JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

The episodes in the wilderness further delineate God’s
nature: He is revealed as the reliable provider of all His people’s
vital needs (cf. Deut. 8:3ff.).
b. These deeds establish God’s capacity to be the protector
of Israel, His right to possess Israel as His redeemed property,
and His claim on their obedience and loyalty (cf. the association
of ideas in Deut. 6:20–25, and Ibn Ezra thereon). They are
the basis of His proposing His covenant to Israel at Sinai.
The Sinai covenant differs essentially from that made
with the Patriarchs. The latter is an unconditional promise,
the grant of a sovereign to his loyal servants (M. Weinfeld);
the former is a sovereign’s rule for his subjects, similar in form
and spirit to ancient vassal treaties. At Sinai, obligations were
laid upon the people, the express will of their lord, the fulfillment
of which was the condition of their happiness.
The terms of the covenant – in every form in which they
have been transmitted – are couched as an address by God to
the people. Their publicity is essential. Since Israel is to be a
holy order (19:6), the entire nation must know its sacred regimen.
This distinguishes the convenant rules from the laws of
other ancient civilizations; they are not ensurers of domestic
tranquillity through justice and defense of the weak (e.g.,
Hammurapi’s laws; Pritchard, Texts, 178; COS II, 336) – no system
of law so conceived was made the vehicle of public education
– but a discipline whereby holiness and righteousness
before God are achieved (cf. Ex. 22:30).
c. The people’s response to God is a major concern of
the book. They have no militant role in their own liberation,
but must merely carry out various instructions. At the sea,
when they panic, they are commanded to “stand fast and see
the salvation of YHWH”; and when it comes “they had faith
in YHWH and in Moses His servant” (14:31). This is clearly a
spiritual peak.
On the way to Sinai, they repeatedly fall to complaining
about their wants, unable to rise above their cares to a quiet
trust in God. He supplies their need time and again, giving
them every reason to have faith in Him, yet they cannot
learn to be trustful. The terror He inspires in them at Sinai
is not enough to keep them from recourse to an idol when
they despair. Experience of His deliverances fails to instill in
them permanently the faith that “nothing is too wonderful
for YHWH” (cf. Ps. 78).
d. Exodus depicts the founding of all the main institutions
of Israel excepting the monarchy: the human agency
through which God acts on and speaks to humanity – the archetype
of the prophet; the priest and the consecrated tribe of
defenders of the faith, the Levites; the sanctuary – God’s dwelling
place amid His people, where He is accessible to them for
worship and oracle, and by which He guides them along the
way; forms of worship – daily sacrifice and annual memorial
festivals; and, above all, the covenant, through which God and
people are bound to each other: “I will take you to be My people,
and I will be your God” – a veritable marriage formula.
These themes remained at the heart of biblical thought.
The complex structure of the Book of Exodus, the effect of ages
exodus, book of
of reflection and elaboration on each of them, bespeaks their
continuous vitality throughout the biblical period.
Bibliography: COMMENTARIES: A. Knobel and A. Dillmann,
Kurzgefasstes exegetisches Handbuch zum Alten Testament
(1880); A.H. Mc-Neile, Westminster Commentaries (1908); S.R. Driver,
Cambridge Bible (1911); A. Kahana, Torah, Nevi’im u-Khetuvim…, 2
(1913); G. Beer and K. Galling, Handbuch zum Alten Testament, Reihe
I, 3 (1939); M.D. Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Exodus (1968);
M. Noth, The Book of Exodus (1962); M. Greenberg, Understanding
Exodus, 1 (1969); J.C. Rylaarsdam, in: The Interpreter’s Bible, 1 (1952);
S. Goldman, From Slavery to Freedom (1958). GENERAL STUDIES:
W. Rudolph, Der “Elohist” von Exodus bis Josua (1938); M. Noth, Ueberlief
(1948); G. von Rad, The Problem of the Hexateuch and Other
Essays (1966); F.V. Winnet, The Mosaic Tradition (1949). MOSES: H.
Gressmann, Mose und seine Zeit (1913); M. Buber, Moses (1946); P.
