ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

The story of the Red Sea as a theological framework of interpretation

 

 

Young M. Song^I; Jan A. du Rand^II

^IKosin University, Kosin, South Korea
^IIDepartment of Biblical Studies, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

The exodus motif is widely agreed to be one of the central frameworks illustrating the salvational acts of God in both the Old and New Testaments. According to the Old Testament, the exodus motif was, to Israel, the paradigm of redemptive historical renewal. For this reason, the exodus motif provided the typological expression for all future hope of salvation and served as a theological paradigm to be used by Old and New Testament authors. In this article, the exodus theme in the Book of Revelation, chapters 12 to 13, is discussed in the following order: (1) Christ's crucifixion and resurrection as the archetypal exodus; (2) the chronological fulfillment of the exodus theme in the Bible; and (3) the exodus theme in Revelation 12 to 13. To investigate the exodus theme in Revelation 12 to 13, the intertextual interpretation, as based on the redemptive historical interpretation, will be highlighted.

Keywords: Red Sea; interpretation; theological framework; exodus motif; salvational acts of God

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Full text available only in PDF format.

 

 

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Correspondence:
Jan du Rand
Department of Biblical Studies
University of Johannesburg
PO Box 524
Auckland Park
Johannesburg, 2006
South Africa
E-mail: jdurand@uj.ac.za

Received: 08 Dec. 2008
Accepted: 12 Mar. 2009
Published: 16 Dec. 2009

 

 

Note: This article was delivered as a paper at the International SBL meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, 2008, as a result of Y.M. Song's DLitt et Phil thesis: 'A partial preterist understanding of Rev 12-13 in intertextual perspective', supervised by Prof Jan A. du Rand, Department of Biblical and Religious Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg.