(A) Israel in Egypt (1:1–13:16)
§ 164a 1:1–22 Increase and Oppression of the Israelites—1–5. All the sons of Jacob with their families descended into Egypt (Gen 35:23–25), seventy (M1656T) or seventyfive (LX1657X) in number. 6–7. After their death their descendants increased mightily and spread over the land, the Delta region. 8–10. A new Pharaoh, Ramesses II, or possibly one of his predecessors, who knew not Joseph, had no experience or appreciation of the services rendered by Joseph to the Egyptians and consequently no friendly regard for his kinsfolk, saw a danger to the nation in this rapidly increasing horde of foreigners and proposed to his people: ‘Let us deal craftily with them lest they increase and it come to pass, when a war breaks out, that they fight with our enemies against us and go up out of the land’. 11–14. The first measure of oppression was forced labour under Egyptian task-masters, more particularly the building of store cities, of which two, Pithom and Ramesses (cf. § 163b–c) are specified. The corvée, still in force at the time of the plagues, did not break the spirit of the Hebrews or lessen their increase. It included ‘hard service in mortar and in brick and all manner of service in the field, all their service wherein they made them serve with rigour’. § b 15–21. The second measure of oppression was the charge laid on the midwives to kill the male children at birth. M1658T has Hebrew midwives, the versions midwives of the Hebrew women—a better reading as the midwives were more probably Egyptians. Pharaoh would scarcely entrust Hebrews with the execution of such orders, and the midwives attended Egyptians as well as Hebrews (19). The Hebrew words: Sephora (Šip̱rāh) ‘beauty’ and Phua ‘brightness’ may be variations of Egyptian names. The second part of 16a is rendered by some: When you see (them) on the stones, as Egyptian women knelt on flat stones in giving birth. But this does not agree with text or context, which require: look to the sex. The excuse given by the midwives to Pharaoh is that Hebrew women, unlike the Egyptians, are animals, give birth quickly and easily like animals. God rewarded the midwives by building them houses, giving them husbands, children and descendants. 22. Pharaoh now orders all his people to drown the male children of the Israelites in the Nile. Without excusing his ruthlessness we must not judge him by modern standards. Slave-labour and exposure of unwanted children were common enough in character, not cruel like the Assyrians.
§ c 2:1–22 Moses’ Birth, Upbringing and Sojourn in Madian—1–3. Moses was born soon after the edict of 1:22, which did not affect his three year old brother Aaron. His parents were both the tribe of Levi. It is not implied that he was their eldest son. Aaron’s birth is not mentioned because he has no part in the narrative. His mother’s love and faith (Heb 11:23) induced her to conceal him for three months when she saw that he was vigorous and likely to reach maturity. The canoe (D1659V basket, cf. Is 18:2) was a kind of chest, constructed of the pithy strips of the papyrus plant and made watertight by coats of asphalt, imported from the Dead Sea, and pitch. 4–7. No doubt the mother knew where Pharaoh’s daughter used to bathe and counted on her compassion to save the life of the child. The sister was left to watch and offer her services to provide a nurse. A Hebrew would naturally be sought since the edict of extermination made it easy to find one. 8–10. After the child was weaned in his fourth year (cf. 2 Mac 7:27) he was taken to the royal palace and adopted as a son by the princess, who named him Moses and had him educated according to his position so that ‘he was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians’ (Act 7:22).
§ d Moses is an Egyptian word, as appears from such names as Thuthmosis, Ahmosis, Ramesses, where the first element is a divine name and the second a verb with an active or, more probably, passive meaning, ‘gives a son’ or ‘is born’. In the latter alternative Moses means ‘child’ and Mes ‘child’, without preformative, is attested in the monuments as a proper name. The derivation from the Hebrew māšāh ‘draw’ is based on assonance and exemplifies popular as opposed to scientific etymology. The story of the birth of Moses only superficially resembles fabulous tales of the birth of great men like Sargon of Agade. It is not, like them, an isolated episode, but is firmly anchored in the account of the Egyptian captivity (Heinisch). It explains the origin of his undoubtedly Egyptian name and shows how he was providentially prepared to be the leader of his people. Hebrews would not invent so long and intimate an association of their deliverer with their oppressors.
§ e 11–14. In Pharaoh’s court Moses remained a Hebrew at heart and, on reaching man‘s estate, visited one of the labour gangs and, seeing a Hebrew workman beaten by an Egyptian taskmaster, slew the Egyptian. This act of reprisal, which its author no doubt considered justified, must not be judged by the standard of Christian morality. It is recorded, not for imitation, but to explain Moses’ flight to Madian when he discovered that surely the thing is known. 15–22. However highly placed, the slayer of an official could not remain unpunished. Canaan was under Egyptian rule. Hence Moses feld to Sinai where the Kenites, a Madianite tribe, then resided. Water-drawing in the East is a woman’s task, and the first step to a marriage is often a meeting at a well (Gen 24:11; 29:9). Women too tend the flocks among the Bedouin. Moses met the daughters of a Madianite priest at a well, courteously defended them from bullying shepherds and watered their flock. He thus became their father’s guest, was content to dwell with the man, and married his daughter, Sephora. The name (Ṣippōrāh) means ‘little bird’. Cf. the names of the Madianite chiefs: Oreb ‘raven’ and zeb ‘wolf’ (Jg 7:25). The explanation of Gersham (V1660g Gershom) ‘an alien there’ is suggested by assonance. The more probable derivation is from gereš ‘sprout’. The new V1661g edition, with M1662T and most Greek MSS, omits 22b as an interpolation from 18:4.
§ f 2:23–4:17 Call of Moses—23–25. In those many days, during the long period of oppression, the Pharaoh died and Moses could safely return. The protracted suffering of the Israelites prepared them to welcome a liberator. God saw their sorrow and prayers and made himself known to them (LX1663X 25b). 3:1–16. Moses herding the sheep of Jethro and seeking at a higher level the grass which had disappeared from the plain, drove his flock to the back (farther side) of the desert and on to the slopes of Mount Horeb. Horeb and Sinai, like Sarion and Sanir (Deut 3:9), are different names of the same mountain, called here by anticipation the mountain of God who would manifest himself thereon. The two names: Jethro ‘excellence’ and Raguel ‘friend of God’ probably represent a personal name and a by-name or official title.
§ g The Angel of Yahweh designates Yahweh as manifesting himself (cf. Gen 16:7) or less probably an angel sent by Yahweh. The substitution of an angel for Yahweh as the leader of the people is a threatened punishment of sin (32:34; 33:3). God, being a pure spirit, reveals himself by fire as the least material of the elements (cf. Gen 15:17). A thorn-bush attracts the attention of Moses by burning without being consumed. God speaks to him from it, ordering him to take off his shoes through reverence according to Eastern custom and declaring himself the God of his father, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Moses hides his face in fear lest he should see God and die (cf. Jg 13:22). 7–10. God announces his intention to liberate his people and settle them in Canaan and appoints Moses their leader. A land flowing with milk and honey is an earthly paradise, producing abundantly all kinds of excellent food; cf. V1664D 2 (1922) 52–5.
