Exodus Rabbah is the midrash

Midrash

The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....

 to Exodus, containing in the printed editions 52 parashiyyot. It is not uniform in its composition.

Structure

In parashiyyot i.-xiv. the proems are almost invariably followed by the running commentary on the entire seder or other Scriptural division (the beginnings of the sedarim are distinguished by an asterisk):

1. Parashah i., on *Ex. i. 1-ii. 25;
2. par. ii. and iii., on *Ex. iii. 1-iv. 17;
3. par. iv. and v., Nos.2-8, on *Ex. iv. 18-26;
4. par. v., Nos. 1, 9-23, on Ex. iv. 27-vi. 1;
5. par. vi., on *Ex. vi. 2-12;
6. par. vii., on Ex. vi. 13 et seq.;
7. par. viii., on Ex. vii. 1 et seq. (a Tanḥuma
   Tanhuma
   Midrash Tanhuma is the name given to three different collections of Pentateuch haggadot; two are extant, while the third is known only through citations. These midrashim, although bearing the name of R. Tanḥuma, must not be regarded as having been written or edited by him...
   
    homily);
8. par. ix., on *Ex. vii. 8-25;
9. par x., on Ex. vii. 26-viii. 15;
10. par. xi., on *Ex. viii. 16-ix. 12;
11. par. xii., on Ex. ix. 13-35;
12. par. xiii., on *Ex. x. 1-20;
13. par. xiv., on Ex. x. 21-29

There is no exposition nor, in the Tanḥuma

Tanhuma

Midrash Tanhuma is the name given to three different collections of Pentateuch haggadot; two are extant, while the third is known only through citations. These midrashim, although bearing the name of R. Tanḥuma, must not be regarded as having been written or edited by him...

 midrashim, any homily to *Ex. xi. 1. Beginning with parashah xv., Exodus Rabbah contains homilies and homiletical fragments to the first verses of the Scripture sections. Many of the homilies are taken from the Tanḥumas, though parashiyyot xv., xvi.-xix., xx., xxx., and others show that the author had access also to homilies in many other sources. In the printed editions the text is sometimes abbreviated and the reader referred to such collections, as well as to the Pesiḳta

Pesikta

Pesikta refers to two collections of rabbinic literature:* Pesikta de-Rav Kahana* Pesikta Rabbati...

; in parashah xxxix. the entire exposition of the Pesiḳta lesson Ki Tissa (Ex. xxx. 11) has been eliminated in this fashion.

Such references and abbreviations were doubtless made by later copyists. There is an interesting statement in parashah xliv. regarding the manner of treating a proem-text from the Psalms

Psalms

The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...

 for the homily to Ex. xxxii. 13. The assumption is justified that Shemot Rabbah down to Ex. xii. 1, with which section the Mekilta begins, is based on an earlier exegetical midrash, constituting, perhaps, the continuation of Bereshit Rabbah. This would explain the fact that in the first part there are several parashiyyot to the open and closed Scripture sections, and that several expressions recall the terminology of the tannaitic midrash. Zunz

Zunz

Zunz, Zuntz is a Yiddish surname: , Belgian pharmacologist* Leopold Zunz , German Reform rabbi* Gerhard Jack Zunz , British civil engineer- Zuntz :* Nathan Zuntz , German physiologist...

 ascribes the composition of the entire work to the 11th or 12th century; although, immediately following Bereshit Rabbah in the collection of the rabbot, it "is separated from the latter by 500 years" (G. V. p. 256).

External links

• Jewish Encyclopedia article for Midrash Aggada, by Isidore Singer
  Isidore Singer
  Isidore Singer was an editor of the Jewish Encyclopedia and founder of the American League for the Rights of Man.-Biography:...
  
   and J. Theodor. There is apparently no topic article especially for Shemot Rabbah.