Exodus - Lesson 1

Dr. Carmen Imes 
Exodus 
OT605-01 
Introduction to Exodus 
Lesson Transcript

Hello everyone, my name is Dr. Carmen Imes. I am delighted to be joining you for this class on Exodus. I am Associate Professor of Old Testament at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University in Southern California, and I'm currently writing a Bible commentary on the book of Exodus for Baker Academic.

So I spend just about every day in the book of Exodus, and I have for several years now, and I am convinced that Exodus is one of the best books of the Bible. It is so rich with insights about who God is and about who we are as followers of God and as members of the covenant community. So I hope that you are excited about this journey that we're going to take together through the book of Exodus.

We're going to start with just some introductory ideas about what does it take to read Exodus well, and after that we're going to think about the historical context, the historical reliability of the book of Exodus before we get into the text itself. So this is just laying the groundwork. There are many people in our world today who don't trust the book of Exodus, who think it's a work of fiction, and so I'm going to show you some of the best evidence that I found that Exodus is a book that we can take seriously as history, and then we'll get into its literature and its theology as we go through the book.

So welcome aboard. I'm so glad you've decided to travel through this book with me. In order to read Exodus well, and in order to read any book well actually, any book of the Bible, I believe there are three things that we need to take into consideration, three perspectives or three dimensions of the text that we need to pay attention to.

I am sure that you've had the experience of hearing someone talk about the Bible and say things about what they see in the Bible that sounded off to you. It sounded like you're making this up, or that's not what the text really says, or how can I be sure that you're right about what the text says? And so what I like to do is think about reading the Bible well as a three-legged stool. If you have a three-legged stool, you can't get rid of any one of the legs.

The stool becomes very wobbly. You need all three in order for it to be solid. So if we think of solid interpretations of scripture, they need to include these three dimensions.

The first is the historical dimension of the text, where it takes place in history, the place and time, and what's going on in the culture around it. The second is the literary design of the text, how the author has chosen to communicate God's truth to us. And the third thing is the theological themes that emerge from the text.

All three of these dimensions, the historical context, the literary design, and the theological themes, have to be considered if we want to be sure that our reading of the biblical text is solid. If we neglect any one of these three, then we're on shakier ground. If we neglect the historical context of the text, then we are liable to be bringing our own cultural or historical context into the text without even meaning to.

If we're not aware of how things work in ancient Egypt, for example, then we might make a big deal out of something that's not a big deal, or we might misinterpret or misconstrue something that's happening while the Israelites are in Egypt. If we're not paying attention to the literary design of the text, if we're just taking a verse and trying to apply it to our life, and we're not paying attention to the overall flow of the text, or where this book is going as a whole, then, again, we're liable to distort the text. And if we don't pay attention to the theological themes that it is unfolding for us, and to where this text fits in the unfolding of the theological context of scripture as a whole, then we may distort it.

We need to know, where are we in theological history? And so we're going to consider those matters together, and I hope that what you're going to find as we dig deeper into Exodus is that there is so much more here than what you've seen before, that it is so much richer and so much more relevant for the life of faith. So I'm excited for us to dive in. The first thing that we're going to consider in terms of context is the role that Egypt plays in the Bible as a whole.

We first encounter Egypt in Genesis chapter 10, in the table of nations. Genesis chapter 10 gives us an extensive catalog of 70 nations that proliferated in those early years of human society. And in chapter 10, verse 6, we hear the sons of Ham are Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.

And it goes on to give us more detail on that, but this is our first exposure to Egypt in the Bible. But we have other stories about Egypt in Genesis. Abram goes to Egypt in Genesis chapter 12.

In fact, we're familiar with God's call of Abraham out of Ur and into Canaan, but it's striking to me that right after Abram arrives in Canaan, we have him leaving Canaan and going to Egypt because of a famine. And what's really fascinating about this little story in Genesis chapter 12 is how much it anticipates the Exodus story. And as I just go over the main order of events in Genesis 12, you'll begin to hear the main events of the book of Exodus.

