Title
The Greek Septuagint (LXX) and the Latin Vulgate versions of
the Old Testament assigned the title “Exodus” to this second book of Moses,
because the departure of Israel from Egypt is the dominant historical fact in
the book (19:1). In the Hebrew Bible, the opening words, “And (or Now) these
are the names,” served as the title of the book. The opening “And” or “Now” in
the Hebrew title suggests that this book was to be accepted as the obvious
sequel to Genesis, the first book of Moses. Hebrew 11:22 commends Joseph’s
faith who, while on his deathbed (ca. 1805 B.C.), spoke of the “exodus” of the
sons of Israel, looking ahead over 350 years to the Exodus (ca. 1445 B.C.).
Author and Date
Mosaic authorship of Exodus is unhesitatingly affirmed.
Moses followed God’s instructions and “wrote down all the words of the LORD”
(24:4), which included at the least the record of the battle with Amalek
(17:14), the Ten Commandments (34:4,27-29), and the Book of the Covenant
(20:22-23:33). Similar assertions of Mosaic writing occur elsewhere in the
Pentateuch: Moses is identified as the one who recorded the “starting places according
tot heir journeys” (Nu 33:2) and who “wrote this law” (Dt 31:9).
The Old
Testament corroborates Mosaic authorship of the portions mentioned above (see
Josh 1:7,8; 8:31,32; 1Ki 2:3; 2Ki 14:6; Ne 13:1; Dan 9:11-13; and Mal 4:4). The
New Testament concurs by citing Ex 3:6 as part of “the book of Moses” (Mk
12:26), by assigning Ex 132:2 to “the law of Moses,” which is also referred to
as “the Law of the Lord” (Lk 2:22,23), by ascribing Ex 20:12 and 21:17 to Moses
(Mk 7:10), by attributing the law to Moses (Jn 7:19; Ro 10:5), and by Jesus’
specifically declaring that Moses had written of Him (Jn 5:46,47).
At some
time during his 40 year tenure as Israel’s leader, beginning at 80 years of age
and ending at 120 (7:7; Dt 34:7), Moses wrote down this second of his 5 books.
More specifically, it would have been after the Exodus and obviously before his
death on Mt. Nebo in the plains of Moab. The date of the Exodus (ca. 1445 B.C.)
dictates the date of the writing in the 15th century B.C.
Scripture
dates Solomon’s fourth year of reign, when he began to build the temple (ca.
966/65 B.C.), as being 480 years after the Exodus (1Ki 6:1), establishing the
early date of 1445 B.C. Jephthah noted that, by his day, Israel had possessed
Heshbon for 300 years (Jdg 11:26). Calculating backward and forward from
Jephthah, and taking into account different periods of foreign oppression,
judgeships and kingships, the wilderness wanderings, and the initial entry and
conquest of Canaan under Joshua, this early date is confirmed and amounts to
480 years.
Scripture
also dates the entry of Jacob and his extended family into Egypt (ca. 1875
B.C.) as being 430 years before the Exodus (12:40), thus placing Joseph in what
archaeologists have designated as the 12th Dynasty, the Middle Kingdom
period of Egyptian history, and placing Moses and Israel’s final years of
residence and slavery in what archaeologists have designated as the 18th
Dynasty, or New Kingdom period. Further,
Joseph’s stint as vizier over all of Egypt (Ge 45:8) precludes his having
served under the Hyksos (ca. 1730 – 1570 B.C.), the foreign invaders who ruled
during a period of confusion in Egypt and who never controlled all of the
country. They are a mixed Semitic race who introduced the horse and chariot as
well as the composite bow. These implements of war made possible their
expulsion from Egypt.
Background and Setting
Eighteenth Dynasty Egypt, the setting for Israel’s dramatic
departure, was not a politically charged or economically weak and obscure
period of Egyptian history. Thutmose III, for example, the Pharaoh of the
Oppression has been called the “Napoleon of Ancient Egypt,” the sovereign who
expanded the boundaries of Egyptian influence far beyond natural borders. This
was the dynasty that over a century before, under the leadership of Amose I,
had expelled the Hyksos kings from the country and redirected the country’s
economic military, and diplomatic growth. At the time of the Exodus, Egypt was
strong, not weak.
Moses, born
in 1525 B.C. (80 year old in 1445 B.C.), became “educated in all the learning
of the Egyptians” (Ac 7:22) while growing up in the courts of Pharaohs Thutmose
I and II and Queen Hatshepsut for his 40 years (Ac 7:23). He was in
self-imposed, Midianite exile during the reign of Thutmose III for another 40
years (Ac 7:30), and returned at God’s direction to be Israel’s leader early in
the reign of Amenhotep II, the pharaoh of the Exodus. God used both the
educational system of Egypt and his exile in Midian to prepare Moses to
represent his people before a powerful pharaoh and to guide his people through the
wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula during his final 40 years (Ac 7:36). Moses
died on Mount Nebo when he was 120 years old (Dt 34:1-6), as God’s judgment was
on him for his anger and disrespect (Nu 20:1-3). While he looked on form afar,
Moses never entered the Promised Land. Centuries later he appeared to the
disciples on the Mt of Transfiguration (Mt 17:3).
Historical and Theological Themes
In God’s timing, the Exodus marked the end of a period of
oppression for Abraham’s descendants (Ge15:13), and constituted the beginning
of the fulfillment of the covenant promise to Abraham that his descendants
would not only reside in the Promised Land, but would also multiply and become
a great nation (Ge 12:1-3,7). The purpose of the book may be expressed like
this: To trace the rapid growth of Jacob’s descendants from Egypt to the
establishment of the theocratic nation in their Promised Land.
At
appropriate times, on Mount Sinai and in the plains of Moab, God also gave the
Israelites that body of legislation, the law, which they needed for living
properly in Israel as the theocratic people of God. By this, they were distinct
from all other nations (Dt 4:7,8; Ro 9:4,5).
By God’s
self-revelation, the Israelites were instructed in the sovereignty and majesty,
the goodness and holiness, and the grace and mercy of their Lord, the one and
only God of heaven and earth (see especially Ex 3,6, 33, 34). The account of
the Exodus and the events that followed are also the subject of other major
biblical revelation (cf Pss 105:25-45; 106:6-27; Ac 7:17-44; 1Co 10:1-13; Hb
9:1-6; 11:23-29).
INTERPRETIVE CHALLENGES
The absence of any Egyptian record of the devastation of
Egypt by the 10 plagues and the major defeat of Pharaoh’s elite army at the Red
Sea should not give rise to speculation on whether the account is historically
authentic. Egyptian historiography did not permit records of their pharaoh’s
embarrassments and ignominious defeats to be published. In recording the
Conquest under Joshua, Scripture specifically notes the three cities, which
Israel destroyed and burned (Jos 6:24; 8:28; 11:11-13). The Conquest, after all
was one of takeover and inhabitation of property virtually intact, not a war
designed to destroy. The date of Israel’s march into Canaan will not be
confirmed, therefore, by examining extensive burn levels at cities of a later
period. Despite the
absence of any extra-biblical, ancient Near Eastern records of the Hebrew
bondage, the plagues, the Exodus, and the Conquest, archaeological evidence
corroborates the early date. All the pharaohs, for example, of the 15th
century left evidence of interest in building enterprises in Lower Egypt. These
projects were obviously accessible to Moses in the Delta region near Goshen.
The
typological significance of the tabernacle has occasioned much reflection.
Ingenuity in linking every item of furniture and every piece of building
material to Christ may appear most intriguing, but if New Testament statements
and allusions do not support such linkage and typology then hermeneutical
caution must rule. The tabernacle’s structure and ornamentation for efficiency
and beauty is one thing, but finding hidden meaning and symbolism is unfounded.
How the sacrificial and worship system of the tabernacle and its parts
meaningfully typify the redeeming work of the coming Messiah must be left to those
New Testament passages which treat the subject.
OUTLINE
I. Israel in
Egypt (1:1-12:36)
A. The Population Explosion (1:1-7)
B. The Oppression Under the Pharaohs
(1:8-22)
C. The Maturation of a Deliverer
(2:1-4:31)
D. The Confrontation with Pharaoh
(5:1-11:10)
E. The Preparation for Departure (12:1-36)
II. Israel on
the Road to Sinai (12:37-18:27)
A. Exiting Egypt and Panicking
(12:37-14:14)
B. Crossing the Read Sea and Rejoicing
(14:15-15:21)
C. Traveling to Sinai and Grumbling
(15:22-17:16)
D. Meeting Jethro and Learning (18:1-27)
III. Israel
Encamped at Sinai (19:1-40:38)
A. The Law of God Prescribed (19:1-24:18)
B. The Tabernacle of God Described
(25:1-31:18)
C. The Worship of God Defiled (32:1-35)
D. The Presence of God Confirmed
(33:1-34:35)
E. The Tabernacle of God Constructed (35:1-40:38)
MacArthur Study Bible, NASB, Updated Edition.
2006. Nelson Bibles, Thomas Nelson. La Habra, CA.
