Creational Allusions and References in the Book of Exodus

The chart below is unfinished but demonstrates how the story of Israel’s affliction in Egypt, deliverance from slavery, reception of its national constitution or law at Horeb, and struggle in the wilderness is mapped onto the universal story of God’s creation and sustenance of the world.

Creational Allusions and References in the Book of Exodus

Book	Chapter and Verse	Text	Comment	Word	Word
Exodus	1.2	So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.	The midwives being helpers with the population increase prove to be in alliance with what God is doing in the world.
Exodus	1.7	the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous	See Genesis 1.28: “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Exodus	1.7-14	Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.	Note the exagerated description of Israel’s population increase.  This fulfills the commission given to all of humanity in Genesis 1.28
Exodus	1.12	So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13and worked them ruthlessly. 14They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.	The population growth is fulfillment of a creational vocation.  The oppression by Egypt is anti-creation.  Oppression in Egypt is the equivalent to the primeval chaos.
Exodus	2.1		Genesis 3 to 6 Noah and Moses are counterparts.  They both fulfil their callings as human co-creators with God and they rescue their people from the judgment in the form of chaos that results from human anti-creational behavior
Exodus	2.5-7	But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket a for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.	The word for basket is the same word for ark.  See Genesis 6.14
Exodus	2.5-7	5Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.	Though the pharaoh’s daughter is on the wrong side politically, she is aligned with God’s creational purpose because she experiences with God the same compassion for baby Moses and she acts to support the increase of human population in helping to rescue Moses. She “comes down,” “sees” the child, “hears” its cry, takes pity on him, draws him out of the water, and provides for his daily needs.  All persons can be on God’s side  God’s creational work is accomplished in and through these women.
Exodus	2.18	18When the daughters returned to their father Reuel,f he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”	Reuel (later Jethro) and his daughters are not Israelites yet they become participants in God’s creational work in rescuing Israel
Exodus	2.25	So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.	God assesses Israel in bondage is concerning and counter to his creational intention.
Exodus	3.7	The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey	God is one of the actors in the creational circle of actors.  God is touched by Israel’s dilemma f
Exodus	3.8-9	So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.	There are hints of the Genesis 1 creation story here in the language of the Promised Land as good and filled with the world’s people.
Exodus	4.21ff	Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.	Genesis 6-8: In both Genesis and Exodus deliverance comes through water which is controlled and divided by God.  In both texts the water is reminiscent to the original waters of chaos
Exodus	7.4	Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites.	The word translated “judgment” can mean “govern, vindicate, adjudicate, or punish.”  There appears to be something more interesting than retribution going on here. See DeCelle: “Act and Consequence as a Creational Principle that Pervades the Old Testament.”
Exodus	7.16	16Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened.	We’re accustomed to seeing the wilderness in the Bible as an austere but promising setting for closeness with God.  God uses the barren land for the salvation of people.  Conversely, God also uses the salvation of people to enhance the wilderness.  When a people being saved show up in the wilderness it becomes more abundant.  Salvation and creation meet in the desert.
Exodus	7.19	The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels a of wood and stone.”	Waters originately commissioned by God to bring forth fish (Genesis 1.20-21) now in Egypt have become stagnant and lifeless.
Exodus	8.6	So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land. 7But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.	The profusion of frogs covering the land is a perversion of God’s original design for land beasts not frogs to cover the land.  The basic picture here is one of disorder in contrast to orderlyness in creation.
Exodus	8.16	Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.” 17They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats.	Gnats come from the earth rather than animals and humans.  In Genesis 2.7 the ground brings forth humans.
Exodus	8.22	But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land.	Like the wilderness, God’s creative powers can transform Goshen into a haven for Israel sheltered from the disasterous act and consequence happening elsewhere in Egypt
Exodus	8.22	‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. 23I will make a distinction a between my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’ ”	Goshen is an ideal plot of land in Egypt that becomes, through Joseph’s maneuvers, Israel’s temporary homeland.  They are said to be free from ecological upset in this territory.
Exodus	9.3	9It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on people and animals throughout the land.”	This is the plague of animals. Every community and entity is affected.
Exodus	9.14	This time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.	YHWH has power not simply among the Israelites but also over the king of a great empire.
