Contours Of The Exodus Motif In Jesus’ Earthly Ministry

By Richard D. Patterson and Michael Travers

[Richard D. Patterson is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Liberty University, Lynchburg, Va. Michael Travers is Professor of English at Southeastern College, a school of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, N.C.]

The report of Israel’s exodus from Egypt has engaged the hearts and minds of the people of Israel from ancient times until this day. The events surrounding the exodus have come under the scrutiny of scholars of all persuasions. Not only does a voluminous literature exist on the historical reality, date, and route of such an exodus,[1] but there are also careful literary studies on the biblical record[2] and its thematic transmission.[3] This study is devoted to the latter two considerations. After sketching the contours of the biblical exodus and its transmission in the Old Testament, primary attention will be given to the exodus motif as a picture of a better hope. This will in turn provide a background for Jesus’ own employment of this motif.

I. The Exodus: The Primary Accounts

Thoughts of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt naturally turn to the account in the book of Exodus. Following the details of the slaying of the firstborn of Egypt and the Passover (Exod 12:29–13:16), the story of the exodus is traced. But even as Moses gives last minute instructions to the people concerning the commemoration of the Passover, he points out the goal of God’s deliverance. The exodus would not be fully accomplished until God has brought his people safely into the land of promise (Exod 13:11). In informing the people of the eventual culmination of the exodus event, Moses is communicating the essence of the assurance that the Lord had given him previously:

“The LORD the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into. .. a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Exod 3:16–17)

The Lord’s words recall his great promise to Abraham that the divine blessing of all people would be channeled through the line of Abraham (Gen 12:1–3; 15:1–19; 17:1–8; 22:15–18). God would subsequently deliver Abraham himself from Egypt (Gen 12:18–20), after which the Lord told him that the land of Canaan was to be his and his heirs’ in perpetuity (Gen 13:14–18; cf. 17:8). God also revealed to him that he should “know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions” (Gen 15:13–14).

Thus Israel’s stay in and deliverance from Egypt was revealed to Abram/Abraham long before Israel’s descent into Egypt. Based on the promises regarding the exodus, Joseph gave instructions concerning the taking of his remains to Canaan when the exodus should occur (Gen 50:24–25), a charge that Moses dutifully carried out (Exod 13:19). The data of these texts thus make it clear that the exodus was intimately tied to the Abrahamic Covenant and comprised not only the actual deliverance from Egypt but the entire trek to the Promised Land. As Michael Fishbane observes, “The exodus from Egyptian bondage was bound to the conquest of the promised land of Canaan. Indeed, the divine oracle to Abraham in Genesis 15:13–16 ties the inheritance of the land to a future restoration from a land of bondage.”[4]

Although the narrative concerning the exodus and the journey to Canaan is recorded in vast portions of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, it would appear that the essential contours of the exodus event were told and handed down in Israel’s poetic literature in what may be termed an exodus epic cycle. As U. Cassuto observes,

When we have regard to the fact that the relevant passages depict the events in poetic colours and expressions, and that in the main these phrases are stereotyped, recurring verbatim in quite a number of different verses,. .. it follows that these legends were not handed down orally in a simple prosaic speech, which was liable to variations, but assumed a fixed, traditional poetic aspect.. .. This poetic form was specifically epic in character.[5]

Pride of place, of course, belongs to Moses’ great victory song in Exod 15:1–18, itself set into the narrative of the journey from Egypt to Mount Sinai (Exod 13:17–19:2). The poem concentrates on three themes: the deliverance through the sea (Exod 15:1–12), the journey on the way to Canaan (vv. 14–16), and the successful entry into the Promised Land where God will establish his holy dwelling (vv. 13, 17).

Another long piece contributing to the epic cycle is found in Hab 3:3–15. Told in poetry that belongs to an earlier stage of the Hebrew language,[6] the passage is composed of two short poems.[7] The first (vv. 3–7) describes God’s leading of his heavenly and earthly hosts from the south in an awe-inspiring theophany. The second (vv. 8–15) is, like Exod 15:1–18, a victory song. Although it commemorates the days of the conquest, it points out that victory began with the defeat of Pharaoh both in Egypt and at the sea.

Combining Exod 15:1–18 and Hab 3:3–15, the main contours of the exodus epic may be noted. The account proceeds in five parts. (1) God, Israel’s Divine Warrior, delivers his people from Egypt and defeats the pursuing Egyptians at the sea. Although God parts the waters and forms a path in the sea so that Israel may pass through safely, he destroys the Egyptian army when it attempts to do the same thing. He brings those parted waters back over the soldiers, killing them to the last man (Exod 15:1–12; Hab 3:13–15). (2) God therefore could be trusted to lead his people on to Mount Sinai and eventually to the land of promise (Exod 15:13, 17). (3) After leaving Sinai, God leads his people up from the south (Hab 3:3–5) through the Transjordanian nations who cringe in fear before Israel’s Omnipotent Redeemer (Exod 15:14–16; Hab 3:7). (4) As God guides his people toward the Holy Land, he displays his mighty power in nature (Hab 3:3–6, 10–11), while delivering his people from their enemies (Exod 15:14–16). (5) Eventually Israel reaches the Jordan River, whose waters also are overcome by Israel’s God (Hab 3:6, 8).

Other early poetic pieces recall these themes and add other details concerning the exodus event. Second Samuel 22:8–16 (= Ps 18:7–15) records such matters as a shaking mountain and the darkness so reminiscent of Israel before Mount Sinai, as well as a mighty display in nature (cf. Ps 144:5–6). The victorious movement from the south and the accompanying powerful natural phenomena are also noted in several places (e.g., Deut 33:2; Judg 5:4–5; Ps 68:7–8).

Psalm 77 contains many allusions to the exodus. As the psalmist praises the Lord as a holy, incomparable, wonder-working God who demonstrated his power among the nations (vv. 13–14; cf. Exod 15:11, 14–16), he recalls God’s redemption of his covenant people out of Egypt (Ps 77:15). He follows this with a high note of praise by tucking in poetic bits drawn from the earlier traditions of the victory at the sea.

The waters saw you, O God,
the waters saw you and writhed,
the very depths were convulsed.
The clouds poured down water,
the skies resounded with thunder,
your arrows flashed back and forth.
Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,
your lightning lit up the world;
the earth trembled and quaked.
Your path led through the sea,
your way through the mighty waters,
though your footprints were not seen. (vv. 16–19)

These poetic portions betray thematic and grammatical features that speak of a stage considerably earlier than the standard Hebrew poetry. If they are not to be dismissed as poetic hyperbole, we get a fuller picture of those miraculous events. In addition to the main features of the exodus sketched above, we learn of a shaking earth and pelting rain against the Egyptians as they are stranded in the middle of the sea (Ps 77:16–18). We are informed that God used such phenomena repeatedly as an indication of his powerful presence on behalf of his people as they moved into the Holy Land (Judg 5:4–5; Pss 18:7–15; 68:8–9; 144:5–6). To be sure, a full epic has not been inscripturated as one grand story. This may be because it would be all too easy to treat the account as a mere legend like those of the ancient world or to reverence the words themselves rather than the Author of the Word. Scattered reminiscences concerning the exodus event, however, underscore in each case the proper praise of God. It is not Moses or Israel that takes center stage in the unfolding drama of Israel’s redemption but God. From Egypt to Canaan, then, it is Yahweh, Israel’s Redeemer, who moved in mighty power to defend, deliver, and direct his people. He is indeed its Divine Warrior and covenant-keeping God. He alone is God and to be praised. Surely, “The LORD will reign forever and ever” (Exod 15:18).

II. The Exodus: Its Transmission in the Old Testament

The ancient epic tradition rehearsing the movement from Egypt to the Promised Land became a living part of Israel’s experience. Throughout its history many have pointed to that miraculous time as the cornerstone of Israel’s national existence. The exodus event is retold not only in various settings and lengths but stresses individual threads of the whole fabric. The exodus is also mentioned or alluded to with distinctive emphases in accordance with the needs of the context. Though not always mutually exclusive and at times overlapping, at least a half-dozen different contextual categories may be discerned.

