Exodus

The great deliverance wrought for the children of Isreal when they were brought out of the land of Egypt with “a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm” (Ex 12:51; Deut. 26:8; Ps 114; 136), about B.C. 1490, and four hundred and eighty years (1 Kings 6:1) before the building of Solomon’s temple. The time of their sojourning in Egypt was, according to Ex. 12:40, the space of four hundred and thirty years. In the LXX., the words are, “The sojourning of the children of Israel which they sojourned in Egypt and in the land of Canaan was four hundred and thirty years;” and the Samaritan version reads, “The sojourning of the children of Israel and of their fathers which they sojourned in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.” In Gen. 15:13-16, the period is prophetically given (in round numbers) as four hundred years. This passage is quoted by Stephen in his defence before the council (Acts 7:6). The chronology of the “sojourning” is variously estimated. Those who adopt the longer term reckon thus: | Years | | From the descent of Jacob into Egypt to the | death of Joseph 71 | | From the death of Joseph to the birth of | Moses 278 | | From the birth of Moses to his flight into | Midian 40 | | From the flight of Moses to his return into | Egypt 40 | | From the return of Moses to the Exodus 1 | | 430 Others contend for the shorter period of two hundred and fifteen years, holding that the period of four hundred and thirty years comprehends the years from the entrance of Abraham into Canaan (see LXX. and Samaritan) to the descent of Jacob into Egypt. They reckon thus: | Years | | From Abraham’s arrival in Canaan to Isaac’s | birth 25 | | From Isaac’s birth to that of his twin sons | Esau and Jacob 60 | | From Jacob’s birth to the going down into | Egypt 130 | | (215) | | From Jacob’s going down into Egypt to the | death of Joseph 71 | | From death of Joseph to the birth of Moses 64 | | From birth of Moses to the Exodus 80 | | In all... 430 During the forty years of Moses’ sojourn in the land of Midian, the Hebrews in Egypt were being gradually prepared for the great national crisis which was approaching. The plagues that successively fell upon the land loosened the bonds by which Pharaoh held them in slavery, and at length he was eager that they should depart. But the Hebrews must now also be ready to go. They were poor; for generations they had laboured for the Egyptians without wages. They asked gifts from their neighbours around them (Ex. 12:35), and these were readily bestowed. And then, as the first step towards their independent national organization, they observed the feast of the Passover, which was now instituted as a perpetual memorial. The blood of the paschal lamb was duly sprinkled on the door-posts and lintels of all their houses, and they were all within, waiting the next movement in the working out of God’s plan. At length the last stroke fell on the land of Egypt. “It came to pass, that at midnight Jehovah smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.” Pharaoh rose up in the night, and called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve Jehovah, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.” Thus was Pharaoh (q.v.) completely humbled and broken down. These words he spoke to Moses and Aaron “seem to gleam through the tears of the humbled king, as he lamented his son snatched from him by so sudden a death, and tremble with a sense of the helplessness which his proud soul at last felt when the avenging hand of God had visited even his palace.” The terror-stricken Egyptians now urged the instant departure of the Hebrews. In the midst of the Passover feast, before the dawn of the 15th day of the month Abib (our April nearly), which was to be to them henceforth the beginning of the year, as it was the commencement of a new epoch in their history, every family, with all that appertained to it, was ready for the march, which instantly began under the leadership of the heads of tribes with their various sub-divisions. They moved onward, increasing as they went forward from all the districts of Goshen, over the whole of which they were scattered, to the common centre. Three or four days perhaps elapsed before the whole body of the people were assembled at Rameses, and ready to set out under their leader Moses (Ex. 12:37; Num. 33:3). This city was at that time the residence of the Egyptian court, and here the interviews between Moses and Pharaoh had taken place. From Rameses they journeyed to Succoth (Ex. 12:37), identified with Tel-el-Maskhuta, about 12 miles west of Ismailia. (See PITHOM.) Their third station was Etham (q.v.), 13:20, “in the edge of the wilderness,” and was probably a little to the west of the modern town of Ismailia, on the Suez Canal. Here they were commanded “to turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, be

(that is, going out [of Egypt]), the second book of the law or Pentateuch. Its author was Moses. It was written probably during the forty-years wanderings int he wilderness, between B.C. 1491 and 1451. It may be divided into two principal parts:

EX'ODUS, the second book of the Pentateuch. The word is Greek for "going out" or "departing," and is an appropriate title to the book, which contains an account of the going out of the Israelites from the land of Egypt. It may be divided into two parts: 1. The historical, chs. 1-18:27; 2. The legislative, ch. 19 to the end. In the historical portion we have an account of the depressed condition of the people under the king "who knew not Joseph" (Rameses II.), the birth, education, flight, and return of Moses, the attempts, at first disastrous to the Hebrews, to secure the king's permission to their temporary exodus, the plagues wrought by the Lord's power, culminating in the death of the firstborn, the journey of the Israelites from Goshen to Sinai, with all the important incidents and miracles. This portion closes with the Israelites before Mount Sinai, encamped upon the ground they were to occupy for a year. In the legislative part are related the giving of the Law, and the sin of the golden calf; then follow the text of the ten commandments, the various laws for the governance of the people, the full directions for the priesthood and all their appointments. And lastly there are described the erection of the tabernacle and the inauguration of the service. In this book the Bible is brought into contact with Egyptology and much light has been thrown upon it from modern discoveries and researches confirming the Mosaic narrative. See Pentateuch.

