Israel and Exile, Part 3
(avg. read time: 6–12 mins.)
As I have noted previously in my series on the exodus, the exodus was the defining salvific event in the history of Israel and one that the Israelites and later Jews made constant reference to. One of the manifestations of that definitive character of the exodus is the fact that so many expressions of hope for return are made in terms of hope for a new exodus. Indeed, it is arguably present more times than I will note here. For example, the hope for being gathered from among the nations in Ps 106:47 comes near the conclusion of a psalm that recalls the memories associated with the exodus and Israel’s unfaithfulness in response, implying that a new exodus will be needed. But for this entry, I will focus on the clearer instances. This entry should be read in combination both with this series on exile and the series on the exodus to see its fuller significance.
One theological element that I have noted previously in my Resurrection in the OT series that is connected with the exodus and new exodus is the portrayal of God as Divine Warrior. This image was initially connected with the exodus—the most dramatic and most frequently referenced of demonstrations identifying Israel as God’s people—then augmented through other events such as the conquest of the promised land, and later became formative for hopes of God’s future action (Exod 15; Deut 32:1–43; 33:26–27; Josh 23–24; Judg 5; Pss 18; 24:7–10; 29; 77:16–20; 89:10–11; 96:10–13; 97). Whether or not other imagery of new exodus is present, this element at least connects the hope of Israel to the exodus and thus provides a framework of a kind of new exodus of more permanent consequence (Isa 24–27; 34–35; 51:9–11; Hab 3; Zeph 3:9–20; Hag 2; Zech 9; 14).
Although the movement one would expect from a new exodus is not present in Isa 4:2–6, the associated imagery is still there through the reference to how the Lord will create a cloud over Zion by day and a flaming fire by night, which is drawn from the pillar of cloud and fire in the exodus narrative. The movements involved in the exodus are more distinctly implied in Isa 10:24–27, where God’s action against Assyria is compared to what he had done already against Egypt, including the evocative imagery of his staff being over the sea (after all, there is no sea for Israel to cross between Assyria and their land, so the disjunction of this imagery made this allusion all the more notable). The promise of return in Isa 11:11–16 explicitly connects this promised event with the exodus as a way is made from Assyria as there was for Israel from Egypt, but now the scope of where the people are coming from is much broader, and thus the work done in bringing them back will be much greater even than the original exodus (cf. 35; 52:1–12; 63:8–64:4). The movements of Isaiah 40 are more generally evocative of the exodus in the movements and redemption of the people, particularly with the imagery of making a way for the Lord leading to the Lord revealing his glory (like with the Shekinah descending on the tabernacle). But perhaps the most distinct connection between Isa 40 and the exodus story is the imagery of the eagles’ wings in v. 31 for how God will help his people, which is also the description given for how God brought Israel out of Egypt in Exod 19:4 (cf. the similarity of Exod 19:6 and Isa 61:6). The return promise of Isa 43 uses the language of redemption for God’s people (vv. 1, 14; cf. Exod 6:6; 15:13; Isa 49:8–13), but more directly refers to the Lord making a way in the sea, destroying armies who resist his promises to his people (as in Exod 14 and 15), and bringing forth water in the wilderness for his people (vv. 16–21). Much of the same imagery is also used in Isa 48:17–21. Isaiah 51:9–11 makes the connection most succinctly between what God will yet do and what he has done already in making a way in the sea for the redeemed to cross over.
As already noted in the previous entry, Jer 16:14–15 and 23:7–8 declare that the coming redemptive action by God will serve as his new, paradigmatic identifying action. While it will be similar in function to the exodus, the return he will execute for his people in this new exodus will be so great as to supplant that event as the primary event in the theological consciousness of Israel. Jeremiah 24:7, as well as other similar texts noted in the previous entry related to the hope for return (e.g., Jer 30:22; 31:1; 32:38), establish a connection with the exodus by reference to the covenantal formula that is some variation of “they will be my people and I will be their God,” which was the relationship confirmed by the exodus (cf. Exod 6:7). Although the return is not as explicitly described as a new exodus in Jer 31, the new covenant spoken of in 31:31–34 is clearly evocative of such an event through its connection with the covenant made with Israel when they came out of Egypt. As the previous covenant was the fitting complement to bringing Israel out of Egypt to constitute them as God’s covenantal people, so too will the new covenant be the fitting complement to the return/new exodus of Israel (cf. 32:37–41).
