Exegesis On Exodus 1:17-20 A Brief Introduction To The Book: Historical Date

EXEGESIS ON EXODUS 1:17-20
A brief introduction to the Book

The English title Exodus (going out) transliterates the title in the Septuagint, which named
the book for its central focus, the departure of Israelites from Egypt. However, the book
covers more than that event. The departure from Egypt is described in 13:17-15:21, but the
book also describes the circumstances of Jacob’s family before Exodus, the journey from
Egypt to Sinai, and some of the event that Israel experienced there.
Immediate Context
Historical Date
Attempts to date the Exodus to a specific century have been inconclusive. 1 Kings 6:1 places
the event 480 years before the construction of Solomon's Temple, implying an Exodus at c.
1450 BCE, but the number is rhetorical rather than historical, representing a symbolic twelve
generations of forty years each.
Textual Date
The journey from Egypt to the Sinai wilderness took exactly three month (19:1-2). It would
seem logical that Moses composed the book during or shortly after the encampment at Sinai
(1446 B.C). Thus the book covers event that occurred sometime before Moses birth in 1526
To the event surrounding Mount Sinai (1446) .
Genre and Sitz im Leben

Exodus consists of several types of literature, but narratives predominate and provide the
framework for the book as a whole. Other types of the literature are woven into this
framework, including poetry and instruction for celebrating Passover and Unleavened Bread
and for the building the tabernacle together with related institutional matters. That neither the
laws nor the instruction relating the worship stand isolate from the narrative is important for
the interpretation of the different genre.
Structure and Source

There is a considerable variance of opinion among source critics concerning which verses in
this section are to be attributed to Yahwist, and which to the Elohist. Most recent critics
favour the Elohist as the author of all or most of the section (excepting v 22; childs, 7,
incorrectly says Noth assigns vv 15-20 to J, but Noth, 23, states that vv 15-21 are “to be taken
as a fragment of E”); most older critics tend to divide the narrative between J and E, with E
predominating.
Background of the text

Not long after the Israelites settled in the land of Egypt there arose a Pharaoh who did not
know Joseph of Egypt and who was concerned that the Hebrews were "...fruitful... and waxed
exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." (Exodus 1: 1-7) In fact, they were
becoming more numerous and stronger than the Egyptians and this scared the Pharaoh. So in
order to try to curb the population and to make sure that they wouldn't go to war against
them, the Egyptians enslaved the children of Israel and put hard taskmasters over them.
(Exodus 1:7-11) But even under these hard circumstances the Hebrews continued to multiply,
even more than they had before. Concerned with the ever increasing numbers of Hebrews and
scared of the potential threat they presented, Pharaoh commanded that all Hebrew males be
killed at birth. (Exodus 1: 12-22)
Background of the author

Jewish and Christian tradition viewed Moses as the author of Exodus and the entire
Pentateuch, but by the end of the 19th century the increasing awareness of discrepancies,
inconsistencies, repetitions and other features of the Pentateuch had led scholars to abandon
this idea. In approximate round dates, the process which produced Exodus and the Pentateuch
probably began around 600 BCE when existing oral and written traditions were brought
together to for m books recognisable as those we know, reaching their final form as
unchangeable sacred texts around 400 BCE.
Interpretation
V.17. The choice made by the midwives was to disobey Pharaoh’s command and reverence
God who is the life giver. They believed human life is precious and they could not kill the
babies.
V. 18-19. Egyptian women need the care of a midwife more than the Hebrew women who
were lively, robust and delivered the babies so fast that they didn’t need the help of a
midwife. By the time the midwife comes, the baby is born, washed and with the mother.
What could they do?
As far as the midwives arriving too late, that might have been true. Perhaps they just didn’t
tell the fact that their tardiness was deliberately planned. The Scriptures don’t tell us the
details here so we aren’t even sure if this was a lie or the truth. What we do know was: these
women chose to disobey the command because it was the wrong thing to do. Because they
did the right thing, the thing that pleased God
V. 20. They refused to violate the law of life. God blessed them for doing what is right in His
eyes. He blessed them with “households” “families” of their own.
Present application
Whom do we fear God or worldly authority? Is this where you are right now? Or perhaps
someone close to you is facing a hard decision, wanting to do right but afraid of the
consequences? Perhaps it’s at work, you’ve been asked to compromise, and it feels all wrong.
Maybe it’s a hard parenting choice and you’re getting resistance. Maybe a friend has asked
you to cover something up and you know you will lose the relationship if you say “no”.
I don’t know where you are now, or where you may be headed but I do know to be a woman
of influence for good for God in your world you will need to choose the right over the wrong.
Others will watch you; your influence will be affected by what you do. ASK God for his
strength, His help, to choose right.

Exegesis On Exodus 1:17-20 A Brief Introduction To The Book: Historical Date

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EXEGESIS ON EXODUS 1:17-20

A brief introduction to the Book

Genre and Sitz im Leben

Structure and Source

Background of the text

Background of the author

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