§ h 11–12. Moses, reluctant to accept the mission, raises various difficulties. Firstly he humbly pleads his unfitness for so formidable a task. Moses has faith but needs encouragement. God replies therefore by promising him the aid of his Omnipotence and assuring him in advance of success. The sign is the proof of God’s intervention but may be given before, or, as here, after the event (cf. 1 Kg 2:34; Is 7:14). 13–22. Secondly Moses asks what he is to say to the Israelites when they ask him the name of the God of their fathers who sent him to them. The Israelites felt that the name Elōhīm, being generic, did not sufficiently distinguish their God from other gods. They desired a particular and distinctive name which would reveal his nature and by which they, his people, could more confidently invoke him. God replies by revealing his name, Yahweh (discussed in next paragraph), and then informs Moses how he is to execute his mission. He must first assemble the elders (heads of families and clans) who represent the people and tell them that God has appeared to him and declared that he has taken notice of their affliction and determined to deliver them. He must then go with the elders to Pharaoh, inform him that their God has met them and ask three days’ leave of absence to offer him sacrifice in the desert. God’s meeting with the people is his meeting with Moses, their representative. Three days is a conventional period. The demand is moderate and is to test the dispositions of Pharaoh, who will not let them go until forced by the plagues (19–20). But or except (LX1665X, V1666g) is preferable to no, not (M1667T 19b). The Hebrews also who live among the Egyptians shall ask for jewels of silver and gold and raiment to take with them and so despoil the Egyptians. These objects, the wages of their labours (Wis 10:17), might also be regarded as the spoils of victory, assigned by God to the Hebrews. 4:1–9. § iThirdly Moses objects that the people will refuse to believe him. God replies by promising three signal miracles to prove his mission: change of his rod into a serpent and vice versa, production and removal of leprosy in his hand and conversion of Nile water into blood. Only by divine intervention can these prodigies be worked. The Egyptian magicians did not reproduce two of them (7:11, 22), but only deceitfully pretended to do so. 10–17. Fourthly Moses represents to God his lack of oratory, needed by a prophet. God replies that he alone can and will make him eloquent. Moses, still reluctant, asks God to send someone else. God is offended and punishes him by leaving him without eloquence and appointing his brother Aaron to speak on his behalf. Moses remains God’s envoy to whom the divine communications are made. He imparts them to Aaron, who announces them to the people. ‘Aaron is as mouth to Moses and Moses as God to Aaron’. The same comparison is made 7:1, where nāḇî’ ‘prophet’ takes the place of ‘mouth’; God speaks through his prophet to the people. The reluctance of Moses shows clearly that he became the leader and liberator of his people not by personal initiative, but by divine appointment.
§ 165a The Divine Name Yahweh (3:14–15)—The name has two forms: Ehyeh ‘I am’ used by God or an envoy speaking in his name, and Yahweh ‘He is’ used by his worshippers. It is therefore the impf. 1 sg and 3 sg of the Hebrew verb hāyāh or hāwāh ‘to be’, and might grammatically be a present or a future. But the latter tense is excluded by the fact that absolute, not relative, being is expressed. God is, eternally and unchangeably, though his relations with his creatures may change. The name therefore expresses essential existence or aseity, the radical attribute of God by which he is most adequately distinguished from created beings. The fuller explanation of the name (14a) has been variously interpreted: (a) I am who (or what) I am, My being is mysterious and unutterable. This interpretation is incompatible with the fact that a name is actually given. (b) I am because I am, in me is the sole reason of my existence. This is a possible rendering and explanation of the name, but it interprets ’ašer in a less usual sense as a conjunction, not a relative. (c) I am who am, I am the existing one. I am therefore to be called Yahweh ‘He is’, since that name best expresses my nature as essential existence. This rendering suits text and context best and is traditional, ʼΕγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν ‘I am the existing one’ (LX1668X).
§ b It is objected that so exalted an idea of God, which none of the ancients attained, is incompatible with the stage of religious evolution in which the Hebrews then were. The objection by showing the difficulty of a human origin of the name only confirms its divine origin. It is based on a theory of religious evolution amply refuted by W. Schmidt’s recent researches in the religion of primitive peoples. We need not suppose that all the Hebrews grasped immediately all the implications of the name. In the post-exilic period Adonai ‘Lord’, or less frequently Elohim ‘God’, was substituted through reverence for Yahweh, which was retained in the text but not read. Hence the LX1669X Κύριος, the V1670g ‘Dominus’ and the hybrid form Jehovah, an erroneous combination of the consonants of one word and the vowels of another. The name appears in the Bible in contracted forms: Yahu, Yau, Yo, Yah, always (except Yah) as an element of proper names. It is now admitted by sound philologists that the longer form is the original one, since the contractions are regular. The regularity of the contractions of Yahweh is evident. Weh becomes u, as yištaḥaweh becomes jištaḥû. Yahu becomes Yau by omission of h as in the article combined with certain prepositions. Yau becomes Yô as mauṯ becomes môṯ. But there is no philological explanation of the derivation of Yahweh from Yah, Yau, etc. The name is almost as unique in form as in content. It is a purely verbal form. The hundreds of names of Semitic deities known to us are all nominal forms, except two Arabic names which occur in the Koran, Yaġûṯ (‘he helps’) and Yanûḳ (‘he hinders’). It is therefore quite improbable that the alleged Yau of the Rās-Shamra tablets, the Yau and Ya which appear as initial or final elements of geographical and personal names in the Tell el-Amarna tablets and similar forms in Babylonian personal names of the pre-Mosaic period, have any connection with Yahweh.
§ c Biblical evidence for a Hebrew pre-Mosaic Yahweh is not convincing. In Gen 4:26 the emphasis is on the cult rendered to God, not on the name Yahweh which appears earlier (chh 2–3), to show that Yahweh, the Hebrew God, is the world God. Ahiyyah (1 Par 2:25) is probably a corruption of ahaiu ‘his brothers’. The explanation of Bityah (1 Par 4:18) as daughter of Yahweh is very unlikely. In Abiyyah (1 Par 7:8) the Yah may be an exclamatory ending as in the Hittite name Uriyyah (2 Kg 11:3) or a later modification. The name of the mother of Moses, Yôkebed (6:20), may have been originally Elkebed, just as Yehôyaḳîm was originally Elyakîm (4 Kg 23:34). It seems therefore most probable that the name Yahweh was unknown before it was revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai. If, however, it was previously known the new revelation would be made in view of the Sinaitic covenant. The theory that Yahweh was the god of the Kenites to whom Moses transferred his allegiance is expressly excluded by the sacred writer, who repeatedly identifies Yahweh with the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob.
§ d 4:18–31 Return of Moses to Egypt—18–23. Moses, warned by the anger of Yahweh, makes no further difficulties and immediately undertakes his mission of which the first step is to obtain Jethro’s permission to return to Egypt. He does not reveal the principal object of his journey, as he would have done had Jethro been a worshipper of Yahweh, since no opposition from him could then be feared. The narrative is interrupted by 19, originally connected with 3:22a (which LX1671X repeats here after 18). Against M1672T and the versions we must read son for ‘sons’ (20), since only one son accompanied Moses and Sephora and the birth of the second son has not yet been narrated. The rod of God is the instrument by which God works wonders (2, 17, 30). God now gives a last instruction and assurance of success beginning: When thou goest back into Egypt. He foretells the effect of the wonders on Pharaoh and particularly mentions the last wonder which produces the desired result. The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is more usually attributed to God, the primary cause, because the sacred writer desires to emphasize the execution of God’s designs. He does not, however, ignore the role of man’s free-will and attributes the hardening also to Pharaoh himself, the secondary cause (8:15, 32; 9:34). The first-born son has a privileged position by right of birth. Israel, God’s chosen people, has a similar position among the nations of the earth.
§ e 24–26. The general sense of the event narrated is clear. The words of Sephora, however, are obscure as recorded in M1673T and V1674g but intelligible in LX1675X: ‘Here is the blood of the circumcision of my son’ (25b) and ‘Here is the blood of the circumcision’ (26b). Youths were circumcised among the Arabs when they attained manhood and, originally at least, at the time of marriage, since the similar Arabic and Hebrew words for father-in-law and bridegroom mean literally circumciser and circumcised. Hebrew males on the other hand, according to the covenant made with Abraham, were circumcised on the eighth day after birth. Moses violated this law by conforming to the Arab custom at the instigation of his wife and father-in-law. For this he is threatened with death by Yahweh who appears to them in visible form at the night-halt. Moses can do nothing, but Sephora, aware of the cause of her husband’s plight, quickly circumcises her son with a flint and prostrates herself at the feet of Yahweh saying: ‘Here is the blood of the circumcision’. Yahweh on hearing her words desists from his attack on Moses. The whole event is a very emphatic warning to Moses at the beginning of his mission that he must not neglect any of the commands of Yahweh. § f 27–31. Aaron is ordered by God to meet Moses and the meeting takes place at Mount Sinai. It is not surprising that Jethro’s residence was more than a day’s journey from the mountain, since shepherds like Moses drive their sheep considerable distances in search of grass. Moses informs Aaron of the revelations he has received. The elders are assembled when Egypt is reached, are informed of everything by Aaron the spokesman, see the signs (2–9) worked by Moses and believe that God intends to deliver them. Sephora, after the meeting with Yahweh, must have been informed by Moses of the real object of his journey and returned with her son to Jethro.
