For Latter-day Saints embarking on a study of the Old Testament, the Book of Exodus is an undisputed cinematic highlight. It has burning bushes, ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, and the dramatic delivery of the Ten Commandments. But how did the ancient Israelites—and how do modern Jewish scholars—understand this foundational text? A new excerpt published over at the Latter-day Saint history blog, From the Desk, features the introduction to The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus by the late, eminent biblical scholar Nahum M. Sarna, offering a brilliant look at the history, chronology, and theology of the text that shaped both ancient Israel and the modern world.

How Does the JPS Torah Commentary Introduce the Book of Exodus?

Not Your Standard History Book

One of the most crucial points Sarna makes is about managing our expectations of the text. If we read Exodus expecting a detailed, chronological history of the Israelites in Egypt, we will be disappointed. Sarna points out the massive “context gap” in the narrative.

Yet, the narrative is most sparing of detail relating to the period of the oppression. Neither the duration of the sufferings of the Israelites nor anything about their inner life and community existence is mentioned…

Both the selectivity and the disposition of the featured material stamp the Book of Exodus as falling into the category of historiosophy rather than historiography: Not the preservation and recording of the past for its own sake but for the culling of certain historic events for didactic purposes is the intent.

Sarna calls Exodus a “document of faith, not a dispassionate, secular report.” Its goal isn’t to log dates and names (it notably omits the name of the Pharaoh), but to project the Israelite concept of God: a singular Deity who intervenes in history to liberate the oppressed.

The Problem of Chronology

Because Exodus is theological rather than strictly historical, pinning down when it happened is notoriously difficult. Sarna outlines the two main scholarly theories and the problems with both.

The biblical text (1 Kings 6:1) suggests a date in the 15th century B.C.E. However, Sarna notes that during this period, the Egyptian capital was 400 miles south in Thebes, making Moses’ frequent visits to Pharaoh highly unlikely.

Alternatively, archaeology strongly supports a 13th-century B.C.E. date. This was when the capital moved to the Nile Delta and when massive building projects (like the cities of Pithom and Ramses, mentioned in the Bible) were underway. It is also the era of the famous Stele of Merneptah, the earliest known extra-biblical reference to a people called “Israel.” Yet, even this date requires ignoring the literal biblical timeline.

Chapters, Verses, and Forced Debates

Perhaps the most fascinating “insider” detail Sarna provides is about how the book is structured. Have you ever wondered where the 40 chapters of Exodus came from? They aren’t original to the Hebrew text.

Present-day editions divide the Book of Exodus into 40 chapters. This practice is not rooted in Jewish tradition but was borrowed from Christian Bibles. In the late Middle Ages, the Church forced Jews to engage in disputations… This necessitated a common, standardized system of reference, and so the Christian chapter and verse numberings were introduced into the Hebrew manuscript Bibles.

Originally, the text was divided simply by the weekly reading portions (parashot) used in synagogue worship.

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For more on how the Exodus transformed the Israelite calendar, the origins of the prophetic office, and why Sarna believes “history is not a procession of causeless, undirected, meaningless happenings,” head on over to the Latter-day Saint history blog, From the Desk, to read the full excerpt from Nahum Sarna.

While you’re there, check out the new Dieter F. Uchtdorf quotes page!