EXODUS (Ἐξοδος 'Exit'). - Second book of the Pentateuch (v.), so called by the Septuagint because of the subject matter of its first part; in Hebrew, from its opening words, semoth ("names") or vev'ellet semoth ("and these are the names"). After the brief introduction (1:1-7) linking it to the narrative of Genesis, it has three parts: the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt (1:8-12:16); their journey to Mount Sinai (13-18); the Sinaitic covenant (19-40). It is the history of the origin of the chosen people, written by its own leader.
After the 10th plague Pharaoh not only permitted but ordered the Israelites to leave Egypt that very night (Passover: 14-15 ntsdn), and they took the "way of the desert" toward the Red Sea. From Rameses they came to Succoth, where Yahweh gave the law concerning the Passover (12:43 ff.) and imposed the obligation of the offering of the firstborn (15:2). From Succoth they reached Etham, at the extreme edge of the desert: the Lord will go before them to show the way, with the cloud, dark by day and fiery by night. They were then forced to turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal-zephon (14:2). The topographical identifications are very uncertain, including the place of the crossing of the Red Sea.
The figure of 600,000 Israelites able to bear arms (12:37) poses a difficulty, since it would imply a people totaling 2 million Israelites in the desert; some resolve the difficulty by reducing 600,000 to 6,000 (E. v. Hummelauer); W. M. F. l'errie takes 'eleph' also in the sense of a grouping, a family, arriving at a total population of 100 or 120 thousand persons.
On the eastern shore of the Red Sea the Israelites found themselves in the desert of Shur or Etham; they reached Marah, then Elim, where there were 12 springs and 70 palm trees; from there they set out and came to the desert of Sin, where they were satisfied with quail and received the manna (16-35). Then they came to Dophkah and Alush, then to Rephidim; there they defeated the Amalekites (v.). Having reached Sinai (v.), in the 3rd month after the departure from Egypt they camped before the mountain, on which God gave the Law to Moses and made a covenant with Israel, which became "the people of Yahweh" (16:5-6).
The conviction of the Mosaic origin handed down in Israel (Josh. 1:7 ff.; 8:30-35; 1 Kings 2:3) is accepted in the New Testament (Mark 12:16 - Ex. 3:2, 6). The historical authority of Exodus is presupposed and affirmed by the whole Old Testament: the slavery and the miraculous departure from Egypt are often recalled there (e.g. Is. 43:16; 51:10; Ps. 66:6; 78:13; 106:9; 114:3); Moses (v.) emerges in the history of Israel as liberator, shaper of national unity and lawgiver; Hebrew worship was formed of feasts (Passover and Pentecost) and customs (unleavened bread, offering of the firstborn) intimately connected with Exodus. Moreover, the book itself provides many internal proofs of authenticity: the Hebrew character of many passages (Decalogue, song of Moses [Ex. 15], and the covenant code). The full consonance of the events narrated in Exodus with the Egyptian setting confirms the very ancient origin of the book.
The "critical" school of J. Wellhausen (v. PENTATEUCH) has applied to the book of Exodus the distinction of sources, attributing, for example, to J 7-10 (together with E and P) and 33:12-34:28; to E the Decalogue (v.) and the "book of the covenant" (20:1-24:8); to P 6:2-7:13; 25-31; 34:29-30, 36. It attributes to Moses only the description of the slaughter of the Amalekites (17:24), elements of the "book of the covenant" (20:23-25:33) and its codification (24:4-7; 34:27). But the analysis of the sources does not reach conclusive results, since it is much more difficult than in Genesis to distinguish between Yahwistic and Elohistic documents.
Rationalists maintain that the miracles attributed to Moses must be considered either idealized history (providential interventions of God and favor toward Israel), or fictions (appearances of God), or embellished natural events (the ten plagues, the quail, the manna), or etiological legends to explain a religious custom or symbol (Yahweh fixing the characters on the two tablets explains the two stones kept in the ark; the efficacy of the paschal lamb is taught by the tenth plague). But the difficulties raised do not hold. The appearance of Ex. 3:1-6, for example, conditions the whole mission and work of Moses, which without it would be inexplicable. As for the plagues and the manna, even granting their local color, the miracle is at least quoad modum or praeter naturam. The miraculous crossing of the Red Sea is a historical fact such that it cannot be suppressed without shaking the whole edifice of the Old Testament (Ex. 14; 15:4; 22; Num. 33:8; Deut. 11:14; Josh. 2:10; 4:24; 24:7; Ps. 105 [106]:8; Id. 11:16; Neh. 9:11; Wis. 10:8; 1 Macc. 4:9; Acts 7:36).
The center and basis of Israel's legislation is the Decalogue (v.), engraved in stone. The first nucleus grew through the addition of other laws, required by various circumstances and by the progressive organization of the nation. Intermingled and interpenetrated with the social prescriptions, the legislation contains many liturgical prescriptions, among them chapters 25-31 (description) and 36-40 (execution) concerning worship in the portable sanctuary ("tabernacle"); the Ark (v.) of the covenant, the manna, the lampstand (v.), the tabernacle (v.), the sacred vestments and furnishings.
The principal truths taught in Exodus are: the unity and spirituality (prohibition of images) of God; the covenant with God. In it morality is regulated and external worship is established.
Sina: F. Hummelauer, Cones, in Ex. et Lev., Paris 1897; A. Mallon, Les Hébrons en Egypte, Rome 1921; id., Exode, in DBs. II, coll. 1333-42; B. Ubach, L'Esode-El Levite, Monserrat 1927; G. Ricciotti, Storia d'Israele, I, Turin 1932, p. 201; ff.: A. Bea, De Pentateucho, in Institutiones Biblica, II, 1, 2nd ed., Rome 1933; P. Heinrich, Das Buch Exodus, Bonn 1934; A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A.