Scripture Records, by George Rawlinson, pp. 290, 291.

The account of Pharaoh’s daughter bathing in the Nile has been disputed (Ex. 2:5), but Herodotus says (as ancient monuments also show) that in ancient Egypt the women were under no restraint. Also, the Egyptians believed a sovereign virtue existed in the Nile waters. Pharaoh at times evidently went out to the river for purposes of worship. It was here that he was met at least twice by Moses during the ten plagues.—Ex. 7:15; 8:20.

As to absence of Egyptian monumental evidence of the Israelites’ sojourn in Egypt, this is not surprising, in view of the fact that a study of the monuments there reveals that the Egyptians did not record matters uncomplimentary to themselves. However, an even more powerful testimony than stone monumental evidence is the living monument of the observance of the Passover by the Jews, who have commemorated the Exodus in this way throughout their entire history.

There is strong ground for accepting the historical accuracy and the general narrative as given in Exodus. Jesus and the writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures quote or refer to Exodus more than forty times. The integrity of the writer Moses attests to the book’s authenticity. He points out with the greatest candor his own weaknesses, his hesitancy and his mistakes, not attributing anything of the miracles, leadership and organization to his own prowess, though he was acknowledged as great by the Egyptians and, in the main, much respected by Israel.—Ex. 11:3; 3:10-12; 4:10-16.

The plagues are Egyptian in setting, supporting their historicity. Locust swarms are common in Egypt, one Egyptologist telling of being in a “regular snow-drift of locusts” for six days. He also saw a fearful hailstorm and mentions an extraordinary cattle murrain “which carried off 40,000 head of cattle.” Of course, this does not detract from the miraculous nature of the plagues, highly intensified calamities that came on time and as previously announced, that stopped at Moses’ word and that, in the last seven, did not afflict the Israelites. Moreover, they appeared in a logical and meaningful order.

Joseph P. Free, a professor of archaeology who traveled in Egypt, says that he found straw in many of the bricks there. John Wilson, Egyptologist of the University of Chicago, says that, in Egyptian brick-making, straw was used as much as it was left out.—Ex. 5:7, 10-13, 16.

The divine hand is revealed in Israel’s sojourn in Egypt and their Exodus. A better place could hardly be found for Israel’s rapid growth to a mighty nation. Had they remained in Canaan they would have been subjected to much warfare with the Canaanite inhabitants, while in the territory of the first world power during the time of its zenith they were protected by its might. They lived in the best part of the land, contributing to health and fertility, as well as to intellectual growth to some extent.

But Egypt was not adequate for moral and spiritual discipline and advancement in theocratic principles, and certainly not for their being made a nation under theocratic rule and of exclusive devotion to Jehovah, with a sacrificing and teaching priesthood. Furthermore, God’s promise to give Abraham’s seed the land of Canaan had to be fulfilled and God’s time had come for it. Israel was to be constituted a great nation, with Jehovah as its sovereign King. The book of Exodus relates Jehovah’s accomplishment of this purpose.—Ex. 15:13-21.

OUTLINE OF CONTENTS

I. Israel’s rapid growth brings fear to Egypt’s ruler (chap. 1)

A. Pharaoh decrees death of male babies

B. Decree resisted by Hebrews; their multiplication continues

II. Jehovah delivers Israel by the hand of Moses (chaps. 2-15)

A. Moses adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, taught by own mother (2:1-10)

B. Kills Egyptian persecutor, flees to Midian, marries, becomes shepherd (2:11–3:1)

C. Commissioned at burning bush as deliverer (3:2–4:17)

D. Returns to Egypt with Aaron, appears before Pharaoh; nine plagues on Egypt (4:18–11:10)

E. Passover instituted; tenth plague (12:1-29)

F. Exodus of Israel through Red Sea; Pharaoh’s army destroyed (12:30–15:27)

III. Jehovah organizes Israel as a theocratic nation, gives them the Law (chaps. 16-40)

A. The miraculous manna; sabbath day observance instituted (16:1-36)

B. Water supplied from rock; administration of assistants set up at Jethro’s suggestion (17:1–18:27)

C. Moses goes up into Mount Sinai as Jehovah manifests glory to Israel (19:1-25)

D. The Ten Commandments and other laws (20:1–23:33)

E. The Law covenant made over the blood of animals; Moses in the mountain forty days and nights (24:1-18)

F. Instructions on building the tabernacle and its furniture, and on making garments for the priests, installing priesthood, and so forth (25:1–31:18)

G. The people worship a golden calf during Moses’ absence; he breaks stone tablets given him by Jehovah; Levites side with Jehovah, kill about 3,000 men (32:1-35)

H. Moses goes into mountain with two more stone tablets; Jehovah writes Ten Commandments on them (33:1–34:28; compare Deuteronomy 10:1-5)

I. Moses’ face shines; veils face (34:29-35)

J. Construction of tabernacle and furniture by selected workmen; priests’ garments made; all from material contributed by the people (35:1–39:43)

K. Tabernacle set up on Nisan 1, 1512 B.C.E.; Jehovah manifests approval (40:1-38)

See the book “All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial,” pp. 19-25.

EXORCISM

See SPIRITISM.

EXPANSE

(Heb., ra·qiʹaʽ, extended surface, expanse).

Concerning the second creative period or “day” Genesis 1:6-8 states: “And God went on to say: ‘Let an expanse come to be in between the waters and let a dividing occur between the waters and the waters.’ Then God proceeded to make the expanse and to make a division between the waters that should be beneath the expanse and the waters that should be above the expanse. And it came to be so. And God began to call the expanse Heaven.” Later the record speaks of luminaries appearing in “the expanse of the heavens,” and still later of flying creatures flying over the earth “upon the face of the expanse of the heavens.”—Gen. 1:14, 15, 17, 20.

The Greek Septuagint Version used the word ste·reʹo·ma (meaning “a firm and solid structure”) to translate the Hebrew ra·qiʹaʽ, and the Latin Vulgate used the Latin term firmamentum, which also conveys the idea of something solid and firm. The King James Version, the Revised Standard Version and many others follow suit in translating ra·qiʹaʽ by the word “firmament.” However, in its marginal reading the King James Version gives the alternate reading “expansion,” and the American Standard Version gives “expanse” in its footnote. Other translations support such rendering: “expanse” (Ro; Fn; Yg; An; NW); “expansión” (VM [Spanish]); “étendue [extent or expanse]” (Segond; Ostervald [French]).

Some endeavor to show that the ancient Hebrew concept of the universe included the idea of a solid vault arched over the earth, with sluice holes through which rain could enter, and with the stars fixed within this solid vault, diagrams of such concept appearing in Bible dictionaries and some Bible translations. (See Harper’s Bible Dictionary, page 194; the Catholic translation called The Jerusalem Bible, footnote to Genesis 1:6; the Spanish Catholic translation Nácar—Colunga, page 11 of Seventh Edition.) Commenting on this attitude, The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Vol. I, pp. 314, 315) states: “But this assumption is in reality based more upon the ideas prevalent in Europe during the Dark Ages than upon any actual statements in the O[ld] T[estament].”

While it is true that the root word (ra·qaʽʹ), from which ra·qiʹaʽ is drawn, is regularly used in the sense of “beating out” something solid, whether by hand, or foot, or by any instrument (compare Exodus 39:3; Ezekiel 6:11), in some cases it is not sound reasoning to rule out a figurative use of the word. Thus at Job 37:18 Elihu asks concerning God: “With him can you beat out [tar·qiʹaʽ] the skies hard like a molten mirror?” That the literal beating out of some solid celestial vault is not meant can be seen from the fact that the word “skies” here comes from a word (shaʹhhaq), meaning “film of dust” or “clouds” (compare Psalm 18:11; Isaiah 40:15), and, in view of the nebulous quality of that which is ‘beaten out,’ it is clear that the Bible writer is only figuratively comparing the skies to a metal mirror whose burnished face gives off a bright reflection.—Compare Daniel 12:3.

So, too, with the “expanse” produced on the second creative “day”, no solid substance is described as being beaten out but, rather, the creation of an open space or division between the waters covering the earth and other waters above the earth. It thus describes the formation of the atmospheric expanse surrounding the earth, and indicates that at one time there was no clear division or open space but that the entire globe was previously enveloped in water vapor. This also accords with scientific reasoning on the early stages of the planet’s formation and the view that at one time all earth’s water existed in the form of atmospheric vapor, due to the extreme heat of the earth’s surface at that point.

That the Hebrew writers of the Bible did not conceive of the sky as originally formed of burnished metal is evident from the warning given through Moses to Israel that, in the event of their disobedience to God, “Your skies that are over your head must also become copper, and the earth that is beneath you iron,” thus metaphorically describing the effects of intense heat and severe drought upon the skies and land of Palestine.—Deut. 28:23, 24.

