I think I’m going to do Exodus 1-15 broken into 4 weeks, it’ll be pretty condensed but I didn’t want it to (and can’t have it) drag on forever either.

The main goal I’ve been told is for it to be a Bible study … not a “how does this apply to my life and modern times with no historical background or accounting.”  Or something like that …

Given the time constraint, I’m going to break it down like so …

1. Story of Moses and a Historical & Cultural background (Chap. 1-2)
2. The call of Moses and travels to Egypt. (Chap. 3-6)
3. The Plagues, and possible causes. (Chap. 7-11)
4. The Exodus and background history. (Chap. 12-15)

So any thoughts, suggestions or good books (aside from ones I already have!) Leave a comment or e-mail me if you’d like to help.  Thanks.

“The first commandment is not just promoting monolatry; it is getting at monotheism another way. Although it does not say explicitly that no other gods exist, it does remove them from the presence of Yahweh, if Yahweh does not share power, authority or jurisdiction with them, they are not gods in any meaningful sense of the word.

The first commandment does not insist that the other gods are non-existent, but that they are powerless; it disenfranchises them. It does not simply say that they should not be worshiped it leaves them no status worthy of worship.”

Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament, John Walton, p. 156

I’d love to say I’m going to support my local MLS team … but that’s only 25% true.

Just like everyone else I’ll really be going to see this guy David Beckham … maybe Landon Donovan too. Hopefully it will be a good game, and worth the drive up north.

If it is fun, perhaps I’ll make more of a habit of it — but heck they are no Manchester United people, I’d fly thousands of miles to see them.

Of course, sadly nothing groundbreaking (pun intended) has been found as of yet …

New discoveries found underneath the Temple Mount in Jerusalem “throw light on the existence of the Jewish Temples there,” according to archaeologist Iddo Katz.

The most interesting bit however has to be the comments section make sure to check it out.

Nonetheless, it might be relevant to take into account that apparently the “first animal on earth was surprisingly complex” …

Earth’s first animal was the ocean-drifting comb jelly, not the simple sponge, according to a new find that has shocked scientists who didn’t imagine the earliest critter could be so complex.

It all keeps me in the camp of “evolution sure don’t explain everything.”

The JTS has an interesting commentary this week by Rabbi David Ackerman, based on Leviticus 14:1-15:33 in which he discusses the apparent Levitical notion of sex equating “uncleanliness,” even within “traditional” marriage.

If a man lies with a woman and has an emission of semen, both of them shall bathe themselves in water and be unclean until the evening.¹

Leviticus 15:18

Rabbi David Ackerman:

What’s startling and troubling about Leviticus 15, however, is its conclusion that normal sexual activity breeds impurity. Verse 16 spells it out clearly: “when a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water and remain unclean until evening.” As Jacob Milgrom emphasizes in his monumental Anchor Bible Commentary, Leviticus 1-16, “even if the act is involuntary . . . any discharge of semen, regardless of the circumstances, generates impurity.”

Milgrom goes on to cite a series of authorities who note that the practice of ritual immersion after sexual activity for both husband and wife occurred well into the Middle Ages, all a logical outcome of verse 18, which legislates that “if a man has carnal relations with a woman, they shall bathe in water and remain impure until evening.” It’s not a big stretch to move from that idea to the thought that sexual activity itself is always impure, at best a necessary evil.

He concludes with what I think is a very true and profound thought:

The challenge, then, of human sexuality involves the channeling of that which is potentially impure and directing it toward holiness.

[1] Or “And if a man has carnal relations with a woman, they shall bathe in water and remain unclean until evening.” See JPS Tanakh.

So far it’s quite good, and I rather like Walton’s style — he also has an interesting lecture I recently listened to in which he discusses the meaning of Genesis 1 & 2 during a “Science Symposium” at Wheaton where he teaches.

Hint: he doesn’t appeal to Intelligent Design, or “literal” days. In fact he relates the 7 Days not so much to “creation” but rather to “naming” which gives “purpose and roles” to “things” in the Ancient Near East world view … good stuff.

I picked up his Genesis commentary too based on the recommendation of Tyler Williams’ Old Testament Commentary Survey which you can find here a really great resource!

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.

[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