Freedom or Knowledge? Perspective and Purpose in the Exodus Narrative (Exodus 1-15)

Abstract

To have read much of the Bible is to have read something about the exodus. Where it isn't lying on the surface, as in the argument for establishing the law (Exod. 20.2), the exodus is often an assumption without knowledge of which a reader will go astray.' It becomes a leitmotif whose theological-political significance echoes through the pages of the Bible. Joshua leads Israel through the parted waters of the Jordan into the promised land (Josh. 4) in a mirror image of the crossing of the Red Sea. Prophets have visions of a return from captivity : the new exodus, a mirror image of the old (Isa. 43.14-21; . And finally, even Jesus takes up the Mosaic mantle with new signs and wonders for a new generation wandering in yet 1. E.g.

Religious narrative and the literary fantastic: ambiguity and uncertainty in Ex. 1–18

“…Third-person external narrator -The fantastic signs are signs of YHWH's concern, remembrance and commitment to the people: Ex. The narrator's interpretations are not dominant or monological, nor is narratorial commentary exclusively laudatory (thus, also Eslinger [1991]). 4:31; 9:20; 12:50; 14:31 -Hearing about the signs produces belief: Ex.…”

“…Eslinger (1991) expressed the view that the narrator's voice does not express explicit evaluation of the events (1991: 50-52) and argued that YHWH's statements are crucial for the reader's understanding of the events and that they support a triumphalist reading of the narrative, even if such a reading is in fact…”

Ministry in the presence of God (<i>coram Deo</i>) according to Exodus

“…7.For a discussion of the role of the author or narrator in Exodus, see Eslinger (1991). pass after the events described in Exodus 1 and 2 before God would make his presence clear in words and deeds.…”