Book of Exodus: True Scripture, #2

By Sean O'Leary

The Book of Exodus is best known as the rollicking saga of the ten plagues, the Red Sea crossing, escape from Egypt and battles in the wilderness.  But there is far more to this astoundingly rich and complex piece of literature than the story line. The Exodus legend is the core of Judaism's scriptural foundation.  It establishes and validates many cultural and religious principles that define the Hebrew people and its relationship with the national deity.  Indeed, even before the Passover, the Ten Commandments, the Golden Calf bacchanal and the over-the-top divine extravaganza at Mt. Sinai, the reader has been given a clue concerning the metamorphosis of the ancient Canaanite god El into YHWH, the proprietary god of the Israelites.

Furthermore, the literary work "Exodus" is very much the product of the times in which it was edited into its final form: the post-exilic period from the sixth century to the fourth century BCE. The cult of YHWH was still evolving during this tumultuous period and the defeated Judeans were coming to terms with the trauma of being conquered, deported and sent back to Judea to begin a new Persian client state in Palestine. The priestly classes who edited Exodus were striving to define the nation in the context of both tradition and recent history.

Many of the key elements in Exodus and the rest of the Five Books of Moses are a reflection of the tensions resulting from the Israelites' uneven progress toward monotheism and their relationship with their monarchy. They are also indicative of current events and conditions many centuries after the ostensible dating of the Exodus.

The purpose of True Scripture is to make the Bible easier to understand and enjoy for believers and non-believers alike. Most people learn their Bible stories in Sunday School, confirmation class or weekly church service, which significantly limits the material to which they are exposed. While many take comfort in various inspirational passages and gripping narratives, very few people indeed have read the entire book.

True Scripture condenses what is actually written in the Bible into everyday prose, including all of the surprising, amusing and sometimes disturbing details found in the original.  The format is based on three tiers of knowledge, to allow readers to drill down to their comfort level.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Moore Book Publishers
• Release date: Dec 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215714768

Sean O'Leary

I was a very religious and studious Presbyterian child with a penchant for reading everything and asking a lot of questions about it. While I doubt my Sunday School educators intended to be cruel, a scholarly kid is easily affected adversely by illustrated fairy tales told by an authority figure. In more cases than not, these adults turned out to not actually know all that much about the faith they were promoting. So way back when, we good little children were assigned “scripture lessons.” I not only read and memorized the assigned words, I kept going. This led to multitudes of questions, to which I received unsatisfactory answers from those entrusted with my spiritual development (see Introduction to the Appendices). After college, I began my own research into the Christian and Jewish source material, a process that expanded and accelerated over the years. Combined with my observations about the human condition – especially the horrendous suffering that is a large part of humanity’s lot – my belief in the Old Testament god evaporated rather quickly. As my faith dissolved, the inconsistency and hypocrisy of Christianity became more and more evident. I am not alone in this belief (or lack thereof). At the most fundamental level, I question why the creator of the universe needs millions of middle managers on the payroll to explain and administrate his/her/its message. The sad truth is that few people understand what they are reading in the Bible, who wrote it or what their motives were. In case I have not been clear: I do not believe in the Bronze Age god of the Old Testament, who is also the Christian god and ultimately, the god of Islam (see Appendix C), any more than I believe in the Hindu elephant-header god or Viracocha, Lord Instructor of the Inca World. If you detect some anger, you are correct. I join hundreds of millions of former religionists who feel betrayed by the stories we were told as children, when we were unable to discern the greater context. And yet I continue to love those stories and find endless fascination with their origins and context, even while understanding that no god wrote them. I remain amazed at how little most Christians know about the book that theoretically informs their belief system. That is why I write these books. The hope is that this modest document will provide a fresh context for readers across the spectrum of belief.

Book preview

About True Scripture

The purpose of True Scripture is to make the Bible easier to understand and enjoy for believers and non-believers alike. Most people learn their Bible stories in Sunday School, Hebrew School, confirmation class or weekly church service, which significantly limits the scriptural material to which they are exposed. While many take comfort in various inspirational passages and gripping narratives, very few people indeed have read the entire book.

