Exodus: Believers Church Bible Commentary

by Waldemar Janzen

Overview

To whom does primary allegiance belong? To great human empires, or to the God whose elusive presence we can never fully grasp?

Waldemar Janzen offers a fresh approach to the book of Exodus. The liberation from Egypt is a prelude to Israel’s unique calling to model before the nations a new life of service under God. Exodus portrays how God, through his servant Moses, wages a dramatic battle with Egypt’s mighty ruler for the release of enslaved Israel. The watching Israel wavers: “Is the Lord among us or not?” Even after Israel covenants to be God’s priestly kingdom and holy nation, Israel worships a golden calf. Once more God’s grace wrests Israel away, this time from slavery to doubts, fears, and self-centeredness. The people then focus faith on the imageless presence of God in their midst. God still wrestles for his people today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780836191349
Publisher:	MennoMedia
Publication date:	02/01/2001
Series:	Believers Church Bible Commentary Series
Pages:	512
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Waldemar Janzen was born in the Ukraine during the Stalin era. At the age of three, he lost his father, a Mennonite teacher and minister, to a Soviet concentration camp. In 1943, during World War II, he escaped with his mother to Germany, where he was a refugee until his immigration to Canada in 1948. He earned degrees of B.A. (University of Western Ontario), B.D. (Mennonite Biblical Seminary), M.A. (German; University of Manitoba), Th.M. (Old Testament; Harvard Divinity School), and Ph.D. (Near Eastern Languages and Literatures; Harvard University). He served as academic dean at Canadian Mennonite Bible College for many years and he is currently Professor Emeritus of Old Testament and German, and continues to teach on a part-time basis. Among Janzen's published works are Mourning Cry and Woe Oracle, Still in the Image: Essays in Old Testament Theology and Anthropology, and Old Testament Ethics: A Paradigmatic Approach.

