EXODUS: INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STRUCTURE

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Several prominent commentators have noted the lack of obvious markers to divide the sections, which has led to confusion regarding its overall structure. The overall divisions summarized in Fig. 1 were arrived at by first analyzing each individual passage looking for symmetrical elements.

Figure 1: Divisions in the Book of Exodus

        Section I: Conflict with Egypt; Moses Preserved (1:1-2:25)

        Section II: Moses' Objections Met; Pharaoh's Heart Hardened (3:1-7:13)

        Section III: Plagues Do Not Move Pharaoh's Heart (7:14-10:29)

        Section IV: Instruction and Disobedience (chs. 11-18)

        Section V: Yahweh's Presence and Instruction (chs. 19-24)

        Section VI: Instruction, Disobedience, Obedience, Yahweh's Presence (chs. 25-40)

As partial confirmation of this analysis, there is a reasonable consensus among scholars that the presence of God forms one of the major themes of Exodus. Passages emphasizing this theme appear at prominent locations in the structure of Fig. 1: the start of Section II, start and end of V, and center and end of VI, respectively.

Section I

Figure 2: Exodus 1-2

Introduction (1:1-7)

A. Egyptians afflict Jews (1:8-14)

B. Attempt to Kill Jewish Children Fails (1:15-22)

C. Moses Drawn out of Water by Pharaoh's Daughter (2:1-9)

D. Moses becomes her Son (2:10)

A'. Egyptians afflict Jews (2:11-14)

B'. Attempt to Kill Moses Fails (2:15a)

C'. Moses draws Water for Jethro's Daughter (2:15b-21)

D'. Moses has a Son (2:22)

Conclusion (2:23-25)

This structure emphasizes Yahweh's personal overseeing of all the events in Moses' life. The parallelism shows this to be true in the relatively mundane events of A'-D' as well as in the more spectacular way in which his life was preserved at birth. Moses' close identification with his people is, of course, directly portrayed in Exodus 2:11-14. However, the same point is made in a more subtle manner by the parallelism between units B and B'. An interesting contrast between the two cycles in this section occurs in the varied usages of the key word “fear” in these passages. In the first cycle, the midwives are twice said to fear God (1:17, 21). By contrast, Moses feared for his life in 2:14. The play on these two definitions, as mentioned above, occurs again in the central passage of Exodus 19-24.

Additional evidence for the two-cycle arrangement of this section is found in Greenberg's observation that the verses in the first cycle contain seven appearances of the word “child” plus one use of the plural “children” while the second cycle contains seven occurrences of “man” plus one of the plural “men.”

Section II

The bulk of chs. 3-7 consists of two parallel story cycles. Each begins with Yahweh revealing himself to Moses using almost identical phraseology and ends with a confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh. The body of each cycle contains the same elements, although their order of appearance varies: Yahweh's charge to Moses, Moses' objections, Yahweh's answers to these objections, and passages dealing with Moses' kinsmen. When all these elements are mapped out, the resulting pattern results:

Figure 3: Exodus 3:1-7:13

A. First Cycle

1. Revelation (3:1-9)

2. Charge (3:10)

3. Four Objections/Answers (3:11-4:17)

                                            4. Moses' family (4:18-31)

                                                a. Moses & kinsmen (4:18-20)

                                                    b. Passover (4:21-23)

                                                    b'. Circumcision (4:24-26)

                                                a'. Moses & kinsmen (4:27-31)

                                                            5. Confronting Pharaoh (5:1-6:1)

B. Second Cycle

1. Revelation (6:2-5)

2. Charge (6:6-11)

3. Objection/Answer (6:12-13)

                    4. Moses' family (6:14-25)

2. Charge (6:26-29)

3. Objection/Answer (6:30-7:7)

                                                            5. Confronting Pharaoh (7:8-13)

Section III

One interesting result of this study was the fact that literary analysis actually divorces the Tenth Plague from the other nine, demonstrating that it actually is more at home in the following section.

Figure 4: Exodus 7:14-10:29

                        Cycle A: 1. blood (7:14-24)

2. frogs (7:25-8:15)

3. gnats (8:16-19)

Cycle B: 1. flies (8:20-32)

2. plague on the cattle (9:1-7)

3. boils (9:8-12)

Cycle C: 1. hail (9:13-35)

2. locust (10:1-20)

3. darkness (10:21-29)

The literary pattern in each of the three cycles includes the following elements:

Plagues “1”: announced in the morning by the riverside using identical wording

            Plagues “2”: announced in the Pharaoh's palace using identical wording

            Plagues “3”: given without any prior warning; symbolic gesture employed

There are, however, progressions as one moves from one cycle to the next:

Cycle A: Egyptian magicians compete with Moses

            Cycles B and C: clear distinction made between Hebrews and Egyptians

and

Cycle A: rod of Aaron employed

            Cycle B: no rod mentioned

            Cycle C: rod or hand of Moses mentioned

Section IV

The remaining chapters in Exodus are a bit harder to fit into a neat literary scheme, and part of their structure will have to be deduced by a process of elimination. However, the overall theme of this section is easy to comprehend: five rebellions of Israel against God. In addition, thematic considerations lead to arranging these in a chiastic order.

