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A review by jbmorgan86
The Exodus by Richard Elliott Friedman
2.0
I appreciate when biblical scholars attempt to give academia a popular-level treatment. The scholar may recount basic arguments from the world of academia (which is refreshing to me), lengthy arguments are boiled down to their essential points, and the author lets his/her personality shine through. Therefore, I was delighted when I saw this book by Richard Elliott Friedman at Barnes & Noble. Since I am teaching a Sunday school class on Exodus, I decided to pick up a copy.
The book is entitled "Exodus," but really only about a third of it is about the exodus. Friedman does believe that the exodus is historical, but he does not believe it happened the way the Bible describes it. His basic argument is that it was not all of the children of Israel who fled Egypt, but only the tribe of Levi. The Levites (who worshipped Yahweh) had to settle into the land of Canaan with the other tribes of Israel (who worshipped El or Elohim). The Conquest did not happen. Eventually Levi fully integrated into Israel and their story became the story of all Israel.
The second third of the book is about literacy in Israel. Interestingly, he argues that literacy was widespread in Israel and quotes Christopher Rollston in this section. Dr. Rollston was my seminary professor and he actually argues the opposite, that literacy was not widespread in ancient Israel!
The last third of the book is about the rise of monotheism. Not much of this is new information. Scholars such as Frank Moore Cross, Mark S. Smith, Christopher Rollston, and others have been arguing for the evolution of monotheism in Israel for decades.
While I found Friedman's Levite theory interesting, I do not find it convincing. Friedman makes some bizarre leaps of logic. For example, he cites three examples of the Tribe of Levi's history of violence. THEREFORE, that explains why the Levites claimed a city in each tribal allotment of territory. Three times God talks in the first person plural, but this all stops at the Tower of Babel. THEREFORE, this is where all of the other gods of the pantheon died. This kind of logic runs throughout the book.
The book is entitled "Exodus," but really only about a third of it is about the exodus. Friedman does believe that the exodus is historical, but he does not believe it happened the way the Bible describes it. His basic argument is that it was not all of the children of Israel who fled Egypt, but only the tribe of Levi. The Levites (who worshipped Yahweh) had to settle into the land of Canaan with the other tribes of Israel (who worshipped El or Elohim). The Conquest did not happen. Eventually Levi fully integrated into Israel and their story became the story of all Israel.
The second third of the book is about literacy in Israel. Interestingly, he argues that literacy was widespread in Israel and quotes Christopher Rollston in this section. Dr. Rollston was my seminary professor and he actually argues the opposite, that literacy was not widespread in ancient Israel!
The last third of the book is about the rise of monotheism. Not much of this is new information. Scholars such as Frank Moore Cross, Mark S. Smith, Christopher Rollston, and others have been arguing for the evolution of monotheism in Israel for decades.
While I found Friedman's Levite theory interesting, I do not find it convincing. Friedman makes some bizarre leaps of logic. For example, he cites three examples of the Tribe of Levi's history of violence. THEREFORE, that explains why the Levites claimed a city in each tribal allotment of territory. Three times God talks in the first person plural, but this all stops at the Tower of Babel. THEREFORE, this is where all of the other gods of the pantheon died. This kind of logic runs throughout the book.