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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Serie: Blackwell Bible Commentaries
- Sprache: Englisch
This bible commentary looks at how Exodus has influenced and has been influenced by history, religion, politics, the arts and other forms of culture over the ages.
- A bible commentary tracing the reception history of Exodus from Old Testament times, through the Patristic and Reformation periods, to the present day.
- Considers the ways in which Exodus has influenced and has been influenced by history, religion, politics, the arts and other forms of culture in Jewish, Christian and secular settings.
- Looks at how Exodus has served as a tool of liberation and tyranny in a variety of settings.
- Shows how Exodus has been used to shape the identities of individuals and groups.
- Discusses the works of current and past poets, musicians, film-makers, authors and artists influenced by Exodus.
- Addresses uses of Exodus related to American and European history such as the Glorious Revolution, colonialism, the American Revolution, Civil War, Civil Rights Movement, African-Americans, and Native Americans, as well as uses by prominent and little-known historical figures
- Considers the impact of the Ten Commandments and other laws, in legal, political and religious contexts.
- The Blackwell Bible Commentary series is supported by a website at www.bbibcomm.net
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Seitenzahl: 632
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013
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Table of Contents
Cover
Series Editors
Title
Copyright
Illustrations
Series Editors’ Preface
Preface
Introduction
Jewish and Christian Uses
Political and Social Uses
Oppressive and Contradictory Uses
Artistic Uses
Aim and Design
Exodus 1–2
1:1–14 The Israelites’ Suffering
1:15–22 Attempts to Kill Israel’s Male Infants
2:1–10 Moses’ Birth
2:11–25 Moses’ Early Life
Moses and Modern Biographies
Exodus 3–4
3:1–6 Moses Encounters YHWH
3:7–4 :17 Moses and YHWH Negotiate
4:18–31 YHWH Attempts to Kill Moses
Exodus 5–10
5:1–7:7 Moses and Pharaoh Begin Negotiations
7:8–10:29 The Plagues
Exodus 1:1–13:16
12:1–13:16 The Passover
11:1–3; 12:33–6 The Plundering of the Egyptians
11:1–10; 12:29–32 The Death of the Firstborn
Exodus 3:17–15:21
13:17–14:31 The Exodus
15:1–21 Israel’s Celebration
Exodus 5:22–18:27
The Testing of Israel
Exodus 19–31
Chapters 19–24 The Ten Commandments and Other Laws
Chapters 25–31 The Tabernacle
Exodus 32–40
Chapters 32–34 The Golden Calf
Chapters 35–40 The Completed Tabernacle
Epilogue: A Personal Word
Bibliography
Biographies and Glossary
Index
Subject Index
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Exodus 1–2
Plate 1
Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola,
The Finding of Moses
. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1912. (12.130.2)
Plate 2
Orazio Gentileschi,
Finding of Moses
. Museo Nacional Del Prado.
Plate 3
He Qi,
Finding of Moses
. Reprinted with permission of the artist.
Plate 4
Alain Foehr,
Slavery
. J. Nachtwey/Magnum All rights reserved/Al Foehr,
Slavery
, 2001. Reprinted with permission of Al Foehr.
Exodus 3–4
Plate 5 Burning Bush
,
Golden Haggadah
, British Library.
Plate 6
William Blake,
Moses and the Burning Bush
. Reprinted by permission of the V&A Picture Library.
Plate 7
Alain Foehr,
Mandela, New Moses
. All rights reserved/Al Foehr,
Mandela, New Moses
, 2001. Reprinted with permission of Al Foehr.
Exodus 5–10
Plate 8 Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh
. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Exodus 1:1–13:16
Plate 9
William Blake,
Pestilence: Death of the First Born
, about 1805. Pen and watercolor over graphite pencil on paper 30.4 × 34.2 cm (11 15/16 × 13 7/16 in.) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Gift by subscription, 90.106.
Exodus 3:17–15:21
Plate 10
The Crossing of the Red Sea. Ashburnham Pentateuch, fol. 68r. Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Plate 11
Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson’s proposal for the Great Seal of the United States. Drawing by Benson J. Lossing, for
Harper’s New Monthly Magazine
, July 1856. General Collections of the Library of Congress.
Plate 12
Howard Cook,
Exodus
. Smithsonian American Art Museum, gift of the artist.
Plate 13
Alain Foehr,
Crossing the Red Sea
. All rights reserved/Al Foehr,
Crossing the Red Sea
, 2002. Reprint with permission of Al Foehr.
Exodus 19–31
Plate 14
Valentin Bousch,
Moses and the Law
. Abbey of Flavigny, Lorraine, France. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917. (17.40.1a–o).
Plate 15
Demonstrators lie on the ground and pray in the plaza of the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery, Alabama, August 27, 2003. AP/Wide World Photos.
Plate 16
A moving crew uses a bar to lift one end of the Ten Commandments monument in the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery, Alabama, August 27, 2003. AP/Wide World Photos.
Plate 17
The Tabernacle. Ashburnham Pentateuch, fol. 76r. Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Exodus 32–40
Plate 18 The Israelites Dancing around the Golden Calf
, c.1645. Sébastien Bourdon, pen and brown ink, brown and white oil paint, 47.6 × 64.9 cm (18 3/4 × 25 9/16 in.). The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum. Accession number: 88.GG.39.
Color plates fall between pages 98 and 99.
Color plate 1 Maja Lisa Engelhardt,
Burning Bush
, two paintings. Reproduced with kind permission of the artist.
Color plate 2 Maja Lisa Engelhardt,
Pillar of a Cloud
. Reproduced with kind permission of the artist.
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Blackwell Bible Commentaries Through the Centuries
Series Editors: John Sawyer, Christopher Rowland, Judith Kovacs, David M. Gunn
John
Mark Edwards
Revelation
Judith Kovacs & Christopher Rowland
Judges
David Gunn
Exodus Through the Centuries
Scott M. Langston
Forthcoming:
Genesis 1–11 Through the Centuries
Danna Nolan Fewell & Gary Philips
Genesis 12–50 Through the Centuries
Danna Nolan Fewell & Gary Philips
Leviticus Through the Centuries
Mark Elliott
1 & 2 Samuel Through the Centuries
David Gunn
1 & 2 Kings Through the Centuries
Martin O’Kane
Esther Through the Centuries
Jo Carruthers
Job Through the Centuries
Anthony York
Psalms Through the Centuries
Susan Gillingham
Ecclesiastes Through the Centuries
Eric Christianson
Isaiah Through the Centuries
John F. A. Sawyer
Jeremiah Through the Centuries
Mary Chilton Callaway
Lamentations Through the Centuries
Paul Joyce
Ezekial Through the Centuries
Andrew Main
Jonah Through the Centuries
Yvonne Sherwood
Mark Through the Centuries
Christine Joynes
Luke Through the Centuries
Larry Kreitzer
Romans Through the Centuries
Paul Fiddes
Galatians Through the Centuries
John Riches
Pastoral Epistles Through the Centuries
Jay Twomey
1 Corinthians Through the Centuries
Jorunn Okland
2 Corinthians Through the Centuries
Paula Gooder
Exodus Through the Centuries
Scott M. Langston
© 2006 by Scott M. Langston
BLACKWELL PUBLISHING
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9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK
550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia
The right of Scott M. Langston to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.
First published 2006 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
1 2006
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Langston, Scott M.
Exodus through the centuries/ Scott M. Langston. p. cm.—(Blackwell Bible commentaries)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-631-23523-1 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-631-23523-X (alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-631-23524-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-631-23524-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Bible. O.T. Exodus—Commentaries. I. Title. II. Series.
BS1245.53.L36 2006
222′.1207—dc22
2005012642
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
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For further information on
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llustrations
Plate 1 Jacopo Barozzi,
The Finding of Moses
.
Plate 2 Gentileschi,
Finding of Moses
.
Plate 3 He Qi,
Finding of Moses
.
Plate 4 Alain Foehr,
Slavery
.
Plate 5
Burning Bush, Golden Haggadah
.
Plate 6 William Blake,
Moses and the Burning Bush
.
Plate 7 Alain Foehr,
Mandela, New Moses
.
Plate 8
Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh
.
Plate 9 William Blake,
Pestilence: Death of the Firstborn
.
Plate 10 The Crossing of the Red Sea. Ashburnham Pentateuch, fol. 68r.
Plate 11 Proposal for the Great Seal of the United States by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.
Plate 12 Howard Cook,
Exodus
.
Plate 13 Alain Foehr,
Crossing the Red Sea
.
Plate 14 Valentin Bousch,
Moses and the Law
.
Plate 15 Demonstrators lie on the ground and pray in the plaza of the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery, Alabama.
Plate 16 A moving crew uses a bar to lift one end of the Ten Commandments monument in the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery, Alabama, August 27, 2003.
Plate 17 The Tabernacle. Ashburnham Pentateuch, fol. 76r.
Plate 18 Sébastien Bourdon,
The Israelites Dancing around the Golden Calf.
Color plates fall between pages 98 and 99.
Color plate 1 Maja Lisa Engelhardt,
Burning Bush
.
Color plate 2 Maja Lisa Engelhardt,
Pillar of a Cloud
.
Series Editors’ Preface
The Blackwell Bible Commentaries series, the first to be devoted primarily to the reception history of the Bible, is based on the premise that how people have interpreted, and been influenced by, a sacred text like the Bible is often as interesting and historically important as what it originally meant. The series emphasizes the influence of the Bible on literature, art, music, and film, its role in the evolution of religious beliefs and practices, and its impact on social and political developments. Drawing on work in a variety of disciplines, it is designed to provide a convenient and scholarly means of access to material until now hard to find, and a much-needed resource for all those interested in the influence of the Bible on Western culture.
Until quite recently this whole dimension was for the most part neglected by biblical scholars. The goal of a commentary was primarily if not exclusively to get behind the centuries of accumulated Christian and Jewish tradition to one single meaning, normally identified with the author’s original intention. The most important and distinctive feature of the Blackwell Commentaries is that they will present readers with many different interpretations of each text, in such a way as to heighten their awareness of what a text, especially a sacred text, can mean and what it can do, what it has meant and what it has done, in the many contexts in which it operates.
The Blackwell Bible Commentaries will consider patristic, rabbinic (where relevant), and medieval exegesis as well as insights from various types of modern criticism, acquainting readers with a wide variety of interpretative techniques. As part of the history of interpretation, questions of source, date, authorship, and other historical-critical and archaeological issues will be discussed, but since these are covered extensively in existing commentaries, such references will be brief, serving to point readers in the direction of readily accessible literature where they can be followed up.
Original to this series is the consideration of the reception history of specific biblical books, arranged in commentary format. The chapter-by-chapter arrangement ensures that the biblical text is always central to the discussion. Given the wide influence of the Bible and the richly varied appropriation of each biblical book, it is a difficult question which interpretations to include. While each volume will have its own distinctive point of view, the guiding principle for the series as a whole is that readers should be given a representative sampling of material from different ages, with emphasis on interpretations that have been especially influential or historically significant. Though commentators will have their preferences among the different interpretations, the material will be presented in such a way that readers can make up their own minds on the value, morality, and validity of particular interpretations.
The series encourages readers to consider how the biblical text has been interpreted down the ages and seeks to open their eyes to different uses of the Bible in contemporary culture. The aim is to write a series of scholarly commentaries that draw on all the insights of modern research to illustrate the rich interpretative potential of each biblical book.
John SawyerChristopher RowlandJudith KovacsDavid M. Gunn
Preface
No work is the product of one individual, and so it is with this one. It has been a collective effort. The work, insights, and impact of many people are present throughout this book, even though the reader may not be aware of them. Although it is impossible to mention everyone who has assisted me in so many ways, I nonetheless risk mentioning a few while remaining mindful of my indebtedness to all. I want to thank the series editors for allowing me the opportunity to be involved in such a worthy project and for patiently working with me in all phases, providing excellent guidance and apt counsel. The important contributions of all those at Blackwell Publishing should also not be overlooked. I am appreciative of the generosity and talent of Maja Lisa Engelhardt who has graciously made it possible to include her art. Likewise, thanks goes to He Qi and Alain Foehr for allowing the publication of their works. I have often said, “Thank God for archivists and librarians!” and would like to reiterate that sentiment. Two in particular have been enormously helpful. This book could not have been written without the work of Donna Young, Patron Services Supervisor at the Harriett K. Hutchens Library in Bolivar, Missouri. She persistently labored to procure the vast and sometimes strange requests I made for materials through InterLibrary Loan, and was successful in obtaining them in almost every instance. Sandra Brown, Reference Librarian also at the Hutchens Library, provided valuable assistance in helping me to obtain and understand many items. Her insight into the arts was particularly helpful. The supervisors and patrons of the Hutchens Library are most fortunate to have a capable staff.