There are several reasons behind this reality. For one thing, the Bible is not easy reading. Even newer translations written in more modern language tend to be long-winded, repetitious and cryptic. The chronology is hard to follow and events are inserted seemingly at random. Some accounts contradict previous passages; other narrative segments are so confusing as to discourage any further reading. When this occurs, True Scripture often inserts an It’s not you, it’s the Bible footnote.  These are included to support you. Many biblical stories don’t make sense to anyone, so don’t feel as if you should have paid more attention in Sunday School.

Furthermore, priests, rabbis and ministers are tasked with expediting spiritual relationships with their God, not creating biblical scholars. In general, the clergy is unlikely to highlight stories that invite too many questions. 

The True Scripture Approach

True Scripture condenses what is actually written in the Bible into everyday prose, including all of the surprising, amusing and sometimes disturbing details found in the original.  The format is based on three tiers of knowledge, which allows readers to drill down to their comfort level.

LEVEL 1: NARRATION The events as described in the King James Version [KJV] and other mainstream translations are told in straightforward language. The story at this level is taken at face value. This section includes all key actions and events but condenses the text and minimizes repetitions.  In cases such as the genealogies, an explanation of the relevance of the material is provided, rather than a list of names.

LEVEL 2: NOTES These comments shed additional light on the narrative using historical, geological, archaeological or theological context.  This study material introduces an element of critical analysis. On e-readers such as Kindle and Note, commentaries follow each chapter and appendix section.

LEVEL 3: APPENDICES These sections provide additional context based on current mainstream Biblical scholarship. Here you may find deeper explanations of puzzling passages.

As you read True Scripture, we invite you to follow along in your own Bible: while content is often clarified, the narrative core has not been altered.

Surprises and Anomalies in The Book of Exodus

The second book of the Old Testament spans eighty-two years of Moses’s life, from his harrowing birth to the building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. In Exodus, you will find  answers to these questions:

When was the last pyramid built? See Event Locations

How many midwives served the needs of millions of Hebrews in Goshen? Ex. 1

Which of God’s names is used for the first time in Exodus? Ex. 3

What emergency surgery does Moses’s wife perform to stop God from killing her husband? Ex. 4

How old was Moses when he first spoke to Pharaoh? Ex. 7

What reason does Moses give Pharaoh for leaving town and why does the Lord direct him to lie? Ex. 7

How many Israelites fled Egypt? Ex. 12

If the Israelites took all their livestock from Egypt, why were they starving in the wilderness? Ex. 16

Who held up Moses’s arms during the battle with the Amalekites? Ex. 17

What was the name of the Arab who suggested an effective administrative structure for the Hebrews? Ex. 18

Why were altars that include steps forbidden by God? Ex. 20

How much would the Ark of the Covenant have weighed? Ex. 25

Why did the Tabernacle priests have bells on the hems of their robes? Ex. 28

What is the function of the magical Urim and Thummim? Ex. 28

How many sets of Ten Commandments are found in Exodus? Ex. 24

Which version of the Ten Commandments were placed in the Ark of the Covenant? Appendix G

Chapter Synopses

Ex. 1 The new Pharaoh has issues with the people of Israel.

Ex. 2 Baby Moses is saved by Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopts him. He kills a slave master, escapes to Arabia and marries a priest’s daughter.

Ex. 3 We meet YHWH for the first time as a burning bush. He gives Moses a major assignment.

Ex. 4 The Lord ambushes Moses, and only his son’s emergency circumcision saves his life.

Ex. 5 The initial demand for a sacrificial retreat brings a loss of straw privileges. The people turn on Moses.

Ex. 6 The Lord predicts bad things for Pharaoh; we meet Moses’s mom and aunt, one and the same person

Ex. 7 Pharaoh’s court sorcerers duplicate Moses’s spells, whereupon he turns all the water in Egypt into blood.

Ex. 8 Plagues 2 - 4:  Frogs, lice and gnats.

Ex. 9 Plagues 5 - 7: Cattle disease, boils, hail.

Ex. 10 Plagues  8 - 9: Locusts, darkness.

Ex. 11 To enable mass infanticide, the Lord hardens Pharaoh’s heart again.

Ex. 12 A new calendar, preparations for the Exodus; YHWH murders Egypt’s firstborn children.

Ex. 13 Beginning a circuitous route to the Promised Land.

