Exodus is far bigger than a battle or a geographical migration. The book that recounts it establishes a foundational myth for the Jewish and the Christian religions. Myths don’t come with much bigger import than those in Exodus. Three great events stand out: the revelation to Moses at the Burning Bush of God’s name (“I AM” as the English Bible has it); the initiation of the Passover feast (which has as its antitype the events culminating in the Christian Easter); and the handing down of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai.
The Book of Exodus starts with slavery in Egypt and points to the promised land of milk and honey in Canaan. But Moses, its reluctant hero, does not make it. “Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho,” says the book of Deuteronomy. Within sight of the land beyond the Jordan he died. “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.”
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