Exodus 14–15 As an Anti-Baal Polemic and Its Implications for Interpreting Exodus 15:17 and Dating These Chapters
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Concordia Seminary - Saint Louis Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Concordia Seminary Scholarship Spring 5-21-2021 Exodus 14–15 as an Anti-Baal Polemic and Its Implications for Interpreting Exodus 15:17 and Dating These Chapters Brent Olson [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.csl.edu/phd Part of the Biblical Studies Commons Recommended Citation Olson, Brent, "Exodus 14–15 as an Anti-Baal Polemic and Its Implications for Interpreting Exodus 15:17 and Dating These Chapters" (2021). Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation. 93. https://scholar.csl.edu/phd/93 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Concordia Seminary Scholarship at Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EXODUS 14–15 AS AN ANTI-BAAL POLEMIC AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERPRETING EXODUS 15:17 AND DATING THESE CHAPTERS A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Department of Exegetical Theology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Brent Olson May, 2021 Approved by: Dr. Andrew Bartelt Dissertation Advisor Dr. Thomas Egger Reader Dr. Tremper Longman Reader © by Brent Michael Olson. All rights reserved. ii Dedicated to my mom and dad, Helene and Rodger Olson, who have made obeying the Fourth Commandment very easy. iii CONTENTS PREFACE ...................................................................................................................................... x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................... xii ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................................... xiii CHRONOLOGY........................................................................................................................ xvii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. xviii CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 THE METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURE TO BE EMPLOYED .................................... 5 CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................................... 9 HISTORY OF RESEARCH ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BAAL MYTH AND EXODUS 14–15.......................................................................................................... 9 THE ISSUES COMPLICATING ASSESSMENT OF THE BAAL MYTH’S RELATIONSHIP TO EXODUS 14–15 ............................................................................... 9 HISTORICAL SURVEY OF SCHOLARSHIP ON THE EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BAAL MYTH AND EXODUS 14–15............ 14 Joseph Frederick Berg (1838) .................................................................................... 14 Otto Eissfeldt (1932).................................................................................................. 15 Umberto Cassuto (1951) ............................................................................................ 16 William Foxwell Albright (1944, 1968) .................................................................... 17 John Gray (1953) ....................................................................................................... 17 Norman Habel (1964) ................................................................................................ 19 Frank Eakin (1967) .................................................................................................... 21 Frank Moore Cross (1968, 1973)............................................................................... 22 Richard Clifford (1972) ............................................................................................. 23 iv Patrick D. Miller (1973) ............................................................................................ 24 Foster McCurley (1983) ............................................................................................ 25 Carola Kloos (1986) .................................................................................................. 26 Martin Brenner (1991) ............................................................................................... 29 Bernard Batto (1992) ................................................................................................. 30 Mark S. Smith (1994, 1997, 2004, 2007, 2008) ........................................................ 32 John Day (2000) ........................................................................................................ 35 Alberto Green (2003) ................................................................................................. 36 Thomas Dozeman (2009) .......................................................................................... 39 Utzschneider and Oswald (2014) .............................................................................. 42 Shawn Flynn (2014) .................................................................................................. 44 James Anderson (2015) ............................................................................................. 45 Debra Scoggins Ballentine (2015) ............................................................................. 47 Brian Russell (2017) .................................................................................................. 51 Aaron Tugendhaft (2018) .......................................................................................... 53 Paul K. K. Cho (2019) ............................................................................................... 55 CHAPTER THREE ..................................................................................................................... 61 THE SONG OF THE SEA’S DELIBERATE PARALLELING OF THE BAAL MYTH 61 TESTING THE SONG’S RELATIONSHIP TO THE BAAL MYTH WITH RICHARD HAYS’S METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................. 61 EVALUATING THE SONG’S RELATIONSHIP TO THE BAAL MYTH WITH WILLIAM HALLO’S CONTEXTUAL METHODOLOGY............................................. 69 CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................................................ 74 THE ANTI-BAAL POLEMICAL INTENT OF EXODUS 14–15, PART 1: UNDERSTANDING THE BAAL-ZEPHON REFERENCES IN EXODUS 14 WITHIN v THEIR CANONICAL LITERARY CONTEXT ................................................................ 74 THE BAAL-ZEPHON CULTIC SITE REFERENCES IN EXODUS 14:2 AND 9B ....... 75 EXODUS 14’S ACCOUNT OF THE SEA EVENT AS THE CULMINATION OF YAHWEH’S WAR AGAINST ALL THE GODS OF EGYPT ......................................... 77 EXODUS’S PROSE ACCOUNT OF THE SEA EVENT AS THE CONTINUATION OF THE LITERARY UNIT DEPICTING YAHWEH’S CONFLICT WITH EGYPT’S GODS ............................................................................................................................................ 83 EXODUS 15’S ACCOUNT OF THE SEA EVENT AS THE CULMINATION OF YAHWEH’S WAR AGAINST ALL THE GODS OF EGYPT ......................................... 92 THE “PLAGUES” AS YAHWEH’S APPROPRIATION OF SPECIFIC EGYPTIAN GODS’ DOMAINS AND THE HERMENEUTICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THIS APPROPRIATION ............................................................................................................. 95 CHAPTER FIVE ......................................................................................................................... 99 THE ANTI-BAAL POLEMICAL INTENT OF EXODUS 14–15, PART 2: UNDERSTANDING THE BAAL-ZEPHON REFERENCES IN EXODUS 14 WITHIN THEIR CANONICALLY PRESENTED HISTORICAL CONTEXT ............................... 99 SETH/BAAL-ZEPHON WORSHIP IN EGYPT DURING THE PRE-HYKSOS PERIOD .......................................................................................................................................... 100 SETH/BAAL-ZEPHON WORSHIP IN EGYPT DURING THE HYKSOS PERIOD ... 104 SETH/BAAL-ZEPHON WORSHIP IN EGYPT DURING THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY ....................................................................................................................... 106 SETH/BAAL-ZEPHON WORSHIP IN EGYPT DURING THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY ....................................................................................................................... 115 EGYPTIAN WORSHIP OF SETH/BAAL-ZEPHON AS THE GOD WHO CONTROLS HISTORICO-GEOGRAPHICAL WATERWAYS .......................................................... 118 PROBABLE ISRAELITE, PARTICULARLY MOSAIC, KNOWLEDGE OF THE BAAL MYTH DURING THE EGYPTIAN SOJOURN ............................................................. 121 THE BAAL-ZEPHON REFERENCES IN EXODUS 14 WITHIN THEIR CANONICALLY PRESENTED LITERARY AND HISTORICAL CONTEXTS: CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................. 127 CHAPTER SIX .........................................................................................................................