CARMEN MARIS ALGOSI: AN EXEGETICAL STUDY
OF EXODUS 15:1-18
by
Robert V. McCabe, Jr.
Submitted in partial fulfillment of
requirements
for the degree of Master of
Theology in
Grace
Theological Seminary
May 1981
Carmen
Maris Algosi: An Exegetical Study of Exodus 15:1-18
Robert
V. McCabe, Jr.
Th.
M.
February
20, 1980
Professors
Fowler and Zemek
The literature of the ancient Near East has
given the invitation for a
conservative
interpreter to do an exegetical, study of Exodus 15:1-18. The
purpose
of this thesis was to use the historical grammatical hermeneutic to
examine
the interpretative problems in this pericope of Hebrew poetry.
The
problems focused upon the interpreter's hermeneutical approach, the
interpretation
of key terms, the examination of some of the textual problems,
and
an analysis of the important syntactical elements in the Song of the
The usage of form criticism and tradition history
as an hermeneutical
approach
was examined in reference to the critical interpretative considerations.
It
was demonstrated that the title "Song of Miriam" was affected by a
traditio-
historical
hermeneutic. It was observed that the usage of the form-critical and
traditio-historical
approach in answering the question about unity way not built
upon
objective proof but rather it was built of evolutionary presuppositions.
Mosaic
authorship was defended n light of the themes shared both in this song
and
the other books of the Pentateuch. A conservative date in the fifteenth
century
B.C. was confirmed by a number of philological arguments. The genre
of
this song has also been affected by form criticism. Five of the most prominent
explanations
of the Gattungen were examined and it was concluded that Exodus
15:1-18
may have had a number of literary types and hence it is an enigma for
form
critical purposes. It was also demonstrated that the traditio-historical
interpretation
of the setting has divorced Exodus 15:1-18 from its historical
setting.
The salient point of the strophic structure is the refrains in verses 6, 11,
and
16. In light of the confusion in the various metrical studies, it was concluded
that
this was an invalid method of study.
Chapter IV dealt with the exegesis of this song.
This involved an
examination
of problem terms. In many cases the cognate Semitic languages had
to
be consulted. It was discovered that Moses made use of parallel pairs. The
abundance
of them apparently implies that the poet had at his disposal a literary
tradition
from which he could draw these fixed pairs. In the process of inspiration,
the
Spirit of God guided Moses so that he used this literary tradition to help
in
composing the Song of the
in
light of the assumption that the Masoretic Text was terminus a quo in textual
criticism.
The syntactical aspects of this passage were examined. Ugaritic was
of
great benefit for this aspect of research. Its importance was most profound for
the
examination of an example of three-line staircase parallelism in verse 11. In
light
of this study, it would be appropriate to conclude that the Song of the Reed
Sea
is a classic example of archaic Hebrew poetry.
Accepted by the Faculty of Grace Theological
Seminary
in
partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree
Master of Theology
Examining Committee
Donald Fowler
George Zemek
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
CHAPTER
A Statement of Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 1
The Importance of This Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 5
The Method of This Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 6
The Limitations of This Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 11
CHAPTER
II. PRELIMINARY INTERPRETATIVE CONSIDERATIONS 12
Title . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 12
Song of Miriam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 12
Song of Moses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 13
Song of the
Unity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Authorship
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 21
Date . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 26
Late Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Earlier Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Conservative Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 29
Philological Arguments
for a Conservative Date . . . . . . . . 29
CHAPTER
III. CRITICAL INTERPRETATIVE CONSIDERATIONS . . 40
Genre . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 40
The Gattungen Is a
Hymn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 41
The Gattungen Is a Hymn
of Thanksgiving . . . . . . . . . . . . .
42
The Gattungen Is a Hymn
of Divine Enthronement . . . . . . . 43
The Gattungen Is a
Litany. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 44
The Gattungen Is a Hymn
of Victory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 46
An Evaluation of These
Studies of the
Gattungen of Exodus
15:1-18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 46
Setting .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 48
Enthronement Festival of
Yahweh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 51
Covenant Festival of
Yahweh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 52
Autumnal Festival of Yahweh
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 57
An Evaluation of Cultic
Interpretations . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 58
Strophe and Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Strophe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
71
CHAPTER
IV. EXEGESIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Prose Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
The Usage of the
Imperfect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 77
The Etymological Problem
with hw,mo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Exordium .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 83
A Textual Problem with hrAywixA . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 83
The Tetragrammaton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 84
An Examination of hxAGA. . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
A Possible Anachronism Obk;ro? . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 91
iv
Strophe 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Hymnic Confession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 93
Historical
Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Refrain 1
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 122
An Anthropomorphism for
Yahweh's Strength. . . . . . . . . . . 122
An Etymological and
Morphological
Treatment of yriDAx;n,
. . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
123
Strophe 2
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 130
Hymnic Confession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 131
Historical Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 141
Refrain 2
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 145
Three-Line Staircase
Parallelism . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 146
The Parallel Usage of ymi
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 150
The Archaic Orthography
of hkAmoKA . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 150
A Parallel Pair
Reconsidered . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 150
Strophe 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Hymnic Confession. . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Prophetic Narrative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 162
Refrain 3
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 163
Coda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
A Reference to the Land
or Yahweh's Sanctuary? . . . . . . . . 164
An Examination of ynAdoxE
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 171
Yahweh’s Eternal Kingship
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
CHAPTER
V. CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
BIBLIOGRAPHY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
v
PREFACE
I would
like to thank some of the individuals who
have contributed their time an
effort, which without these,
it would have been impossible to
complete this thesis.
