THEOLOGY IN EXODUS

Biblical Theology in the Form of a Commentary

DONALD E. GOWAN

Westminster John Knox Press

Louisville, Kentucky

© 1994 Donald E. Gowan

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Westminster John Knox Press, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202-1396.

Except where noted otherwise, quotations from the Bible are taken from the New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha, © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission. Quotations from the Pseudepigrapha are taken from James H. Charlesworth (ed.), The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Vols. 1 and 2 (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, 1983, 1985).

Cover design by Bill Green

First edition

Published by Westminster John Knox Press

Louisville, Kentucky

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gowan, Donald E., 1929– .

Theology in Exodus : biblical theology in the form of a commentary / Donald E. Gowan. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-664-22057-6 (alk. paper)

1. Bible. O.T. Exodus—Theology. 2. Bible. O.T. Exodus—Commentaries. I. Title.

BS1245.2.G69 1994

222′.1207—dc20

94-8689

For Darlene

“Love never ends”

(1 Corinthians 13:8)

CONTENTS

Introduction: Biblical Theology in the Form of Commentary

1. The Absence of God

Exodus 1–2

2. The Numinous

Exodus 3–4

3. “I Will Be with You”

Exodus 3–4 (Continued)

4. The Name

Exodus 3–4 (Continued)

5. Promise

Exodus 3–4 (Concluded)

6. The Divine Destroyer

Exodus 5:1–15:21

7. God of Grace and God of Glory

Exodus 15b–31; 35–40

8. The Distancing of God

Exodus 32–34

Abbreviations

Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Literature

Index of Authors

INTRODUCTION

BIBLICAL THEOLOGY IN THE FORM OF COMMENTARY

Although this book is organized like a commentary, following the text of Exodus from beginning to end, it is both more and less than what one would expect from a traditional commentary. On the one hand, it does not attempt to answer all the questions one usually expects to find discussed in a commentary, for its focus is sharply defined. It asks only one question of Exodus: What does this book say about God? On the other hand, it does far more than any other commentary on or exposition of Exodus has done. It takes each of the major affirmations about God found in Exodus and traces it through the rest of scripture and on into the theologies of Judaism and Christianity. Because this represents two new things, a new way of expounding a biblical book and a new way of writing theology, each term in the title of this introduction, “Biblical Theology in the Form of Commentary,” needs to be explained more fully.

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About Theology in Exodus: Biblical Theology in the Form of a Commentary

This groundbreaking book points to a fresh new way of doing biblical theology. Donald Gowan organizes his study of the book of Exodus like a traditional commentary, following the text of Exodus from beginning to end. Unlike a traditional commentary, however, Gowan asks only one question of Exodus: what does this book say about God? He then traces the major affirmations about God found in Exodus through the rest of the scripture and into the theologies of Judaism and Christianity. This study will be of interest to any who wish to rethink the ways that biblical theology is done.

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