1. The Exodus as Historical Fact

In a number of instances the exodus was given historical notice simply to date an event or episode in Israel’s history (e.g., Exod 19:1; 23:15; 34:18; Num 1:1; 9:1). Beginning with the latter half of the Pentateuch the exodus was cited as an observable and undeniable fact. Thus, when the Moabite king Balak sent for Balaam to come and curse Israel, he pointed to the existing Israelite presence as a “people that has come out of Egypt” and “covers the face of the land” (Num 22:5, 11). Attention is called to the fact of the exodus for many reasons such as in dealing with false prophets in Israel (Deut 13:5) or in rebuking those who would attempt to entice fellow Israelites to apostatize (Num 13:10). First Kings 6:1 reports that Israel’s exodus took place 480 years before the fourth year of Solomon’s reign.[8] The fact of the exodus can be seen in the narrator of Kings’ observation that the northern kingdom fell to Assyrian invaders because Israel departed from the God who had redeemed them out of Egypt (2 Kgs 17:7).

2. The Exodus as Historical Witness Against Israel

In light of God’s miraculous intervention on Israel’s behalf, it seems surprisingly strange that they who were so recently redeemed should forget all that had occurred. Yet that is precisely what happened. Indeed, a number of texts expand the historical perspective of the exodus account by recording the redeemed people’s whining ingratitude. Even before the crossing of the sea they complained, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?” (Exod 14:11). Such ingratitude would be noted again and again in the narrative concerning the journey to the Promised Land (Exod 15:14; 16:3; 17:2, 3; 32:1; Num 11:1, 18–20; 14:2–4; 20:5; 21:5; Deut 1:2–6). The remembrances of the exodus experience in these pentateuchal texts are thus uniformly negative. Because the Israelites took their eyes off of the Lord, they reaped the reward of infidelity by wandering forty years in the wilderness.

3. The Exodus in God’s Declarations

God himself often takes the exodus experiences as a point of reference in his speeches to his redeemed people. Thus in announcing the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, the Lord declares, “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from slavery in Egypt” (Exod 20:2; cf. Deut 5:6). Similarly, the pentateuchal texts often record God’s mention of Israel’s redemption from Egyptian bondage in association with the Lord’s delivering various stipulations for Israel’s worship experience (Exod 29:46; Lev 22:33; 23:43) or social relationships (Lev 25:38, 42, 54–55). In so doing, the Israelites are at times challenged to proper living before the Lord (Num 15:41) and the rewards for continued fidelity (Lev 26:3–13).

Later, a retiring Joshua declared God’s words as to the fact that it was Yahweh who rescued Israel from the Egyptians at the sea and guided them into the land where they now lived (Josh 24:5–13). In connection with the united monarchy the Lord condemns the past sins of the Amalekites (1 Sam 15:2–3) and later instructs David with regard to the building of the Temple to serve as the Lord’s earthly dwelling place (2 Chron 6:5–6).

Unfortunately, many of God’s declarations with regard to Israel contain his denunciation of them. Their conduct led him to confront them for their sins, such as their penchant for going after Baal (Hos 11:2–3) or for violating his covenant with them in various ways (Mic 6:1–5). In most of these instances when God applies the remembrance of the exodus, he includes a threat of judgment with the denunciation (e.g., Hos 13:4–15; Amos 2:10–16; 9:7–10).

4. The Exodus as a Source of Instruction, Warning, and Admonition

Instruction. Several of the texts in which the exodus experience is mentioned contain instructions from God with regard to covenant living. Already on the day that the Lord was to strike down every firstborn of Egypt, Moses delivered the Lord’s instructions to the people. They were to remember and observe this day in which God devastated the Egyptians but passed over the homes of the Israelites (Exod 12:21–27). Similar instructions were given to the people soon afterward at Succoth (Exod 13:1–16). Indeed, the Passover celebration became a fixed tradition for Israel (Lev 23:4–8; Deut 16:1–8) that has continued until this very time.

Further instructions based upon the exodus experience occur frequently in Deuteronomy. Some instructions concern the treatment of people who opposed the Israelites during their journey to the Promised Land (Deut 23:3–6; 25:17–19). Others concern proper worship protocol when the Israelites have settled down in Canaan (Deut 26:1–11) and the need for God’s people to keep the terms of their covenant with the Lord (Deut 6:20–25; 7:7–12; 11:1–3; 24:8–9; 29:1–29).

Warning. Many texts contain warnings to God’s people concerning the consequences of disobedience toward God or infidelity (e.g., 2 Chron 7:20–21). Thus the angel of the Lord reprimanded the people in the days of the judges for their failure to appropriate the covenant blessings that God had given to their forefathers at the time of the exodus. Their disobedience would mean that the people of the land whom they should have driven out would remain as thorns and a snare to them (Judg 2:1–3).

At times strong warnings turn into denunciations, and in some cases instructions, warnings, and denunciations may all be found in a given context (e.g., Exod 33:1–6). In the transitional days at the end of the period of the judges, when the Israelites began to clamor for a king, Samuel delivers the Lord’s condemnation of their motives in demanding a king. Rather than remaining loyal to the God who brought Israel up out of Egypt, they preferred to have a human king (1 Sam 10:18–19).

Clear denunciations of Israel can be found in those historical psalms that mention God’s goodness to his people during the exodus experiences despite Israel’s repeated disobedience (Pss 78; 106). Historical remembrances of the exodus became examples that served as springboards for prophetic denunciations. Thus Jeremiah warns Babylon that, much as God delivered oppressed Israel from Egypt, so he will deliver them again from Babylon (Jer 50:33–38). Turning to his own people, Jeremiah points out that they have been ungrateful. Rather than remembering God’s redeeming grace toward them in bringing them out of Egypt, guiding them through many perils in the wilderness, and bringing them safely into the land of promise, they have turned to idolatry, especially the worship of the Canaanite storm god Baal (Jer 2:5–9). Despite all the clear commands of God and his warnings through his prophets, they have degenerated into a bunch of evildoers (Jer 7:21–29).

Israel’s penchant for spiritual disobedience often forms part of an oracle of judgment. Such speeches characteristically contain two main features: an accusation or denunciation, and an announcement of coming judgment. Thus Hosea records God’s disappointment and displeasure with Israel for forgetting his redemption of them from Egypt and turning to idolatry (Hos 11:1–4). Because of their infidelity, God announces Israel’s sure judgment (vv. 5–6). Similar oracles of judgment can be found in Jeremiah (11:4–17; 34:8–22), Ezekiel (20:4–31), and Amos (2:10–11).

Admonition. Moses’ admonitions to the Israelites are given in various passages in Deuteronomy. In Deut 4:32–40 Moses ties together several key themes relative to Israel’s covenant relation with the Lord, including the exodus. What a privilege Israel has had! Israel is unique in that it alone has heard God “speaking from fire” at Mount Sinai (v. 33; cf. Exod 19:21; 20:18–21; 24:17) and lived to tell about it. Only Israel has experienced divine deliverance from slavery to the most powerful nation on earth—and that by many “testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” and “by great and awesome deeds” (Deut 4:34). The whole exodus event displayed the fact that Yahweh alone is God—there is no other (cf. Deut 6:4).

Additional passages in Deuteronomy add to the significance of the exodus motif for proper theological perspective and godly living. Thus Moses passes along God’s commands for a balanced life. These include the proper reverence of the Lord and keeping of his decrees, as well as honoring him and loving him with all one’s heart, soul, and strength (Deut 6:2–12; 11:1–11). Other Deuteronomic texts add still further to the picture of the exodus motif. Thus Moses, having instructed the people with regard to the people they would find living in Canaan, challenged them to remain a holy people in order that they might see God’s power used on their behalf even as in the days of the exodus (Deut 7:1–19).

Subsequent leaders of Israel also employed admonitions utilizing the exodus motif. In his farewell address Samuel reminds the people of his day of God’s great goodness on behalf of his people (1 Sam 12:6–8). Much later the prophet Haggai admonishes those who returned to the land from exile to undertake the task of rebuilding the Temple. In doing so he reminds them that although the work seemed insurmountable, the Lord who brought the people out of Egypt and into the land of promise was still in their midst. They could count on his strength and provision (Hag 2:4–5).