Foremost,
I would like to thank my God and Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who
according to His sovereign grace
has saved me and guided me to this
seminary.
I would
also like to express my gratitude to Profes-
sor Fowler and Professor Zemek
for their patience and advice
in preparation of this paper.
At the outset of my research
Mr. Fowler suggested key articles
and books which were very
helpful in the composition of
his thesis.
A
special thanks goes to Dr. James Price and Profes-
sor Stephen Schrader of Temple
Baptist Theological Seminary
for their help. Professor Schrader
has suggested articles
and provided me with books from
his library.
It is
also necessary to express my thanks to the
faculty of Grace Theological
Seminary for their dedication
in training men for the
Christian ministry.
I would
also like to thank my wife and three child-
ren who have been patient and
helpful in my seminary educa-
tion. My parents have also been
helpful with their prayers
and love.
vi
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A Statement of Problems
Among
the poetic sections of the Old Testament, few
have captured the imagination
or scholars as has carmen
maris
algosi,1 Exodus 15:1-18. The discovery of Ugaritic
literature has been very influential
in stimulating interest
in Exodus 15:1-18 because of its
poetical nature. Freedman
has succinctly observed:
Continuing
discovery and publication of Canaanite
cuneiform tablets, current research into the
language
and forms of early Hebrew poetry, and recent
contribu-
tions to the elucidation of the poem in Exodus
15 have
recommended further reflections on and
reconsideration
of certain aspects of this national victory
song.
Hermeneutical Approach
An
aspect of this pericope of archaic Hebrew poetry
which has been problematic pertains
to the interpreter's
hermeneutical approach to Exodus
15:1-18. Most studies of
1 Translated: "The Song of the
taken
from the Old Latin Version. This was one of the few
translations
which was not influenced by the Septuagint's
translation
of JUs-Mya' as e]ruqrh> qa<lassa.
2 David Noel Freedman, "Strophe and
Meter in Exodus
15,"
A Light unto My Path: Old Testament
Studies in Honor
of Jacob M. Myers, ed. by Howard N.
Bream, Ralph D. Heim,
and
Carey A. Moore (
1974),
p. 163.
2
this passage which are examined
in the light of the ancient
Near Eastern literature are based
upon a form-critical and
traditio-historical methodology
This has influenced the
areas of dating, authorship, and
unity. Coats has con-
cluded that Exodus 15:1-18 is a
basic unit, "a form-critical
and a traditio-historical unit.”1
This approach has also
affected Cross and Freedman's preference
for a title for
this song. They have suggested
that Exodus 15:1-18 could
legitimately be called either
"the Song of Moses" or "the
Song of Miriam." They
prefer the latter title for verse 21
has preserved the latter title from
the superior tradition.2
Form criticism has also affected the analysis of the
Gattungen in
Exodus 15. Rozellar has classified this as a
hymn,3 Noth as a
hymn of thanksgiving,4 and Muilenburg as a
litany.5 Form
criticism has also influenced the interpre-
tation of the Sitz im Leben. Mowinckel has related
this to
1 George W. Coats, "The Song of the
Sea," Catholic
Bible Quarterly, XXXI:1 (January, 1969),
17.
2 Frank M. Cross, Jr. and David Noel
Freedman, "The
Song
of Miriam," Journal of Near Eastern
Studies, XIV:4
(October,
1955), 237.
3 Marc Rozellar,
"The Song of the Sea," Vetus
Testamentum, 11:3 (July, 1952),
227.
4 Martin Noth, Exodus, he Old Testament Library,
trans.
by J. S. Bowden (
1962),
p. 123.
5 James Muilenburg, "A Liturgy on the
Triumphs of
Yahweh,"
Studia Biblica et Semitica: Vriezen
Festschrift
(Wageningen:
H. Veenman and Zonen, 1966), pp. 236-37.
3
to the enthronement festival of
Yahweh.1 Cross has main-
tained that the cultic setting
is in the covenantal festival
of Yahweh.2
Muilenburg has however traced its provenance to
the autumnal festival of
Yahweh.3 A major problem, there-
fore, pertains to hermeneutical
approaches to the Song of
the
Interpretation of Terms
Another
problem relates to the interpretation of key
terms, in Exodus 15:1-18.
Should the term Obk;ro in
verse 1,
be translated as
"chariot" or "charioteer"? If the former
is preferred, this may suggest
that Obk;ro is anachronistic.
The etymological background of vywAliwA, in verse 4, has been
related to a Hittite, Egyptian,
and Ugaritic background.
ynAdoxE
in
verse 17, has been related to an Arabic, Egyptian,
and Ugaritic root. The usage of
Cr,x, in
verse 12 is an
enigma. Did the ground swallow
the Egyptian army or did
they drown in the
the underworld of mythology? It
may however be understood
1 Sigmund Mowinckel, The Psalms in
trans.
by D. R. Ap-Thomas (2 vols. in 1:
Abingdon
Press, 1967), I, 126.
2 Frank Moore Cross, Jr., "The Divine
Warrior in
Transformations, ed. by Alexander
Altmann, Philip W. Lown
Institute
of Advanced Judaic Studies,
Studies and Texts, Vol. III (
3 Muilenburg, "A Liturgy on the
Triumphs of Yahweh,"
p.
236.
4
as a metaphor for death?
Another
question relates to the interpretation of
wdAq.;mi in
verse 17. This word is usually rendered "temple."
Some critical scholars have
consequently interpreted this as
a reference to the Solomonic
Tenple.1 If this is the case,
this is an anachronism; unless this
is to be regarded as a
prophetic reference.2
This may however be a reference to
another earthly tabernacle?
Possibly this could be a refer-
en