The Exodus

Exodus 1-19

Moses, the Plagues, the Passover, in the desert to Mt. Sinai

Ancient references

Stele of Merneptah (1200s BCE ) It contains the first known extrabiblical reference to Israel’s existence. He claims to have devastated land of Canaan and its people. Stele of Hammurabi from Babylon (18 th century BCE ). It records a deity giving laws to people that resemble Israel’s laws

Egyptian images of Semites making bricks

Exodus 5:4-14 Egyptian tomb paintings from around the 15th Century BCE. Showing Semitic people doing the same kind of work described in Exodus 5.

Ramses II

(1290-1224

BCE

)

Ramses II is thought by many to be the unnamed Pharaoh of the Exodus.

He had enormous power. Wears a royal headdress and his scepter symbolizes his absolute control of the state.

Exodus 3:13-15



The Divine Name Revealed

13 But Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your ancestors has sent me to you”, and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to them?’ 14 God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ sent me to you.” ’ 15 say to the Israelites, “The Lord, Jacob, has sent me to you”: This is my name for ever, * and this my title for all generations. * He said further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “I am has God also said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of

Exodus 6:1-6

  Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh: Indeed, by a mighty hand he will let them go; by a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land.’ 2 God also spoke to Moses and said to him: ‘I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, * but by my name “The Lord” * I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they resided as aliens. 5 I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are holding as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an 6 Say therefore to the Israelites, “I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgement.

Redeem

   לאגּ

/gâ 'al/ or /gaw-al'/ A primitive root, to redeem (according to the

Oriental law of kinship), that is, to be the next of kin (and as such to buy back a relative’s property, marry his widow, etc.) purchase, ransom, redeem (-er).

See Leviticus 25:47-49

The Promised Land



The land he swore to give to your ancestors



A land flowing with milk and honey



The land of Canaan



The land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.



The land where you were

Go Down Moses

Louis Armstrong Version

"And the LORD spake unto Moses, go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me." Exodus 8:1

Go down Moses way down in Egypt land, tell old Pharaoh to Let My People Go!

Now, When Israel was in Egypt land...

Let My People Go!

Oppressed so hard they could not stand...

Let My People Go!

So the Lord said: 'Go down, Moses way down in Egypt land, tell old Pharaohs to Let My People Go!‘ So Moses went to Egypt land...

Let My People Go!

He made all Pharaoh understand...

Let My People Go!

Yes The Lord said 'Go down, Moses way down in Egypt land, tell old Pharaohs to Let My People Go!‘ Thus spoke the Lord, bold Moses said: Let My People Go!

'If not I'll smite, your firstborn's dead' Let My People Go!

Cause the Lord said 'Go down, Moses way down in Egypt land, tell old Pharaoh to Let My People Go!‘ tell old Pharaoh to let My People Go Notice the call and response Learn more about Spirituals: http://ctl.du.edu/spirituals/History/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP5EfwBWgg0

The Passover

Exodus 12

 Slaughter a male, unblemished lamb: one per family   Eat it that night Put its blood on the doorposts and lintel (above the door)   Eat it with unleavened bread Eat it with bitter herbs  Roast is whole (roasting ensures that the blood is out) blood belongs to god. It’s a symbol of life)  Burn all leftovers  Eat it hurriedly  Blood is a sign and means the angel of death will Passover (12:13 )

The tenth plague

Death of the Pharaoh's Firstborn Son, Laurens Alma Tadema, 1872

The Passover

A possible escape route

This map shows a possible route the Israelites may have taken across the Sinai peninsula away from Egypt to the promised land that “flows with milk and honey.”

Tefillin

(or phylacteries)

Exodus 13:9 “It shall serve for you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the teaching of the Lord may be on your lips; for with a strong hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt.” See also Deuteronomy 6: 4-9 The

Tefillin

(in English, phylacteries) are small leather boxes with straps that can be tied on the arm and around the head. Inside are parchment which contain verses from four sections of the Torah.

The

Tefillin

worn on the arm represents the opportunity to serve God with the body through doing commandments, and the tefillin on the head represents the ability to serve God with the mind through study and belief.

The Song of Moses

Exodus 15

(Notice examples of parallelism. It may have been sung in a call and response format)

  Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: ‘I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my might, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.

The Song of Moses (cont.)

‘Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea; his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power— your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty you overthrew your adversaries; you sent out your fury, it consumed them like stubble. At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up, the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, “I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.

I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.” You blew with your wind, the sea covered them;

Complaints after leaving Egypt

Verse Situation

14:11 When Egyptian army is closing in.

15:24

Complaint

“Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?” When the water is bitter and they cannot drink And the people complained against Moses saying, “What shall we drink?” 16:2 When they feel hungry (they remember the fleshpots of Egypt)

Response

Pillar of fire protects them Moses throws a piece of wood into the water and it becomes sweet “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Given quail at night and manna in the morning (Supernatural food), and rules about dealing with it.

17:3 No water “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” Moses strikes rock and water comes out

Hero Quest Pattern

Joseph Campbell, Hero with a Thousand Faces. The Monomyth

• Special birth (Danger, orphan, royalty, thought dead) • Leaves home and lives with others. • A traumatic event leads to adventure. A herald call the hero to adventure. • The hero has a unique weapon. It only works for him.

• Helped by supernatural forces.

• Faces many trials. Proves self again and again. Faces self. • The Journey into hell, unhealable wound, scar.

• Atones for sins of the father.

• When the hero dies, he is rewarded spiritually.