The Exodus
Exodus
IntroductionThe Greek word, exodus means “departure.” The Exodus is the Israelite departure from Egypt under the leadership of Moses, and the subsequent journey through the Sinai wilderness.[1]
The biblical Exodus account has been understood on a number of different levels.[2] Historically, the Exodus represents the process of Israelite's slavery under a Egyptian pharaoh, followed by their freedom flight from Egypt to the promised land, Canaan. Theologically the Exodus implicates important themes: divine promise and fulfillment of it, eternal covenant, human suffering and redemption. Paradigmatically, the Exodus provides the powerful image of "the archetype for all subsequent redemption and liberation experiences, it has become a powerful symbol in Western political thought." [3]
This essay chronologically considers the Exodus with its theological meaning.
Historical Background of the Exodus: the Late Bronze Age In Western AsiaSeveral hundred years of relative silence separate the end of the story of Joseph in Genesis 37-50 from the beginning of the Book of Exodus where the story is picked up once again.[4] After Jacob had settled down in Egypt with his family to remain through the rest of the seven-year famine, the next of Scripture supplies no details other than to tell us that a new king "who did not know about Joseph" began to oppress the Israelites (Exod. 1:8). [5]
Some scholars argue that the king who did not know about Joseph was Amois (1570-1546 BC), the founder of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Anther scholars suggest that the date of the Exodus is 1447 B.C or thereabouts.[6] There are scholars who argue that a date of 1300-1250 suits the majority of evidence better than other.[7] However the date is not clearly fixed.
What we know is that the events of Egyptian bondage, exodus, and conquest must fall within the heyday of the Egyptian empire (ca. 1550 B.C to 1200 B.C).[8] This time span coincides roughly within Late Bronze Age in Palestine.[9]
IntroductionThe Greek word, exodus means “departure.” The Exodus is the Israelite departure from Egypt under the leadership of Moses, and the subsequent journey through the Sinai wilderness.[1]
The biblical Exodus account has been understood on a number of different levels.[2] Historically, the Exodus represents the process of Israelite's slavery under a Egyptian pharaoh, followed by their freedom flight from Egypt to the promised land, Canaan. Theologically the Exodus implicates important themes: divine promise and fulfillment of it, eternal covenant, human suffering and redemption. Paradigmatically, the Exodus provides the powerful image of "the archetype for all subsequent redemption and liberation experiences, it has become a powerful symbol in Western political thought." [3]
This essay chronologically considers the Exodus with its theological meaning.
Historical Background of the Exodus: the Late Bronze Age In Western AsiaSeveral hundred years of relative silence separate the end of the story of Joseph in Genesis 37-50 from the beginning of the Book of Exodus where the story is picked up once again.[4] After Jacob had settled down in Egypt with his family to remain through the rest of the seven-year famine, the next of Scripture supplies no details other than to tell us that a new king "who did not know about Joseph" began to oppress the Israelites (Exod. 1:8). [5]
Some scholars argue that the king who did not know about Joseph was Amois (1570-1546 BC), the founder of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Anther scholars suggest that the date of the Exodus is 1447 B.C or thereabouts.[6] There are scholars who argue that a date of 1300-1250 suits the majority of evidence better than other.[7] However the date is not clearly fixed.
What we know is that the events of Egyptian bondage, exodus, and conquest must fall within the heyday of the Egyptian empire (ca. 1550 B.C to 1200 B.C).[8] This time span coincides roughly within Late Bronze Age in Palestine.[9]
Bibliography: Carl A. Redmount. “Bitter Lives: Israel in and out of Egypt.” In The Oxford History of the biblical world, edited by Michael David Coogan. Oxford, Britain: Oxford University Press, 2001. Iain William Provan, V. Philips Long, and Tremper Longman. A Biblical History of Israel. Lousville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003. John Bright. A History of Israel. 4th ed. Lousville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000. Martin Noth. The History of Israel. Second English. London: Adam & Chales Black, 1960. Paul R. House. Old Testament Theology . Downers Grove: INTER-VARSITY PRESS, 1998. Ronarld B. Dillard, and Tremper Longman III. An Introduction to the Old Testament. Leicester, England: APPLOS, 1995. Samuel Cheon. “Josephus and the Story of Plagues: An Appraisal of a Moralising Interpretation..” Asia Journal of Theology 18, no. 1 (April 2004): 220-230. Walter C. Kaiser. Toward an Old Testament Theology. Annotated. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991. Walter C. Kaiser, JR. A History of Israel: From the Bronze Age Through The Jewisy Wars. Nashiville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998. Willian Sanford Lasor, David Allan Hubbard, and Frederic William Bush. Old Testament Survey. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996. [ 4 ]. Walter C. Kaiser, JR., A History of Israel: From the Bronze Age Through The Jewisy Wars (Nashiville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 79. [ 6 ]. Ronarld B. Dillard and Tremper Longman III, An Introduction to the Old Testament (Leicester, England: APPLOS, 1995), 59. [ 7 ]. Willian Sanford Lasor, David Allan Hubbard, and Frederic William Bush, Old Testament Survey, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), 60. [ 8 ]. see.John Bright, A History of Israel, 4th ed. (Lousville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), 107. [ 10 ]. see.Martin Noth, The History of Israel, second English. (London: Adam & Chales Black, 1960), 85-138. [ 16 ]. Paul R. House, Old Testament Theology (Downers Grove: INTER-VARSITY PRESS, 1998), 93. [ 17 ]. Walter C. Kaiser, Toward an Old Testament Theology, annotated. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 101. [ 20 ]. see. Samuel Cheon, “Josephus and the Story of Plagues: An Appraisal of a Moralising Interpretation.,” Asia Journal of Theology 18, no. 1 (April 2004): 220-230. [ 21 ]. Iain William Provan, V. Philips Long, and Tremper Longman, A Biblical History of Israel (Lousville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), 129.