I. Name

The Hebrew name is We-elleh shemoth, "and these are the names," the words with which the book opens. The name Exodus was given it by the Greek translators and has passed through the Latin into most translations.

II. Contents

The book is easily divided into three sections: Israel in Egypt, Israel on the way to Sinai, Israel at Sinai. The line of thought may be more fully indicated as follows:

1. Israel in Egypt. — After a brief statement in regard to those who originally went to Egypt and their rapid increase in numbers, 1:1-7, we are told of the harsh measures taken by the Egyptian king to keep them in subjection, 1:8-22. Then follows a sketch of the birth and early life of Moses, 2:1ff; of his call to become their deliverer, 3:iff; of his appearance with Aaron, his brother, before Pharaoh to demand Israel's release, 5:1ff; and of the ten plagues sent upon the Egyptians because they would not listen to the divine command, Chs. 7 to 11. In connection with the last plague we have the account of the institution of the Passover as an annual ceremonial in memory of their deliverance, Chs. 12 and 13.

2. Israel on the way to Sinai. — They cross the Red Sea, Ch. 14, a fact celebrated in a song by Moses, Ch. 15, and march through the wilderness of Shur, receiving from God food, Ch. 16, and water, Ch. 17, triumphing over their adversaries, 17:8, until in the third month after they left Egypt they come to the wilderness of Sinai, 19:1.

3. Israel at Sinai. — At Sinai the theocracy is formally organized by the giving of the Ten Commandments, 20:1-17, accompanied by a code of laws regulating their social and religious life, 21:1-24:11. Moses is then instructed in regard to building the tabernacle and its furniture, 24:12-31:18, the incident of the golden calf is related, 32:1-34:35, and the book closes with a full statement of the work of Moses in carrying out the divine instructions in regard to the tabernacle, Chs. 35-40.

The opening words of the book prepare us to understand that a considerable period must have elapsed between the close of Genesis and the opening of Exodus. This silence is easily explained. We have no history of Israel in the proper sense of that term, but a series of historical events leading up to and preparing the way for the advent of the Messiah, the one event to which they all point. The period of slavery in Egypt, having nothing bearing specially on that point, is passed over in silence.

The credibility of the book has been fiercely assailed; the historical part by those who object to miracles, and the legislative by those who claim that instead of preceding the national life the laws are a product of the times of the captivity and later. But the historical stands unimpeached. The statements concerning Egypt and the condition of Israel while there, and the geographical knowledge revealed concerning both Egypt and Arabia are abundantly confirmed by the latest researches in archaeology, while the laws both social and religious are simple and fundamental, such as their condition at Sinai demanded.

The relation between this book and Genesis is manifest. We pass now to the records of a nation, we are in the midst of a people having a past and planning for a future. The conditions here demand those of Genesis as a basis, and the moral and spiritual no less than the national conditions are the natural outgrowth of the life in Genesis. Equally plain is its relation to the books following it. No theory of the origin of the kingdom of David is adequate which ignores the foundations laid down in Exodus. To place the origin of the laws after the establishment of the kingdom is to reverse the natural order.