§ 166a 5:1–6:1 Unsuccessful Appeal to Pharaoh—1–4. Moses and Aaron appear before Pharaoh and announce the will of Yahweh: ‘Let my people go to hold a feast to me in the desert’. Pharaoh refuses. Who is Yahweh? is an expression of contempt. The petitioners insist: ‘The God of the Hebrews has met us; let us go three days’ journey into the desert and offer sacrifice to Yahweh’. Pharaoh dismisses them after accusing them of encouraging idleness among the workers. 5–9. Pharaoh’s words (5) seem to be addressed to higher officials present at the interview. He reminds them that the people of the land—a contemptuous expression for the Hebrews—are too numerous and that forced labours are necessary to prevent their increase (cf. 1:9). V1676g has two renderings of 5a. Pharaoh now increases the labours of the Hebrews. He orders the Egyptian taskmasters and the Hebrew foremen to let the workers find straw for themselves and yet exact from them the same number (D1677V ‘task’) of bricks. § b Nowadays as in antiquity bricks are made in Egypt of two different materials: reddish soil of the desert and black soil of the inundated regions. Sand in the former case, straw in the latter is needed for cohesion. The necessary quantity of prepared clay is rolled on a layer of sand or straw, sprinkled with water and thrown into the brick mould. This is a wooden frame, open at top and bottom, with a handle at one end. With the aid of the hand the brick takes the shape of the mould which is then removed and the operation recommences. The bricks are left undisturbed to dry and harden in the sun for about a week when they are fit for use. The bricks unearthed at the two suggested sites of Pithom are almost exclusively made of desert soil and sand. The bricks here mentioned were made in the vicinity of the royal residence at Tanis and thus in an inundated region where straw was absolutely necessary. § c 10–18. The orders of Pharaoh are executed. V1678g renders taskmasters by ‘overseers’ (6, 10, 13) and foremen by ‘taskmasters’ (6, 10). The foremen are beaten because the number of bricks is incomplete and complain to Pharaoh, but without result. In 16c M1679T reads: thy people (the workers, not the foremen) is guilty, but the reading of LX1680X and V1681g is preferable. 19–6:1. The foremen now reproach Moses and Aaron. Moses appeals to Yahweh who reassures him. The mighty hand and the strong hand (6:1) indicate God’s Omnipotence by which Pharaoh will be forced to yield.
§ d 6:2–7:7 Mission and Family History of Moses and Aaron—This section is not a continuation but a repetition of the preceding narrative (3:1–6:1). It makes no mention of minor details, omits to indicate where the various events occurred and follows a logical rather than a chronological order. It is never in contradiction with the longer narrative, though apparently written by a later hand, and is interrupted in the middle by a piece of family history (6:13–28).
2–8. The events recorded are already known. Render: And (by) my name Yahweh I was not made known to them (3b); whom the Egyptians keep in bondage (5b); from under the forced labours (6b) and for V1682g ‘high’ outstretched (6a). As the hand was lifted up in swearing, 8a means: I solemnly promised. 9–12. The apparent contradiction between the disbelief of the Israelites (9) and their belief (4:31) is explained by the fact that the summary omits all reference to the signs worked for the people and their favourable effect and only considers the final attitude of the people as manifested by the foremen (5:21). The mission to Pharaoh and the appointment of Aaron are located at Horeb in the longer narrative. Here there is no explicit indication of place. Similarly the statement that the children of Israel have not hearkened to me (12b) like the disbelief (9) supposes the situation indicated in 5:21. 29–7:7. After the interruption (13–28) the objection of Moses (12c) must be repeated to explain the appointment of Aaron. Uncircumcised lips does not imply a physical defect but unpreparedness to speak, since circumcision prepared people to belong to God. The nāḇî’ or prophet is clearly defined as the spokesman of God. This is also the usual and etymological sense of προφήτης. The charge to Moses is similar to that of 3:18–20, but the order to ask leave to sacrifice in the desert (3:18) and its execution (5:1) are omitted. § e The age assigned to Moses is difficult. The number of years is schematic and apparently calculated on a lifetime of three generations passed one in Egypt, one in Madian and one in the desert. It supposes (a) that the Pharaoh of the oppression reigned more than eighty years which is excluded by the records; (b) that Moses, a Hebrew at heart, ignored his afflicted brethren until he was forty years old, which is improbable; (c) that he spent forty years in Madian and yet left it before his second son Eliezer was born, which is still more improbable. As numbers are often altered and interpolated in the sacred text, it seems better to leave the age of Moses an open question.
§ f The Genealogical List (6:14–28) is Levitical but begins with Ruben and Simeon (14–15 = Gen 46:9–10) to introduce Levi as the third son of Jacob. The heads of families, literally heads of their fathers’ houses, are referred exclusively to the descendants of Levi at the end of the list (25). For V1683g ‘kindreds’ (15a, 17, 20b, 25b) read families and for ‘kindreds’ (16a) and ‘families’ (19b) read generations. On Levi’s family tree cf. Gen 46:11; Num 3:17–20; 26:57–61; 1 Par 6:1–38. Moses and Aaron belong to the fourth generation after Jacob here, but Aaron’s wife, Elizabeth, was of the sixth generation (Ru 4:18–20; 1 Par 2:4–10). The stay in Egypt was still longer. Omissions, however, are common in such lists. Son may be used for grandson or descendant. Amram married his aunt (cousin LX1684X). Such marriages were subsequently forbidden (Lev 18:12). Elizabeth, Aaron’s wife, was sister of Nahason, one of the princes of Judah (Num 1:7). The descendants of Aaron and Core are specially mentioned, the former by reason of their priestly character, the latter because of their part in the ritual of the temple. The progeny of Moses is not mentioned, perhaps because of their unworthiness (Jg 18:30). Note the contrast of the order of age, Aaron and Moses (26), with the order of dignity, Moses and Aaron (27). The list is preceded by an introduction or, more probably, marginal note (13) and is of later origin than the passage in which it is inserted, but the presence of Egyptian names like Phutiel and Phinees, guarantees the antiquity of its contents.
§ 167a 7:8–13 Pharaoh sees a Wonder—This passage is best regarded not as part of the second tradition (Heinisch) but as the continuation of the principal narrative. It contains a new and essential element of the history and introduces the plagues. Pharaoh must have a proof of Yahweh’s Omnipotence before he is punished for resistance to his will. His first words are: Shew a wonder for yourselves, to support your demand. 10b. For V1685g ‘took’ read cast down. Aaron turns his rod into a serpent, tannîn, a reptile of any size. 11b. ‘And they also, the Egyptian magicians [cf. Gen 41:8] did in like manner with their enchantments.’ The fact that Aaron’s rod swallowed their rods had no effect on the hardened heart of Pharaoh. He is therefore punished by plagues and gradually forced to yield. The modern Egyptian magicians also turn rods into snakes. This is sometimes done by pressing a certain part of the neck of a real snake which thus becomes cramped into rigidity and stretched out like a rod, but when thrown to the ground, after the pressure is removed, resumes its natural form and movements. At other times rods are substituted for snakes by the performer when he has distracted the attention of the spectators from his movements. Jewish tradition gives the names of the magicians as Jannes and Jambres (2 Tim 3:8).
