B. Exodus

Jacob, following his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham, led a semi-nomadic existence in Canaan. But severe famine forced him to migrate to Egypt, possibly as part of a great migration of people around the year 1720 BC. We have noted in an earlier lesson that Egypt was protected by the desert, and in its long history, only the Hyksos, then the Assyrians, then the Greeks were able to invade it. But hunger drove people there. Around 1729, the Hyksos invaded Egypt. The Hyksos were Semitic (that means descended from Shem) nomads. Thanks to this fact, and to Joseph's position in the Egyptian court, Jacob's family was given favourable treatment. But around 1575 the Hyksos were cast out by the native Egyptians. Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. (Exodus 1:8)

The Hebrew population grew and the Egyptians began to fear their presence. So they made the Hebrews, together with other peoples, work for them. Life got increasingly difficult for the Jews. We are told that the Egyptian Pharaohs Seti I (1317-1290) and Ramses II (1290-1234) launched vast building projects when the royal residence was moved from Thebes to Thanis in the northeast. Many historians date the exodus of Israel around the year 1300 BC.

2. Exodus

1. Part One: Deliverance (Exodus 1-18)
2. The sons of Israel in Egypt. Prosperity, then oppression (Exodus 1)
3. Moses
   • Birth, early years, flight to Midian (Exodus 2)
   • The burning bush, Moses is called and sent (Exodus 3)
   • Aaron (Exodus 4)
   • Moses' audience with the pharaoh (Exodus 5)
   • Moses meets God anew. Genealogy of Aaron and Moses (Exodus 6)
4. The Plagues (Exodus 7-11)
5. The Passover (Exodus 12:1-12:32; 12:43-13:16)
6. The Departure from Egypt (Exodus 12:33 - 12:42; 13:17-13:22)
7. Pursuit by the Egyptians and Crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 14 - 15:21)
8. Israel in the desert
   • Bitter water of Marah (Exodus 15:22-27)
   • The manna and the quails (Exodus 16)
   • The water from the rock (Exodus 17:1-17:7)
   • Battle against the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8 - 17:16)
   • Meeting of Jethro (Moses' father-in-law) and Moses. Appointment of judges (Exodus 18)
9. Part Two: Covenant (Exodus 19-40)
10. In the desert of Sinai. God appears and promises a covenant (Exodus 19)
11. Laws and the Book of the Covenant
    • The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-21)
    • Other laws (Exodus 20:22-23:33)
12. The Covenant is ratified and confirmed (Exodus 24)
13. Instructions for the sanctuary, the vestments, the priests ... (Exodus 25-31)
14. Covenant broken and restored
    • The golden calf: sin and repentance (Exodus 32-33)
    • The Covenant is remade (Exodus 34)
15. Sanctuary is built (Exodus 35-40)

3. Revelation of the name of Yahweh

Peter Kreeft explains (You Can Understand the Bible, pp 31-32)

Exodus contains what is perhaps the most profound verse in the Bible, the most profound thing human ears have ever heard: the verse that reveals the essence of ultimate reality, the nature of God as expressed in His own true name. Remember that for the ancients your name revealed your nature, your essence. Exodus 3:13 is the only time God ever revealed His own essential name. All the other names for God in the Bible are our names for Him, or designate His relations to us. Once and once only does God use His own name for Himself, what He is in Himself: when He tells it to Moses from the burning bush.

Why only to Moses? Men and women had been wondering what was the true name of God for centuries; why did only Moses find out? A rabbi once told me the answer to that question: because Moses was the only one practical enough to go straight to the horse's mouth: he asked! God was waiting for centuries for someone to ask Him; instead, they only speculated!

The divine name is simply "I AM", or "I AM WHO AM". It is the name Jesus appropriated for Himself in John 8:58, thus clearly and uncompromisingly claiming divinity and inviting execution for blasphemy. For no Jew will ever even try to pronounce the divine name. In fact, no one even knows how to pronounce it correctly since it has not been pronounced for millennia. It was written only in consonants, omitting the vowels. Thus it is called the sacred Tetragrammaton or four-consonant, four-letter word, JHWH [or YHWH].

4. The Passover and the flight from Egypt

The instructions given by God for the celebration of the Passover are very significant. The victim will be a lamb without blemish (12:5), because it is going to be offered to God. Unleavened bread also signifies purity--fermentation of any kind implied impurity. Jesus once warned his Apostles to beware of "the leaven of the Pharisees" (Mark 8:15). God deserves the best offerings, an offering like that of Abel: pure, spotless, immaculate.

