Possible Exodus Routes.
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Map of the Sinai Peninsula.
University of Texas library website
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Map of the region of the
Exodus today, courtesy of
ViaWindowsLive, VirtualEarth
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View from Mount Sinai, Egypt ^[]
Photograph by
Mark A. Wilson
(Department of Geology,
The College of Wooster).
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The Hebrew names of the five books of the Torah are taken from initial words of the first verse of each book. For example, the Hebrew name of the first book, ראשית re'shiyth, is the first word of Genesis 1:1:

1. Re'shiyth (בראשית, adj. main, chief, principal, head, major, prime, top, leading, grand, master, prima, arch, capital, cardinal)
2. Shemot (שמות, or שם shem v. to put, place, lay, set; make, cause; appoint; nm. name, reputation, fame, moniker, denomination, distinction)
3. Vayikra (ויקרא, or קרא qara' v. to call, call out, recite, read, cry out, proclaim)
4. Bamidbar (במדבר, מדבר midbar nm. desert, wilderness, waste, wildness, large tracts of wilderness)
5. Devarim (דברים דבר dabar nm. word, speech, saying, utterance, say, speech; oratory; commandment)

The Anglicized names are derived from the Greek and reflect the essential theme of each book:

1. Genesis: "creation,"
2. Exodus: "departure"
3. Leviticus: refers to the Levites and the regulations that apply to their presence and service in the Temple, which form the bulk of the third book.
4. Numbers (Arithmoi): contains a record of the numbering of the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai and later on the plain of Moab.
5. Deuteronomy: "second law," refers to the fifth book's recapitulation of the commandments reviewed by Moses before his death.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy;) and also the Tanakh (the Hebrew bible), and Christian Old Testament. The major events of the book concern the exodus, a departure of Hebrew slaves from Egypt, through the wilderness, under the leadership of Moses to the Mountain of God (Mount Sinai, ^[])

Since Moses is described by the Bible as encountering Jethro, a Kenite who was a Midianite priest, shortly before encountering Sinai, this suggests that Sinai would be somewhere near their territory; the Kenites and Midianites appear to have resided east of the Gulf of Aqaba. Additionally, the Song of Deborah, which textual scholars consider one of the oldest parts of the Bible, portrays God as having dwelt at Mount Seir, and seems to suggest that this equates with Mount Sinai; Mount Seir designates the mountain range in the centre of Edom.

Jews call the book by its first words "ve-eleh shemoth" (i.e., "and these are the names") or simply "Shemot" שמות. The septuagint designates the second book of the Pentateuch as "exodus", meaning "departure" or "out-going".

The Latin translation adopted the name, which thence passed into other languages. As a result of the theme of the first half of the book, the term "an exodus" has come to mean a departure of a great number of people.

The Adoration of the
Golden Calf.
Artist: Nicolas Poussin
Date: c. 1634.
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1. The account of the growth of the Israelites into a peoples, their enslavement in Egypt, and eventual escape (Chapters 1-12);

2. The journey from Egypt to Mount Sinai (Chapters 13-18);

The Israelites and their escape from slavery

A new Pharaoh, who knew not Joseph, becomes concerned about the military implications of the large increase in the Israelite population, and oppresses them with forced labour, ordering the Hebrew midwives to kill all male babies. However, a daughter of Pharaoh finds the male infant of a Levite, calling him Moses (Hebrew: משה n. "Moshe" Moses (name); v. to draw out, pull out; nm. lamb, sheep). Moses is brought up as an Egyptian, but eventually sympathises with the suffering Israelites, slaying an Egyptian overseer. (see also Pharaoh of the Exodus)

Moses with the tablets of stone, Deutsch: Moses mit den Gesetzestafeln

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The journey through the wilderness to Mount Sinai

The Exodus begins after Pharaoh's consent, and the Israelites leave Rameses to go to Succoth. The nobles of Egypt object to Pharaoh's consent, and so Pharaoh gathers together a large army to chase after the Israelites, who have by this point reached the Red Sea. Fortunately for the Israelites, they are divinely guarded, and are able to escape through the Red Sea, when Moses causes the waters to part. The waters collapse once the Israelites have passed, defeating Pharaoh, and the Israelites joyfully sing the Song of the Sea (13-14).

The Israelites continue their journey into the desert, and once in the Wilderness of Sin, they complain about the lack of food. Listening to their complaint, God sends them a shower of quail, and subsequently provides a daily shower of manna from heaven. Once at Rephidim, the thirst of the people gets to them, so water is miraculously provided from a rock.

