The destruction of the Egyptian army in the Book of Exodus is the primary story of salvation for Israel; God is the chief combatant in this story. "Yahweh is a warrior!" So goes the victory hymn in Exodus 15:3 after the annihilation of the enemy by Yahweh, marking the importance held by this show of divine power. This unleashing of divine power and its militaristic imagery has long caught the attention of scholars as starkly nationalistic. Thomas B. Dozeman furthers this study by addressing the theological problem of divine power in the Exodus story and, by extension, the Judeo-Christian attempt to deify nationalism by calling its wars holy. He interprets Exodus as liturgy, the Day of Yahweh, celebrating God's defeat of Pharaoh and the ultimate ascendancy of Israelite authority. This liturgy, though, did not remain static, but changed as the national experience of exile changed the practice of Israelite worship. An isolated event evolved into an extended account of salvation history, in which the life of faith becomes a wilderness march to the promised land. Dozeman traces how revisionary embellishments in the plot structure and characters of the Exodus story reflected the new understanding of divine power. By combining literary and historical interpretation this study offers the first serious inquiry into the idea of divine power, and makes a major contribution to resurgent research on the Pentateuch as a whole. No scholar concerned with biblical historiography and its justification of holy wars can afford to ignore this book.
Author(s): Thomas B. Dozeman
Year: 1996
Language: English
Pages: 240
Contents......Page 10
Abbreviations......Page 14
1 Divine Power in the Exodus......Page 20
Divine Power and Character in the Exodus......Page 22
Divine Power and Plot in the Exodus......Page 24
The Plague Cycle......Page 32
The Death of the Egyptian Firstborn......Page 36
The Exodus from Egypt......Page 37
Salvation by the Sea......Page 38
The Plot Structure of the Exodus as a Night Vigil......Page 41
The Character of God in the Liturgy......Page 43
Salvation into the Wilderness and the Promise of Land......Page 59
The Plague Cycle......Page 60
The Death of the Egyptian Firstborn......Page 63
The Exodus from Egypt......Page 68
Salvation by the Sea......Page 77
The Plot Structure of the Exodus as Salvation History......Page 82
The Character of God in History......Page 84
4 Exodus and Creation......Page 118
The Priestly History......Page 121
The Plague Cycle......Page 127
The Death of the Egyptian Firstborn......Page 134
The Exodus from Egypt......Page 139
Salvation by the Sea......Page 141
The Plot Structure of the Exodus as a Passover Legend......Page 144
The Character of God in the New Creation......Page 146
The Song of the Sea......Page 170
From Divine Kingship to Salvation History......Page 171
Mythological Patterns......Page 173
The Song of Miriam......Page 176
6 Divine Power and Presence as Themes in the Formation of the Pentateuch......Page 188
Preexilic Tradition......Page 189
Deuteronomistic Tradition......Page 190
Priestly Tradition......Page 192
The Canonical Pentateuch......Page 194
The Central Role of the Wilderness for a Theology of the Pentateuch......Page 195
Relational Power as a Hermeneutic for the Canonical Pentateuch......Page 196
Bibliography......Page 202
Index of Biblical Citations......Page 222
Index of Selected Hebrew Words and Phrases......Page 232
C......Page 233
K......Page 234
P......Page 235
W......Page 236
Z......Page 237
E......Page 238
W......Page 239
