The book of Exodus tells the story of the descendants of Jacob, picking up the story about 400 years after Jacob had gone down to Egypt with his 11 sons. Jospeh, the twelfth was already there having been sold into slavery but rising through divine intervention to a position of authority overseeing the famine relief.
Historical context
The events recorded are considered to have happened either around about the 15th Century BC or the 13th depending on how chronological dating is followed. The 15th Century seems to fit with some assumptions of Biblical chronology allowing for Solomon to have taken the throne in about 971BC.[1] However, the 13th Century date would fit with the naming of the cities of Pithom and Ramses in Exodus 1:11 with Ramses named after Ramses !!, popularly considered to be the Pharoah who enslaved the Israelites.[2] This would also seem to fit with data suggesting that the Israelites were in the land by the 1200s.[3] We should not worry too much about the challenges of harmonising ancient history. There is still much that is unknown about that time period with much to discover.
God’s people are referred to as “Hebrews” when in Egypt. The root of the term refers to someone passing through, a nomad. There was also an ancestor of Abraham called Eber, named in the Genesis 10-11 genealogy, Shem’s Great Grandson. So, when Abraham is referred to as “a Hebrew” in Genesis 14:13, it may have been a reference to his ancestry but it remains more likely that it was a reference to his status as a migrant. Joseph is referred to as a Hebrew by the Egyptians.[4] It is possible that the term was already being used to refer to the descendants of Abraham however the more likely options are that again this was a reference to his foreign, migrant status and/or that the term has been read back into the events of Genesis 39 and 41 by a later author or redactor.
Egypt itself had seen a number of migrations, power struggles and dynasties. We may particularly note the arrival of the Hyksos, like the Hebrews, semitic people from the Levant who settled in the Delta area between 1650-1550 AD. If the earlier dating of the Exodus to 100BC is correct, then that would fit with the emergence of the Hyksos as the dominant people in Egypt. It would make sense of the king’s daughter bathing in the Nile close to where Hebrews were and it would also give additional reason for this people would have been more likely to see the Israelites as rivals for land, economy and power rather than benign immigrants. A later dating in the 13th century may however have meant that the ruling dynasty conflated the Hebrews with the Hyksos and saw them as rivals.
Joseph’s arrival in Egypt would have been during the 12th dynasty founded by Amenemhat, I[5] either during his reign or that of his descendant Senusret II.[6] This dynasty shifted power away from Thebes and worship away from the traditional gods. Whether Moses lived in the 15th or 13th Century, it would have been under the 18th Dynasty with power returned to Thebes and a return to orthodox Egyptian religion in place.[7]These factors help us to understand why a new Pharoah and a new dynasty would mean that the events of Joseph’s day were now forgotten.
Authorship date and audience
Traditionally, the first five books of the Bible are associated with Moses as author. However, this does not require us to assume that Moses wrote everything down himself. We know for example that there are parts of the Torah that were written after his death. It is more likely first that Moses is the central figure with whom key events are associated and as a custodian of the oral traditions of God’s people. It is also likely that whilst the JPED source theory is now widely disregarded as wooden and reductionist that there were various sources collated together.[8] From that perspective, Moses may well have been involved in the editing of literary works that may have had further, later redactions.
The consequence of such debates is that dating the book is difficult. It is a matter of tradition that Moses wrote the books and this claim is not explicitly stated in the Pentateuch.[9] Whilst Jesus refers to Moses speaking, he may be using shorthand to refer to the accepted author.
If we cannot say with any certainty who the author was then it is difficult also to identify the original audience and intent. If we err cautiously and conservative on the side of late authorship as some scholars d, this would mean that the intended audience was either the exiles or those coming back from exile. In that case, the book’s intent was to help them make sense of their own exile and a second exodus by reference to their forefathers.
However, I am inclined to think that even if the final form of the books came together late, significant portions of them existed in written form and that there would have been oral story telling too. Additionally, we are encouraged now to think in terms of literary context, who does the author intend us to think of as the first audience and so to identify with and stand with as we listen.
On that basis, I would argue that the first audience was the Israelites as they were about to enter the land and during the early days of the conquest. This is the generation who had not experienced Egypt or the initial journey to Horeb and beyond. These books then serve first as a reminder to them that they should not forget their history and to help then understand why they had been wandering in the wilderness. It teaches them what it means to be a migrant people, looking for a permanent home.
Of course though, a book will have multiple audience and so the Torah books served a purpose in speaking to the exiles and returnees. Moreover, crucially, the inspiration of Scripture means that we are meant to hear God’s Word as the intended audience. This book is for the church and is intended to help us make sense of life now in the now and not yet, our exodus from Satan’s Kingdom and our journey home into the full life of God’s kingdom. If we read or hear Scripture as church though, it is important that we apply it through Christ. Jesus was himself an audience and he is clear In Luke 24 that these words are about him and his Exodus from death to resurrection.
Structure
I would suggest the following breakdown of the book:
Ch 1-2 The Rescued rescuer
Ch 3-4 The burning bush
Ch 5-10 Plagues
Ch 11-15 Passover and the Red Sea
Ch16-18 A hungry and thirsty people
Ch 19-24 The Law
Ch 25 40:33 Signs and symbols of God’s presence
Ch 32-44 Rebellion,
Ch 40:34 38 The glory of God
Theme of the book
The big theme of the book is “Redemption,” This is the story of how Yahweh delivers his people. As such, the themes of the book have often been picked up by oppressed people and unsurprisingly has bene popular within Black theology as it gives voice to those seeking freedom from slavery and oppression. I believe that it is a good and healthy thing to be alert to those modern-day echoes, just as we see the way that Exodus is echoed through Scripture. However, primarily we should see how the book points to the liberation that Jesus has won from slavery to sin and death.
[1] Alexander, Exodus, 24.
[2] Alexander, Exodus, 25.
[3] Alexander, Exodus, 20.
[4] Genesis 39:14&17; Genesis 41:12.
[7] Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt – Wikipedia
[8] C.f. Enns, Exodus., 20-21.
[9] C.f. Enns, Exodus., 20-21.
Faithroots 