The Book of Exodus: Exploring Deep Roots: Exploring Deep Roots

By Dr. J Tamaren and L.R. Davidson

Embark on a journey today through twenty

timeless stories from the Second Book

of Moses. Enriched by colorful illustrations,

the text also featu

• Language: English
• Publisher: Caduceus LLC
• Release date: Feb 4, 2023
• ISBN: 9781087930565

Book preview

Part one:

O u t  of  E g y p t

The Book of Genesis told us how the Israelites came to live in Egypt. The Book of Exodus picks up the story around 400 years later. The Israelites have become slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt.

The story of Exodus occurs in two parts. The first part is about how Moses confronts Pharaoh and eventually leads the children of Israel out of Egypt. The second part is about their travels in the wilderness and their encounter with God at Mount Sinai.

Confrontations with Pharaoh

The stories of Moses confronting Pharaoh feature both magic and miracles.

Magic

In Exodus, Moses competes with the Egyptian sorcerers. Moses’ staff can turn into a snake. The Egyptian magicians can also turn rods into snakes. Moses’ staff does eat up the other staffs, however.

Miracles

The Passover seder lists the ten plagues, which are all miracles. The Red Sea parts and let the Israelites pass on dry land. The waters close again, and Pharaoh and his chariots all drown.

Magic can be a trick, some sleight of hand. A miracle, on the other hand, is something so massive, so far outside the natural order of things, that it is ascribed to the power of God.

These stories have an almost folktale quality. They are the foundation stories for the Jewish people. The Exodus from Egypt and the liberation from slavery continues to be retold every year in the celebration of Passover.

Cultural Context

The Hebrew Bible was composed around 3,000 years ago. At the time, there were great civilizations in the Middle East. The Tigris-Euphrates River valley (modern-day Iraq) was rich and fertile. The valley had a 2,000-year history of literature, kings and priests.

The Egyptians, meanwhile, had also built a thriving civilization based on the annual flooding of the Nile River. The Egyptians had been settled there for thousands of years, also with literature, Pharaohs, and priests.

The stories of Exodus arose in a cultural context. The Hebrew Bible drew inspiration from the stories told by the Mesopotamians to the east and the Egyptians to the west. The Hebrew Bible also took ideas and stories from the Canaanites as well. Canaan is the name for the land in which Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had settled. Canaan is the land which God has promised the children of Israel, as they leave Egypt and travel across the wilderness. (See below.)

Ancient Mediterranean Sea – its Eastern Shore, circa 1300 BCE

STORY 1: A New King Arose Over Egypt

Exodus 1:5–22

These are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each man and his household: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun; Dan and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. All the people descended from Jacob numbered seventy, with Joseph already in Egypt. Joseph died and all his brothers and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful and multiplied greatly and they filled the land.

There arose a new king over the land who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people Here is a nation, the children of Israel, numerous and powerful. We should deal wisely with them, lest they increase further and if a war starts, they should join with our enemies and fight against us and leave from the land. And they put over them taskmasters to oppress them with labors and they built storage cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Rameses. And though they oppressed them, they still multiplied, and they still spread, so that the Egyptians dreaded the presence of the children of Israel.

And Egypt cruelly imposed harsh labor upon the Israelites. And they made bitter their lives in hard work in mortar and in bricks and with all labor in the field; in all their labor they them treat ruthlessly.

They made their lives bitter with hard work.

The king of Egypt said to the midwives of the Hebrews, of which the first was named Shifrah and the second was names Puah. If a Hebrew woman gives birth and you see on the birthstool that it is a son, you shall kill it; and if a daughter, she shall live.

And the midwives feared God. They did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, and they let the boys live.

And the midwives answered Pharaoh. Because the Hebrew women are not like the women of Egypt. They are vigorous and give birth before the midwife arrives. So God was kind to the midwives, and the people further increased in number.

And because the midwives feared God, God made for them households. And Pharaoh commanded his people, to say: Every boy that is born, you shall throw into the Nile; and every girl, you shall let live.

Every boy that is born, you shall throw into the Nile.

C o m m e n t a r y

Summary of story. The Israelites had come to Egypt 400 years before. They had been welcomed by the Pharaoh at the time, The story in Genesis says that Joseph was the vizier (Chief Advisor) to the Pharaoh and had helped Egypt survive a drought; to save grain for seven years so that it would feed the nation when the drought came. In gratitude, the Pharaoh welcomed Joseph’s family and their flocks to his land.

But now a new king has arisen who did not know Joseph, and the Hebrew people have grown numerous. The new king is afraid the Hebrews will join forces with Egypt’s enemies and start a fight against the Pharaoh’s forces. He enslaves the people and puts taskmasters over them. Pharaoh even orders that the boy babies be killed. Pharaoh is afraid that if these boys grow up, they will add to the number of Israelite warriors who could rebel