Exodus

Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching

Terence E. Fretheim

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781611641455
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

One of the best commentaries on Exodus ever to appear in English, now in paperback!

PART ONE

Growth and Bondage
in Egypt

EXODUS 1–2

This section contains a series of vignettes that set the stage for the remainder of the book. It is certainly a composite, drawing on various traditions. Yet the pervasive use of irony and the almost complete absence of God language help tie the section together literarily and theologically. (See especially the studies of Ackerman, Isbell, and Exum.)

God’s creational and historical promises are fulfilled among the people of God in Egypt. But this resolution is threatened by chaotic forces embodied in an oppressive Pharaonic regime. Initially, God works behind the scenes against this creation-threatening situation in and through the wisdom and courage of five lowly women. Their creative disobedience preserves a future for Israel and enables the emergence of a leader in the person of Moses. His early life experiences both embody Israel and anticipate the divine action. A new intensification of divine activity (2:23–25) gives promise for a changed future.

The wide-ranging scope of these chapters is breathtaking. They move back and forth from the familial to the national, from the personal to the cosmic, from courageous women to arrogant kings, from endangered babies to a concerned God.

Exodus 1:1–7
The Land Was Filled with Them

The opening passage of a book is important. Exodus 1:1–7 is no exception. Very quickly the narrator moves the story away from Genesis into a new world, from twelve sons to seventy persons to a full land. The focus is on issues of continuity with both creation and promise themes in the Genesis narrative, while setting the stage for what follows. It also serves to note the passage of a considerable period of time.

A key to this section is the repetition of the phrase “the sons of Israel [Israelites]” at the beginning and at the end. In verse 1 the phrase stresses continuity with Gen. 46:8–27, which names those who went down to Egypt (the LXX has seventy-five persons; cf. Acts 7:14; Luke 10:1). The opening of Exodus is thus a verbal link back to Genesis, interlocking the two narratives. The phrase in verse 7 stresses discontinuity, moving from a particular family to an entire people, from Jacob/Israel to Israel. The latter use of the phrase occurs only twice in Genesis (32:32; 36:31); in Exodus it will occur 125 times. This is a major shift in vocabulary usage. The reader is thus asked to shift attention to this new reality—Israel, the people of God. This shift is accentuated in verse 6; not only has Joseph died (so Gen. 50:26), but the entire Genesis generation. The perspective of the narrator is evident: the beginnings of Israel as the people of God are to be traced to this pre-exodus (!) time. However much modern historians wish to argue about the time when we can first speak of an Israel—most would say only after the settlement in Canaan—the narrator claims otherwise. What follows is the story of Israel, the people of God.

Verse 7 multiplies language regarding the growth of this people. Five verbs are used to stress an extraordinary increase in numbers (one verb is used for the plague of frogs, 8:3!). This language connects with the promise of fruitfulness to Israel’s ancestors (cf. Gen. 17:2–6; 48:4), the fulfillment of which is anticipated in Gen. 47:27. Still further language of growth is used as the chapter progresses (1:9, 10, 12, 20), highlighting the fulfillment of promises made to this family. Yet there is no specific language of fulfillment and no reference to God until 1:17. Readers familiar with the story would make the connections (cf. Deut. 10:22; 26:5; Ps. 105:24). They would observe that God language had been rare in the story of Joseph; God was at work in the history of this family in unobtrusive ways (Gen. 50:20). Yet the paucity of explicit God language invites further reflection.

Verse 7 connects not only with historical promises but also with the creation/re-creation accounts of Gen. 1:28 and 9:1, 7. Israel has been fruitful, has multiplied, and fills the earth/land (Hebrew ’eres can be translated either way; it refers both to the “earth” in Gen. 1:28 and 9:1 and to Egypt—to have mentioned Egypt would have obscured this verbal link). The point here is that God’s intentions in creation are being realized in this family; what is happening is in tune with God’s creational purposes. This is a microcosmic fulfillment of God’s macrocosmic design for the world (cf. 40:34–38). Israel is God’s starting point for realizing the divine intentions for all. The reader should be prepared to see other such realizations of creative design in Exodus.

