The Structure of Exodus

Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.

Exodus 1:1 (Spoke 2, Cycle 1)

Bet KeyWords: Ben, Bayit, Bo

The Hebrew name of Exodus is שמות (Shemuth, Names), taken from the opening words of the book. This integrates with the Inner Cycle of Genesis, with the first occurrence of Shemuth being found in Genesis 2. This further integrates with the symbolic meaning of Beyt as Word, in that the idea of naming is essential to the concept of the Word (cf. The House Called By My Name).

The Hebrew practice of naming a book by its first word seems to be in recognition of God's deliberate design of the books. The great themes of many books are marked with highly specific KeyWords in the opening verse. This is particularly clear in the Book of Exodus, where the relations between the ideas of the Name, Word, Son, House, and the letter Beyt are greatly expanded upon with three fundamental Beyt Keywords appearing in the opening verse:

• בן (Ben, Son): This is perhaps the ultimate Beyt KeyWord. It integrates with the nature of the eternal Godhead, being the name of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, God the Son. It appears in the plural construct form "Beni", translated as children in Exodus 1.1 Thus we have the pair of KeyWord Aleph (Av = Father) and Beyt (Ben = Son). Their union forms the Stone of Prophecy (cf. The Second Commandment).
• בית (Bayit, House): This is the name of the Second Letter. It is profoundly integrated with the analytic meaning of Ben as The Posterity (Nun) of the House (Beyt).
• בא (Bo, Come/Enter Into): This KeyWord exhibits the fundamental force of Beyt revealed when the letter is combined with Aleph (cf. 231 Gates). The "House" is a natural image of a place to "go in" which is the meaning of Beyt when prefixed to a word, as discussed in the Beyt Alphabetic Verses. A good example is seen in the First Word of the Bible, Berashith (In the beginning). The House is also a natural symbol of that which divides between what is "in" and what is "out." It is the archetypical "container" of concepts, hence it integrates with concept of the Word, sharper than any two-edged sword (cf. Logos Holograph and the Second Seal) dividing all creation into this and that, coming from the Mouth of the Creator Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Godhead, God the Son, whose name is called "The Word of God." This is but a fragment of the cascading convergence of archetypical concepts correlated via Geometry, Theology, Scripture and the Numerical Category defined by the Number 2.

I will now discuss how these three ideas derived from the words of the first verse of Exodus provide an outline of that entire book.

The Independent Witness of J. Sidlow Baxter

One of the great joys of God's Truth is found in the great cloud of witnesses testifying to it. This coheres with the fundamental guiding principle of Biblical studies - indeed of all studies for that matter - which is that every word or fact must be confirmed by "two or three witnesses." Applied to Epistemology  (the study of "how we know things"), this simply means that Truth is established by multiple independent converging lines of evidence. When this is coupled with divine Simplicity, Beauty, and Clarity, we know we have received the very Truth of God.

The table on the right is adapted from the introduction to the Book of Exodus (pg. 74) in J. Sidlow Baxter's wonderful analysis of the entire Bible called Explore the Book. It is his outline for his study of Exodus, with the left red column being my association of his outline with fundamental concepts from Spoke 2 of the bwheel. Its significance is twofold: 1) It is an accurate outline of the entire book that is perfectly integrated with dominant elements from Spoke 2, and 2) Baxter compiled it with no knowledge of the Wheel, which means that his testimony is necessarily unbiased towards the Wheel. Details of the three main divisions, and their relation to the elements of Spoke 2 are given below.

SON

And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.

Exodus 4.22

This verse defines the essence of the first division of the book of Exodus - the Birth of Israel. It is the first verse in all the Bible where God declares anyone to be His Son. This integrates with the order of the Psalms (cf. Psalm 2), the fundamental Beyt KeyWords בן (Ben, Son) and בכר (Boker, Firstborn) and ultimately with the nature of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, God the Son. The great event associated with Israel's national birth - the division of the Red Sea - reiterates the pattern established in the Second Day of Creation and ultimately the fundamental geometric meaning of the Number 2 - Duality and Division. These links are just the highlights of a huge pattern suffusing all of Spoke 2, as discussed above.

WORD

And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.

Exodus 24.12

As discussed above, the concept of the Word is subsumed in the category defined by the Number 2 and is profoundly integrated with many themes from Spoke 2. The giving of the Law on Mount Sinai expresses the essence of the idea of God's Word and forms a strong thematic link to Isaiah 2 where we read:

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Isaiah 2.3

The Ten Commandments are the epitome of the Law, indeed, they are the Crown of the Torah. They are the only words which are described as "written by the finger of God" Himself (Exodus 31.18). The phrase translated as "the Ten Commandments" is עשרת הדברים (Eseret HaDevarim). It literally means "the ten words."

HOUSE

The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 34.26

The Book of Exodus opens with reference to the name of the Second Letter Beyt (House). Exodus contains the first occurrence of the phrase בית יהוה (Beyt YHVH, House of the Lord). This integrates with the chapter sequence of Isaiah, where the phrase first appears in Isaiah 2, yielding a perfect integration of the order of the Canon, the order of the chapters in Isaiah, and the meaning of the Second Letter Beyt (House). The power of these multiplied witnesses must not be overlooked. It is one thing for there to be a correlated debut between Isaiah and the Bible, but it is quite another if the content of the correlation is itself the literal meaning of the corresponding Hebrew letter. The Tabernacle, which is the House of the Lord - is first introduced in Exodus 34. Its intricate and detailed design then occupies the remaining fifteen chapters.

Conclusion

The profound integration of the book of Exodus with the meaning of the Number 2 is revealed by numerous independent witnesses and fields of study:

• Number 2 in Semiotics: Represents Division, Image, Reflection, Duality
• Number 2 in Theology: Represents the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity.
• Number 2 in Scripture:

• Second Day: Division of the Waters
• Second Seal: Great Sword, War (Division of the People (= Waters, Rev. 17.15)
• Second Commandment: No graven Images - relates to Duality, Reflection, and Second Person as Image of the invisible God.

• Number 2 in Linguistics: The Word is the "linguistic image" of an object. It divides - like a sword - between this and that. The Duality of the Signifier and thing Signified is the foundation of this study. It integrates with Theology and Scripture because "The Word" is the name of the Second Person of the Godhead.

This is but a small sample of God's infinitely intelligent use of the Number 2 in the revelation of Himself in Scripture.

Questions? Comments? Join the discussion on the Bible Wheel Forum!