The Pilgrimage Pattern in Exodus

by Mark S. Smith

Publisher:

Sheffield Academic Press

, 1997

Overview

Underlying Exodus in its priestly redaction is a pilgrimage. Smith's new book starts by reviewing pilgrimage shrines, feasts and practices in ancient Israel. Next, it examines the two pilgrimage journeys in Exodus. In Exodus 1-15, Moses' journeys to Mount Sinai, experiences God and receives his commission. In Exodus 16–40, Moses and the people together journey to Mount Sinai for the people's experience of God and their commission. Between lies Exodus 15, the fulcrum of the book: verses 1–12 look back and verses 13-18 look forward to Israel's journey to Sinai. Finally, the different meanings of Torah in the book of Exodus are contrasted, and the book concludes with a consideration of Exodus's larger place in the Pentateuch.

Key Features

• Expert contributors
• Includes detailed table of contents, indexes, and bibliographies to aid study

Contents

Top Highlights

“Moses and the elders join in a meal and enjoy a partial vision of the heavenly palace and deity (24:9–11). The written character of instruction allows it to become unmediated again, but not in the sense of being able to dispense with legal authority. Rather, divine teaching is unmediated in that it is visibly present. Whereas the people heard the law of the decalogue directly from Yahweh and then had law mediated by Moses, now they have law directly in written form.” (Page 273)

Product Details

• Title: The Pilgrimage Pattern in Exodus
• Author: Mark S. Smith
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 1997
• Pages: 355

About Mark S. Smith

Mark S. Smith is Helena Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis at Princeton Theological Seminary and Skirball Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at New York University. He has also served as visiting professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. An award-winning author, Smith has written sixteen books, including The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel; The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel’s Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts; God in Translation: Deities in Cross-Cultural Discourse in the Biblical World; How Human Is God? Seven Questions about God and Humanity in the Bible; and Where the Gods Are: Spatial Dimensions of Anthropomorphism in the Biblical World. His current research focuses on a commentary on the book of Judges, coauthored with archaeologist Elizabeth Bloch-Smith.