So there's a famine in the land and Abram goes down to Egypt to live there for a while, which is precisely what happens with Jacob and his sons. There's a famine in the land, and so they go to Egypt looking for grain. And, of course, Abram tells his wife Sarai that she should fudge the truth a little and say that she is his sister instead of his wife so that he doesn't get killed by the Egyptians so that they can take her.

And so he's wanting to be treated well. And so it says in verse 14, when Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh and she was taken into his palace.

Interestingly, when Moses is born in the early chapters of Exodus in Exodus 2, he's beautiful and the princess takes him into the palace as well. He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai.

We're going to see this in Exodus as well. God's going to inflict serious diseases, bring signs and wonders against Egypt. And so Pharaoh summons Abram and says, what have you done to me? Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say she is my sister so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here's your wife, take her and go.

So Pharaoh tells Abram to go, which is precisely what Moses is going to be asking for over and over again, let my people go. And so Pharaoh sends them away and they go on their way. It says they sent him on his way with his wife and everything he had, which is, as we'll see, one of the primary sources of conflict between Pharaoh and Moses is who's allowed to go.

Is it just the men who can go? And no, by the end it has to be men, women, and children, and all the flocks and herds who leave Egypt. So we have here in a nutshell in Genesis 12, the Exodus story, the going down to Egypt because of a famine and the conflict with Pharaoh, God displaying his power and Pharaoh telling him to go. That's not the only encounter we have with Abraham in Egypt.

We also have the story of Hagar in chapter 16. Now, Hagar is the maidservant of Sarai and she is Egyptian. It's very likely that she entered the household of Abraham during that short stay in Egypt in Genesis 12.

And as you're aware, there's conflict between Sarai and Hagar over Sarai's childlessness after Hagar bears a son for Abraham. And the one thing I want to point out in this passage is in chapter 16, verse 6, Abraham says, your slave is in your hands, do with her whatever you think best. Then Sarai mistreated Hagar, so she fled from her.

And the angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert. And the angel of has a conversation with Hagar. And by the end of the story, Hagar names God.

She is the first person in the Bible to give God a name. And she says, you are the God who sees me. For she said, I've now seen the one who sees me.

And so the thing I want to show you here is that what we have is the family of Abraham mistreating an Egyptian and God seeing this mistreatment and having compassion on Hagar and ministering to her. And this is the reverse of what we're going to see in Exodus, where the Egyptians mistreat the family of Abraham. And it's the same word in Exodus 1, verses 11 and 12.

It's the same word for mistreatment. So when the Egyptians are mistreating the Hebrews, God sees them and God listens and God has compassion and ministers to them. And I think there's a principle at work here.

Long before the Egyptians were mistreating the Hebrews, the Hebrews were mistreating the Egyptians. And sometimes it's easy to read the story of Exodus and think God is playing favorites. He just really likes the Hebrews more than he likes everybody else.

I think if we read the Exodus story against the backdrop of this story from Genesis 16, we can see it's not that God is playing favorites for the Hebrews. It's that God hears the cries of the oppressed. Every human being matters to God.

And the reason why God rescues the Hebrews is because they're being mistreated and they're crying out to him for help. And God has that same care and compassion for Hagar in Genesis 16. So this is not an ethnocentric story.

This is actually a story that includes God's care for all nations. We also see another scene with Hagar in Genesis chapter 21 when Abram sends Ishmael away. And this is after the birth of Abram's son Isaac.

And Abraham is really distressed actually over having to send away his son Ishmael because he had become quite attached to him. But God sees Ishmael and makes a promise to him that he will also become great just like Isaac becomes great. So again, as we come into the story of the Exodus, it'll be easy to paint Egypt as the bad guy in the story and Egypt as the bad place and Egyptians as the bad people.

But I think we need to make sure that we're coming into this with a wider view of God's relationship with Egypt and the way that he shows care for individual Egyptians. The reason that Egypt is going to be on the receiving end of God's punishment is because they are oppressing other people. They're exploiting other people.

