Exodus
in Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary
Exodus 20–40
Pages
544
Publisher
Smyth & Helwys
Published
1/1/2014
ISBN-13
9781573127295
Exodus 1–19
Pages
512
Publisher
Smyth & Helwys
Published
8/1/2014
ISBN-13
9781573127288
The “Ten Commandments” stand at the center of the book of Exodus in chapter 20 and provide the key to what the book is about. They refer to the story in Exodus 1–19 that tells who God is and what God has done for Israel. They refer forward to what God expects of Israel in response, as the second half of the book begins to explain in Exodus 20–40.
The Ten Commandments also provide key guidance about how to read the book of Exodus. The content of the Ten Commandments that Moses recalls in Deuteronomy 5 differs in several respects from the edition that Exodus 20 records. The differences between the version that Deuteronomy recalls and the present edition of Exodus extend far beyond the Ten Commandments and concern vital matters like covenant, law, and the festivals by which Israel celebrates these institutions. Johnstone’s commentary argues that these differences are not to be glossed over but provide evidence of a dialogue between two voices that runs throughout Exodus and beyond. Dialogue is central to the formation and interpretation of Scripture and is essential to the ways in which humans attempt to speak about God.
The Ten Commandments also provide key guidance about how to read the book of Exodus. The content of the Ten Commandments that Moses recalls in Deuteronomy 5 differs in several respects from the edition that Exodus 20 records. The differences between the version that Deuteronomy recalls and the present edition of Exodus extend far beyond the Ten Commandments and concern vital matters like covenant, law, and the festivals by which Israel celebrates these institutions. Johnstone’s commentary argues that these differences are not to be glossed over but provide evidence of a dialogue between two voices that runs throughout Exodus and beyond. Dialogue is central to the formation and interpretation of Scripture and is essential to the ways in which humans attempt to speak about God.
Reviews
DavidH
April 4, 2026
April 4, 2026
William Johnstone’s SHBC Exodus is an original but highly idiosyncratic outlier, replacing both standard critical models and traditional readings with a “dialogical” scheme of a Deuteronomy-based “D-version” later overlaid by a priestly “P-edition.” That approach yields some provocative ideas, but also several weakly supported ones, including a seven-plague earlier narrative, conflicting Sinai chronologies treated as a “creative debate,” and a tabernacle account read less as wilderness history than as post-exilic theological imagination. His heavy use of medieval art and typology gives the commentary unusual aesthetic depth, but it also moves him further from historical-grammatical control, and his reconstruction risks circularity by treating Deuteronomy as “remembering” a version he dates later. By comparison, Propp, Childs, Davies, and Enns stay closer to established critical discussion, while Alexander, Stuart, Carpenter, Currid, Mackay, and Sarna handle the canonical text with much more restraint. The result is a clever and stimulating commentary, but also a speculative and ultimately less convincing one.