Exodus

1
Exodus

• An Encounter with Glory

2
Central Place of Exodus

• Ex. 1-15 are the birth story of Israel as a
  people
• opens with Israel suffering as slaves in Egypt
• (ch. 14-15) they are delivered by Gods hand
  through the sea to new life
• struggles of wilderness begin (Ex. 16-18) but
  they are on the way to Sinai where they become
  Gods covenant people

3
Exodus in the OT

• Exodus is crucial in OT thought
• Josh 245-7
• I Sam. 48
• Ps. 7714-20
• Mic 64
• Isa 4316-17 511011

4
Exodus and Passover

• The liberation of Israel is a central event
  giving identity to the community
• true both for Christians and Jews
• references to Exodus are found throughout OT
• Passover is a celebration of the events of Exodus

5
Exodus for the Church

• symbol of salvation
• our hymnology is full of references to exit and
  entrance Egypt to Canaan
• when we are baptized we remember a passing
  through waters to new life
• Gospels are permeated with Exodus themes
• Like Israel, Jesus (New Moses?) is also called up
  out of Egypt (Matt 215)
• Christ is now our Passover lamb

6
Exodus and Creation

• first commandment be fruitful and multiply and
  fill the earth (Gen. 128).
• Ex. 17
• what did Pharaoh think about this? (19-10)
• fulfilling Gods command threatened Pharaoh
• caused murder of Hebrew children
• set the stage for deliverance

7
Exodus and Genesis

• Promises to Abraham involved land, descendents,
  blessing
• long overdue in Genesis (Sarah)
• now so many children they are a threat to Pharaoh
• when God responds to their cry of Israelite
  suffering God is remembering his covenant (Ex.
  223-24)
• God repeatedly identifies self to Moses as being
  God of AIJ (Ex. 36, 15-15 62-3, 8)

8
Slavery in Egypt

• Hebrew slavery in Egypt is unnoted in external
  sources
• slavery in ANE is well-attested but often less
  what we think of slavery
• extended forced labor or corvee
• An inscription from Thusmos II (1490 1436 BCE)
  depicts Asiatics making bricks and the taskmaster
  says, The rod is in my hand, do not be idle.

9
Egyptian Poem Satire on the Trades

• describes the brick-worker, He is dirtier than
  vines or pigs from treading under his mud. His
  clothes are stiff with clay . . . He is miserable
  . . His sides ache . . . His arms are destroyed.
  He washes himself only once a season. He is
  simply wretched through and through.

10
Slavery in Egypt Predicted

• Gen 1513-14
• this indicates that nothing has gone awry with
  Gods promises to the patriarchs.
• Egyptian slave Hagar and Ishmael is exiled into
  the wilderness
• Ishmaelites sell Joseph into slavery
• Egyptians enslave Sarahs descendents and murder
  them

11
Pharaoh who knew not Joseph

• is left unidentified
• omission may be intentional
• Egyptians viewed Pharaoh as divine and their
  names were theophoric
• Monotheism tendency damnatio memoriae
• Exodus as context between two rivals as to who
  God is?
• Pharaoh means Great House
• New Kingdom Pharaohs after the Hyksos?

12
Silence of God

• Israels story begins in slavery not heroism or
  military victory
• no voice of God divine silence for first two
  chapters
• 111, 18-22 human underside of the story
• 69 crushed spirits
• when human resources seem defeated by evil, God
  is not done with his promise

13
Shiphrah and Puah

• first signs of hope Shiphrah and Puah
• deceive Pharaoh!
• Moses is saved by defiant action
• Exod 223b The Israelites groaned under their
  slavery and cried out. Out of slavery their cry
  for help rose up to God
• even slaves refuse to accept their present
  condition as Gods will and final reality

14
Pharaohs Daughters Defiance

• Pharaohs daughter adopts child, flouting her
  fathers order
• another strong woman in the story

15
Palace Problems and Powerful Women

• Moses mother and sister, Pharaohs daughter, and
  midwives use deception to subvert royal power
• Pharaohs daughter adopts child, flouting her
  fathers order
• Moses sister manages for him to be nursed by his
  own mother (on royal salary!)

