A Theology of Justice in Exodus. By Nathan Bills

Abstract

This work is a revised dissertation that approaches the text of Exodus through the theological lens of creation and justice. Offering a synchronic reading, Bills highlights the creational motifs of Genesis as a critical backdrop to the narrative of Exodus. He argues against scholars who hold a particularistic view of God’s justice for Israel and contends that Exodus’s use of creational themes embraces a universal perspective on justice. He also links the theological theme of justice with Israel’s new life as a liberated people who, as servants to YHWH, are formed by the ethical mandate to live as a just people. The first chapter offers a detailed survey of how justice was perceived in the ancient Near East and in Israel. Bills notes that the biblical word pairing ‘justice and righteousness’ applies not only to Israel but to all humanity. This is made most explicit in the commands regarding the widow, the orphan, and the sojourner as a summary for those with the least power in society who are most in need of justice. The following two chapters turn to the Exodus narrative from Egypt to the wilderness. Bills explores the inner-biblical echoes with Genesis and contends that Exodus 1–4 looks back to God’s justice established in creation and looks forward to Israel’s role as God’s emissary of justice on earth. Exodus 5–15 continues with similar themes, but the question of sovereignty comes to the fore in the clash between Pharaoh and YHWH. The mixed multitude that leaves Egypt is a sign of God’s global desire for justice, and the drama reveals the demise of Pharaoh’s systematic injustice by the mythic victory of YHWH at the sea. In the fourth chapter, Bills turns to pedagogy and sees the wilderness wanderings as YHWH’s movement towards training Israel to be a holy and just people. This leads to the giving of the Law at Sinai, which ‘institutionalizes’ Israel’s vocation to express YHWH’s creational justice both to those within, and outside of, the covenant community. The fifth chapter examines the construction of the tabernacle. Bills contends that the portable shrine ‘institutionalizes’ the Sinai experience. Though he rightly connects the theme of justice to the worshipping community, it is here that his argument seems most stretched. Having minimized the descent of the divine presence foreshadowed in the burning bush, actualized at Sinai, and concluding with God’s glory filling the tabernacle, we find that the priestly motif of holiness becomes obscured. Bills has crafted an excellent argument for creational justice and pedagogy in Exodus, but it comes at the expense of the cult, atonement, purity, and holiness, which are all represented by the tabernacle and the divine presence. Even with a synchronic reading of Exodus, the tabernacle points directly to the work/worship of the cult as expressed in Leviticus. Despite this omission, Bills offers a compelling reading of Exodus that builds on a creational theology of justice found in Genesis. Throughout the book he makes use of canonical and intertextual links as well as a breadth of research to help build his argument. This volume will be an excellent resource for clergy and students of the Bible who are interested in the Exodus narrative and its relationship to God’s justice in the past and its importance in the world today.