The Naked Bible Podcast

On this episode of the podcast Mike chats with Stovall Weems, lead pastor at Celebration Church in Jacksonville, FL. The conversation focuses on the story of how Mike and Stovall met and how their initial phone conversation was the catalyst to Mike accepting a job offer to start a school of theology for Celebration Church a little over a year later.

Exodus 15 is referred to by scholars as the Song of Moses. The label is due to its poetic nature. On the surface the Song reiterates the crossing of the Red Sea. But there are actually a number of items in the passage that dip into divine council worldview content and ancient Israelite cosmology. This episode engages such items and shows how Exodus 15 is more than a repetition of Exodus 14. Shi-Hor Map

In Part 1 of our discussion of Exodus 14 and the Israelites’ journey out of Egypt we focused on the yam suph (“sea of Reeds” / Red Sea) problem and issues related to the ambiguity of physical place names (toponyms). In this episode of the podcast our focus is cosmic geography—namely, how Egyptian conceptions of their gods and physical world can contribute to reading the exodus story as a theological polemic.

Exodus 14 is one of the major chapters detailing Israel’s departure from Egypt and the miraculous passing through the “Red Sea.” Other chapters include Exod 13:17-22, Exodus 15, and Numbers 33:5-8. The passages do not always agree in the way the event is described, a fact that has produced what scholars call the yam suph (“Red Sea”) problem. What is problematic in that phrase is not the supernatural nature of the way the crossing is presented, but where the crossing occurred and whether any part of what we think as the Red Sea was crossed. This episode unpacks and addresses the problem. Resources John P. Cooper, “Egypt’s Nile-Red Sea Canals: Chronology, Location, Seasonality and Function,” Pages 195-209 in Connected Hinterlands: Proceedings of the Red Sea Project IV Held at the University of Southampton, September 2008 (ed. Lucy Blue, et. al; BAR International Series 2052; Society for Arabian Studies Monographs No. 8 (2009) Canal-Map (“Canal Map”) from: Amihai Sneh, Tuvia Weissbrod and Itamar Perath, “Evidence for an Ancient Egyptian Frontier Canal: The remnants of an artificial waterway discovered in the northeastern Nile Delta may have formed part of the barrier called “Shur of Egypt” in ancient texts,” American Scientist 63:5 (Sept-Oct 1975): 542-548 Canal-Map of possible exodus routes.

Exodus 13 takes us into the subject of the offering of the firstborn. Certain scholars argue that the passage is to be taken literally, that Yahweh demanded the Israelites to sacrifice their firstborn male child (i.e., human sacrifice). This episode surveys how this argument is made and evaluates it in terms of the data of the text and logical coherence.

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This episode continues the early/late date discussion. Scholars who accept the historicity of the biblical story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt have argued for centuries about when it occurred in real time. There are several theories, but the two main approaches are the “Early” Date (1446 BC) and the “Late” Date (1267 BC). This episode continues the explanation of how each date is defended and debated. Early Date Resource: Bryant Wood, “The Biblical Date for the Exodus is 1446 BC: A Response to James Hoffmeier,” JETS 50.2 (2007): 249-258 Late Date Resource: James K. Hoffmeier, “What is the Biblical Date of the Exodus? A Response to Bryant Wood,” JETS 50.2 (2007): 225-247 Other links and articles noted in the episode: Paul J. Ray, Jr., “The Duration of the Israelite Sojourn In Egypt” Bryant Wood, “The Rise and Fall of the 13th Century Exodus-Conquest Theory,” JETS 48:3 (September 2005) 475–89 Peter van der Veen, Christoffer Theis, and Manfred Görg, “Israel in Canaan (Long) Before Pharaoh Merenptah? A Fresh Look at Berlin Statue Pedestal Relief 21687,” Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 2:4 (2010): 15-25 Douglas Petrovich, “Amenhotep II and the Historicity of the Exodus Pharaoh” Discovery of KV 5 tomb – Tomb of Ramses II’s Many Sons Is Found in Egypt

Scholars who accept the historicity of the biblical story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt have argued for centuries about when it occurred in real time. There are several theories, but the two main approaches are the “Early” Date (1446 BC) and the “Late” Date (1267 BC). This episode explains how each date is defended and debated. Early Date Resource: Bryant Wood, “The Biblical Date for the Exodus is 1446 BC: A Response to James Hoffmeier,” JETS 50.2 (2007): 249-258 Late Date Resource: James K. Hoffmeier, “What is the Biblical Date of the Exodus? A Response to Bryant Wood,” JETS 50.2 (2007): 225-247 Other links and articles noted in the episode: Paul J. Ray, Jr., “The Duration of the Israelite Sojourn In Egypt” Bryant Wood, “The Rise and Fall of the 13th Century Exodus-Conquest Theory,” JETS 48:3 (September 2005) 475–89 Peter van der Veen, Christoffer Theis, and Manfred Görg, “Israel in Canaan (Long) Before Pharaoh Merenptah? A Fresh Look at Berlin Statue Pedestal Relief 21687,” Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 2:4 (2010): 15-25 Douglas Petrovich, “Amenhotep II and the Historicity of the Exodus Pharaoh” Discovery of KV 5 tomb – Tomb of Ramses II’s Many Sons Is Found in Egypt

This episode of the podcast begins our discussion of the circumstances of the exodus event. There are many difficulties and issues that have distracted scholars over the years. Exodus 12:37 and Exodus 12:40 are two that we will discuss in this episode. The first confronts us with the problem of large numbers of people in the Exodus narratives. The second takes us into the duration of the sojourn (bondage) of Israel in Egypt, an item made controversial by its apparent disagreement with several other biblical passages. D. M. Fouts, “A Defense of the Hyperbolic Interpretation of Large Numbers in the Old Testament,” JETS 40: 3 (1997): 377–87.

Exodus 11 and 12 focus on the final plague against Egypt, the death of the firstborn, and the institution of the Passover (Hebrew: pesaḥ / pesach). Like the other plagues, the death of the firstborn is an assault on not only the pharaoh and his people, but on Maat, the principle of cosmic order to be maintained by the gods of Egypt. This episode touches on that polemic, but also on the meaning and typology of Passover and the “Destroyer” of the final plague.