A portion of the Penteteuch in Hebrew, British Library Oriental MS. 4,445 containing the Massorah Magna and Parva. This section contains Exodus 20:1-5

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The Covenant and its Laws

In the third month the Israelites arrive at Mount Sinai, and God announces, via Moses, that the Israelites are God's people, because he has liberated them by his omnipotence. The Israelites accept this call, and so, with thunder and lightning, clouds of smoke, and the noise of trumpets, God appears to them at the top of Mount Sinai (19).

God then announces a summarised moral law, the Ethical Decalogue (20). A more detailed Covenant Code is subsequently provided, concerning both ritual and civil law, and God promises Canaan to the Israelites if they obey, but warns against the paganism of its inhabitants (21-23). God calls Moses up into the mountain to receive a set of stone tablets containing the law (see Torah), and further instructions (24).

Instructions for a Tabernacle vestments, and associated ritual objects

Intricate instructions, forming one of the least readable portions of the Torah, are then given detailing the construction of a tabernacle, so that God can dwell permanently amongst the Israelites (25-28). These directions provide for a particularly extensive construction:

• The Ark of the Covenant, to contain the tablets

• A mercy seat, with two gilt cherubim either side, for God to sit at

• A Menorah, never to be extinguished, and its oil

• A construction to contain these things, involving curtains for a roof, walls on silver feet, outer curtain, and a purple veil to separate the Holy of Holies, table, and menorah, from the remainder.

• The outer court, involving pillars on bronze pedestals, connected up by hooks and silver crossbars.

• A shoulder-band (ephod), containing two onyx stones, each engraved with the names of six of the tribes of Israel

• A breastplate containing Urim and Thummim

• Golden chains for holding the breastplate set with twelve specific precious stones, in four rows

• A robe for the ephod, with bells and pomegranates around the seam

• A coat

• A mitre

• A golden mitre plate with the inscription Holiness to the Lord

• A girdle

The golden calf, and regiving of the law

Whilst Moses is up the mountain, the people become impatient and urge Aaron to make them a golden calf, which they worship with joy. God informs Moses that they have become idolatrous, threatening to abandon Israel, but Moses intercedes for them. However, when he comes down, he sees what they have done, and in anger smashes the two tablets of the law. After pronouncing judgment upon Aaron and the people Moses again ascends to God to implore forgiveness, and is successful (32-33). Moses consequently is commanded to make two new tablets on which God will personally write the commandments. God then gives the Ritual Decalogue, writing the Ten Commandments onto the tablets. Moses then returns to the people, who listen to him in respectful silence (34).

The Construction of a Tabernacle vestments, and associated ritual objects

Moses collects the congregation, enjoins upon them the keeping of the Sabbath, and requests gifts for the sanctuary. The entire people respond willingly, and under the direction of Bezaleel, and Aholiab, they complete all the instructions, for making the tabernacle, its contents, and the priestly robes, and the Israelites put it together on the first day of the second month (35-40). This section is almost, but not completely, a word for word copy of Chapters 25-31.

Dating

The time-span in this book, from the death of Joseph to the erection of the tabernacle in the wilderness, covers about one hundred and forty-five years, on the supposition that one computes the four hundred and thirty years (12:40) from the time of the promises made to Abraham (Gal. 3:17).

There have been several attempts to fix the date of the events in the book to a precise point on the Gregorian Calendar. These attempts generally rest on three considerations

• Who the unnamed pharaoh was
• The dates for non-biblical accounts of large numbers of semitic people leaving Egypt
• The date that archaeology implies Jericho was destroyed

Generally, fixing the identification of the Pharaoh is considered the key, and two dynasties are usually suggested:

• Thutmose III or Amenhotep II of the 18th Dynasty, around 1444 BC, favoured by religious scholars, since it precedes the destruction of Jericho, although some doubt surrounds the archaeological evidence supporting the Exodus and Canaanite conquest dating.
• Ramses II or Merneptah of the 19th Dynasty, around 1290 BC, favoured by a large minority of secular scholars, since it is relates the Semitic Israelites with the Semitic Hyksos, although this contradicts several key aspects of the biblical account, and neglects several recent archaeological discoveries in Tel el-Dab'a and Jericho.

Authorship

Of these, in the hypothesis, the Elohist is identified as uniquely responsible for the episode of the golden calf, and the priestly source as uniquely responsible for the chiastic, and monotonous, instructions for creating the tabernacle, vestments, and ritual objects, and the account of their creation. Notable, the three main authors are also each uniquely associated with one part of the law code - the Elohist with the Covenant Code, the Priestly source with the Ethical Decalogue, and the Jahwist with the Ritual Decalogue.

The other parts of the book are believed to have been constructed by intertwining the Jahwist, Elohist, and Priestly, versions of each of the stories. Deconstructions of the stories into these sources, applying the hypothesis, identify heavy variations between stories, for example, the Priestly Source never warning Pharaoh about the plagues, but instead presenting the plagues as a test of his magicians, and always involving Aaron, whereas the Elohist always provides a warning, the Pharaoh is always described as giving in, but then hardening when Moses undoes the plague, and hardly ever includes Aaron in a positive light.