These growth passages are testimony to God’s ongoing work of creation and blessing, that flowing, rhythmic, nondramatic divine activity. In the reticence to speak of God, this is recognized as a behind-the-scenes kind of activity in which God works in and through gifts given in creation. This creational activity is an indispensable foundation for the later work of redemption. Without this, there would be no people to redeem. The God who redeems has been at work in life-giving ways all along the journey (cf. Gen. 45:5–7; 50:20). God’s redemptive work should thus not be seen in interventionist terms but as an intensification of the ongoing activity of the Creator God. In both instances it is activity which brings forth and fosters life and blessing. Because God is a God of life and blessing, God will do redemptive work, should those gifts ever be endangered or diminished. The next section testifies that such a danger is real; divine redemptive activity will be needed.

The long period of time covered in these verses is thus recognized, not as a time when God has been absent, but when God’s work of blessing has been substantial (Gen. 45:17–20). It is ironic that this marvelous creative activity occurs in Egypt, in the world outside the promised land, in a hospitable setting provided by people who have experienced (if not yet known) God’s work as creator. It will also be experienced by Moses in Pharaoh’s court and in Midian. This creative activity is drawn into Israel’s most basic confession of faith (Deut. 26:5; Ps. 105: 24; cf Josh. 24:3). How significant a work is here carried out by the “non-chosen” to provide life and blessing for the “chosen.” How often this has been the case over the centuries since. How seldom it has been acknowledged!

Moreover, this time has been very important for both God and people as a time of preparation for a day of redemption when it would be needed. Exodus insists that God’s redemptive work does not occur in a vacuum. God’s work in creation provides the basis for God’s work in redemption; God’s work in redemption fulfills God’s work in creation.

This narrative pushes the reader forward to what follows. If all this has happened to the people, what must be in store for the future? If God has begun to fulfill promises, and in such an extraordinary way, is there not hope that other promises will be fulfilled, not least the gift of a land? As the people have grown and filled the land, the need for a land of their own has become more pressing. But such fulfillments often bring problems in their train as well as creative possibilities. Not everyone is in tune with God’s creative designs.

Exodus 1:8–14
Whom Will Israel Serve?

This section is not only filled with irony, it reveals the symbolic character of the narrative, whatever its historical grounding may be. Pharaoh, Joseph, the Egyptians, Pithom, and Rameses stand for much more than historical realities. This is reinforced by 12:12 and 15:11, which include the Egyptian gods among those to be judged. The issues at stake are thereby thrown onto a cosmic screen, encompassing both heavenly and earthly spheres. The struggle in which Israel and its God are engaged is both historical and creational (see at 15:1).

Into the midst of God’s extraordinary creative activity enters a major effort to subvert what God has done. Seeming resolution dissolves into dissonance. A sign of blessing for Israel is a sign of disaster for Pharaoh. The new king of Egypt counters God’s life-giving work with death-dealing efforts. A life-supporting situation becomes life-threatening. This is no minor subversion, having only local effects; it is a threat to undo God’s creation. To bring death to God’s microcosmic work will have negative macrocosmic ramifications. It is the Fall and its aftermath revisited at that spot in the world where God has begun the task of fulfilling the divine creative designs. God’s response will have to be comparably cosmic. The cosmic scope of events will often be evident in what follows; indeed, all nature will become involved.

The culprit this time is not a serpent or a brother-killing Cain or the sons of God but “a new king over Egypt.” The narrator introduces him in terse fashion. He is not even given a name (nor is his successor). The focus is thus placed on him, not simply as a historical figure, but as a symbol for the anticreation forces of death which take on the God of life. The narrator’s concern is with this king’s response to God’s extraordinary creative activity. This is a life-and-death struggle in which the future of the creation is at stake.

