After my survey on the book of Genesis, I decided to read through the book
of Exodus and write another survey. A
survey of a biblical text is one of the first steps in exegetical practice and
biblical scholarship. In the survey process one reads the text and records
initial thoughts, reactions, and questions. Now, I shall do so for the book of
Exodus.
The Exodus narrative begins the
story of Moses and tells the events of how the people of Israel were delivered
form the land of Egypt. Unlike the book of Genesis, the book of Exodus focuses
primarily on one central figure (Moses) and how he interacts with God, the
Israelites, the Egyptians, and the Pharaoh.
The story of Exodus is a battle
for the first born son (whether that be Egypt or Israel). One thing is very
evident in this text the LORD (the “I AM THAT I AM”) is in control. God has a plan
and Moses, a simple man, was chosen to be the face of this plan to the people
of Israel. In this narrative, God is seen as so powerful that no one can see
the divine face and live. Usually God is veiled behind a cloud when
communicating with Moses.
As literature, I found the
Genesis story more engaging than the Exodus story, but this might be due to the
fact I can’t help but see images of Charlton Heston whenever I read the book of
Exodus. However, some very interesting things develop in the book of Exodus.
The Israelites wander in the wilderness of Sin (which I suspect has influence on
the origins of how we use the word “sin” today, but it had a specific significance
to its context). Another striking observation, I saw in this most recent
reading of Exodus, was the fact that Moses instructed the people not to offend
the Egyptians with their sacrifices to the LORD (8:26).
The book of Exodus (while not my
favorite biblical text) establishes at least two major elements of the faith,
the Law and tradition (namely Passover). On one hand we have the Law (in the
form of the Ten Commandments and their explanations) which illuminates the
brokenness of humanity and on the other hand we have the Passover, which
celebrates the deliverance of God’s people by the work of the Lord.
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