And God always opposes those who exploit others. We have, of course, the whole reason that Jacob and his family go to Egypt is because Joseph is in Egypt and God raises Joseph to prominence. Joseph has an incredible tenure in Egypt going from servant or slave, sold into slavery, to being falsely accused and imprisoned.

And then he's faithful to God in his imprisonment and God raises him up so that he becomes second in command in Egypt. It's a remarkable story, often considered the first novella in literature. It's a wonderful story, but I just want to bring out one or two bits of information from this season.

So Jacob joins Joseph in Egypt, starting in chapter 46, and it's really remarkable how much conversation there is about death and bones in these latter chapters of Genesis. Jacob goes down to Egypt to be with Joseph to live his remaining days there, but he makes Joseph swear to him not to bury him in Egypt. That becomes a very important thing for Jacob.

It's absolutely essential for his identity as someone in covenant with Yahweh that he be buried in the land that God's promised to his father Abraham. And so Joseph promises that. And after Jacob's death, there's this great parade of Egyptians and Hebrews who bring the bones of Jacob back into the land of Canaan to bury him in the cave where Abraham and Sarah are buried.

And then Joseph also asks his descendants to promise not to leave his bones in Egypt. And you would think Joseph has become quite at home in Egypt. He's now second in command.

But for him, it's essential that he be brought with the people when they come up out of Egypt. He sees their sojourn in Egypt as temporary as well, even though they experience quite a degree of prosperity during that time. The last thing I want to point out to you is in Genesis 46 verse 19, where we're told that Joseph gets married and we're told about his wife.

So we're told in verse 19, the sons of Jacob's wife, Rachel, Joseph, and Benjamin in Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph by Asenath, daughter of Potipharah, priest of On. This is remarkable because Joseph is marrying an Egyptian woman. Not only that, but she's from a priestly family.

And this is a priestly family that serves the Egyptian god Ra. Potipharah is a is a theophoric name, a name that includes a divine name in it. And it's the divine name Ra that shows us that Joseph is marrying someone whose family has been devoted to Ra.

And that will come into play as we consider Egyptianisms in the Bible and as we consider possible plays on words that are going on in the signs and wonders narratives. But I don't want you to miss that because Joseph is married to an Egyptian, that means their sons Ephraim and Manasseh are half Egyptian, half Hebrew ethnically. And as you maybe are aware, when Jacob is coming to the end of his life, Joseph brings his two sons for his father's blessing.

And Jacob pronounces a blessing on them saying, these two are going to be reckoned as my sons. They get bumped up a generation so that they're not considered his grandsons, but considered his sons. And so we end up with actually 13 tribes of Israel because Jacob had 12 sons, but now Joseph is being replaced with his two sons.

And so two of the 12, 13 tribes of Israel are half Egyptian by ethnicity. So again, as we consider where is Egypt in the Bible and how does God feel about Egyptians, I think it's worth mentioning that there are Egyptians right in the family of faith from the beginning. 1 Kings 3 tells us the story about Solomon marrying a wife from Egypt.

Jeremiah 42 and 43 describe Jeremiah's sojourn in Egypt. So Jeremiah is a prophet during the fall of the southern kingdom of Judah. Not everyone is taken into exile in Babylon.

Some of them are left behind and Jeremiah is among those who are left behind. And then he is taken against his will to Egypt. The people are trying to find a place to take refuge in case the Babylonians come back and wreak more destruction in the land.

And so Jeremiah spends some time in Egypt as well. And there are really interesting echoes between Jeremiah and Joseph in their time in Egypt. We also, of course, have our savior, Jesus, who spends time in Egypt.

Matthew chapter 2 tells us that Joseph took Mary and Jesus and they escaped from Herod to go down to Egypt. What's fascinating about this story is it's like a reverse exodus. The people of Israel were in danger in Egypt and God brought them out, whereas Jesus and his parents are in danger in Canaan.

In both stories, there's a despotic king who's trying to kill babies. And this time, Jesus and his family escape to Egypt and take refuge there. And then God brings them back after the death of Herod.

So Jesus is in effect reliving Israel's story. Many people have noticed that Matthew presents Jesus as a new Israel, that he's the true Israel, that he's going through all the things that Israel went through. So he goes down to Egypt with his parents, then he's brought back.