Figure 5: Exodus 11-18

A. Passover narrative and regulations (chs. 11-13)

B. Crisis of war (13:17-15:21)

C. Crisis of water (15:22-27)

D. Crisis of food (ch. 16)

C'. Crisis of water (17:1-7)

B'. Crisis of war (17:8-16)

A'. Teaching the statutes and judging the people (ch. 18)

This literary structure may provide an explanation as to why the events of Exodus 17:8-18:27 are given in that location rather than where they should appear chronologically.

Unit D seems to be a strange one to form the center of this whole section, but it is notable theologically for (a) its emphasis on Sabbath observation and (b) the presence of the glory of Yahweh (Exodus 16:10).

Section V

The following treatment begins the Book of the Covenant section with 21:1 and recognizes that the apparently miscellaneous material in 20:18-26 stands together as a symmetrical unit concerning proper worship of God and acts as a perfect hinge tying together the sections on either side.

The many links between B and B' are well recognized, including the priority of worshiping Yahweh and similar covenant language so that the latter section might be called “Commentary on the Decalogue.”

                                                              Figure 6: Structure of Chapters 19-24

    A. Theophany on Mt. Sinai (19:1-25)

        B. Decalogue (20:1-17)

            C. Proper Worship of God (20:18-26)

                1. Do not be afraid (20:18-19)

                    2. Do fear God (20:20-21)

                        3. Make no other gods (20:22-23)

                    2'. Do make an altar for me (20:24)

                1'. Do not profane my altar (20:25-26)

        B'. Book of the Covenant (21:1-23:33)

    A'. Theophany on Mt. Sinai (24:1-18)

Section VI

Figure 7: Exodus 25-40

A. Pattern of the Tabernacle Given (chs. 25-27)

B. Aaron and the Tabernacle to be Consecrated (chs. 28-31)

C. Aaron and the People are Disobedient (ch. 32)

D. The Glory in the Tent, Pillar of Cloud (33:1-11)

E. Moses Sees Yahweh, Commandments Given (33:12-34:35)

1. Moses wishes to see Yahweh (33:12-23)

2. Tablets made – Yahweh's covenant (34:1-10)

3. Commandments (34:11-26)

2'. Covenant written on tablets (34:27-28)

1'. Evidence that Moses has seen Yahweh (34:29-35)

A'. Tabernacle Constructed According to the Pattern (chs. 35-38)

B'. Aaron and the Tabernacle to be Consecrated (39:1-40:15)

C'. Aaron and Sons are Consecrated (40:16-33) D'. The Glory in the Tabernacle, Pillar of                         Cloud (40:34-38)

There are numerous verbal parallels between the paired units shown above. Two examples will suffice: (a) the twelve-fold occurrence of “row,” six each in section B and B' and (b) the appearance of “curtain / tent” 36 times total in sections A and A'.

By viewing the final section of the book in this manner, several theological points are brought into clearer perspective. The correspondence between units B and B' gives more meaning to Exodus 30-31 than merely treating it as “an appendix of mutually unrelated subjects.” The contrast between C and C' tells a tale of redemption for Aaron and his descendants. The juxtaposition of units D and D' demonstrates that the Tabernacle takes the place of the tent as Yahweh's dwelling place just as it will be supplanted in turn by the Temple in Jerusalem at a later date. The center unit in this section is clearly E3, highlighting a small passage that not only constitutes an alternative Decalogue of sorts but also strongly resembles the contents of the Book of the Covenant.

At the end of Section E1, God covers Moses face. In a similar manner, Moses veils his own face at the end of E1'.

Conclusion

When the major themes of the six major sections in Figure 1 are considered, they can be seen to fall into two broad groupings: sections I-III (chs.1-10) in which there are conflicts between Yahweh and either Moses or Pharaoh, and sections IV-VI (chs. 11-40) which treat of Yahweh's relationship with Israel. These same groupings are strengthened by their literary structure in that the first three sections are composed of repeated cycles of events whereas the last three are all chiasms. The repeated cycles in the first half of the book hint at the unresolved nature of the events portrayed while the chiasms of the second half may suggest that a certain resolution has been attained.