The Original Rite of the Passover
in the Light of the Literary Scheme
of the Book of Exodus 1–18
The Internet presentation of the main questions
dr Wojciech Kosek

This study in Polish was published here
in The Day of the Lord’s Passover,
Good Friday, 10 April 2009.
The translation to English was made by the author
and was published here in
the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
8. December 2010.

to familiarize yourself with this online presentation of the basic questions leading to understand both the contemporary biblical exegesis (the scientific explanation of the Holy Bible) as well as the basic scheme on which the rite of the Jewish Passover was built.

Passing to each elaboration constituting this presentation can be made by you in one of two ways – I leave the choice to you:

• either by clicking on each link below in the table of contents and returning to it after having come to know the detailed elaboration of such a choice,
• or by clicking on the link below in the table of contents, and after it, already from the screen of the chosen elaboration, clicking on one of the two buttons in top left hand corner of the screen: “Prev” (i.e. the passage to the earlier elaboration in logical order) “Next” (i.e. the passage to the next elaboration in logical order).

Please take into account this significant information: in the presentation in several important places there are shown explanations of Hebrew words, written in a special font which must be installed by you on your computer. For more information about this topic – click: The installation of the Hebrew and Greek fonts.

THE TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. The introduction:
   • The main character and the literary structure of the Book of Exodus
   • The division of the Book of Exodus in different English and other editions of the Bible
   • The division of the Book of Exodus in different Polish editions of the Bible
2. Rules of reading and scientific deepening of the Bible:
   • Formgeschichte and Hebrew rhetoric
   • Formgeschichte and the meaning of the canonical text of the Bible
   • The historical truth of the Bible: discovery of the basic criterion
   • The historical truth of the Bible in the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church
3. Rules of Hebrew rhetoric (the composition of the texts) and Formgeschichte:
   • Compilation of the rules of Hebrew rhetoric
   • The fault of the Formgeschichte method: the Bible as a collection of damaged fragments
   • Childs, Meynet: books of the Bible are beautifully composed… – Part 1.
   • Childs, Meynet: books of the Bible are beautifully composed… – Part 2.
4. The Hebrew Bible:
   • The Hebrew Bible as the source of Divine Revelation
   • The Hebrew Bible as the source for the responsible interpretation
5. Difficulties in interpreting the Book of Exodus:
   • Introduction: the Magisterium’s teaching about difficulties in the interpretation
   • Exo 3–4 and Exo 6,2–8: two descriptions or two events?
     Exo 4,24–26: did the Lord want to kill Moses?
   • The genealogy of Moses and Aaron (Exo 6,14–26): what is the aim of it?
   • Plagues / wonderful signs: where are the boundaries of the description?
   • Passover: where are the boundaries of the description?
   • The march out of Egypt: where is the beginning of the description?
6. How read the Bible to read out the content written by the Author?
   • Introduction
   • A key exegetical question
   • The answer to the key question in the theocentric reading
   • The rule of translating the similar texts
7. The theocentric analysis of Exodus according to the rules of the Hebrew Rhetoric:
   • The recollection of the question of the main character and literary structure
   • The initial presentation of findings
   • The literary structure of the two external pericopes 1,1–6,1 and 15,22–18,27
   • Pericopes 1,1–6,1 and 5,22–18,27 as the rhetorical inclusion for Exo 1–18
   • The Summary of the Analysis of the Book of Exodus 1,1–6,1 and 15,22–18,27
8. The literary structure of the whole Exo 1–18:
   • Six pericopes and their chiastic thematic relation
   • Six pericopes and their chiastic lexical relation: introduction
   • Six pericopes and their chiastic lexical relation: bar graph
9. Exo 1–18 and covenant treaties of peoples of the ancient East
   • The literary schema of the Hittite treaties of alliance: XVI century BC
   • Exo 1–18 as the ancient treaty of alliance between God and Israel
   • The possibility of the reduction of the literary structure of Exo 1–18 to 4 pericopes
10. The Jewish Passover and the structure of its rite
    • The rite of the Passover in the light of “The Passover Haggadah”: Introduction
    • The rite of the Passover according to “Haggadah”: the main problem statement
    • The division of the Passover ritual into four main sections (four cups)
    • The part 3. of the Passover: afikoman as manna of the covenant making
    • The part 3. of the Passover: biblical texts: Exo 12,34–39; 13,21; 14,19–22.24
    • The part 3. of the Passover: biblical texts: the covenant making in Genesis 15,1–20
11. The Passover ritual and the God’s covenant with Israel
    • The Passover ritual in the light of the Hittite covenant ceremony
    • The Passover ritual as the “making present” of the 4–part covenant ceremony performed in four stages of the exodus from Egypt
    • The structure of the Book of Exodus 1–18 and the structure of the six–branched lampstand in the Holy Tabernacle (Exo 25,31–40)