A Research Paper About The Book Of Exodus In The Bible (Research Paper Sample)

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EXODUS
The book of Exodus covers the story of Jews who came into Egypt under the influence of Joseph and then after at least 400 years of slavery they left Egypt under the leadership of Moses who was guided by God, known as Yahweh by the Jews (Barolsky, p.23). Additionally, this book also contains God’s law that He passed to the Jews to guide them on how they are supposed to relate to each other as well as their God, Yahweh.
Authorship
There are plenty of intramural claims in the book of Exodus which directly correlate authorship to Moses. Moses is noted to record the entire story of Israel’s over the success they achieved over Amalek (Bird, p.167). Moses records the entire episode on a scroll (17:14). Also, Moses wrote the Ten Commandments under the instructions from God. The book of Exodus remarked that he “recorded down everything Yahweh instructed him” (24: 4), and the content that Moses wrote became part of the Book of Covenant. Also, in Exodus 17:14 “The Lord revealed to Moses, compose this as a commemorative in a book and recount it in the ears of Joshua, that I will fully scar out the recall of Amalek from beneath heaven.” All these intramural assertions are buoyed by a convincing correlation of Mosaic writing for the Pentateuch present in the other Old Testament books and in New Testament books as presented in the summary of the in the first books of the bible (Buonarroti, p.35). When one explores all the evidence that is present in the scripture together with aptitudes of Moses for the narration he recorded about the exodus of Jews and part of the work that entails books of Pentateuch, it is evident that Moses has a strong association to the authorship of the book of Exodus.
Date of Writings
Disputes over the right date in which the Exodus book was written has been rising among various scholars, nevertheless, it can be traced that the writings could have occurred between 1445 and 1526 B.C. This is duration that is characterized by the death of Joseph and ushering of a new Egyptian ruler who did not recognize the influence Joseph in Egypt. Exodus 12:40-41 remark that Israelites had lived in Egypt for a period of not less than 430 years before they left Egypt under the leadership of Moses. Additionally, it is crucial to note that Exodus 2 commences with the birth of Moses which had occurred 80 years before the exodus. It is quite challenging to extract the right duration the Israelites were in Egypt but it must be a duration that was more than 100 years in order to give an adequate time for the multiplication of Israelites in Egypt that was viewed as a threat by the Egyptians thus making the new King order for killing of Israelites’ sons. For that reason, it would be correct to state that the events in chapter 1 could have occurred between time periods of 230-250 years (Westermann, p. 298). The date of events of the exodus is also backed in the opening of the first books of the bible that were written by Moses where the time of birth is estimated to be approximate 1526 B.C as well as the construction of Tabernacle that occurred at 1445 before Jesus Christ was born. From this duration, one can comfortably state that various events that have been captured in the Book of Exodus which took place between1526 and 1446 before Jesus Christ was born which is a time margin of approximate 80 years.
Salient Theological Themes
The salient themes evident in the Book of Exodus revolves around the concept of establishing a long-lasting relationship between the Israelites and their Yahweh. In the entire Book of Exodus, three salient scriptural themes are evident:
* Promise and Accomplishment.
* The disclosure of God of Israel
* The attributes of Yahweh as the supreme God who decrees over the countries and His people and imposes verdict on them as well as Yahweh of the covenant.
Promise and Accomplishment
The book of Exodus is centred on the accomplishment of the promises that Yahweh promised Abraham as recorded in the Book of Genesis. The following are the incidences that point God’s promises to Abraham or prophecies that He made which are later realised in the Book of Exodus: The promise of abundant nation- this was a promise that was made by God to Abraham that he will be a father a great nation which came to be fulfilled as depicted by Israelites’ becoming very productive and multiplication of their generation in great numbers in a foreign land (Steinberg, p.213). This information is recorded in the Book of Exodus 1:7. The significance of this theme is that it accords Yahweh as a God who fulfils His promises and He is determined to ensure he delivers His people from the hands of the enemies.
The revelation of Yahweh
This is another theme that is dominant in the book of Exodus where Yahweh is revealed through the names that are assigned to Him. God is revealed as El Shaddai which is translated to denote “God Almighty”. The use of this name depicts Yahweh as a God who is more powerful than any other deity that is available on earth (Meyer, p.123). Also, God revealed Himself to Moses and asserted that He is “Yahweh” which is translated to mean “I am Who I am” which symbolised that God is an active almighty One. The significance of God’s attributes was well understood through the revelation of this name in the book of Exodus where God was portrayed as a redeemer, covenant maker with His people and also an active participant who is determined to ensure His promises are fulfilled (Rzepińska, p. 256).
The manifestation of Yahweh as a fair Judge
Yahweh called Moses and sent him to Egypt along with Aaron to inform Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave Egypt for Yahweh had heard their prayers and it was time for Him to deliver them from the bondage of slavery they were being subjected to by the Egyptians (Patella, p.126). God performed miracles to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave Egypt but the stubbornness of Pharaoh attracted a severe ...