The Holy Bible

The Second Book of Moses called EXODUS

Exodus: God Delivers Israel from Slavery in Egypt

book of Exodus is the second book of the Holy Bible, and the second book of the first five books that are collectively known as the Pentateuch.

Consisting of forty chapters, the book of Exodus is the continuation of the historical account of the Israelites after period recorded in the book of Genesis.

The first chapter of the book of Exodus commences with a brief recap of the account of Jacob and his extended family, numbering seventy persons, originally moving to Egypt. After an extended period of several hundred years, the Israelites have greatly increased in number until they “fill the land”.

After a change of leadership in Egypt, the Israelites find themselves enslaved and brutally treated in forced labour, whilst the ruling Pharaoh commences his murderous policy for the ethnic cleansing of the Israelites from Egypt, by systematically killing all their newborn sons.

One of the Hebrew women gives birth to a baby boy named Moses, who is fortuitously rescued from certain death and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter.

In the remainder of the book of Exodus, Moses, the one-time Egyptian prince, goes on to become the central hero figure God employs to rescue the Israelites from their slavery to the Egyptians, and to lead them to the Promised Land.

The Origin of the Name ‘Exodus’

Each of the five books of Moses that make up the Pentateuch is known in the Hebrew Bible by the opening phrase of the text, which in this case is We’eleh shemoth, ‘These are the names’.

The name, ‘Exodus’ was given to the book by the translators of the ancient Greek version of the Hebrew Old Testament known as the Septuagint (commonly abbreviated to LXX). The pseudo-name Exodus is a compound of two Greek words, ‘ex’ and ‘odós’, meaning ‘marching out’ or ‘the going out’ (of the Israelites from Egypt), corresponding to the central theme of the book. The name Exodus was adopted by the translators of the Latin Vulgate version, which in turn was adopted by the English translators from the Vulgate. The phrase ‘The Second Book of Moses called’ does not appear in any of the earliest versions, but was added in later.

The Authorship of the Book of Exodus

The question of authorship of the book of Exodus is likewise applicable to all five books that make up the Pentateuch. Like all of the contents of the other four books in this series, the book of Exodus is written in the third person. While this does not provide the definitive authority as to who the author of the Pentateuch really is, it is important to remember that this entire series of sacred books was written to be a testimony and a historical record of the will of God to mankind, and not to be one man’s own quest for his permanent and ongoing aggrandizement among mankind. Therefore the book of Exodus, and the Pentateuch as a whole, provide a significant and detailed insight into the nature, the enormous power, and the activities of the God of the Hebrews for all of mankind to read and digest, both in ancient times and right through to the modern age. And to this task these writings are eminently suited.

Realistically, the book of Exodus provides persuasive internal evidences to confirm whether the book really is authentic, which it is. Yet Exodus was not written to be a stand-alone book, but as a continuation of the book of Genesis, and as a significant part of the major series of sacred writings found in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible.

Traditionally Moses, the central Hebrew figurehead of the Exodus, is credited with the authorship of the Pentateuch. The book of Exodus plays an important role in identifying and confirming that it was indeed Moses who authored these five key books.

Critical Scholarship and the Book of Exodus

Like the rest of the Holy Bible, the authorship and authenticity of the book of Exodus has also been challenged and largely dismissed as fictional and irrelevant by elements of critical scholarship. Yet although these intellectual cynics reckon they know so, that doesn’t make it so. Together these collectively fractious and dissentious theologians and scholars have decided that the book of Exodus is merely a figurative narrative, a fanciful and fictitious compilation of stories that was authored by Jewish writers during the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BC, some one thousand years later than the time period typically allotted to the Israelite Exodus.

The reason the book of Exodus was written, critical scholarship claims, was actually to inspire or metaphorically describe the long-awaited rescue or escape by the Jewish exiles in Babylon from their Chaldean captors, and/or a blend of stories, including that of Abraham migrating to Canaan from Mesopotamia, and/or the escape of a remnant or limited number of Israelites from hostile Egyptian authorities.

Thus the errant theories of these critical scholars about the book of Exodus, rather than providing grounds for true believers to continue on in their church lives and in their spiritual lives, have instead brought harm. For the spurious theories of these critical scholars have, overall, merely served to provide more adverse grounds that further undermine, shake, and erode the faith and confidence of Christian believers globally.

Unfortunately, while the Christian churches empty in these days, many who would otherwise be true believers are instead caught up in the ultimately soulless spiral of materialism, pleasure-seeking, and corruption that has been unleashed upon the people of this world by satanic agencies, who are utilizing the powerful resources for evil availed to them through current advanced technology, while time permits.

Because of the dilution and the desecration of Scriptural truths by hostile elements of critical scholarship, as shown by their historical maltreatment of the Holy Bible, it is, for Christian believers reading the Bible and the book of Exodus, essential to take onboard some simple, yet completely relevant principles and concepts.

The Holy Bible really is the word of God, and aside from the extraordinary inspiration it holds for ordinary people on earth, it is both factual and truthful throughout. And as an important and integral part of the Old Testament, the book of Exodus is a factual and truthful account of the dynamic activities of the God of the ancient Hebrews, working both openly and behind the scenes, to miraculously rescue His people from slavery in Egypt and deliver them to the Promised Land.

For the reader, common sense dictates that the Scriptural accounts recorded in the Holy Bible are not for crunching and scrutinizing, in order to litmus test the truthfulness of what is read. Reading the Bible in this manner ensures that little or no direct benefit or advantage is obtained or received. Nor is it wise, or indeed sensible, to overlook and dismiss vast tracts of the sacred Scriptures, as if these are merely irrelevant, or unsavoury and contradictory to one’s own viewpoint. Rather, taking to heart what is read across the whole of the Holy Bible is both uplifting and inspirational for the reader, like no other collection of writings found among mankind can be or does.

The Holy Bible is not some second-rate, piecemeal, bits and pieces, written religious compilation, with some parts digestible and other parts indigestible, and some parts true and other parts not true, no, not at all. The whole of the Holy Bible belongs to God, and it is His own work, and it is His own sacred word to fallen mankind. Understanding this reality and taking this stance, it is apparent to the reader that the Scriptures must thereby be able to interpret themselves, and the deep and underlying message is clear: This is who the Almighty God is, and this is what the Almighty God does. Therefore, let the writings of the Holy Bible be the shortcut to finding out what truth really is on this, the Devil’s own planet, the planet of deep darkness, violence, mass corruption, and great deception.

In our own short mortal lives, the pages of the Holy Bible readily provide the sincere reader with peace, and with wholesome, meaningful spiritual and moral guidance. And in the pages of the Holy Bible we can find God for ourselves, and there God can find us for Himself also.