Table of Contents

	Series Foreword	11
	Author's Preface	13
	Introduction	15
	The Heart of the Old Testament	15
	Approach, Form, Style, and Implied Reader	15
	Structure and Unity of Exodus	18
	The Exodus Story	20
	The Distinctiveness of Exodus Within the Tetrateuch	23
	Chart: Exodus Within the Pentateuch	24
	The Theology of Exodus	25
	Chart: Overview of Exodus	27
	Outline of Exodus	429
	Anticipation: Focus on Moses
Part 1	The Salvation of Moses, 1:1-2:25	31
	Israel in a Foreign Land, 1:1-22	34
	The Wider Context (Text in Biblical Context)	39
	Egypt Remembered	39
	A Wider Salvation (Text in the Life of the Church)	40
	Resisting Oppression/Genocide	42
	God's Covenant Faithfulness	43
	The Salvation of Moses, 2:1-25	44
	The "Precarious Escape" in Bible Stories	50
	Preservation Through Women	50
	A Child as a Sign of Hope	51
	Perspectives in Moses' Intervention	51
	Type Stories	51
	The Functions of Lament	52
	God's Ways	52
	Picking Up the Pieces	54
Part 2	The Commissioning of Moses, 3:1-7:7	55
	God Calls and Equips Moses, 3:1-4:17	57
	Call Stories	73
	God's New Name: Yahweh (the LORD)	74
	Moses' Objections and God's Responses	75
	The Burning Bush	76
	The Divine Name	77
	The Call	79
	Moses Returns and Confronts Pharaoh, 4:18-6:1	82
	Journey with a Mission	89
	Moses and Jacob	90
	God as Enemy?	90
	Israel's Oppression by Pharaoh	91
	Discouraged Messengers	92
	An Attacking God?	93
	Oppression in Egypt	94
	Discouraged Messengers of God	95
	God Affirms the Commission of Moses, 6:2-7:7	97
	I Am the LORD (Yahweh)	104
	Covenants	106
	Genealogies	106
	God's Covenant Faithfulness	106
	Genealogies?	107
	A Second Start	108
	Realization: Focus on Israel
Part 3	The Salvation of Israel, 7:8-18:27	111
	God Overcomes Pharaoh, 7:8-11:10	114
	The Plagues	134
	Pharaoh's Hardening of Heart	140
	God and Evil: The Limits of the Subject	142
	The Plagues: History of Interpretation	143
	Does God Still Use Plagues as Judgment Signs?	144
	Human Behavior and Phenomena of Nature	146
	Pharaoh's Hardening of Heart	150
	Israel Escapes from Pharaoh, 12:1-15:21	154
	Festal Calendars	167
	The Passover and the Lord's Supper	170
	Divine Versus Human Perspective	190
	Crossing the Sea	191
	History of Interpretation	194
	Exodus Theology for Modern Western Christians	195
	God Wrestles with Israel, 15:22-17:16	197
	Israel in the Wilderness	212
	The Wilderness Period: Different Perspectives	212
	God as Healer	214
	Miracles of Feeding	215
	The Sabbath	216
	Enmity Between Israel and the Amalekites	216
	Israel's Wilderness Journey as a Paradigm for Life	217
	Tests and Temptations in the Wilderness of Life	219
	Divine Presence and Help in the Wilderness	221
	Israel's Escape Completed, 18:1-27	223
	Jethro	229
	Arrival and Fulfillment	230
Part 4	The Commissioning of Israel, 19:1-40:38	231
	Theophany and Covenant, 19:1-24:18	234
	Theophany at Mt. Sinai, 19:1-25	235
	Theophanies	246
	Covenant	247
	Theophany	248
	Covenant	249
	The Ten Commandments (Decalogue), 20:1-21	250
	The Decalogue as a Whole	268
	The Individual Decalogue Commandments	270
	The Decalogue in Church History	278
	The Decalogue in Proclamation and Life	279
	The Individual Decalogue Commandments in Life	280
	Community Shalom in Daily Life (Covenant Code), 20:22-23:33	285
	Biblical Law Codes	319
	History of Interpretation	320
	The Covenant Code as a Christian Resource	321
	Covenant Conclusion, 24:1-18	323
	Mountain Theophany and Covenant	330
	Covenant Conclusion and Last Supper	330
	A Vision for Worship, 25:1-31:18	332
	Chart: Plan of the Tabernacle and the Court	344
	Leviticus and Numbers	371
	From Tent to Temple	372
	The Temple	373
	The New Testament	374
	History of Interpretation	376
	A Self-Styled Alternative and Its Consequences, 32:1-34:35	378
	The Golden Calf	408
	Moses as Mediator and Intercessor	409
	Judgment by Sword and Plague	409
	Moses' Shining Face	409
	Laws of Covenant Renewal	410
	A Foundational Text	410
	History of Interpretation	410
	The Modern Message of Israel's Rebellion	411
	Building for God, 35:1-40:38	415
	Chart: Paired Tabernacle Texts in Exodus	417
	God Among Us	424
	Lessons from the Tabernacle	426
	Outline of Exodus	429
	Essays	436
	Beauty	436
	Consecration	437
	Covenant	438
	Israel in Egypt	441
	Moses	444
	Name, Glory, Face/Presence, Hand/Arm	447
	Narrative Technique	448
	Pharaoh's Hardening of Heart	452
	Plagues, Signs and Wonders	454
	Promised Land	455
	Revelation and Mission	457
	The Route of the Exodus	458
	Source Theory	461
	Yahweh War	463
	Map of the Exodus	466
	Bibliography	467
	Selected Resources	478
	Index of Ancient Sources	480
	The Author	495

What People are Saying About This

Endorsement

"Janzen's sensitivity to the theological texture and narrative drama of Exodus, coupled with his engaging, personal style of presentation, makes his commentary eminently useful as a source of theological reflection for pastors and lay people of all faith traditions." —William P. Brown, Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia