The Book of Exodus

God Sets His People Free

The Book of Exodus expresses the faith of the Israelites, who, generation after generation, passed on the story of how the Lord remembered the promise he had made to Abraham their father: how he brought his oppressed people out of Egypt, renewed his Covenant with them, and led them into the Promised Land. This explains why the intervention of God, indicated by countless miracles, ultimately took the step concerning the concrete circumstances of the liberation and the stage in the wilderness. Thus, the Book of Exodus constitutes the act of Israel’s birth and the mirror in which the people of God contemplates itself in order to understand its destiny.

Various traditions, often difficult to distinguish clearly and that had already served in the composition of the Book of Genesis, tell of the events that marked the beginning of the history of the Jewish people. But the work in which these traditions are combined possesses a genuine unity, for its aim is less to recover the details of those events than to bring out their meaning. Scholars locate the events in either the 15th or the 13th century B.C.

The Covenant, which is the focal point of the Jewish religion, is also the vital center of the book. It is expressed in a formula that sums up the relationship between Israel and God: the Lord delivers Israel from slavery and offers it freedom in order that it may agree to live in fidelity to his word.

The Ten Commandments and the many precepts that apply them to the countless situations of life have for their purpose to help Israel truly become what it is: a people chosen by the Lord and devoted to his interests.

The Exodus proves, therefore, to be the ideal period in the relationship of God and Israel, the time of their first love, of their betrothal, to use the wonderful image of the Prophets (Hosea, Jeremiah, Ezekiel).

It is also a time of testing, for the passage through the wilderness to the promised but distant land is a very difficult one; the Israelites are tempted to turn back, and more than once they forget him who has given them their freedom. But the Lord, a God of kindness, forgives them over and over.

The dominant figure in the Book is Moses. Chosen to be an intermediary and given the privilege of intimacy with God, he leads the people, organizes them by giving them their first laws and customs, and brings them into the covenant. He is one of the greatest personages in the political life and above all in the spirituality of the Old Testament and, beyond a doubt, of world history.

The Bible often bids us go back and meditate on the Exodus. The Psalms allude to it. Deuteronomy (chs. 1–11) brings out the spiritual meaning of the adventure in the wilderness. The second part of Isaiah (chs. 40–55) sings of the joy Israel experiences in its certainty that during its return from the Exile the miracles of the Exodus will be repeated. In a lengthy meditation on this story the Book of Wisdom (chs. 10–19) finds Divine Wisdom at work.

In the New Testament Jesus Christ is the new Moses who is to lead the new People of God, the Church, to the new Promised Land. He is the rock from which water springs to slake the thirst of believers; he is the true dwelling of God in the midst of humanity; he is the Passover lamb who with his blood redeems his people and seals the new and everlasting Covenant between humanity and the Father.

Christians too are set free from the slavery of sin by the water of Baptism without any merit on their part, and they go forward in the light of the Risen One toward the Kingdom of the Father. They too encounter trials and temptations, but the Eucharist is there like the manna to nourish them and sustain their journey. If they should stumble, they know that the God of the Covenant offers them forgiveness. Hence, the entire spiritual adventure of the baptized, like that of the Church, is already inscribed in the pages of the Book of Exodus.

The Book of Exodus may be divided as follows:

I: The Children of Israel in Egypt (1:1—12:28)

A: Oppression of the Israelites (1:1-22)

B: The Liberator Raised Up by God (2:1-25)

C: The Burning Bush (3:1—7:7)

D: The Plagues of Egypt (7:8—11:10)

E: The Passover (12:1-28)

II: The Exodus from Egypt and the Journey to Sinai (12:29—18:27)

A: Departure from Egypt (12:29—15:21)

B: The Journey through the Wilderness (15:22—18:27)

III: The Covenant at Mount Sinai (19:1—24:18)

A: The Covenant and the Ten Commandments (19:1—20:21)

B: The Book of the Covenant (20:22—24:11)

C: Moses on the Mountain: The Regulation of Worship (24:12-18)

IV: Instruction on the Sanctuary and Its Ministers (25:1—31:18)

V: The Golden Calf and the Renewal of the Covenant (32:1—34:35)

VI: The Construction and Furnishing of the Sanctuary (35:1—40:38)