Similarly, it is obvious that the ancient Hebrews held no pagan concept as to the existence of literal “windows” in the arch of the sky through which earth’s rain descended. Very accurately and scientifically the writer of Job quotes Elihu in describing the process by which rain clouds are formed when he states, at Job 36:27, 28: “For he draws up the drops of water; they filter as rain for his mist, so that the clouds [sh^ehha·qimʹ] trickle, they drip upon mankind abundantly.” Likewise, the expression “floodgates [ʼarub·bothʹ] of the heavens” clearly manifests a figurative expression.—Compare Genesis 7:11; 2 Kings 7:1, 2, 19; Malachi 3:10; see also Proverbs 3:20; Isaiah 5:6; 45:8; Jeremiah 10:13.

In Ezekiel’s vision of heavenly arrangements he describes “the likeness of an expanse like the sparkle of awesome ice” over the heads of the four living creatures. The account is filled with figurative expressions.—Ezek. 1:22-26; 10:1.

Though the formation of the expanse or atmosphere surrounding earth did not involve a “beating out” of something as solid as some metallic substance, yet it should be remembered that the gaseous mixture forming earth’s atmosphere is just as real as land and water, and has weight in itself (in addition to carrying water and innumerable particles of solid materials, such as dust), so that the weight of all the air surrounding earth is estimated at 5,000,000,000,000,000 tons. (The World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 1 [1966], pp. 153, 154) Air pressure at sea level runs about fifteen pounds per square inch (about 1.1 kilograms per square centimeter). It also exercises resistance so that most meteors hitting the immense jacket of air surrounding the earth are burned up by the friction created by the atmosphere. Thus the force implied in the Hebrew word ra·qiʹaʽ is certainly not out of harmony with the known facts.

In the Psalms the “expanse,” along with the “heavens,” is said to tell of God’s works and praise.—Ps. 19:1.

EXPELLING

The judicial excommunication or disfellowshiping of delinquents from membership and association in a community or organization. With religious societies it is a principle and a right inherent in them and is analogous to the powers of capital punishment, banishment and exclusion from membership that are exercised by political and municipal bodies. In the congregation of God it is exercised to maintain the purity of the organization doctrinally and morally. The exercise of this power is necessary to the continued existence of the organization, and particularly so the Christian congregation. It must remain clean and maintain God’s favor in order to be used by him and to represent him. Otherwise, God would expel or cut off the entire congregation.—Rev. 2:5; 1 Cor.5:5, 6.

JEHOVAH’S ACTION

Jehovah God took expelling or disfellowshiping action in numerous instances. He sentenced Adam to death and drove him and his wife Eve out of the garden of Eden. (Gen. 3:19, 23, 24) Cain was banished and became a wanderer and a fugitive in the earth. (Gen. 4:11, 14, 16) The angels that sinned were thrown into Tartarus, a condition of dense darkness in which they are reserved for judgment. (2 Pet. 2:4) Twenty-three thousand fornicators were cut off from Israel in one day. (1 Cor. 10:8) Achan was put to death at Jehovah’s command for stealing that which was devoted to Jehovah. (Josh. 7:15, 20, 21, 25) Korah the Levite and Dathan and Abiram of the tribe of Reuben were cut off for rebellion, and Miriam was stricken with leprosy from which she would have died if Moses had not pleaded for her. As it was, she was expelled from the camp of Israel under quarantine seven days.—Num. 16:27, 32, 33, 35; 12:10, 13-15.

UNDER THE MOSAIC LAW

For serious or deliberate violations of God’s law given through Moses a person could be cut off, that is, put to death. (Lev. 7:27; Num. 15:30, 31) Apostasy, idolatry, adultery, eating blood, and murder were among the offenses carrying this penalty.—Deut. 13:12-18; Lev. 20:10; 17:14; Num. 35:31.

Under the Law, for the penalty of cutting off to be inflicted, evidence had to be established at the mouth of at least two eyewitnesses. (Deut. 19:15) These witnesses were required to be the first ones to stone the guilty one. (Deut. 17:7) This would demonstrate their zeal for God’s law and the purity of the congregation of Israel and would also be a deterrent to false, careless or hasty testimony.

The Sanhedrin and synagogues

During Jesus’ earthly ministry the synagogues served as courts for trying violators of Jewish law. The Sanhedrin was the highest court. Under Roman rule the Jews did not have the latitude of authority that they had enjoyed under theocratic government. They could not always administer the death penalty, because of restrictions by the Romans. The Jewish synagogues had a system of excommunication or disfellowshiping that had three steps or three names. The first step was the penalty of nid·duyʹ, which was