going out, departure

EX'ODUS, THE. The date, the geography, and the history of this "great turning-point in biblical history" will be considered. (1) Some hold that Amosis or Aahmes I. was the Pharaoh of the Oppression, and that Thothmes or Tutmes II. was the Pharaoh of the Exodus, who perished in the Red Sea. The latter reigned about a century later, b.c. 1485. His reign is known to have been short and inglorious. But the difficulties in the way of this view are numerous. (2) According to the other theory, now held by the majority of Egyptologists and biblical scholars, Rameses II., the Great — the Sesostris of the Greeks — was the Pharaoh who " knew not Joseph," Ex 1:11 (b.c. 1388 to 1325), and his son, Menephthah II., was the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Menephthah was the thirteenth son of Rameses, and began to rule probably b.c. 1325 or 1322. He marks a period of decline in which the conquests of his two great predecessors were gradually lost. Few monuments were erected in his reign, and even his father's tomb was left unfinished. This is just what we would expect after the catastrophe in the Red Sea. Herodotus tells us that the son of Sesostris (Rameses, whom he calls Pheron) undertook no warlike expeditions, and was smitten with blindness for 10 years because "he impiously hurled his spear into the overflowing waves of the river, which a sudden wind caused to rise to an extraordinary height." This reads like a confused reminiscence of the overthrow in the Red Sea. Taking this view, we may, with Lepsius and Ebers, set the Exodus in b.c. 1317, on the fifteenth day of the first month, A bib or Nisan, our April. Etham, "in the edge of the wilderness," Ex 13:20; here they were to "turn and encamp, before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon." Gen 14:2. With these notices must be compared the list of camping-stations which Moses gives. Num 33:2-10. When the Egyptians came upon the track of the Israelites they said, "They are entangled in the land; the wilderness is closed against them," Ex 14:3 — i.e. "They cannot get out of Egypt; they must either return or cross the sea." Moses intended to go by the way of the wilderness, but when he turned southward, by divine command, he was shut in by the waters of the Red Sea, which then probably extended farther north, to the Bitter Lakes. We may thus identify the places mentioned in the itinerary. Rameses, the place of general rendezvous, is Zoan (Tanis). Succoth, which Ebers considers an Egyptian word (fields), must have been halfway between Rameses and Etham. Etham was probably Pithom (Pitum); Pi-hahiroth is Ajeudot Agrad, a fortress on the way from Etham to Suez; Migdol is Bir Sitweis, about 2 miles from Suez; Baal-zephon is perhaps identical with Mount Atakah. Baal was the chief deity of the Phoenicians, who had at a very early period a settlement in Lower Egypt. There are two prominent theories about the locality and mode of the miraculous passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea: (1) The usual theory, which locates the passage several miles south of Suez, where the sea is about 10 miles broad. This theory fits in best with the literal meaning of the narrative, for in this case the waters must have been actually divided for several miles, and have stood like walls on either hand. But the difficulties the view raises are more numerous than those it solves. Could the host of Israel, encumbered as they were, have crossed in one night through such a channel? Would the Egyptians have followed them through the deep sea, and in view of such an amazing interposition of God? Could any wind have had such an effect upon so wide a sea? And if not, why is it mentioned at all as an agent? An accumulation of miracles is called for by this theory. (2) The second theory puts the crossing at the head of the gulf, near or some distance north of Suez. In Moses's time the gulf may have extended as a reedy marsh as far as the Bitter Lakes. The crossing was made possible by a special providence and a miraculous adaptation of the laws of nature. The east, or rather north-east, wind drove off the waters from the small arm of the sea which runs up by Suez; this would leave the water on the more northern part of the arm, so that there would be waters on both sides to serve as an entrenchment. This would meet the Sketch-map of the Route of the Exodus. exigences of the narrative, Ex 14:22. But even in this case the passage of two millions of people, with all their cattle, was an astounding miracle. It has its counterpart in the crossing of the river Jordan at the end of the journey through the wilderness. For a third theory advocated by Brugsch Bey, and more recently by Prof. A. H. Sayce, see Red Sea. 3. History. — The Exodus was the execution of a divine plan. God sent ten

plagues upon the land in punishment. The last was the severest: the first-born in every house lay dead. But while the destroying angel went through the midst of Egypt the Israelites were gathered in their respective houses, ready at any moment to hear the command, "Go! begone!" their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, their staffs in their hands, eating hastily the lamb which they had roasted. Thus they observed the Passover. "Dimly we see and hear in the darkness and confusion of that night the stroke which at last broke the heart of the king and made him let Israel go." "And Pharaoh in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead." Then followed in quick succession the midnight call of Pharaoh for Moses and Aaron, the command to depart, the urgent co-operation of the nation to hasten their departure, and the actual leaving of the house of bondage and start upon the momentous journey.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. A going out; particularly (the Exodus), the going out or journey of the Israelites from Egypt under the conduct of Moses; and hence, any large migration from a place.

2. The second of the Old Testament, which contains the narrative of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt.