EXODUS, BOOK OF (Mcs' 6-dils), (Gr. '"EoSos, eks'o-dos, in the Hebrew canon, the second book of Moses, so called from the principal event recorded in it, namely, the departure of the Israelites from Egypt.
With this book begins the proper history of that people, continuing it until their arrival at Sinai, and the erection of the sanctuary there. It trans ports us in the first instance to Egypt, and the quarter in which the Israelites were domiciled in that country. We do not find in the Pentateuch a real history of the people of Israel during that period. Such a history, in the more strict accep tation of the term, has no place in an historical sketch of the kingdom of God, where the mere description of the situation and condition of the people is all that is requisite. From that descrip tion we learn satisfactorily how the people of the Lord were negatively prepared for the great ob ject which God had decreed with regard to them. This is the important theme of the history of the Pentateuch during the whole long period of four hundred years.
(1) Life of Moses. Exodus is very circum stantial in its account of the life of Moses, instead of partaking of the character of usual biography, manifests in all its details a decided aim of evincing how, by the miraculous dispensa tion of the Lord, Moses had been even from his earliest years prepared and reared to become the chosen instrument of God. In this book is de veloped, with particular clearness, the summons of Moses to his sacred office, which concludes the first important section of his life (Exod. i-vi). No human choice and no self-will, but an im mediate call from Jehovah alone, could decide in so important an affair. Jehovah reveals himself to him by his covenant name, Yahveh, and vouchsafes him the power to work miracles such as no man before him had ever wrought. It was not the natural disposition and bent of his mind that induced Moses to accept the office, but solely his submission to the express will of God, his obedience alone, that influenced him, the law giver, to undertake the mission. The external re
lation of Moses to his people is also clearly de fined (comp. ex. gr. Exod. vi :Li, sq.) This furnishes the firm basis on which is founded his own as well as Aaron's personal authority, and the respect for his permanent regulations.
(2) Deliverance from Bondage. A new sec tion (vii-xv) then gives a very detailed account of the manner in which the Lord glorified himself in Israel, and released the people from the land of bondage. This section of the history then con cludes with a triumphal song, celebrating the vic tory of Israel. In ch. xvi-xviii, we find the in troduction to the second principal part of this book, in which is sketched the manifestation of God in the midst of Israel, as well as the promul gation of the law itself, in its original and funda mental features. This preparatory section thus furnishes us with additional proof of the special care of God for his people; how he provided their food and water, and how he protected them from the assaults of their foes. In ch. xv :22, sq., not all, but only the remarkable resting places are mentioned, where Jehovah took special care of his people.
(3) Civil Regulations. In the account (xviii) of the civil regulations framed by the advice of Jethro, a strong line of demarcation is drawn be tween the changeable institutions of man and the divine legislation which began then to be estab lished, and which thenceforth claims by far the greatest part of the work. At the commencement of the legislation is a brief summary of the laws, with the Decalogue at their head (xix-xxiii). The Decalogue is the true fundamental law, bear ing within itself the germ of the entire legisla tion. The other legal definitions are only further developments of the Decalogue. These definitions manifest the power and extent of the law itself, showing what an abundance of new regulations result from the simple and few words of the Decalogue.