I am especially grateful for the contribution of my parents, John and Dorothy Langston, to my life and for the indispensable support of my wife, Donna, and children, Sarah, John, and Caroline. The latter patiently encouraged me even while enduring many, many nights and weekends of my work. I also want to express my admiration for those who have struggled throughout the centuries against tyranny, especially against religious tyranny. After having become acquainted with and contemplating their struggles, I dedicate this book to them.
Scott M. LangstonMay 20, 2005
Introduction
This is a book about how readers have experienced the book of Exodus. It is about the intellectual, aesthetic, spiritual, religious, political, emotional, and social experiences generated by the words, phrases, and stories contained in the second book of the Jewish and Christian scriptures. This approach represents something unusual in the field of biblical studies. As is well known, biblical studies since the Enlightenment have considered a text’s original meaning as the key to understanding its contemporary significance. This in itself is an important part of the modern experience of Exodus; it has been my primary experience. Yet it is by no means the only experience, or even the most prevalent one. People have made sense of Exodus, as well as used Exodus to make sense of their experiences, in a variety of ways.
The focus on the many uses of Exodus may be fresh ground for biblical scholars, but it is well-worn by others. It offers the opportunity to explore the book’s impact beyond its original environment and to see how these subsequent contexts in turn have influenced its understanding and appropriation. In fact, the historical-critical approach to the book reflects its modern environment. So in this study historical criticism is placed within its own modern context, alongside others. This does not simply relativize the biblical text or its interpretations; it is clear that not all readings are equal. Indeed, those factors that privilege one use over another constitute an interesting and important aspect of reception history that needs more attention. Why do certain understandings predominate over other understandings in a particular context? What makes a predominant reading of Exodus useful and influential (powerful) in a particular context? Addressing these questions helps us to understand the interplay between the biblical text, its interpretation, and its environment. The question shifts from “What does the Bible say?” to “How does the Bible operate within a certain context?” The sixth President of the United States, John Quincy Adams, wrote to his son, “My idea of the Bible as a Divine Revelation, is founded upon its practical use to mankind, and not upon metaphysical subtleties” (Adams 1848: 22). While interpreters differ on the Bible as divine revelation, Adams touched on what has become a key aspect of reception history. What the Bible does is an exceedingly significant part of its nature and meaning. In fact, as important as it is to study what a biblical text meant or means, to do so apart from a consideration of what that text does leads to an incomplete understanding. Achieving this goal makes it necessary to consider the contexts in which various readings operate.
Jewish and Christian Uses
This book, therefore, looks at Exodus in terms not of one context, but of many. They are so numerous that an exhaustive study is not possible. There are, however, certain contexts that have been especially fruitful. While these will be considered in their own right, they will also be viewed in relation to other readings. Interpreters rarely work in isolated settings, and their uses of Exodus often overlap, support, react against, or arise in response to other interpretive contexts.
Readings within religious settings have perhaps produced the most interpretations, arising primarily from the teaching and practice of Jews and Christians, and to some extent of Muslims. Exodus has helped these religions articulate their distinctive features. For Jews, the Israelite exodus and the giving of the Law shape their understanding of themselves as the chosen people of God. This does not manifest itself merely in doctrinal statements; it impacts a whole way of life, giving a sense of purpose and direction as Jews. At the same time, the various settings in which the book has been utilized influences the way in which the text itself is read. So, for example, midrashic literature uses the burning bush to explain Jewish suffering by connecting it to understandings of the Jewish people’s role among the nations. By identifying the burning bush with thornbushes used to protect gardens, interpreters portray the Jewish people as a fence surrounding all the other nations of the world and protecting them through Jewish suffering (Exodus Rabbah 2.5). Yet another midrash expresses the ultimate triumph of Israel by equating it with the fire that consumes the thornbush – that is, the nations of the world (Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer 40). So the text proves flexible as it is placed in different contexts. In the first instance, it helps find purpose in Jewish suffering, while in the second, it expresses the desire and cry for retribution against the nations who have caused such suffering.
Christians have used Exodus from a dramatically different vantage point, understanding Israel’s biblical exodus in light of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Jesus, who through his death and resurrection made possible the exodus from slavery to sin, is consistently understood as the Passover lamb of God. Israel’s passage through the Red Sea provides an apt metaphor for the Christian rite and experience of baptism. Furthermore, despite their general acceptance of the historicity of the exodus, most Christians throughout history have been interested less in the exodus as a historical event as in how the exodus story can express the distinctive features of their own faith. Recently, however, in some Christian circles such as the Southern Baptist Convention, the historical nature of the exodus has been elevated by way of the doctrine of biblical inerrancy so that it has become an essential element to their faith. Many Southern Baptists, following the Convention’s leadership, reason that if one does not believe that events like the exodus happened as the Bible recorded them, then one might conclude the same about the death and resurrection of Jesus. From their perspective this is unacceptable, because it threatens the very foundation of Christianity.
