At the Mountain of God: Story and Theology in Exodus 32-34

R. W. L. Moberly

JSOT Press, 1983 - 258 pages

An introduction on appropriate methods of handling a narrative text leads into an exegesis of Exodus 32-34 in which it is argued that there is a deeper literary and theological coherence in these chapters than has been generally appreciated. There appears a striking account of Israel's relationship with God and the role of Moses within this. The exegesis promotes a discussion of the genre and purpose of Exodus 32-34 and also a preliminary reassessment of the possible growth and development of the material. As a result of the study both the distinctiveness and also the theological importance of Exodus 32-34 within the Moses tradition are set in a new light.

 

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Consistency of Translation Techniques in the Tabernacle Accounts of Exodus in the Old Greek

 

Martha Lynn Wade

BRILL, 2003 - 280 pages

 

This book is a detailed examination and comparison of the translation techniques used in the Old Greek version of the instructions for the building of the tabernacle (Exodus 2531) and the account of the construction of the tabernacle (Exodus 3540). This examination of the translation of words and grammatical constructions suggests that the instructions for building the tabernacle were translated first and that a second translator used the translation of the instructions as the basis for translating the account of the construction of the tabernacle. The book provides a comprehensive analysis of lexical and grammatical consistency and accuracy of the Old Greek, furthering the text critical study of the tabernacle accounts by an approach more objective than issue-oriented. It also emphasizes Hebrew textual variants both within their immediate contexts and within a system of similar changes throughout the text, showing that "irrelevant" textual variants are important for a proper understanding of thetext.

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God at War: Power in the Exodus Tradition

Thomas B. Dozeman

Oxford University Press, 1996-09-05 - 222 pages

The destruction of the Egyptian army in the Book of Exodus is the primary story of salvation for Israel; God is the chief combatant in this story. "Yahweh is a warrior!" So goes the victory hymn in Exodus 15:3 after the annihilation of the enemy by Yahweh, marking the importance held by this show of divine power. This unleashing of divine power and its militaristic imagery has long caught the attention of scholars as starkly nationalistic.

Thomas B. Dozeman furthers this study by addressing the theological problem of divine power in the Exodus story and, by extension, the Judeo-Christian attempt to deify nationalism by calling its wars holy. He interprets Exodus as liturgy, the Day of Yahweh, celebrating God's defeat of Pharaoh and the ultimate ascendancy of Israelite authority. This liturgy, though, did not remain static, but changed as the national experience of exile changed the practice of Israelite worship. An isolated event evolved into an extended account of salvation history, in which the life of faith becomes a wilderness march to the promised land. Dozeman traces how revisionary embellishments in the plot structure and characters of the Exodus story reflected the new understanding of divine power. By combining literary and historical interpretation this study offers the first serious inquiry into the idea of divine power, and makes a major contribution to resurgent research on the Pentateuch as a whole. No scholar concerned with biblical historiography and its justification of holy wars can afford to ignore this book.

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Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic histories and the date of the Pentateuch

 

Russell E. Gmirkin

Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006 - 332 pages

Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus argues that the Pentateuch was written in 273-272 BCE under the patronage of Ptolemy II Philadelphus by the Septuagint scholars drawing on Hellenistic historical sources from the Great Library of Alexandria.

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We Think What We Eat: Neo-structuralist Analysis of Israelite Food Rules and Other Cultural and Textual Practices

Seth Daniel Kunin

Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004 - 256 pages

In We Think What We Eat, Seth Kunin presents both an appreciation and critique of Professor Mary Douglas' classical work on Israelite food rules. He places her arguments into the context of related anthropological approaches and suggests a new interpretation of the food rules system based on a rigorous application of structuralist theory. Kunin then goes on to extend this analysis to other areas of Israelite culture. Through detailed analysis of texts from Genesis, Exodus and Judges, he demonstrates that the same structural pattern found in the first section in respect of ritual is also characteristic of the mythological material. This section of the book also takes up the issue of structural transformation. It examines the processes found as the myths move from the Israelite context to that of the rabbis, the authors of the New Testament and of the Book of Mormon. The arguments presented demonstrate that as the myths move from culture to culture diachronically and geographically while the same mythological elements are retained they are restructured and organized based on the structural needs of the new cultural context.Kunin is also interested in issues of structuralist theory. Thus, he addresses issues related to the processes of structural transformation - suggesting processes that lead to changes in structural emphasis and those relating to more significant transformations.

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