EXODUS

AN EXEGETICAL

COMMENTARY

VICTOR P. HAMILTON

a division of Baker Publishing Group

Grand Rapids, Michigan

© 2011 by Victor P. Hamilton

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakeracademic.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hamilton, Victor P.

Exodus: an exegetical commentary/Victor P. Hamilton.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8010-3183-0 (cloth)

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

BS1245.53.H36 2011

222’.1207—dc23

2011017701

The author has provided his own translation of the book of Exodus. Unless otherwise indicated, all other Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Dedicated to

Nathan

Benjamin

Madeline

Bethany

Abigail

Holly

Lindy

Natalie

Rachel

Samuel

Evelyn

Zechariah

Lillian

Our thirteen grandchildren, who provide us with hours of delight, but whose interests probably run more toward playing Wii than reading this commentary on Exodus.

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Transliteration Patterns

Commentaries on Exodus

Introduction: The Narrative and Theology of Exodus

Part 1: Oppression in Egypt (1:1–6:1)

Multiplying in Egypt (1:1–7)

An Anxious Pharaoh (1:8–14)

Two God-Fearing Midwives (1:15–22)

The Birth and Naming of Moses (2:1–10)

Moses’s First Attempt at Mediation (2:11–15)

Moses Flees to Midian (2:16–22)

A God Who Hears and Remembers (2:23–25)

God Encounters Moses for the First Time (3:1–6)

God’s “Go” and Moses’s “No” (3:7–12)

If God Knows Your Name, Do You Need to Know His? (3:13–22)

Divine Reassurance through Authenticating Signs (4:1–9)

Mouthing Off to God about Your Mouth (4:10–12)

Here Am I, Send Him (4:13–17)

Egypt Beckons (4:18–23)

The Bloody Bridegroom (4:24–26)

Moses and Aaron Reunite (4:27–31)

Moses and Aaron’s First Meeting with Pharaoh (5:1–9)

No Straw, but a Lot of Stench (5:10–21)

Asking God the Hard Questions (5:22–6:1)

Part 2: Liberation from Egypt (6:2–15:21)

God, Not Moses, Is Lord (6:2–9)

Levites and Lips (6:10–30)

An Octogenarian God Who Is Not God (7:1–7)

Taming and Transforming the Tannin (7:8–13)

Plague 1: Water into Blood (7:14–25)

Plague 2: A Frog Infestation (8:1–15 [7:26–8:11])

Plague 3: Learning a Lesson from Lice (8:16–19 [8:12–15])

Plague 4: Inundated ...