Jews and Christians have also appropriated material from Exodus to relate to and understand God. One of the primary, although by no means exclusive, texts for doing this has been the Ten Commandments. For example, Gregory of Nyssa during the fourth century CE used Moses’ ascension of Mt Sinai to explicate the Christian’s progress in the knowledge of God. Christians have also typically understood the Decalogue in light of Jesus’ identification of the two greatest commandments (Luke 10:25–8). For Jews, the Law as a whole has played an enormous role in shaping how they relate to God. The Mekilta ofRabbi Ishmael explains that the Law was given to the Jews only after other nations of the world rejected it. On the day that God gave it to them it was just as if a bridegroom came forth to receive his bride (Bahodesh 1.100–7; 3.115–19; 5.48–98). This analogy reflects the joy and the bond between God and his people that the Law produced. The Law, as well as the exodus, solidifies and regulates the Jewish relationship with God. In recent times, the Ten Commandments have been considered by some Americans to be such strong symbols of the nation’s relationship with God that their posting in public places has become a matter of public debate and protest, congressional resolutions, and federal and state lawsuits. These texts have also inspired diverse spiritual practices such as Jewish sabbath observance, Christian Sunday observance, and Christian sabbatarianism.
As well as using Exodus to articulate their distinctive features, Christians and Jews have also found it helpful in criticizing and showing the shortcomings of other groups. Christians often condemned Jews for failing to recognize how Exodus pointed to Jesus and the Church. Origen, for instance, equated the Israelites of the exodus with the Church, and the Jews with the Egyptians who, like pharaoh, had hardened their hearts and would be destroyed (1982: 275–80). During the medieval period, Christian authorities required Jews to distinguish themselves from Christians by wearing a distinctive badge which at times took the form of the tablets of the Ten Commandments. On the other hand, Philo and Josephus explained the exodus in terms designed to convince non-Jews that the Jews constituted a worthy and noble race. Subsequent Jewish tradition has used the figure of Amalek, who attacked but was defeated by the Israelites in Exodus 17, to articulate the fate of those who oppose Jews and Judaism. The nineteenth-century rabbi James K. Gutheim asserted on the basis of Exod. 32:30–3 that the Bible did not teach vicarious atonement, a doctrine central to Christianity.
Political and Social Uses
While Exodus has been appealed to most often within religious contexts, it has also been used frequently in struggles against social and political oppression. Groups experiencing oppression of various types have looked to Exodus for strength, hope, and motivation to resist and overcome it. Virtually every chapter of the book has played some part in these efforts. Exodus 1–2 has proved useful in characterizing the oppression by, and protest against, such things as modern life, religious and political tyranny, slavery, and abolition. Exodus 3–4 has been used to oppose the tyranny of institutional religion and articulate a spirituality encompassing and transcending that of organized religion. These chapters have also assured those struggling against political and social evils that God has taken note of their suffering and either will or is acting on their behalf. Exodus 5–7 has been influential in articulating the struggle against tyranny and has also been used to characterize the resistance of the tyrannical to struggles for freedom. At the same time, it has evoked reflection on the oftentimes violent measures used to gain freedom, as well as on the role of God in bringing about calamity. Exodus 11–13, in addition to its uses in religious contexts, has also served to explain and justify the actions of those who gained freedom. The description and celebration of the actual exodus, beginning in the latter half of chapter 13 and continuing through most of chapter 15, have assured the oppressed of their deliverance and their oppressor’s destruction. Perhaps more than any other segment of Exodus, this section has come to symbolize rebellion against tyranny and helped inspire resistance to oppression and celebration of its overthrow. The experiences of Israel after passing through the Red Sea (Exod. 15:22–18:27) also proved useful in characterizing continued opposition even after freedom had been achieved, as well as to chide those in the freed group who doubted or complained. While the chapters dealing with the Law (Exodus 19–31) have not often been connected with the struggle against oppression, some have used them to challenge social ills. Others have used them to shape societies and articulate acceptable behavior. This code of behavior, in turn, has identified nonconformists. The golden calf episode (Exodus 32–4) likewise has helped enforce conformity and identify and deal with those who violate a group’s principles.
Yet, while Exodus has inspired many to challenge and overthrow tyranny, it has also been used to create and maintain tyranny. Even more astounding is the transformation of those who once invoked the exodus as an oppressed group into those who use it to perpetuate oppression. Unfortunately, this occurs with some regularity. Furthermore, some in positions of power have used Exodus to validate the furtherance of their domination. Examples of this can be found in the Crusades, the conquering of the Aztec empire by Hernando Cortés, and efforts of American slave-owners to buttress and maintain the slave system. While those who use the exodus to perpetrate tyranny would undoubtedly dispute such a characterization, preferring to associate their domination with freedom, the adverse results of this use are hard to deny.
A subversion of the Exodus paradigm is evident in those who at one time experienced oppression and then went on to become perpetrators of oppression – unless one argues that an exodus inevitably leads to a conquest. From colonial Europeans who came to the Americas fleeing oppression to the Boer Voortrekkers of South Africa to Robert Mugabe’s regime in Zimbabwe, the legacy of the exodus has often meant freedom for one group at the expense of another. These transformations illustrate the problems involved in using a biblical paradigm. Simply invoking biblical ideas and stories is not sufficient to demonstrate that a contemporary concept or event is equivalent to a biblical one. While similarities may exist, the differences in subsequent ideas and situations are often overlooked. For instance, ancient ideas regarding what constitutes justice and oppression are not always the same as contemporary ones. So, when biblical standards of justice and oppression are adopted wholesale in later situations, the outcome can be brutal. If these differences are not acknowledged and accounted for, the danger of the exodus story being used to justify a conquest is great. While the exodus paradigm has proved effective for sustaining an oppressed people and motivating groups to confront tyranny, it has proved less effective in motivating societies to eliminate all forms of oppression.
A crucial aspect of the exodus paradigm occurs in the second half of the book. The Law is given at a strategic time, and it functions to regulate the new nation. In the biblical account, the exodus is incomplete without the Law, and many have sought to establish ideal societies through its implementation. Yet it has also been used as a tool of oppression. Southern slave-owners and later segregationists often appealed to elements of the Law to justify the abuse of African Americans. The Ten Commandments themselves have sometimes been experienced as tools of oppression. At the same time, they have been used to establish more just societies, as when evoked by American abolitionists. The appeal of the Law, and in particular the Ten Commandments, to oppressor and oppressed alike illustrates the challenge of applying these texts. They are subject to interpretation, and their meaning often changes with their contexts. There have been many contested understandings of what specific laws mean for a later time. For example, the commandment prohibiting lying is generally endorsed as part of a sound society. Exceptions to the rule always seem to arise, however, thereby propelling communities into debate and dissent. The problem is compounded by biblical examples of lying that are not condemned, and by new situations that are not addressed by the Bible.
