Pathways through the Bible: Classic Selections from the Tanakh (Third Edition)

Exodus

Exodus Cc The descendants of Israel increase in numbers. After the death of Joseph, however, they become enslaved to the Egyptians. They win their freedom from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. For forty years the Israelites are governed by Moses, the great Prophet and Liberator, and under his guidance they become a nation of free people. After their escape from Egypt, they survive the hardships of the wilderness and are led by Moses to the borders of the Promised Land. How did the Israelites become slaves in Egypt? How did they win their freedom? What kind of a man was Moses? What united these freed slaves, so that they became one people? These questions the Book of Exodus answers. From it, we learn how Israel became a religious people at Mount Sinai where they received the written Covenant, or Instruction, which ever afterwards shaped their ideas of right and wrong and made the Jewish religion their way of life. It also tells about the origin of the Pesah . (Passover) Festival; how the Jewish people began to worship God in a special place called a Sanctuary; how many obstacles Moses had to overcome to mold the Israelites into a united people; and how difficult it was for them to free themselves from Egyptian idol-worship. But, above all, Exodus describes how the God of Israel upheld the cause of slaves against rich and powerful tyrants, and so reveals that God seeks justice, mercy, and kindness in human life; that God holds people sacred; and that God wants all people to have and enjoy freedom. Exodus, the second Book of Moses, receives its name from the departure, or exodus, of the Israelites from Egypt. Its Hebrew name is Shemot (“Names”), because it begins with a list of the names of Israel’s offspring in Egypt. ■ 63 ■ 1. MOSES—THE LIBERATOR Moses will become the hero of Israel’s struggle for freedom. (Our sages wove many legends about his life. Among others, they told this story: Moses was a prince in Pharaoh’s palace. When he saw the cruel burdens placed on the Israelites, he was saddened, and he said, “I feel awful for you. I wish that I could die for you!” Then he went out among the people and shared their heavy labor. God saw this, and appeared to Moses and said, “You have put aside your work and have gone to share the sorrows of Israel, behaving to them like a brother. I will leave My place on high and speak only with you.”) Perhaps, because the mother of Moses—a member of the Levites who were teachers in Israel—nurses and raises him, Moses learns from her about his ancestors and the God of Israel who wants kindness , justice, and freedom, and about God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation. But the Israelites were fertile and prolific; they multiplied and increased very greatly, so that the land was filled with them. Meanwhile, a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. The Cruel Pharaoh Pharaoh said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and take over the country.” So they set taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor; and they built garrison cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. The Egyptians ruthlessly imposed upon the Israelites the various labors that they made them perform. Ruthlessly they made life bitter for them with harsh labor at mortar and bricks and with all sorts of tasks in the field. The Midwives’ Refusal But the more they were oppressed, the more they increased and spread out, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. The king 64 ■ Pathways Through the Bible of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, saying, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, look between the birthing bricks: if it is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.” The midwives, fearing God, did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you...