Commentaria in Exodum
This book, from the chief subject of the work, was called by the Greeks first, and then by the Latins, Exodus, that is, a going out (for it narrates the going out of Moses and the Hebrews from Egypt toward the promised land of Chanaan), just as the others are called by the Greeks, and by the Latins, Genesis, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, from the subject which each of these books treats. For among the Hebrews no name corresponds to these titles; but they themselves designate each book by its opening, as they call Exodus Veelle semoth, that is, “and these are the names,” because Exodus begins so.
The author is Moses; who, as in Genesis, having described the creation and the propagation of the world, soon left aside the history of the other nations and described only the history, origin and propagation of his own people, the Hebrews, that is, the faithful people sprung from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; so here in Exodus he continues the same.
Taking up again, therefore, the history of the Patriarchs and of the Hebrews from the death of Joseph, with which he had ended Genesis, Moses here carries it on to the second year after the going out of the Hebrews from Egypt, as is plain from Exod. the last chapter, verses 1 and 15.
Exodus therefore embraces the events of 145 years. That this is so is plain; for from the death of Joseph to the birth of Moses 64 years passed. But Moses in the eightieth year of his age led the people out of Egypt, and in the following year set up the tabernacle, with the setting up of which Exodus ends; join, then, 64 with 80, add to these the one following year, and you will have the 145 years just mentioned.
On this matter, and therefore on the whole chronology of Exodus, note that the Hebrews dwelt in Egypt not 430 years, as some will have it, but only two hundred and fifteen: so that from the descent of Jacob into Egypt, which happened in the 130th year of Jacob and the 39th of Joseph, to the departure of Moses and the Hebrews from Egypt, only 215 years passed. That this is so I shall show at chapter 12, verse 40. From this descent to the death of Joseph 71 years passed: for this descent happened in the 39th year of Joseph, and Joseph lived to the 110th year of his age.
Again, from the birth of Moses to the departure from Egypt 80 years passed. Whence it follows that the intervening time, which passed from the death of Joseph to the birth of Moses, was one of 64 years.
Add to this the 71 years of Joseph, which passed from the descent of Jacob into Egypt to the death of Joseph, you will have and complete the said 215 years, which passed from this descent to the departure.
Trogus Pompeius, or Justin, book 36, therefore errs, who relates that Moses was the son of Joseph, since Joseph died before the birth of Moses.
Josephus also errs, who in book 1 Against Apion asserts that Joseph died four ages, or 170 years, before Moses; for it must be corrected.
From what has been said it follows that Exodus embraces the history from the year of the world 2310, in which Joseph died, to the year of the world 2454, in which the going out of Moses and the Hebrews from Egypt took place; nay, to the following year, 2455, in which the tabernacle was set up.
In Exodus, therefore, Moses narrates first the death of the Patriarchs, that is, of the sons of Jacob, and the harsh oppression and servitude of the Hebrews by the Egyptians which followed. Secondly, the birth of Moses, his deeds, and the plagues of Egypt. Thirdly, the passage of the Hebrews through the Red Sea, the Egyptians being drowned in it. Fourthly, that manna rained on the Hebrews in the desert, that they found abundance of water in it, and that Amalec was struck down. Fifthly, that God gave them the law on Sinai and entered into a covenant with them. Sixthly, that the Hebrews broke the covenant and adored the calf, and therefore Moses broke the tables of the law and slew the covenant-breakers. Seventhly, the making of the tabernacle and its various furniture is described. So the divisions of Exodus are: first, the ten plagues of Egypt; secondly, the decalogue with the judicial and ceremonial precepts; thirdly, the making of the tabernacle.
Moreover, all these things were done and written for this end: First, that God might make good what he had promised to Abraham, Genes. 17:7 and 8: “I will establish my covenant between me and thee, that I may be thy God, and the God of thy seed after thee, and I will give to thee and to thy seed the land of Chanaan.” Secondly, that out of his people brought forth from Egypt and from idolaters he might form for himself a Church on Sinai. Thirdly, that he might show how great is his care of the Church and of his own, and how omnipotent and terrible he is in punishing their enemies. Fourthly, that he might give a type of the new Church of the Christians, who from heathendom, through baptism, through many temptations and struggles, and through many miracles, under the leadership of Christ press on toward the promised land in heaven. As therefore in Genesis the history and type of the creation of the world, so in Exodus the history and type of its redemption are recorded: so that Rabanus rightly wrote that almost all the Sacraments of the present Church are foreshadowed and expressed in Exodus.