View source for The Exodus

{{Short description|Founding myth of the Jewish people}}
{{About|the events related in the Bible|the second book of the Bible|Book of Exodus|other uses|Exodus (disambiguation){{!}}Exodus}}
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[[File:David Roberts-IsraelitesLeavingEgypt 1828.jpg|thumb|300px|''Departure of the Israelites'' ([[David Roberts (painter)|David Roberts]], 1829)]]
'''The Exodus''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: יציאת מצרים, ''Yəṣīʾat Mīṣrayīm'': {{Lit|Departure from Egypt}}{{efn|The name "exodus" is from [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] ἔξοδος ''exodos'', "going out",}}) is the [[Origin myth#Founding myth|founding myth]]{{efn|{{Myth FAQ}}}} of the [[Israelites]] whose narrative is spread over four of the five books of the [[Torah|Pentateuch]] (specifically, [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]], [[Book of Leviticus|Leviticus]], [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]], and [[Book of Deuteronomy|Deuteronomy]]). The narrative of the Exodus describes a history of Egyptian bondage of the Israelites followed by their exodus from Egypt through a [[Crossing the Red Sea|passage in the Red Sea]], in pursuit of the [[Promised Land]] under the leadership of [[Moses]].

The consensus of modern scholars is that the Pentateuch does not give an accurate account of the origins of the Israelites, who appear instead to have formed as an entity in the central highlands of [[Canaan]] in the late second millennium BCE (around the time of the [[Late Bronze Age collapse]]) from the indigenous Canaanite culture.{{sfn|Grabbe|2017|p=36}}{{sfn|Meyers|2005|pp=6–7}}{{sfn|Moore|Kelle|2011|p=81}} Most modern scholars believe that some elements in the story of the Exodus might have some historical basis, but that any such basis has little resemblance to the story told in the Pentateuch.<ref name="Grabbe2017">Sources for 'most scholars' or 'consensus':{{Bulleted list|{{harvnb|Grabbe|2017|p=36|ps=: "The impression one has now is that the debate has settled down. Although they do not seem to admit it, the minimalists have triumphed in many ways. That is, most scholars reject the historicity of the 'patriarchal period', see the settlement as mostly made up of indigenous inhabitants of Canaan and are cautious about the early monarchy. The exodus is rejected or assumed to be based on an event much different from the biblical account. On the other hand, there is not the widespread rejection of the biblical text as a historical source that one finds among the main minimalists. There are few, if any, maximalists (defined as those who accept the biblical text unless it can be absolutely disproved) in mainstream scholarship, only on the more fundamentalist fringes."}}<!--|{{cite news | first=Ze'ev | last=Herzog | title=Deconstructing the walls of Jericho | newspaper=Ha'aretz | url=http://websites.umich.edu/~proflame/neh/arch.htm | access-date=13 January 2022 | date=29 October 1999|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811064225/http://websites.umich.edu/~proflame/neh/arch.htm|archivedate=11 August 2021}}-->|{{Cite web|url=http://lib1.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/jerques.htm|title=Deconstructing the walls of Jericho|publisher=[[Ha'aretz]]|date=29 October 1999|accessdate=9 February 2019|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20011110114548/http://lib1.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/jerques.htm|first1=Ze'ev|last1=Herzog|authorlink=Ze'ev Herzog|work=lib1.library.cornell.edu|archivedate=10 November 2001}}|{{cite book | editor-last1=Skolnik | editor-first1=Fred | editor-last2=Berenbaum | editor-first2=Michael | editor3=Thomson Gale (Firm) | title=Encyclopaedia Judaica | year=2007 | isbn=978-0-02-866097-4 | oclc=123527471 | url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/70174939.html | access-date=29 November 2019 | first1=Moshe | last1=Greenberg | first2=S. David | last2=Sperling | chapter=Exodus, Book of. | edition=2nd | quote=Current scholarly consensus based on archaeology holds the enslavement and exodus traditions to be unhistorical. | volume=6 | pages=612–623 | chapter-url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/bible/old-testament/exodus}}|{{cite journal |last1=Pfoh |first1=Emanuel |title=UNA DECONSTRUCCIÓN DEL PASADO DE ISRAEL EN EL ANTIGUO ORIENTE: HACIA UNA NUEVA HISTORIA DE LA ANTIGUA PALESTINA |journal=Estudios de Asia y África |date=September–December 2010 |volume=45 |issue=3 (143) |pages=669–697 |publisher=El Colegio De Mexico |location=Ciudad de México |doi=10.24201/eaa.v45i3.1995 |language=es |issn=0185-0164 |jstor=i25822397 |s2cid=161105175 |quote=Históricamente, no podemos hablar más de un periodo de los Patriarcas, del Éxodo de los israelitas de Egipto, de la conquista de Canaán, de un periodo de los Jueces en Palestina, ni de una Monarquía Unida dominando desde el Éufrates hasta el Arco de Egipto.<sup>31</sup> Incluso la historicidad del Exilio de los israelitas de Palestina hacia Babilonia como un evento único ha sido puesta en seria duda recientemente.<sup>32</sup><!--<br><br><sup>31</sup> Cf. Th. L. Thompson, ''Early History of the Israelite People: From the Written and Archaeological Sources,'' Studies in the History of the Ancient Near East, 4, Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1992, pp. 10-116, 146-158, 215-300, 401412; N. P. Lemche, "Early Israel Revisited", ''Currents in Research: Biblical Studies,'' vol. 4, 1996, pp. 9-34, y ''The Israelites in History and Tradition,'' Library of Ancient Israel, Louisville, wjk, 1998, pp. 35 85; I. Finkelstein y N. A. Silberman, ''The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision on Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts,'' Nueva York, Free Press, 2001, pp. 27-96, 123-145. Vease tambien Liverani, ''Oltre la Bibbia. Storia antica di Israele,'' Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2003, y ''Recenti tendenze nella ricostruzione della storia antica d'Israele,'' Roma, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 2005.<br><br><sup>32</sup> L. L. Grabbe (ed.), ''Leading Captivity Captive: "The Exile" as History and Ideology,'' Journal for the Study of the Old Testament - Supplement Series, 278/European Seminar in Historical Methodology, 2, Sheffield, Sheffield Academic Press, 1998.-->}}}}</ref>{{sfn|Faust|2015|page=476}}{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=87}} While the majority of modern scholars date the composition of the Pentateuch to the period of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (5th century BCE), some of the elements of this narrative are older, since allusions to the story are made by 8th-century BCE [[Prophets in Judaism|prophets]] such as [[Amos (prophet)|Amos]] and [[Hosea]].{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=87}}{{sfn|Lemche|1985|p=327}}

The story of the Exodus is central in [[Judaism]]. It is recounted daily in [[List of Jewish prayers and blessings|Jewish prayers]] and celebrated in festivals such as [[Passover]]. Early Christians saw the Exodus as a [[typology (theology)|typological]] prefiguration of [[Resurrection of Jesus|resurrection]] and [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]] by [[Jesus]]. The Exodus is also recounted in the [[Qur'an]] as part of the extensive referencing of the [[Moses in Islam|life of Moses]], a major prophet in Islam. The narrative has also resonated with various groups in more recent centuries, such as among the early American settlers fleeing religious persecution in Europe, and among [[African Americans]] striving for freedom and [[Civil and political rights|civil rights]].{{sfn|Tigay|2004}}{{sfn|Baden|2019|p=xiv}}

==In the Bible==
The Exodus tells a story of the [[Slavery|enslavement]] of the Israelites, the [[Plagues of Egypt]], the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, the revelations at [[Mount Sinai (Bible)|Mount Sinai]], and the Israelite wanderings in the wilderness up to the borders of [[Canaan]].{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=59}} Its message is that the Israelites were delivered from slavery by [[Yahweh]] their god, and therefore belong to him by [[Covenant (biblical)|covenant]].{{sfn|Sparks|2010|p=73}}

===Narrative===
[[File:1867 Edward Poynter - Israel in Egypt.jpg|thumb|400px|''Israel in Egypt'' ([[Edward Poynter]], 1867)]]
The story of the Exodus is told in the first half of Exodus, with the remainder recounting the 1st year in the wilderness, and followed by a narrative of 39 more years in the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the last four of the first five books of the Bible (also called the Torah or Pentateuch).{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=59}} In the first book of the Pentateuch, the [[Book of Genesis]], the Israelites had come to live in Egypt in the [[Land of Goshen]] during a famine, under the protection of an Israelite, [[Joseph (Genesis)|Joseph]], who had become a high official in the court of the Egyptian [[pharaoh]]. Exodus begins with the death of Joseph and the ascension of a new pharaoh "who did not know Joseph" (Exodus 1:8).{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=59}}

