2 - Literature as Politics

Summary

This chapter is a reading of the first rock-water episode (Exodus 17). It navigates through three layers of literary stratigraphy – evident in shifting emotional responses, character roles, and settings – in order to uncover a version of the episode in which Moses plays the role of a king held to account by his people for ensuring their survivial in a crisis. This version does not stand on its own but is part of a version of the exodus narrative modeled on the Sargon birth legend. The character of Moses develops through a series of acts of striking, as he realizes his destiny as one who draws (water), expressed in his name. Like its Assyrian model, this narrative is a work of political allegory. It relates to Hezekiah’s abandonment of Egyptian ties as the Assyrians threaten siege of Jerusalem and may have played a role in negotiating Judah’s continued independence. The exodus story thus does not originate in the northern kingdom of Israel, as is usually thought, but is is implicated in a decidedly Judean situation.