The sole description of Pharaoh is that he does not know Joseph. “Joseph” is more than a reference to the individual; he is the one in and through whom God has preserved the people alive (Gen. 45:5–7; 50:20). This description contrasts with that given to God, who “knows” this people and their situation (2:25; 3:7; cf. 33:17). “Knowing” means more than acquaintance or being informed; it bespeaks a relationship of depth in which there is commitment to those who are known and genuine concern regarding their welfare. The king of Egypt does not know; God knows. This difference in knowing has a profound effect on doing (see Jer. 22:16). Not-knowing leads to oppression; knowing leads to salvation. Who knows and who does not (yet) know will be a recurrent theme in Exodus (cf. 5:2; 6:7; 7:5).

Verses 9–10 describe Israel’s situation from the new king’s point of view, which contrasts with that of the narrator in verse 7. What the narrator views as a blessing, the new king (cf. Gen. 47:6) considers a problem. The direct speech and the use of the narrator’s vocabulary reinforces this. This is a public act, announced in “us/them” terms to the entire country in an effort to show that their future is at stake. So much is this national policy that everyone is said to be engaged in its implementation (vv. 11, 13–14; cf. Deut. 26:6). To speak of all Egyptians demonstrates the symbolic character of “Egyptian.” This act is the new king’s first consideration, demonstrating his single-mindedness. He is preoccupied with Israel and their extraordinary growth, that it may be beyond Egypt’s capacity to control, a threat to the status quo. Unless their growth is curtailed, they may become a fifth column in time of war and escape. The Israelites become an issue of national security.

This speech is unknowingly filled with irony. (1) The king is the first to recognize the children of Israel as a “people,” giving them a status like his own people just mentioned. (2) In echoing the narrator’s words of verse 7 (cf. Gen. 18:18), and exaggerating the numbers, an “outsider” highlights the fulfillment of God’s promises. His acts of oppression confirm that God’s word to Abraham in Gen. 15:13 was on target. (3) His concern to act shrewdly will be shown to be folly; even with his wisest counselors (cf. 7:11) his policies will again and again be turned to Israel’s advantage. Pharaoh’s efforts will lead to an end precisely the opposite of his intentions. (4) Storage cities built out of a concern for life (Gen. 41:34–36) are here used as a vehicle for death. (5) Strikingly, he speaks of the exodus, echoing Joseph himself (Gen. 50:24). The phrase “escape (‘alah) from the land” is exactly the wording used in 13:18, which also uses battle language. This verb is also used for God’s saving action in 3:8, 17 (“bring up”; cf. Gen. 46:4). Pharaoh says more than he knows!

Pharaoh wastes no time in implementing his new policy. His fears become structured into an oppressive system. Slavegang masters are charged to afflict Israel with heavy burdens (not an unusual practice in ancient Egypt; see Sarna, pp. 17–24). History has shown that such cruelties result not only in tighter controls over the community but in many deaths. Pithom and Rameses were cities in the delta region, part of a building project of Egypt’s nineteenth Dynasty. Because these cities were much more to the Egyptians than “store-cities,” however, they are used by the narrator primarily as symbols of oppression rather than as an effort to ground the story in historical reality.

Pharaoh’s wisdom turns out not to be so wise after all. The more Israel is oppressed, the more it grows. As often for Israel, it must pass in and through adversity on the way to the fulfillment of promises. Ironically, the Pharaoh’s tactics once again have the effect of furthering the fulfillment of God’s promises (“spread abroad” recalls Gen. 28:14; cf. Isa. 54:3)! Egypt’s fears now turn to dread.

Oppression is the prevailing theme in this unit. Those who live in affluence and freedom will have difficulty understanding the true nature of this experience. Those who have had personal experience of oppression will have at least an initial advantage in hearing and interpreting this text. Readers can learn more by consulting the literature that has emerged from those with such experience (for further detail, see at 5:1). The reference to Egypt’s fears indicates that oppression has as negative an effect upon the oppressor as on the oppressed. Both become less human. “As the oppressors dehumanize others and violate their rights, they themselves also become dehumanized. … Once a situation of violence and oppression has been established, it engenders an entire way of life and behavior for those caught up in it—oppressor and oppressed alike. Both are submerged in the situation, and both bear the marks of oppression” (Freire, pp. 43–44). It is to be remembered that the oppression is sociopolitical in character (see Croatto, p. 17). It is also important to recognize, however, that it is not simply so; the issues, as we have seen, are cosmic as well as historical. When liberation does come, the entire creation will be affected.

