"Exodus Old and New" by L. Michael Morales. A Review

 

Exodus Old and New: A Biblical Theology of Redemption

L. Michael Morales

IVP Academic

www.ivpress.com

ISBN:  978-0-8308-5539-1; August 2020; $22.00

 

It doesn’t take long while out hiking in the hinterlands. As one treks through shrubs and woodlands, ascending and descending along dusty trails or unmarked ways, there begins to grow a sense of somewhereness. I am presently here, trudging and traipsing, dirty and damp, heading to an end point, but I belong somewhere else; somewhere that is beautiful, somewhere that is tranquil and restful, somewhere subtly or surprisingly refreshing.  L. Michael Morales, professor of biblical studies at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Taylors, South Carolina, and previous provost and professor of Old Testament at Reformation Bible College in Sanford, Florida, has recently penned a scenic script that taps into this somewhereness. It is a 224-page softback that takes up exile and exodus in Scripture, and deciphers the topological map of holy writ in a way the enhances the view along the journey, but also enriches the longing for that somewhere. “Exodus Old and New: A Biblical Theology of Redemption”, one of the most recent installments in IVP Academic’s “The Essential Studies in Biblical Theology” edited by Benjamin L. Gladd, is a treasure trove for anyone who desires to dig into Scripture, and looks to interpret their longing for that somewhere. 

Morales usually takes the trail through Scripture that one would expect. And yet at crucial moments he brings us to a standstill to drink in some aspect of the landscape that is too easily missed. The journey begins in Eden and takes us to Babel, with guided descriptions of how, incident after incident, the exile and exodus define much of the foliage and color. He insures that the reader grasps the significance of these earlier episodes, because crucial “for understanding the theology of the Bible, the expulsion from the Garden of Eden means that the restoration of humanity must be in the form of an exodus back to God, a deliverance out of exile” (8). 

The author further brings us to Egypt where we stay a spell, peering over the lip of the crevasse into Sheol, watch the slaying of the Sea Dragon and the de-creation of Egypt, investigate the significance of the role of the glory of God in the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, marvel at the rescue of whole households who are under the blood of the Passover lamb, and celebrate the return from exile of the firstborn into the fellowship of God. So much that goes on here pictures God’s overarching endgame for all humankind, where humanity’s separation from God and ignorance of him, is being reversed. Therefore, understood “this way, the first half of Exodus restores a knowledge of Yahweh to the world through the exodus (Exodus 1-15), and the second half restores the presence of Yahweh to humanity through the covenant gift of his tabernacling presence to Israel (Exodus 16-40)” (39). 

Then our guide moves us along to take in the landscape from the time of Solomon’s temple on through the major and minor prophets. Here we meet Elijah, Hosea, Zechariah, and others, learning from them of a second, and greater exodus; one that sounds the note of escalation: “There is, then, a principle of escalation in the prophecies of a second exodus, for the second exodus must transcend the first if there is to be any real hope” (121). But the majority of the time we explore the countryside with Isaiah and come away with an increased hankering of somewhereness that is tied tightly to someone. A specific someone who walks through the exile of Sheol before us and rises out of the abyss leading us in and beyond the exodus into the somewhere with God. As he wrote earlier in the book, “the mediator for God’s people must first experience the journey himself for their sakes, to lead them along the same path” (81). 

Our time on the way wraps up in the Gospel according to John. Morales asserts that one “of the most dominant motifs of the New Testament, the new exodus serves as an organizing principle and explanatory key for many of its narratives and teachings” (160). Therefore, he takes up John as a most fitting demonstration, marking out the numerous ways exile/exodus are the landmarks that show us how to walk with Jesus and where he is taking us; “the Gospel of John presents the reality of Jesus’ new exodus as a reversal of humanity’s exile and an entry into the new creation” (172). We are left, not yet at that longed for somewhere, but to be dazzled at the inner life of the Trinity, and to marvel at how the whole God is wholly united and wholly engaged in saving his people wholly.

“Exodus Old and New” is a perfect read for students of the Bible, especially those who sense that there are much richer vistas than what they have normally observed in their previous readings. I imagine that the way Morales teases out the many-layered connections throughout the Scriptures must have been something of how Jesus taught his disciples to hear and read them; “And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:25-27). Not only is this volume a must for seminary students, but pastors, elders, and serious disciples alike should take hold of their own copy, pen in hand, and consume this manuscript. I highly recommend the work. 

I’m very thankful that IVP Academic sent me the copy of the book used for this review. They made no demands on me, other than that I should bring for my honest analysis. And thus I have done, and thus it is so.