He spends 40 days in the wilderness, just like Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness. And then he's at the Jordan River being baptized, just as Israel crossed the Jordan River to come into the Promised Land. And so Matthew is going to great lengths to show us that Jesus is reliving Israel's story, including the sojourn in Egypt.

Such a fascinating parallel. And finally, in Acts chapter 2, we have the story of Pentecost, when the Spirit of God comes on the early church, and Egyptians are among those gathered in the temple courts, hearing the Word of God as it's proclaimed by early believers who have been given this gift of tongues so that they're proclaiming the Word of God in all these different languages. It's a reverse Tower of Babel experience, where instead of scattering people speaking different languages, they're being gathered and united around the Spirit of God and the empowerment of the Spirit for covenant renewal.

And the Egyptians are here at Pentecost, experiencing that outpouring of the Spirit, which is what God had always intended for the nations. So as we get started in the book of Exodus, I hope that you're struck by the fact that Egypt is not just a negative place. It's a place where there are people who matter to the heart of God, and they're part of the story of what God is doing among the nations.

Next, we're going to talk a little bit about why Egyptian names and Egyptian words have been brought into the biblical text. The reason why this matters is because many have cast doubt on the historicity of the book of Exodus, and they've said, oh, this book of Exodus, this story of the Exodus, was invented late in Israel's history, because the people of Israel were needing a kind of origin story. So they're maybe feeling unmoored in Babylon.

They're feeling a sense of dislocation, and they're going through an identity crisis. And so somebody created this story to give them a sense of history so that they could be unified as a people. I think instead, the evidence points to this story being reliable and historical.

And we can see these clues even in the names that are used to describe people. We have a number of Egyptian names that appear in the family of the Levites, which is fascinating. So Moses's name is Egyptian.

There's some debate about it has resonances in both Egyptian and in Hebrew. If it's Egyptian, it means the son of, whereas if it's Hebrew, it means one who draws out. And so it could be an bilingual wordplay that helps point to his hybrid identity as a Hebrew who's been raised by Egyptians.

The name Aaron appears to be an Egyptian name. Miriam is also an Egyptian name. And then we have several others, Merari and Putiel and Phineas.

Phineas is maybe the most interesting one. We'll circle back to him when we get to chapter six. But in the genealogy of Exodus chapter six, Phineas is the longest stem on the family tree.

He's the youngest one that gets mentioned. And he seems important to the overall story of Exodus. And his name means the Nubian, which probably indicates that he was quite dark skinned.

And his name is squarely Egyptian. So the hero Levite in the book of Exodus is an Egyptian with probably with dark skin. Pashur and Asir are other Levites from this time period who have Egyptian names.

I don't imagine that the tribe of Levi would have been going around looking for names from other cultures unless they were actually born and raised in that culture. And so this is striking that there are so many in the tribe of Levi with Egyptian names. Later Levites also have Egyptian names that seem to have been included because they now have a family history of having been in Egypt.

So Hophni and Ahimoth and Jerimoth are all mentioned later. And then we have some non-Levites, Ahira and Her, Harnifer and On. All of these are mentioned as being part of the Exodus and wilderness generation.

So these men would have been born in Egypt and part of those who left Egypt, but they have Egyptian names. And then in Exodus 12 verse 38, we're told that when the Israelites left Egypt, a mixed multitude went with them. And so we should expect some multiculturalism in the community of faith, in the Israelite community.

What's striking about these names is that they correspond to the period of history in which Israel is reportedly coming out of Egypt. So if somebody was making this story up later, how would they have known which names were extant at the time of the Exodus? How would they have known? But those who study names tell me that these names are squarely being used in the period of the Exodus in Egypt. There are also some loan words that are used in Exodus from Egypt, Egyptian loan words.

This is not my area of expertise. This information comes from an article by Benjamin Noonan on Egyptian loan words in the Bulletin for Biblical Research Supplement Series, Volume 13. It's a really fascinating article.