§ b 7:14–10:27 The Plagues of Egypt—The tenth plague is not included in these general remarks. It differs from the others in its character and in its connection with the institution of the Pasch and the departure from Egypt. The plagues are obviously connected with natural phenomena occurring in Egypt between July and April either regularly each year or sporadically at longer intervals. The disappearance of grass in the plains (3:1) and the completion of the harvest when the Israelites collected the lower parts of the cornstalks left in the fields by the reapers (5:12) place the return of Moses in the month of April. The plagues could therefore have begun in July and occurred at the time of the natural phenomena. They were not, however, merely natural phenomena since the effects produced were sometimes entirely new and always unusually intensive. Otherwise they would neither have impressed Pharaoh, nor manifested the Omnipotence of Yahweh. They were therefore miraculous, not in themselves since they did not surpass the powers of nature, but in the manner in which they occurred with unusual intensity and providential preordination of the circumstances of time and place. § c Their Egyptian character was not however a mere coincidence. God condescends in his manifestations to the customs and experiences of those to whom he manifests himself. It is for this reason that the rod is used in producing the plagues since every Egyptian magician had a magical rod. There is undoubtedly a crescendo movement in the narrative. The first four plagues produce annoyance and distress; the next four inflict serious damage to property and person; the ninth is mysterious and terrifying. Moses, at first courteous, becomes more and more outspoken; Pharaoh, at first indifferent, shows an increasing inclination to temporize and to yield; his magicians confess their impotence at the third plague and are unable to appear at the sixth; his courtiers advise surrender at the eighth. § d A study of the style and contents of the narrative suggests that the sacred writer had a second account of the plagues at his disposal which he partially incorporated in his text. The author of this account views the plagues, sent to manifest the Omnipotence of Yahweh, in the light of a contest between Yahweh and the Egyptian deities represented by the magicians. The third and sixth plagues, so distinctive in style and brevity and especially in their disregard for the human protagonists, Moses and Pharaoh, belong to this source. The principal narrator omitted them as hampering the dramatic movement of his narrative, but the final editor was inspired to include them in his work. Both are mentioned elsewhere in the poetical descriptions of the plagues, the third in Ps 104:31 and the sixth in Ps 77:50.
§ e 7:14–25 First Plague: Water turned into Blood—So extraordinary a miracle as the conversion of water into animal or human blood need not be supposed. Natural phenomena are described according to sensible appearances. The waters became red in colour and appeared to be blood. The Red Nile is the Egyptian counterpart of the plague. When the inundation is in full force in July the waters are reddened by the soil which they gather in their course. The colour which lasts during the inundation period varies with the impetus of the current and the turbulence of the stream but never attains the vivid hue of blood. The water remains potable, the fish uninjured. The plague therefore differs in two important respects from the phenomenon of the Red Nile. Elsewhere however waters have been found red in colour and lethal to fish owing to invading organisms (cf. Heinisch). 16. V1686g ‘sacrifice to’ is literally serve or worship. 17. The action of striking the waters with the rod is attributed directly to God to show that he is the real author of the prodigy. 18b. ‘The Egyptians shall loathe to drink.’ 19c. ‘And blood shall be in all the land of Egypt’ (in all the region near the capital). We are not informed how the magicians imitated the prodigy. Their audience was uncritical and favourably disposed. 23b. Pharaoh remains unmoved. ‘Neither did he lay even this to heart.’
§ f 8:1–15 Second Plague: Frogs—Frogs are numerous in Egypt, but cause no annoyance except by their croaking. We may conclude perhaps from the mention of fields and heaps (13–14) that the inundation was already on the wane and assign the plague to the second half of October. Its miraculous character is shown by the number and ubiquity of the frogs and especially by their simultaneous destruction at the precise time assigned beforehand by Pharaoh. Here too the magicians appeared after the cessation of the plague since they would hardly have pretended to increase the frogs when Pharoah only desired their disappearance. 3. Read, team with for ‘bring forth an abundance of’ (V1687g, LX1688X), thy kneading-troughs for ‘remains of thy food’. 9. Moses addresses Pharaoh: Assume the honour over me to decide when the plague is to end. The courteousness is not merely assumed, but the real reason for leaving the decision to Pharaoh is to manifest more clearly the Omnipotence of Yahweh as appears from 10b. When the plague ceases Pharaoh hardens his heart and refuses to obey as Yahweh had foretold (4:21–23).
§ g 16–19 Third Plague: Mosquitoes—This plague followed closely that of the frogs. Mosquitoes infest Egypt all the year round, but are most numerous and acitve after the inundation begins to decline since the quiet waters are their breeding ground. The ancients believed that they had their origin from the earth. The crust of the earth is therefore struck with the staff and thus commanded to produce them. Even allowing for rhetorical exaggeration in 17c, the mosquitoes must have been unusually numerous and troublesome to constitute a plague, since the natives are inured to their attacks. The only effect of the prodigy is the defeat of the magicians who recognized the finger of God. Pharaoh remains unmoved as Yahweh had foretold.
§ h 20–32 Fourth Plague: Flies—21. It is difficult to determine what species of flies is meant since ‘ārōḇ literally means ‘swarm’ (D1689V ‘all kinds’, divers sorts of flies). Ordinary flies are so numerous in Egypt as to be a pest. But native indifference to them is incompatible with the effect produced on Pharaoh. It is stated moreover (Ps 77:45) that the swarm devoured the Egyptians. A more annoying species of flying insect such as the dog-fly seems indicated. The plague is miraculous in time, intensity, and restriction to Egyptian territory. 22a. ‘I will make a distinction as regards the land of Gessen.’ 23a. Redemption (M1690T) by changing one letter becomes distinction in agreement with context and versions. 25–29. Pharaoh asks Moses to offer sacrifice to Yahweh in order to end the plague. Moses replies, ‘It is not fitting to do so’, because sacrifice to Yahweh in Egypt would be an abomination to the Egyptians and so endanger our lives or, less probably, understanding abomination as object of heathen cult, sacrifice of animals which Egyptians venerate would endanger our lives. He insists therefore on the three days’ journey in the desert. Pharaoh agrees, but asks him not to go too far and to intercede for him with Yahweh. Moses assents, but reminds Pharaoh of his broken promise and warns him against further deceit. 30–31. Moses prayed to Yahweh ‘and Yahweh did according to the word of Moses’. 32. But ‘Pharaoh made his heart heavy this time also and did not let the people go’.
§ 168a 9:1–7 Fifth Plague: Murrain—This plague is called a grievous pestilence which destroys all kinds of domestic animals. Of these the horse was introduced in the Hyksos period and the camel was known, but not in use except in the outlying desert regions and in trading caravans which visited the country (cf. Gen 12:16). Cattle pests are rare in Egypt. 4. Omit ‘wonderful’ and read beasts for ‘possessions’. The difficulty arising from the death of all the beasts of the Egyptians, since some were afterwards killed by hail, is usually solved by referring all to the classes enumerated, not to individuals. The pest, however, attacked the animals in the field, where they graze from January to April. If, therefore, it occurred in the beginning of January, the date suggested by its position in the narrative, animals not yet driven to pasture would be spared. The distinction assumed here between animals in the field and animals in the houses was in the author’s mind since it is explicitly mentioned in the account of the hail plague.
§ b 8–12 Sixth Plague: Boils—Boils breaking out into ulcers afflicted man and beast. It was not the bubonic pest, excluded by 9:15, nor the comparatively harmless Nile-scab, an irritating eruption occurring earlier at the beginning of the inundation period and unlikely to alarm Pharaoh or affect the movements of his magicians. Only by its effects do we know this ‘Egyptian boil’ with which the Israelites themselves are threatened if they violate the covenant (Deut 28:27). The ashes of the furnace or kiln are sprinkled towards heaven before Pharaoh, to show that the plague is sent by Yahweh. 8–9. ‘And they shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and the dust shall become a boil breaking out into ulcers on man and beast.’
