Exodus Recommendations Needed

[Schabel]

Hi,

I’m teaching a bible course at my church using the Catholic Exchange bible study materials. Next up is the book of Exodus.

Having been a student in prior courses on Exodus, I’m sure that some controversial issues will arise; in particular, the notions that some of the miracles, especially the plagues, were not miraculous at all but natural events.

I am aware of some of the arguments against these being naturally occurring events (i.e. if the “Sea of Reeds” was shallow and naturally lowered by a strong wind, isn’t it miraculous that the waters were able to drown the Egyptian army?"), but I’d like to find:

1. a good commentary or two on Exodus in general
2. a good source for debunking the non-miraculous explanations
   Yes, I agree that God could work miracles through nature. But I think these events went well beyond natural occurrences.

An example of 1) would be the book I used for the previous study on the Gospel of John: Steven Ray’s book St. John’s Gospel. It is wonderful, and I highly recommend it!

edited to add:
Oh, yeah, any on-line citations would be appreciated!

 

[Fidelis]

I don’t know if you are going to find as detailed a book on Exodus as Steve Ray’s book on John’s gospel, but the best resource I know of is the Navarre Bible Commentary on the Pentatuech (the first five books of the Bible).

For interesting background, you might want to prepare by listening to Scott Hahn’s tape series on Exodus available here:

saintjoe.com/p/prod_desc.pl?id=158

It might also be instructive, as a group, to view Steve Ray’s Footprints of God video about Moses. It would really help people to visualize the people and places in the narrative.

By the way, thanks for bringing the word of God to our fellow Catholics through your Bible studies. More of us need to get off our duffs and do the same.

 

[Pax]

I would give a “second” to the recommendations of Fidelis. I can only add an important strategy to countering efforts to demythologize miracles in scripture. Force the issue by showing that there is nothing in the scriptural text that suggests that anything less than a miracle occurred. God obviously used natural materials, but they were clearly miraculous events, and nothing in scripture suggests otherwise.