Notes

• Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985.
• Midian: the desert region between Egypt and the Negev.
• Moses' father-in-law is named Reuel and Jethro in the Torah, and Hobeb in Judges. Hobeb also appears in the Torah (in Numbers), but is identified there as a son of Reuel.
• Horeb: an alternative name for mount Sinai.
• Mountain of God: this phrase is sometimes used for the holy mountain; at other times it is called Horeb or Sinai.
• "Voice", Hebrew beqol. This normally means voice, but a few verses earlier (Exodus 19:16) it has been used to mean "thunder", in the context of the thunder and lightning from the mountain. It is not therefore clear exactly what "beqol" means here. The implication of Exodus 20:18-19 is that the people hear only thunder and trumpets and for this reason appoint Moses as their mediator with God: "And the people saw the thunder and the lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking..And they said [to Moses], "You speak with us, so we may listen, but let God not speak with us or we will die." Some translations therefore have "thunder" instead of "voice".
• It is not totally clear who goes up the mountain - Exodus 19:24 has Yahweh instructing Moses and Aaron to up while the people and priests remain below, but at Exodus 19:22 the priests are told they may approach Yahweh after consecrating themselves.
• A slightly different version of the Commandments is given at Deuteronomy 5, the most striking variation being in the reason given for keeping the Sabbath: in Exodus, the Sabbath is kept because God made the heavens and earth in six days and rested on the seventh; in Deuteronomy, it is a memorial for Israel's deliverance from Egypt.
• Exodus21:1-23:19
• Exodus 21-23
• This passage has a confusing sequence of events, as reflected in this summary.
• According to the context the writing on the tablets is the instructions for the tabernacle etc. The directions for the tabernacle provide for:
  • The Ark of the Covenant, to contain the tablets
  • A mercy seat, with two gilt cherubim either side, for God to sit upon
  • A menorah, never to be extinguished, and its oil
  • A construction to contain these things, involving curtains for a roof, walls on silver feet, outer curtain, and a purple veil to separate the Holy of Holies, table, and menorah, from the remainder.
  • The outer court, involving pillars on bronze pedestals, connected up by hooks and silver crossbars.
• The priestly vestments include:
  • A shoulder-band (ephod), containing two onyx stones, each engraved with the names of six of the tribes of Israel
  • A breastplate containing Urim and Thummim
  • Golden chains for holding the breastplate set with twelve specific precious stones, in four rows
  • A robe for the ephod, with bells and pomegranates around the seam
  • A coat
  • A mitre
  • A golden mitre plate with the inscription Holiness to the Lord
  • A girdle
• The Ritual Decalogue, unlike the Ethical Decalogue, is explicitly called the "ten commandments" - see Exodus 34:28
• At Exodus 34:1 God has told Moses that he, God, will personally write on the tablets, but at Exodus 34:27 he tells Moses to write them. Also, although God tells Moses that he is about to receive a copy of the first set of tablets, Exodus 24:12 makes clear that the first tablets contained the instructions for the tabernacle, while Exodus 34:27-28 makes it equally clear that the second set contain the Ritual Decalogue.
• Exodus 39:32
• This is a broad summary of the final verses, Exodus 40:34-38
• http://mideastfacts.org/facts/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=34
• Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
• http://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/ancient-egypt-map.html
• Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson (2004), p.157
• Cyril Aldred, Akhenaton, King of Egypt p.259.
• Antiquities 2:232, 2:241
• Ralph Ellis, Jesus, Last of the Pharaohs p.131.

