Exodus Flashcards
What were the problems related to the historicity of the exodus account? (3)
The text was not writing history, it was writing a theological treaty and addresses who god is as a liberator
1-No direct correlation between exodus and non-biblical sources
2 - Bible is vague or far fetched
- no names for pharaoh or character traits
- could be vague memory or just literary character
- number of Hebrews leaving is exaggerated; 2 million is more than the population of Egyptians and 2 midwives could only serve a few hundred women; small number = no documentation;
- Reed Sea vs. Red Sea; P account 14.22 depicts miraculous story similar to creation, and J account maintains the simple mud story Ex 14.24 another unnamed source is song if the sea which says that they sunk which implies they sunk. 3 accounts imply dramatization, an early source though implies historical kernel
3- Documentation from Egypt makes no mention of Hebrews
- may not have documented their failures
- could have been a small population of hebrews
How might one divide the book of Exodus into two main parts?
2 main halves: [from Rescue to Relationship]
1-18 What God Has Done (Grace)
19-40 What Israel Must Do (Law)
-Law is a response to gods grace
-Law comes at the most chaotic place in the world: the wilderness.
Preceded by Grace
- Purpose of Law: relationship with God
Side Note: A new community MUST interact together
Who are some of the major characters in Exodus and how are they characterized?
- Moses
- Sense of justice (always)
- alien/foreigner
- Hebrew –> raised Egyptian
- no people group which supports social revolution
- Ends up in Midian
- “gives” the law
- Mediator
- unlikely hero
- assistant Aaron is the ultimate priest
2. Yahweh (We know Yahweh by his actions) - hears: notices Hebrew suffering - remembers: covenant with Abraham - acts: believes something must be done about suffering, liberates
- Pharaoh
- represents everything God isn’t; divine struggle
- ruthless oppressor
- ruled by his heart
[your heart is where your will is.]
- Heart = the seat of emotions and intellect
- stubborn
What are some of the major theological themes that emerge in Exodus?
- God’s salvation as liberation
- Spiritualized notion of God’s salvation.
- Pharaoh = historic powers of oppression
- Pharaoh = chaos opposing God’s work in
creation
- Exodus as formative and pragmatic
- Formative- community formed from God’s
liberation of the ppl. - Paradigmatic – reflecting and shaping each
generation’s experience of God’s deliverance. - pattern of Exodus faith, grows out of the
Exodus experience.
Situation of Distress -> unexpected
deliverance - > response in the community
- Formative- community formed from God’s
- Moses and the Role of Human agency
- Human agency + Redeeming activity of God
- God’s power ≠ independent of human agency
in Exodus events - Moses = partnership b/t God & Human Agency
in liberation enterprise
How are the plagues viewed differently within the sources thought to underlie the Pentateuch?
•J & E source (Kaved)
- plagues are signs to Pharaoh
- Pharaoh never acknowledges God’s power bc of his hardened heart
- Pharaoh’s heart is hardened
- Moses is the central Israelite character (Aaron is generally present w/o significant role)
- Pharaoh = obstinant (described as “heavy”)
•P source (chazak)
- Plagues = demonstration of God’s power to the Hebrews
- Pharaoh’s hardened heart allows God to get the glory
- Introduces narrative between Aaron and Moses and the priests of pharaoh vs the magicians = more concerned with God wins
- (anthropomorphic) heavy hearted
- Aaron more prominent
- Pharaoh’s obstinant = the word “harden”
Coogan:
Plagues Blood, Frogs, & First born = J E & P sources
Plagues gnats & boils = P
Plagues flies, cattle, hail, locusts, & darkness = J
Plagues blood, hail, and locust = E (sort of)
*How does an understanding of the ANE background inform these theological issues (for example, the plagues and the “hardening” of pharaoh’s heart)?
o Pharaoh is God-king (cosmic struggle)
o Hard heart – unrighteous (God pronounces judgment, not forcing his choice) ; In ancient Egypt – hearts weighed against feather of Ma’at; If heavy – unrighteous (did not keep chaos at bay); Understanding “heavy” heart in context allows for proper understanding of God’s role, heavy heart is a natural result of stubbornness.
In ANE – heart = the decision making
• Understanding hard-heart as related to stubbornness, not
lack of compassion
SUMMARY- ANE understanding of the text is different than traditional theological debates
How could you argue for some historical significance of the Exodus story?
1 - Escape from slavery under Moses is a constant and deeply embedded tradition, a major theme in Israel’s literature
2 - There are indisputably Egyptian elements in the accounts including the Egyptian roots of the names, Moses, Aaron, and Phinehas as well as the construction of Pithom and Ramses which correlates to the most likely date of the Exodus
3 - Nothing in the narrative is inconsistent with know facts of ancient Egypt
*Best argument is that some kind of Exodus, or many, did actually take place and the Exodus account in scriptures was embellished
How is the date of Exodus predicted? When is it most likely to have taken place?
The date is primarily based on the mention of Israel in a hymn on the victory stele of Paraoh Merneptah in 1213-1203.
Means a group called Israel was in Canaan at the end of the thirteenth Century. Exodus must have been before this date.
If they spent about 40 years in the wilderness, Merneptah’s father, Ramses II is the pharaoh of the Exodus story. (1279-1213)
If Pharaoh is god, what is the importance of the hardening of the heart?
YHWH is able to show judgement and control of Pharaoh = Pharaoh was NOT god