Ex. 14 Pharaoh pursues the Israelites; The Lord drowns the Egyptian army in the sea.

Ex. 15 The taunting Song of the Sea lapses into complaining about lack of water.

Ex. 16 YHWH provides quail and manna for the starving people to eat, with some conditions attached.

Ex. 17 Water from a rock; Moses’s staff defeats Amalek’s army.

Ex. 18 Jethro proposes a judicial system.

Ex. 19 YHWH stages an amazing light, sound and smoke show at the Holy Mountain.

Ex. 20 First presentation of the Ten Commandments  / Ten Words.

Ex. 21 - 23 More laws.

Ex. 24 Moses reads the laws to the people, the nobility get to see YHWH, then Moses spends forty more days on the mountain.

Ex. 25 Instructions for the Ark of the Covenant, table and lamp stand.

Ex. 26 The Lord provides detailed plans for the Tabernacle structure and compound.

Ex. 27 The sacrificial altar and other plans.

Ex. 28 The priestly garments.

Ex. 29 Details of sacrificial protocol.

Ex. 30 A tax to pay for Tabernacle construction and upkeep.

Ex. 31 Death penalty for working on the Sabbath is announced, and the tablets are given to Moses.

Ex. 32 Levites kill three thousand partiers and Moses smashes the stone tablets.

Ex. 33 A reiteration of the Covenant, then Moses sees YHWH’s back parts.

Ex. 34 A new set of tablets contains a different set of Ten Commandments.

Ex. 35 Clarification of Sabbath law and work on the Tabernacle begins.

Ex. 36 - 40 Recapitulation of Tabernacle plans, along with furniture, altars and priests’ garments.

Key Places and Event Locations

––––––––

Exodus Locations (see map)

Goshen: Located in the northeastern area of the Nile Delta. Jacob’s family settled here at the end of Genesis, around four centuries before the Exodus event is set.

Pithom/Raamses: Location of the store cities built by the Israelites. While there is historical corroboration for the building of these facilities, there is no mention of millions of Hebrew slaves.

Midian: Where Moses meets his first wife and spends forty years as a herder, working for his father-in-law Jethro, a pagan priest.

Succoth:*  First stop after leaving Goshen.

Etham:* Means on the edge of the wilderness. This is the Reed Sea or marshland through which the ~2,500,000 Israelites passed out of Egypt.

Pi-Hahiroth:* The last camp location before the Israelites crossed the marshland east of Goshen. Significantly, the word means place where the reeds grow in Egyptian.

Marah:* Bitter waters. Moses changes the undrinkable water of this spring into fresh water for the complaining Israelites.

Elim:* An oasis with twelve springs and date palms, likely on an established trade route.

Wilderness of Sin:* This location depends on the siting of Mt. Sinai. At this stop, the people complain about lack of food prior to YHWH providing manna and quail.

Rephidim:* Scene of another incident involving the water supply. Moses strikes the stone to bring forth water for the people in the wasteland.

Mt Horeb/Sinai:* The Mountain of God – two possible locations shown. True Scripture favors the location in Arabia, in large part because it is the same place at which YHWH reveals himself in the burning bush.

OTHER PLACES (not in Exodus text)

Giza/Memphis: The last pyramid was completed about a hundred miles away and hundreds of years before the Egyptian sojourn.

Arabia: The northern section of historical Arabia begins east of the Red Sea and includes Midian.

Kadesh-Barnea:* The final point of the journey before entering Canaan, and the site of thirty-eight years of encampment following the events in Exodus.

* Location based on speculation; this place name has never been verified.

Travel Routes

Way of the Sea: A well-traveled route for millennia between Egypt and the Levant. Distance from Goshen to Canaan is about two hbundred miles.

Plan A. (King’s Highway) The most reasonable Exodus route across the Sinai peninsula (see Num. 21:22).  This road was the southern alternative to the Way of the Sea and is the east - west portion of the key trade route connecting the Middle East and Africa. This road was officially maintained by the Egyptian government, and connected established water sources. True Scripture assumes a provisional location for Mt. Sinai in Midian, in northwestern Arabia.

Plan B.  Based on the once common belief that Mt. Sinai is located in the southern Sinai Peninsula. Passage down the west coast of the Sinai would have been relatively easy, but penetrating the mountainous interior would have been more or less suicidal for millions of travelers with their livestock.

