The Book of Exodus
INTRODUCTION
Critical investigations into the Bible have revealed nuances and subversions which go beyond the mere didactic nature the text displays in a preliminary surface reading. The book of Exodus, the second book of the Torah and the Old Testament, begins with a portrayal of Israel's slavery in Egypt and God choosing Moses to liberate Israel from that servitude. The Pharaoh resists the purposes of God, and God responds by sending plagues on Egypt, the last of which leads to the death of the firstborn and deliverance at the sea. Israel saves itself from this through the Passover and then journeys to Sinai. At Sinai, Israel receives the Ten Commandments and the covenant is established. While Moses is receiving instructions …show more content…
(Exodus. 1. 13-14)
The pain articulated in these lines shows how Israel isn’t committed to a certain order that it doesn’t take pain seriously “because it refuses to regard such pain as a bearable cost of order” (Scott and Cavanaugh 13). This position of submissiveness stands in direct contrast to the instance where Israel articulates its pain through speech:
And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. (Exodus 2.23)
This cry for help however cannot be seen in a theological light because the cry was not addressed to Yahweh. It was only a “raw political act of giving voice to the irreducible political datum of suffering at the hands of coercive power” (Scott and Cavanaugh …show more content…
The plagues cannot be understood within a simplistic spiritual framework of a holy book. Each plague is an act of judgement imposed by God and also an ecological sign that point towards strong narrative points in the text such as the Passover and the parting of the sea. The plagues are also intended for knowledge, for informing the world of Yahweh’s intentions of enshrining justice and love. “Thus the plagues have a public character” (Miller). It is this character which has an embedded cosmic significance.
Though such interpretations of the Bible may be seen as over reading, it is only through such in-depth analyses that clear distinctions which go beyond simplistic ones can be made between different versions of the same stories. Such distinctions also give us literary standards to measure scriptural
INTRODUCTION
Critical investigations into the Bible have revealed nuances and subversions which go beyond the mere didactic nature the text displays in a preliminary surface reading. The book of Exodus, the second book of the Torah and the Old Testament, begins with a portrayal of Israel's slavery in Egypt and God choosing Moses to liberate Israel from that servitude. The Pharaoh resists the purposes of God, and God responds by sending plagues on Egypt, the last of which leads to the death of the firstborn and deliverance at the sea. Israel saves itself from this through the Passover and then journeys to Sinai. At Sinai, Israel receives the Ten Commandments and the covenant is established. While Moses is receiving instructions …show more content…
(Exodus. 1. 13-14)
The pain articulated in these lines shows how Israel isn’t committed to a certain order that it doesn’t take pain seriously “because it refuses to regard such pain as a bearable cost of order” (Scott and Cavanaugh 13). This position of submissiveness stands in direct contrast to the instance where Israel articulates its pain through speech:
And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. (Exodus 2.23)
This cry for help however cannot be seen in a theological light because the cry was not addressed to Yahweh. It was only a “raw political act of giving voice to the irreducible political datum of suffering at the hands of coercive power” (Scott and Cavanaugh …show more content…
The plagues cannot be understood within a simplistic spiritual framework of a holy book. Each plague is an act of judgement imposed by God and also an ecological sign that point towards strong narrative points in the text such as the Passover and the parting of the sea. The plagues are also intended for knowledge, for informing the world of Yahweh’s intentions of enshrining justice and love. “Thus the plagues have a public character” (Miller). It is this character which has an embedded cosmic significance.
Though such interpretations of the Bible may be seen as over reading, it is only through such in-depth analyses that clear distinctions which go beyond simplistic ones can be made between different versions of the same stories. Such distinctions also give us literary standards to measure scriptural