‘Let my people go!’ The exodus as Israel’s metaphorical divorce from Egypt

Abstract

This article builds upon the prophetic metaphor of Israel being bound to God in a marriage-type relationship, commenced in the Sinai covenant, in which worship of foreign gods would be considered spiritual adultery. It is argued that similar involvement with foreign deities before Sinai, would hinder union between God and his people. Biblical evidence suggests that the Hebrews in Egypt were implicated in the worship of the idols of that nation, which in effect constituted a marriage-type relationship with false gods. Without the termination of this relationship the people could not enter into a covenant bond with Yahweh. On verbal grounds the demand of Moses from Pharaoh to release the Hebrews amounts to a spiritual divorce from the gods of Egypt. Typological considerations lend support to such a construal of the exodus.