The pharaoh becomes concerned by the number and strength of the Israelites in Egypt and enslaves them, commanding them to build at two "supply" or "store cities" called [[Pithom]] and [[Pi-Ramesses|Rameses]] (Exodus 1:11).{{efn|A "store city" or "supply city" was a city used to store provisions and garrison an important campaign route.{{sfn|Assmann|2018|p=94}} The [[Septuagint]] version includes a reference to a third "supply city" built by the Hebrews: " On, which is [[Heliopolis (ancient Egypt)|Heliopolis]]" (LXX Exodus 1:11, trans. Larry J. Perkins{{sfn|Pietersma|Wright|2014}}{{sfn|Dozeman|Shectman|2016|p=139}}).}} The pharaoh also orders the slaughter at birth of all male Hebrew children. One Hebrew child, however, is rescued and abandoned in a floating basket on the [[Nile]]. He is found and adopted by [[Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus)|Pharaoh's daughter]], who names him [[Moses]]. Grown to a young man, Moses kills an Egyptian he sees beating a Hebrew slave, and takes refuge in to the land of [[Midian]], where he marries [[Zipporah|Tzipporah]], a daughter of the Midianite priest [[Jethro (biblical figure)|Jethro]]. The old pharaoh dies and a new one ascends the throne.{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=59}}

According to Ezekiel 20:8-9, the enslaved Israelites also practised "abominations" and worshiped the gods of Egypt. This provoked Yahweh to destroy them but he relented to avoid his name being "profaned".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Ezekiel 20 Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges |url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/ezekiel/20.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240201071610/https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/ezekiel/20.htm |archive-date=February 1, 2024 |website=Biblehub.com}}</ref>

Meanwhile, Moses goes to [[Mount Horeb]], where Yahweh appears in a [[burning bush]] and commands him to go to Egypt to free the Hebrew slaves and bring them to the [[Promised Land]] in Canaan. Yahweh also speaks to Moses's brother [[Aaron]], and the two assemble the Israelites and perform miraculous signs to rouse their belief in Yahweh's promise. Moses and Aaron then go to Pharaoh and ask him to let the Israelites go into the desert for a religious festival, but he refuses and increases their workload, commanding them to make [[bricks without straw]]. Moses and Aaron return to Pharaoh and ask him to free the Israelites and let them depart. Pharaoh demands Moses to perform a [[miracle]], and Aaron throws down [[Staff of Moses|Moses' staff]], which turns into a {{lang|he|tannin|italics=yes}} (sea monster{{sfn|Dozeman|Shectman|2016|p=149}} or snake) (Exodus 7:8-13); however, Pharaoh's magicians{{efn|These magicians are referred to in the Hebrew text as {{lang|he|ḥartummîm|italics=yes}}, which derives from [[Egyptian language|Ancient Egyptian]] {{lang|egy|ḥrj-tp|italic=yes}} ([[Demotic (Egyptian)|Demotic]] {{lang|egy|p-hritob|italics=yes}}, {{langx|akk|ḥar-tibi|italic=yes}}) a title meaning "chief" and shortened from "chief lector priest".{{sfn|Assmann|2018|p=139}} The Pharaoh's magicians are able to replicate Moses and Aaron's actions until the third plague (gnats), when they are the first to recognize that a divine power is at work (Exodus 8:19). In plague four (festering boils), they themselves are afflicted and no longer contest with Moses and Aaron.{{sfn|Assmann|2018|pp=139-142}}}} are also able to do this, though Moses' serpent devours the others. Pharaoh refuses to let the Israelites go.

[[File:Lamentations over the Death of the First-Born of Egypt by Charles Sprague Pearce.JPG|thumb|right|''Lamentations over the Death of the First-Born of Egypt'' by [[Charles Sprague Pearce]] (1877)]]
After this, Yahweh inflicts a series of [[Plagues of Egypt|Plagues]] on the Egyptians each time Moses repeats his demand and Pharaoh refuses to release the Israelites. Pharaoh's magicians are able to match the first plagues, in which Yahweh turns the Nile to blood and produces a plague of frogs, but they cannot match any plagues starting with the third, the plague of [[gnat]]s.{{sfn|Assmann|2018|pp=139-142}} After each plague, Pharaoh asks the Israelites to worship Yahweh to remove the plague, then still refuses to free them.

Moses is commanded to fix the [[Nisan|first month]] of [[Aviv]] at the head of the [[Hebrew calendar]].  He instructs the Israelites to take a lamb on the 10th day, and on the 14th day to slaughter it and daub its blood on their [[Mezuzot|doorposts]] and [[lintel]]s, and to observe the Passover meal that night, the night of the [[paschal full moon|full moon]]. In the [[Plagues of Egypt#10. Death of firstborn son: Ex. 11:1–12:36|final plague]], Yahweh sends an angel to each house to kill the firstborn son and firstborn cattle, but the houses of the Israelites are spared by the blood on their doorposts. Yahweh commands the Israelites to commemorate this event in "a perpetual ordinance" (Exodus 12:14).{{sfn|Redmount|2001|pp=59-60}}

Pharaoh finally casts the Israelites out of Egypt after his firstborn son is killed. Yahweh leads the Israelites in the form of a [[pillar of cloud]] in the day and a [[Pillar of fire (theophany)|pillar of fire]] at night. However, once the Israelites have left, Yahweh "hardens" Pharaoh's heart to change his mind and pursue the Israelites to the shore of the [[Red Sea]]. Moses uses his staff to [[Crossing the Red Sea|part the Red Sea]], and the Israelites cross on dry ground, but the sea closes on the pursuing Egyptians, drowning them all.{{sfn|Redmount|2001|pp=59-60}}

[[File:Israel's Escape from Egypt.jpg|thumb|Moses parts the Red Sea (1907 print)]]
The Israelites begin to complain, and Yahweh miraculously provides them with water and food, eventually raining [[manna]] down for them to eat. The [[Amalek]]ites attack at [[Rephidim]], but are defeated. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, convinces him to appoint judges for the tribes of Israel. The Israelites reach the [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai Desert]] and Yahweh calls Moses to [[Biblical Mount Sinai|Mount Sinai]], where Yahweh reveals himself to his people and establishes the [[Ten Commandments]] and [[Mosaic covenant]]: the Israelites are to keep his ''torah'' (law, instruction), and Yahweh promises them the land of Canaan.{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=60}}

Yahweh establishes the [[Kohen|Aaronic priesthood]] and detailed rules for ritual worship, among other laws. However, in Moses's absence the Israelites sin against Yahweh by creating the idol of a [[golden calf]]. As punishment Yahweh has the [[Levites]] kill three thousand of the Israelites (Exodus 32:28), and Yahweh sends a plague on them. The Israelites now accept the covenant, which is reestablished; they build a [[tabernacle]] for Yahweh, and receive their laws. Yahweh commands Moses to take a [[census]] of the Israelites and establishes the duties of the Levites. Then the Israelites depart from Mount Sinai.{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=60}}

Yahweh commands Moses to send [[The Twelve Spies|twelve spies]] ahead to Canaan to scout the land. The spies discover that the Canaanites are formidable, and to dissuade the Israelites from invading, the spies falsely report that Canaan is full of giants (Numbers 13:30-33). The Israelites refuse to go to Canaan, and Yahweh declares that the generation that left Egypt will have to pass away before the Israelites can enter the promised land. The Israelites will have to remain in the wilderness for forty years,{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=60}} and Yahweh kills the spies through a plague except for the righteous [[Joshua]] and [[Caleb]], who will be allowed to enter the promised land (Numbers 13:36-38). A group of Israelites led by [[Korah]], son of Izhar, rebels against Moses, but Yahweh opens the earth and sends them living to [[Sheol]] (Numbers 16:1-33).{{sfn|Douglas|1993|pp=210}}

The Israelites come to the oasis of [[Kadesh Barnea]], where [[Miriam]] dies and the Israelites remain for nineteen years.{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=60}} To provide water, Yahweh commands Moses to get water from a rock by speaking to it, but Moses instead strikes the rock with his staff, for which Yahweh forbids him from entering the [[Promised Land]]. Moses sends a messenger to the king of [[Edom]] requesting passage through his land to Canaan, but the king refuses. The Israelites then go to [[Mount Hor]], where Aaron dies. The Israelites try to go around Edom, but the Israelites complain about lack of bread and water, so Yahweh sends a plague of poisonous snakes to afflict them (Numbers 21:4-7).

After Moses prays for deliverance, Yahweh has him create a [[brazen serpent]], and the Israelites who look at it are cured (Numbers 21:8-9). The Israelites are soon in conflict with various other kingdoms, and king [[Balak]] of [[Moab]] asks the seer [[Balaam]] to curse the Israelites, but Balaam blesses them instead. Some Israelites begin having sexual relations with Moabite women and [[Heresy of Peor|worshipping Moabite gods]], so Yahweh orders Moses to [[impalement|impale]] the idolators and sends another plague. The full extent of Yahweh's wrath is averted when [[Phinehas]] impales [[Zimri (prince)|an Israelite]] and a [[Cozbi|Midianite woman]] having intercourse (Numbers 25:7-9). Yahweh commands the Israelites to destroy the Midianites, and Moses and Phinehas take another census. Then they conquer the lands of [[Og]] and [[Sihon]] in [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]], settling the [[Gadites]], [[Reubenites]], and half the [[Tribe of Manasseh]] there.

