The Exodus of Abraham

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No experience had a greater impact on ancient Israel than the Exodus from Egypt.¹ So central was this event to Israel’s self-understanding that it formed the basis of Israel’s covenant with God at Mount Sinai. When giving Moses the Ten Commandments, for instance, God begins by explaining, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt … You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2–3). The Exodus experience also provided the moral impetus behind many of Israel’s laws. Concerning the proper treatment of foreigners,

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Leviticus 19:34 commands: “You shall treat the stranger who lives with you as a fellow citizen. You shall love him as you love yourself, for you were once strangers in the land of Egypt.” And regarding those most vulnerable in society, Deuteronomy 24:17–18 instructs: “Do not withhold justice from an outsider or an orphan, and do not take the cloak of a widow in pledge. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God redeemed you from there. Therefore, I am commanding you to do this.”

The Exodus not only influenced Israel’s relationship to God and to others, however; it also influenced Israel’s understanding of its own past. Indeed, a careful reading of the Book of Genesis reveals that Abraham—though living hundreds of years before the Exodus—went through his own Exodus-like experiences, including an escape from Egypt via plagues, a Passover meal attended by heavenly beings and a paschal sacrifice. Before we can fully appreciate why Abraham’s life prefigures Israel’s Exodus from Egypt, we must first take a closer look at how it does.

God’s initial call to Abraham, recorded in Genesis 12, sets the stage for the patriarch’s first Exodus experience:

Go from your land and from your kindred and from your father’s house to the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

(Genesis 12:1–3)

Abraham obeys God’s call, leaving his ancestral homeland in Mesopotamia and heading for his new “Promised Land” in Canaan. Shortly after his arrival, however, a severe famine devastates the land, and he is forced to travel to Egypt in search of food. En route Abraham realizes that his life is in grave danger. Sarah, his wife, is extremely beautiful, and, as he tells her, “When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife’ and they will kill me” (Genesis 12:12). Hoping to prevent trouble, Abraham asks Sarah to pose as his sibling. She agrees and, as predicted, she comes to the attention of Pharaoh, who incorporates her into his royal palace 019and richly rewards Abraham for having such a beautiful “sister.”

God, however, is not pleased with this arrangement and punishes Pharaoh, who, in turn, summons Abraham into his presence and asks: “What is this you have done? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife?” (Genesis 12:19). Without waiting for an answer, Pharaoh commands Abraham and Sarah to leave his country, which they do, taking with them all the riches they acquired in Egypt.

This episode raises a number of interesting ethical and theological questions, including why Abraham, a man of extraordinary faith, would feel compelled to lie in order to save his life, and why God, a deity of uncompromising righteousness, would punish Pharaoh for a wrong done in ignorance.^a Despite these moral and theological ambiguities, one thing is clear: Abraham’s and Sarah’s adventures in Egypt have 020meaning beyond their lives. Specifically, their actions prefigure Israel’s later experiences there. Consider the following parallels:

First, both Abraham (then called Abram) and Israel move to Egypt because of a famine. Compare Genesis 12:10, “And Abram went down to Egypt to live there because there was a severe famine in the land,” with Genesis 47:4, in which Jacob’s sons, the founding fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel, tell Pharaoh, “We have come to live in the land … because there is a severe famine in the land of Canaan.”

Second, both Abraham and Israel are initially treated well because of individuals who find favor in the eyes of Pharaoh. In Abraham’s case, Pharaoh is so impressed with Sarah’s beauty that “all went well” with him (Genesis 12:15–16). In Israel’s case, (a later) Pharaoh is so impressed with Joseph’s skill in interpreting dreams that he promotes Joseph to “second in all of Egypt” and encourages Joseph to settle his family “in the best part of the land” (Genesis 47:5–6a).