Oppressive and Contradictory Uses
The appeal of Exodus to oppressed and oppressor alike reflects the book’s view of the tenuous and precarious nature of power. Power is not one-sided or one-dimensional; nor is Exodus simply a book pitting good against evil. The thin line between good and evil becomes evident in the use of Exodus, and the power of its ideas makes it a potentially dangerous book. It can bring about great good, but it can also create great evil. The reception history of the book indicates that simply overthrowing tyranny is insufficient to establish freedom. Thought must be given to the aftermath of the overthrow. How will those who once experienced oppression subsequently organize themselves, and what place, both geographically and socially, will they inhabit? Without thoughtful consideration of these issues, the exodus easily becomes a story of conquest. The reception history of the book reveals its use as a tool of both liberation and oppression. It warns against the subtle underside of liberty. Those who read and cite Exodus in the context of their struggle to overcome tyranny must also consider its use in service of oppression. To do so challenges the user to consider the possibility of emulating both Moses and pharaoh and creating an Egypt as well as a Promised Land.
The book’s reception history shows that competing groups have simultaneously invoked its traditions in contradictory causes. This is vividly demonstrated in the appeal to the exodus in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by African Americans, white northerners, and white southerners. All three groups claimed the authority of Exodus. Enslaved African Americans understood themselves as God’s people struggling against the pharaoh of American slaveholders, and abolitionists used it to denounce the institution of slavery. White southerners, however, considered themselves as contending against the pharaoh of the North who was intent on denying them their liberty by taking their property and independence, integrally related concepts in antebellum thought. Southerners invoked a tradition that Americans had employed in their struggle against the British pharaoh, George III. White Americans of the Revolutionary era had used the exodus to call for freedom from Great Britain, but with little thought of its application to African Americans, despite the latter’s concurrent appeal to it. By the antebellum period, however, the plight of African Americans generated a shift in white Americans’ usage. In retrospect, most people’s sentiments lie with the African-American cause, but the use of Exodus by eighteenth and nineteenth-century Americans demonstrates the conflict over its contemporary meaning. Within each individual community, a prevailing understanding of Exodus surfaced. As this understanding came into contact with understandings of communities that applied Exodus differently, conflict occurred over its meaning. African-American and abolitionist uses of Exodus did not convince southerners to abandon their reading of the book; nor were southerners successful in convincing their contemporaries.
Even though Exodus has been successfully used to maintain hope in a certain cause or to inspire opposition to a perceived tyranny, it has not been sufficient to effect a triumph over this oppression. So the exodus story has been quite successful in maintaining the status quo. Inspiring hope and resistance can sustain people, but something more, such as overpowering force, is often necessary to gain freedom. Just as in the exodus story the Israelites needed superior power to be successful, so do those who have subsequently invoked the exodus. African-American slaves could not successfully overcome white oppression without force, even when large numbers of whites accepted their reading of the exodus. At the same time, southern uses of the exodus helped inspire devotion to their cause, but ultimately they were unsuccessful. Seldom has simply appealing to Exodus convinced an oppressor to relent. In fact, oppressors have often turned the exodus story on the oppressed. As Thomas Paine wrote in 1776 while on the retreat through New Jersey with American troops under George Washington, “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered” (Paine 1993: The American Crisis, i. 50).
The post-biblical experience of Exodus reveals the complexities and dangers of reenacting the story. Although the story has great power to encourage the overthrow of tyranny and establish a new community, avoiding the re-implementation of tyranny requires more than Exodus itself can generate. The experience of the Israelites in its totality has not been that of subsequent groups. It was a unique experience, which cannot be replicated as a whole, even though later users may assert that they are the new Israel reenacting the biblical exodus. In fact, later uses of Exodus tend to be quite fragmentary. Interpreters merge selected words, phrases, and stories from the book with other ingredients in order to serve new individual and communal purposes. While groups may embrace the promise of Exodus, its realization has proved more difficult. The outcome of the Exodus in post-biblical environments is neither assured nor free of danger. Yet the book has inspired many to risk applying the book to contemporary political and social issues. The reception history of Exodus demonstrates that it is a book about power – its sources, expressions, uses, abuses, and management.
Artistic Uses
Some of the richest applications of Exodus have come from artists of all types. Since the biblical period artists like the poets of Exodus 15 and the Psalms have created encounters between the biblical event and a variety of people, circumstances, and ideas. Such insight transcends, exploits, and uses the literal meaning of the text in order to engage issues not always apparent on the text’s surface. Artists have been particularly adept at making connections between the textual world and those worlds that lie beyond it by filling in the gaps of the text and/or re-contextualizing the biblical event in creative ways. They open up for the reader of Exodus various possibilities not readily accessible by focused attention on its historical aspects.
Yet artists have by no means neglected the text’s literal meaning. They have often provoked thought about the exodus as a historical event. For example, by portraying the finding of Moses (Exodus 2) within an ancient Egyptian setting, painters such as Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema and Gustav Doré conveyed a sense of historical reality to their readers. Cecile B. DeMille also attempted to re-create the historical exodus experience for his audience in his 1923 and 1956 movies The Ten Commandments. Illustrations of the tabernacle in Nicolas of Lyra’s Postilla in Testamentum Vetus (Kaczynski 1973), as well as the reconstruction of the tabernacle in Israel’s Timna Park and by Mennonites in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, performed similar functions.
Artists have excelled in using a range of settings to provoke reflections and experiences ranging far beyond the literal and historical. They have skillfully developed personalities for the characters of Exodus that allow readers to consider the actions of these characters from a variety of perspectives. The treatment given to the daughter of pharaoh illustrates this process. She has received numerous recastings, ranging from an aloof aristocrat upholding elite standards of conduct to a woman who is willing to violate and challenge the social order. Likewise, Zipporah, the wife of Moses, has been imagined as a skeptical foreigner, a subservient wife, and a modern feminist. Artists have filled in gaps left by the biblical author, thus bringing the text to bear on a host of issues not treated by the author. Of course, some will object that such a use distorts the text. This argument assumes that the author would have objected to or did not intend the exploitation of textual gaps and latent aspects. It also presupposes that the original meaning of the text is the only legitimate meaning. This debate is well chronicled in the secondary literature, but at the least this assertion fails to recognize that it has essentially re-contextualized the biblical text by making it conform to modern notions of textual meaning. This is certainly the prerogative of any age, and historical criticism has and continues to produce valuable insights, but it is nonetheless an expression of modern culture.