He's a comparative linguist and he says after analyzing all the language of the Book of Exodus, he calculates how many words were borrowed from Egyptian in Exodus, and then what proportion of the text as a whole do these words represent. And he compares that to the percentage of Egyptian borrowed words in other parts of the Old Testament. And there's a significantly higher proportion of Egyptian loan words in Exodus than there is in the rest of the Old Testament.

So there's this sudden uptick of Egyptianisms and then it dies off again. It's also a significantly higher proportion of Egyptian loan words than what you find in other Northwest Semitic languages. So when you compare with other languages of that time, the Hebrew language has more borrowed Egyptian words than these other languages do, which also suggests that there was actually historically significant contact between these two nations.

And some of these words that are borrowed in Exodus date precisely to the Late Bronze Age, that is the time of the Exodus. So these are words that because of the way they're being spelled or the way that they're being used, we know that they weren't used before that and they weren't used after that. This particular period of time is when that word was in use.

So you can imagine if someone a thousand years later was thinking, we need an origin story. Let's write a story of where the Israelites came from and let's make it sound Egyptian. How would they have even known what words were being used in 1200, 1300 BC? They wouldn't have had access to that kind of historical information.

They didn't have the same kind libraries we have access to. So it would have been a huge task for them to try to figure out how to make it sound appropriately Egyptian. And if they were going to do that, then I would think they would come up with some more interesting words than the ones they did.

In fact, what we have, this is a list of the loan words that we have in Exodus from Egyptian. And what we have are technical words that relate to the building of the tabernacle, different fabrics that are being used, different kinds of measurements, different articles that were made, and then different elements of Egyptian society that we wouldn't need in Canaan. So for example, Nile and riverboat and reeds, these are things that would have been a big part of their experience in Egypt, but are not going to be part of their experience in Canaan.

The word for magician is a Hebrew word, and this is an actual official role in Pharaoh's court. The name Pharaoh is uniquely Egyptian. But notice the others on the list all relate to the building of the tabernacle, specific articles, poles, and cups, and boxes, and the kind of wood, acacia, that's used.

An ifa measure, a hin measure, a hand span, they're using Egyptian terms for building, which is fascinating because we know that the Hebrews were in Egypt working as builders, so the specialty language that they acquired in that job are the kinds of words that get used in the tabernacle. Again, how would they have known these words hundreds of years later if they didn't have actual contact with Egypt? So this feels fascinating to me and I think helps to support the idea of the historicity of Exodus. There's a couple of phrases as well that get used as the narrator is describing what happened in Exodus.

There are Egyptianisms that come out, speaking of God as having a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That's a specifically Egyptian way of thinking, and we'll talk later about what the significance of that is. The description of Pharaoh's heart as a heavy heart is specifically Egyptian.

The phrase, from the founding of Egypt until now, or references to the whole land of Egypt, these are phrases that come up in the signs and wonders that are uniquely Egyptian, that have resonance in that culture, that aren't being used elsewhere. We don't say that about Canaan, from the founding of Canaan, or from the founding of Israel until now. This is an Egyptian way of talking, and so it makes the most sense for this story to have been written or told, composed in the time when there was major contact with Egypt, or when it was in recent memory.

All right, so we're going to do one more session on the historicity of the Exodus in Old Testament perspective, and where do we put it on the timeline? When did this happen? Who was the and all of that? But for now, this is an introduction to the features that we find in the book that seem to lend itself well to this actual historical period in which the Exodus was set. When we look at the connections to Egypt and Egyptian names, how is it significant to understanding the historicity of the book to see these connections with Egypt and the names that are used? Yeah, that's a great question. So, obviously, if I wanted to invent a story about ancient Egypt, I would use Egyptian names to do that.

I would go look in the encyclopedias, and I would find out what people were called, what names were current, and I would make it seem as historically plausible as possible. So, some could argue that's what the author of Exodus did. They're inventing this later in Israel's history, and they just checked the archives to find out what are some old names.

And that's why it's interesting to notice that some of these names had a limited shelf life. They were used precisely in the period in which Israel is coming out of Egypt, and they just didn't have the kind of library access and the kind of internet access that we have now where you could do that kind of research. So, they would have had to have a reliable memory having been passed down of actual names.