Introduction | Book of Exodus (Shemot) The Names[A]

In popular culture and for casual Christians, the Book of Exodus is best known as the rollicking saga of the ten plagues, the Red Sea crossing, escape from Egypt and battles in the wilderness. But there is far more to this astoundingly rich and complex piece of literature than the story line.

The Exodus legend is the core of Judaism’s scriptural foundation.  It establishes and validates many cultural and religious principles that define the Hebrew people and their relationship with the national deity. Indeed, even before the Passover, the Ten Commandments, the golden calf bacchanal and the over-the-top divine extravaganza at Mt. Sinai, the reader has been given a clue concerning the metamorphosis of the ancient Canaanite god El into YHWH,[B] the proprietary god of the Israelites. [C] 

Furthermore, the literary work Exodus is very much the product of the times in which it was edited into its final form: the post-exilic period of the 6th through the 5th century BCE. The cult of YHWH continued evolving during this tumultuous period in which the defeated Judeans were coming to terms with the trauma of being conquered, deported and sent back to Judea to launch a new Persian client state in the Levant. The scribal and priestly classes who edited Exodus were striving to define the nation within the framework of both tradition and recent history. More on this in Appendix C: Historical, Geographic and Archaeological Context.

Many of the key elements in Exodus and the rest of the Five Books of Moses are a reflection of the tensions resulting from the Israelites’ uneven progress toward monotheism and their relationship with their monarchy. They are also indicative of current events and conditions many centuries after the ostensible dating of the Exodus migration.[D]

Why Exodus Matters In the Modern World

For both believers and non-believers, the narratives and attitudes of Exodus resonate more urgently than ever in the 21st Century, and affect virtually the entire planet.

The Hebrew saga of oppression and escape from bondage continues to inspire non-Jewish peoples, in particular American Blacks who see it as a metaphor for their own struggles with slavery and injustice.[E] The saga has been deployed over millennia by a wide range of stakeholders, all of whom characterize themselves as heirs to the Israelites, their activities sanctioned by God. Such luminaries as Martin Luther were comfortable comparing the Pope to Pharaoh. The Pilgrims saw the North American indigenous as the new Canaanites and welcomed smallpox as analogous to the Exodus plagues. Dutch Protestant hero William of Orange identified with Moses while Brigham Young went so far as to order his flock into administrative groups of tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands in imitation of Jethro’s court system in Ex. 12.

Many elements in these forty chapters are inextricably intertwined with Christian and Islamic religious practice. The Ten Commandments, for example, are held by fundamentalist Christians in the United States as the primary underpinning of the legal system and moral code.

The sacrificial Paschal Lamb of Passover has carried forward for over three millennia, manifested in the Christian New Testament as the story of the Last Supper.  Likewise, the Tabernacle’s sacrificial bronze altar and the concept of a divine tax for its upkeep remain firmly in place in modern church practice.

Chronology and Summary (Our Story So Far)

After God Almighty[F] creates the world in Genesis, it takes him approximately 1,750 years to grow disappointed enough to destroy his handiwork by deluge. Another two hundred years later, he promises the land of Canaan to a wandering Chaldean by the name of Abram. He then extends this Covenant to Abram’s descendants Isaac and Jacob.[G]

God changes Jacob’s name to Israel.  He has twelve sons, one of whom is sold to the Egyptians as a slave. Pharaoh recognizes Joseph’s talent and he is appointed governor. Joseph brings his whole clan down to Egypt, where they are given excellent land in the eastern Nile Delta region of Goshen. Joseph dies and is mummified as a member of the Egyptian ruling classes.

The Exodus tale begins hundreds of years after the Book of Genesis ends.[H] The Israelites have fallen on hard times and are now enslaved by the Egyptians, constructing public buildings at Pithom and Raamses.

