Exodus, Part 2
(avg. read time: 4–8 mins.)
As we turn our attention to the rest of the OT and the role of the exodus in it, it is notable that many of the subsequent books of what would become the canon express this same exodus faith explicitly or implicitly in diverse fashions. Some of these are simply beyond our scope to explore. For example, the Song of Songs, a book that on the literal level addresses human romance and sexuality, has an interesting history of being used as the Megilloth scroll read during Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, in that it has often been read as being about God and God’s people. But as with our survey of the Torah, we will explore here references that either directly mention the exodus or use traditional associative language we have already observed in the Torah.
The first reference to the exodus outside of the Torah is, interestingly enough, on the lips of Rahab (Josh 2:10–11). She informs the spies of Israel that she and her compatriots have heard of what YHWH has done in the exodus and in subsequent victories on the other side of the Jordan. This has crushed the spirits of people in Jericho and elsewhere throughout the promised land. (According to 9:9–11 and 24, the report had also reached the ears of the Gibeonites who forged an alliance with Israel via subterfuge; cf. also the Philistines in 1 Sam 4:6–9; 6:6). But this story has also turned into a basis of hope for Rahab. She knows that this God will overthrow Jericho when the people arrive there, but because she has dealt kindly with the spies, she believes she can secure safe passage for her and her family. Hers is an extraordinary faith because she acted on what she heard without seeing any of God’s great acts herself or being the recipient of any of his great promises. Based on what she heard, she knew that God was the true God over all, and she declared her allegiance to him by hiding the Israelite spies and making an agreement to join with them. Thus, she was not destroyed with the rest of city. She went in the opposite direction of the rebellious generation and identified herself with the faithful, all based on what she had heard of God’s deeds in the exodus and afterwards.
We also see in early in Joshua how the exodus serves as a paradigmatic action of deliverance, of making a way where there is no way. When the people of Israel cross through the Jordan on dry ground and make a memorial at Gilgal, this crossing is explicitly linked with the crossing of the Sea of Reeds in the exodus (4:20–24). Both deeds serve as testimonies to God’s awesome power, testimonies that Israel is to pass on for generation after generation. It similarly serves as a paradigm for God’s forthcoming deliverance from Assyria in Isa 10:24–27.
The first reference to the celebration of the Passover—indeed, one of the few historical references to it outside of the Torah—appears in Josh 5:4–12. Prior to the first conquest of the promised land while the people are camped at Gilgal, Joshua attends to the task of circumcising all the males of Israel who had not been circumcised on the way from Egypt. While the men recover at Gilgal, the nation also celebrates the Passover, which serves as a reminder of who they are, where they come from, and how they have gotten here immediately prior to beginning the conquest of the promised land. Unfortunately, much of the subsequent history of Israel would consist of forgetting who they are and who their God is. Presumably one of the reasons for this is implicitly indicated by the frequent lack of clearly celebrating Passover. Indeed, only a generation later, it is said that Israel has forgotten the exodus and the covenant attached to it (Judg 2:1–3, 12). Later kings are also said to be notable for their celebrations of the Passover, as this is an event mentioned about Josiah in both 2 Kgs 23:21–23 and 2 Chr 35:1–19, and it is mentioned about Hezekiah in 2 Chr 30. When the exiles return to the land, it is considered a crucial part of their return that they celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles/Booths (Ezra 3:4; Neh 8:14–17) and Passover (Ezra 6:19–22).
The final references to the exodus in Joshua lead us into a recurring motif in the OT. As part of a covenant renewal ceremony, Joshua recites the history of Israel in summary, including a reference to God bringing Israel up out of Egypt as the basis for this covenantal relationship (24:5–7). The people’s response reiterates their awareness that God has brought them and their fathers up out of Egypt and that this is a basis for worshiping and serving God (24:16–18). This chapter is only the first of many other texts that would summarize the story of Israel up to a certain point for any number of purposes. In these summaries, as in Josh 24, the exodus is not only a key reference point in the history of Israel, but a reminder of what God has done for the people alive at the time the summary is being made. In other words, it is not only something God did for ancestors long ago, but an act that was also for them. Celebrating Passover is supposed to be one of the ways this truth is recognized. Another is to recite it as part of these historical summaries, whatever their precise purpose, and it does indeed often appear in such contexts (Judg 11:13, 16; 1 Sam 12:6–9; 2 Kgs 17:7, 35–39; Neh 9:9–21; Pss 78:12–16, 42–55; 105:26–45; 106:6–33; 135:8–9; 136:10–16, 23–25; Ezek 20:5–29; Hos 11:1–5; 12:9, 13; 13:4–6).
