The exodus of Israelites from captivity in Egypt illustrates the powerful nature of God. However, this event can draw several reactions regarding the existence of other gods. This paper will refer to the book excerpt to explain the understanding of Exodus by Christopher Wright and explaining if it is right or wrong. The paper also gives a perspective regarding Peter Enns’s understanding of the plagues in Exodus.
Christopher Wright’s understands of Exodus
Christopher Wright understands the Israelite exodus as God’s declaration of his incomparable nature. Wright claims that God does not recognize the existence of other gods and the entire universe is subject to His universal Lordship and uniqueness (Wright, 2017). This claim of Yahweh being the only God is correct regarding the way in which He saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt by regarding Himself as the universal creator. This claim by Yahweh is clearly seen as He controls the aspects of His creation which includes light and darkness by plaguing Egyptians with total darkness, the control of waters by turning river Nile into blood, and control of animals by making frogs come out of river Nile and multiply like rabbits.
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Peter Enns’s understands of Exodus
Contrarily, Peter Enns’s understanding of the Exodus clearly breaks down the cosmic battle between the Israelite God and the Egyptian gods in form of the ten plagues. This cosmic battle acknowledges the existence of other gods apart from Yahweh. Nevertheless, the ten plagues that the Egyptians were experiencing during the Exodus depict the Israelite God to be more dominant than the Egyptian Gods. This is seen as He controls the Egyptian gods in several occasions ( Enns, 2010). He defeated the Egyptian god of light by the plague darkness hence clearly depicting His dominance. He also defeated the goddess of fertility in the plague of frogs by making frogs to come out of river Nile and multiply like rabbits. Enn describes this exodus from Egypt as a cosmic battle giving an insight into a biblical theology of creation that is clear and precise.
Conclusion
In sum, both Peter Enn and Christopher Wright depict God to be powerful as seen in the Israelite exodus from Egypt. However, according to Christopher Wright, monotheistic nature of God is seen as He controls the aspects of His creation while Peter Enn acknowledges the existence of other gods like the Egyptian gods and goddesses but claims that Yahweh is more powerful compared to them as depicted in the cosmic battle.
References
Enns, P. (2010). EExodus, the Plagues, and the Cosmic Battle.
Wright, C. J. H. (2017). Theology of Jubilee: Biblical, Social and Ethical Perspectives. Evangelical Review of Theology , 41 (1), 6–18.
