Exodus 3: 8 17 Moses

Target year level: Year One

Scripture text

Introduction

The Book of Exodus is one of the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These are collectively known as the Pentateuch or Torah. The content of the five books includes narratives, characters, sagas, laws, regulations, rituals and historical narratives, all at the service of establishing the foundational identity of the People of Israel and the Covenant relationship between Israel and Yahweh their God. The texts of the Torah-Pentateuch are assembled from a variety of sources and historical periods and edited in their present form by numbers of authors.

For further background on the Book of Exodus go to the The New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE) Introduction to Exodus.

World behind the text

Exodus 3:8-17 contains a number of references to individuals, peoples and situations that give insight into the historical and geographical context of this text. The historical background for the events recounted in the Book of Exodus story is thought to be the reign of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II (1304-1237 BCE). Ramesses II had a massive building programme in the Nile Delta and slave labour was used for the project. Towards the end of Ramesses II’s reign, small Canaanite states sustained by Egyptian power collapsed and allowed the liberation of some local populations from the slavery of Egyptian rule. For further information on historical background see the teacher background for Exodus 12:1-30.

World of the text

Exodus 3:8-17 is situated in a section of the Book of Exodus 3:1-22 in which Moses encounters God at the Burning Bush (Ex 3: 1-7) and is given the revelation of God’s name – I AM WHO I AM (Hebrew YHWH or Yahweh). God, who speaks to Moses, is the God of the ancestors of the People of Israel Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Central to the Book of Exodus and to Ex 3:8-17 is the idea of an encounter with God and a Covenant relationship with God. Liberation from enslavement is an overarching theme in the Hebrew Scriptures and can be traced in many biblical Books. In Ex 3:8-17, the reference is to delivering God’s People from the misery and oppression of physical and economic slavery under the Egyptian Pharaoh to ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’ (v. 8). In a broader sense, the liberation which the Exodus event represents is linked to physical freedom, geographical freedom, and economic freedom. Liberation from enslavement and oppression is essential to the People of Israel’s cultural and religious identity. This freedom entails a hazardous journey through a desert environment to found a new nation in a land already occupied by others (v. 8). Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites occupied various areas of the ‘land flowing with milk and honey’. Their presence is a threat to the claims, security, culture and religious identity of the People of Israel. Canaanite Religion in particular with its polytheism appears in many biblical texts as a threat to Israel’s Covenant relationship with Yahweh and to their Monotheism.

World in front of the text

Modern readers recognise in Exodus 3: 8-17:

A foundational source of modern Judaism’s distinctive religious and cultural identity as a people
A religious basis for the territorial and political claims of the Jewish State of Israel
The power of religion in forging personal and social identity
The influence of religion as a source of unity but also as a force that potentially divides people and provokes conflict
The significance of religious faith as a source of hope and motivation for action to overcome enslavement and oppression in its many contemporary guises: physical, mental, spiritual, structural and psychological
The challenging journey to establish personal, social, cultural and religious identity