A GLIMMER OF HOPE AMID THE RED SEA AND PHARAOH’S OPPRESSION: A THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION ON EXODUS 14:13 IN THE FACE OF LIFE’S PRESENT BURDENS
Keywords:
Exodus 14:13, contextual hermeneutics., narrative criticism, theology of deliverance, Stand-Still-See hermeneuticAbstract
Exodus 14:13 has commonly been treated either as a pious interlude or as a rhetorical prelude to the sea crossing, readings that flatten its theological density and obscure its address to communities living under conditions of entrapment. This study addresses the absence of an interpretive instrument that is exegetically accountable, theologically robust, and contextually usable for reading the verse amid present burdens. The research problem is threefold: tradition-historical scholarship has analyzed the sea tradition as a composite of older motifs rather than as coherent theological utterance; liberationist readings frequently subordinate the verse's theological grammar to its emancipatory function; and narrative-critical and canonical readings have not produced an integrative model linking narrative placement to pastoral and public appropriation. The study is qualitative and exegetical, drawing on primary analysis of the Masoretic Text and Septuagint alongside a purposive review of international and national scholarship. No survey or interview data were employed, and no statistical or respondent-level claims are made. The study proposes the Stand-Still-See hermeneutic, a triadic model integrating narrative placement, theological grammar, and contextual appropriation, in which fear, faith, and sight form a unified soteriological sequence. The contribution is a novel interpretive instrument for contextual biblical hermeneutics and the theology of deliverance, usable in pastoral, diaconal, and public-theological settings.
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