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  • From: <tladatsi AT charter.net>
  • To: <peterkirk AT qaya.org>, <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Miracles & Oxen in Exodus
  • Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 19:27:21 +0000

Peter et al,

My inquiry is not into what *actually happened* as into
what the text says happened. First, in Ex 12 tells that
600,000 left Egypt, laden with gold and silver goods, and
herds, flocks, and *much cattle* (Ex 12:38). Of course
?cattle? can either include oxen or be made into oxen. So
the text of Exodus tells us that the Israelites left Egypt
with not just the eight oxen mentioned in Numbers but great
herds of domesticated animals. Further, at least the
cattle made it through the crossing of the Yam Suf as in Ex
17:3 the people cry out that there is no water for
themselves or their cattle. So, it is reasonable to
conclude that the oxen mentioned in Numbers were thought of
as having made the trek from Goshen to Sinai and were not
acquired along the way.

The author understands that the audience would know that
Sinai is not only inhospitable to humans (then and now) but
to cattle as well, as Ex 17:3 makes clear. Cattle are the
SUVs of domesticated animals, they needs lots of water and
fodder, neither of which is found in the Sinai (then or
now). So how is there presence explained? Yahweh
intervenes in Ex 17 to miraculously provide water. Without
this divine intervention, the cattle, and people, would
have died of thirst. There are several such miracles in
the Sinai, mannah, quails, etc.

Further, how did the Israelites acquire these many herds of
domesticated animals, to say nothing of the silver and
gold? As slaves they did not own any such quantities of
animals, or much anything at all I suppose. In Ex 12:35-36
it states that the Israelites *borrowed* these from the
Egyptians after Yahweh put some sort of spell on the
Egyptians who then ?looked favorably? upon the Israelites
and allowed them to take whatever they needed, include very
valuable gold, silver, and cattle. The Israelites very
possession of cattle is the result of a miracle just in and
of it self.

So the presence and survival of the oxen to be used as
draught animals of carts before the completed tabernacle is
indeed the result of numerous miracles, as the author
intended us to understand. No naturalistic explanation is
needed. The point of Exodus is that Yahweh is in control
and can do whatever is necessary to accomplish His will.
Nothing Egypt or the Sinai can throw in the way can stop
Him.


Jack Tladatsi




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