It could not be a wholesale invention, and that's what's striking. And I think, too, that the major names, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, those are all debatable. People say, oh, this is an Egyptian name, or it's a Hebrew name, and you could come up with a meaning in either direction.

Aaron, actually, not so much. Aaron doesn't have a Hebrew possible meaning. I think everybody says that one's Egyptian.

You would expect the major characters of an invented story to have Egyptian names, but it's really remarkable how many of the minor characters, you know, characters in a genealogy end up with Egyptian names, and it's from the generation that would have been born there. And so, you can see that there's Egyptian influence seeping in as the Hebrews move to Egypt. They're actually adopting some of the Egyptian language and some of the Egyptian practices.

Even the way that they worship undergoes a radical transformation from the time that Abraham is in the land building an altar and offering a sacrifice to God. If you fast forward to coming out of Egypt, we've got a tabernacle and a whole system of sacrifices and a priestly class that is serving in the tabernacle, and it's interesting to consider how much of what they're now practicing, which God commands them to do at Sinai, makes sense to them because of their time in Egypt where there were temples and priests and sacrifices. Now, he's saying, okay, do that for me.

And so, the contact, I guess that my point is the cultural contact that they've had in Egypt becomes evident as you see the difference between the before and after. And if you were inventing the story, I don't know how you would get that to work. The examples that you're giving about how Egypt is so important in the stories of how God relates to his people and of different times where they're going to Egypt or coming out of Egypt or things like that, it's how does theologically, what does that teach us about how God values other nations like Egypt? And also, what does it teach us theologically about his faithfulness in continuing to be faithful to the nation of Israel too? Yeah, I'm so glad you asked that because, again, we have a negative vibe about Egypt because of the time of slavery, and sometimes we miss the bigger picture.

And so, the prophets especially consistently warn the people of God, don't go down to Egypt, don't depend on Egypt for your salvation. So, there's a prohibition of getting into deeper covenant relationships or making treaties or depending on them for military strength. Don't go down to Egypt to get horses.

There's a lot of that in the prophets. But at the same time, there's a clear vision that someday, all nations will stream to Jerusalem and ask to be taught of the Lord. And one good example of this is in Isaiah chapter 19, which is a prophecy against Egypt.

And it talks about the waters of the river drying up and the canals stink and the reeds and rushes wither. And it's a time of judgment and devastation for Egypt. But then it looks ahead after that time of judgment and says in verse 19, so Isaiah 19, 19, in that day, there will be an altar to Yahweh in the heart of Egypt and a monument to Yahweh at its border.

It will be a sign and a witness to Yahweh Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to Yahweh because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender and he will rescue them. So, they've been the oppressors in Exodus, but someday they will be oppressed and God will send them a savior.

So, Yahweh will make himself known to the Egyptians and in that day, they will acknowledge Yahweh. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings. They will make vows to Yahweh and keep them.

Yahweh will strike Egypt with a plague. He will strike them and heal them. They will turn to Yahweh and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.

In that day, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria and the Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria and the Egyptians and the Assyrians will worship together. In that day, Israel will be the third along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. Yahweh Almighty will bless them saying, blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.

So, even embedded in the oracles against the nations in the prophets where you have the most striking words of judgment against these nations, God says, but someday after the time of judgment when the sin is dealt with, they're going to be the very place where I'm worshiped and they're going to be part of this community of faith. So, I think we need to hold both of those things in tension. Don't depend on the nations for your salvation, but recognize they too will be saved.

They too have the opportunity to join the people of God. And so, I hope nobody comes out of this class with an anti-Egypt bias. I had a student this semester in my class at Biola who is part Egyptian, part Lebanese, or is it Palestinian? I think it was Egyptian-Palestinian background.

And what a joy to have her sitting in class learning about Exodus along with all my other students. And I asked her, what is it like for you to read Exodus? Does it feel hard? And there's too many other prophecies that show that Egypt is going to be included for that to have been discouraging to her.