16
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17
Moses early life

• unattested in Egyptian sources
• similarities to Sargon of Akkad
• protected by women from execution of an evil king
• placed in a reed basket and rescued
• similarities to Noahs ark?
• Moses name
• Exod 210 - etymology drawn forth
• Egyptian name Thutmose and Ramses

18
Moses first act Murder!

• Moses leaves Egypt is self-imposed exile
• He killed an Egyptian task-master and fled
  Pharaoh who sought to kill him (215)
• Moses now rescues seven daughters of a Midianite
  Priest, Jethro and marries one
• She later returns the favor in a circumcision
  ritual (424-26)

19
Moses at the Burning Bush ch. 3

• Horeb Sinai a Midianite sacred place
• ehyeh asher ehyeh (I am who I am)
• ehyeh (I am)
• yhwh (he who causes to be)
• ambiguous, mysterious, immanence

20
The Big Demand

• read 318 carefully
• what does God tell Moses to ask Pharaoh?
• Does Pharaoh know they want to leave for good?
• Read 108-11

21
That we may worship?

• At no time does Moses say flatly, Let my people
  go.
• He always adds That we may worship
• Worship / service (avodah) broader theme of
  Who owns Israels worship/service?
• Pharaoh claims it but Yahweh deserves it
• to serve Pharaoh is slavery, to worship Yahweh is
  freedom from slavery

22
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23
Pharaohs Hardened Heart

• 10X God hardens Pharaohs heart (421, 73) so as
  not to let them go
• Pharaohs heart hard 713/14
• 10X Pharaoh hardened his own heart (815)
• general trend
• Gods prediction I will harden Pharoahs heart
• Pharaohs heart is hard (713/14),
• he hardened his heart
• God hardened his heart

24
Pharaohs Stubborn Resistance

• Nahum Sarna - a state of moral atrophy

25
Pharaohs Hard Heart

• Moral issues?
• shows intractable nature of fate/free-will
• Pharaoh established himself as calloused and
  inconsistent which God only predicts and uses to
  for his ends.
• Biblical Explanation?
• 101-2

26
The Deception Question

• What is Moses commanded to say to Pharaoh?
• Let my people go! (movie version)
• read 318 carefully (actual Bible)
• God commands Moses to say to Pharaoh, The LORD,
  the God of the Hebrews, has met with us let us
  now go a three days journey into the wilderness,
  so that we may sacrifice to the LORD God.
• time off or freedom from slavery?

27
The Deception Motif

• every time Moses speaks to Pharaoh afterwards,
  says, Let my people go that we may worship the
  Lord in the wilderness
• Pharaohs negotiations assume he expected their
  return (825-28)
• Plundering of Egypt 321-22, 1235-36 and the
  tabernacle treasuries (251-9)
• deception to build the tabernacle?

28
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29
Purpose of the Plagues, Deception, Hardness of
Pharaohs heart

• 914For this time I will send all My plagues upon
  your person, and your courtiers, and your people,
  in order that you may know that there is none
  like Me in all the world. . . . 16Nevertheless
  I have spared you for this purpose in order to
  show you My power, and in order that My fame may
  resound throughout the world (spoken to Pharaoh).

30
Donald Gowan

• When Moses and Aaron first encounter the pharaoh
  with their request that the Hebrews be permitted
  to go into the wilderness to sacrifice, the
  kings scornful answer is, Who is Yahweh, that I
  should heed his voice and let Israel go? I do
  not know Yahweh, and moreover I will not let
  Israel go (52). The rest of the story, through
  1418, tells how God remedied that deficiency.

31
Purpose of the Plagues

• use of word know is connected to wonders
  (mophet) and signs (ot)
• wonders are awe-inspiring acts
• Signs are events intended to convey information
  about God.
• Hardening of Pharaohs heart provided opportunity
  for God to reveal his nature
• Sufferings provide background for instruction

32
Splitting of the Sea

• Exodus culminates here
• escape of the Israelites from Egypt
• Red Sea (LXX) or Reed Sea (Hebrew)?
• Implications
• Deut 515 (cf. Exod 2011)
• Exod 2221 (cf. Deut 237)
• Deut 2417-18
• God of Exodus bases moral commands upon the story
  of their deliverance

33
Purpose of the Plagues

• Plagues - not described as judgment but
  increasingly as revelation knowledge of God
• everything (plagues, plunder, Red Sea) tied into
  this purpose
• Hebrews (63, 7 102)
• Egyptians (75 810, 22 914, 29 117 144,
  18)
• whole earth (1514-15 188-12)

34
Attitude of Israel

• narrative highlights the shifting attitude
• unbelief (521), fear of Egyptian threat
  (1410-12)
• faith and trust in Gods deliverance (1431)
• Signs are revelation to Israel and Egypt
• more than just intellectual apprehension of fact
• but adoration and orientation to new deity
• plagues, hardening, plunder, sea
• opportunity for Egypt to know Yahweh
• a God truly worthy of worship.

