Old Testament Theology Research Papers (original) (raw)

Exodus is appealing on different levels. First, it is actively challenging its readers to adopt a specific world-view and life-style. Second, it is highly appealing to the aesthetic senses of its readers. Both strings sound together and help to appreciate the theological contribution of the book to the Hebrew canon.
The present thesis proposes a way of reading the book of Exodus as a literary artifact, as a whole in terms of its rhetorical aims. Key questions are: Was Exodus ever intended to be read or heard as a book? How can we, as late-modern readers, do justice to an ancient book composed against the background of a different world view, different literary conventions and general culture? This study attempts to grasp Exodus in its entirety.
The text is understood to be part of a communicative situation between author and reader. This hermeneutical claim and the nature of Exodus itself entail certain consequences with regard to the method of enquiry. Methodologically, the thesis uses ideas from literary criticism and a modified form of rhetorical criticism, which are understood to provide an interpretive perspective on the text. The particular focus is on the functional aspects of the text which direct the reading process and thus guide the reader in the perception of the ideas, concepts and stories presented. Given the difficulties in determining the circumstances of the origin of Exodus and the paucity of secured knowledge about early Israelite history, the ‘implied reader’ or ‘audience’ is introduced as a key term. It is assumed that this implied reader shaped the inventio and dispositio of the book.
This is accomplished through the investigation of its main literary characters Yhwh, Moses and Israel. Exodus is all about the definition of Israel’s identity in relation to Yhwh and presents the implications thereof for their practical behaviour. Thus already at the stage of the inventio of the book the subject of Exodus demands concentration on the characters. The study of these characters should then give insight into the ideational worlds of the author and of the readers for whom he wrote his book.
Three characters have been chosen on account of their continuous involvement in the plot. The introduction of each character into the plot receives special attention. The developing portrayal of each character is closely linked to its paradigmatic qualities and to its influence on the reader.
First discussed is the portrayal of God, particularly in relation to the contributions of the narrative, poetic and legal parts of Exodus. An initial focus is on the epithets placed at important junctures of the book. The first encounter between reader and character deserves close attention and the levels of interaction between the pharaoh and Israel will be examined. The poem of Exodus (Exod 15,1–18) serves as a hinge between the narrative characterisation and the legal characterisation of Yhwh. This lastly mentioned legal characterisation of Yhwh has been neglected to a large extent, but it is a topic of special interest for this present study. Although the legal collections say much about their recipients, they also reveal deep insights into the law-giver’s nature and concerns. Exodus identifies Yhwh as the king who justly claims obedience and service. A further focus is the possibility and the desirability of a relationship between Israel and their king, Yhwh. Second, with regard to Moses, a significant difference is detected between his first appearance in Exod 2–5 and his later development in the plot. Initially Moses is arguably portrayed as an anti-hero. However, later a much more positive picture unfolds. This remarkable tension in the Mosaic portrayal reveals interesting insights into the implied reader’s preconceptions. Here we trace closely the argumentative strategy of the author in his attempts to convince this reader. The later importance of Moses in Jewish thought makes it essential to discuss the description of Moses’ paradigmatic qualities.
In a third part the construction of the collective character Israel reader-identification is at the heart of the enquiry. In the construction of this literary character Exodus bridges the historical gulf between the ancient Israel of the exodus and the Israel as the implied reader experienced it. The complexity of Israel’s portrayal between realism and idealism is a central aspect of Exodus’ rhetoric, urging its readers to comply with the ideal which the author sought to communicate. In the end Exodus creates what Jan Assmann calls ‘cultural memory’, a memory which has shaped Israel’s identity ever since the book was written and maybe also the identity of the church, as it understands itself in continuity to the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
It can be concluded that the text of Exodus keeps an effect-oriented focus. Exodus does not merely satisfy the potential historical interests of its readers; there is more to it than this archival function. I propose that this piece of literature was composed specifically to convince the implied reader to adopt a certain theology, entailing implications for the ideational perception and practical fashioning of the reader’s situation. By concentration on the characters it is possible to put this abstract and general communicational purpose into more concrete terms.
The results of this study provide insights into the specific poetics of Exodus and its management of the reading process. Because of the proposed unity of form and content, it is possible to specify the message of the entire book by taking into account its intriguing mixture of different genres, its clever use of literary forms and skillful implementation of humour. Here the beauty and engagingness of the book as literature comes to the fore. It has been shown that this other aspect of the appeal of Exodus necessitates the abstraction from modern reading-conventions to do justice to this ancient Hebrew text.