References

• Rolf Rendtorff, "Directions in Pentateuchal Studies", CR:BS5 (1997), pp.43-65; and David M. Carr, "Controversy and Convergence in Recent Studies of the Formation of the Pentateuch", RSR23 ((1997), pp.22-29
• Midian: the desert region between Egypt and the Negev.
• Moses' father-in-law is named Reuel and Jethro in the Torah, and Hobeb in Judges. Hobeb also appears in the Torah (in Numbers), but is identified there as a son of Reuel.
• Horeb: an alternative name for mount Sinai
• There are two separate incidents where Yahweh reveals his name, both described as being for the first time, although characters in Genesis clearly know Yahweh by name
• The Hebrew word beqol normally means voice, but a few verses earlier (Exodus 19:16) it has been used to mean "thunder", in the context of the thunder and lightning from the mountain. It is therefore not clear exactly what beqol means in this instance. The implication of Exodus 20:18-19 is that the people hear only thunder and trumpets and for this reason appoint Moses as their mediator with God: "And the people saw the thunder and the lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking..And they said [to Moses], "You speak with us, so we may listen, but let God not speak with us or we will die." Some translations therefore have "thunder" instead of "voice".
• It is not totally clear who goes up the mountain - Exodus 19:24 has Yahweh instructing Moses and Aaron to go up while the people and priests remain below, but at Exodus 19:22 the priests are told they may approach Yahweh after consecrating themselves.
• A slightly different version of the Commandments is given at Deuteronomy 5, the most striking variation being in the reason given for keeping the Sabbath: in Exodus, the Sabbath is kept because God made the heavens and earth in six days and rested on the seventh; in Deuteronomy, it is a memorial for Israel's deliverance from Egypt.
• Exodus21:1-23:19
• Exodus 21-23
• This passage has a confusing sequence of events, as reflected in this summary.
• The Ritual Decalogue, unlike the Ethical Decalogue, is explicitly called the "ten commandments" - see Exodus 34:28
• At Exodus 34:1 God has told Moses that he, God, will personally write on the tablets, but at Exodus 34:27 he tells Moses to write them. Also, although God tells Moses that he is about to receive a copy of the first set of tablets, Exodus 24:12 makes clear that the first tablets contained the instructions for the tabernacle, while Exodus 34:27-28 makes it equally clear that the second set contain the Ritual Decalogue.
• Exodus 39:32
• This is a broad summary of the final verses, Exodus 40:34-38
• James Weinstein, "Exodus and the Archaeological Reality", in Exodus: The Egyptian Evidence, ed. Ernest S. Frerichs and Leonard H. Lesko (Eisenbrauns, 1997), p.87
• John Van Seters, "The Geography of the Exodus", in The Land I Will Show You: Essays on the History and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East in Honour of J. Maxwell Miller, ed. J. Andrew Dearman and M. Patrick Graham (JSOT 343, Sheffield Academic Press, 2001), pp. 255-76
• Lawrence E. Stager, "Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel", in The Oxford History of the Biblical World, ed. Michael D. Coogan (OUP, 1998), pp.131-4
• James K. Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition, (OUP, 1999)
• Richard E. Friedman, The Bible With Sources Revealed, (HarperSanFrancisco, 2003), pp.1-31
• William H. Propp, Exodus 1-18, (AB2, Doubleday, 1998) pp.37-8
• Menahem Haran, Book-Scrolls at the Beginning of the Second Temple Period: The Transition From Papyrus to Skins, (HUCA14, 1983), pp.11-22
• C. Marvin Pate, et al. The Story of Israel: a biblical theology (InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, 2004) pp 39.
• Stephen G. Dempster. Dominion and dynasty (InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, 2006) pp. 97-8.
• Stephen G. Dempster. Dominion and dynasty (InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, 2006) pp. 100.
• Stephen G. Dempster. Dominion and dynasty (InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, 2006) pp. 107.
• Blue Letter Bible
  1. Genesis 1:1
  2. Exodus 1:1
  3. Leviticus 1:1
  4. Numbers 1:1
  5. Deuteronomy 1:1

Further reading

• Colin J. Humphreys, The Miracles of Exodus: A Scientist’s Discovery of the Extraordinary Natural Causes of the Biblical Stories 2003, HarperSanFrancisco
• W. F. Albright From the Stone Age to Christianity (2nd edition) Doubleday/Anchor
• W. F. Albright Archaeology and the Religion of Israel (5th edition) 1969, Doubleday/Anchor
Encyclopedia Judaica, Keter Publishing, entry on "Population", volume 13, column 866.
• Y. Shiloh, "The Population of Iron Age Palestine in the Light of a Sample Analysis of Urban Plans, Areas and Population Density." Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR), 1980, 239:25-35 Exploring Exodus: The Origins of Biblical Israel Nahum Sarna, Shocken Books, 1986 (first edition), 1996 (reprint edition), chapter 5, "Six hundred thousand men on foot".
• "Those Amazing Biblical Numbers: Taking Stock of the Armies of Ancient Israel" William Sierichs, Jr.
• "The Rise of Ancient Israel : Symposium at the Smithsonian Institution October 26, 1991" by Hershel Shanks, William G. Dever, Baruch Halpern and P. Kyle McCarter, Biblical Archaeological Society, 1992.
• The Biblical Exodus in the Light of Recent Research: Is There Any Archaeological or Extra-Biblical Evidence?, Hershel Shanks, Editor, Biblical Archaeological Society, 1997
• Secrets of the Exodus: The Egyptian Origins of the Hebrew People", by Messod Sabbah, Roger Sabbath, Helios Press, 2004
• "Did the Red Sea Part? No Evidence, Archaeologists Say", by Michael Slackman, New York Times, April 3, 2007