EXODUS, BOOK OF. The Book of Exodus, the second book in the first division of the Hebrew Canon of the Old Testament (q.t'.), bears in the Hebrew Bible the title Shernoth (these being the opening words of the book) or simply Shemoth. The English title is derived, through the Old Latin and Vulgate, from the Septuagint. In the LXX the title is Exodus or Exodos Aiguptou (" Exodus from Egypt "; see Exodus xix. 1). The Book of Exodus carries on the history of Israel from the death of Joseph. But the circumstances have changed. " The twelve sons of Jacob with their children who went down into Egypt (` seventy souls ') have so increased in numbers as to be a cause of alarm to the Egyptians; the narrative, which throughout Genesis preserves the form of a family chronicle, now at once becomes the history of a people (G. F. Moore). The contents of the Book of Exodus are as follows: Chapters 1.-ti. describe the growth of the people in Egypt, the Egyptian oppression, and the early days of Moses. Chaps. iii. 1-vii. 13 tell of Moses' call to be the deliverer of his people. Chaps. vii. 14-xi. describe nine of the ten plagues sent by God to warn and frighten the Egyptians. Chaps. xii.-xiii. tell how the Feast of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Cakes were instituted, and how after the tenth plague, the destruction of the first-born of the Egyptians, the Israelites departed from Rameses. Chap. xiv. describes the passage of the Red Sea and the pursuit by the Egyptians. Chap. xv. gives Moses' Song of Triumph and Thanksgiving. Chap. xvi. tells how the Israelites journeyed to the wilderness of Sin, and were fed with Manna and Quails. Chap. xvii. recounts that they continued their journey to Rephidim, and found water at Massah (J) or Meribah (E). It describes also the battle with and victory over Amalek. Chap. xviii. tells of a visit made by Moses to Jethro and of its results. Chaps. xix.-xxiv. tell of the arrival of Israel at Sinai and of the preparation for the law-giving. Moses receives from God the Decalogue and the Book of the Covenant. Chaps. xxv.-xxxi. 18a tell how Moses received directions which amounted to " an entirely new law, very detailed instructions with regard to the institution of an official culttis" (Holzinger). Chaps. xxxi. 18/9-xxxiv. tells of the making of the Golden Calf. Chaps. xxxv.-xl. describe how the instructions with regard to the institu tion of an official cultus were carried out. The Book of
Exodus is of composite origin, and was compiled from a number of documents. The oiliest of these were the Primitive Document (T ; ninth cent. B.C.) and the early Elohistic Document (E; a little later). These were based partly upon oral tradition, partly upon written laws (e.g., chaps. xx.-xxiii., xxxiv. 10-28). The combined narrative JE was compiled early in the seventh century B.C. Another stratum consists of additions made to J or E or JE by Deuteronomic editors (600 B.C.). The document known as P (Priestly Writer) is largely repre sented in the second half of the book. To this may be traced the chapters dealing with the institution of an official cultus (xxv.-xxxi. 1Sa and xxxv.-xl.). According to Driver, " it is probable that P was written, partly during the Babylonian exile, partly during the century that followed the return to Judah." Driver points out that, " as regards JE in general, it is to be remembered that the criteria distinguishing J and E from each other are less numerous and strongly marked than those dis tinguishing P from JE as a whole; so that, while there is hardly ever any doubt as to the limits of P. there are passages of JE in which, from the insufficiency or ambiguity of the criteria, the analysis is uncertain, and different critics may arrive at different conclusions." The Song of Moses or Song of Miriam, in the form in which it has been preserved (chap. xv. 1-18), is probably not of ancient date. It would seem to be an expansion of a very much shorter utterance—an utterance consist ing only of vs. 1 (repeated in vs. 21). The expanded form may have been written in the sixth century B.C.; or even in Babylonia about 540-538, when, as Whitehouse says, " the expected restoration would naturally recall the memories (" former things ") of the exodus (las. xliii. 1, 2, 16-17, xliv. 27, 2S, xlvi. 9 ff., xlviii. 3, 21, 1. 2, li. 9, 10)." The Book of Exodus contains several ancient codes of laws. There are the " Ten Commandments " (chap. xx., E), the " Book of the Covenant " (xx. 22-xxiii. 19, E), the Laws of the Two Tables (xxxiv. 10-2S, J). See Moore in Encycl. Bibl.; J. E. Carpenter and G. Harford Battersby; H. Holzinger, Exodus, 1900; W. H. Bennett, Exodus in the " Century Bible "; G. H. Box, Intr.; O. C. Whitehouse; S. R. Driver, Exodus in the " Cambridge Bible," 1911.