- Exodus--reading
notes
- Themes
- relation
of Moses and God
- relation
of Moses and God and children of Israel
- relation
of God and Pharaoh
- all
power relations: antagonist or hierarchical
- slavery
and liberation is theme; where is the slavery, where the liberation; what's relation
between Pharaoh and God as master? Issues of J's irony, especially given the kind
of control that Joseph assists Pharoah in establishing--sharp dealing
- spectacle:
Cecil B. Demille; God as movie producer--the plagues, the miracles; the magic;
Bush, Plagues, Red Sea, Sinai, Manna: what's it all for? To strengthen his power,
now nationally and internationally, as opposed to individually and familially;
wanderings in the wilderness--in order to punish, weed out, draw investment and
bond.
- the
process of memorializing--the interspersing of ritual instruction with narrative;
the reason for events being ritual and vice versa; J and P documentary hypothesis
here alternates with a Redacted version that derives something new from the juxtaposition
- events
and statements predicted by God before they transpire; then happen; then reviewed;
typological narrative
- problem
of scepticism: 3--Now if they do not believe you and do not accept the evidence
of the first sign, they may accept the evidence of the second....moses still resists;
God gets angry; he'll give him aaron as mouthpiece... more bargaining; more and
more instruments to compel belief; creation and compelling of belief.
- portrait
of God in Exodus: power; national deity; former of nations
- Chronology
- 1.
descendants of Jacob all in Israel; abundant; Pharoah is threatened [like God
at Babel?] Worried they may support enemies
- enslaves
them; the more harshly treated the more they reproduce; they are further oppressed,
making bricks
- P.
tells Hebrew midwives to kill boy children; they lie, saying they come out too
fast [use of lies as way to survive--Jacob, Joseph, Odysseus; power of falsehood
and cleverness]
- P.
says to Egyptians throw all Hebrew males into Nile [massacre of innocents]
- 2.
Moses hidden by mother and sister in basket in Nile; discovered by Pharaoh's daughter,
who pities and saves him and hires his mother as nurse and adopts him. [cf. Joseph
story of child abandoned and rescued] [another trick--irony]
- M.
kills Eg. slavemaster and hides body , tries to adjudicate fight between two Israelites;
they reject him and mention the murder; he flees. [has sense of justice and loyalty
to Israelites; a rescuer not thanked; angry and violent man in relation to other
men
- Rescues
Zipporah from thugs at well; marries her and lives with her father
- Jews
groan and god hears
- 3. M.
minding flock near Horeb=Sinai; God appears in burning bush [energy, danger, miracle]
; God calls him [like Adam and Abe] he's afraid to look. [contrast his continual
reluctance to Jacob and Abe; also his function as intermediary; i.e. prophet,
spokesperson, for God; a mouthpiece; the relationships here among the three players
in the whole Deutoronomic history: children of Israel, prophet, God]
- [burning bush
is dangerous; God's first word: come no nearer; take off your sandals; the place
where you are standing is holy ground--Bloom calls this God's anxiety; Moses also
experiences anxiety--covers his face; afraid to look on God--cf. encounter at
Sinai]
- G.
tells M. he'll deliver Hebrews; M. says who am I; God says "I am with you." Moses
asks who are you? God's name is I am or Yaweh--this is my name for ever [cf. Odysseus;
the name of; remember me by name for the deeds I have done]
- G
says Pharoah wont let you go unless compelled; you'll plunder him
- 4.
Now if they
do not believe you and do not accept the evidence of the first sign, they may
accept the evidence of the second....moses still resists; God gets angry; he'll
give him aaron as mouthpiece... more bargaining; more and more instruments to
compel belief; creation and compelling of belief.
- Brutal
threat to Pharaoh about killing first son and then attack on Moses; convincing
children of Israel and convincing Pharaoh and convincing Moses
- Yahweh's
fierceness and contradictions
- fierceness
to Pharoah, children of Israel, and Moses--all refuse to believe him; take him
seriously; get his point across with a smack--cf. burning bush and Sinai
- and
6. Moses' demand that Pharaoh let them go blows up; Pharaoh doesnt take it serious
and adds punishment; Jews reproach Moses, and Moses reproaches God
- 7.
Actual beginning of ten plagues; this has been narrated in other ways previously
- The
plagues as uncreation: replay of Noah and Sodom and Babel
- God
predicts Pharoah will resist; all this to magnify his power; harden heart so as
to create greater miracle, greater suffering; greater deliverance; this is the
rationale for all history
- all
are done in competition with Egyptian magicians and with them as audience
- 8.
Pharaoh's resistance also attributed to being given relief; plagues emphasize
distinctions between Egyptians and Israel
- 10.
Now explanation for the plagues refers to telling children and grandchildren NB
- also
Pharaoh's growing frustration and rage
- 11.
Last plague: The distinction again; the cruelty
- 12,
13. The passover ritual explained; future determining the past; teach it to children;
narrative determined as justification for ritual by enclosing ritual; ritual itself
is commemorative of narrative; function of stories and of Bible; this passover
sacrifice hearkens to Abraham; sacrifices in temple; primitive rite of replacing
human sacrifice; then moving forward to Christian sacrifice which restores human
sacrifice as god's son.
- unleavened
bread; another distinction; kosher and unkosher; kosher and unkosher for passover
- plunder
included in departure; unleavened bread; sense of the hurry in liberative departure;
excitement; but plunder as compensation
- 14.12
Next stage; Pharoah changing mind again; chases the Is.; their typical reaction
is to want to go back; God will win glory for himself, now turning into real warrior;
final plague is another flood; now the Is. put faith in Yahweh and Moses, his
servant
- 15.
The victory vaunt; cf. celebration of the plagues at Passover; drops of wine;
triumph over enemies
- Into
the wilderness; sweet water at bitter springs; precept--if you obey God, he wont
do to you what he did to Egyptians [but later he'll do almost as bad]
- God
provides quail and manna, just enought day by day; but people hoard anyway--for
fourty years wandering in Wilderness; this to make a community for invasion of
nation; water from rock at Horeb
- 18.
Jethro advises making Judicial system; need for building institutions; laws, etc.
Settling disputes, which seem to be quite popular
- 19.
Mount Sinai: Theophany: Mystery and Revelation [cf. Book of Revelation]: God promises
again special status: holy nation; spectacle of the mountain; god will come down;
people be purified-wash, change, dont go near woman; thunder and lightning, turmpet
blast; terror; all smoking; only Moses and Aaron allowed up
- 20.
Decalogue: first commandments are about God--jealous, fearful, taboos; then about
human interactions; giving laws--cf. Jethro in 18; elaboration of tort law; other
regulations, social and economic; provide for the poor; rights of slaves; festivals;
Kashrut; dont relate to other gods; land grab
- 32.
While Moses is up there, people get in trouble make golden calf; breach of Covenant;
God is angry; Moses gets him to cool it, like Abraham; Moses shatters the stone
tablets; destroys the calf; gets the levites to kill three thousand Israelites,
arbitrarily
- 40.
God gives detailed instructions for construction and maintenance of the Tabernacle
and its accoutrements--priestly regulations. God enters his house, the tabernacle,
as a cloud, and remains present as leader and guide to the "house" of
Israel