a nation at this time
The Amarna tablets (1400) speak of a time of chaos caused by “Haibru” (Hebrew)	“Haibru” is not the Hebrews, but are native Canaanites that are referred to from the 18th to 12th centuries
Dream Stela of Thutmose IV indicates he was not legal heir to the throne
	Archaeological evidence from Lachish, Jericho, Bethel, Hazor, Debir, etc supports 1266 Exodus
	Edom, Ammon, and Moab did not exist during the 15th century making it impossible for Israel to have contact with them during the entrance into the land in the 15th century

Now we are about half way through the material on Exodus. It is an important book to us and teaches us a lot about God, his people, and their beginnings. Stay tuned for installment 2.