§ c 13–35 Seventh Plague: Hail—Hailstorms accompanied by thunder and lightning occur in Lower Egypt not every year but occasionally in January, February, March or April. Hailstones have been gathered as big as tennis balls. The indications given (31–32) assign the plague to February. It was miraculous in its intensity and in beginning and ending at an appointed time. The land of Gessen is again exempted, and Egyptians who believe in the Omnipotence of Yahweh may escape its effects. Pharaoh confesses his sinfulness, offers to let the people go without condition, but again breaks his promise when the plague ceases. 15–16. ‘Had I put forth my hand and smitten thee … with pestilence, thou hadst been cut off from the earth; but truly for this cause have I let thee live to show thee my power and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.’ Pharaoh could be punished at once by death but is spared in view of prodigies which proclaim the Omnipotence of Yahweh. V1691g and LX1692X, cited Rom 9:17, render: have I raised thee up (given thee life, 16a). This rendering does not affect the argument of St Paul since God’s purpose is the same in giving Pharaoh life and in letting him continue to live. 17a. For ‘hold back’ read exalt thyself against. 19a. For ‘gather together’ read bring to shelter. 23b–24a. ‘And the lightning [lit1693. fire] ran down to the earth. And there was hail and continually flashing fire in the midst of the hail.’ 27. Omit ‘also’. 28. Pharaoh says: ‘Intercede with Yahweh; there is enough voices of God [thunder] and hail; and I will let you go and you shall stay no longer’.
§ d 10:1–20 Eighth Plague: Locusts—There is a most graphic description of the havoc wrought by locusts in Jl 1:2–2:17. They rarely appear in Egypt and at irregular intervals but cause enormous damage. The plague therefore in which the ordinary damage was greatly intensified (6, 14) was a terrible calamity. The time was in late February or early March. The exemption of Gessen may perhaps be assumed. Pharaoh, unmoved by the threat, is prevailed upon by his advisers to recall Moses and Aaron and make some concession to avert the calamity. He will let the men go to celebrate the feast, since men only were usually bound by such observances. Moses’ answer reveals to him the full scope of the demand which he refuses to consider. The envoys are rudely expelled only to be recalled in haste after the locusts arrive, to intercede for Pharaoh.
§ e 1. Read among them for in him, a necessary textual correction. 5. ‘And they shall so cover the face of the earth as to make the earth invisible; and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remains to you from the hail.’ 7a. ‘How long shall this man [Moses] be a snare to us?’ 10. Pharaoh means: I swear by Yahweh that I will not let you go. ‘Look out for you are in danger of evil’ (lit1694. for evil is before your faces). 13. For ‘burning wind’ read east wind, usually a hot wind. 15a. ‘And the land was darkened’ (M1695T), ravaged (LX1696X). 19a. ‘And Yahweh made a very strong sea wind blow from the opposite direction.’ The sea wind is the west wind from the Mediterranean for a Palestinian but the north wind for an Egyptian. Here a north-west wind seems indicated, since the Red Sea was south-east of the infested region.
§ f 21–27 Ninth Plague: Darkness—The local element is the sandstorm, called Khamsīn or Khamassīn (Mallon), a hot and sometimes violent wind from the desert, which blows in March or April, lasts generally about three days and in its darkening effects resembles a London fog, but is much more oppressive owing to the sand and fine dust which it spreads everywhere. The staff or hand is raised towards heaven (10:22; 9:23) because the plagues come from above. 22b. Read thick for ‘horrible’. 23–27. That the Israelites are not affected by the darkness is obviously miraculous. Pharaoh now allows them to go and offer sacrifice with their children but without their flocks and herds. Moses replies that Pharaoh must let them take victims for slaughter-offerings and burnt-offerings ‘that we may sacrifice them to Yahweh our God’, nay even that all the flocks and herds must accompany them since they do not yet know what Yahweh desires to be offered. Pharaoh again refuses to let them go.
§ g 10:28–11:10 Tenth Plague announced: Death of the Firstborn—The last two verses of ch 10 belong to the final interview between Moses and Pharaoh (11:4–8). They are needed after 8 to explain the anger of Moses. As the departure is to follow the plague immediately, and after that he will let you go and when he lets you go altogether he will drive you out (11:1b), preparations must be made quickly since the firstborn will be slain at midnight. 3b is a marginal gloss suggested by 3a. 4. ‘I will go through Egypt.’ 5. The plague will smite the firstborn of all the Egyptians from the highest, the king on his throne, to the lowest, the maidservant behind the mill, and also of their domestic animals. 7a. ‘But against the children of Israel not even a dog shall bark [lit1697. whet his tongue] against either man or beast.’ No alarm, not to say harm, will come to them. The Egyptians will then prostrate themselves before Moses and beg him to depart with his people and after that I (not we) will depart. 10:28–29. Pharaoh now dismisses Moses rudely, forbidding his reappearance under pain of death. Moses replies that this is the last interview before the catastrophe (11:9–10) and leaves Pharaoh in anger at the rude dismissal and accompanying threat. Yahweh consoles him by explaining why Pharaoh never hears him. The summary of the plague narrative is probably an editorial insertion.
§ 169a Pasch and Azymes: Introductory Remarks—The paschal sacrifice, which saved the Israelites from the exterminating angel of the tenth plague, and the unleavened bread, which they ate in the haste of their departure, are the essential elements of two annual religious observances by which the deliverance from the Egyptian captivity was to be perpetually commemorated. The Pasch and the Azymes have thus a definite historical origin and are of divine institution. They are inseparably united in Hebrew tradition as they were in the first paschal meal of which the flesh of the victim and the unleavened bread were the principal ingredients. § b An effort, however, has been made to separate them, based on the observation that the Pasch is a nomadic, the Azymes an agricultural feast. It is supposed that the Israelites, when nomads, celebrated the Pasch in the spring and later, a settled people, borrowed the Azymes, an agricultural feast, from the Canaanites. The Israelites however were not originally nomads. It was a corn famine in Canaan which brought their ancestors to Egypt. There they at first tended flocks and herds but rapidly intermingled with the native agricultural population and shared their mode of life. They were employed during the period of the oppression in agricultural labours (1:14). The Sinaitic legislation inaugurated their brief nomadic existence in the desert, but naturally presupposed their proximate settlement in Canaan for which it provided them with agricultural feasts. § c The institution of the feast would be accompanied by a description of the ritual to be observed at its first celebration, which however could be modified and supplemented at a future period. Thus, for instance, the offering of the first fruits of the barley harvest (Lev 23:10 f.) is not mentioned. Certain rites, revealed later, might also be included in the description, since the Hebrew historian does not always follow the chronological order of events. The words: ‘You shall observe the Azymes, for on this same day I brought forth your host out of the land of Egypt’ (12:17) clearly indicate a subsequent revelation. We may assume therefore that such matters as the determination of the conditions under which non-Hebrew sojourners in the land could participate in the feast and the obligation of repose on the first day of the Azymes, on which the departing Hebrews made their longest day’s march, though narrated here, are subsequent developments of the original ritual.
§ d The name of the feast, pesaḥ, is derived in the text from a verb meaning ‘pass over’, which is contrasted with another verb meaning ‘pass through’. The destroyer passed over the houses of the Hebrews, sparing the inmates, but passed through the homes of the Egyptians, slaying the firstborn. The rite of smearing the lintel and doorposts of a house with sacrificial blood to avert evil from the inmates by divine protection is very ancient. It was practised by the Babylonians and is still in use among the Palestinian Arabs. Our use of holy water is a somewhat similar manifestation of the natural religious instinct to seek divine aid against manifold evils. The rite, however, was a particular observance of the first Pasch to avert a particular danger. Subsequently the blood of the victim, like all sacrificial blood, was poured on the altar. The Pasch in general by freeing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and saving their firstborn from temporal death was a type of our liberation from the slavery of sin and salvation from eternal death. The Pasch as a sacrifice was a type of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary and his Eucharistic sacrifice. It belongs to the first class of the older division of sacrifice, slaughter-offerings and burnt-offerings, already mentioned (10:25). This class was subdivided into expiatory and pacific in the Sinaitic legislation.
