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O l d T e s t a m e n t G u i d e
Exodus
By Antonio Fuentes
Like his forebears, Abraham and Isaac, Jacob led a semi-nomadic
existence in Canaan. He was forced by a severe famine to emigrate with his
entire family to Egypt, where they settled around the beginning of the
eighteenth century before Christ. Over the next four hundred years the sacred
text tells us nothing about the stay of the Jews in Egypt. God makes no
revelation during this period. All we know is that by the end of it the Hebrews
had become a numerous, strong, hardworking people, so much so that the
Egyptians, growing afraid of them, forced them into slavery; their lives
"became bitter with hard service...; in all their work they made them serve
with vigor" (Ex. 1:13-14). The book of Exodus (= "leaving") is a
continuation of Genesis; the fact that it takes its name from the Israelites'
going out of Egypt shows the importance of this episode in the life of Israel.
Now, after many long years of apparent silence on God's part, he keeps faith
with his promises to their forebears, the patriarchs, and comes to their rescue
to free them from the slavery, imposed on them by Pharaoh. As he explains to
Moses, "I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have
heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their suffering, and I have
come to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians" (Ex. 3:7-8).
Humanly speaking, the Jews can see no way out of their oppression; they are
deeply depressed. God is going to come to their rescue in a very overt way.
First he chooses a man--Moses. The episode of the basket in which his sister
Miriam puts the baby Moses is a clear sign of God's special providence.
Saved from the waters of the Nile by Pharaoh's daughter and nursed by his own
mother, Moses is brought up and educated in Pharaoh's own palace and becomes one
of the most prominent people of his time. However--and this is very
important--he retains the faith of his forefathers and is ready to profess that
faith and defend his people even at the cost of his life if necessary.
One example of this is his killing of the Egyptian whom he found beating a
Hebrew (Ex. 2:11-12); in doing so he was not acting out of anger but in
accordance with the lex talionis which laid down that justice must be
done either by the authorities or by whoever suffered the injustice. Since
recourse to Pharaoh was impossible, Moses applied the law even though this meant
putting his own life at risk.
The mission God gave Moses was a very demanding one, involving his whole life.
From the moment that he received his definitive vocation with the vision of the
burning bush his faith was often put to the test: "He looked, and lo, the
bush was burning, and yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, 'I will turn
aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.' When the Lord saw
that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, 'Moses, Moses!'
And he said, 'Here I am.' Then he said, 'Do not come near, put off your shoes
from your feet, for the place in which you are standing is holy ground'"
(Ex. 3:2-5). From this text and Moses' conversation with God, the following
important points emerge:
1. In his dialogue with Moses, God's transcendence is evident. The very ground
on which Moses stands is sacred, but God allows him to stand there because he
wants to give a special mission to this man in whom he has complete confidence.
2. To fulfill this mission Moses should not rely on his own resources alone,
even though he is highly educated and talented. When he learns what God wants
him to do, he exclaims, "Who am I?" (Ex. 3:11), but the Lord
immediately sets his mind at rest: "I will be with you" (v. 12).
3. Before he accepts God's charge, Moses asks him what he should say when the
children of Israel ask who sent him. This is the point at which God reveals his
name, Yahweh, which has such importance for our faith: "God said to Moses,
'I am who am.' And he said, 'Say this to the people of Israel, I AM has sent me
to you'" (Ex. 3:14).
4. Moses' faith is always in evidence, and at all stages he accepts what God
tells him. He is a humble man who does not overestimate his virtues and knows
his limitations. For example, he was not a good speaker--in fact he had a
stutter--and he could see it would be difficult for him to pass God's word on to
his people or to inform Pharaoh as God required him. At first he tries to
decline God's calling and offers all kinds of excuses, to which God listens
patiently, and then says, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him dumb, or
deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will
be your mouth and teach you what you shall speak" (Ex. 4:11-12).
5. Like his ancestor Abraham, Moses puts his trust entirely in God. He
immediately leaves the peace and security of his home in Midian, where he had
taken refuge, and returns to Egypt with the special mission of taking his
suffering people away from that country and leading them into Canaan. The
covenant which will be made on Sinai will make Israel God's own people.
So, since making his promise to save man, God has taken two important
steps--choosing first Abraham and then Moses. The first he makes the father of a
numerous people, and now, with Moses, he will turn that people into a special
people of his own, by a singular choice. Before the Hebrews leave Egypt, Moses
has a series of meetings with Pharaoh, as God had instructed him. In order to
show Pharaoh that Yahweh is the only true God, much more powerful than Pharaoh,
Moses warns him of a series of plagues which will befall Egypt if the Hebrews
are not allowed to leave, but Pharaoh will not listen, despite the evidence.
Coinciding with the announcement of the tenth and last plague, that of the death
of the firstborn, Moses instituted on God's instruction the feast of the
Passover as a permanent commemoration of the Jews' liberation from slavery in
Egypt: "This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be
the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on
the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb according to their
fathers' houses, a lamb for a household....Your lamb shall be without blemish, a
male a year old...and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this
month....This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a
feast to the Lord; throughout your generation you shall observe it as an
ordinance forever" (Ex. 12:2-14).