Note that while the Passover is a meal, it is also a sacrifice. The Mass is similarly a meal, but also a sacrifice (many people forget the sacrificial part, and think that it is only a kind of eating-together). It was to be eaten as if one is in haste to undertake the journey: dressed up, wearing sandals, staff in hand, and standing up (12:11).

How is the Passover related to the promises made to Abraham?

The promises made to Abraham and his descendants about possessing the land of Canaan are about to be fulfilled. Many centuries have passed, but God has not forgotten the "promise" he made to the patriarchs. Yahweh warns Moses about the difficulties that lie ahead, but he promises to come to his aid. God goes on to work great wonders to influence Pharaoh's thinking. This sets the scene for the Exodus and the establishment of Israel as the people of God.

At this stage Israel is an ethnic community and a monotheistic religious community. The various tribes of Israel will become Qahal Yahweh, the people of God. The term qahal will be translated into the Greek of the Septuagint as ekklesia, a profane name used by the Greeks to designate the assembly of the demos; it is the ekklesia tou Theou or an assembly of the people for religious purposes. It prepares the way for the new people of God which will be called the Church.

At the Easter Vigil, the first reading is of the creation, the second the sacrifice of Isaac and the promise to Abraham; the third, one which may never be omitted, relates the Exodus of the descendants of Israel from Egypt and the passing through the Red Sea.

The Exodus, along with Creation and the election of Abraham, is one of the key events in the religious belief of Israel. At this point begins the history proper of the Chosen People. Prior to this they weren't a people, but simply a whole collection of clans in the midst of an Egyptian population. From now on God is clearly the saviour of his people.

The two key events are the Passover and the Covenant. The first, the Passover, was celebrated immediately prior to the escape: it is the "passing over" of Yahweh, who wipes out the Egyptians and protects the Hebrews. The second is the Covenant on Sinai, this time with the whole people. Once the Hebrews are in the desert Yahweh makes a covenant with them, a pact involving moral commitments. These events are sealed with a rite of "blood" and a "banquet" rite and they enshrine a divine message which will find its fulfilment in the New Testament, in Jesus Christ. (Casciaro and Monforte, God, the World and Man, pp 343-344 passim)

What is the Passover? What is its significance?

The Passover: Greek pascha (Septuagint), Aramaic pashâ, and the Hebrew pesaj. It refers to the passing over of the Lord, provoked by Pharaoh's hardness of heart. The Passover rite consisted of the sacrifice of a lamb, whose blood was then sprinkled in the jambs and lintels of the doors of the Hebrew's homes. This was the sign which would save them -"the blood of the lamb". Further details of the rite were spelt out in later Mosaic legislation. Sometimes the word is used to refer to the lamb itself. In the NT the Passover is this rite and also Christ himself, "Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed" (1 Cor 5:7). At other times the word refers to the whole series of spectacular events during the escape from Egypt -the celebration of the pasch, the passing over of Yahweh, and the crossing of the Red Sea.

The liberation from Egypt is a "type" of the liberation or Redemption brought about by the messiah. True liberation is that brought about by the "new Passover" with the death of the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. The Passover will become the basic religious rite of Israel, around which all the ancient Hebrew liturgy turned. And later, the "paschal mystery" will be the centre of all Christian liturgy: the passion, death and resurrection of Christ will form the core of the new economy of salvation. (Casciaro and Monforte, God, the World and Man, pp 345)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (no 1334) tells us:

In the Old Covenant bread and wine were offered in sacrifice among the first fruits of the earth as a sign of grateful acknowledgment to the Creator. But they also received a new significance in the context of the Exodus: the unleavened bread that Israel eats every year at Passover commemorates the haste of the departure that liberated them from Egypt; the remembrance of the manna in the desert will always recall to Israel that it lives by the bread of the Word of God;[154] their daily bread is the fruit of the promised land, the pledge of God's faithfulness to his promises.

The "cup of blessing"[155] at the end of the Jewish Passover meal adds to the festive joy of wine an eschatological dimension: the messianic expectation of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. When Jesus instituted the Eucharist, he gave a new and definitive meaning to the blessing of the bread and the cup.

