Dating the Exodus

This week I am taking a look at Coogan’s overview of attempts to put an accurate date on the Exodus. In terms of the text of the Bible itself, 1 Kings states that the Exodus took place 480 years before Solomon built the Temple. Most scholars put that date at around 965 BCE, so the Exodus would fall during the mid-fifteenth century. This is not as straightforward as it sounds, however, since Coogan explains that the figure of 480 is suspect: “It is the product of twelve, the number of the tribes, times forty, the typical length of a generation.” The authors of the book of Kings, he says, presumably want to connect the building of the Temple to Moses.

There are also problems with dating the Exodus in the mid-fifteenth or sixteenth century, as that leaves a long period of time written about only in the book of Judges, which does not mention any Egyptian presence. There is also no mention of Israel in the Amarna letters, which we have discussed in class before.
An alternative followed by many scholars is to date the Exodus later, in the thirteenth century BCE, partly because of the hymn from a victory stele quoted in our text, which shows that Israel had established some significant presence in Canaan by the end of the thirteenth century. The Exodus, it would then seem, must not have occurred before this time. According to this chronology, Rameses II may have been the pharaoh during the Exodus. As Coogan adds that this view is held by “most, but by no means all” biblical scholars, I would be curious to also know what some of the alternative views are.

The Patriarchs

This week I would like to outline some characteristics of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as drawn from both the biblical texts and our readings. Abraham is the model patriarch, the most idealized of the three. His faithfulness to God is his most vaunted quality, and it is constant and unchanging. Coogan writes that this faithfulness often manifests itself in what appears to a contemporary reader as unappealing passivity; the two most notable examples are the near sacrifice of Isaac, stopping only when God commands him directly, and the passing off of Sarah as his sister instead of his wife in order to preserve his own safety. Coogan adds that these incidents would not have seemed appalling to a reader in the ancient Near East, but would have been seen as further positive depictions of Abraham’s faithfulness.

Abraham’s son Isaac is the least fleshed out as a character. Less space is devoted to him than to either of the others, and the stories involving him are usually focused on another character, such as his father, wife, or sons, who is often more vividly described. His wife Rebekah is actually a much stronger character, especially in the stories of Jacob and Esau, where she seems to be the motivating factor behind many of her son Jacob’s actions.

Jacob, by contemporary standards, is probably the most vividly drawn of the three, which is to say that he is the most obviously flawed. He is depicted as quite crafty, especially in the swindling of his brother Esau, and yet is still given the vision of “Jacob’s ladder.” One question we might discuss this week, if anyone is interested, is: what are some of the explanations for the very different depictions of the characters of the patriarchs?

Documentary Hypothesis

This is just a brief overview of my understanding of the Documentary Hypothesis from Coogan, the NRSV notes, and our lectures, more for my own future reference than anything else. I know that many of Wellhausen’s conclusions are not considered iron-clad anymore, especially since we now have a better understanding of his anti-Semitism, but the essential theory, which says that a number of strands (documents) were woven together to create the Pentateuch and can be differentiated, is still very influential.

The J source is identified because of its use of the name Yahweh for God. God is described very anthropomorphically: making clothes for Adam and Eve, shutting the door to Noah’s ark, etc. The primary theme of the J source is God’s covenant with Abraham, which promises him “land, descendants, and blessing.” The divine mountain is called Sinai. J is dated from the tenth or possibly ninth century and is based in the southern kingdom of Judah. It is also the most complete of the four sources.

The E source is the most fragmentary and may not have existed independently of J. It uses the title “elohim” for God. God usually presents himself in dreams and other indirect appearances. The divine mountain is called Horeb. E is concerned with the northern kingdom of Israel and its dominant tribe, Ephraim. It is dated from the ninth or eighth century.

The D source is found in the book of Deuteronomy and seems to be dated from the seventh century, although it draws on sources and traditions that are older. The divine mountain is also called Horeb, as in E, and like E, D probably originated in the northern kingdom.

The P (Priestly) source focuses on matters of ritual; the first creation account in Genesis comes from P, for example. God is sometimes referred to as “el shadday” and is the most remote from humanity, not even appearing in dreams as in E. P often speaks about God appearing “in his glory,” and presents a series of covenants rather than the one covenant with Abraham presented in J. P is generally dated to the sixth century and was the final editor of the other sources, editing both the first and last chapters of the Pentateuch.