Structure of Exodus

I. The first narrative section covers eighty years and deals with Moses’s escape from Pharaoh’s decree and his early life in Arabia married to a Midianite woman. In this section, we are introduced to the god YHWH for the first time.  [Ex. 1-6]

II. This section describes the events of the original Passover and escape from Egypt, including the ten plagues and killing of the Egyptians’ first born children and animals. That portion concludes with the drowning of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea/Sea of Reeds.[I] [Ex. 7-14]

III. Marked by Miriam’s victory taunt, Part III covers the early adventures of the two million or so escapees making their way across one of the planet’s harshest wastelands. It features a war against the Amalekites and a gift of manna. [Ex.15-19]

IV. Beginning in Ex. 20 the Lord introduces four chapters of law giving, starting with the Decalogue[J] and continuing with the Covenant Code. [Ex. 20-24]

V. Chapters 25 -31 consist primarily of incredibly detailed instructions for the building and consecration of the Tabernacle, priestly garments, furniture and accessories. Initial instructions for sacrificial protocol are found here. [Ex. 25-31] 

VI. The legend of the golden calf bash and its aftermath provides a tumultuous narrative fulcrum between the mirror sections V and VII. [Ex. 32-35]

VII. The remainder of the book essentially recapitulates the Lord’s Tabernacle specifications as they are carried out by Moses and the people. [Ex. 36-40]

STUDY NOTES:

Hidden in Plain Sight: Because Exodus is so rich in dramatic narratives, some of the most fascinating and important material is often overlooked. In the True Scripture format, we have made an effort to supplement challenging material with more accessible explanations and extra-Biblical context.  

Exodus is also full of puzzling, bizarre and troubling incidents that are rarely shared during the Sunday sermon or Bible School lessons.  See chapter notes and Appendix A: Internal Contradictions, Inconsistencies and Oddities.

God’s Names: In the famous burning bush encounter in Ex. 3:14, the deity of the Exodus story introduces himself for the first time as YHWH (as opposed to El, El Shaddai or other variations thereof, the deity name most often used in Genesis).[K] For the sake of simplicity, we refer to the God in Exodus as either YHWH or the Lord. See Appendix D: El Shaddai, Yahweh, God and Allah.

The Tabernacle:  A significant portion of Exodus is concerned with YHWH’s skills as an architect, engineer, interior decorator and fashion designer. The portable Tabernacle, its furniture, various altars, sacrificial accessories, lamp stands and the priest’s garments are covered in great detail in Ex 25-29 and then essentially repeated in Ex 36-39.  Rather than duplicate the minutia of the original text, we have condensed the specifications into more readable segments, supplemented by original drawings and diagrams.[L]

Contradictions and Ambiguities: Even when the text is rendered in a straightforward manner, it is often difficult to understand what is going on. It’s not you that is confused: it’s the Bible that is confusing.  Anytime you get discouraged, spend some time with Intro to Appendices: Making Sense of the Bible.

Laws: The Ten Commandments comprise the core of the Exodus law set, but hundreds of additional statutes, precepts, judgments, and ordinances are imparted to Moses during his extended expeditions up on Mt. Sinai. Rather than rehashing each law, we provide a general accounting of the types of laws in each chapter.[M]

Sacrificial Obsessions: The emphasis on burnt offerings is minimized in most modern religious dialog and yet it is a fundamental component of the Hebrew Bible, of ancient religious life and most likely of human psychology. As was the case throughout the ancient Near East, the care and feeding of the deity was not only the primary objective of worship, it was also a locus of economic and political power. See Appendix E: The Tabernacle, Priests, Sacrifices and Their Legacy for further discussion on Biblical and ancient religious practices.

Historical and Geographical Context: The Exodus story is set in the volatile Near East during the late Bronze Age. However, the material is also shaped by the geopolitics of the region over the course of many millennia as well as the many cultures with whom the ancient Israelites interacted. The second Book of Moses echoes the influence of Egyptian, Assyrian, Classical Greek, Babylonian and Persian civilizations to name a few. Some of the most agonizing issues of the 21st Century have roots in this archetypal story.[N]

Introduction NOTES:

A. In Hebrew literary tradition, a document was given its title based on the first significant word. The original Exodus document begins with a listing of the names (Shemot) of Israel’s (Jacob’s) sons.

B. For most modern readers of English translations in particular, this is an unwitting witnessing. When reading the burning bush story in English, it would not be clear, for example, that Yahweh’s name is a derivative of a Hebrew verb combining the ideas of being and creating.

C. And eventually America and Islamic nations. Much more on the evolution of this deity in Appendix D: El Shaddai, Yahweh, God and Allah.