I also noted in the previous entry cases in which Ezekiel makes multiple connections to the exodus via the formula “they will be my people and I will be their God.” Ezekiel also makes indirect connections to the exodus event through reference to the wilderness wandering and the judgment that took place there as an analogy for what will happen before Israel can return (20:33–44). There are also echoes of the exodus in the outcome of the return described in Ezek 37:24–28, since we see there, as in Jer 31, reference to establishing a covenant. Also, as will prepare the way for the picture in chs. 40–48, this text resonates with the exodus by virtue of the consequence of God setting up his sanctuary among the people, as with the tabernacle after the exodus.
Hosea 11, being a text famously referenced by Matthew, is one of the quintessential statements of a new exodus expectation after Israel has gone back to Egypt, as well as into Assyria. The covenantal formula from the exodus defining Israel as “my people” and God as “their God” is also related to the hope of return, giving this hope a connection to the exodus in fulfillment of its purpose (Hos 1:9; 2:23, 25; Zech 8:8; 13:9). In the prophesied return in Mic 7:14–20, there is also a direct link made with the exodus in 7:15, and the last verse invokes God’s faithful love in commitment to the patriarchs, which was also the basis for the exodus (Exod 3:6). The repeated point in Zechariah that God will dwell in the midst of his people after the return is evocative of the tabernacle after the exodus (Zech 2:10–12; 8:3). The promise of return in Zech 10:6–12 uses the language of redemption in connection with the return, the picture of them passing through the sea, and the depths being dried up. Finally, as I have argued elsewhere, Zech 14:3–5 uses new exodus imagery to describe the climactic salvation of Jerusalem.
We also see expressions of hope in the new exodus in later Second Temple literature, although not as frequently as the more general hope for return from exile. The language of 1 Bar 4:36–5:9 is reminiscent of Isa 40, as is Pss. Sol. 11. The promise concerning the reception of garments of glory that will not wear out in 1 En. 62:15–16 is possibly reminiscent of Deut 29:5 with its description of how Israel’s garments did not wear out in the wilderness. 2 Baruch looks forward to a time when God will once again open up the treasury of manna for the righteous (29:8). The Testament of Dan declares that the exiles will receive the plagues of Egypt, but that God will bring back out the repentant, specifically by leading them into his holy place (5:8–9). The Psalms of Solomon evoke the exodus in the hope for God to gather the people back to the promised land, providing for them along the way, and leading them under the supervision of his glory (11:5–9). The Words of the Luminaries, whether in anticipation of a new exodus or in belief that it is already in process, describe God as present in the midst of the assembly in the column of fire and in the cloud (4QDibHam[a]/4Q504 6, 10). Theudas and the Egyptian appear to have gained followers by their appeal to hopes connected to the new exodus, specifically in terms of presenting themselves as like Joshua in being able to part the Jordan River and to bring down a city wall like with Jericho (Josephus, Ant. 20.97–98, 167–172; J.W. 2.258–263).
Once again, the NT also attests to the influence of this hope for new exodus. Scholars have rather extensively explored the potential influence in the NT through a variety of means that I will not be exploring here.1 Rather, I will try to focus on some of the more direct connections.
