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Hebrew Scriptures: Exodus (Slides – Set #6)

The Ten Commandments

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Deut 26:5-10

We find this ancient creed-like formula in Deut 26:5-10 “Wandering Aramean” (here). This formula contains the most important things the ancient Hebrews believed in. As it is evident, the exodus event plays a key role therein.

Exodus

The ff. presentation has been taken in essence from the article on “Exodus” from the New World Encyclopaedia (parts with * are taken verbatim)

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Exodus

(The instructor does not necessarily endorse New World Encyclopedia as a reference work)

For Reflection

Try to read Exodus as a story revealing the Divine. What image of God does it paint? What, acc. to the Exodus, are the priorities of God?

Next, try to put yourselves in the shoes of the “others” (enemies of Israel) in Exodus and read the story from that angle. Now, what kind of God does the story portray?

How do you evaluate the concept of being the “chosen” people?

What does the story of exodus reveal about universal human themes?

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Exodus *Exodus (meaning: "mass

migration or exiting of a people from an area") is the second book of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. The major events of the book concern the calling of the prophet Moses as well as the departure of the Israelites from Egypt.

*The Book of Exodus presents some of the Bible's most dramatic moments, from the rescue of the infant Moses from the Nile, to the scene of Moses meeting God in the burning bush, Moses and Aaron confronting Pharaoh, the miracles of the plagues visited by God upon Egypt, the Passover, the escape from Egypt, the parting of the sea, the episode of the golden calf, and finally the successful construction of the tabernacle with its Ark of the Covenant. 

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Moses’ Early Life

Ex 3

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Moses Confronts Pharoah

Moses demands freedom. Pharaoh refuses. Aaron, his brother assists him.

10 Plagues. 10th Plague – Death of the Firstborn (Ex 12:29ff)

Passover (Ex 12)

Crossing of the Red Sea (Ex 14)

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Israel in the Wilderness

Israel’s sojourn in the desert is characterized by complaining against God & Moses

The PATTERN: God punishes them for their lack of faith (=trust) and when they repent, he forgives them

Illustration: Water from the Rock (Ex 17)

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The Covenant: one part of which are ‘The Ten Commandments’

Link <

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ten_Commandments>

*The Covenant and its Laws

In the third month, the Israelites arrive at Mount Sinai, and God declares, via Moses, that the Israelites are God's people, as He has liberated them by His power. The Israelites agree to a covenant of obedience with Yahweh, and so, with thunder and lightning, clouds of smoke, and the noise of a mighty trumpet, God appears to them in a cloud at the top of the mountain. (19)

God then declares a version of the Ten Commandments, sometimes referred to as the Moral Decalogue (20).

VARIOUS LAWSA series of laws governing the rights and limits of slavery follow this. Capital punishment is enacted for murder, kidnapping, and attacking or cursing one's parents. Other personal injury and property laws are also enacted. (21-22) The death sentence is also imposed on women convicted of sorcery. Bestiality likewise is punishable by death, as is the offering of sacrifices to gods other than Yahweh.

VARIOUS STIPULATIONS *Aliens and orphans, however, are to be protected. Usury, blasphemy, and the cursing of one's ruler are prohibited. God requires that first-born sons and cattle be offered to Him on the eighth day after their birth. Cattle that die after being attacked by wild beasts must not be eaten. False witness and bribery are prohibited.

SABBATH. Every seventh year, a field must be left uncultivated by their owner so that the poor may gain food from it. The sabbath must be observed every seventh day, and both slaves and livestock must be allowed to rest then as well. Various festival and ritual laws are enacted, including the prohibition against cooking a young goat in its mother's milk, the root of the later Jewish tradition of Kashrut, which involves never mixing milk and meat dishes.

GOD AND THE PEOPLE. Finally, God promises the Israelites if they

obey, he will fight for them against the Canaanites, establishing their borders "from the Yam Suph to the Sea of the Philistines (the Mediterranean), and from the desert to the (Euphrates) River." Covenants and coexistence with the Canaanites are prohibited. (23)

RATIFICATION OF COVENANT *Moses then erects 12 stone pillars at the base of the sacred mountain, representing each of the Tribes of Israel. He seals the Israelites' covenant with Yahweh by sprinkling the congregation with the blood of a bull calf he has sacrificed. He then reads to them what he has written thus far in the "Book of the Covenant," and the people swear to obey its commandments.

“Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do (Ex. 19:8)

Setting out with Joshua, Moses then ascends the mountain again, leaving Aaron and Hur in charge of those remaining behind. He would be on the mountain for 40 days. (24)

*The golden calf The Israelites celebrate after offering sacrifices at the altar of the golden calf. While Moses is up the mountain, however, the people become impatient and

urge Aaron to fashion an icon for their worship. He collects their golden jewelry and fashions a bull-calf, proclaiming "Here is God,(elohim) who brought you out of Egypt." (Elohim, is normally translated as God, but here is usually translated as "gods.") The Israelites offer sacrifice, followed by a feast and joyous celebration.

*Yahweh, however, is offended and informs Moses that the people have become idolatrous. He intends to destroy the Israelites, but promises He will make of Moses a "great nation." Moses appeals to God's reputation among the Egyptians and His promise to the Hebrew patriarchs, and God relents. However, when Moses comes down from the mountain and sees the revelry, he becomes enraged and smashes the two sacred tablets of the Law, which had been inscribed with "the writing of God." Grinding the golden bull-calf to dust, mixing this with water, and making the people drink of it, Moses strongly reprimands Aaron. He then rallies his fellow Levites to his side and institutes a slaughter of the rebels, with a reported 3,000 of them killed. Moses then implores God to forgive the remaining people but wins for them only a temporary reprieve. God strikes the congregation with a plague, and promises even heavier punishment in the future.(32)

The Gold Calf & the Tabernacle(see textbook, pp. 114-115)

The strained relationship between God and his people is apparent. With the tabernacle as yet unconstructed, Moses builds a tent in which he meets God "face to face, as a man speaks with his friend." Joshua stays on vigil in the tent when Moses returns to the camp.

Moses consequently is commanded to make two new tablets and ascend the mountain once again. God appears to Moses in dramatic fashion there, saying: Yahweh! Yahweh! The compassionate and gracious God, slow to

anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation. (34:6-7)

Moses intercedes again on behalf of the people and God renews his covenant with them, once again giving the Ten Commandments. This version is sometimes called the Ritual Decalogue because it adds a number of specifications regarding the celebration of Passover, other holidays, and sacrificial offerings. Moses then returns to the people, his face blindingly radiant, and conveys the words of the covenant to them once again. (34)

The Making of the TabernacleConsecration of the Priests

Ending of Exodus

*The Book of Exodus thus ends on a high note, with the people finally having united faithfully to accomplish God's will, and Yahweh descended to earth to dwell among His people in the tabernacle. God leads them directly, and all seems, for the moment, to be right with the world:

In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—- until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels. (40:36-38)

For Reflection

Try to read Exodus as a story revealing the Divine. What image of God does it paint? What, acc. to the Exodus, are the priorities of God?

Next, try to put yourselves in the shoes of the “others” (enemies of Israel) in Exodus and read the story from that angle. Now, what kind of God does the story portray?

How do you evaluate the concept of being the “chosen” people?

What does the story of exodus reveal about universal human themes?