Genesis and Exodus

GENESIS & EXODUS: – read Genesis ; ; 11-12; 15; 17; 22; 25; 27-28; 37; 40; – read Exodus 1-4; 6; 12-13; 15-17; 20; 24; 32; 40

Genesis and Exodus Five [-and-a-half] things: – Author Moses – Title bereshith, Genesis v'elleh shemoth, Exodus – Date bc – Location Egypt, Arabia, Palestine – Language Hebrew

Genesis and Exodus [textual tradition/edition] Qumran lit (dead sea scrolls): 2nd c bc!: 24 mss of genesis; 18 of exodus MT, Hebrew LXX, and Samaritan Pentateuch were 3 impt branches, the scripture becoming pretty-well est by 100ad; best text before qumran discovery was MT (9th-10th c ad) Sinaiticus and Vaticanus (Greek: 4th c ad)

Genesis and Exodus Masoretic period 7th-10th c: using the TR of the Talmudic period (6thbc-6thad) established authoritative canon with vowel points and accents; one great thing about the period was that it opened an epoch of careful preservation faithful to the text of the Masoretes, but the oldest mss that survive are pretty recent: 10th-11th c ad. 6th c bc - 6th c ad was a period of canonical authority for the Torah and by turns the rest of the OT; the texts had a variety of ms tradition behind them, however, and Talmudic emphasis during the period was for explication of Torah, not to establish text. Before that we see the liturgical anxiety motive of Ezra in the restoration period (536bc), but even Josiah's reforms before that (at least Torah) (622bc).

Genesis and Exodus 19th-20th century scholarship on the text of the Pentateuch was source critical et al., resting on foundations from the 17th century (Spinoza & Hobbes); the development of the documentary hypothesis is based on the various names for God in the text (YHVH, Elohim, etc.) and a theory of 4 sources (JEDP: Yahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomic, and Priestly) that were written at different periods between the 10th-6th centuries bc and finally redacted into the form we have now. Criticism of Wellhausen et al. has since 1970 evolved to the point of emphasizing text instead of source (final form criticism), underscoring the plausibility of a single author, though still leaving open the question of dating.

Genesis and Exodus Major literary concerns: Creation & comparative traditions Origins: Patriarchal history and Mosaic history Eponymy Generations (toledoth) and emphasis on seed Redemption, sacrifice, liturgical tradition Covenant (promise): Noah, Abram/Abraham, Moses Law Racial identity

Genesis and Exodus The text: Setting: Prehistory bc Gen 1.1: In the beginning God: notice the e nihilo emphasis of the Mosaic account Gen 1-2: notice the emphases in creation: the hexaemeron and the account of human beings Gen 3: fall; promise through seed Gen 4: promise and non-fulfillment; emphasis on seed Gen 6-9: consider the comparative account in Gilgamesh. What's the same? What's different?

Genesis and Exodus Gen 11: toledoth and genesis of nations Gen 12: abram; berith: covenant; emphases of covenant: land, children (seed), blessing Gen 15: berith again: notice the language of the promise; name change through ritual action; aetiology of judaism Gen 17: more names - consider the significance of eponymous patriarchs; what is the women's role? humor: is any of this funny? Gen 22: time to interpret: Moriah Gen 25: more eponymy with Jacob (Israel) and Esau (Edom) Gen 27-28: the blessing and the dream: the stairway to heaven and the continuation of Abrahamic promise

Genesis and Exodus Gen 37: the dreams of Joseph and cultural intertext with divination and prophecy; also remark on the social history aspect of this Gen 40: fulfillment again of dream interpretation Gen 49-50: Observe the formal structure (including parallelism); power of eponym again (these are the 12 tribes); theology / interpretation (consider destiny once again)

Genesis and Exodus Ex 1 What's the status of nations at this point? consider the hegemony of Egypt in the middle of the 2nd millennium 's bc Ex 2 Paronomasia in Hebrew; again with name significance; Hebrew pedigree but raised in Pharaoh's house Ex 3 Burning bush and name: yiyeh / yahweh Ex 4 Aaron as administrator Ex 6 Promise of plagues; notice levitical genealogy

Genesis and Exodus Ex 12-13: emphases once again on ritual and aetiology of judaism: not just circumcision but redemption. people of the word, the book, history. Vicarious substitution. Ex 15: Formal structure: epic poetry in a true sense: compare / contrast with Gilgamesh Ex 16: Providence and provision: manna and quail Ex 17: Notice the names: massah and meribah

Genesis and Exodus Ex 20: commandments: consider both the specific theology & the universality (and therefore connection with natural law) Ex 24: confirmation of mosaic covenant: remarkable immanence Ex 32: golden calf Ex 40: shekinah and the dwelling place of chabod