Each of the four Gospel authors connects Isa 40 to John the Baptist, making him the one who prepares the way for this hoped-for new exodus (Matt 3:3 // Mark 1:3 // Luke 3:4 // John 1:23). As such, they each frame Jesus’s ministry as accomplishing, among other things, the purpose of bringing about the new exodus. This is also suggested by Jesus’s experience of temptation in the wilderness, wherein he succeeds in his forty days where Israel had failed in the original exodus and had to wander the wilderness for forty years. The Eucharist narrative, by virtue of its proximity to Passover, seems intended to connect the meal to the new exodus, especially as stated in Luke, where Jesus talks about this Passover being “fulfilled” (Luke 22:15–16) and where he refers to the “new covenant” (Luke 22:20; see also Matt 26:26–29 // Mark 14:22–25 // Luke 22:14–23). John also evokes this hope in his description of Jesus as “tabernacling” among us (1:14), and in his quoting of Jesus as describing himself as the bread of life that provides everlasting life, being superior to the manna given to the Israelites in the wilderness (6:32–58).
Paul may feature many more allusions to new exodus hopes, including in the imagery used of liberation from slavery and redemption (the move from slavery to sonship could also resonate with the description of Israel as God’s son in Exod 4:22–23 and elsewhere). But as it is less clear whether these hopes animate that imagery, we set aside such passages for now. Paul does invoke this hope by referring to Christ as the Paschal lamb and using the imagery of unleavened bread associated with the Passover (1 Cor 5:7–8). It may also be implied in 1 Cor 10:1–11, as Paul appeals to the example of what happened in the exodus and wilderness wandering for “us, on whom the ends of the ages have come” (10:11). The typological relationship also undergirds the “new Sinai” experience with the revelation of the Spirit as opposed to the veiling of Moses (2 Cor 3:7–18). The complex of return and new exodus promises are also invoked in the language drawn from Scripture in 2 Cor 6:16–7:1 to animate the description of believers as the temple of the living God. This hope may be behind the convergence of multiple salvific descriptions otherwise associated with the exodus in Col 1:12–14, wherein God is said to have given the saved a share in the “inheritance,” to have “rescued/delivered” people from the kingdom of darkness, and to have transferred us to the kingdom of his Son, in whom we have “redemption” and the forgiveness of sins. The last point is not as explicitly connected to the original exodus, but it does resonate with hopes for return from exile, and so it would resonate with hopes for a new exodus.
The new exodus also resonates in the other books of the NT. Hebrews 4, in analogizing the present time with the time of the people about to enter the promised land and insisting that Joshua’s generation did not receive the promised rest, portrays the present time of the new covenant as fulfilling the will of God in a fashion beyond the time of the old covenant. The argument in Heb 8:8–10:18 is built on a similar typological logic with the time of the new covenant, the institution of the same, and the heavenly tabernacle connected to it superseding what was associated with the original exodus (note esp. 9:15).2 The imagery of 1 Pet 1:17–19, with its combination of exile, redemption, and reference to the Lamb, may owe its source to the exodus and thus to new exodus expectations. A similar context is indicated more distinctly in 1 Pet 2:9–10 where he says the followers of Jesus are God’s own people, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation, all of which terminology is alluding to Exod 19:5–6, an identity description of the people God had brought out of Egypt. Similar language appears in reference to the followers of Jesus in Rev 1:5–6; 5:9–10; 22:3–5. The judgments executed in Rev 8 and 16 also provide a framework of new exodus in how they resonate with the signs that preceded the original exodus (Exod 7:14–25; 9:8–35; 10:1–19, 21–29; note also the references to lack of repentance throughout Revelation in light of Exod 7:13–14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 12, 34–35; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10). When the woman in the vision of Rev 12 is given eagle wings to fly away (v. 14) , the description evokes two important texts that are the only times in the OT when God gives Israel such wings: Exod 19:4 and Isa 40:31. Finally, the “tabernacling” language noted from John also appears in Rev 7:15 and 21:3 to describe God dwelling with his people, but now in a superior way than even the earthly tabernacle provided.
For an overview, see Daniel Lynwood Smith, “The Use of ‘New Exodus’ in New Testament Scholarship,” CurBR 14 (2016): 207–43. Also see Michael R. Fox, ed., Reverberations of the Exodus in Scripture (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2014).
More distantly, the parallels between Heb 13:20–21 and Isa 63:11–14, a reference to the original exodus, are also noteworthy.