In addition to giving personalities to characters in Exodus, artists have brought to the forefront larger issues and ideas that lie behind the letter of the text. Numerous examples illustrate this use. As stated previously, Exodus presents power from a number of viewpoints. Erkki-Sven Tüür beckons the listener to experience the power of the exodus through his highly energetic musical composition Exodus, as does Gustav Doré by portraying the Red Sea in dramatic proportions in his artwork The Egyptians Drowned in the Red Sea. Maja Lisa Engelhardt invites viewers to contemplate the mystery of the divine through her Burning Bush (Carrier and Engelhardt 1996) and Pillar of a Cloud(Engelhardt 2003) paintings. The punk rock group Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards in their song “10 Plagues of Egypt” focus on the annihilation produced by the exodus, thus portraying the divine–human relationship as one characterized by horror. William Blake’s watercolor Pestilence: Death of the Firstborn hints at an odd relationship between God and Satan in this world. Susan Hahn ponders the dual nature of the Passover as life-giving and life-taking in her poem, “Passover, Easter, Hitler’s Birthday.” Other artists such as John Dubrow and Krzysztof Kieslowski introduce an element of uncertainty into the exodus story. On the surface, the book communicates a certainty about God’s actions on behalf of Israel, the overthrow of the oppressor, and the responsibilities of the newly freed Israelites. Dubrow’s painting, Rephidim (Mullarkey 2003; Kunitz 2003), however, reflects uncertainty over the outcome of the struggle between good and evil, while Kieslowski’s film series, The Decalogue, raises questions regarding the meaning of the Ten Commandments in the modern world. On the other hand, Wojciech Kilar has explored in his musical composition Exodus the elation generated by the breaking-in of persistent divine power on behalf of those in need. These examples demonstrate how artists have recognized the metaphorical function of the book. Of course, artists cannot make exclusive claims, but they have played major roles.
Aim and Design
The reception history of Exodus, like that of any other biblical book, involves a massive body of material. It reflects the book’s impressive power to provoke a multitude of experiences, including great good and great evil. But Exodus is more than the story of the deliverance of ancient Israel from Egyptian slavery. This biblical text has throughout the centuries shaped and interpreted the experiences and environments of readers, while at the same time itself being shaped and interpreted by the very same experiences and environments. The Bible as a whole, and Exodus in particular, therefore, acts more as a seedbed, constantly growing a variety of organisms and plants in response to diverse environments, rather than as a completed garden that must be maintained in its final state. While a gardener uses the soil to produce something intentionally, the soil also plays an active role in affecting what is produced, and even brings forth unexpected or unintended items. Understanding Exodus in light of this analogy forms the boundaries of this work.
I have two broad goals in writing this book. The first relates to the collection and analysis of some of the important and interesting uses of Exodus. By bringing together such diverse material, I make no pretense at having mastered it. Rather, I hope that scholars who have more expertise in particular fields can pick up any trails that might be created in this book, pursue them from their specialized perspectives, and thereby contribute further insight. Trained in the fields of biblical studies and American history, I do not attempt to engage this material as an art critic or a medievalist or any other such specialist. Instead I have endeavored to glean insights from these specialists and then to understand and assess the many uses of Exodus as reflections of and about the biblical text. The book endeavors to clear a path through the centuries of usage in the hope of better understanding Exodus. It is not intended to be a history of scholarly interpretation, although elements of this approach do appear. Important interpretations are considered, but contemplating how the book is used in, and is influenced by, a variety of contexts distinguishes it from the traditional study of interpretations. While much more work remains to be done, my hope is that this book will be an aid and resource to others who will further our understanding of the nature and meaning of Exodus. My second goal in writing this book is to stimulate thought. Hopefully, after considering the various uses of Exodus, readers will view it from different angles, and interact with the text in new ways.
A brief explanation about the book’s design is in order. The introduction has outlined in broad terms a few of the major uses of Exodus, which are then developed in more detail in the following chapters. The reception history of each section of the biblical text is treated in roughly chronological order. Firm chronological divisions between each of the periods are not strictly adhered to, however, because historical uses themselves have not always conformed to our categorizations. This will be most evident as uses from the end of one period or the beginning of another are addressed. An exhaustive account of the reception history of Exodus, as well as a verse-by-verse analysis, has been rendered untenable by the requirements of producing a manageable volume. So in dealing with the chapters in Exodus, the book addresses those textual aspects that have proved most significant in its reception history. While many of these are traced from their inception to the modern period, not all are, simply because of the need to deal with other uses that arose subsequently and perhaps existed simultaneously. The choice of which uses to consider has not been limited to those that have influenced the most people. Other appropriations that might be deemed of little significance when measured by the number of people they have influenced also appear. These often reflect unusual uses of, or insight into, the text, or offer the opportunity to view the text from a different angle, and therefore deserve their place next to the numerically significant applications. Furthermore, in keeping with the focus on reception history, the issues and insights raised by historical-critical research are treated in this book as reflections of the modern experience. The reader will thus find references to these issues, but no attempt to engage in historical-critical analysis. He or she will also notice that certain sources or contexts appear throughout all or most of the chapters. In treating the ancient and medieval periods, Philo, Josephus, Origen, Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, and midrashic and Talmudic sources appear regularly, because they are significant interpreters who have engaged Exodus extensively. European and American uses of Exodus characterize the discussions of the early modern and modern periods because of the tremendous influence of these cultures in its reception history. Uses of the book outside European and American contexts are referenced as important reminders of its larger field of use, but they are not the focus of this work, again due in part to the necessity of producing a manageable volume. This book is a beginning, not an end, in the reception history of Exodus.