Moses then addresses the Israelites for a final time on the banks of the [[Jordan River]], reviewing their travels and giving them further laws. Yahweh tells Moses to summon Joshua to lead the [[conquest of Canaan]]. Yahweh tells Moses to ascend [[Mount Nebo]], from where he sees the Promised Land, and dies.{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=60}}

===Covenant and law===
The climax of the Exodus is the covenant (binding legal agreement) between God and the Israelites mediated by Moses at Sinai: Yahweh will protect the Israelites as his chosen people for all time, and  the Israelites will keep Yahweh's laws and worship only him.{{sfn|Bandstra|2008|p=28-29}} The covenant is described in stages: at Exodus 24:3–8 the Israelites agree to abide by the "book of the covenant" that Moses has just read to them; shortly afterwards God writes the "words of the covenant" – the [[Ten Commandments]] – on stone tablets; and finally, as the people gather in Moab to cross into the promised land of Canaan, Moses reveals Yahweh's new covenant "beside the covenant he made with them at Horeb" (Deuteronomy 29:1).{{sfn|McKenzie|2005|p=4–5}} The laws are set out in a number of codes:{{sfn|Bandstra|2008|p=146}}
* [[Ethical Decalogue]] or Ten Commandments, Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5;
* The [[Covenant Code|Book of the Covenant]], Exodus 20:22–23:3;
* [[Ritual Decalogue]], Exodus 34;
* The ritual laws of [[Leviticus]] 1–6 and [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]] 1–10;
* The [[Holiness Code]], Leviticus 17–26;
* Deuteronomic Code, [[Deuteronomy]] 12–26.

== Origins and historicity ==
{{See also|Sources and parallels of the Exodus|Historicity of the Bible}}
There are two main positions on the historicity of the Exodus in modern scholarship.{{sfn|Grabbe|2017|p=36}} The majority position is that the biblical Exodus narrative has some historical basis, although there is little of historical fact in it.{{efn|"The biblical text has its own inner logic and consistency, largely divorced from the concerns of secular history. [...] conversely, the Bible, never intended to function primarily as a historical document, cannot meet modern canons of historical accuracy and reliability. There is, in fact, remarkably little of proven or provable historical worth or reliability in the biblical Exodus narrative, and no reliable independent witnesses attest to the historicity or date of the Exodus events."{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=87}} }}{{sfn|Faust|2015|p=476}}{{sfn|Sparks|2010|p=73}} The other position, often associated with the school of [[Biblical minimalism]],{{sfn|Davies|2004|pp=23-24}}{{sfn|Moore|Kelle|2011|pp=86-87}} is that the biblical exodus traditions are the invention of the exilic and post-exilic Jewish community, with little to no historical basis.{{sfn|Russell|2009|p=11}}

The biblical Exodus narrative is best understood as a [[founding myth]] of the Jewish people, providing an ideological foundation for their culture and institutions, not an accurate depiction of the history of the Israelites.{{sfn|Collins|2005|p=46}}{{sfn|Sparks|2010|p=73}} The view that the biblical narrative is essentially correct unless it can explicitly be proved wrong ([[Biblical maximalism]]) is today held by "few, if any [...] in mainstream scholarship, only on the more fundamentalist fringes."{{sfn|Grabbe|2017|p=36}}  There is no direct evidence for any of the people or events of Exodus in non-biblical ancient texts or in archaeological remains, and this has led most scholars to omit the Exodus events from comprehensive histories of Israel.{{sfn|Moore|Kelle|2011|p=88}}

=== Reliability of the biblical account ===
Most mainstream scholars do not accept the biblical Exodus account as history for a number of reasons. Most agree that the Exodus stories were written centuries after the apparent setting of the stories.{{sfn|Moore|Kelle|2011|p=81}} Scholars argue that the [[Book of Exodus]] itself attempts to ground the event firmly in history, reconstructing a date for the exodus as the 2666th year after creation (Exodus 12:40-41), the construction of the tabernacle to year 2667 (Exodus 40:1-2, 17), stating that the Israelites dwelled in Egypt for 430 years (Exodus 12:40-41), and specifying place names such as [[Land of Goshen|Goshen]] (Gen. 46:28), [[Pithom]], and [[Pi-Ramesses|Ramesses]] (Exod. 1:11), as well as the count of 600,000 Israelite men (Exodus 12:37).{{sfn|Dozeman|Shectman|2016|pp=138-139}}

The [[Book of Numbers]] further states that the number of Israelite males aged 20 years and older in the desert during the wandering was 603,550, which works out to a total population of 2.5-3 million including women and children—far more than could be supported by the [[Sinai Desert]].{{sfn|Dever|2003|pp=18-19}} The geography is vague with regions such as Goshen unidentified,{{efn|It must be stated, however, that while there is no consensus on the identity of the [[Land of Goshen]], some proposals for its original location have been advanced.{{sfn|Bietak|2022|p=153–154}}}} and there are internal problems with dating in the Pentateuch.{{sfn|Dozeman|Shectman|2016|p=139}} No modern attempt to identify a historical Egyptian as a prototype for Moses has found wide acceptance, and no period in Egyptian history matches the biblical accounts of the Exodus.{{sfn|Grabbe|2014|pp=63-64}} Some elements of the story are [[Miracle|miraculous]] and defy rational explanation, such as the [[Plagues of Egypt]] and the [[Crossing of the Red Sea]].{{sfn|Dever|2003|pp=15-17}} The Bible does not mention the names of any of the pharaohs involved, further obscuring comparison of archaeologically recovered Egyptian history with the biblical narrative.{{sfn|Grabbe|2014|p=69}}

While [[ancient Egypt]]ian texts from the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] mention "Asiatics" living in Egypt as slaves and workers, these people cannot be securely connected to the Israelites, and no contemporary Egyptian text mentions a large-scale exodus of slaves like that described in the Bible.{{sfn|Barmash|2015b|pp=2-3}} The earliest surviving historical mention of the Israelites, the Egyptian [[Merneptah Stele]] ({{circa|1207&nbsp;BCE}}), appears to place them in or around Canaan and gives no indication of any exodus.{{sfn|Grabbe|2014|pp=65-67}} Archaeologist [[Israel Finkelstein]] argues from his analysis of the itinerary lists in the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy that the biblical account represents a long-term cultural memory, spanning the 16th to 10th centuries BCE, rather than a specific event: "The beginning is vague and now untraceable."{{sfn|Finkelstein|2015|p=49}} Instead, modern archaeology suggests continuity between Canaanite and Israelite settlement, indicating a primarily Canaanite origin for Israel, with no suggestion that a group of foreigners from Egypt comprised early Israel.{{sfn|Barmash|2015b|p=4}}{{sfn|Shaw|2002|p=313}}

=== Potential historical origins ===
[[File:Ramses-ii-relief-from-memphis2.png|thumb|[[Ramesses II]], one of several [[Pharaohs in the Bible#In the Book of Genesis|suggested pharaohs in the Exodus narrative]]]]
Despite the absence of any archaeological evidence, most scholars nonetheless hold that the Exodus probably has some sort of historical basis,{{sfn|Faust|2015|p=476}}{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=87}} with Kenton Sparks referring to it as "mythologized history".{{sfn|Sparks|2010|p=73}} Scholars posit that a small group of Egyptian origin may have joined the early Israelites, and contributed their own Egyptian Exodus story to all of Israel.{{efn|"While there is a consensus among scholars that the Exodus did not take place in the manner described in the Bible, surprisingly most scholars agree that the narrative has a historical core, and that some of the highland settlers came, one way or another, from Egypt..." "Archaeology does not really contribute to the debate over the historicity or even historical background of the Exodus itself, but if there was indeed such a group, it contributed the Exodus story to that of all Israel. While I agree that it is most likely that there was such a group, I must stress that this is based on an overall understanding of the development of collective memory and of the authorship of the texts (and their editorial process). Archaeology, unfortunately, cannot directly contribute (yet?) to the study of this specific group of Israel's ancestors."{{sfn|Faust|2015|p=476}}}} [[William G. Dever]] cautiously identifies this group with the [[Tribe of Joseph]], while [[Richard Elliott Friedman]] identifies it with the [[Tribe of Levi]].{{sfn|Dever|2003|p=231}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Friedman|first=Richard Elliott|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_sbADQAAQBAJ|title=The Exodus|date=2017-09-12|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-256526-6|language=en}}</ref>

Most scholars who accept a historical core of the exodus date this possible exodus group to the thirteenth century BCE at the time of [[Ramses II]] ([[Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt|19th dynasty]]), with some instead dating it to the twelfth century BCE under [[Ramses III]] ([[Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt|20th dynasty]]).{{sfn|Faust|2015|p=476}} Evidence in favor of historical traditions forming a background to the Exodus myth include the documented movements of small groups of [[Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples]] into and out of Egypt during the [[Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt|18th]] and  19th dynasties, some elements of Egyptian [[folklore]] and culture mentioned in the Exodus narrative,{{sfn|Meyers|2005|pp=8-10}} and the names Moses, Aaron and Phinehas, which seem to have an Egyptian origin.{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=65}} Scholarly estimates for how many could have been involved in such an exodus range from a few hundred to a few thousand people.{{sfn|Faust|2015|p=476}}

Joel S. Baden<ref>{{cite web |title=Joel S. Baden {{!}} Yale Divinity School |url=https://divinity.yale.edu/faculty-and-research/yds-faculty/joel-s-baden |website=divinity.yale.edu |access-date=30 March 2021 |language=en}}</ref> noted the presence of Semitic-speaking slaves in Egypt who sometimes escaped in small numbers as potential inspirations for the Exodus.{{sfn|Baden|2019|pp=6-7}} It is also possible that oppressive Egyptian rule of Canaan during the late second millennium BCE, during the 19th and especially the 20th dynasty, may have disposed some native Canaanites to adopt into their own mythology the exodus story of a small group of Egyptian refugees.{{sfn|Faust|2015|p=477}} Nadav Na'aman argues that oppressive Egyptian rule of Canaan may have inspired the Exodus narrative, forming a "[[collective memory]]" of Egyptian oppression that was transferred from Canaan to Egypt itself in the popular consciousness.{{sfn|Na'aman|2011|pp=62-69}} The [[Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt|17th dynasty]] expulsion of the [[Hyksos]], a group of Semitic invaders, is also frequently discussed as a potential historical parallel or origin for the story.{{sfn|Faust|2015|p=477}}{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=78}}{{sfn|Redford|1992|pp=412–413}} 

Many other scholars reject this view, and instead see the biblical exodus traditions as the invention of the [[Babylonian exile|exilic]] and post-exilic Jewish community, with little to no historical basis.{{sfn|Russell|2009|p=11}} [[Lester Grabbe]], for instance, argues that "[t]here is no compelling reason that the exodus has to be rooted in history",{{sfn|Grabbe|2014|p=84}} and that the details of the story more closely fit the seventh through the fifth centuries BCE than the traditional dating to the second millennium BCE.{{sfn|Grabbe|2014|p=85}} [[Philip R. Davies]] suggests that the story may have been inspired by the return to Israel of Israelites and Judaeans who were placed in Egypt as garrison troops by the [[Assyria]]ns in the fifth and sixth centuries BCE, during the exile.{{sfn|Davies|2015|p=105}}

==Development and final composition==
===Early traditions===
[[File:109.Ezra Reads the Law to the People.jpg|thumb|''Ezra Reads the Law to the People'' ([[Gustave Doré's illustrations for La Grande Bible de Tours|Gustave Doré's illustrations for ''La Grande Bible de Tours'']], 1866)]]
The earliest traces of the traditions behind the exodus appear in the northern prophets [[Book of Amos|Amos]]<ref>{{Bibleverse|Amos|9:7}}</ref> and [[Book of Hosea|Hosea]],<ref>{{Bibleverse|Hosea|12:9}}</ref> both active in the 8th century BCE in  northern [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Israel]], but their southern contemporary [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]] shows no knowledge of an exodus.{{sfn|Lemche|1985|p=327}} [[Book of Micah|Micah]], who was active in the south around the same time, references the exodus once ({{Bibleverse|Micah|6:4-5}}), but it is debated whether the passage is an addition by a later editor.{{efn|Micah 6:4–5 ("I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. My people, remember what Balak king of Moab plotted and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord") is a late addition to the original book. See {{sfn|Lemche|1985|p=315}} {{cite book|first=Robert D.|last=Miller II|title=Illuminating Moses: A History of Reception from Exodus to the Renaissance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bXZfAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA19|date=25 November 2013|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-25854-9|page=19}}, {{cite book|first=John J.|last=McDermott|title=Reading the Pentateuch: A Historical Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dkr7rVd3hAQC&pg=PA90|year=2002|publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=978-0-8091-4082-4|page=90}}, {{cite book|first=Steven L.|last=McKenzie|title=How to Read the Bible: History, Prophecy, Literature - Why Modern Readers Need to Know the Difference and What It Means for Faith Today|url=https://archive.org/details/howtoreadbiblehi00mcke_0|url-access=registration|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-803655-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/howtoreadbiblehi00mcke_0/page/78 78]}}, {{cite book|first=John J.|last=Collins|title=Introduction to the Hebrew Bible: Third Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ju49DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA354|date=15 April 2018|publisher=Augsburg Fortress, Publishers|isbn=978-1-5064-4605-9|page=354|quote=Many scholars assume that the appeal to the exodus here is the work of a Deuteronomistic editor, but that is not necessarily so.}} and {{cite book|first=Hans Walter|last=Wolff|title=Micah: A Commentary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m-nlsvSZomcC|year=1990|publisher=Augsburg|isbn=978-0-8066-2449-5|page=23}} apud {{cite book|first=Graham R.|last=Hamborg|title=Still Selling the Righteous: A Redaction-critical Investigation of Reasons for Judgment in Amos 2.6-16|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=86OoAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA156|date=24 May 2012|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-0-567-04860-8|pages=156–157}}}} [[Jeremiah]], active in the 7th century, mentions both Moses<ref>{{Bibleverse|Jeremiah|15:1}}</ref> and the Exodus.<ref>{{Bibleref2|Jeremiah|16:14}}</ref>

The story may, therefore, have originated a few centuries earlier, perhaps in the 10th or 9th century BCE, and there are signs that it took different forms in Israel, in the [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan region]], and in the southern [[Kingdom of Judah]] before being unified in the Persian era.{{sfn|Russell|2009|p=1}} The Exodus narrative was most likely further altered and expanded under the influence of the return from the [[Babylonian captivity]] in the sixth century BCE.{{sfn|Na'aman|2011|p=40}}

Evidence from the Bible suggests that the Exodus from Egypt formed a "foundational mythology" or "state ideology" for the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Northern Kingdom of Israel]].{{sfn|Assmann|2018|p=50}} The northern psalms [[Psalm 80|80]] and [[Psalm 81|81]] state that God "brought a vine out of Egypt" (Psalm 80:8) and record ritual observances of Israel's deliverance from Egypt as well as a version of part of the [[Ten Commandments]] (Psalm 81:10-11).{{sfn|Barmash|2015b|pp=10-12}} The [[Books of Kings]] records the dedication of two [[golden calf|golden calves]] in [[Bethel]] and [[Dan (ancient city)|Dan]] by the Israelite king [[Jeroboam I]], who uses the words "Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt" (1 Kings 12:28). Scholars relate Jeroboam's calves to the golden calf made by Aaron of Exodus 32. Both include a nearly identical dedication formula ("These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt", Exodus 32:8). This episode in Exodus is "widely regarded as a tendentious narrative against the Bethel calves".{{sfn|Russell|2009|p=41}} Egyptologist [[Jan Assmann]] suggests that event, which would have taken place {{circa|931&nbsp;BCE}}, may be partially historical due to its association with the historical pharaoh [[Sheshonq I]] (the biblical [[Shishak]]).{{sfn|Assmann|2018|p=50}} Stephen Russell dates this tradition to "the eighth century BCE or earlier", and argued that it preserves a genuine Exodus tradition from the Northern Kingdom, but in a [[Kingdom of Judah|Judahite]] recension.{{sfn|Russell|2009|p=55}} Russell and Frank Moore Cross argue that the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom may have believed that the calves at Bethel and Dan were made by Aaron. Russell suggests that the connection to Jeroboam may have been later, possibly coming from a Judahite redactor.{{sfn|Russell|2009|pp=41-43, 46-47}} Pauline Viviano, however, concludes that neither the references to Jeroboam's calves in Hosea (Hosea 8:6 and 10:5) nor the frequent prohibitions of idol worship in the seventh-century southern prophet [[Jeremiah]] show any knowledge of a tradition of a golden calf having been created in Sinai.{{sfn|Viviano|2019|pp=46-47}}

Some of the earliest evidence for Judahite traditions of the exodus is found in [[Psalm 78]], which portrays the Exodus as beginning a history culminating in the building of the temple at Jerusalem. Pamela Barmash argues that the psalm is a polemic against the Northern Kingdom; as it fails to mention that kingdom's destruction in 722 BCE, she concludes that it must have been written before then.{{sfn|Barmash|2015b|p=8-9}} The psalm's version of the Exodus contains some important differences from what is found in the Pentateuch: there is no mention of Moses, and the [[manna]] is described as "food of the mighty" rather than as bread in the wilderness.{{sfn|Barmash|2015b|p=9}} Nadav Na'aman argues for other signs that the Exodus was a tradition in Judah before the destruction of the northern kingdom, including the [[Song of the Sea]] and [[Psalm 114]], as well as the great political importance that the narrative came to assume there.{{sfn|Na'aman|2011|p=40}}{{efn| However, the date of composition of the Song of the Sea - ostensibly celebrating the victory at the [[Yam Suph|Reed Sea]] - ranges from an early  mid-12th century BCE period through [[Return to Zion|post-exilic times]], down to as late as 350 BCE.{{sfn |Russell|2007|p=96}}{{sfn|Cross|1997|p=124}}{{sfn|Brenner|2012|pp=1-20,15,19}}}}
A Judahite cultic object associated with the exodus was the brazen serpent or [[nehushtan]]: according to 2 Kings 18:4, the brazen serpent had been made by Moses and was worshiped in the [[Solomon's Temple|temple]] in Jerusalem until the time of king [[Hezekiah]] of Judah, who destroyed it as part of a religious reform, possibly {{circa|727&nbsp;BCE}}.{{sfn|Bartusch|2003|p=41}}{{efn|"[Hezekiah] broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it; it was called Nehushtan" (2 Kings 18:4).}} In the Pentateuch, Moses creates the brazen serpent in Numbers 21:4-9. Meindert Dijkstra writes that while the historicity of the Mosaic origin of the Nehushtan is unlikely, its association with Moses appears genuine rather than the work of a later redactor.{{sfn|Dijkstra|2006|p=28}} Mark Walter Bartusch notes that the nehushtan is not mentioned at any prior point in Kings, and suggests that the brazen serpent was brought to Jerusalem from the Northern Kingdom after its destruction in 722 BCE.{{sfn|Bartusch|2003|p=41}}

===Composition of the Torah narrative===
The revelation of God on Sinai appears to have originally been a tradition unrelated to the Exodus.{{sfn|Baden|2019|p=9}} Joel S. Baden notes that "[t]he seams [between the Exodus and Wilderness traditions] still show: in the narrative of Israel's rescue from Egypt there is little hint that they will be brought anywhere other than Canaan{{snd}}yet they find themselves heading first, unexpectedly, and in no obvious geographical order, to an obscure mountain."{{sfn|Baden|2019|p=10}} In addition, there is widespread agreement that the revelation of the law in Deuteronomy was originally separate from the Exodus:{{sfn|Assmann|2018|p=204}} the original version of Deuteronomy is generally dated to the 7th century BCE.{{sfn|Grabbe|2017|p=49}} The contents of the books of [[Leviticus]] and [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]] are late additions to the narrative by priestly sources.{{sfn|Dever|2001|p=99}}

Scholars broadly agree that the publication of the Torah (or of a proto-Pentateuch) took place in the mid-Persian period (the 5th century BCE), echoing a traditional Jewish view which gives [[Ezra]], the leader of the Jewish community on its return from Babylon, a pivotal role in its promulgation.{{sfn|Romer|2008|p=2 and fn.3}} Many theories have been advanced to explain the composition of the first five books of the Bible, but two have been especially influential.{{sfn|Ska|2006|p=217}} The first of these, Persian Imperial authorisation, advanced by Peter Frei in 1985, is that the Persian authorities required the Jews of Jerusalem to present a single body of law as the price of local autonomy.{{sfn|Ska|2006|p=218}} Frei's theory was demolished at an interdisciplinary symposium held in 2000, but the relationship between the Persian authorities and Jerusalem remains a crucial question.{{sfn|Eskenazi|2009|p=86}} The second theory, associated with Joel P. Weinberg and called the "Citizen-Temple Community", is that the Exodus story was composed to serve the needs of a post-exilic Jewish community organized around the Temple, which acted in effect as a bank for those who belonged to it.{{sfn|Ska|2006|pp=226–227}} The books containing the Exodus story served as an "identity card" defining who belonged to this community (i.e., to Israel), thus reinforcing Israel's unity through its new institutions.{{sfn|Ska|2006|p=225}}

==Hellenistic Egyptian parallel narratives==
Writers in Greek and Latin during the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]] (late 4th century BCE–late 1st century BCE) record several Egyptian tales of the expulsion of a group of foreigners connected to the Exodus.{{sfn|Droge|1996|p=134}} These tales often include elements of the [[Second Intermediate Period of Egypt|Second Intermediate Period]] ("Hyksos period") and most are extremely [[Anti-Judaism|anti-Jewish]].{{sfn|Assmann|2009|pp=29, 34-35}}

The earliest non-biblical account is that of [[Hecataeus of Abdera]] ({{circa|320&nbsp;BCE}}) as preserved in the first century CE Jewish historian [[Josephus]] in ''[[Against Apion]]'' and in a variant version by the first-century BCE Greek historian [[Diodorus]].{{sfn|Droge|1996|p=131}} Hecataeus tells how the Egyptians blamed a plague on foreigners and expelled them from the country, whereupon Moses, their leader, took them to Canaan.{{sfn|Assmann|2009|p=34}} In this version, Moses is portrayed extremely positively.{{sfn|Droge|1996|p=134}}

[[Manetho]], also preserved in Josephus's ''Against Apion'', tells how 80,000 lepers and other "impure people", led by a priest named [[Osarseph]], join forces with the former Hyksos, now living in [[Jerusalem]], to take over Egypt. They wreak havoc until the Pharaoh and his son chase them out to the borders of [[Syria (region)|Syria]], where Osarseph gives the lepers a law code and changes his name to Moses. The identification of Osarseph with Moses in Manetho's account may be an interpolation or may come from Manetho.{{sfn|Droge|1996|pp=134–35}}{{sfn|Feldman|1998|p=342}}{{sfn|Assmann|2009|p=34}}

Other versions of the story are recorded by the first-century BCE Egyptian grammarian [[Lysimachus of Alexandria]], who set the story in the time of Pharaoh [[Bakenranef]] (Bocchoris), the first-century CE Egyptian historian [[Chaeremon of Alexandria]], and the first-century BCE Gallo-Roman historian [[Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus]].{{sfn|Assmann|2009|p=35}} The first-century CE Roman historian [[Tacitus]] included a version of the story that claims that the Hebrews worshipped a [[donkey]] as their god to ridicule Egyptian religion, whereas the Roman biographer [[Plutarch]] claimed that the Egyptian god [[Set (deity)|Seth]] was expelled from Egypt and had two sons named Juda and Hierosolyma.{{sfn|Assmann|2009|p=37}}

The stories may represent a polemical Egyptian response to the Exodus narrative.{{sfn|Gmirkin|2006|p=170}} Egyptologist [[Jan Assmann]] proposed that the story comes from oral sources that "must [...] predate the first possible acquaintance of an Egyptian writer with the [[Hebrew Bible]]."{{sfn|Assmann|2009|p=34}} Assmann suggested that the story has no single origin but rather combines numerous historical experiences, notably the [[Amarna Period|Amarna]] and Hyksos periods, into a folk memory.{{sfn|Assmann|2003|page=227}}

There is general agreement that the stories originally had nothing to do with the Jews.{{sfn|Droge|1996|p=134}} [[Erich S. Gruen]] suggested that it may have been the Jews themselves that inserted themselves into Manetho's narrative, in which various negative actions from the point of view of the Egyptians, such as desecrating temples, are interpreted positively.{{sfn|Gruen|2016|pp=218-220}}

==Religious and cultural significance==
===In Judaism===
{{See also|Passover|Passover Seder}}
Commemoration of the Exodus is central to Judaism, and [[Jewish culture]]. In the Bible, the Exodus is frequently mentioned as the event that created the Israelite people and forged their bond with God, being described as such by the prophets Hosea, Jeremiah, and [[Ezekiel]].{{sfn|Baden|2019|pp=35-36}} The Exodus is invoked daily in [[List of Jewish prayers and blessings|Jewish prayers]] and celebrated each year during the Jewish holidays of [[Passover]], [[Shavuot]], and [[Sukkot]].{{sfn|Tigay|2004|p=106}} The fringes worn at the corners of traditional Jewish prayer shawls are described as a physical reminder of the obligation to observe the laws given at the climax of Exodus: "Look at it and recall all the commandments of the Lord" (Numbers).{{sfn|Sarason|2015|p=53}} The festivals associated with the Exodus began as agricultural and seasonal feasts but became completely subsumed into the Exodus narrative of Israel's deliverance from oppression at the hands of God.{{sfn|Tigay|2004|p=106}}{{sfn|Nelson|2015|p=43}}
[[File:A Seder table setting.jpg|right|thumb|300px|A [[Passover Seder|Seder]] table setting, commemorating the Passover and Exodus]]
For Jews, the Passover celebrates the freedom of the Israelites from captivity in Egypt, the settling of Canaan by the Israelites, and the "passing over" of the angel of death during the [[Plagues of Egypt#10. Death of firstborn son: Ex. 11:1–12:36|death of the first-born]].{{sfn|Black|2018|p=10}}{{sfn|Black|2018|p=26}} Passover involves a ritual meal called a [[Passover Seder|Seder]] during which parts of the exodus narrative are retold.{{sfn|Black|2018|p=19}} In the [[Hagaddah]] of the Seder it is written that every generation is obliged to remind and identify itself in terms of the Exodus. Thus the following words from the [[Pesachim|Pesaḥim (10:5)]]  are recited: "In every generation a person is duty-bound to regard himself as if he personally has gone forth from Egypt."{{sfn|Klein|1979|p=105}}{{efn|"In every generation a person is duty-bound to regard himself as if he personally has gone forth from Egypt, since it is said 'And you shall tell your son in that day saying, it is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt." —Exodus 13:8{{sfn|Neusner|2005|p=75}}}} Because the Israelites fled Egypt in haste without time for bread to rise, the unleavened bread [[matzoh]] is eaten on Passover, and homes must be cleansed of any items containing leavening agents, known as [[Chametz]].{{sfn|Black|2018|pp=22-23}}

Shavuot celebrates the granting of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai; Jews are called to rededicate themselves to the covenant on this day.{{sfn|Black|2018|p=19}} Some denominations follow Shavuot with [[The Three Weeks]], during which the "two most heinous sins committed by the Jews in their relationship to God" are mourned: the [[Golden Calf]] and the doubting of God's promise by [[the Twelve Spies]].{{sfn|Black|2018|pp=19-20}} A third Jewish festival, [[Sukkot]], the Festival of Booths, is associated with the Israelites living in booths after they left their previous homes in Egypt.{{sfn|Tigay|2004|p=106}} It celebrates how God provided for the Israelites while they wandered in the desert without food or shelter.{{sfn|Black|2018|p=20}} It is celebrated by building a [[sukkah]], a temporary shelter also called a booth or tabernacle, in which the rituals of Sukkot are performed, recalling the impermanence of the Israelites' homes during the desert wanderings.{{sfn|Black|2018|pp=60-61}}

===In Christianity===
The Christian ritual of the [[eucharist]] and the holiday of [[Easter]] draw directly on the imagery of the Passover and the Exodus.{{sfn|Baden|2019|pp=80-86}} In the [[New Testament]], [[Jesus]] is frequently associated with motifs of the Exodus.{{sfn|Graves|2019|p=548}} The [[Gospel of Mark]] has been suggested to be a [[midrash]] on the Exodus, though the scholar [[Larry J. Perkins]] thinks this unlikely.{{sfn|Perkins|2006|p=114}} Mark suggests that the outpouring of Jesus' blood creates a new covenant (Mark 14:24) in the same way that Moses' sacrifice of bulls had created a covenant (Exodus 24:5).{{sfn|Perkins|2006|p=107}} In the [[Gospel of Matthew]], Jesus reverses the direction of the Exodus by escaping from the [[Massacre of the Innocents]] committed by [[Herod the Great]] before himself returning from Egypt (Matt 2:13-15).{{sfn|Baden|2019|p=53}} Other parallels in Matthew include that he is baptized by water (Matt 3:13-17), and tested in the desert; unlike the Israelites, he is able to resist temptation (Matt. 4.1-3). The [[Gospel of John]] repeatedly calls Jesus the Passover lamb (John 1:29, 13:1, 19:36), something also found in [[1 Peter]] (1 Pet 1:18-20), and [[1 Corinthians]] (1 Cor 5:7-8). Michael Graves calls [[Paul (apostle)|Paul]]'s discussion of the exodus in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 and his comparison of the early church in Corinth to the Israelites in the desert "[t]he two most significant NT passages touching on the exodus".{{sfn|Graves|2019|p=548}} John also refers to Jesus as manna (John 6:31-5), water flowing from a rock in the desert (John 7:37-9), and as a pillar of fire (John 8:12). Early Christians frequently interpreted actions taken in the Exodus, and sometimes the Exodus as a whole, [[typology (theology)|typologically]] to prefigure Jesus or actions of Jesus.{{sfn|Graves|2019|pp=548-549}}

In [[The Epistle to the Romans|Romans]] 9:17, Paul interprets the hardened heart of Pharaoh during the Plagues of Egypt as referring to the hardened hearts of the Jews who rejected Christ.{{sfn|Dozeman|Shectman|2016|p=150}} Early Christian authors such as [[Justin Martyr]], [[Irenaeus]], and [[Augustine]] all emphasized the [[supersession]] of the Old Covenant of Moses by the New Covenant of Christ, which was open to all people rather than limited to the Jews.{{sfn|Dozeman|Shectman|2016|p=160}}

===In Islam===
{{Main|Moses in Islam}}
{{Expand section|date=July 2024}}
The story of the Exodus is also recounted in the [[Qur'an]], in which Moses is one of the most prominent [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|prophets and messengers]]. He is the mentioned 136 times, the most of any individual in the [[Qur'an]], with and his life being narrated and recounted more than that of any other [[prophet]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Third Way (magazine)|page=18|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u20z-dBo6SIC&pg=PA18|date=May 1996|last1=Ltd|first1=Hymns Ancient Modern|access-date=7 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617045158/https://books.google.com/books?id=u20z-dBo6SIC&pg=PA18|archive-date=17 June 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Keeler">Annabel Keeler, "Moses from a Muslim Perspective", in: Solomon, Norman; Harries, Richard; Winter, Tim (eds.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=9A4JZ8CSJJwC&pg=PA55 ''Abraham's Muslims in conversation''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429081221/https://books.google.com/books?id=9A4JZ8CSJJwC&pg=PA55|date=29 April 2016}}, T&T Clark Publ. (2005), pp. 55–66.</ref>

===As historical inspiration ===
A number of historical events and situations have been compared to the Exodus. Many early American settlers interpreted their flight from Europe to a new life in America as a new exodus. American "founding fathers" [[Thomas Jefferson]] and [[Benjamin Franklin]] recommended for the [[Great Seal of the United States]] to depict Moses leading the Israelites across the Red Sea. African Americans suffering under slavery and racial oppression interpreted their situation in terms of the Exodus, making it a catalyst for social change.{{sfn|Tigay|2004|p=107}}{{sfn|Assmann|2018|p=335}}{{sfn|Coomber|2012|p=123}} South American [[Liberation theology]] also takes much inspiration from the Exodus.{{sfn|Baden|2019|p=xiv}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Bible|Judaism}}
* [[Book of Joshua]], the continuation of the narrative in the conquest of Canaan
* [[Ipuwer Papyrus]]
* [[List of films based on the Bible#Moses (Exodus - Deuteronomy)|List of films related to the Exodus]]
* [[Moses in Islam]]
* [[Stations of the Exodus]]
* [[Va'eira]], [[Bo (parashah)]], and [[Beshalach]]: [[parsha|Torah portions (''parashot'')]] telling the Exodus story
* [[The Exodus Decoded]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|20em}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
*  {{cite book
| last          = Assmann
| first          = Jan
| title          = The Invention of Religion: Faith and Covenant in the Book of Exodus
| publisher          = Princeton University Press
| url          = https://books.google.com/books?id=K7s7DwAAQBAJ
| year          = 2018
| isbn          = 978-1-4008-8923-5
}}
*  {{cite book
| last          = Assmann
| first          = Jan
| title          = Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt
| publisher          = Harvard University Press
| url          = https://books.google.com/books?id=IjUiie30Z9cC&pg=PA34
| year          = 2009
| isbn          = 978-0-674-02030-6
}}
*  {{cite book
|last=Assmann
|first=Jan
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XEMadfTi_U4C&q=Osarsiph&pg=PA227
|year=2003
|publisher=Harvard University Press
|isbn=978-0-674-01211-0
|title=The mind of Egypt: history and meaning in the time of the Pharaohs
}}

* {{cite book |last1=Baden |first1=Joel S. |title=The Book of Exodus: A Biography |date=2019 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton and Oxford |isbn=978-0-691-16954-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ofp1DwAAQBAJ&q=Baden+Exodus+Biography }}
*  {{cite book
| last           = Bandstra
| first           = Barry L.
| title           = Reading the Old Testament: Introduction to the Hebrew Bible
| year           = 2008
| publisher           = Cengage Learning
| url           = https://books.google.com/books?id=vRY9mTUZKJcC
| isbn           = 978-0-495-39105-0
}}
*  {{cite book
 |last          = Barmash
 |first         = Pamela
 |chapter       = Out of the Mists of History: The Exaltation of the Exodus in the Bible
 |editor1-last  = Barmash
 |editor1-first = Pamela
 |editor2-last  = Nelson
 |editor2-first = W. David
 |title         = Exodus in the Jewish Experience: Echoes and Reverberations
 |year          = 2015b
 |publisher     = Lexington Books
 |chapter-url   = https://books.google.com/books?id=jKYlCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1
 |isbn          = 978-1-4985-0293-1
 |pages         = 1–22
}}
* {{cite book |last=Bartusch |first=Mark W. |title=Understanding Dan: An Exegetical Study of a Biblical City, Tribe, and Ancestor |year=2003 |publisher=Sheffield Academic Press }}
* {{cite book 
 |title=Ägypten und Altes Testament 
 |last=Bietak 
 |first=Manfred 
 |publisher=Zaphon 
 |year=2022 
 |isbn=978-3-96327-062-8 
 |pages=151–180 
 |language=de 
 |editor-last=Wimmer 
 |editor-first=S. J. 
 |volume=100 
 |chapter=Ägypten und der Exodus: Ein altes Thema, ein neuer Ansatz 
 |editor-last2=Zwickel 
 |editor-first2=W. 
 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/72332757
}}
* {{cite book|last=Black |first=Kathy |display-authors=etal |chapter=The Jewish Year |title=Rhythms of Religious Ritual: The Yearly Cycles of Jews, Christians, and Muslims |publisher=Claremont Press |year=2018 |volume=1 |pages=9–74 |doi=10.2307/j.ctvwrm4gj.6 |jstor=j.ctvwrm4gj.6 |isbn=978-1-946230-15-7 |s2cid=160440464 }}
*  {{cite book
 |last      = Brenner
 |first     = Martin L.
 |title     = The Song of the Sea: Ex 15:1 – 21
 |publisher = [[Walter de Gruyter]]
 |url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=uR8enYHZrdAC&pg=PA5
 |year      = 2012
 |isbn      = 978-3-110-86722-0
}}
*  {{cite book
 |last       = Collins
 |first      = John J.
 |title      = The Bible After Babel: Historical Criticism in a Postmodern Age
 |year       = 2005
 |publisher  = Eerdmans
 |isbn       = 978-0-8028-2892-7
 |url        = https://archive.org/details/bibleafterbabelh0000coll
 |url-access = registration
 |page       = [https://archive.org/details/bibleafterbabelh0000coll/page/45 45]
}}
*  {{cite book
 |last          = Coomber
 |first         = Matthew J.M.
 |chapter       = Before Crossing the Jordan
 |editor1-last  = Brenner
 |editor1-first = Athalya
 |editor2-last  = Yee
 |editor2-first = Gale A.
 |title         = Exodus and Deuteronomy
 |year          = 2012
 |publisher     = Fortress Press
 |chapter-url   = https://books.google.com/books?id=4ouHdse1m5IC&q=%22the+story+of+the+Hebrew+exodus+played+a+significant+role+in+African+American+history%22&pg=PA123
 |isbn          = 978-1-4514-0819-5
}}
*  {{cite book| last           = Davies| first           = Graham| editor1-last           = Day| editor1-first           = John| title           = In Search of Pre-exilic Israel: Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar| chapter           = Was There an Exodus?| year           = 2004| publisher           = Continuum| isbn           = 978-0-567-08206-0| chapter-url           = https://books.google.com/books?id=yM_X2yzRLx4C&pg=PA23| pages           = 23–40}}
*  {{cite book
| last           = Davies
| first           = Philip R.
| title           = In Search of 'Ancient Israel': A Study in Biblical Origins
| year           = 2015
| publisher      = Bloomsbury Publishing
| isbn           = 978-0-567-66299-6
| url           = https://books.google.com/books?id=HJIzCgAAQBAJ&q=%22an+accurate+account+of+the+emergence+of+Israel%22&pg=PA51
}}

* {{cite book
 |last      = Dever
 |first     = William
 |title     = What Did the Biblical Writers Know, and When Did They Know It?
 |year      = 2001
 |publisher = Eerdmans
 |isbn      = 978-0-8028-2126-3
 |url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=6-VxwC5rQtwC
 |language  = en
}}
*  {{cite book
 |last      = Dever
 |first     = William
 |title     = Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?
 |year      = 2003
 |publisher = Eerdmans
 |isbn      = 978-0-8028-4416-3
 |url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=A_ByXkpofAgC
 |language  = en
}}
* {{cite book |last=Dijkstra |first=Meindert |title=The interpretation of Exodus studies in honour of Cornelis Houtman |editor-last1=Roukema |editor-first1=Riemer |editor-last2=Peerbolte |editor-first2=Bert Jan Lietaert |editor-last3=Houtman |editor-first3=Cees |editor-link3=Cees Houtman |chapter=Moses, the Man of God |location=Leuven |publisher=Peeters |year=2006 |isbn=978-90-429-1806-1 |pages=17–26 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wXqZoJrA0kAC&q=Exodus+interpretation+Dijkstra&pg=PA17 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Douglas |first=Mary |title=The Glorious Book of Numbers |journal=Jewish Studies Quarterly |volume=1 |issue=3 |year=1993 |pages=193–216 |jstor=40753099}}
*  {{cite book
 |last          = Droge
 |first         = Arthur J.
 |title         = Josephus' Contra Apion
 |chapter       = Josephus Between Greeks and Barbarians
 |editor1-last  = Feldman
 |editor1-first = L.H.
 |editor2-last  = Levison
 |editor2-first = J.R.
 |year          = 1996
 |publisher     = Brill
 |isbn          = 978-90-04-10325-2
 |chapter-url   = https://books.google.com/books?id=MpZwfMmH0n8C&pg=PR3
}}
* {{cite book|author-last1=Dozeman |author-first1=Thomas B. |author-last2=Shectman |author-first2=Sarah |chapter=Exodus |title=The Pentateuch: Fortress Commentary on the Bible Study Edition |editor-last1=Yee |editor-first1=Gale A. |editor-last2=Page |editor-first2=Hugh R. Jr. |editor-last3=Coomber |editor-first3=Matthew J. M. |publisher=Fortress Press |year=2016 |pages=137–178 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt1b3t6qt.11 |jstor=j.ctt1b3t6qt.11 |isbn=978-1-5064-1442-3 }}
*  {{cite book
 |last          = Eskenazi
 |first         = Tamara Cohn
 |editor1-last  = Grabbe
 |editor1-first = Lester L.
 |editor2-last  = Knoppers
 |editor2-first = Gary N.
 |title         = Exile and Restoration Revisited: Essays on the Babylonian and Persian Periods
 |chapter       = From Exile and Restoration to Exile and Reconstruction
 |year          = 2009
 |publisher     = Bloomsbury
 |chapter-url   = https://books.google.com/books?id=E-XeBAAAQBAJ&q=%22Frei%27s+influential+theory+has+been+essentially+and+effectively+deconstructed%22&pg=PA86
 |isbn          = 978-0-567-46567-2
}}
* {{cite book
|last1=Faust
|first1=Avraham
|chapter=The Emergence of Iron Age Israel: On Origins and Habitus
|title=Israel's Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective: Text, Archaeology, Culture, and Geoscience
|editor1=Thomas E. Levy
|editor2=Thomas Schneider
|editor3=William H.C. Propp
|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/11906343
|date=2015
|publisher=Springer
|isbn=978-3-319-04768-3
}}
*  {{cite book
| last          = Feldman
| first          = Louis H.
| title          = Josephus's Interpretation of the Bible
| year          = 1998
| publisher          = University of California Press
| isbn          = 978-0-520-20853-7
| url          = https://books.google.com/books?id=S349d-yRgCIC&pg=PA342
}}
*  {{Cite book |title=Israel's Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective: Text, Archaeology, Culture, and Geoscience |last=Finkelstein |first=Israel |publisher=Springer |year=2015 |isbn=978-3-319-04768-3 |pages=39–54 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Thomas E. |editor-last2=Schneider |editor-first2=Thomas |editor-last3=Propp |editor-first3=William H. C. |chapter=The Wilderness Narrative and Itineraries and the Evolution of the Exodus Tradition|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/30803366}}
*  {{cite book
| last          = Gmirkin
| first          = Russell E.
| title          = Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic Histories and The Date of the Pentateuch
| year          = 2006
| publisher     = T & T Clark International
| isbn          = 978-0-567-02592-0
| url          = https://books.google.com/books?id=noKI6AsqnhMC
}}
*  {{cite book | last= Grabbe | first= Lester | editor1-last= Dozeman | editor1-first= Thomas | editor2-last= Evans | editor2-first= Craig A. | editor3-last= Lohr | editor3-first= Joel N. | title= The Book of Exodus: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation | chapter= Exodus and History | year= 2014 | publisher= BRILL | isbn= 978-90-04-28266-7 | chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=TmGeBQAAQBAJ&q=%22primarily+Amos+and+Hosea%22%22middle+of+the+eighth+century%22&pg=PA61 | pages= 61–87 }}
*  {{cite book
 |last1     = Grabbe
 |first1    = Lester
 |title     = Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?
 |year      = 2017
 |publisher = Bloomsbury
 |url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=4lzyDQAAQBAJ
 |isbn      = 978-0-567-67043-4
}}
* {{cite book |last=Graves |first=Michael |chapter=Exodus |title=The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation |editor-last1=Blouwers |editor-first1=Paul M. |editor-last2=Martens |editor-first2=Peter W. |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=547–560 |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-19-102820-5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jguXDwAAQBAJ&q=Exodus%20Christian }}
* {{cite book |last=Gruen |first=Erich S. |title=The Construct of Identity in Hellenistic Judaism: Essays on Early Jewish Literature and History |chapter=The Use and Abuse of the Exodus Story |publisher=de Gruyter |year=2016|pages=197–228 |jstor=j.ctvbkjxph.14 }}
*  {{cite book
 |last        = Klein
 |first       = Isaac
 |author-link = Isaac Klein
 |title       = A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice
 |year        = 1979
 |publisher   = [[KTAV Publishing House]]
 |url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=Dstt4jyJGqwC&pg=PA105
 |isbn        = 978-0-873-34004-5
}}

*  {{cite book
| last          = Lemche
| first          = Niels Peter
| title          = Early Israel: Anthropological and Historical studies
| year          = 1985
| publisher          = Brill
| isbn          = 978-90-04-07853-6
| url          = https://books.google.com/books?id=crA3AAAAIAAJ
}}

*  {{cite book
| last         = Meyers
| first         = Carol
| title         = Exodus
| year         = 2005
| publisher         = Cambridge University Press
| url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=0QHHITXsyskC&pg=PA5
| isbn         = 978-0-521-00291-2
}}
*  {{cite book
 |last        = Cross
 |first       = Frank Moore
 |author-link = Frank Moore Cross
 |title       = Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic
 |publisher   = [[Harvard University Press]]
 |url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=-eOycxXAoHMC&pg=PA121
 |year        = 1997
 |isbn        = 978-0-674-09176-4
}}

* {{cite book
 |last1     = Moore
 |first1    = Megan Bishop
 |last2     = Kelle
 |first2    = Brad E.
 |title     = Biblical History and Israel's Past: The Changing Study of the Bible and History
 |year      = 2011
 |publisher = Eerdmans
 |url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=Qjkz_8EMoaUC&pg=PA81
 |isbn      = 978-0-8028-6260-0
}}

* {{cite book
| last           = Nelson
| first          = W. David
| chapter        = Discontinuity and Dissonance: Torah, Textuality, and Early Rabbinic Hermeneutics of Exodus
| editor1-last   = Barmash
| editor1-first  = Pamela
| editor2-last   = Nelson
| editor2-first  = W. David
| title          = Exodus in the Jewish Experience: Echoes and Reverberations
| year           = 2015
| publisher      = Lexington Books
| isbn           = 978-1-4985-0293-1
| pages          = 23–51
}}
*{{cite journal 
|last            =Na'aman 
|first           =Nadav 
|title           =The Exodus Story: Between Historical Memory and Historiographical Composition 
|journal         =[[Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions]] 
|volume          =11 
|year            =2011 
|pages           =39–69 
|doi             =10.1163/156921211X579579 
}} 
*  {{cite book
 |last        = Neusner
 |first       = Jacob
 |author-link = Jacob Neusner
 |title       = The Talmud: Law, Theology, Narrative : a Sourcebook
 |year        = 2005
 |publisher   = [[University Press of America]]
 |isbn        = 978-0-761-83115-0
 |url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=_-VE6Ymf1mIC&pg=PA75
}}

* {{cite book |last=Perkins |first=Larry |chapter=Kingdom, Messianic Authority, and the Re-Constituting of God's People: Tracing the Function of Exodus Material in Mark's Narrative |title=Biblical Interpretation in Early Christian Gospels, volume 1: The Gospel of Mark |editor-last1=Hatina |editor-first1=Thomas R. |publisher=T & T Clark |year=2006 |pages=100–115 |isbn=978-0-567-38142-2 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8tneBAAAQBAJ&dq=Exodus+gospels&pg=PA115 }}
* {{cite web |editor-last1=Pietersma |editor-first1=Albert |editor-link1=Albert Pietersma |editor-last2=Wright |editor-first2=Benjamin |title=New English Translation of the Septuagint: Electronic Version |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/ |year=2014 }}
* {{cite book
|last=Redford
|first=Donald B.
|title=Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times
|url=https://archive.org/details/egyptcanaanisrae1992redf
|url-access=registration
|year=1992
|publisher=Princeton University Press
|isbn=978-0-691-03606-9
}}
* {{cite book| last= Redmount| first= Carol A.| title= The Oxford History of the Biblical World| chapter= Bitter Lives: Israel In And Out of Egypt| editor-last= Coogan| editor-first= Michael D.| year= 2001| orig-year= 1998| publisher= Oxford University Press| isbn= 978-0-19-988148-2| chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=4DVHJRFW3mYC&q=%22The+exodus+saga+in+the+bible%22&pg=PA59| pages= 58–89| language= en}}
* {{cite journal
 |last1        = Romer
 |first1       = Thomas
 |date         = 2008
 |title        = Moses Outside the Torah and the Construction of a Diaspora Identity
 |journal      = [[Journal of Hebrew Scriptures]]
 |volume       = 8, article 15
 |pages        = 2–12
 |url          = http://www.jhsonline.org/Articles/article_92.pdf
 |access-date  = 2017-08-28
 |archive-date = 2020-10-21
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20201021035437/http://www.jhsonline.org/Articles/article_92.pdf
 |url-status   = dead
}}
*  {{cite book
 |last      = Russell
 |first     = Brian D.
 |title     = The Song of the Sea: The Date of Composition and Influence of Exodus 15:1-21
 |publisher = [[Peter Lang (publisher)|Peter Lang]]
 |url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=dZjKrzgO3TAC&pg=PA97
 |year      = 2007
 |isbn      = 978-0-820-48809-7
}}
*  {{cite book
| last         = Russell
| first         = Stephen C.
| title         = Images of Egypt in Early Biblical Literature
| year         = 2009
| publisher         = Walter de Gruyter
| isbn         = 978-3-11-022171-8
| url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=OMISLh2ZC08C
}}
*  {{cite book
 |last          = Sarason
 |first         = Richard S.
 |chapter       = The Past as Paradigm:Enactments of the Exodus Motif in Jewish Liturgy
 |editor1-last  = Barmash
 |editor1-first = Pamela
 |editor2-last  = Nelson
 |editor2-first = W. David
 |title         = Exodus in the Jewish Experience: Echoes and Reverberations
 |year          = 2015
 |publisher     = Lexington
 |url           = https://books.google.com/books?id=jKYlCgAAQBAJ&q=%22Enactments+of+the+Exodus+Motif+in+Jewish+Liturgy%22
 |isbn          = 978-1-4985-0293-1
}}
* {{cite book| last1 = Shaw| first1 = Ian| editor1-last = Shaw| editor1-first = Ian| editor2-last = Jameson| editor2-first = Robert| title = A Dictionary of Archaeology| chapter = Israel, Israelites| year = 2002| publisher = Wiley Blackwell| isbn = 978-0-631-23583-5| page = 313| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zmvNogJO2ZgC&pg=PA313}}
*  {{cite book
| last           = Ska
| first           = Jean Louis
| title           = Introduction to Reading the Pentateuch
| year           = 2006
| publisher           = Eisenbrauns
| isbn           = 978-1-57506-122-1
| url           = https://books.google.com/books?id=7cdy67ZvzdkC
}}
*  {{cite book
 |last          = Sparks
 |first         = Kenton L.
 |editor1-last  = Dozeman
 |editor1-first = Thomas B.
 |title         = Methods for Exodus
 |chapter       = Genre Criticism
 |year          = 2010
 |publisher     = Cambridge University Press
 |isbn          = 978-1-139-48738-2
 |chapter-url   = https://books.google.com/books?id=CiqF7sVqDQcC&pg=PA73
}}

*  {{cite book
 |last          = Tigay
 |first         = Jeffrey H.
 |editor1-last  = Berlin
 |editor1-first = Adele
 |editor2-last  = Brettler
 |editor2-first = Marc Zvi
 |title         = The Jewish Study Bible
 |chapter       = Exodus
 |year          = 2004
 |publisher     = Oxford University Press
 |isbn          = 978-0-19-529751-5
 |url           = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195297515
 |url-access    = registration
}}
* {{cite book|last=Viviano |first=Pauline |date=2019 |chapter=Do the Books of Hosea and Jeremiah Know of a Sinai/Horeb Golden Calf Story |title=Golden Calf Traditions in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam |publisher=Brill |editor-last1=Mason |editor-first1=Eric F. |editor-last2=Lupieri |editor-first2=Edmondo F. |pages=36–48}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|d=y|c=Category:Departure_of_the_Israelites|voy=The Exodus of Moses|m=no|mw=no|wikt=Exodus|n=no|b=no|q=no|s=1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Exodus, The|v=no}}

{{Sister project links|Exodus}}

* [https://merhav.nli.org.il/primo-explore/search?query=any,contains,exodus%20the%20map&tab=default_tab&search_scope=Local&sortby=lso01&vid=NLI&mfacet=tlevel,include,online_resources,1&mfacet=rtype,include,Maps,1&mfacet=topic,include,Exodus,%20The,1&lang=en_US&offset=0&came_from=sort Old maps showing the route of the Exodus], The [[National Library of Israel]], Eran Laor Cartographic Collection
{{Book of Exodus navbox}}
{{Passover Footer}}
{{Ten Commandments}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Exodus}}
[[Category:The Exodus| ]]
[[Category:Egypt in the Hebrew Bible]]
[[Category:Book of Exodus]]
[[Category:Stations of the Exodus| ]]
[[Category:Jewish mythology]]
[[Category:Moses]]
[[Category:Origin myths]]
[[Category:Passover]]
[[Category:Sacred history]]