§ e 12:1–20 Institution of Pasch and Azymes—The institution of the feast in Egypt is emphasized. The month Abib when the corn ripened, March–April, afterward called by its Babylonian name, Nisan, is to be the new beginning of the year which previously began in autumn. The selection of the lamb on the tenth day of the month was impossible at the first Pasch and was not observed for practical reasons in NT times. 3b. Read: by their households, a lamb for each household. 4. Render ‘souls’ by ‘persons’. ‘According to every man’s eating you shall reckon the lamb.’ Remember that children and old men eat less than able-bodied men in reckoning the number required to eat the lamb. The minimum was later fixed at ten persons. 5b. ‘You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats.’ Lamb or kid may be selected. As the day began in the evening the paschal meal was on the fifteenth of the month, the first day of the Azymes. The time of sacrifice was at eventide (6) or more precisely in the evening at sunset (Deut 16:6). A different vocalization of the Hebrew expression for at eventide gave rise to the later rendering ‘between the two evenings’, either from 3 p.m. to sunset according to the Pharisees and Talmudists, or from sunset to darkness according to the Samaritans, Sadducees and Caraites. Roasting was prescribed as the quickest way of preparing a hasty meal. The bitter herbs, later identified as wild lettuce and wild endive, were in memory of the bitter oppression (1:14). The lamb was not to be eaten raw to avoid consumption of prohibited blood. Stewing was prohibited as a slower method of cooking though it seems prescribed in Deut 16:7, possibly by some new law later abrogated; cf. § 216d. 10b. ‘And that which would otherwise be left until morning you shall burn with fire.’ § f 11. The girding of the loins, the sandals on the feet and the staff in the hand indicate preparations for an immediate departure. 12. The judgements executed against the Egyptian gods are the deaths of the firstborn whom they could not save. 15. The feast of Azymes lasted seven days during which no leavened bread could be eaten, no leaven kept in the house. Whoever violated this law was cut off from Israel, originally put to death, later excommunicated. 16. There was a holy convocation, religious gathering, on the first and last day on which also no work was allowed except cooking. 17. Correct V1698g ‘I will bring forth’ to I brought forth. 19. The prohibition of leaven affects the stranger as well as the Israelite since there must be no leaven in the land.
§ g 21–42 Tenth Plague and Exodus—21–28. The means by which the Israelites will escape the plague are first indicated. The blood in the basin (V1699g ‘at the door’) is applied to the lintel and door-posts with hyssop, a herb frequently used in purification ceremonies. All must remain within the house. Yahweh seems to be identified with and yet distinguished from the destroyer owing to the custom of attributing directly to God what is done by his instrument. The Pasch is a perpetual institution and must be explained to children when they ask ‘What do you mean by this service?’ as ‘the sacrifice of Yahweh’s passover’. 29–33. The death of the firstborn and its effect on the Egyptians are described. 29. Omit ‘woman’. Not only may the Hebrews depart with their flocks and herds but they are pressed to leave at once and thus unable to leaven their dough. 34b. ‘Their kneading-troughs being bound up in their mantles on their shoulders.’ 35b. The Egyptians ‘grant their request for jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment’. The distance from Ramesses (Tanis) to Succoth (Theku?) is about 30 miles. § h 37. The 600,000 geḇārîm on foot are interpreted by some as the fighting men, which implies an absurd total number of about three millions, by others more correctly as the vigorous people strong enough to walk and contrasted with the ṭap̱ infants in arms. Usually a group is described as “consisting of men, women and ṭap̱ ‘children’ (Deut 2:34; 31:12; Jer 40:7; 43:6). We cannot suppose that the women and old men are tacitly included among the children. The infants in arms and the mixed multitude (omit ‘without number’) would raise the total to practically the normal population of Palestine before the Jewish immigration of the present century, 757, 182 according to the census of 1922. So large a number of persons with their cattle and belongings could scarcely cross the Red Sea by a ford in a single night (14:22, 27). Elsewhere moreover we are definitely informed that the Hebrews were too few to occupy the whole of Canaan and that some Canaanites would remain to prevent injury to the land from partial disoccupation until they became numerous enough to fill it (23:29–30). The number given is therefore doubtful and may be due to textual corruption. 40. We find ‘in Canaan’ interpolated before in Egypt (LX1700X), after in Egypt (Sam), apparently to abbreviate the stay in Egypt. 42a. ‘This was a night of watching on the part of Yahweh to bring them forth’, on which they in return must keep watch.
§ i 43–51 Additions to the Paschal Legislation—This new ordinance of the Pasch determines more precisely who shall observe the feast. Aliens, temporary sojourners, hired servants presumed to be aliens and uncircumcised persons are excluded. The purchased slave, a member of the family, must be circumcised and take part in the feast. The resident alien who wishes to remain in the land and celebrate the Pasch must be circumcised with all the males of his family and then let him approach and keep it. The order not to break a bone of the lamb, here first recorded, was observed in the Antitype (Jn 19:36).
§ j 13:1–16 Azymes and Firstborn—1–10. The legislation on the Azymes is similar to that of 12:15–20, but omits the special solemnity of the first day when recording that of the seventh. 2. Sanctify means ‘separate, dedicate’. 7b. ‘No leavened bread shall be seen with thee, neither shall leaven be seen with thee in all thy borders.’ 11–16. The law of the firstborn, attached to the Exodus by the tenth plague, ordains that every male firstborn of men or domestic animals shall belong to Yahweh. The male firstborn of men must be ransomed, those of clean animals sacrificed, that of the one unclean domestic animal, the ass, may be ransomed with a lamb or have its neck broken. 16. The laws of Azymes and Firstborn must be perpetual reminders of the deliverance of Israel: as a sign on thy hand and a memorial between thy eyes (9). ‘Memorial’ here becomes ‘bands,’ intended figuratively in the same sense, but later literally interpreted as phylacteries.