Under a regime of slavery, subjects become objects. The Hebrews, who have just been identified as a people, are in the process of losing their identity. They are slaves of another, not a people in their own right. The absence of overt signs of this identity in the narrative, including religious heritage, may dramatize this fact. From Pharaoh’s perspective there will be only one people and one heritage in the land of Egypt. Before there can be an escape from such a situation, Israel has to regain some sense of its own identity; that will be one concern in the following narrative.

The language of affliction and burden is a recurrent motif in the Exodus tradition in the Old Testament. It is incorporated into Israel’s confession of faith (Deut. 26:5; I Sam. 12:8); it will also appear in the laws (22:21–24), where the memory of God’s deliverance is to inform Israel’s relationship with the less fortunate among them. Israel’s memory of oppression is thereby given specific focus. Israel is not to parade its past suffering in order to occasion pity or guilt from others. The recalling of oppression is to lead to an identification with those who suffer. Moreover, while the oppression of Israel will continue to be noted (2:11; 5:4–5), the focus will be on God’s attention and deliverance (3:7, 17; 4:31; 6:6–7). Hence the memory of the past is to be used to center the people on (1) what God has done for them and (2) how they are to respond to the unfortunate in every generation.

Verses 13–14 use repetitive language to vivify the intensification of this increasingly problematic situation (“a new pharaoh cannot afford to be wrong,” Durham, p. 9). The language is excessive in order to match the experience of oppression. The word perek (“rigor”) occurs twice, stressing the harshness and cruelty of the Egyptian treatment (forbidden among Israelites in Lev. 25:43, 46, 53). Words related to the Hebrew root ‘abad (“serve”) are used five times (cf. the five verbs in v. 7). A chiastic structure overloads the sentence, stressing this theme:

So they made the people serve with rigor,
and made their lives bitter with backbreaking service
in mortar and brick,
and with every kind of service in the field;
with every kind of service
they made them serve with rigor.

This root provides one of the leading motifs in the book of Exodus (it is used 97 times!). It will also be used for the service and worship of God (cf. 3:20).

One key question in the book of Exodus therefore is this: Whom will Israel serve? Verses 13–14 would appear to make the answer to that question very clear indeed! Israel is serving Pharaoh. To be in his service, however, means harshness and bondage, the lack of freedom to be what one is called to be. That is not God’s purpose for the creation. God will see this slavery (2:25; 3:7) and move to deliver Israel, so that the Israelites become God’s servants. Only in service to God can service without bondage be found. With God, service is freedom. Yet Israel is not freed to do what it pleases; Israel moves from one kind of servitude to another. The exodus does not constitute a declaration of independence, but a declaration of dependence upon God (cf. 14:31). This is ratified in a covenant at Sinai (24:7). This servitude does not force a belonging, however, but will draw the community into a new relationship. Only God can be Lord, can lay claim to life in such a way that true freedom is the result. Within such a relationship, as in every genuine commitment, there is real freedom. When this happens, creation becomes what God intended it to be.

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Interpretation
• Title
• Copyright
• Series Preface
• Preface
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part One: Growth and Bondage in Egypt Exodus 1–2
• Part Two: Moses and God: Call and Dialogue Exodus 3:1–7:7
• Part Three: The Plagues Exodus 7:8–11:10
• Part Four: From Passover to Praise Exodus 12:1–15:21
• Part Five: The Wilderness Wanderings Exodus 15:22–18:27
• Part Six: Law and Covenant Exodus 19:1–24:18
• Part Seven: The Plan for the Tabernacle Exodus 25:1–31:18
• Part Eight: The Fall and Restoration of Israel Exodus 32:1–34:35
• Part Nine: God Fills the Tabernacle Exodus 35:1–40:38
• Bibliography