5. The Exodus as Testimony, Praise, and Prayer

In many texts the exodus is mentioned as testimony to God’s interceding on behalf of Israel. Thus Moses in petitioning the king of Edom for permission to pass through their territory on the way to Canaan mentions the historical precedence of the exodus from Egypt. God had delivered them from their oppression in Egypt; now they simply wished for safe passage through Edomite territory (Num 20:14–17).

Several testimonies to the exodus occur in connection with the conquest of Canaan. When Israelite spies were sent into Jericho to survey the situation, Rahab acknowledged to them that the people knew full well how Yahweh had delivered his people from Egypt, dried up the sea, and defeated powerful kings on the journey to Canaan. Therefore, the citizens of Jericho were terrified (Josh 2:10–11). The people of Gibeon would later bear a similar testimony (Josh 9:9–13).

On entering the land Joshua took stones from the dried bed of the Jordan River and erected them into a pillar as a testimony to God’s stopping of the waters of the Jordan in order that Israel might pass through safely (Josh 4:19–24). Several other texts of an historical nature give testimony to God’s part during the days of the exodus (e.g., Num 22:5–6; 1 Kgs 8:9; Pss 78:1–14; 105:23–45), at times extolling God’s patience with his thankless people (Neh 9:16–18; Pss 78:40–55; 106:21–22).

The emphasis of many of the testimonial texts is one of praise for all that God did in connection with the exodus (e.g., Exod 18:10). This is true of several of those found in the Psalms (e.g., Pss 66:3–6; 80:8; 135:8–9). Especially noteworthy are Pss 106:7–33 and 114. In the former, the psalmist declares that God is to be praised for delivering a thoughtless people from their bondage in Egypt and bringing them safely through the sea despite their constant tendency for rebellion. Psalm 114 commemorates the entire exodus event including Israel’s departure from Egypt and the miraculous journey that took them through the sea, the wilderness, and the Jordan River.

Several of the texts that reflect the exodus experiences are found in the prayers of God’s servants. Moses intercedes with God for his mercy on behalf of Israel after they sinned in making the golden calf idol (Exod 32:11–14). In so doing he petitions God on the basis of the Lord’s established reputation. Would not people question his purposes in dealing with his people if he were to destroy them here at Mount Sinai? Moses points out that these people were the heirs of the Abrahamic Covenant. Moses also records a similar time of intercessory prayer for Israel when they chose to believe an evil report concerning the dangers that lay ahead in Canaan (Deut 9:25–29). He reminds God that Israel was his special possession, “whom you brought from Egypt by your mighty power and glorious strength” (Deut 9:29).

David also cites God’s redemption of Israel in the exodus (2 Sam 7:23; cf. 1 Chron 17:21) in acknowledging his gratitude for the Lord’s covenant with him (2 Sam 7:11–16) and God’s channeling his great promise for Israel through the Davidic line (vv. 18–21). Other examples of the remembrance of the exodus may be found in the prayers of the prophets (e.g., Isa 63:7–18). Shortly before the fall of the northern kingdom, the eighth-century prophet Micah prays that God would once again display his marvelous power as he had done at the time of the exodus and states his confidence in the God of the Abrahamic Covenant (Mic 7:14–20). The seventh-century prophet Habakkuk expresses a similar sentiment:

LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy. (Hab 3:2)

A particularly significant case can be noted in Jer 32. In response to Jeremiah’s prayer, in which he praises God for his faithfulness to the people throughout the entire exodus event from Egypt to the Promised Land (Jer 32:20–22), God assures Jeremiah that he will make a new everlasting covenant with his people (v. 40). God’s instructions to Jeremiah to purchase his uncle’s field in Anathoth in the face of the certain Babylonian conquest of Judah was to serve as a source of hope for all. Another exodus lay ahead as well as a new covenant that would bring all the promises made to Abraham and David to their final fulfillment. God’s people will yet enjoy a glorious return to the land and live everlastingly in abiding peace and felicity.

6. The Exodus as a Source of Hope

While many pentateuchal texts already express a note of hope in God’s good intentions toward an obedient people (e.g., Lev 26:44–45), oracles of hope are often characteristic of the prophetic writings. As previously noted in the case of Jeremiah Israel’s hope for the future is often tied to the exodus motif. Many of these prophecies point out that when Israel’s judgment has caused them to go into captivity, there will be restoration for a humbled, repentant remnant (e.g., Hos 11:1–11). Some clearly refer to a time that lay in the near future after Israel’s historical exile has run its course (e.g., Isa 48:20–21).[9] Thus in promising relief from the Assyrian captivity, the Lord assures his people that God’s judgment will turn against Israel’s oppressors (Isa 10:26). As John Oswalt observes, “The coming destruction which cannot be averted is not a cause for despair. It becomes a reason to hope.”[10] Indeed, oracles of judgment can at times be a basis for veiled hope; judgment and hope combined together to serve as fully developed kingdom oracles.[11]

In most cases that contain a reference to the exodus experience it seems clear that the historical exodus from Egypt serves as an assurance of future exoduses. Often it is difficult to know whether a given text speaks of a future that is somewhat close at hand or to a far distant future or both (e.g., Isa 52:4–13). Often the perspective is such that near and distant futures blend into one another (e.g., Isa 61:1–3; Jer 16:14–15; Ezek 20:32–38). Nevertheless, the fact remains that God will one day lead his people in a new exodus that will be even greater than the first. Isaiah prophesies the future exodus in several passages:

Yahweh’s advent “in strength” inaugurates the deliverance of his people from bondage among the nations (40:10ff; 51:9ff; 52:10ff). As he had dried up the sea of old (51:9ff) so Yahweh will accompany them through the waters and the fire (43:1–3(-7)), leading the glorious procession (40:10f; 42:16; 49:10; 52:12), and being both front and rear guard in the cloud and in the fire (52:12, cf. Ex. 3:21f; 14:19f). Yahweh will again shepherd his people (40:11; cf. Ex. 15:13; Pss. 77:21; 78:52f), providing food and water (49:9; cf. 48:21) in a miraculous transformation of the wilderness (43:19f; 49:9ff and Exod 17:1–7; Num 20:8). As of old the New Exodus will also be accompanied by a revelation of Yahweh’s glory (40:5; cf. 52:10). 

The goal of the New Exodus is the enthronement of Yahweh in a restored Jerusalem-Zion.[12]

Many texts clearly predict events that belong to the end times, the eschatological future. Such are those passages that center upon the Messianic era. Thus in speaking of that grand time Isaiah points to the coming of the Lord with his people (Isa 40:1–13). Isaiah records the words of a messenger crying, “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God” (v. 3). Those who will be living in Jerusalem in that day are urged:

Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations. The LORD has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.’” They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the LORD. (Isa 62:10–12)

In other passages it is the Lord who goes before his helpless people “to smooth out the road ahead of them” (Isa 42:16; cf. 43:16–19; 49:11–12). That road to Zion will be named “the Way of Holiness” (Isa 35:8), for it will serve as a road for a holy redeemed people to return homeward. In that future exodus from the nations they will “return. .. with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads” (Isa 35:10; cf. 11:10–16).[13]

In that day the Holy One, the God of Israel will command the release of his own from all the distant lands (Isa 43:3–7; 49:5, 12, 18) and lead then safely back to their land (Isa 40:3–5, 10; 43:16–20; 49:5–6; 51:10–11; 52:12). As surely as God led his people along the way in that first exodus, he will do so once again.[14] Once restored to the land they are to be an avenue of the message of redemption and blessing for all people (Isa 2:2–4; 45:22; 51:4–5; 66:18). Of God’s servant, the Messiah, the Lord declares, “I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isa 49:6). The nations, having been defeated in a climactic judgment by the Lord, will then turn to him, and God’s people from the nations will come to worship the Lord in Zion (Zeph 3:8–10; cf. Gen 12:3; Isa 19:19–25; 66:18–23; Zech 14:16).

The era thus inaugurated will be one of great blessedness, prosperity, and felicity, as well as one dominated by the glory of God (Isa 40:5, 9–11; 60:1–22; 65:17–25; Hab 2:14). Ruling over Israel, God’s corporate firstborn (Exod 4:22–23), will be God’s firstborn, David’s heir, who will exercise power like that at the time of the exodus (Ps 89:20–25; cf. Ps 2:7–9; Ezek 34:23–24). The Messiah will reign in justice and righteousness (Isa 11:1–9; Jer 23:5–6; 33:15–16). So glorious will be that time when God has called his people to himself that people “will no longer say, As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ but they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them’” (Jer 23:7–8). The first exodus, marvelous as it was, will pale in comparison with the final exodus and return of God’s people.

