Missional Reading of the Book of Exodus: a sketch
Reading Exodus Missiologically
Too often our reading of the book of Exodus suffers from our failure to engage it in its fullness. Modern believers often struggle reading the Old Testament in general – the book of Exodus is no exception to this. I think that this is the result of interpretive approaches that lack the capacity to help the reader encounter the richness of Exodus for faith and practice of followers of Jesus Christ in the 21st century.
Many readers approach the book of Exodus interested primarily in reading it as a book of history. A historical reading attempts to understand the events that are reported in the book itself more than it is interested in studying the actual narrative. Historical readings of Exodus focus on background issues such as the precise identity of the unnamed Pharaohs of Egypt or the precise location of Mount Sinai or the background of the plagues that God unleashes on Egypt.
For many evangelical readers, reading Exodus is more an exercise in apologetics than it is an engagement with the truth claims of the book.
One of my longterm writing goals is to produce a theological exposition of Exodus that will offer a missiological reading of the Book of Exodus. As readers of the Real Meal blog know, I believe that a missional reading provides the clearest hermeneutical lens by which to engage and appropriate the message and theology of the Scriptures.
The book of Exodus is a book about mission. In his book Mission: An Essential Guide
The principal character of the book of Exodus is Yhwh, the God of Israel.
God delivers his covenant people from an illegitimate ruler, Pharaoh, who sought to prevent Israel from fulfilling the purposes for which God had called Israel’s ancestors (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) to accomplish – namely serving a missional function for the rest of creation by being the agents through whom God would bless the world. God does liberate Israel from bondage, but it is a purposeful deliverance in which Israel is not granted autonomous freedom (or even democracy) but is unleashed into the world in order to fulfill God’s creation wide salvific purposes. The narrative of Exodus then is about unleashing God’s people from bondage and shaping them into a holy community which will embody the redemption that God seeks to work.
The focus of Exodus then is on shaping an ethos in which the liberated do not become the oppressors. It is thus not merely about the elimination of sin or deliverance from some form of oppression. Rather Exodus is truly about a conversion to a mission – namely a participation in God’s salvific purposes for Creation.
© 2007 Brian D. Russell
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I wholeheartly encourage you to continue to pursue solid and effective exegesis of the Old Testament. The discipline you will develop will be invaluable.
I should like to offer my most humble salutations and felicitations on this festal day of St. Valentine. I have the highest regard for our community, the “Methoblog†and wish we could make acquaintance under more auspicious circumstances as I am sure that these acquaintances may yet become a valuable and enriching friendship as we exhort and instruct each other to be conformed in the image of Christ.
I remain God’s most humble servant,
John Wesley