Commentary by Lee Bright, version 0.1 on: Asimov, Isaac and Palacios, Rafael (1981) Asimov's Guide to the Bible. Wings Books: NY.
Exodus begins with a conjunction. Exodus is a continuation of Genesis, 2-4 centuries after Genesis ends. Most of what has been said of Genesis concerning authorship also applies to Exodus. In some cases, more so. While Moses is the main character and a significant portion of the content of Exodus must come from him in one way or another, he is in the text in the third person. Although the text represents Moses as being the main source and in close association with the writer, he is not the writer. It could be Joshua - Moses' secretary, who was at least an eyewitness for several events (17:8-14; 24:13; 32:17; 33:11), or unnamed writers with access to both men. The text does have the markings of having been commissioned or at least supported by Joshua and Moses.
The big difference to Genesis is that toledot verses no longer mark transitions of documents. And why should they? We are no longer dealing with clay tablets. The scribal traditions for clay tablets are not the same as for papyrus or monumental stone. Furthermore, Exodus is written as a continuous narrative with only a few documents interjected to corroborate the story or for the sake of chronological placement. Exodus is the main story that the anthology of Genesis was preparing the way for.
Ephraim
Pharoah of the Oppression
Pithom and Raamses
The Daughter of Pharaoh
Narrative to 6:12
Family record 6:14-25
"It was this Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.”
Establishing the genealogy of Aaron and Moses is key to identifying who exactly they were. Mose was a common name for an Egyptian during the Late Bronze Age. For instance, we know of Mose the scribe.
Midian first comes up in the Bible as one of the more important Ishmaelite tribes living south of Canaan. Like Asimov (pgs. 129, 132m), most maps and commentary would go so far as to put Midian on the Arabian side of the Gulf of Aqaba, and there is an assumption that the Ishmaelite tribes mixed with the Arab populations known to be there.
Whatever the case, it was the Midianites to whom the patriarch Joseph was sold as a slave. In a graceful symmetry, it is the Midianites by whom Moses successfully escapes Egypt. It is under the tribal rule of Midian that Moses prospers and has the burning bush experience.
Asimov only mentions Moses' father-in-law one time, and that in a quotation of Exodus 3:1. While that is par for the course amongst traditional and critical scholars, it is rather amazing considering the relationship and influence he had with Moses and the tribes of Israel. For instance, Jethro's (18) visit to Moses was a pivotal, unsung event.
First, Jethro was in communion with the Israelites (Exodus 18) just before the events that brought us the Ten Commandments:
Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.
Apparently, they held a common theology that allowed them to commune and worship together. One may fairly ask some questions:
Was Jethro already a priest, or did he become a priest of Midian that day?
What would the non-Israellite religion look like, not subject to Moses and the Law?
Was it Jethro rather than Moses who was responsible for the basic outline of Israelite religious practice?
These are interesting questions because it is at Jethro's advice that Moses was moved to change from a micro-managing benevolent dictator to forming a proper government. By doing so, he demotes himself to the chief judge and unique, often begrudging (Numbers 11), representative of the people to God. Jethro's advice:
"Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”
- Exodus 18:19-23
God so commanded (Numbers 11:16-29). It is only after Moses forms a representative government that we get the great events of Sinai: the Ten Commandments (chapter 20), other laws and ordinances (chapters 21-23), festivals, confirming of the covenant (chapter 24), tabernacle (chapters 25-27), priestly paraphernalia and consecration (chapter 28-29), cultic procedures (chapter 30), and finally the Sabbath (chapter 31). The irony is that Jethro is not blessed with the covenant that his blessed advice provided:
Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
- Exodus 20:5-6
It is not likely that Jethro's words, recorded in Exodus, are the only words of consequence that he ever spoke. How much of the Israellite religious practice is held in common with the Ishmaelite practice? There are answers. The Book of Job lays out, through Job in the most trying way, a non-Israellite religion that could be in communion with Israel.
Pharoah of the Exodus
Horeb
Brother might mean cousin in this case which is within the semantic range of the word. On the other hand, Moses did not grow up inside the family home. His visits would be few and far between as he learned the scribal craft of the Egyptian court.
Passover
Abib
The Red Sea
Pi-Hahiroth
Omer
Amalek
Joshua
Cherubim
The Urim and the Thummim
Principle 1
3. You shall have no other gods before me.
13. You shall not murder.
4-6. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
14. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
15. You shall not steal.
8-11. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
16. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
12. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
17. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.