That age will be the time when God’s New Covenant will reach its final intended goal (Isa 55:3–5; Hos 2:13–23). Unlike the precepts of the old covenant, which were written on tablets of stone, the standards of God’s New Covenant will be written on the hearts of his people (Jer 31:31–34). The prophets often mention the New Covenant, though often under corresponding names such as a covenant of peace (Isa 54:10; Ezek 34:35) and an everlasting covenant (Isa 24:5; 55:3; 61:8; Jer 32:40; 50:5; Ezek 16:60). Both terms occur in Ezek 37:26 where they are connected with the earlier promises in the Davidic and New Covenants (Ezek 37:24–27).

Thus the age-old promise to Abraham (Gen 12:1–3; 17:1–8) channeled through the line of David (2 Sam 7:11–26; Pss 2:4–9; 89:20–29, 35–37) reaches its intended goal in a grand New Covenant (Jer 31:31–34) as centered in Israel’s Messiah, the consummate heir of David (Isa 55:3–5; Ezek 34:20–30).[15] Particularly significant in this regard is the Lord’s message to Ezekiel, in which he promises a coming, new exodus of his people (Ezek 37:18–28). He will gather them from all the nations and bring them back to the land of God’s ancient promise (vv. 21–22). There his redeemed and purified people will worship God in truth (v. 23). The restoration of God’s people will therefore be both physical and spiritual. David’s heir will reign over them, shepherding a faithful and productive people under a great new covenant of peace (vv. 24–26):

The Messiah, David’s greater Son, would be the only King, Shepherd, and Prince that Israel would ever have in accord with the Davidic covenant (vv. 22b, 24a, 25b, cf. 34:10b–31; 2 Sam 7:13, 16). This united people of God would be cleansed from their former idolatry and transgressions through the complete forgiveness provided by the Messiah’s death and the ministry of the Spirit promised in the new covenant (v. 23a; 36:16–32; Jer 31:31–34).[16]

Then God’s dwelling “will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Ezek 37:27).

It is this message of hope that becomes pivotal for further revelation with the coming of Jesus and the inauguration of the New Covenant (Matt 26:27–29; 2 Cor 3:6; Heb 8). Many of the images and patterns found in the exodus motif become central to Jesus’ earthly ministry. As F. F. Bruce remarks, “In some degree the New Testament sees certain phrases of the Exodus pattern recapitulated in the personal experience of Christ.”[17] More specifically, the story of salvation in the New Testament is often presented in exodus terms. Thus, in This is That: The New Testament Development of Some Old Testament Themes, F. F. Bruce observes, “.. . the Exodus provides for the rest of the biblical record a form of language and imagery for communicating the message of salvation.”[18] At three key points in the biblical narrative, exodus motifs, images, and patterns inform the story of God’s redemptive work in human history. In the Old Testament, God establishes the nation of Israel in the exodus, revealing his covenant in detail and claiming the nation as his own at Mount Sinai. In the Gospel accounts, God initiates the New Covenant in Jesus Christ in terms of exodus motifs. All four evangelists make use of exodus imagery and even design their accounts of the narrative of salvation in exodus patterns. Finally at the end of the Bible, John’s account of history’s conclusion makes use of familiar images and motifs that reflect exodus influence. In all three of these important events in salvation history, the exodus material underscores the hope that the coming kingdom of God offers. It should not be surprising, therefore, to find that the narrative of Christ’s earthly ministry is set forth in images and patterns provided by the exodus, nor that Christ himself uses exodus imagery when he speaks of his office as Messiah.

III. The Exodus: Its Transmission in the New Testament

1. Events of Christ’s Earthly Life

Many of the key events in Christ’s earthly life are associated with the exodus of the Old Testament. Included in these events are John the Baptist’s preparation ministry, Christ’s baptism by John, the temptation in the wilderness, several of Christ’s ministry activities (such as the feeding of the 5000 and his walking on the water), the Transfiguration, the journey to Jerusalem, the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and the crucifixion and resurrection. Even the settings of some of the events in Christ’s earthly life have exodus parallels, especially those that occur in the wilderness or on mountains.

Christ’s earthly ministry is preceded and announced by the New Isaianic herald, identified in the New Testament as John the Baptist. The Isaianic herald is revealed in the prologue to Isa 40–55, a section in Isaiah that, as David Pao states, signifies “.. . the beginning of a new period that is characterized by the salvific work of God in history.”[19] Isaiah’s voice in the wilderness simultaneously “evokes,” in Pao’s terms, “the foundation story of ancient Israel”[20] and heralds comfort and hope for God’s scattered people. In the New Testament, all four evangelists reference John the Baptist as the voice in the wilderness and thus link Christ’s earthly ministry with the New Exodus of the Old Testament (Matt 3:1–3; Mark 1:1–3; Luke 3:1–6; John 1:19–23). In all four Gospels, John’s announcement is given priority in declaring the arrival of the Messiah. Matthew follows Joseph and Mary’s return from Egypt with his account of John the Baptist; Luke follows the nativity narrative with John’s ministry; and John follows his Prologue of the Logos with the account of John the Baptist. In the opening verses of his Gospel, Mark emphasizes the Isaianic New Exodus connections in his Gospel by proclaiming John as the herald of the Messiah. For his part, the Baptist preaches the hope of the soon-coming kingdom of God and a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Indeed, Mark’s Isaianic New Exodus references set the tone of expectation and hope that pervades his Gospel and, as Rikki Watts demonstrates, provide the narrative framework for the entire Gospel.[21] Augustine Stock stresses the importance of “the wilderness place” in Mark’s Gospel and links it with the wilderness of the exodus and the ministries of Moses.[22] Thus, in announcing John’s ministry as the herald of Christ, Mark links the exodus with the promise of the coming kingdom.

As we might expect, the Gospels begin with expectation and hope in the nativity narratives. Matthew’s account of the birth of Christ is brief, to be certain, but it strikes the keynote of hope that the Son of David brings. In Joseph’s dream, the angel announces that “‘.. . the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel’—which means, ‘God with us’” (Matt 1:23). The angel’s message identifies Jesus of Nazareth with Isa 7:14, declaring him the Messiah. The angel’s use of the name Emmanuel in his revelation to Joseph is significant because it brings to an end the intertestamental years of God’s silence. With a simple declaration to a poor carpenter, the Lord promises the hope to his people that he would dwell among them. In exodus terms, it is as if they had been wandering in the wilderness and were now to enter the Promised Land. The New Testament presence of Messiah brings to an end the sense of banishment the Israelites must have felt when God seemed to be ignoring his people for all those years. In this regard, David Pao comments, “The early Christian announcement of the presence of God among His people is therefore an announcement of the end of the exile.”[23] In effect, Jesus Christ brings to an end the exile of true Israel—those who would accept him as Messiah when he came preaching the kingdom and calling them to faith.

As Christ begins his public ministry, his first act occurs in the wilderness where he is baptized by John (Matt 3:13–16; Mark 1:9–13; Luke 3:21–22; John 1: 29–34). George Balentine draws attention to the similarities between the ancient Israelites crossing the Red Sea and their “coming up” (Josh 4:10, LXX) out of the Jordan with Christ’s “coming up” (Mark 1:10) out of the water at his baptism.[24] The Evangelist John makes the clearest connection between Christ’s baptism and Old Testament themes, for he alone records John’s announcement that Christ is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Most of those who heard John speak that day were Israelites who would have been thoroughly familiar with the necessity of a lamb for sin atonement; John’s identification of Christ as the Agnus Dei would connect the whole system of Old Testament blood sacrifices in their minds with the one who was being baptized. They may not have realized at the time, however, how radical the hope was that Christ would bring them, for he would in fact become their sacrifice and do away with the whole Old Testament system of sin sacrifices. Christ’s baptism at once reminds the reader of exodus themes and brings the system of sacrificial offerings to an end.