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36
Part Two Lets get together!

• focus on the establishment of a covenant
• thru giving and receiving law (w/promise)
• construction of a place of worship
• law - conditions for covenant upkeeping
• Decalogue or 10 Words (203-17)
• Book of the Covenant (2022-2333)
• assumption people are required to express Gods
  righteousness and compassionate nature to others
  if they are to keep his covenantal blessing.

37
Covenant and Calf

• Ex records not only initial agreement (19-24)
• also a near abortion of the agreement (32-34)
• resulted in a new giving of law (34)
• construction of tabernacle (35-40) and glory
  (4034-38)

38
The Sinai Covenant

• Following Red Sea, Israelites continue to Sinai
  (Mt. Horeb read 312)
• after giving of manna (16), water from the rock
  (17) and Jethros advice (18)
• Exod 191-7
• conditional covenant
• priestly kingdom and holy nation
• missional covenant the whole earth is mine

39
The 10 Big Words ch. 20

• Commands are Words in Hebrew
• most well-known big 10 Exod 20
• principle obligations of the covenant
• emphasize loving God properly (1-4)
• loving others rightly (5-10)
• Other laws
• Book of the Covenant (21-23)
• Deut 5 (another very similar version)
• Exod 34 (very different version)

40
Introducing the 10

• God takes the initiative (202)
• Highlights Israels special status
• Covenant is highly conditional (198)
• Two sets of obligations
• Devarim and Mishpatim
• Words (ch 19) and Judgments (BOC 21-23)
• Words are apodictic
• Judgments are casuistic

41
Four Distinctions to ANE law

• Spoken directly to the people (2018ff) with no
  intermediation
• inscribed by the finger of God (3118)
• placed in ark as testimony (2516)
• canon with the canon
• counts most inscribed with Gods finger
• 10 Words are not really laws (no punishment)
• language is broad and general how exactly we
  keep them is filled out in other laws

42
Ten Words Specifically

• 1 (203) Complete allegiance required due to
  Gods action in deliverance
• is this law monotheistic?
• note Num 251-18 and Deut 131-18
• 2 (vs. 4-6) Imageless worship
• distinguishes Israel from neighbors
• why was this such an issue?
• Exod 32 threat to covenantal purity
• One command or two? (RCC)

43
The 10 Big Words

• 3. 207 Caution with the divine name
• invocation of the divine name manipulation
• doesnt forbid all usage of the name
• secondary fence around the law
• 4. 208-11 Keep Sabbath holy
• refrain from work on sabbath
• 3112-18 law
• what is different?

44
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45
Ten Big Words

• 5. 2012 Honor your father and mother
• Can you tell my kids about this one?
• honor associated with deities or royalty
• parents envisioned as representatives of God to
  their children
• family unit is a little Israel
• note of blessing to follow
• death penalty of Exod 2115 and 17

46
Ten Big Words

• 6 2013
• prohibition of murder or manslaughter?
• Hebrew ratzach refers to killing persons
  intentionally
• demonstrates high priority on human life (created
  in Gods image)
• Life has intrinsic value not to be violated

47
Ten Big Words Number 7

• (2014) You shall not commit adultery.
• refers to sexual relations between a married man
  and another mans wife
• or a married woman and another mans husband.
• what about polygamy? or other types of sexual
  activity?
• adultery is emphasized as a violation of the
  original divinely instituted marriage bond (Gen
  223ff) and is a capital offense (Lev 2010)

48

• If trees could talk!

49
Big 10 Number 8

• 2015 You shall not steal
• stealing shows disrespect for the property of
  others
• most ANE law invokes death penalty for theft
  something the OT rejects
• yet robbing attacks the dignity of the other
• Metro in St. Petersburg
• commandment means not to whittle down or eat
  away at the selfhood of others (Harrelson).