Eventually, however, things go wrong. In the case of Abraham, Pharaoh offends God by taking Sarah as a wife. In the case of Israel, Pharaoh offends God by making the Israelites his slaves. Though the circumstances differ, the punishment is the same: God sends plagues. In fact, the Hebrew word for plague (nega’) appears first in the Abrahamic narrative—“And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues” (Genesis 12:17)—and does not appear again until the Exodus (Exodus 11:1).

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In each case, these plagues compel Pharaoh to release those held in his power. Genesis reports, “And Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, ‘… Take your wife and go’” (Genesis 12:18–19). And the Book of Exodus, in very similar language, tells us, “And Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron at night and said, ‘… Take what you have said and go’” (Exodus 12:31–32).

Lastly, when Abraham and Israel leave Egypt, they depart with very similar items: Abraham leaves “very heavy in livestock, silver and gold” (Genesis 13:2), and the Israelites leave with “articles of silver and gold and clothing” and “very heavy in livestock, both sheep and cattle” (Exodus 12:35–38).

The similarities between Abraham’s and Israel’s experiences in Egypt are undeniable and, as a result, they have been observed by ancient, medieval and modern commentators.² There is, however, a second Exodus event in Abraham’s life that, given its subtlety, has gone largely unnoticed by modern scholars, though it was observed by several medieval commentators: the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, where Abraham and his nephew Lot engage in activities strangely reminiscent of Israel’s later Exodus experience—in particular, the Passover.

In Genesis 18, Abraham is visited by three mysterious travelers. Part of their mystique is that they have an intimate knowledge of Abraham despite having only recently arrived on the scene. During the meal, for example, one of the visitors asks, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” (Genesis 18:9). Perhaps a little perplexed at how this stranger knows his wife’s name, Abraham replies, “In the tent.” The visitor then responds, “I will certainly return to you in the spring, and your wife will have a son” (Genesis 18:10).

These, of course, are no ordinary wayfarers. One is later referred to as “the LORD” and the others are later called “angels.” And they are not visiting Abraham simply to deliver the good news of a birth announcement; they have come bearing some bad news as well: the imminent destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Upon hearing of Sodom and Gomorrah’s impending doom, Abraham engages God in a bargaining session, asking him to spare these cities if at least fifty righteous people can be found in their midst. God agrees, saying “for their sake I will spare the whole place” (Genesis 18:26). Abraham, apparently realizing he has aimed too high, gradually whittles this number down. God agrees with each lower number, leaving Abraham with the promise that he will not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if there are at least ten righteous people in residence.

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Meanwhile, the two angels move on to Sodom, where Lot invites them to stay for a meal (Genesis 19:1–3). They agree, but shortly after the meal things turn sour. The inhabitants of Sodom surround Lot’s home and demand that he send out his visitors “so that we may know them” (Genesis 19:5). This is not the “let’s get acquainted” kind of knowledge, as Lot’s response to their request demonstrates: “Do not do this evil thing, my brothers. Here are my two virgin daughters. Take them and do as you please, only do not do a thing to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof” (Genesis 19:8). The inhabitants of Sodom refuse Lot’s offer and begin making their way to his door to take the strangers by force. At the last moment the angels pull Lot into his house, strike those outside with blindness, and tell Lot to gather his loved ones and get out of town, “for we are about to destroy this place” (Genesis 19:13). They do get out, escorted by the angels, and Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed with “fire and brimstone” from heaven. Yet, not all of Lot’s family survive this ordeal. Lot’s future sons-in-law, for example, think he is kidding when he tells them of Sodom’s impending doom and they choose to remain in the city until it is too late. Even Lot’s immediate family does not escape unscathed. Although the angels warn them not to look back at Sodom’s destruction, Lot’s wife does and she is transformed into a pillar of salt.

This narrative also raises a number of interesting theological and ethical questions, such as why God, who is elsewhere presented as omniscient and omnipresent, would need to “go down” to Sodom and Gomorrah “to see if they have acted according to the cry that has come to me” (Genesis 18:21) and why Lot, who is elsewhere extolled for his righteousness, would offer his virgin daughters to a sex-craved 025crowd.^b Yet, here, too, we find several intriguing parallels to Israel’s later Exodus experience.