Déman et al. in: Cahiers Sioniens, 8 (1954); E. Osswald, Das Bild des
Mose (1962); S. Loewenstamm, in: EM, 5 (1968), 482–95. CHAPTERS
1–18: W. Helck, in: VT, 15 (1965), 35ff.; B.S. Childs, in: JBL, 84 (1965),
109ff.; B. Jacob, in: Essays… J.H. Hertz (1944), 245ff.; M.D. Cassuto,
in: Eretz Israel, 1 (1953), 85ff.; S. Mowinckel, in: HUCA, 32 (1961), 121ff.;
H. Kosmala, in: VT, 12 (1962), 14ff.; M. Greenberg, in: Papers of the
Fourth World Congress of Jewish Studies, 1 (1967), 151ff.; J. Pedersen,
Israel, Its Life and Culture, 3–4 (1940), 728ff.; F.M. Cross, Studies in
Ancient Yahwistic Poetry (1950), 83ff.; M.D. Cassuto, in: Keneset le-
Zekher Ḥ.N. Bialik, 8 (1944), 121ff.; J. Muilenburg, in: Studia Biblica et
Semitica (in honor of Th. C. Vriezen; 1966), 233ff. LITERARY CRITI-
CISM: G. Fohrer, Ueberlieferung und Geschichte des Exodus (1964); S.
Loewenstamm, Masoret Yeẓiʾat Miẓrayim (1965). CHAPTERS 19–24:
W. Beyerlin, Origins and History of the Oldest Sinaitic Traditions
(1965); H.H. Rowley, Men of God (1963), 1–36; A. Alt, Essays on Old
Testament History and Religion (1966), 79ff.; M. Noth, The Laws in
the Pentateuch and Other Studies (1966), 1ff.; H. Cazelles, Etudes sur
le Code de l’Alliance (1946); G. Mendenhall, in: BA, 17 (1954), 26ff.,
49ff.; M. David, in: Oudtestamentische Studiën, 7 (1950), 149ff.; D.J.
McCarthy, Treaty and Covenant (1963); M. Greenberg, in: IDB, 1
(1962), 733ff.; M. Weinfeld, in: JAOS, 90 (1970), 184ff. THE TABER-
NACLE, ETC.: F.M. Cross, Jr., in: BA, 10 (1947), 45ff.; H. Haran, in:
JSS, 5 (1960), 50ff.; idem, in: Scripta Hierosolymitana, 7 (1961), 272ff.;
idem, in: JBL, 81 (1962), 14ff.; idem, in: HUCA, 36 (1965), 191ff.; S.
Loewenstamm, in: EM, 5 (1968), 532–48. TEXTUAL CRITICISM AND
DEAD SEA SCROLL FRAGMENTS: D.W. Gooding, The Account of the
Tabernacle (1959); P.W. Skehan, in: JBL, 74 (1955), 182ff.; F.M. Cross,
Jr., The Ancient Library of Qumran (1961), 184ff.; M. Baillet et al., Discoveries
in the Judean Desert, 3 (1962), 49ff., 142. Add. Bibliography:
J. Sanderson, An Exodus Scroll from Qumran (1986); J. Durham,
Exodus (Word; 1987); N. Sarna, Exodus (JPS; 1991); idem, in: ABD II,
689–700, with bibl.; K. Kitchen, ibid., 700–8; A. Wente, in: ABD V,
617–18; Y. Hoffman, The Doctrine of the Exodus in the Bible (1983); E.
Blum, Studien zur Komposition des Pentateuch (1990); D. Redford,
in: VT, 13 (1963), 401–13; idem, Egypt, Canaan and Israel in Ancient
Times (1992), 451; A. Cooper and B. Goldstein, in: MAARAV, 8 (1992),
15–37; J. van Seters, The Life of Moses … (1994); M. Vervenne, in: K.
van Lerberghe and A. Schoors (eds.), Immigration and Emigration
within the Ancient Near East (1995), 403–29; C. Meyers, in: M. Fox et
al (eds.), Texts, Temples … FS Haran (1996), 33–46; G. Davies, ibid.,
71–85; B. Schwartz, ibid., 103–34; C. Houtman, Exodus (HCOT, 4 vols.
(1993–2002); E. Frerichs and L. Lesko (eds.), Exodus: The Egyptian
Evidence (1997); W. Propp, Exodus 1–18 (AB; 1998); S.D. Sperling,
in: R. Chazan et al., Ki Baruch Hu (Studies Levine; 1999), 373–85; S.
Rosenberg, in: NEA, 67 (2004), 4–13.
[Moshe Greenberg / S. David Sperling (2nd ed.)]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 623