Immediately after his baptism, Christ is led by the Spirit into the wilderness where he remains forty days. The associations of Christ’s temptations with the wilderness wanderings of the ancient Israelites in the desert are obvious. They are especially so in the contrasts, though we should not push them too far. The Israelites spent forty years in the wilderness; Jesus Christ stayed forty days. The Israelites must have found it difficult to see any purpose in what appeared to them to be random wandering, and they complained frequently and bitterly to Moses that they would be better dead than wandering interminably (e.g., Exod 16:2–3). In contrast, Christ does not wander aimlessly in the wilderness. Rather, he is led deliberately by the Spirit for the express purpose of facing the temptations (Matt 4:1; Mark 1:12; Luke 4:1). The Israelites complained for food, and God provided manna; Christ, on the other hand, asks for no food and fasts. The contrasts could be extended, but these are enough to suggest that Christ’s wilderness sojourn was intended at least to bring the Old Testament exodus wanderings to mind and may even point the way to the end of the spiritual wasteland the Israelites were experiencing at the time of Christ’s appearance.

Christ fasted when he was alone in the wilderness, but he instructed his disciples not to worry about food and to feed the multitudes who gathered to hear him speak. In the exodus, God provided daily manna for the hungry Israelites. The New Testament analogues to God’s feeding manna to the Israelites in the wilderness are Christ’s encouragement to his disciples to trust God to provide their food (Luke 9:3) and his feeding of the multitudes who attended his teaching. The feeding of the multitudes deserves comment. Rikki Watts notes that Christ’s feedings of the multitudes “.. . constitute the provision of manna in Israel’s founding moment Exodus experience.”[25] That is, the exodus initiated the nation of Israel, with God feeding the people. Similarly, Christ’s proclamation of the gospel initiates the “New Exodus,” with the Son of God feeding the multitudes fish and bread. The connections between the exodus manna and the feeding of the multitudes appear only too obvious. In this regard, A. Stock notes, “.. . if Jesus’ action [of feeding the multitudes in the wilderness] recalled the past, it pointed to the future also,”[26] for Jesus was the new Moses—the new shepherd—leading his people to the “Promised Land.” The miraculous feedings in the wilderness, then, anticipate the future kingdom in terms of the ancient exodus.

Christ’s ministry in Jericho has exodus overtones as well. He heals a blind man on his way to Jericho (Luke 18:35–43) and calls Zacchaeus to himself when he is in the city (Luke 19:1–10). One wonders whether these miracles of healing and conversion are intended to contrast with the destruction of Jericho when the Israelites first entered the Promised Land. In the exodus event, God did not spare Jericho (apart from Rahab and her family), whereas in his visit to Jericho, Jesus deliberately stops to heal and redeem. If Luke did indeed have the exodus events in mind when he reported Christ’s ministry in Jericho, he could not have missed the irony that Jesus offers sight to a blind man and hope to a sinner at the very place where God destroyed the first pagan resistance to the ancient Israelites’ occupation of the Promised Land.

The next major event in Christ’s earthly life is the Transfiguration, and it too echoes exodus motifs and patterns, especially in the Lukan account. In Luke’s Gospel, Christ speaks of his imminent death as a “departure” (ESV; NIV) or exodus. Rikki Watts notes several parallels that others have observed.[27] The Transfiguration demonstrates Christ’s glory and must have been extremely encouraging to the disciples who were on the mountain with him. It also foreshadows Christ’s eschatological return in glory and invites the disciples to hope for their future deliverance, even though they did not understand that the kingdom was a spiritual, and not a political, kingdom.

The parallels between the Old Testament exodus and the New Testament Transfiguration are striking. The Transfiguration takes place on a mountain, as do God’s meetings in the Old Testament with Moses when he gave him the Decalogue. Moses takes three people with him to the foot of Mount Sinai (along with the 70 elders of Israel); similarly Jesus takes three disciples to the mountain of Transfiguration, leaving the rest of the disciples at the foot of the mountain (Exod 24:1; Matt 17:9–10; Luke 9:28). Just as Mount Sinai was surrounded by lightning and thunder, signifying the awe-inspiring presence of God, so too there is a cloud and voice on the mount of Transfiguration (Mark 9:7; Luke 9:34–35), showing and declaring Christ’s glory. In the Episde to the Hebrews, the writer draws an explicit parallel between Moses’ Mount Sinai event (law) and Mount Zion (grace in Christ). The writer mentions the fire, the storm, and trumpets at Mount Sinai, all of which terrified the Israelites (Heb 12:18–21), and contrasts the people’s fear with the gracious invitation God makes in Christ Jesus, “the mediator of a new covenant. . .” (Heb 12:24). In Hebrews, the movement from Sinai to Zion is the passage from slavery to sin on the one hand to freedom in Christ on the other. The Transfiguration gives the disciples a foretaste of Christ’s future glory. In the entry on mountains in the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery the writer reflects, “As symbols, they [i.e., mountains in the Bible] declare the nature of God.”[28] In the Transfiguration, the mountain-top experience announces Christ’s deity, holiness, and glory to the three disciples who witnessed the event.

Following the Transfiguration, Christ moves deliberately toward Jerusalem to die for his people (cf. Mark 10:32; Luke 9:51). What Mark records in one chapter (chapter 10), Luke expands to several chapters (9:51–19:44). In both accounts, however, it is clear that Christ makes a deliberate, purposeful decision to move toward Jerusalem and his death at Calvary. Luke initiates his middle section by stating, “.. . Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem” (9:51). Parallels with the exodus include the travel narrative itself, with Moses leading the Israelites—by a circuitous path, it must be admitted—to the Promised Land, and Jesus’ leading the disciples to Jerusalem where he will pay the price for their sins. Though the exodus journey takes years to complete, Moses and the people nonetheless follow God’s leading in the pillar of cloud by day and the fiery pillar by night. Jesus, who came to do his father’s will (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38), turns to Jerusalem at the appointed hour and leads his disciples on the way to his crucifixion. Along the way, Jesus heals the multitudes and teaches his disciples the certainty of his death and its necessity. Rikki Watts suggests that part of Christ’s teaching of his disciples on the way to Jerusalem was the way of suffering that he and they must follow. Thus Watts writes, “This sense of journey has been linked with the passion teaching and Jesus’ increased concentration on the disciples such that the ‘Way’ is the way of suffering discipleship reflecting Jesus’ own ‘way of the cross.’”[29] Watts expands this point, suggesting that Jesus leads the uncomprehending disciples who are spiritually “blind” and “deaf” to Jerusalem, much as Yahweh led his people through the wilderness in the Old Testament.[30] The travel narrative, especially in Luke, then, reenacts the exodus journey of the ancient Israelites, for it occurs largely in rural and sometimes even wilderness places and leads to a teleological conclusion in which the people of God find “rest”—in the Old Testament Canaan and the New Testament promise of salvation in Christ.

When he enters Jerusalem, Christ is, in Watts’s words, acclaimed by the “rejoicing crowds” for he “bears the appropriate authority”[31] of the Messiah (cf. Matt 21:1–11; Mark 11:1–10; Luke 19:28–40; John 12:12–15). The Jewish multitudes that day must have thought of Jesus as something of a second Moses, seeing in him their hope for freedom, and their anticipation must have been high. F. F. Bruce writes, “.. . Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem in fulfillment of Zech. 9:9 presents him as the king who comes in the name of the Lord to accomplish His victory for the deliverance of His people.”[32] While the crowds misinterpreted the freedom that Christ offered as political emancipation for them from Rome, they were nonetheless filled with the hope they thought Jesus’ triumphal entry promised them.

Seen in the larger narrative framework of Christ’s earthly life, the triumphal entry concludes the journey/pilgrimage portion of the earthly ministry and positions Christ in Jerusalem to finish his redemptive work at Calvary. The sad truth is that, just as the ancient Israelites who saw God’s miraculous dealings with the Egyptians and the parting of the Red Sea murmured against Moses and complained that they were better off as slaves in Egypt, the same crowd that hailed Jesus as Messiah called out later that same week for his crucifixion. The Israelites of Christ’s day did not recognize the significance of the exodus they were witnessing any more than the Israelites of old did, for they rejected Christ’s claims to be their Messiah.