First of all, the harsh conditions that lead God to render judgment against Sodom and Gomorrah, on the one hand, and Egypt, on the other, are similarly described. In Exodus, God speaks to Moses from the Burning Bush:

I have seen the humiliation of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry in the presence of their taskmasters, and I know their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians … Behold, the cry of the Israelites has come before me.

(Exodus 3:7–9a)

In describing the situation in Sodom and Gomorrah, God tells Abraham:

The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is exceedingly onerous. I will go down and I will see if they have acted according to the cry that has come before me. And if not, I will know.

(Genesis 18:20–21)

In both situations “the cry” of a people “has come before” God, and God “goes down” to “see” and “know” (or because God already sees and knows) its cause. Nowhere else in the Bible do we find all these activities mentioned together, let alone in reference to God.

Another parallel between these narratives is the description of God’s movement in each. When God and his angelic entourage first approach Abraham’s encampment, Abraham rushes out to meet them, bows to the ground, and says,

My lord, if I have found favor in your eyes do not pass by your servant … Let me get a little bread, and you can refresh yourselves, and afterwards you may pass by, since you are passing by your servant.

(Genesis 18:3, 5)

The repetition of the verb “to pass by or over” (Hebrew ‘abar) is strange, especially since it appears only three times in Genesis up to this point (Genesis 8:1, 12:6, 15:17). Such redundancy is rarely if ever accidental, but rather intends to direct the reader’s attention to an important literary theme or theological insight. With this in mind, it seems significant that the next time God passes by anything in the Bible is when he “passes over” Egypt during the Passover (hence, the name). Indeed, Exodus 12, which describes the events of that first paschal night, uses the verb ‘abar together with the “technical” term for God’s activity during the Passover: pasach (traditionally interpreted as “to pass over” and related to the Hebrew word for the Passover: Pesach).³ In Exodus 12:12–13, God informs Moses,

And I will pass over (‘abar) the land of Egypt this night, and I will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt … and I will pass over (pasach) you, and there will not be a destructive blow against you when I strike down the land of Egypt.

Then, in Exodus 12:23, Moses reports to the Israelite elders,

When the LORD passes over (‘abar) in order to strike the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the lintel and upon the two doorposts and the LORD will pass over (pasach) the entrance and he will not allow the Destroyer to enter into your houses in order to strike.

If “the Destroyer” mentioned in this passage is an angelic being, as most scholars think, then both narratives recount that God, accompanied by his destroying angel(s), “passes over” his elect (Abraham and Israel, respectively) on his way to punish a rebellious people. Perhaps these similarities influenced the Psalmist, when reflecting on the first paschal night, to attribute the destruction of Egypt’s firstborn to more than one angel: “[God] sent upon them his anger, wrath, indignation, enmity—a dispatch of deadly angels” (Psalm 78:49).

A third clue that the Sodom and Gomorrah story foreshadows the Passover is the food offered by Abraham and Lot to their divine guests. When Abraham’s visitors agree to stay for a meal, Abraham asks Sarah to make “cakes” (Genesis 18:6). Then, when the angels continue on to Sodom, Lot serves them “unleavened bread” (Genesis 19:3). At first glance these menu items may seem trivial. Yet, to an ancient Israelite audience they would have been laden with significance.

To begin with, the term “cakes” (Hebrew ‘ugot), though perhaps sounding common to the modern ear, actually appears only three times in the Bible: in this

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story of Abraham and the three heavenly visitors (Genesis 18:6); in the Passover episode (Exodus 12:39); and in the account of the provision of manna in the wilderness (Numbers 11:8). In other words, the term ‘ugot appears only in connection with sacred meals or meals provided by God. Similarly, “unleavened bread” (matzot), though mentioned far more often in the Bible, appears only in connection with sacred or priestly meals.⁴ Further, both terms—“cakes” and “unleavened bread”—make their first appearance in Abraham and Lot’s story and then do not appear again until the Exodus, where they are used together to describe the bread consumed at Passover: “[The Israelites] baked unleavened cakes (‘ugot matzot) of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt; it was not leavened because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait” (Exodus 12:39).