D. The overwhelming majority of modern biblical scholars understand Exodus to be a religious and political document. It was never intended by its many authors to be taken as a historical record. It is a classic case of historiography, that is, reflective of the time period during which it was written, rather than the presumed epoch of the events.

While Bible literalists believe that the scriptures are the inerrant word of God, that position is difficult to maintain when confronted with extensive internal and external evidence to the contrary. The purpose of this work is to provide additional context distilled from the past two hundred years of mainstream Bible scholarship. For a brief treatment of how the book of Exodus came into its final form, please see Appendix F: Authors, Sources and Translations.

E. Although the Exodus law set has no fundamental problem with slavery.

F. Or El-Shaddai.

G. The Age of the Patriarchs covers the period between Abraham and Joseph and comprises much of Genesis. It establishes a kinship hierarchy mirrored in the relationship with the national god.

H. There are multiple discrepancies within the Bible as to how much time passed between Joseph’s death and Moses’s birth. See the chapter notes in Ex. 1 and Appendix C: Historical, Geographic and Archaeological Context.

I. The Reed Sea marshland was transmuted into the Red Sea in the third century BCE when the original Hebrew was mistranslated into Greek for the first time. See Appendix B: Logistical Challenges for a summary of the never ending discussion of where a non-historical event took place.

J. Otherwise known as the Ten Words or the Ten Commandments.

K. The importance of God’s shifting names is likely to be lost on a reader using an English language translation (in other words, most Americans), but it is a key concept for understanding this material. This fascinating but complex topic is covered in many of the footnotes, and in significantly more detail in Appendix D: El Shaddai, Yahweh, God and Allah. For additional clarity in the narrative pages we capitalize the H in pronouns referencing YHWH such as He or His. Moses, however, gets a lower case h.

L. The traveling tent shrine, its relationship to the power nexus of the ancient Jewish state and the function of sacrifice in the evolution of the YHWH cult is discussed in Appendix E: The Tabernacle, Priests and Sacrifices and Their Legacy.

M. A discussion of the confusing variations on the Ten Words and other laws in the Hebrew Bible is found in Appendix G: Exodus Laws In Context, as well as background regarding derivation from surrounding cultures, especially the Code of Hammurabi. Other issues concerning the Ten Commandments are found in footnotes.

N. See Appendix C: Historical, Geographic and Archaeological Context.

Exodus 1

It’s four hundred years since Joseph’s death and there’s a new Pharaoh in town. He is so mistrustful of the Hebrews that he orders all their first born males killed at birth.

Exodus begins with a list of the names[1A] of the children of Israel (Jacob) who traveled with him during the time of the famine, when his son Joseph was governor of Egypt.

After Joseph’s death, Jacob’s original family of seventy people soon became prolific and powerful.[1B] Unfortunately, as the Exodus story opens a new King[1C] has taken office, a Pharaoh who does not remember all Joseph accomplished and is concerned that the Israelites have grown too strong. He is convinced that they will join up with Egypt’s enemies in the next war.

His solution is to afflict the people of Israel[1D] with taskmasters who make them build treasure or store cities[1E] at Pithom and Raamses.[1F]

Whatever the Egyptians made them do, it was with rigour. [KJV]

But the Israelites continue to multiply in spite of the hard bondage they suffer toiling on construction projects and in the fields.

As the narrative opens, Pharaoh issues directives to the two Hebrew midwives.[1G]  He tells the childbirth assistants to kill any new born males as they are being born, but to let the girls live. Luckily for the Hebrews, these two midwives fear the Lord more than they fear Pharaoh, and they secretly defy his instructions.  

When Pharaoh calls the two midwives to account, they explain that the Hebrew women are  lively, unquestionably more efficient at birthing newborns than Egyptian women.[1H]

Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. [KJV]

Pharaoh has no comment at this point and no consequences for the midwives are mentioned.[1I] However, the Lord is pleased and rewards the two women with prosperity and prestige. The Hebrews continue to multiply and wax mighty.

Meanwhile, not getting anywhere with the midwives, Pharaoh comes up with a new strategy. He instructs the entire Egyptian citizenry to take over the original assignment and kill the male Hebrew children by casting them into the river.

Exodus 1 NOTES:

1A. The Hebrew name