Easier to recognize are the parallels between Christ’s sacrificial death and the Old Testament paschal lamb sacrifices, initiated at the first Passover (Exod 12:1–20). George L. Balentine observes that Christ’s “death at the symbolic hour of the paschal sacrifice recalls the words of the Baptist in [John] 1:29, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’”[33] John’s allusion early in his Gospel to the Baptist’s proclamation of Jesus as the paschal lamb initiates his gospel narrative in exodus terms. Apart from the gospel writers, the Apostle Paul certainly thinks of Christ’s sacrifice in paschal lamb and Passover terms (1 Cor 5:7), and Peter does as well (1 Pet 1:19). Whether John deliberately framed his gospel narrative in paschal terms remains uncertain. Joachim Jeremias thinks John’s use of the paschal motif was deliberate, echoing his interpretation of the bread and wine “in terms of himself.”[34] I. Howard Marshall, on the other hand, raises several reservations on the matter.[35] Rikki Watts sees the issue as “open to some question.”[36] Northrop Frye understands the Passover Lamb motif to begin as early as God’s request of Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, to continue with the exodus Passover, and to come to rest in “God’s sacrifice of his son” as the antitype of the Old Testament lamb sacrifice.[37] Add to these allusions to the paschal lamb the images of Christ in the Apocalypse as the Lamb (Rev 5:6, 12–13; 6:1; 7:10, 14, 17; 12:11; 14:1–5; 19:7, 9), and the picture is complete. Whatever John’s intention was, it is difficult to discount the close association of the paschal terminology in 1:29 with the Passover sacrifice of Christ at Calvary. For modern readers with the Old and New Testaments at their disposal, the link seems obvious and intentional.

Other parallels between the exodus and the crucifixion might also be noted. Between the sixth and the ninth hours of Christ’s crucifixion, darkness covers the land (Mark 15:33). Similarly the penultimate plague that God visits upon Egypt is the plague of darkness for three days (Exod 10:21–22). The plague on Egypt immediately precedes the killing of the firstborn, and the darkness at Calvary immediately precedes Christ’s expiration on the cross. The Egyptian plague of darkness lasted three days, the crucifixion darkness three hours. If there is indeed a parallel between the darkness thrust on Egypt and that on the land in the hours leading up to Christ’s death, there may well be a parallel between the final Egyptian plague and Christ’s death. In God’s final judgment on Pharaoh, the firstborn of all Egypt are struck down (Mark 15:34)—payment for Pharaoh’s refusal to bend to God’s will. Christ, “the firstborn over all creation” (Col 1:15), dies as the payment for the sins of mankind—the father’s righteous sacrifice of his Son for human sin. The details in the two events of the exodus and the crucifixion certainly evoke these similarities.

As these few examples from the events of Christ’s earthly life suggest, it seems likely that the exodus informs the gospel narratives to a great extent. All four evangelists use exodus terminology to recount their narratives. Christ makes explicit references to the exodus in his words about the events the disciples are witnessing. Details of Christ’s life either parallel or contrast the exodus event. It seems inescapable that these similarities are intentional.

2. Jesus’ Office as Messiah/the Christ

Exodus material informs Jesus’ office as Messiah/Christ, just as it does the events of his earthly ministry. This should come as no surprise, for the evangelists take pains to connect the hope that Jesus of Nazareth offers with the messianic prophecies in the Old Testament and to parallel events in Christ’s life with the Old Testament. The Mosaic exodus is essentially the narrative of Yahweh’s redeeming his people from slavery in Egypt and leading them to Canaan. Along the way, a whole generation of unbelieving Israelites perishes in the wilderness, and a new generation enters the Promised Land. Similarly in the New Testament, Christ offers in himself the kingdom of God and freedom from the slavery of sin, only to be rejected as Moses was of old (cf. Matt 10:7; Luke 4:14–21). Jesus’ ministry as Messiah offers numerous parallels to the Old Testament exodus.

Christ’s earthly ministry is bookended with exodus motifs. In Nazareth at the beginning of his public ministry, Christ uses Isaianic New Exodus terminology to declare himself as Messiah (Luke 4:14–21). At the end of his ministry, Christ announces his second coming in terms of an eschatological exodus of all believers who will be gathered “.. . from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” (Matt 24:31). Christ is not alone in the New Testament in speaking of his work in exodus terminology. Paul speaks of salvation in exodus terms when he teaches that”.. . not all who are descended from Israel are Israel” (Rom 9:6), only those who enter into God’s rest. Those who trust Christ by faith are the people of God, or “Israel” in these terms. In the parable of the tenants, Christ himself warns the Israelites, “.. .he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time” (Matt 21:43).[38] Thus it is clear that there is in the New Testament a “new Israel”—the church—and, in a manner similar to Moses’ leading of the exodus in the Old Testament, Christ leads his new covenant people out of the “Egypt” of their sins and into the “Promised Land” of forgiveness.

The words of Christ indicate an Abrahamic and exodus understanding of his ministry. For Christ, the “new Israel” of the New Testament, comprised of all those who by faith trust in himself, Jew and Gentile alike, brings to fruition the Abrahamic Covenant that God would bless all the nations through Abraham—that is, through Jesus Christ, Abraham and David’s “son” (Gen 12:3; cf. Acts 3:25). After his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Christ informs the Pharisees that Messiah is the son of David, yet his Lord at the same time (Luke 20:37–38, 41–42), drawing implicit attention to his own descent not only from David but from Abraham as well. Describing his ministry in these terms helps Christ’s hearers understand that he is their Messiah and effectively announces his coming kingdom at the same time. Christ links himself with Abraham even more clearly in the Zacchaeus incident, when he calls Zacchaeus a “son of Abraham” whom he—Messiah—has come to redeem (Luke 19:9–10). It seems clear then that Christ saw his ministry as completing the Abrahamic as well as the Davidic covenant and proclaims himself publicly in these terms.

Jesus Christ is not alone in the New Testament in claiming that the promises to Abraham are completed in himself. Luke and Paul also present Christ in Abrahamic terms. In his Pentecost-day sermon in the book of Acts, Peter states that Jesus Christ is the “offspring” promised in the Abrahamic Covenant, varying the “you” of Gen 12:3 (“And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you”) to “offspring” in Acts 3:25 (“Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed”). Commenting on this verse, David Pao rightly understands the Gentiles to be recipients of the Abrahamic promise as well as Jews. Pao states, “In Acts 3:25, therefore, one finds a clear reference to the concern for the Gentiles.”[39] Later in the book of Acts, when Stephen defends himself before the Council, he recounts the history of God’s dealings with his ancient people Israel and places the Messiah directly in the redemptive line from Abraham to Moses and to David. As their anger at Stephen’s indictment shows, the Pharisees did not miss his condemnation of them. In their outrage they have him stoned (Acts 7:1–60). Paul too places Abraham in the salvific line, calling the covenant God made with Abraham a “preaching” of the gospel to him (Gal 3:8) and insisting that Abraham’s offspring included the Gentiles (Gal 3:16). F. F. Bruce cites numerous other New Testament passages that corroborate the same idea.[40] What Christ teaches, Luke and Paul extend; Christ’s offer of the kingdom is often spoken of in exodus terms.

Within the larger framework of the kingdom we find the more specific hope that our sins can be forgiven in Jesus Christ. The ancient Israelites longed to be released from their Egyptian slavery, though they grumbled in the wilderness and even asked Moses to take them back to Egypt (Deut 1:27). In a similar manner, everyone is plagued by sin and, if we are honest, longs to be freed from its power. Only Jesus Christ offers freedom from sin. When he teaches Nicodemus that he is the Messiah, he refers to the exodus to make his point. “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert,” Christ says, “so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14–15). Learned man that he was, Nicodemus could not have missed Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah in the exodus allusion to the snake lifted up in the wilderness.

In his teaching about sin in the terms of slavery and freedom, Christ offers hope to his hearers in exodus terms. When Jesus tells the believing Jews that the “truth will set [them] free” (John 8:32), they act defensively and fall back on their descent from Abraham as the source of their freedom (John 8:33). In reply, Jesus states, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:34–36). Picturing our sinfulness as slavery, Christ immediately undercuts the self-righteous Jews’ claim to freedom on the basis of their ethnic and national heritage. Just as the ancient Israelites were enslaved by Egypt—and that well after Abraham, whom the Jews claim to be their source of freedom—so too the Jews of Jesus’ day were enslaved—by sin. For those who listen to the remainder of Jesus’ excursus on Abraham (John 8:31–59), he offers hope that they might be free of sin. This offer is made through the allusions to the exodus. Christ goes so far in this account as to assert his divinity by saying he was alive even when Abraham was born (John 8:58).

