Overview – Sefer Shemot/0/en

Overview – Sefer Shemot

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Structure of the Book

Sefer Shemot tells how the Israelites transformed from a nation of slaves serving Paroh to a nation of free people serving Hashem.  It can be divided into three main sections:

• The first unit, Chapters 1:1 – 15:21, speaks of the period of bondage and Israel's physical emancipation by Hashem.
• The second section, Chapters 15:22 – 18:27, is a transition unit which describes the short period when the nation is already free, but have not yet covenantally bound themselves to Hashem. It describes the people's first challenges on the road to nationhood.
• The last section, Chapters 19:1 – 40:38, speaks of the nation's spiritual redemption and their entering into a covenantal relationship with God.

This division is based on the above thematic issues, the different settings of each unit,¹ and the varying protagonists highlighted in each section.²  The Song of the Sea (Chapter 15) serves as a further literary marker, festively closing the first unit and separating the prose accounts which surround it.  For elaboration on the book's structure, and further subdivisions of each of its sections, see Structure – Sefer Shemot.

Theological Issues

¹ While the first section takes place in Egypt, the transition unit occurs en route in the Wilderness and the final chapters take place while the nation is camped at Mt. Sinai.

² While the first section focuses mainly on the interactions between Paroh and Moshe (and their respective nations), the second two speak of the relationship between Israel, Hashem and Moshe.