Victor P. Hamilton - Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary

2011 by Victor P. Hamilton

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 495166287

www.bakeracademic.com

Ebook edition created 2012

Ebook corrections 11.08.2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-4412-4009-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

The author has provided his own translation of the book of Exodus. Unless otherwise indicated, all other Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Dedicated to

Nathan

Benjamin

Madeline

Bethany

Abigail

Holly

Lindy

Natalie

Rachel

Samuel

Evelyn

Zechariah

Lillian

Our thirteen grandchildren, who provide us with hours of delight, but whose interests probably run more toward playing Wii than reading this commentary on Exodus.

Contents

Preface

It has been my privilege since retiring from teaching Old Testament at Asbury College to devote full time to research and writing. This commentary is the first product of that time. I wish to express my appreciation to the administration of Asbury College for appointing me as Scholar-in-Residence, and for allowing me to keep my office on campus. That has provided me a quiet place for much of my reflection and writing. Thanks also to the staff of the B. L. Fisher Library/Information Commons at Asbury Theological Seminary for their assistance. I have spent many an hour in that building, with full access to their invaluable resources, both books and periodicals.

Needless to say, without the encouragement and guidance of many individuals at Baker Academic, among them Jim Kinney, Brian Bolger, and a host of others, this book would never have seen the light of day. A big thank-you to all of them for their professional gifts in moving my manuscript to publication. A special thanks to Wells Turner, who has superbly supervised this project from start to finish in his capacity as a senior editor at Baker and has passed on to me a number of very helpful suggestions. This is the third book of mine that Baker has published, and it has been an honor to work with their staff. I wrote the book. They helped me write a better book.

I wish to reserve the highest accolade for my wife, Shirley, who has typed the entire manuscript for me. She has invested almost as much time in this project as I have. Additionally, she frequently interacted with me on the text, made many invaluable suggestions, and asked a lot of penetrating and helpful questions. For those kinds of contributions I am forever grateful to her.

Last of all, I thank our Lord for his sustaining grace and guidance. To him and him alone be all the glory. My prayer is that this commentary will not only find a place in the conversation within the biblical academy but will also be a reference book that a pastor can consult with profit when preparing to share this portion of Gods Word with parishioners.

Abbreviations

Bibliographic and General