Christ’s excursus on sin and salvation in slavery/freedom terms is not an isolated use of the imagery in the New Testament. Paul and John use the slavery/freedom imagery to elaborate Christ’s defeat of sin at Calvary. In his greetings in the Apocalypse to the seven churches, John writes that Christ “.. . has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father. . .” (Rev 1:5–6). Here again is the familiar imagery of slavery and freedom, only here the point is extended beyond release from slavery to include the new status of believers. We are made priests in a new kingdom, serving the sanctuary, as it were, of God in Christ. Born as slaves, believers have confidence that, in Jesus Christ, they are sons and ministers.

Paul develops the slavery/freedom motif in some detail in Galatians, especially in chapters four and five. In chapter four Paul pictures our condition as unsaved sinners in the imagery of slavery and our status as believers in the image of sons, or heirs (Gal 4:3, 7, 9, 21–31; 5:1). Paul re-interprets the Abraham story spiritually by equating Ishmael and Mount Sinai with spiritual slavery on the one hand, and Isaac and Jerusalem/Mount Zion with freedom in Christ on the other (4:21–31). Paul clinches his argument by calling on believers to live in submission to Christ, not sin: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (5:1). Believers are set free from sin, but they must choose daily not to allow sins to rule over them. In Christ, we are, as Paul says elsewhere, adopted heirs of Christ (2 Cor 6:18). Paul’s spiritual re-interpretation of the Abraham story in exodus terms contributes significantly to his themes in the epistle.

It is not just the themes and theology of Galatians that the exodus material informs; the imagery and structure of the themes in Galatians are informed in exodus terms as well. Commenting on Paul’s exodus imagery in the epistle, Sylvia C. Keesmaat writes, “The pattern of redemption from slavery and bondage to become sons of God is found in the Exodus event and called upon as the paradigm for the new Exodus event in much of Jewish literature.”[41] For Keesmaat, Paul’s use of exodus materials in Galatians is more than the use of a few “basic motifs.” For her, Paul uses the exodus as the pattern for the way he tells “the story of God’s salvation” in his letter.[42] It informs the pattern, as well as the theology, of the epistle. Keesmaat summarizes her interpretation of the structure of Paul’s salvation narrative in Galatians in her statement that Paul “asserts that the new Exodus has already happened in Jesus Christ, the salvation has come, freedom from bondage is here, and the way to participate in this great Exodus event is to join with the son in crying ‘Abba, father.’”[43] Thus the whole design of Paul’s soteriology in Galatians is based in exodus materials. If Keesmaat is correct in this interpretation, the exodus paradigm forms the foundation for Paul’s understanding of salvation by grace in the epistle to the Galatians, and his theology of the Christian’s living by grace and not falling to sin in his daily life. If this is so, it is certainly consistent with Christ’s own use of exodus materials during his earthly ministry.

Christ refers to his office as Messiah in exodus terms, particularly when he identifies himself with Abraham and David. Paul alludes to the exodus event initiating the ancient people of Israel in his discussion of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. In the first recorded sermon at Pentecost, Peter explicitly associates Jesus of Nazareth with Abraham’s offspring. Stephen places Jesus in the redemptive line from Abraham, to Moses and David. In his extended discussion in Galatians of the believer’s release from sin, Paul makes use of the imagery of slavery and freedom and links it with Mount Sinai (slavery) and Mount Zion (freedom). The central work of Jesus Christ as Messiah was to declare the coming kingdom and offer salvation to those who would believe in him. This office is often presented in exodus terms.

IV. Conclusion

The exodus event is one of the archetypal narratives of the Bible for it informs the beginning, middle, and end of the biblical account of redemptive history. God inaugurates the nation of Israel in the exodus from Egypt. He establishes his covenant with the nation at Mount Sinai, provides for his people’s needs in the wilderness for forty years, and finally leads them into the Promised Land. In all of these events, God repeatedly warns and admonishes his unfaithful people while he himself remains faithful to them, offering them the hope of rest if they will obey him. In the middle of God’s plan of redemptive history we find Jesus Christ’s incarnation, life, death, and resurrection. All of Old Testament redemptive history anticipates Jesus Christ. The four New Testament evangelists frame at least parts of their gospel narratives in exodus terms and patterns. Christ’s teaching of his disciples is often informed by the exodus experience, and his actions among the multitudes have exodus overtones. From John the Baptist’s declaration in the wilderness to the Transfiguration, Triumphal Entry, and crucifixion, exodus themes and patterns help explain the events of Christ’s life and death. At the end of redemptive history is the Apocalypse. John makes use of exodus allusions and patterns in the Apocalypse to bring the biblical narrative to its conclusion. The ancient Israelites entered Canaan, their Promised Land. New Testament Christians enter the promised rest of their salvation and freedom from their sins. At the end of it all, the redeemed of all ages will enter the New Jerusalem and their exile will finally be over. They will be home. The exodus is never far from the readers of the Old and New Testaments.

The historical fact of the exodus event in the Old Testament grounds the later uses of it in the Bible. As our brief comments have shown, the exodus links the narrative of Abraham with those of Moses and David. Throughout the Old Testament, the writers often use the exodus as the basis of their teachings, instructing the people in God’s ways, warning them when they are apostate, and admonishing them to look forward to the promised rest. In effect, the exodus from Egypt assures believers of future exoduses.

The future exoduses the Old Testament promises are realized in Jesus of Nazareth. He establishes the new covenant in his own blood and writes it on the hearts of his people, not tablets of stone as he did at Mount Sinai. In the imagery of Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, Mount Zion replaces Mount Sinai. In the Gospels, Christ manifests his glory as an exodus to his disciples at the Transfiguration. He enters Jerusalem as the anointed one promised in the Old Testament after what is at times a wilderness journey to the city. He dies as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, lifted up as the snake was in the wilderness. Finally, the believer’s release from the power of sin is offered in the exodus imagery of slavery and freedom. By the conclusion of redemptive history, the exodus journey that inaugurated the nation of Israel informs Jesus’ ministry and the new heavens and new earth: out of Egypt into Jerusalem.

