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)