How to Read Exodus
Overview
The book of Exodus is a key to understanding the Bible. Without it, the Bible would lack three early scenes: deliverance, covenant, and worship. Exodus provides the events and narrative, along with the themes and imagery foundational for understanding the story of Israel and of Jesus.
You can read Exodus on your own, and its main themes will be clear enough. But an expert can sharpen your understanding and appreciation of its drama. Tremper Longman provides a guide to Exodus, discussing its historical backdrop, sketching out its literary context, and developing its principal themes, from Israel’s deliverance from Egypt to its dedication to serving God. Longman helps us view Exodus from the perspective of its fulfillment in Christ.
In the Logos edition, this volume is enhanced by amazing functionality. Important terms link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. Perform powerful searches to find exactly what you’re looking for. Take the discussion with you using tablet and mobile apps. With Logos Bible Software, the most efficient and comprehensive research tools are in one place, so you get the most out of your study.
Save more when you purchase this book as part of the IVP Old Testament Studies Collection.
Key Features
- Provides a welcome guide to reading and studying Exodus
- Develops the principal themes in Exodus
- Helps readers view Exodus from the perspective of its fulfillment in Christ
Contents
- Understanding the Book of “Departure”
- The Shape of the Book of Exodus
- The Narrative Structure of Exodus: Presence, Covenant and Servitude
- Birth Legends, Hammurabi and Portable Shrines: The Ancient Near Eastern Background of Exodus
- Evidence for the Exodus Event
- Does It Matter Whether the Sea Parted?
- God Rescues Abraham’s Descendants from Egyptian Bondage
- God Gives Israel His Law
- God Instructs Israel to Build the Tabernacle
- The Christian Experience of Exodus
- The Role of Law in the Christian Life
- The Word Became Flesh and Tabernacled Among Us
Top Highlights
“I like to describe Exodus (and other similar books in the Bible) as theological history focusing on God’s relationship with Israel and involving God’s self-disclosure.” (Page 33)
“This paucity of physical description alerts us to the fact that when the narrator does choose to say something about how someone looks, say Moses’ ‘shining face’ (Ex 34:30), that information is very important.” (Page 17)
“Hebrew narrative is presented by an anonymous and omniscient third-person narrator” (Page 17)
“The significance of the Ten Commandments is not that these admonitions and prohibitions came into being for the first time. The significance has more to do with the transition of God’s people from being a family to being a nation. The nation needed what was in essence a constitution and formal legal code and such was provided by the Ten Commandments and the case law.” (Page 57)
“First, special attention should be paid to speech. Often the plot is furthered by speech rather than description of the event.” (Page 35)
Praise for the Print Edition
Scholarly approaches to narrative structure and archaeological, historical, and theological matters become practical through study questions that help readers appropriate Exodus in their daily lives.
—Christian Century
- Title: How to Read Exodus
- Author: Tremper Longman III
- Publisher: IVP Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2009
- Logos Release Date: 2014
- Pages: 187
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Bible. O.T. Exodus › Criticism, interpretation, etc
- ISBNs: 9780830878659, 9780830838585, 0830878653, 0830838589
- Resource ID: LLS:HOWTOREADEXODUS
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:35:15Z
Tremper Longman III serves as Distinguished Scholar and Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Westmont College. He has written over 35 books, including commentaries on Genesis, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Daniel, Nahum, and Revelation. His books have been translated into 18 different languages. In addition, as a Hebrew scholar, he is one of the main translators of the popular New Living Translation, and has served as a consultant on other popular Bible translations, including The Message, the New Century Version, the Christian Standard Bible, and the Common Bible. He has also edited and contributed to a number of study Bibles and Bible dictionaries, most recently The Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary.
He earned his BA from Ohio Wesleyan University, his MDiv from Westminster Theological Seminary, and both his MPhil and PhD from Yale University. Dr. Longman and his wife, Alice, have three sons and eight grandchildren.
Reviews
2 ratings
G. Jorge Medina
12/30/2020
I enjoyed this brief introduction to the Exodus. Great content, good help with bibliography. Nicely written. Moved me to buy more books from the same author.Glenn Crouch
11/15/2016
QThis is quite a good, easy-to-read book that not only gives you an introduction into the book of Exodus, but also supplies a good intro to the world of the Ancient Near East (ANE). Not only does the Author examine Exodus in its setting and its meaning for the original audience, but he does a fine job at looking at Exodus through post-Resurrection eyes. It is an excellent starting point for a Bible Study or Sermon Series, or even personal study, on the book of Exodus. Especially given that each chapter has a "for further reading" list (and I wish more books would do that), as well as an appendix discussing Commentaries on Exodus (at the time of writing). So also a good book for Bible College students. Given that this is a small book, the Author does cover quite a bit - including a good (though introductory) discussion on Authorship; examination of the plagues, parting of the Sea, and other miracles; comparison of the Law with neighbouring cultures; application of the Law for Christians; etc. The one drawback (perhaps more of an annoyance) is that the Author overlooks that the 10 commandments are not individual numbered in Exodus (or in Deuteronomy) and that the numbering he uses is not the one we (as Lutherans) use - and not the numbering that Catholics use. Not too mention that they are numbered even differently in Judaism and elsewhere. So for a book that aims at being scholarly (in a light sense), that the Author keeps referring to things like the "6th Commandment" without commenting somewhere on which numbering system he is using, and at least acknowledging that others use different numbering systems, is a bit remiss. Looking forward to reading other books in this series :)
