Exodus 1-18: A New Translation with Notes and Comments [Hardcover]

If you believe in divine revelation, this book is not for you. If you regard the bible as written by humans and interesting to you for cultural reasons and also have some knowledge of Hebrew, I think this is easily the best commentary on Exodus. It treats Exodus largely as folklore. I was particularly impressed by how Propp explains the parting of the sea by Yahweh as a demythologizing of earlier myths in which Yahweh defeats Yamm, the god of waters. But the book is hard work and you need to study it together with a Hebrew Bible.

Propp's commentary is certainly worth buying for any serious scholar. However, after such a long wait for the Anchor to come out on Exodus, I must say it is a disappointment. His theological presuppositions cause him to leap from A to Z without displaying solid reasons. His distinction between what is hypothesized and what is fact is an interesting one, since the bulk of Biblical studies is hypothesis (not to mention that the source and redactional elements are, although held at some consensus in general, are certainly in the details to be considered speculative). His attention to narrative pattern (lack, initiator, hero, etc.) is to be commended, but his conclusion that the story is fiction (from that standpoint alone) does not logically follow. All narrative (true or false) follows this pattern in one way or another. His constant modernist judgements upon the text are a bit tiring, since one pays to see facts and theological insights in its historical context, not a commentator with an attitude against the text (For instance, the irony of his statement that the author was ignorant concerning how one ought to capture a snake, since the Exodus story has YHWH telling Moses to pick up the serpent by the tail, is ironic, since it is Propp that obviously does not understand how a large snake is always caught in the wild to maneuver the snake in an effort to avoid being bitten---by the tail. Perhaps he should have asked a herpetologist on that one.) In any case, if one can get past Propp's "We're more informed than the primitive author/redactor, and his jumps in logic, the commentary has a lot to say and make one think over the issues. As a final note, Source and Redaction criticism are usually meant to give insight into the text and should not be used (as Propp does many times) to simply side-step an issue. A commentary on Exodus that really considers the issues, rather than blowing them off is, unfortunately, still needed. In any case, I wanted gold from Anchor, but I guess I'll settle for bronze.

Worth every minute of the 35-year wait; that says it all. Any person with any life of the mind whatsoever should buy this book immediately.