In keeping with Hebrew usage, the term YHWH is used throughout the book instead of Yahweh. Originally written without vowels, this word is the Herbrew covenant name for God, and is often rendered in English as LORD and pronounced as Adonai (Hebrew for Lord). Also, the numbering of Psalms follows that of the Hebrew Bible (used by many English translations, including the Revised Standard Version).
Exodus 1–2
The book of Exodus begins with a paradoxical struggle between life and death. The multitude of descendants resulting from the promises made to Abraham (Gen. 13:16; 15:5) had now become the basis for exterminating the Hebrew people. The more the Egyptians tried to decrease their number, however, the more the Hebrews increased. Pharaoh ultimately decreed the murder of all male Hebrew infants, but his own daughter subverted the process by saving the Hebrews’ future leader. The birth of the Hebrew nation began with death. These paradoxes flow from a series of vignettes that move the reader quickly from the suffering of the Hebrews to the introduction of their human savior, Moses. Within a matter of verses, Moses grows from an infant to an adult, and the Hebrews’ groaning has captured the attention of their God. The first chapter recounts the general suffering of the Hebrews and their responses to Egyptian aggression. The second chapter focuses on Moses and sets him within the context of the broader action.
While perhaps not as influential as passages recounting the burning bush, the plagues and the exodus from Egypt, the Ten Commandments, or the golden calf, these opening stories of suffering and resistance to oppression have sparked the imaginations of interpreters throughout the centuries. They have been a source for theological, social, political, ethical, and historical reflection, as well as emotional expression. They have also moved people to action.
These readings reveal that Exodus 1–2 is concerned with more than questions regarding its historicity, the identification of its original context and personalities, or the ancient meaning of certain words and phrases. It also invites consideration of issues such as suffering, oppression, power, hope, gender, race, and class. Subsequent readings illustrate how easily the biblical text is re-contextualized in different settings. They touch on features only hinted at within the biblical text, but nonetheless present. Such aspects, once unearthed, take on new life and even new forms in the world of the interpreter and demonstrate the elasticity of the text.
1:1–14 The Israelites’ Suffering
Ancient explanations
One of the first interpretations of this passage comes from a biblical hymn. Psalm 105 encourages the Israelites to give thanks and praise to YHWH, using the exodus to illustrate his faithfulness to the covenant. Two verses recalled the sufferings of Exodus 1. Whereas in Exodus the Hebrews multiplied and as a result provoked cruel measures by the Egyptians, in Ps. 105:24–5 Yahweh precipitated these events to demonstrate that he remembered the covenant. The psalmist makes explicit what in Exodus had been either implied or completely omitted.
The events in Exodus 1, however, garnered little attention from other Hebrew Bible authors. Likewise during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, writers often either skipped over or condensed these events, preferring to explain why the growth of the Hebrews threatened the Egyptians. For the author of Jubilees, Egyptian oppression resulted from a Canaanite victory over Egypt: pharaoh subsequently enslaved the Hebrews to prevent them from joining with Egyptian enemies. (Jubilees also has them rebuilding all the walls and ramparts destroyed in Egypt [46:11–16, in Charlesworth 1985: vol. 2]). Pseudo-Philo in his Biblical Antiquities (Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum [Charlesworth 1985: 2. 297–377]) moves directly from Joseph’s death to the pharaoh’s plan to throw the male babies into the Nile. The Egyptian people responded by asking the pharaoh to give the Hebrew female infants to their slaves as wives, which would in turn produce more slaves (9:1–5, in Charlesworth 1985: vol. 2). Philo also begins his life of Moses with the infanticide, explaining that the males posed a military threat, whereas the females did not, because their “natural weakness” made “a woman inactive in war” (1935: Life of Moses 1.8). The writer of Acts summarizes the Hebrew oppression in one verse, mentioning only the infanticide in Stephen’s speech before the high priest, while quickly moving to Moses’ birth (7:17–20).
Interpreters explained the Hebrews’ suffering as either unjustly caused by the Egyptians or as fit punishment for Hebrew misdeeds. Josephus attributed the oppression to Egyptian laziness and envy. When the Egyptians saw that the Hebrews had prospered because of their virtue and love of work, they devised numerous building projects, including cutting river channels and building walls and ramparts, as well as pyramids (1974b: Antiquities 2.9.1). (Explaining how a pharaoh could not know Joseph, the Targum Onkelos, along with Targum Neofiti I and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, contended that the new king did not fulfill the decrees of Joseph [1.8]; that is, he likely knew Joseph, but chose not to follow his policies.) The Midrash Rabbah: Exodus, however, blamed the Hebrews, asserting that they abolished circumcision after the death of Joseph in order to be like the Egyptians. Therefore, God made the Egyptians hate the Hebrews (1.8). This explanation continued into the modern period, with only slight modification. According to Saul ha-Levi Morteira, a seventeenth-century Sephardic rabbi in Amsterdam, the Hebrews thought of Egypt as their homeland, became arrogant, and provoked the Egyptians. Using Exodus 1 as a paradigm to account for subsequent Jewish persecution, he explained that Jews had arrived in other countries as destitute refugees, eventually prospered, and then became arrogant and indulgent. The native-born inhabitants then expelled the Jews out of disgust. Morteira then encouraged the Jewish community to behave properly, by living less ostentatiously and serving God (Saperstein 1989: 274, 284–5).
To the ancient rabbis, the nature of the oppression in 1:10–11 demonstrated the Hebrews’ degradation. Whereas the Masoretic Text made the object of the action in these verses singular (“let us deal shrewdly with him … they set taskmasters over him”), the Septuagint as well as Targum Onkelos translated the objects as plurals referring to the Hebrew people (“let us deal shrewdly with them … they set taskmasters over them”). The Babylonian Talmud, however, found in the singular of verse 11 a reference to the pharaoh (b. Sotah 11a). The pharaoh had a brick mold hung around his shoulders. Whenever the Hebrews complained of being too weak to fulfill his commands, they were asked, “Are you weaker than the pharaoh?” Thus he compelled them to work harder by asking a question that could hardly be answered negatively. Additionally, the rigorous work mentioned in verses 13 and 14 referred to the pharaoh compelling the men to do women’s work and vice versa (b. Sotah 11a). Such work resulted in an oppressive and unjust degradation. In this way, the rabbis encouraged their Jewish readers to contemplate the plight of their predecessors.