5. Constitution of the People of God: the Covenant of Sinai

How about the Covenant? Casciaro and Monforte (God, the World, and Man, p 353ff) explain:

Israel is in the Old Testament "the people of the Covenant", which basically means the Covenant made at Sinai. The Church is the people of the New Covenant, founded by Jesus Christ. The pages of the OT are full of pacts between people. A covenant certainly linked those who were party to it; they became one family, joined to others as by blood ties. But it also had generally a wider meaning, even though it created a bond of mutual belonging between the parties. In the case of Yahweh and Israel the relationships that were established are religious and bring with them requirements which go beyond religion -moral demands, in the first place, and then social and political commitments (though always in a predominantly religious context).

As regards ceremonies that accompanied covenants in general there were oaths (Ezekiel 17:18), shaking hands (2 Kings 10:15), interchange of gifts (1 Samuel 18:4), covenants of salt (that the pact will endure) (2 Chronicles 13:5); it was common to cut up the carcasses of animal victims and walk between them, accepting the same fate as the victim if one proved unfaithful (Jeremiah 34:18). The rite of blood was very common. The view was that blood was the seat of life; blood was poured on the altar and sprinkled on the parties to indicate the living bond now established between them (cf Exodus 24:3-8; Genesis 15:9). However, the most common ceremony of all was the sacrificial banquet. By sharing in the same meal, people established a close relationship with one another; it was considered to be real treachery to break an alliance sealed by this type of ceremony. And so the Psalmist exclaims: "Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted his heel against me" (Psalm 40:10). Christ expresses the same idea at the Last Supper, referring to Judas (John 13:18). Then there was also the custom of setting up a memorial of the covenant, by planting a tree or building an altar, etc. In the case of Noah the covenant was signed with the rainbow; with Abraham the sign was circumcision.

The covenant made between God and the people through Moses is described in detail in chapters 19-24 of Exodus. The scene was Mount Sinai, identified with present-day Gebel Musa, an imposing hill that dominates the plain of Er-Raha in the south of the Sinai peninsula.

As Deuteronomy 7:7ff points out, the merits of the people of Israel did not provoke this divine initiative: it came entirely from God's love and from his fidelity to his promises. Moreover, the Covenant was not forced on the Jews; God respects their freedom; he desires their free co-operation.

The one statement which captures the essence of God's Covenant with Israel is:

I will be your God and you will be my people (Leviticus 26:12).

Casciaro and Monforte go on to explain (p 360):

The Covenant makes Israel the people of Yahweh and it makes Yahweh the God of that people. As far as God is concerned, the Covenant implies that he is present, that he protects the Jews and gives them a land and promulgates a Law that they have to keep. God desires to be present among them in a special way.

He gives his people a law which will act as their religious and moral guide and he promises them a country of their own (Exodus 23:30-31). For its part, Israel must be faithful to the Covenant, obeying the law that Yahweh has given it; therefore, the Covenant is not just something one signs and seals and puts away; it is something ethical and religious that one has to practise; one has to stay completely true to God's will, as expressed in the Decalogue. The Code of the Covenant (Exodus 20:22-23:33) contains a number of disciplinary regulations to do with civil and penal law, but the main thing about the Decalogue (Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:6-22) is that it acts as the basis of monotheism and morality and therefore is a key feature of the religion of the Israelites.

In these narratives, we should take note of things that prefigure realities which we shall later see in the Church.

• Red Sea (Exodus 14): Baptism
• Manna (Exodus 16): Eucharist
• Rock (Exodus 17): Jesus
• Blood of the animals (Exodus 24): blood of Jesus
• Bronze serpent (Numbers 21 ): penitence and the Cross

6. Sanctity of the people: Leviticus

Peter Kreeft (You Can Understand the Bible, p33-34) explains the book of Leviticus in the following way:

The Hebrew title for this book is its first word, Wayyiqra, "and he called". God, not man, called into being these laws and their administrators, the Levites. The English title Leviticus means "the things of the Levites". Leviticus is the book of laws God gave Israel through Moses.

