Chloe T. Sun is professor of Old Testament and program director of the Chinese Studies Centre at Fuller Theological Seminary. She and Charlie Trimm are contracted to write the NICOT commentary on Exodus. Sun engages with the book of Exodus from the perspective of her personal experience within the evangelical Chinese diaspora journeying from Vietnam to Los Angeles. She writes, “The Exodus narrative invites us to look beyond our present circumstances and discern God’s greater purpose at work, finding meaning in our diasporic experiences as we participate in God’s grand missional narrative” (p. 10).

Sun frames her commentary around the theme of identity formation, treating the text in four sections:

Part I: Identity conversion out of Egypt (1:1–15:21)

Part II: Identity confusion during the in-between space (15:22–18:27)

Part III: Identity construction at Sinai (19:1–24:18)

Part IV: Identity conformation to worship (25:1–40:38).

She sets out “to interweave the themes of diaspora, memory, and journey to present a fresh reading of Exodus that informs and transforms readers within their unique contexts” (pp. 29–30). She discusses sixteen topics in highlighted asides.

Much of her commentary involves a highly readable recount of the narrative and summaries of God’s laws and instructions. In Part 1 Sun discusses the way in which Moses’s signs and the plagues challenge the claims of the Egyptian gods (pp. 94–116), drawing out elements of irony in God’s polemic against Pharaoh (pp. 73–74). She offers a helpful discussion of God’s constant purpose to unite peoples under his rule (pp. 127–28) as exemplified by the inclusion of non-Israelites in the exodus and Passover celebrations.

In her discussion of Exodus 19–24, Sun pictures “the ‘law’ (torah) … as God’s finger, pointing to the path along which God expects and desires Israel to walk” (p. 184). She notes that Israel’s treatment of others “demonstrated their new identity as the people of God.” Identity “would be realised through God’s revelation of the law and Israel’s obedience to it” (pp. 184–85). She states further that “God’s affection for Israel defines their identity. Identity is not about how Israel sees themselves but how Israel sees themselves through God’s eye” (p.190). In a pregnant statement that could easily be missed, Sun observes that “these laws are also future-oriented, akin to prophecies” (p. 228).

Diaspora experience confronts one with a log and splinter awareness of the cultural and lifestyle challenges of God’s word (Matt 7:3–5; Luke 6:41–42). In seeing the faults of the alien or dominant culture, one faces the greater challenge of hearing the rebuke, corrections, and instructions of the Scriptures with respect to one’s own (2 Tim 3:16–17). Sun’s treatment, however, tends to domesticate the book of Exodus rather than investigate its challenges to either Asian or American culture. For example, given the strong Chinese tradition of filial piety, it would have been helpful to engage in a more rigorous discussion of how “Children must … show respect to their parents without compromising their faith” (p. 212).

With respect to the historicity of the exodus and the accuracy of the biblical account, Sun concludes that “we can say that some form of the exodus event has taken place, though the evidence is inconclusive” (p. 15). She reads the text with a human-centered eye, thus, “the name of God … implies that God ‘is’ or ‘will be’ whoever we need him to be” (p. 65). The laws of Exodus are discussed within the categories of human (p. 185), animal (p. 252), and women’s rights (p. 259).

In her discussion of the case laws of Exodus 20:22–23:33, Sun asserts that “not all of them are relevant to contemporary audiences” but that the two Confucian virtues of righteousness (yì) and kindness (rén) “summarize the essence of the OT law” (p. 196). There is little here that would locate these case studies within God’s redemptive work in restoring his good design for life through the work of Jesus. These are “Israel’s ethics” (p. 225). She leaves the question open as to whether they were influenced by the Code of Hammurabi (pp. 225–26). With respect to Exodus 21:22–25 she concludes that “Both Scripture and the law of the United States remain ambiguous regarding what constitutes a human person or at what stage of development a fetus is regarded as a person” (p. 238). Citing another scholar’s imaginative re-writing of Exodus 24:8, she states that “it is unthinkable Moses would sprinkle blood on the people” (p. 264). The overall effect is to neutralize the text.

In what must be a typographical error, the timing of the Festivals of Sukkot and Shavuoth are reversed (p. 257). In her treatment of Exodus 25–40, she discusses the formation of Chinese churches in other lands and cities, but there is no attempt to see Christ’s church as multicultural (see Mathew Kuruvilla, Church Without Borders: Growing a Multiethnic Community [Macquarie Park, Australia: Morling Press, 2019]). She writes, “The scattered will be brought together once again through the establishment of local ethnic and immigrant churches in new lands” (p. 22).

This short commentary is an easy read and has the integrity of being written within the experience it addresses. Sun’s framework and the issues raised will open eyes and raise questions for believers of all backgrounds.