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I read some more of Jean-Louis Ska’s Introduction to Reading the Pentateuch last night and today. Here are some thoughts:
1. On page 76-77, Ska says that Exodus 14:11-12 is a later addition. There, the Israelites cry out that it would have been better for them to remain in Egypt than to die in the wilderness. Ska thinks that Exodus 14 would flow without those verses. In v 10, the Israelites are afraid and cry out to the LORD. In vv 13-14, Moses tells them to fear not, for they shall soon see the salvation of the LORD. VV 13-14 respond to v 10, using some of the same vocabulary. Moreover, vv 11-12 stand out stylistically and on account of their content, which Ska identifies as “legal vocabulary; dangers in the wilderness; longing for Egypt; the problem of slavery.”
Personally, I don’t think vv 11-12 are intrusive to the story. They elaborate on the Israelites’ fear. It’s interesting, though, that they could cry out to God, while questioning God’s wisdom in bringing them out of Egypt.
2. On page 99, Ska talks about the eleventh century Jewish exegete, Abraham Ibn Ezra, who believed that parts of the Pentateuch were not written by Moses, as well as questioned that the entire Pentateuch could be written on plastered stones, as Moses supposedly commanded Israel to do in Deuteronomy 27:2-3. Ska says that Ibn Ezra “was to remain isolated for a long time and, until the time of Spinoza, he had only a few followers.” At first, I thought this meant that Ibn Ezra was unpopular on account of his views regarding the Pentateuch, but that’s not true, for he was prominent and prolific. Ska means that few agreed with Ibn Ezra that Moses didn’t write all of the Pentateuch, until Spinoza came along.