Exodus	9.16	For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. 16But I have raised you up a for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.	The plagues are of limited destruction because their purpose is to advance God’s worldwide project
Exodus	9.27	27Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said to them. “The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28Pray to the Lord, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t have to stay any longer.”	The Pharaoh understands the misfortune that he has let loose on the land.
Exodus	9.29	Moses replied, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the Lord. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. 30But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the Lord God.”	God’s ownership of the world is a universal truth to be disclosed to Pharaoh by the public acts of Moses.
Exodus	10.16	16Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. 17Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the Lord your God to take this deadly plague away from me.”	Even though the Pharaoh is the center of the ecological crisis in Egypt, he is surprisingly insightful about how the created world works. For similar insight by non-Israelites see Jonah 1.7-17
Exodus	10.21	21Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.”	Darkness represents the state of creation before God’s first act of creating light
Exodus	10.24	Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the Lord. Even your women and children may go with you; only leave your flocks and herds behind.”	As the Pharaoh bargains and vacillates, the plagues continue.  Notice that even the animals are liberated and the Pharaoh is powerless to keep them under his control.
Exodus	11.7	7But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.	When the great pestilance falls upon Egypt even the dogs know enough of what was going on to recognize that God was saving some.
Exodus	12.37	37The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.	All who wish to depart and be saved in the process may do so.  This grace is extended even to domesticated animals.  There is a universality about both creation and redemption.
Exodus	12.43-49	43The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover meal: “No foreigner may eat it. 44Any slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised him, 45but a temporary resident or a hired worker may not eat it. 46“It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. 47The whole community of Israel must celebrate it. 48“A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat it. 49The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you.”	The soujourner and slave who dwells with the Israelites may eat of the Passover providing that they are circumcised.  Later the law code would require that all slaves be liberated at the Jubilee.  Here we see the universality and missionary essence of the creation of Israel.
Exodus	14.21ff		Genesis 6-8: The Flood and the Plagues are roughly parallel in the sense that both represent the consequences of human anti-creational (sinful) activity.
Exodus	15.1-21	But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them.sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?	This text is a merger of creation and redemption.  The overall tone is triumphalistic.  The redemptive triumph here is painted in violent creational language. The dividing and control of the waters makes this rescue a near reenactment of the creation.  By invoking the creation story, Israel here sees its redemption as having universal significance.
Exodus	15.18	“The Lord reigns for ever and ever.”	Even nonhuman elements like wind and water affirm God’s control over the created order.
Exodus	18.8-12	Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the Lord had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. 10He said, “Praise be to the Lord, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. 11Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.” 12Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.	The fact of Israel’s rescue demonstrates the Lord’s universality to Jethro
Exodus	19.4-9	Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6you a will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’	The rest of the world will be the objects of Israel’s priestly vocation.  Israel will minister to the rest of the world
Exodus	19.5	Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession	Genesis 9.8-11:  The establishment of covenant after the deliverance from waters.
Exodus	19.5	You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,	God takes a special liking to Israel which does not contradict the greater truth of creation, namely that the Earth belongs to God
Exodus	20.4	You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.	The mention of heaven and earth, the twin elements of the created order are fundamentally distinct from the Creator.  This infinite qualitative difference should not be breached.
Exodus	40.34-38	Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35Moses was unable to enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 36Whenever the cloud was lifted from above the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out through all the stages of their journey. 37If the cloud was not lifted, they would not set out until the day it was taken up. 38For the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel through all their journeys.	The tabernacle is a microcosm of the whole cosmos.  When the cloud and fire hover over it and guide it, we see the vision of the entire world being led as was Israel.  The vision here is of Exodus for the whole earth.