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On Mendenhall: Exodus 15
By Justin Jenkins | April 10, 2008
Somewhat in honor David Noel Freedman who sadly recently passed away [links: 1,2,3,4,5] I thought I’d tackle a subject Mendenhall discusses in his book and that Freedman (and Cross) wrote a journal article for JNES about in 1955, mainly Exodus 15:1-21 or “The Song of Moses” also known as “the Song of the Sea” — however Freedman referred to it as “The Song of Miriam.”
The Song of Exodus 15
The song is a poetic reflection (partially written in the future tense1) on the LORD’s dispatching of Pharaoh and his chariots in the Re[e]d Sea apparently after the Hebrew’s crossing. It would seem verse 8 makes allusions to the miraculous path between the walls of water:
At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up;
the floods stood up in a heap;
the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.Exodus 15:8
However Cross and Freedman2 caution that it might be wise to not read too much into verse 8 — it may only be referring to the event (massive waves) that smashed the Egyptians:
“So far as the action is concerned, it describes only the destruction of the Egyptians, with an allusion to the safe transit of the Israelites. Nothing is related, however, of the manner of the Israelite crossing. Vss. 8 and 10 describe in highly colored terms the mind and waves of a tempest at sea.
The Egyptians were drowned in a storm sent by Yahweh. They were hurled into the sea … and sank under the waters … [i]t is a mistake to see in the phrases, “the waters are heaped up” and “the swells mount as a wall” … [as] a description of a path miraculously appearing between two walls of water.”
Nevertheless, the passage of text after the poem directly mentions the crossing:
For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.
Exodus 15:19
Childs sees3 the “essential features” of the victory and crossing to be present in the poetic text:
“First of all, the poem also describes a double action of the waters. With his breath Yahweh heaps up the water (v.8) and with his breath he covers the enemy (v.10). Moreover, the effect of the wind is to congeal the waters into inaction.”
This leaves open the possibility that the very earlier poem contains hints of the miraculous — Mendenhall however differs in opinion.
Mendenhall’s View
Mendenhall starts off4 by relating the events of Exodus 15 to an “act of God” in the modern sense:
“… nobody can take credit for it if the outcome is desirable, and nobody can be blamed if it isn’t. Loosely speaking, “God” made it happen, even though supernatural forces need not be involved.
… [a]ctually, this isn’t much different from the biblical understanding. In the case of the exodus, the act of God was the fortunate turn of events enabling some Apiru slaves to escape … “
I’m not really sure that being freed from hundreds of year of slavery and besting a major world super power relates to say — something like a tree falling on your car or a tornado — but I digress.
Common Eastern Motif?
While sharing ancient near eastern motifs this Hymn should not be confused (as some commentators suggest) with the ancient theme of “cosmic warfare” between the king of the gods and Death (Mot) or Sea (Yamm.) Cross and Freedman:
“[T]he sea is never personified and is the “passive” tool of Yahweh responding to his bidding. The sea remains “the sea”; it is never Rahab or Yamm, “Sea.”
The opposition is a human host, historical armies, horses and chariots. Pharaoh is not singled out particularly. He is no opposing divinity of darkness. On the contrary, “mere” men, horses and chariots are thrown into the sea, where they sink … Pharaoh is a tough opponent, but there is not the slightest hint that he is the Enemy, the symbol of cosmic chaos, dissolution, or death.”
K.A. Kitchen calls the archaic language a “Triumph Hymn” and relates it5 to a much earlier hymn by Uni of Egypt praising his troop’s victory in Canaan.
Dating
Cross and Freedman seem to date the poem contemporaneous with the exodus itself:
“It’s language is clearly more archaic than that of the surrounding narrative, suggesting that the poem might even be dated to the time of the exodus itself. If so, the author may have experienced firsthand the act of God enabling the slaves to escape from the Egyptian troops across a body of water, probably during a storm.”
However as Childs notes, Cross later somewhat changed his stance and opted for post-conquest composition of the poem. Nevertheless, the archaic language still seems to point to an early date, according to Childs:
“… the overall consistency of the linguistic phenomena would rather point to genuine archaic elements.”
A line in the poem referring to the “inhabitants of Philistia” may point to a later date, or may just be a sign of later editing. Many scholars argue for a later date, even post-exilic (rather weakly in my opinion) while W. F. Albright viewed the poem as a 13th century creation with Cross and Freedman opting for a 12th or 11th century date.3
Further Reading
To read a full treatment by Cross and Freedman check out: The Song of Miriam Frank M. Cross, Jr.; David Noel Freedman Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 14, No. 4. (Oct., 1955), pp. 237-250.
[1] Certain sections of the poem seem to relate events that occurred after the present tense of the poem, like the conquest itself!
[2] The Song of Miriam Frank M. Cross, Jr.; David Noel Freedman Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 14, No. 4. (Oct., 1955), pp. 237-250.
[3] The Book of Exodus; Brevard S. Childs, 1974
[4] See Mendenhall’s discussion of “Acts of God” on pp. 52-53Ancient Israel’s Faith and History: An Introduction to the Bible in Context; George E. Mendenhall, 2001
[5] See Kitchen’s treatment of Triumph Hymns on p. 218 of On the Reliability of the Old Testament; K. A. Kitchen, 2003
Topics: Bible, Books, George A. Mendenhall, Miracles, Studies |