The prologue to the story of the Exodus is in Chapters 3: - 4:31, which includes the story of the Burning Bush.
The story really beings at Chapter 5:1. When Moses and Aaron first talk to Pharaoh.
Five interwoven themes of the story in chapters 7 to 15 are :-
1. God’s self-promotion suggests to me that the Lord insists, ‘I am the Lord’, to be acknowledged universally. This recognition was to be given throughout all the earth. This Lord is determined to ‘gain glory’. – The ‘Parting of the Red Sea’.
2. The Lord intends to free God’s people from the cruel, oppressive rule of Pharaoh.
3. God enlists human agents, Moses or Aaron or both, to communicate with Pharaoh and to cooperate with the Lord in performing the Lord’s ‘signs and wonders’.
4. The Lord ‘hardens’ Pharaoh’s heart and the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will resist God’s power.
5. Pharaoh is very brutal and is continually obstinate in refusing to obey the Lord’s commands and to recognize the Lord as ‘Lord’.
The text is saturated with all five.
I make a comparison between Jesus and the God of the Exodus and suggest there are very significant differences in the way each deal with various issues, including liberation.
Death at the centre and all through the story.
I give a short comment about the 3000year-old theological bases for the story, dealing with a different set of ideas about God.
I give a very short comment about the scientific possibilities of the story having some factual basis.
I comment on some liberation theologians and suggest why they might find little help in the preaching of Jesus.
I give comments about the film ‘The 10 Commandments’ which I think contributes significantly to the person’s in pew, attitude to the story.
I give quote from 2 modern commentators , Karen Armstrong and Joh Shelby Spong.
From Derek Flood, I comment on Jesus’ own use of his scriptures.
So, my analysis gives me three strong reasons for rejecting the story. These three are different but inseparably entwined.
1. I reject the story because the image of God in it is so violent and seeks to guide me in the opposite direction to the way Jesus lived and taught.
2. I reject the story because the image of God in it, comes from a totally outdated theology, from 3000 years ago when people actually believed there were many Gods and these Gods, being tribal deities, were often in conflict, to gain glory over each other.
3. I reject the story because it is a story which Jesus omitted to use in his ministry and his teachings. The gospel writers never mention it. Jesus doesn’t specifically mention it and for good reason. I believe it is because of its ultra-violent image of God. He achieves his goals of liberation by totally different means to those used by the God of the Exodus story.