Concluding Thoughts On Exodus

The second book of the Bible was quite illuminating. I had never known that so much of the Mosaic Law could still be found in trace elements within Christian tradition. For me, and possibly for others, there had been an assumption that the Old Testament was full of foreign things that had little to do with Christianity today. What I failed to see was the big picture. The Old Testament and the New are part of a larger whole. They must be viewed together as part of the same Divine plan. Concerning the events described in Exodus, my biblical commentary mentions that "the laws prescribed by God to His people, the sacrifices, tabernacle, etc., were all intended to prefigure the Christian dispensation." Biblical scholar Bernard O'Reilly further says that "the law ... given to Israel on Mount Sinai, together with the detailed legislation concerning the chosen people's religion and government, all foreshadowed the more perfect Law to be given by Christ to His church and for the benefit of the whole world. Equally typical and prophetic of the sacraments and graces of the New Law were the manna, the water from the rock, the brazen serpent, and, indeed, all the incidents of the people's life during the forty years' wandering in the wilderness. / The whole of Exodus must be read in the light of Christian revelation to be understood and appreciated."

To throw even more light on this issue, I feel I must include some passages from Scott Hahn's book Reasons to Believe. I must credit Hahn for being the first to truly show me that the Bible as a whole contains a Divine plan of epic proportions the likes of which the average Christian is completely unaware, and it all hinges on the covenantal relationship between God and man. And one cannot even begin to understand God's covenants without studying the Old Testament. Therefore, concerning the Book of Exodus, this is what Scott Hahn has to say:

"Exodus, ... the biblical narrative describing Israel's liberation, everywhere echoes the Genesis narrative of creation. Israel is delivered through water as a new creation. The cloud of divine presence covers Mount Sinai for six days before God calls Moses, on the seventh day, to enter the cloud and receive the blueprint for God's dwelling (Exodus 24). God's instructions appear in sevens, again like His work of creation, and His seven commands conclude with ordinances for observance of the seventh day, the Sabbath. The making of the priestly vestments and the building of the tabernacle recall the creation narrative. In both, the work proceeds through seven stages (which, in Exodus, conclude with 'as the Lord commanded Moses'). Moses beholds his handiwork, as God did in Genesis, and blesses it (Exodus 39:43). As God 'finished His work,' so Moses 'finished the work' (Genesis 2:1-2; Exodus 40:34). And as God rested on the seventh day, blessing and hallowing it, so when Moses finished his work, the divine presence filled the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34).
With the Exodus, God restored a royal priesthood, a priestly kingship. He declared Israel to be His 'peculiar possession above all people ... a priestly kingdom and a holy nation' (Exodus 19:5-6).
Nevertheless, just as the Israelites received Adam's vocation, they also perpetrated an Adam-like fall from grace. And just as the original fall had resulted in exile and de-consecration of the royal-priestly figure, so too did Israel's idolatrous worship of the golden calf. God disinherited His people, pointedly telling Moses that they are 'thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt' (Exodus 32:7). In defiling itself through ritual rebellion, Israel, like Adam, had become unfit for the divine vocation. And never again does the Old Testament use the royal-priestly title of Exodus 19:6 to describe the people of Israel.
Still, on the strength of His covenant with their father Abraham (see Exodus 32:13), God spared Israel and permitted the tribes, eventually, to enter the promised land. So God's people experienced, again, a partial restoration."

I move on now to the Book of Leviticus. I'm wading now waist-deep in the Law and moving into even deeper waters. Leviticus is going to prove even more challenging, especially in light of the fact that many detractors today love to quote from its pages regulations which to the modern mind sound outrageous. I'm looking forward to this next stage of the journey.