B) From Egypt to Sinai (13:17–18:27)
§ 170a 13:17–14:31 The Crossing of the Red Sea—To understand the narrative and determine the site of the crossing a knowledge of the Egyptian boundary between Suez and Ismailia at the time of the Exodus is required. Before the construction of the Suez Canal there was between these two cities first a land barrier called Shaluf et-Terrabe immediately north of suez, about 16 feet above sea-level at its highest point, then a long stretch of water called the Bitter Lakes, then a second land barrier called Serapeum, reaching a height of 26 feet above sea-level, and finally another lake, Timsah. At the time of the Exodus the Red Sea certainly extended northward to the Bitter Lakes, but it is almost certain that it did not reach Lake Timsah or cover the Serapeum. A caravan road passed by Theku in the Wady Tumilat and crossed the Serapeum into the desert. 17–22. The Israelites were forbidden to take the more direct route, called the way of the Philistines, along the shore of the Mediterranean into Cannan, because they were too dispirited by long oppression to be ready as yet for hard battles with the Canaanites. Moses moreover had been already informed that he was to return to Sinai (3:12). § b Accordingly the first stage of their journey as free men (read ḥop̱šîm instead of ḥamūšïm ‘armed’ 13:20), not necessarily accomplished in a single day, was from Tanis to Succoth, probably Theku, whence they followed the caravan road to Etham on the edge of the desert. Etham was probably an Egyptian fortress (hetem) at the northern end of the Bitter Lakes. God manisfested his presence by a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, symbolizing respectively his mysterious and spiritual nature. 14:1–4. The Israelites could now continue their march through the desert along the eastern shore of the Red Sea to Sinai, but God ordered them to return (into Egypt) or perhaps to change the direction of their march and, remaining in Egypt, to encamp between Migdōl (V1701g Magdalum) and the Red Sea opposite Phihahiroth and Baalsaphon. God wished, by miraculously delivering them when their situation was desperate and by overthrowing their pursuers, to manifest his Omnipotence to both. Neither Phihahiroth nor Baalsaphon (Baal of the north) has been identified, but both were evidently near Migdōl which is most probably Tell Abu-Hasa, 1702c 5 m. W. of the southern end of the Bitter Lakes where the route to Sinai crossed the Red Sea by a ford. The site was suited for a large encampment. The Israelites also crossed the Red Sea by a ford since the shallow waters were naturally divided by a particularly strong and continuous east wind (21). § c 5–9. Pharaoh, meanwhile, informed, probably by his official at Etham, that the fugitives had lost their way, determines to pursue them and bring them back. He sends chariots and charioteers, picked men (7b V1703g ‘captains’) as the speediest and most effective force, who overtake the Israelites at their encampment by the sea, ‘with all his [Pharaoh’s] chariots [M1704T chariot horses], his charioteers and his host’ 10–20. The Israelites are dismayed and murmur against Moses who tells them to stand still and see the salvation of Yahweh. God orders them to advance to the Red Sea and promises deliverance and victory. The Angel of God and the pillar of cloud change their position from before to behind the Israelites to protect them. 20b. ‘And the cloud was darkness and the night passed without any contact between one party and the other during the whole night.’ 21. Moses now stretches his hand over the sea (as ordered 16) ‘and Yahweh made the sea go back by means of strong east wind which blew the whole night so that the sea became dry ground and the waters were divided’. 22a. ‘The Israelites passed through the sea on dry ground.’ § d 23–25. The Egyptians enter the sea in pursuit. But Yahweh observes them in the morning watch through the pillar of fire and cloud and throws them into confusion. Moreover ‘he clogged the wheels of their chariots so that they drove with difficulty’. 26–31. Moses now receives and executes the order to stretch his hand over the sea and bring back the waters to their wonted flow. ‘The Egyptians fled against it [the returning sea] and yahweh overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea’ so that not one of them escaped. The effect produced on the Israelites by their marvellous deliverance is attested by many OT passages. The crossing was not miraculous in itself since the natural force of the wind divided the waters of the ford. Scipio’s capture of New Carthage was similarly facilitated by a wind which drove back the waters of a lagoon. But it was miraculous in the intensity and continuity of the wind, in the circumstances of time and place and in the pillars of cloud and fire by which the Israelites were accompanied. There is no indication that Pharaoh himself perished or took part in the expedition. The poetical allusion (Ps 135:15) is not a historical statement to be strictly interpreted.
§ e 15:1–21 Epinicia: The Canticle of Moses—This magnificent paean celebrates two different victories: that over the Egyptians in the immediate past and that over the Canaanites and the surrounding nations in the future. Some maintain the unity of the Canticle considering the prophetic vision of future triumphs appropriately suggested by the glorious victory of the immediate past. Others regard 12–18 as a liturgical addition made by an inspired writer with the object of celebrating in a single ode the two paramount exploits of Yahweh. For the second view it is argued that 12–18 is less lyrical in tone and lacks the terseness of expression, vigour of thought and boldness of imagery so conspicuous in 1–11. It has however a beauty of its own and actual victory would naturally be celebrated more lyrically than prospective victory. The second view offers moreover no plausible interpretation of 12. We prefer therefore the first, as proposed in N1705P, in which 11–13 are satisfactorily explained as a middle or transition strophe. If, however, it were established that the Philistines did not settle in Canaan till after the Exodus, the second part, in which they are mentioned, would be a liturgical addition. That the canticle was sung by the men soon after the victory is indicated by the word then (1) and confirmed by other OT records of the immediate celebration of a victory by song and dance.
§ f 1–2. The introduction celebrates the majesty and the power of God: ‘I will sing to Yahweh because he is exalted, exalted; the horse and the chariot [LX1706X, driver M1707T] he hath cast down into the sea. My strength and my force is Yahweh; and he has become to me salvation. He is my God and I will praise him; my father’s God and I will exalt him.’ 3–5. The first strophe summarily describes the destruction of the Egyptians: ‘Yahweh is a warrior; Yahweh is his name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea; and his chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea. The deeps covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone’ [quickly]. 6–8. The second strophe shows more fully how the Omnipotence of Yahweh destroyed his foes: ‘Thy right hand, Yahweh, excelleth in power; thy right hand, Yahweh, dasheth into pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of thy exaltation thou over-throwest thy adversaries; thou sendest forth thy wrath, it consumeth them like stubble. And with the breath of thy nostrils [the east wind] the waters were piled up; the waves stood upright as in a heap; the deeps were congealed in the midst of the sea.’ The figure of the wall (14:22, 29), here poetically developed, does not necessarily imply more than that the waters protected the Israelites like a wall on both sides. 9–10. The third strophe depicts the Egyptians greedily expectant of carnage and booty as they are suddenly destroyed: ‘The enemy said: I will pursue, I will overtake; I will divide the spoil, my desire will be sated on them; I will draw my sword, my hand will despoil them. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.’ 11–13. § g The transition strophe extols the Omnipotence of Yahweh in its recent manifestation a pledge of future protection: ‘Who is like thee, Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like thee, excelling in holiness? Fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. In thy mercy thou hast led the people whom thou hast redeemed; in thy power thou hast led them to thy holy habitation.’ Gods are the objects of heathen worship called gods by their worshippers. Fearful in praises means inspiring fear by the exploits for which thou art praised. The earth includes land and water and here indicates the latter element. It is impossible to refer 12 to the punishment of Dathan and Abiron (Num 16:32) and it is out of place here as a description of destruction in general. 14–16. The next strophe describes the fear of the neighbouring peoples as the Israelites journey through the desert: ‘The peoples have heard, they have trembled, pangs have taken hold of the inhabitants of Philistia. Then were the princes of Edom terrified, trembling took hold of the leaders of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan melted away, terror and dread fell upon them. By the greatness of thy arm they have become still as a stone; until thy people whom thou hast gotten hath passed through.’ The perfects are prophetic representing future events more vividly. § h 17–18. The last strophe describes the settlement of the people in Canaan where Yahweh will be their eternal king: ‘Thou hast brought them in and planted them in the mountain of thy possession; in the place, Yahweh, which thou hast prepared for thy dwelling; in the sanctuary, Yahweh which thy hands have founded. Yahweh shall reign for ever and ever.’ The mountain and the sanctuary refer to the mountainous region of Canaan, the holy land of Yahweh. 19a. ‘The horses of Pharaoh and his chariots’ (mistranslated in V1708g). The women now play their part led by Miriam, sister of Aaron (the elder brother) and prophetess, divinely inspired. And Miriam answered them (the men, 21a) by singing either the paean which they had sung or its refrain.
§ 171a 22–27 March to Mara and Elim—The Israelites were now in the desert of Sur (‘wall’), probably so called from the fortifications built on the eastern boundary of Egypt. They marched towards Sinai in a SSE. direction, and after three days reached Mara (‘bitterness’), identified by some with the wells of Ḥawwāra, 1709c 70 m. from the place of crossing, by others with ‘Ain Mūsā (‘Well of Moses’) only 24 m. from it. As the way was difficult and haste unnecessary the latter identification is more probable. The water at ‘Ain Mūsā is abundant but bitter. The miraculous sweetening was temporary. The subject in 25b is Yahweh and him is collective for the people. Elim (‘terebinths’) is identified with the well-watered Wady Gharandel, over 50 m. from ‘Ain Mūsā, a regular halting-place for caravans between Egypt and Sinai.