After the Passover meal, with the permission previously given by Pharaoh--who
had seen his own son die--the Israelites begin their journey into Sinai. Before
reaching Sinai, indeed immediately after leaving Egypt, God works a most
spectacular miracle to enable his people to cross the Red Sea. In terror, the
Egyptians cry out, "Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for
them against the Egyptians" (Ex. 14:25). The Red Sea can become passable
through natural causes, but in this case God enables Moses to orchestrate
natural phenomena in order to save the Israelites. The crossing of the Red Sea
has always been seen by the Church as symbolizing Christian baptism. The history
of Israel as a people really begins with their departure from Egypt. God molds
the clans together to lead them toward their final destination--possession of
the land of Canaan. The Israelites become his chosen instrument to effect his
plan of salvation.
In line with what he promised in Genesis, God now tells Moses, "This you
shall say to the house of Jacob....If you will obey my voice and keep my
covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples" (Ex. 19:3-5).
God's choice of Israel, as that of Abraham, stems from his love and not from
Israel's merits. The narrative begins by describing the impressive theophany
which happens on Mount Sinai: "And Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke,
because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the smoke of it went up like the
smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain quaked greatly" (Ex. 19:18). Here
we can see God's infinite majesty and also his total transcendence. He is the
Lord of all creation. He is all-holy, and therefore the people cannot approach
the mountain because they are as yet unpurified.
The covenant of Sinai seems to have three purposes:
1. It makes Israel the people of God and Yahweh the God of Israel--as Leviticus
later reminds them, "I will be your God, and you shall be my people"
(Lev. 26:12).
2. God promises to give special help and protection to Israel against other
nations and to give it a land of its own--Canaan.
3. Finally, God gives Israel a Law to regulate its religious and moral life. The
Decalogue will henceforth determine the relations of each individual and of
Israel as a whole with God. This commitment to Israel is made more explicit in
the "Book of the Covenant" which contains a whole series of laws and
precepts which are to govern the religious and civil life of the chosen people.
The covenant is ratified or signed by means of a sacrifice, and then the
people--represented by the twelve tribes of Israel--and the altar--representing
God--are twice sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice. "Then he [Moses]
took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they
said, 'All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient'"
(Ex. 24:7).
Although Exodus takes the form of a popular narrative, easy for a primitive
people to understand, it also contains important religious teachings. The
episodes in this history obviously involve special divine intervention. There is
no other explanation for the liberation of Israel or the crossing of the Red Sea
or the survival for so long in the wilderness.
God chooses Moses as his faithful intermediary with his people, and Moses'
response to his vocation and to the mission God gives him is a clear example of
how people should make themselves available to God.
A man of great humility and patience, Moses is put to the test on innumerable
occasions. When Israel bemoans its plight, Moses always responds faithfully to
Yahweh and stays completely loyal to the covenant of Sinai. Yet he did not live
to see the day when Israel entered the promised land, because on one occasion he
doubted God's patience, thinking that God could not tolerate the Israelites'
insolence and distrust.
As the book of Numbers (20:1-12) reports, when Israel was in the middle of the
desert at Meribah, there was no water. The people complained against Moses and
Aaron, and God commanded them to give them water by striking a rock with Moses'
rod. Because they had to strike the rock twice God punished Moses and Aaron for
doubting his mercy, which is infinite despite his people's incredulity and
disloyalty. And so the episode ends: "These are the waters of Meribah,
where the people of Israel contended with the Lord, and he showed himself holy
among them" (Num. 20:13).
Another piece of explicit teaching in this book is its revelation of the name of
Yahweh, the only God, absolute Lord and master. God's covenant with the people
of Israel, chosen without merit from all other peoples to be a holy people, a
priestly nation, marks the beginning of salvation for the rest of mankind as
well. In a shadowy and symbolic way, everything said in this book points to its
full development centuries later, in the New Testament, where it becomes flooded
with light when the Messiah arrives.
Seen from this angle, we can glimpse in Exodus Jesus Christ, the ultimate goal
of the Law and of all history. The passage of the Red Sea is seen as prefiguring
baptism; the manna, the Eucharist; the bronze serpent lifted up on the pole
(Num. 21:8-9), which cures the Israelites if they just look at it, becomes the
cross of Jesus Christ, which has the power to heal or redeem man from all his
sins; the rock which produces water in the desert is Jesus Christ, who nourishes
Christians as they make their way through life (1 Cor. 10:4); the blood of the
victims which is used to seal the old covenant is the blood of Jesus, who is
immolated on the cross as an offering for our sins (Heb. 9:12). With his blood
he seals the new and definitive covenant.
All of this means that Exodus is one of the most important books in the Old
Testament; without meditating on and appraising it, it is difficult to
understand God's later revelation to men in his Son Jesus Christ.
Antonio Fuentes teaches Scripture at the University of Navarre in Spain. This continuing series is excerpted with permission from his Guide to the Bible, which is available from This Rock postpaid for $14.95. (California residents add $1.00 sales tax.)
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