Furthermore, the description of YHWH as “the one who brought you [up] out of Egypt” is a means of self-dentification that YHWH uses that has already been noted in Part 1 (Judg 6:7–10; 1 Sam 10:17–19; Amos 2:10). It is also an identifier that others use for God (Judg 6:13; 1 Kgs 9:8–9 / 2 Chr 7:21–22; Jer 2:6; 23:7; Dan 9:15). Conversely, it is also used as an identifier of the people who God brought out of Egypt (1 Kgs 8:51, 53; Amos 3:1–2; cf. Neh 1:10; Ps 74:2). In another case, it is used as a false identifier for Jeroboam’s idols as representing the gods that brought Israel up out of Egypt (1 Kgs 12:28). (Also note the adjacent identification of YHWH as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in 1 Kgs 18:36.)
In some cases, the event of the exodus is used as an historical endpoint, a way of referring to the beginning of Israel’s history (Judg 19:30; 1 Sam 2:27–29; 8:7–8; 2 Sam 7:5–7 // 1 Chr 17:4–6; 1 Kgs 6:1; 8:16, 21; 2 Kgs 21:15 2 Chr 6:5; 20:10; Ps 95:8–11; Jer 2:2, 6–7; 7:21–26; 11:4–5, 7–8; 23:7; 31:32; 32:20–23; Ezek 23:8, 19, 27; Hos 2:15; 9:10; Mic 7:15; cf. 1 Kgs 8:9 // 2 Chr 5:10). In a similar fashion, it is used as a reference point for the punishment carried out against the Amalekites in 1 Sam 15:2, 6. In David’s response to God’s establishment of a covenant with his line, he notes it as an event, in combination with the making of a covenant with the people of Israel, that defines Israel’s history as unique (2 Sam 7:23–24 // 1 Chr 17:21–22). Interestingly, in Amos 9:7 the exodus is listed among other instances in which God brought other nations up from other places. Its place in Israel’s history identifying them as a people and establishing a covenantal relationship is also invoked in Hag 2:5
Along with the historical summaries, which include songs of worship, references to the exodus also appear in worship settings in the Psalms. In Ps 66:6, the exodus is paralleled, as in Joshua, with the crossing of the Jordan. In another case where it serves as a paradigm of God’s delivering action, it closes the song of Ps 77:15–20 as the ultimate deed of the Lord for the congregation to remember. Psalm 80:8/9 describes the exodus and conquest of the promised land as God removing a vine from Egypt and transplanting it. Psalm 81:5–10 refers to the events of the exodus as the basis for the covenantal relationship of God and Israel (cf. Mic 6:4). More distantly, the imagery of God’s mighty hand and strong arm evokes the imagery of the exodus in Ps 89:13 (cf. 98:1). Similar language describing the power of God’s right hand, in connection with Exod 15:6 and 12 appears in Ps 118:14–16. Psalm 103 evokes the events of the exodus and the language associated with God’s loving faithfulness to the covenant established on that basis multiple times (v. 3 [cf. Exod 34:7], 6–13, 17–18). The same language is also evoked, particularly in connection with Exod 34:6–7 in Pss 111:4–6; 112:4; 116:5. Psalm 114 as a whole is a celebration of the exodus and v. 2, in particular, is a reminder that Israel was not only delivered from Egypt, but also delivered for the purpose of being God’s sanctuary and kingdom (another way of expressing the same idea as “a kingdom of priests”).
The language and imagery of the exodus is also sometimes used in ironic ways, in line with Deut 28:68. In Jer 21:5, God says he will make war against Zedekiah with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm. More explicitly, Hos 8:13 declares that the Israelites will face the punishment of returning to Egypt (cf. 9:3).