So intimate was the association between “unleavened bread” and the Passover that Rashi, the great 12th-century C.E. biblical scholar, when commenting upon the presence of this food item at Lot’s meal, simply states: “It was the Passover.” My sense is that any ancient Israelite audience, steeped in the traditions of the Exodus, would have come to the same conclusion.

Another connection between the Sodom and Gomorrah story and the Passover relates to the hurried activity found in each. For instance, when the divine visitors agree to stay for a meal, Abraham “hurries” to Sarah, asking her to make cakes “hurriedly” (Genesis 18:6). Then Abraham “runs” to his servant, instructing him to get some meat, after which the servant “hurriedly” prepares a calf (Genesis 18:7). Admittedly, hurrying may simply be what one does when God (or anyone unexpected) shows up for a meal. Yet, hurrying is also central to the first Passover. In Exodus 12:11, the Israelites are told to eat the paschal meal “in haste.” Then, as the last plague is taking its toll on Egypt, Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron and urgently commands them, “Get up, go from this place!” (Exodus 12:31). Finally, in order to facilitate the Israelites’ quick departure, the Egyptians “seize” (or “are strong upon”) the Israelites and “hurriedly send them away,” which does not allow the Israelites “to tarry” (Exodus 12:39).

The similarities between the Israelites’ flight from Egypt and Lot’s flight from Sodom are also noteworthy. First of all, just as Pharaoh commands Moses and Aaron to “Get up, go from this place!” so Lot instructs his sons-in-law, “Get up, go from the city!” (Genesis 19:14)—the only occurrences of this phrase (Hebrew, wayyomer qumu tse’u min …) in the entire Bible. Despite the angel’s instructions to flee immediately, the text records that Lot and his family begin “to tarry” (Genesis 19:16)—another rare word, occurring only two other places in the Torah: the Passover (Exodus 12:39) and when Jacob’s sons leave Egypt for Canaan (Genesis 43:10), a passage that itself has several Exodus allusions.⁵ However, they are not allowed to tarry, because the angels “seize” them by their hands and lead them out of the city.

In light of these parallels, it is interesting that the prophet Jeremiah, when reminding the Israelites of how God delivered them from slavery, uses language more descriptive of Lot’s escape from Sodom than Israel’s escape from Egypt: “The covenant I will make will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers in the day I seized them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt” (Jeremiah 31:32).

A final indication that the Abraham and Lot narrative is intended to prefigure the Passover is God’s announcement to Abraham and Sarah during their meal that they would have a son “at the appointed time” (Genesis 18:14). This phrase occurs in connection with only one other event in the Torah: the Passover. Indeed, “at the appointed time” appears three different times in connection with each of these events (Isaac’s birth: Genesis 17:21, 18:14, 21:2; the Passover: Exodus 13:10, 23:15, 34:18), suggesting that this phrase was integral to both traditions. Therefore, when an Israelite audience heard that Isaac’s birth occurred “at the appointed time”—a time that is further specified as “the time of reviving” (i.e., the spring⁶)—they likely would 044have associated it with the only other event occurring “at the appointed time” in the spring: namely, the Passover.

Jewish scholars of a later period clearly made this association. Ramban, the 13th-century C.E. Spanish exegete, writes concerning this phrase:

The scripture says “at the appointed time in the following year” (Genesis 17:21): This refers to what follows [in Genesis 18] because the announcement of Isaac’s birth was during Passover, and during the following Passover Isaac was born.

Similarly, Midrash Tanchuma says concerning Isaac’s birth:

Sarah was visited at the beginning of the year (i.e., the spring), and Isaac was born a year later, on the night of Passover.

