Foreword
xi
Preface
xix
Introduction
1
The uses of the Exodus theme; The title; The connection with
Genesis; Structure and content; The historical background.
CHAPTER I
The Oppression
15
The Hyksos and their expulsion; The enslavement of the Israelites;
Brickmaking; The midwives.
CHAPTER II
The Births and Youth of Moses
27
The birth of Moses; The motif of the abandoned hero; The role of
women; The name "Moses"; Moses' upbringing; The Midianites;
Jethro.
CHAPTER III
The Commissioning of Moses
38
The Burning Bush; The "God of the Father(s); "A land flowing with
milk and honey"; The ethnic complexity; Moses' reluctance; The
Divine Name; The elders; "Hebrews"; Worship the wilderness;
Stripping the Egyptians; Signs and wonders; Moses' continued
resistance.
CHAPTER IV
The Ten Plagues
63
The hardening of the heart; Bricks without straw; Demoralization;
Signs before the pharaoh; The plagues; The literary form;
Judgments on the gods of Egypt.
CHAPTER V
The Passover and the Exodus
81
The calendar; The paschal lamb and the unleavened bread; Leaven;
Bitter herbs; The blood; The death of the firstborn; "Six hundred
thousand men on foot."
CHAPTER VI
From Egypt to Sinai
103
The route of the Exodus; The Yam Suf; The pillar of cloud and the
pillar of fire; The miracle at the sea; Manna and quails; The
battle with the Amalekites; The organization of the judiciary.
CHAPTER VII
The Ten Commandments; Moses and Monotheism
130
Preparations for the theophany; The atmospheric disturbances; The
covenant concept; Near Eastern parallels; Israelite innovations;
The prohibition against idolatry; The Sabbath; Moses and
monotheism.
CHAPTER VIII
The Laws
158
The Book of the Covenant; The casuistic formulation; The ancient
Near Eastern laws; The nature of the law collections; The nature of
the Torah's collections of laws; The distinctive feature of
Israelite law; Lex talonis, or "an eye for an eye"; Lex
talonis in the Torah.
CHAPTER IX
The Tabernacle and the Golden Calf
190
The plan of the Tabernacle; The furniture; The historical reality;
The divine instructions and the celestial images; The Tabernacle
and Sinai; The all-Israelite emphasis; Gradations of holiness;
God's omnipresence; God's unity and perfection; The tablets; The
Ark; The cherubim; The Tabernacle, the Sabbath, and Creation; The
Golden Calf.
Notes
221
Abbreviations
245
Bibliography
247
Index
264
NAHUM M. SARNA is Emeritus Professor of Biblical Studies at Brandeis University. Author of Understanding Genesis and On the Book of Psalms, he is an editor and translator of the Jewish Publication Society's translation of the Bible.
"A thorough and highly sophisticated reflection on the biblical
text."
—Brevard S. Childs, Yale University
"An excellent companion volume to the biblical book of Exodus
itself."
—Baruch A. Levine, New York University
"Sheds a brilliant light upon one of the greatest books in the
possession of humankind."
—Chaim Potok, author of Wanderings
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