The Story and History of Exodus - Part 1: ch.1 & 2

PRAYER
God, power of liberation
who called your servant Moses
to lead your people into freedom.
Be our Passover from the land of injustice,
the light that leads us to the perfect rule of love,
that we may be citizens of your eternal kingdom;
we ask this through Jesus Christ, the author
and pioneer of our salvation. Amen.

the CHURCH calendar: SUNDAY, 9.17.23

~HISTORY~
“Write down
the dimensions
of the Tabernacle.”
~STORY~
“Explain the
theological significance
of the Tabernacle.”

Linguistically speaking, placing
Exodus in the thirteenth century
BC would be like claiming The Kite
Runner (1999) was written when
the Mayflower landed on Plymouth
Rock. The language doesn’t match
the period…

The story of the exodus from
Egypt isn’t an expanded version
of Abraham’s exodus experience
immediately after being called
by God. Rather, the Abraham
story was written in light of
the exodus story. Just because
Abraham’s story appears earlier
than the exodus story doesn’t
mean it was written earlier…

Themes the author keeps
coming back to…THE big one is: YHWH
and YHWH alone is worthy
of Israel’s worship. SECOND:
to save is to re-create. THIRD: God’s
mountain. FOURTH:
God gives a lot of commands
(and that’s a good thing.) FIFTH:
Israelites rebel against
Moses and God.

• Nobody knows who wrote it;
likely evolved over time/editing
• History + theology + literature
• More about “according to
the narrative of the book”
and less about “is this what
actually happened from a 21st
century perspective…”
PETE RUINS
EXODUS, pt.1
-Episode 78-

• Mythicized History
History told with mythic elements to
communicate theological
and/or political perspective
(NOTE: ≠ historicized myth!)
• Exodus is rooted in some kind
of historical event/s; it’s unlikely
it was made up out of thin air,
just as it is unlikely it happened
exactly how the narrative portrays
PETE RUINS
EXODUS, pt.1
-Episode 78-

EXODUS 1:5-7
All the people who descended from Jacob
were seventy people, but Joseph was already
in Egypt. And Joseph died, and all his brothers and
all that generation. But the sons of Israel were
fruitful and increased greatly,
and multiplied, and became exceedingly
mighty, so that the land was filled with them.

• Options for Egypt w/their problem of
increasing Israelite numbers:
o Enslavement
o Enlist Israelite midwives
to kill all the infant boys
o Enlist Egyptian citizens
to throw all infant boys
into the Nile River
PETE RUINS
EXODUS, pt.1
-Episode 78-

EXODUS 2:1-4
Now a man from the house of Levi went and
married a daughter of Levi. And the woman
conceived and gave birth to a son; and when
she saw that he was TOV, she hid him for three
months. But when she could no longer hide him,
she got him a papyrus basket and covered it
with tar and pitch. Then she put the child
in it and set it among the reeds by the bank
of the Nile. And his sister stood at a distance
to find out what would happen to him.

• Big Themes in Exodus 1-2
o Creation (Moses as “tov,”
Israelites multiplying)
o Drowning male children
in the Nile river (foreshadows
the 10th plague and the events
at the Sea of Reeds)
o Moses as Levite (priesthood,
tabernacle, sacrifices, etc.)
PETE RUINS
EXODUS, pt.1
-Episode 78-

o Basket as ark to new things
(Moses as Noah; deliverance by
way of water)
o Women outwitting Pharoah
(Midwives, Moses’ sister,
Pharoah’s daughter)
o Moses: Egyptian name given a
Hebrew meaning folk etymology PETE RUINS
EXODUS, pt.1
-Episode 78-

In antiquity…when the details of
a pivotal figure’s birth and childhood
were not known, it was not unusual to
create details that matched the
hero’s significance…An Egyptian
princess giving her foundling
slave-child a Hebrew name –
let alone a theologically significant
name – seems unlikely.

All this suggests that we are
not getting “straight history”
(as we would understand it)
in Exodus. An ancient Israelite
writer is telling a story of Moses’
greatness and creating scenes
and dialogue that clearly communicate
that greatness.

o Moses flees to Midian
after murdering an Egyptian,
and tension with fellow
Hebrews (preview of future
action and reminder of Israel’s
past: escaping Egypt as trial
run; eventual place Moses
meets Zipporah by a well)
o Ultimate reason for the exodus:
God’s faithfulness
PETE RUINS
EXODUS, pt.1
-Episode 78-

EXODUS 2:23-25
Now it came about in the course of those many
days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons
of Israel groaned because of the bondage,
and they cried out; and their cry for help
because of their bondage ascended to God.
So God heard their groaning; and God
remembered His covenant with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And God
saw the sons of Israel, and God knew.

God SEES and
God KNOWS
…your brokenness
…your confusion
…your fear
…your hurt
…you at your worst
and God LOVES.

A Prayer For The People of God
God of freedom,
you brought your people
out of slavery with a mighty hand.
Deliver us from our captivity to pride
and indifference to the needs and gifts of
others, that we may be ready to love as you have
loved us, and to give even as we have received.
Amen.

The Story and History of Exodus - Part 1: ch.1 & 2

The Story and History of Exodus - Part 1: ch.1 & 2

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The Story and History of Exodus - Part 1: ch.1 & 2