50
Big 10 Number 9

• 2017 You will not covet.
• deals with feelings!
• you cannot watch someone covet!
• implication outward adherence to the law is
  insufficient
• your inner-self must be patterned according to
  principles of morality
• to desire things in this world is not to desire
  Yahweh first and foremost

51
Moses the Mediator

• 2018ff people are terrified by God
• asked Moses to mediate with God for them
• 2021 Moses draws near to God
• 2022 2319 Book of the Covenant
• mediated by Moses
• similar to ANE laws
• case laws as in, In this case, do . . . .

52
Moses back to God again

• ratification of covenant ceremony (243-8)
• Moses summoned back to God (2412-18)
• God gives him instructions for the tabernacle
• 2412-3118
• meanwhile the golden calf being built
• tabernacle presented the Lord royally
• the calf represented God as a beast
• the sermon knowing God must involve knowing God
  as he truly is, not what we imagine him to be.

53
Moses, the Presence ch. 33

• ch. 33 deals with the question, will God
  accompany Israel after ch. 32 or not?
• vs. 7 tent of meeting contrasts sharply to
  the tabernacle and later temple.
• a simple tent where Moses meets God
• Moses spoke to God face to face v. 11
• Moses seeks and gets assurance (3312-17)

54
Kissing squirrels
55
Whose People are they?

• Whose people are they?
• 3211-14 (Moses successful plea for mercy based
  on reputation and covenant)
• 33 vs. 1, 13, 16

56
Show me your glory!

• Moses goes beyond simple assurance but asks to
  encounter Gods very glory (3318)
• God equates glory with all my goodness (3319)
• In 36, when God proclaims his personal name,
  Moses hides his face
• 3320 Moses displays greater confidence yet
  could not view Gods face.

57
The Glory Paradigm

• God stresses both mercy/compassion (347 3319)
• But also Gods justice (347 3234)
• Two key elements of Gods nature justice and
  mercy
• Glory inclusio for Genesis chs. 3 and 40 with
  chs. 19/20 and 33/34 between)
• Glory Paradigm power, mercy and justice
• Hint of the trinitarian nature of God?

58
Echos of Exod 34

• Num 1418 after unbelief of people and Moses
  plea for Gods mercy with them
• Ps. 1037-14 what is missing?
• Deut 79-10 new emphasis?
• Ez 181-3, 19-20 (new view on judgment?)
• Jer 3129-30 (same view as Ezekiel?)
• Deut 2416 (read note in NOAB)

59
Main Themes Who is Yahweh?

• Self-disclosure of God theme in Exod
• read 52
• much of what follows answers the question
• read 914 and 29
• Purpose of Exodus is the revelation of God
• hardness of Pharaohs heart to reveal Gods
  glory (101)
• purpose of the plagues the salvation of Egypt!
• 63, 7 102 717 810, 22 914, 29 117
  144, 18, 1514-15, 188-12

60
A little bathroom etiquette
61
Themes Partnership with God

• God does not act alone in these events!
• partnership with God is key to story
• Gods power does not operate independent of human
  agency - Shiphrah and Puah?
• 1431b - believed in the Lord and his servant
• Moses represents intimate partnership between God
  and person in liberation enterprise (38, 10)
• Aarons role 71-2 (Moses couldnt do it alone
  and God cooperated with that need)

62
Main Themes Freedom of God

• Exodus contrasts freedom of Israels God to that
  of the gods of Egypt
• in Egypt, gods are associated with wealthy,
  priesthood, ruling class
• Exodus God is free from the fates of empires
  free to take up cause of slaves
• YHVH is the kind of God who takes on slaves as a
  people self-giving
• he acts in lordly freedom Exod. 3319

63
Outline of second ½ of Exodus

• Chs. 19-20 giving of the law
• Chs. 21-23 - Book of the Covenant
• Ch 24 Covenant Confirmation Ceremony
• Chs. 24-31 Tabernacle Instructions
• Chs. 32-34 Covenant challenged (Golden Calf)
  and re-established
• Chs. 35-40 Tabernacle constructed according to
  plan
• Ch. 40 Gods glory fills tabernacle