Abraham’s final Exodus experience occurs when God asks him to do the unthinkable:

Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will show you.

(Genesis 22:2)

What follows makes for one of the most dramatic stories in the Bible: After reaching the divinely appointed mountain, Abraham and Isaac journey to the top where Abraham builds an altar, binds Isaac for the sacrifice, places him upon the altar, raises his knife, and plunges it … Actually, at the last moment, an angel calls from heaven, telling Abraham not to harm his son. The reason? “For now I know that you fear God since you did not withhold from me your only son” (Genesis 22:12). In place of his son, Abraham offers a ram, which he finds caught by its horns in a nearby thicket.

As with the other Exodus parallels, this narrative raises a number of intriguing theological and ethical questions, such as why God, who elsewhere denounces child sacrifice, would here ask Abraham to offer up his son as a burnt offering, and why Abraham, who once pled with God to spare the wicked inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, would here silently obey God’s command to kill his own beloved son. As partial explanation, I would propose once again that Abraham’s actions have meaning beyond his life.

In this particular case, Abraham’s offering of a ram in the place of his own firstborn^c son foreshadows Israel’s later practice of ransoming their firstborn sons with a member of the flock.

As Israel is leaving Egypt, God gives the following command:

Consecrate to me all firstborn males. The first offspring of every womb—whether human or animal—belongs to me.

(Exodus 13:2)

Interestingly, this command makes no distinction between firstborn humans and animals: Both belong (that is, should be offered up) to God.⁷ It is only in the reiteration of this law, many verses later, that the practice of sacrificing an animal in the place of a firstborn son is explicitly mentioned:

You shall set apart to the LORD all those who first open the womb … but all the firstborn males of your sons you shall redeem. When in the future your child asks you, “What does this mean?” you shall answer, “By strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human firstborn to the first born of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD every male that first opens the womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.”

(Exodus 13:12–16)

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This sequencing of the command is, in my opinion, deliberate. By mentioning the provision of a substitute for firstborn sons only secondarily, the command prompts listeners to reflect upon the magnitude of their debt to God for redeeming them from slavery, as well as to consider anew whether they, like Abraham, are willing to give anything and everything to God, including their children, who are represented by the firstborn son. The good news, both for Israel and for Abraham, is that, in the case of firstborn sons, God has provided a substitute. Still, the attitude of complete surrender to God remains the ideal for all those who consider themselves Abraham’s descendants.⁸

Within the life of Abraham we find the following Exodus parallels: a foreshadowing of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt (Genesis 12), a prefiguring of the Passover meal (Genesis 18 and 19), and a precursor to the paschal ransoming of the firstborn son (Genesis 22).

It is, in the end, not difficult to understand why the Exodus event would be prefigured in the life of Israel’s founding father. Knowing that the progenitor of the nation went through his own Exodus experiences would give the nation a profound connection with its past and Abraham an important connection to his future—a connection that is given explicit expression by God when making his initial covenant with Abraham:

Know for certain that your offspring will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will judge the nation they serve, and afterwards they will depart with great riches.

(Genesis 15:13–14)

Abraham, therefore, was not merely Israel’s physical forefather, he was its spiritual leader. As a result, Abraham’s life became a model for all those who would follow in his footsteps of faith. As the rabbis observed nearly two thousand years ago:

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to our father Abraham: “Go forth and tread out a path for thy children.”⁹

And Abraham did just that.

No experience had a greater impact on ancient Israel than the Exodus from Egypt.1 So central was this event to Israel’s self-understanding that it formed the basis of Israel’s covenant with God at Mount Sinai. When giving Moses the Ten Commandments, for instance, God begins by explaining, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt … You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2–3). The Exodus experience also provided the moral impetus behind many of Israel’s laws. Concerning the proper treatment of foreigners, 018 Leviticus 19:34 commands: “You shall treat the stranger who […]