§ b 16:1–36 Food in the Desert: Quails and Manna—The Sinaitic peninsula is a very barren region and supports with difficulty a nomadic population of about 5,000. The Hebrew immigrants could not therefore have subsisted on the natural resources of the country. A divine intervention was necessary and God fed his chosen people with quails and manna. The quails are mentioned only here and Num 11 (§ 201d). In the springtime quails from the interior of Africa fly over the Sinaitic peninsula in large numbers. Their first appearance to the Israelites in May was therefore later, their second in June considerably later, than the ordinary period of migration. They came at the moment willed by God and so numerous on the second occasion as to provide a month’s food for all the people. The food was natural, the circumstances preternatural. § c The manna differed from the quails in being supplied constantly during the whole period of the wandering in the desert. This continuous and miraculous provision of food was a signal prodigy worked by Yahweh on behalf of his people. The bread from heaven was thus a most fitting type of the true bread from heaven, the sacrament of the Eucharist, our spiritual food during our journey to the promised land. The manna however was not entirely preternatural. A substance found beneath the tamarisk trees in Sinai in late May, June and July is called manna by the natives. In an expedition to Sinai in 1927 two professors of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem discovered that it was produced not by the tamarisk tree itself but by two species of cochineal which feed on its leaves. The viscous substance falls to the ground during the night and appears in the morning in the form of little balls never bigger than a hazel-nut and usually of a yellow-brown colour and transparent. It must be collected early since ants appear after 8.30 a.m. and devour or carry away what they find. Once hardened it either melts under the heat of the sun or becomes in any way corrupt. As its content is mainly sugar it is very nourishing. The present annual output in Sinai is about 6 cwt., but the ancient yield was greater since there were more tamarisks. The biblical narrative here and Num 11:7–9 agrees with this description. § d The manna is food from heaven (4) as coming from above and also miraculously multiplied since the natural supply was altogether insufficient. It fell by night around the camp and was gathered in the morning (14; Num 11:9). It is like hoar-frost in its white colour and fineness when it first exudes, like the coriander-seed in its clear brown colour and granular formation, like the bdellium gum in its colour its viscous character and its pleasant odour (14, 31; Num 11:7). The corruption of the manna (20) was a miracle by which the people were warned to obey God and trust in him. Its melting when the sun grew hot cannot be explained by the ravages of the ants, since ‘melt’ and ‘disappear’ are not equivalent, but the drops which fell from the trees during the day-time would melt in the sun before they solidified (21). The manna was eaten either raw or cooked. In the latter case it was apparently mixed with meal and is thus compared in taste with honey-cakes (30) and oil-cakes (Num 11:8). An ‘omer (V1710g gomor) is 1711c 6½ pints, an abundant daily ration. While the manna was certainly not the only food of the Israelites in the desert it is not stated whether it was provided all the year round or only during its season in May, June and July. The former view is more probable. A miracle is necessary to explain the extraordinarily large amount provided and also the double supply on the eve of the Sabbath. § e There is some confusion here as elsewhere caused by the insertion in the text of traditional material, belonging to a later date. The order to place a pot of manna before Yahweh, that is, in the tabernacle, as V1712g rightly interprets, and its execution (33–34) suppose the tabernacle, not yet built. The order to appear before Yahweh (9) is better referred to the Tent of Meeting (33:7–11). The narrative becomes more intelligible if 11–12 are read after 3.
§ f Read congregation for ‘multitude’, as the word has a religious connotation. The desert of Sin is Debbet er-Ramle 50 m. NW. of Mt Sinai. 3. For ‘why’ read because. 5a. ‘Let them order aright what they bring in.’ 7. The glory of the Lord refers to the miraculous appearance of the manna but seems to be explained in 11 by the pillar of cloud in the desert. This verse however may have been altered by substituting desert for the original tent since the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud at the Tent of Meeting (33:10). 14. ‘And when the dew had lifted behold on the face of the desert was something fine, granular [?], fine as the hoar frost on the ground.’ Meḥuspās only occurs here and is variously rendered granular, round, scale-like. 15. The derivation of manna is popular not scientific. 16b. ‘Gather you of it, each according to his eating, an ‘ōmer a head according to the number of persons, every man for those who are in his tent shall you take it.’ § g The words according to his eating imply, as in the case of the paschal lamb, that some naturally eat more than others. The sense therefore of 18 is that this order was carried out, not that those who gathered more or less had ultimately the same amount. 22–30. The observance of the Sabbath is here first imposed. The people collect a double quantity on the eve as ordered by Yahweh. The rulers of the congregation seek an explanation from Moses and are told to keep the Sabbath. 23b. ‘Bake what you will bake and stew what you will stew.’ 34. The pot of manna was kept before the testimony, the Ark, which contained the tables of the Testimony (25:22). 36 is a gloss.
§ h 17:1–7 Water in the Desert: Massah and Meribah—On reaching Raphidim, most probably the modern Wady Refāyid 8 m. NW. of Mt Sinai, the congregation of the Israelites suffering from thirst strove with Moses and tempted God. Moses at God’s command struck a rock with his rod and the water gushed forth. The place is called Massah ‘Temptation’, and Meribah ‘Strife’. V1713g omits Meribah. At another Meribah near Kadesh (Num 20:1–13) Moses sinned and was punished by exclusion from the promised land. 6. Horeb is unintelligible and probably an interpolation.
§ i 8–16 Battle with the Amalekites—The Amalekites were an ancient people (Gen 14:7; Num 24:20) residing in the south of Canaan and the north of the Sinaitic peninsula. Those who attacked the Israelites (Deut 25:17–18) had pushed farther to the south, whether permanently or temporarily, to find pasture for their flocks, and had very probably encamped in the Feiran oasis. By the prayer of Moses the Israelites triumph. An altar is built and called Yahweh is my banner and perpetual enmity between the people of Yahweh and the Amalekites is solemnly proclaimed. Here for the first time Moses is ordered to write this for a memorial in a book. This explains why Josue and Hur are mentioned incidentally since a short record would merely give their names and activities. 11. Omit ‘a little’. Hands should be read with Sam. and all versions, not ‘hand’ (M1714T). Raising one hand would be here the gesture of command but raising the two hands is the gesture of prayer. 16. The hand (raised) up to the throne of Yahweh indicates an oath or solemn declaration of perpetual war with Amalec (cf. Jg 6:3, 33; 1 Kg 15:2 ff.; 30:1 ff.). For M1715T kēseyāh read with the versions kissē’ Yah, throne of Yahweh, i.e. heaven.
§ j 18:1–27 Jethro visits Moses: Institution of Judges—The events narrated in this chapter are not in chronological order. The visit of Jethro is located at Mount Sinai (6) but the Israelites are still at Raphidim (19:2). The judges were naturally instituted at Mount Sinai (Deut 1:6, 9 ff.), after the laws were revealed. Both events are narrated here by anticipation to avoid an interruption in the history of the Sinaitic legislation.
1–6. Jethro hearing of the return of Moses sets out with Sephora and her sons Gersam and Eliezer (born after the departure of Moses) and is met by his son-in-law to whom he has previously announced his visit. Moses’ separation from Sephora was temporary for practical reasons, not a divorce. 7. ‘And he [Moses] went out to meet his father-in law and bowed down before him and kissed him; and they inquired about each other’s health and entered the tent.’ 8–11. Moses relates the great deeds of Yahweh on behalf of his people. Jethro rejoices and recognizes that Yahweh is supreme: ‘Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all gods: yea in the very thing wherein they [the gods of Egypt identified with the Egyptians] dealt proudly against them’ (the Hebrews). 12. In thanksgiving he offers holocausts and victims for a sacrificial meal before God (i.e. given by God to his worshippers) to which Moses, Aaron and the elders of Israel are invited. As the sacrifices were offered to the true God the invited could partake of the sacrificial meal. § k Jethro now asks why Moses passes the whole day in giving audience to the people. 15–16. Moses replies: ‘The people come to me to inquire of God [Moses is God’s interpreter] and in disputed matters I judge between a man and his neighbour and I make known to the statutes of God and his laws.’ 19–23. Jethro rejoins: ‘Hearken to my words, I will give thee counsel and may God be with thee; Represent thou the people with God and bring their disputes before God’ and instruct them in their duties but appoint good men as judges in ordinary cases to share thy burden, and reserve only the more important cases to thyself. 23a. ‘If thou shalt do this and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure.’ 24–27. Moses therefore appoints judges. Jethro returns to his own land.