Modern oppression
Modern readers have also related the story to contemporary oppression. George Lockhart of Carnwath (1681–1732) used the reference to a pharaoh who did not know Joseph to reflect upon the union of the British and Scottish crowns and the subsequent Treaty of Union, which formed Scotland and England into one nation in 1707. Almost a century before, Scotland’s King James VI had also become king of England (James I). This boded well for Scotland, but the Scottish Parliament did not provide for the separation of the crowns upon James’s death. This failure led, Lockhart complains, to Scotland’s oppression. The Parliament failed to realize that a king might come to power who would not treat the Scots favorably. Under subsequent rulers, who did not hold James VI’s concern for the Scots, Scotland suffered (1995: 247–8).
Whereas Lockhart alluded to Exodus to criticize oppressive national relations, Benjamin Morgan Palmer (1818–1902), pastor of New Orleans’ First Presbyterian Church and a highly influential southern clergyman, used it to argue against freedom for African-American slaves, to cast slavery in a positive light, and to boost southern morale. Preaching a fast-day sermon before the South Carolina legislature in December 1863, Palmer warned that freed slaves would confront “taskmasters more unrelenting than those of Egypt” (1864: 16). His analogy suggested that the supposed freedom for slaves sought in the United States would actually result in an exodus-like bondage. Unlike African Americans who appealed to the exodus story in order to validate change, Palmer used it to maintain the status quo.
In Franz Kafka’s novel Amerika, the increased workload of the Hebrews illustrated the degradation wrought by modern society. The novel was published after his death in 1924, and was later made into two movies, Klassenverhältnisse (Germany, 1984) and Amerika (Czechoslovakia, 1994). According to Robert Alter, Kafka, a native of Prague, paradoxically employs biblical allusions in which America, conceived as the New Eden and the Promised Land, ultimately becomes “a modern manifestation of the Egyptian house of bondage.” Compulsive and incessant work becomes a type of modern enslavement. When the main character, Karl Rossmann, comes to America from Europe, he experiences various types of bondage, most evident when he is employed, working hard and long, at the Hotel Occident, located in the town of Rameses (cf. Exod. 1:11). Kafka, according to Alter, finds in the Bible “a resonant structure of motifs, themes, and symbols to probe the meaning of the contemporary world.” While not a “fixed source of authority,” the Bible demanded that he “make sense of his world through it.” In this instance, the land of promise and freedom became a land of slavery through its constant demands for work (Alter 2000: 15, 18; Kafka 1946).
Readers continue to find in the oppressive nature of the new pharaonic rule an interpretive lens. A recent historian has characterized the deployment of South Korean troops during the Vietnam War at the behest of the United States as being “in the service of Pharaoh” (Sarantakes 1999). The fact that the phrase is employed in the title of the article without any reference to Exodus indicates how commonly Israel’s enslavement has been used to describe oppressive relations. Similarly, another author uses the reference in Exod. 1:8 to “a pharaoh who did not know Joseph” to describe potential pitfalls in US President George W. Bush’s proposal to use federal money to fund certain faith-based social programs. The writer warned that just as a pharaoh arose who was not sympathetic to the Hebrews, so faith-based programs that accept federal funding might one day find themselves subject to an unsympathetic government (Rager 2001).
1:15–22 Attempts to Kill Israel’s Male Infants
The midwives
THEIR ACTIONS
Most interpreters have focused on the oppression that follows the forced labor of 1:11–14, probably because it connects directly to the birth of Moses (2:1–10). Often discussed are the midwives, Moses’ mother, and the pharaoh’s daughter. Although some ancient accounts do not mention the midwives (for example, Ezekiel’s Exagoge, Jubilees, Pseudo-Philo, and Philo), others conflate into one event the two orders: to the midwives to kill the infants and to the general populace to throw the infants into the Nile. In the process, Moses’ birth takes on added significance. Josephus recorded a message relayed by a sacred scribe predicting to pharaoh that an Israelite child would be born who would weaken Egyptian power and strengthen the Israelites. He would exceed all people in terms of virtue and be remembered forever. The pharaoh so feared this prediction that he commanded all Israelite male babies to be drowned and the midwives, who according to Josephus were Egyptians, to lend assistance (1974b: Antiquities 2.9.2). Targum Pseudo-Jonathan gives a different version of this legend. Pharaoh dreamed that the land of Egypt and a lamb were placed on a scale; the lamb weighed it down. His chief magicians, Jannes and Jambres, told him that this meant that a child born among the Israelites would destroy Egypt. The pharaoh then ordered the midwives (who were Jewish) to kill the male babies. Both accounts enhance Moses’ role, since his birth becomes the reason for the infanticide rather than its product.
Were the “midwives of the Hebrews” Egyptians or Hebrews? In the Septuagint, as in Josephus, they were Egyptians. In the Talmud, however, they were Jewish. One Talmudic tradition, also followed by Targum Neofiti I and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, identified Shiphrah as Jocheved, Moses’ mother, and Puah as Miriam, his sister. The other understood the midwives to be Jocheved and Elisheba, the wife of Aaron (b. Sotah 11b). Exodus Rabbah agreed that they were Hebrew and recorded numerous explanations of their names. Their ethnicity made a difference to the story. As Egyptians, they exemplified God’s ability to use non-Hebrews to achieve his purposes. As Hebrews, they became symbols of the national struggle for freedom.
These ancient clarifications differ significantly from those of modern scholarship and illustrate how different contexts affect textual meaning. Modern research has endeavored to understand the midwives in light of their ancient historical and literary contexts (e.g., Propp 1999: 137; Childs 1974: 16). Many have tried to identify the original sources of the narrative and show how it developed over time into the present text (Noth 1962: 24). Historians and archaeologists have sought clues in the text (or the lack thereof) to a better historical understanding, to prove or disprove the story’s historicity, or to date the event to a specific period (Bright 1981: 121–2; Miller and Hayes 1986: 67–8; Malamat 1988). New Testament scholars have examined the influence of Exodus 1–2 on the pre-Matthean birth narrative of Jesus (R. E. Brown 1977: 111–16).
