While Genesis tells the story of an emerging and fitful relationship between God and humankind as individuals and a particular family, Exodus will repeat that process, but now with an emphasis on the relationship between God and a larger community.  In Genesis, after a series of false starts, God and man arrive at a peaceful co-existence in the character of Joseph, with God communicating almost entirely through dreams, rather than through the personal appearances that dominated the early chapters.  However, 400 years pass between Genesis and Exodus, and Joseph's descendants have been enslaved by an Egyptian Pharaoh who drives them increasingly hard as they build his pyramids.  In the same way that the relationship between God and man got off to a series of fitful false starts in Genesis, the relationship will take time to develop in Exodus, and will require an astonishing amount of effort on both sides.

The central figure and mediator in this struggle is Moses, one of the most fully developed and complex characters in the entire Biblical narrative.  His story stretches from Exodus to Deuteronomy, and his influence is felt all the way to Revelation and beyond.  There are many ways to understand this story, which we will discuss in class, but remember that the two primary interpretations are the historical and the metaphorical.  Keeping these two parallel interpretations in mind as we read will help illuminate the text, and help us mine it for its multiple layers of meaning.

Moses Study Questions

Some Useful Links on Moses

David Plotz on Exodus and Leviticus

Some modern day magic