Notes

1. See, e.g., Charles Aling, Egypt and Bible History (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981), 77–110; John Bimson, Redating the Exodus and the Conquest (Sheffield: Almond Press, 1981); John J. Davis, Moses and the Gods of Egypt (2d ed.; Winona Lake: BMH Books, 1986), 15–49; Michael Grisanti, “Old Testament Poetry as a Vehicle for Historiography,” BSac [forthcoming]; Alfred Hoerth, Archaeology and the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 157–82; James Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998); Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., A History of Israel (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1998), 95–111; Eugene Merrill, Kingdom of Priests (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987), 57–91; John Rea, “The Time of the Oppression and the Exodus,” Grace Theological Journal 2 (1961): 5-14; William Shea, “The Exodus,” in An Orderly Account: Critical Issues in the History of Israel (ed. David Howard, Jr., and Michael Grisanti; Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2003), 236–55. Whole conferences have centered on the history of the exodus, such as the one held at Brown University in 1992. For published papers of this conference, see E. S. Frerichs and L. H. Lesko, Exodus: The Egyptian Evidence (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1997).
2. J. J. Burden, “A Stylistic Analysis of Exodus 15:1–21: Theory and Practice,” Old Testament Society of South Africa 29 (1986): 34-72; U. Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Exodus (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1967), 172–82; G. W. Coats, “The Traditio-Historical Character of the Reed Sea Motif,” VT 17 (1967): 253-65, and “The Song of the Sea,” CBQ 31 (1969): 1-17; Frank M. Cross, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 1950), 83–127; David N. Freedman, “The Song of the Sea,” and “Strophe and Meter in Exodus 15, ” in Pottery, Poetry, and Prophecy (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1980), 179–86, 187–227; Maribeth Howell, “Exodus 15, lb-18: A Poetic Analysis,” ETL 65 (1989): 5-42; J. Muilenburg, “Liturgy on the Triumphs of Yahweh,” in Studia Biblica et Semitica (Wageningen: Veenman, 1966), 233–51; Richard D. Patterson, “The Song of Redemption,” WTJ 57 (1995): 453-61, and “Victory at Sea: Prose and Poetry in Exodus 14–15, ” BSac 161 (2004): 42-54; M. S. Smith, “The Poetics of Exodus 15 and Its Position in the Book,” in Imagery and Imagination in Biblical Literature (ed. L. Boadt and M. S. Smith; CBQMS 32; Washington, D.C.: Catholic Biblical Association, 2001), 23–34; H. Strauss, “Das Meerlied des Mose - ein ‘Sieges-lied’ Israels?” ZAW 97 (1985): 103-9; James Watts, Psalm and Story: Inset Hymns in Hebrew Narrative (JSOTSup 139; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992), 41–62.
3. George Balentine, “Death of Jesus As a New Exodus,” RevExp 59 (1962): 27-41; D. Daube, The Exodus Pattern in the Bible (London: Faber and Faber, 1963); David Pao, Acts and the Isaianic New Exodus (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000); Richard D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (Chicago: Moody, 1991), 267–72, and “The Psalm of Habakkuk,” Grace Theological Journal 8 (1987): 163-94; Rikki Watts, “Consolation or Confrontation? Isaiah 40–55 and the Delay of the New Exodus,” Tyn-Bul 41 (1990): 31-59, and Isaiah’s New Exodus in Mark (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997); William Webb, Returning Home: New Covenant and Second Exodus as the Context for 2 Corinthians 6.14-7.1 (JSOTSup 85; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1993).
4. Michael Fishbane, Text and Texture (New York: Shocken Books, 1979), 122.
5. U. Cassuto, “The Israelite Epic,” in Biblical & Oriental Studies (2 vols.; Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1975), 2:73. Granted the wide general use of epic genre in the ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean world, it would seem only natural that the Hebrews would also possess something of that nature. Excellent discussions of epic genre can be found in many sources. For example, see Catherine Ing, “Epic,” in Cassell’s Encyclopedia of Literature (ed. S. H. Steinberg; 2 vols.; London: Cassell and Company, 1953), 1:195–200. For the classical world, see Robert Flacelire, A Literary History of Greece (Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company, 1964), 1–63; Moses Hadas, A History of Latin Literature (New York: Columbia University Press, 1952), 154–59. For the ancient Near East, see Samuel Kramer, The Sumerians (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), 184–205; Alexander Heidel, The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949); Peter Craigie, “The Song of Deborah and the Epic of Tukulti-ninurta,” JBL 88 (1959): 253-65. For Egypt, see Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature (3 vols.; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980), 2:57–72. For Syro-Palestine, see Frank Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1973). The epic was even alive as far away as ancient India. For details, see Vincent Smith, The Oxford History of India (3d ed.; Oxford: Clarendon, 1958), 55–60; A. L. Basham, The Wonder That Was India (2d ed.; New York: Hawthorne, 1963), 409–34, 471–78.
6. For details, see Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, 269; see also Theodore Hiebert, God of My Victory (HSM 38; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986).
7. See Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, 267–72; “Psalm,” 163–94.
8. Because Solomon’s accession to the throne is generally agreed upon as occurring in 931/30 B.C., taking this text at face value would indicate that the exodus happened in 1447/46 B.C. Although the issues in the ongoing debate concerning the problems relative to the dating of the exodus are not in focus here, it should be pointed out that a good case for the traditional biblical date can be made. Following a thorough investigation of the Egyptian evidence, William Shea (“Date of the Exodus,” 254–55) suggests that there is much to commend an exodus in Egypt’s eighteenth dynasty.
9. For details, see Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah 40–55: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB 19A; New York: Doubleday, 2000), 295–96.
10. John Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah Chapters 1–39 (NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 272.
11. For the term “kingdom oracles,” see the discussion in Richard D. Patterson, “Old Testament Prophecy,” in A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible (ed. L. Ryken and T. Longman III; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), 302–3.
12. Watts, “Consolation or Confrontation?” 33–34. See also Watts, Isaiah’s New Exodus in Mark, 80–81.
13. The theme of the way is characteristic of Isaiah. Earlier he prophesied that those who would return from exile in Assyria would be led along the highway that God would make (Isa 11:16).
14. David Pao (Acts, 52) finds spiritual significance in the term “way”: “The terminology of the way becomes a key theme in the reformulation of the Exodus paradigm in Isaiah 40–55. ‘The Way’ symbolizes the presence of God in the ancient Exodus story as well as the anticipated eschatological event.”
15. It was noted above that the concept of exodus is found already in the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 15:13–14). Much as the Lord called Abram out of Ur and entered into covenant with him (Gen 12:1–3), God would one day bring his people out of Egypt.
16. Ralph Alexander, “Ezekiel,” in Isaiah-Ezekiel (vol. 6 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Frank Gaebelein et al.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986), 927. Ezekiel’s mentioning of the realization of the Abrahamic Covenant in terms of “the land I gave to my servant Jacob” (Ezek 37:25) has been a long-standing puzzle. Perhaps the solution is to be sought along two lines. (1) The promise to Abraham was transmitted first to Isaac (Gen 26:1–6) and then to Jacob (Gen 28:10–15; 31:42). Moreover, God specifically told Jacob, “The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you” (Gen 35:12). Further, the promise of God’s continued presence with his people and the assurance of their right to the Promised Land in perpetuity often became associated with the theme of “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Gen 50:24; Exod 32:13; 33:1; Num 32:11; Deut 6:10; 9:25–29; 29:12–13; 30:20; 34:1–4; 1 Kgs 18:36; 2Kgs 13:23; 1 Chron 29:18; 2 Chron 30:6–9). Still further Jacob is often mentioned as the third in the chain of the family patriarchs to whom God’s promise was made (e.g., 1 Chron 16:16–18; Ps 105:6–11). Therefore, as the third of the patriarchs and the final member of the thematic formula, “Jacob” could stand for the original covenant promise. (2) The name Jacob could also recall something of Israel’s propensity to self-seeking and spiritual disobedience despite the Lord’s patient dealing with his people. See further, Richard D. Patterson, “The Old Testament Use of an Archetype: The Trickster,” JETS 42 (1999): 389-92.
17. F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Development of Old Testament Themes (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970), 34.
18. F. F. Bruce, This is That: The New Testament Development of Some Old Testament Themes (Exeter, Devonshire: Paternoster Press, 1968), 32.
19. Pao, Acts, 41.
20. Ibid, 52.
21. Watts, Isaiah’s New Exodus in Mark, 4.
22. Augustine Stock, The Way in the Wilderness (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1969), 70–74, 89.
23. Pao, Acts, 146.
24. Balentine, “Death of Jesus As a New Exodus,” 37.
25. Watts, Isaiah’s New Exodus in Mark, 232.
26. Stock, The Way, 79.
27. Watts, Isaiah’s New Exodus in Mark, 126–27; also see Watts’s footnotes 28–31 on pages 126–27.
28. “Mountain” in Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (ed. Leland Ryken, James G. Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman III; Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1998), 574.
29. Watts, Isaiah’s New Exodus in Mark, 125–26.
30. Ibid., 221ff.
31. Ibid., 348.
32. Bruce, This is That, 49.
33. Balentine, “Death of Jesus As a New Exodus,” 34.
34. Joachim Jeremias, The Eucharistic Words of Jesus (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1966), 222.
35. I. Howard Marshall, Last Supper and Lord’s Supper (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 87–91.
36. Watts, Isaiah’s New Exodus in Mark, 362.
37. Northrop Frye, The Great Code: The Bible and Literature (San Diego: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1983), 183.
38. Watts, Isaiah’s New Exodus in Mark, 321–22, 354.
39. Pao, Acts, 234.
40. Bruce, This is That, 52.
41. Sylvia C. Keesmaat, “Paul and His Story: Exodus and Tradition in Galatians,” in Early Christian Interpretation of the Scriptures of Israel: Investigations and Proposals (ed. C. A. Evans and J. A. Sanders; JSNTSup 148; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), 303.
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid., 314.