Bible Books

Exploring Exodus

Nahum Sarna (New York: Schocken, 1986) 277 pp., $17.95

One of the most critical issues in contemporary exploration of biblical literature emerges for both the general reading public and the professional biblical scholar when the problems of historical data enter the discussion. It is unfortunately a familiar scene when Bible study attempts to move quickly through the shapes and content of the literature passed down to our generation from the ancient world of the Bible in order to reconstruct the historical process apparently described by that literature. Nahum Sarna asserts in the preface of his new book on Exodus: “Since the Torah is not a book of history, but one that makes use of historical data for didactic purposes, that is for the inculcation of spiritual values and moral and ethical imperatives, Exploring Exodus consistently stresses these aspects of the narratives.”

The author deserves highest commendation for that orientation as the guiding principle for the book. Indeed, one might add that in addition to the purposes of spreading values and their corresponding moral and ethical imperatives, the narratives in Exodus capture a significant aesthetic appeal, a classic example of artistic beauty from the ancient world of Israel. Moreover, the author’s expert attention to the historical data from the world that gave life to Israel serves to set the scene that produced the literature.