As Israel's law book, Leviticus contains hundreds of regulations extending to exact and tiny details of Israel's social life and temple worship. It is obviously not exciting reading, unless you happen to be a lawyer. Yet it is, when you realise that some extremely important lessons pervade all these minutiae:

1. God's loving care of His people reaches down into even the tiny details of their lives. Nothing is too small to be an occasion for His care or our obedience.
2. Law is good. It is not "repressive" of good, only of evil. God is the author of law and good order, not of confusion. He gives us law out of love for us, for our instruction, discipline, and protection.
3. The key word and idea in the book is holiness--a word that occurs over eighty times. They key text is 11:45: "I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God; you shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." That gives our essential motive for sanctity.
4. The laws in Leviticus were God's gracious provision for sinful man to approach a holy God. Like the New Testament, Leviticus unites two apparently opposite ideas: law and grace, justice and mercy, the demand for obedience and the promise of forgiveness for disobedience. The God of Leviticus is both absolutely holy and absolutely loving, uncompromisingly just and uncompromisingly merciful.
5. Most important of all, Leviticus foreshadows Christ. The New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews interprets these laws messianically and symbolically. Hebrews should be read together with Leviticus as companion books.

7. Moses, figure of Christ

Moses is the greatest of all the Jewish prophets. The closing verses of the last chapter of Deuteronomy that tells us about Moses' death conclude as follows:

10* And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11 none like him for all the signs and the wonders which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and all the great and terrible deeds which Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel. (Deuteronomy 34:10-12)

Indeed, Moses prefigures Jesus Christ in many ways. Of all the symbols or figures of Christ, Moses is the most complete. Peter Kreeft enumerates the ways which show the parallelism between Moses and Jesus (You Can Understand the Bible, pp 30-31).

1. Both were outsiders (Exodus 3:1-10; John 3:13)
2. Both received long training before their public ministry (Exodus 2:10; Luke 3:23)
3. Both performed many miracles (Exodus 7-14; John 3:2 and 21:25)
4. Both were preserved from an evil king's plot to murder them as babies (Exodus 2:2-10; Matthew 2:14-15; and Revelation 12:1-6 and 13-17)
5. Both stood up against masters of evil (Exodus 7:11; Matthew 4:1)
6. Both fasted for forty days (Exodus 34:28; Matthew 4:2)
7. Both controlled the sea (Exodus 14:21; Matthew 8:26)
8. Both fed a multitude of people (Exodus 16:15; Matthew 14:20-21)
9. Both showed the light of God's glory on their faces (Exodus 34:35; Matthew 17:2)
10. Both endured rebellion from their people (Exodus 15:24; John 5:45-47)
11. Both were scorned at home (Numbers 21:1; John 7:5)
12. Both saved their people by intercessory prayer (Exodus 32:33; John 17:9)
13. Both spoke as God's mouthpiece (Deuteronomy 18:18; John 7:16-17)
14. Both had seventy helpers (Numbers 11:16-17; Luke 10:1)
15. Both gave a law from a mountain (Exodus 20; Matthew 5-7)
16. Both established memorials (Exodus 12:14; Luke 22:19)
17. Both reappeared after death (Matthew 17:3; Acts 1:3)
18. Both did the work of prophets, priests, and kings--the three most important positions of authority in the ancient world
19. Both conquered the world, the flesh, and the devil
20. Finally, both brought their people from slavery to freedom and to the Promised Land

REFERENCES

• 「示」編輯委員會：救恩史--從耶穌到亞巴郎。香港，思高聖經學會，2003年)
• J. M. Casciaro and J.M. Monforte, God, the World and Man in the Message of the Bible. Dublin: Four Courts, 1996.
• Henri Daniel-Rops, Israel and the Ancient World. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1949
• Jerome Kodell, The Catholic Bible Study Handbook. Ohio: Servant Books, 2001
• Peter Kreeft, You Can Understand the Bible. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005
• University of Navarre Faculty of Theology, The Navarre Bible. The Pentateuch. Dublin: Four Courts Press; & New Jersey: Scepter Publishers, 1999

IMPORTANT LINKS ONLINE

• Ancient Maps (http://www.bible-history.com)
• Bible Map (http://www.biblemap.org/)
• Bible Places (http://www.bibleplaces.com/)
• Holy Land Photos (http://www.holylandphotos.org/)
• Dr Shirley's History Pages (http://www.drshirley.org/hist/index.html)
• An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (http://www.hope.edu/bandstra/RTOT/RTOT.HTM)
• Reading the Old Testament (http://www.hope.edu/bandstra/RTOT/INTRO/INT_TC.HTM)
• The Biblical Story (http://www.hope.edu/bandstra/RTOT/BIBSTORY/BS_TC.HTM)
• Exodus: Deliverance and Covenant(http://www.hope.edu/bandstra/RTOT/CH3/CH3_TC.HTM)
• Leviticus and Numbers (http://www.hope.edu/bandstra/RTOT/CH4/CH4_TC.HTM)