From the Reed Sea to Kadesh

A Redactional and Socio-Historical Study of the Pentateuchal Wilderness Narrative

By (author) Jaeyoung Jeon

Book cover: From the Reed Sea to Kadesh

Extent: 438 pages

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Subjects: Biblical Studies

Series: Forschungen zum Alten Testament

Series volume number: 159

Language: English

Hardback (Unspecified)

(September 2022)

ISBN: 9783161612169

6.54 x 9.57 inches

Price: $199.00

In stock

Jaeyoung Jeon traces the development of the biblical wilderness narrative in the books of Exodus and Numbers from its origin to the composition of its final form. He suggests that the narrative reflects diverse voices of different social and religious groups of the Yahwistic communities in Persian Yehud and diaspora.


In this book, Jaeyoung Jeon traces the development of the pentateuchal wilderness story in Exodus and Numbers from its pre-monarchic origin to the formation of the final form. He argues that old memories of YHWH from the southern desert area and the move of the Transjordanian settlers to the west were merged with the memory of Egyptian oppression and that they formed together an early tradition of exodus-wilderness in the Northern Kingdom. Although the tradition further developed in Judah after the fall of Israel, the author argues that the major parts of the narrative story were creatively reinterpreted, reformulated, and composed during the Persian period in the socio-historical contexts of the return from the exile and restoration. He suggests that diverse scribal circles representing different social, political, and religious positions in Yehud and the diaspora participated in its literary formation, resulting in the wilderness narrative as a collection of scribal debates.

  • By (author) Jaeyoung Jeon