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Exodus

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covenant at Mount Sinai. formation of people w/ belief in God under ... major economic interest in sheep, oxen, asses. rural agrarian society (11th cent. BCE) ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Exodus


1
Exodus
  • HUMA 3810 6.0

2
Exodus as central book of Hebrew Bible
  • Gods great act in history (exodus)
  • ? covenant at Mount Sinai
  • formation of people w/ belief in God under
    leadership of Moses
  • exodus as central historical ethical
    event/theme in Isr. consciousness

3
Search for historicity of story
  • has yielded no results
  • miracles cannot be proven empirically
  • no mention of Moses or exodus in ancient
    extra-biblical sources
  • Ramses II as one of most powerful pharaohs
  • story vague, where details ? impossible
    (Kadesh-Barnea)
  • 600,000 men of fighting age ? ca 2.5 3 million
    total!?

4
Exodus as foundational narrative
  • last week ancestor stories reflective of ethnic
    self-understanding
  • Israel composed of disparate elements developed a
    common heritage by means of historical fiction
    (cf. Canada/USA)
  • power of story echoed in Jewish custom at
    Passover meal to have everyone view him/herself
    as personally redeemed and at covenant ceremony
  • possible that small group did have memory of
    oppression in Eg. no more can be said
  • exodus as metaphor Jeroboam vs. Solomon Canaan
    vs. Egypt at end of LBA house of Saul vs. David
    (Sperling)

5
Important Themes/Subjects/Passages
  • Influence of women in Moses early life
  • midwives
  • mother sister
  • daughter of Pharaoh
  • Zipporah (bridegroom of blood in Exod 424-26)
  • Midian and the worship of Yahweh
  • Jethro as priest of Midian
  • evidence of Yahweh worship in general region
    (Yahu)
  • biblical traditions that Yahweh came from the
    south (Judg 54-6 Isa 631ff.)
  • Origin of name of Yahweh (Exod 3 burning bush,
    ehyeh etc.)
  • Ten Plagues (9 natural 1 supernatural) Origin
    of Passover (Exod 12-13)
  • Battle against Pharaoh pits one god against
    another
  • What happened at the Reed Sea?
  • Exod 1412-21 1519 ? walls of water wheels
    getting stuck
  • Exod 15 seems to imply pursuit on boats
    drowning (no chariots)

6
The Covenant at Mount Sinai/ The Sinaitic
Covenant
  • stages in development of covenant
  • w/ ancestors ? unconditional promises
  • Sinaitic ? conditional covenant (formal treaty w/
    obligations ? berît)

7
ANE treaties essential in understanding the
concept of covenant in HB
  • known from Hittite empire (1450-1200), Sefire
    (8th c.), VTE (681-669)
  • parity treaty (btwn brothers)
  • suzerainty/vassal treaty (father/son)
  • vassal owes sole allegiance to suzerain
  • treaty form
  • preamble/identification (Exod 202a)
  • historical prologue (basis for covenant Exod
    202b)
  • stipulations (commandments Exod 203-14)
  • deposit (Exod 2516)
  • witnesses (247//Josh 2422 periodic reading
    Deut 3110-13)
  • blessings curses (Lev 26 Deut 28)

8
Some distinctive (?) characteristics of Israelite
covenant concept
  • btwn. divine humans, not humans humans
  • source of law divine, not human
  • Moses as lawgiver, not lawmaker
  • contrast w/ Hammurabi
  • stipulations not timebound to specific historical
    circumstances
  • prohibition of idolatry ? transcendent God

9
Israelite Law
  • based on ANE legal traditions (Urnammu ca. 2100,
    Lipit-Ishtar ca. 1900, Eshnunna ca. 1850,
    Hammurabi ca. 1775, Hittite Laws as of 1600,
    Middle Assyrian 12th cent.)
  • not law codes in modern (Roman) sense
  • collections of law ? literary compositions
  • the question of precedent law

10
(Book of the) Covenant (Code) Exod 211-2319
  • casuistic (211-2216) and apodictic
    (2217-2319) law A. Alt
  • casuistic case law amendments (home in law
    codes)
  • apodictic moral standards (home in treaty
    texts) some mixing
  • laws to be dated to pre-monarchic period
  • no mention of apparatus of city-state or monarchy
  • major economic interest in sheep, oxen, asses
  • ? rural agrarian society (11th cent. BCE)
  • some features of Covenant Code compared w/
    Hammurabi
  • sanctity of human life vs. sanctity of property
  • goring ox Exod 2128-32 CH 250-252
  • theft Exod 2137-223 CH 8 22
  • no vicarious punishment/talion in Exod vs. CH
    229-230
  • less social stratification (except for slaves)
  • d) moral underpinning for you were
    slaves/strangers in Egypt (Exod 2220-23 239)
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