There certainly is much an outsider can gain from studying this book. They can learn to an astonishing level of detail just what this process is all about. Not surprisingly, to know the way out, you first have to know what it is that you've entered. Counter-intuitively it is not all that simple to locate the precise "beginning" of the Egyptian exile. We will explore this shortly.
However, the insiders spoke a very different parlance in determining the nature of the book. Probably beccause of our trust in the Torah itself, we looked at it to see how does it define itself. Certainly the opening word is due to give away its deepest secrets. The opening word of a book is the first sense of motivation from the author to write anything down at all. It is impossible for a prophetic author and a divine voice not to slip their deepest intent in the utterance that is the springboard to the communication of these thoughts.
And so, the Jewish people have dutifully explore this book not as a way out, but as a book of names, Shemot. Names are our identity, our existentiality. They are the way in which we are communicated within the rubric of Creative accounting. We don't care where we are geographically, or who might have deemed control at a given, fleeting moment of history. What is most essential is to discover a process in which things can be named.
But different than Adam in the creation narrative who names all life except for humanity, Yisrael in Egypt grasps the depth of knowledge and awareness to complete that arduous task. Yisrael discovers the art of naming humanity. The insiders to not see an escape narrative here. The see an entirely different work of art. And such is art. The landscape to the outsider is home to the insider and the story that is told is not remotely similar.
Nevertheless, the starting point of the story is of equal importance to either, so that is where we will start. Let us define the beginning of exile for Yisrael.
(א) השלים הכתוב ספר בראשית שהוא ספר היצירה בחידוש העולם ויצירת כל נוצר ובמקרי האבות שהם כענין יצירה לזרעם מפני שכל מקריהם ציורי דברים לרמוז ולהודיע כל עתיד לבא להם. ואחרי שהשלים היצירה התחיל ספר אחר בענין המעשה הבא מן הרמזים ההם. (ב) ונתייחד ספר ואלה שמות בענין הגלות הראשון הנגזר בפירוש ובגאולה ממנו ולכן חזר והתחיל בשמות יורדי מצרים ומספרם אע"פ שכבר נכתב זה בעבור כי ירידתם שם הוא ראשית הגלות כי מאז הוחל.
(1) ‘V’EILEH SHEMOTH’ (AND THESE ARE THE NAMES OF…) In the Book of Genesis, which is the book of Creation, the Torah completed the account of how the world was brought forth from nothingness and how everything was created, as well as an account of all the events which befell the patriarchs, who are a sort of creation to their seed.2In his commentary on the Book of Genesis, Ramban develops this theme at great length. See Index to Vol. I, p. 618, Patriarchs. All the events that happened to them were symbolic occurrences, indicating and foretelling all that was destined to come upon their seed. After having completed the account of creation, the Torah begins another book concerning the subject that had been alluded to in those symbolic events [recorded in the Book of Genesis]. (2) The Book of V’eileh Shemoth was set apart for the story of the first exile. which had been clearly decreed, and the redemption therefrom. This is why He reverted and began [this second book of the Torah] with the names of those persons who went down to Egypt, and mentioned their total number, although this had already been written, since their descent thereto constituted the beginning of the exile, which began from that moment on.
(א) ויזבח זבחים לאלהי אביו יצחק... אבל הפסוק הזה יש בו סוד יגלו לנו אותו שם בבראשית רבה (בראשית רבה צ״ד:ה׳) כי כאשר בא יעקב לרדת מצרים ראה כי הגלות יתחיל בו ובזרעו ופחד ממנו וזבח זבחים רבים לפחד אביו יצחק שלא תהא מדת הדין מתוחה כנגדו ועשה זה בבאר שבע שהוא בית תפלה לאבותיו ומשם נטל רשות בלכתו לחרן...
(1) AND HE OFFERED SACRIFICES UNTO THE G-D OF HIS FATHER ISAAC... However, this verse contains a secret, which the Rabbis revealed to us there in Bereshith Rabbah:7894:5. When Jacob was about to go down to Egypt he saw that the exile was beginning for him and his children, and he feared it, and so he offered many sacrifices to the Fear of his father Isaac79Above, 31:53. in order that Divine judgment should not be aimed against him. This he did in Beer-sheba which was a place of prayer for his father, and from there he had taken permission when he went to Haran...
Let us consider another approach:
(א) אשר ישבו במצרים. אַחַר שְׁאָר הַיְשִׁיבוֹת שֶׁיָּשְׁבוּ גֵּרִים בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא לָהֶם: (ב) שלשים שנה וארבע מאות שנה. בֵּין הַכֹּל, מִשֶּׁנּוֹלַד יִצְחָק עַד עַכְשָׁו, הָיוּ אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת, מִשֶּׁהָיָה לוֹ זֶרַע לְאַבְרָהָם נִתְקַיֵּם כִּי גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ, וּשְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה הָיוּ מִשֶׁנִּגְזְרָה גְזֵרַת בֵּין הַבְּתָרִים עַד שֶׁנּוֹלַד יִצְחָק; וְאִי אֶפְשָׁר לוֹמַר בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לְבַדָּהּ, שֶׁהֲרֵי קְהָת מִן הַבָּאִים עִם יַעֲקֹב הָיָה, צֵא וַחֲשֹׁב כָּל שְׁנוֹתָיו וְכָל שְׁנוֹת עַמְרָם בְּנוֹ וּשְׁמוֹנִים שֶׁל מֹשֶׁה, לֹא תִמְצָאֵם כָּל כָּךְ, וְעַל כָּרְחֲךָ הַרְבֵּה שָׁנִים הָיוּ לִקְהָת עַד שֶׁלֹּא יָרַד לְמִצְרַיִם, וְהַרְבֵּה מִשְּׁנוֹת עַמְרָם נִבְלָעִים בִּשְׁנוֹת קְהָת, וְהַרְבֵּה מִשְּׁמוֹנִים שֶׁל מֹשֶׁה נִבְלָעִים בִּשְׁנוֹת עַמְרָם, הֲרֵי שֶׁלֹּא תִמְצָא אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת לְבִיאַת מִצְרַיִם, וְהֻזְקַקְתָּה לוֹמַר עַל כָּרְחֲךָ, שֶׁאַף שְׁאָר הַיְשִׁיבוֹת נִקְרְאוּ גֵּרוּת וַאֲפִלּוּ בְחֶבְרוֹן שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר "אֲשֶׁר גָּר שָׁם אַבְרָהָם וְיִצְחָק" (בראשית ל"ה), וְאוֹמֵר "אֶת אֶרֶץ מְגֻרֵיהֶם אֲשֶׁר גָּרוּ בָהּ" (שמות ו'), לְפִיכָךְ אַתָּה צָרִיךְ לוֹמַר "כִּי גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ" מִשֶּׁהָיָה לוֹ זֶרַע, וּכְשֶׁתִּמְנֶה ת' שָׁנָה מִשֶּׁנּוֹלַד יִצְחָק, תִּמְצָא מִבִּיאָתָן לְמִצְרַיִם עַד יְצִיאָתָן ר"י, וְזֶה אֶחָד מִן הַדְּבָרִים שֶׁשִּׁנּוּ לְתַלְמַי הַמֶּלֶךְ (מגילה ט'):
(1) אשר ישבו במצרים WHO ABODE IN EGYPT after the other settlements (i. e. including those also) which they had made as strangers in a land that was not theirs (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:40). (2) שלשים שנה וארבע מאות שנה FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS — Altogether from the birth of Isaac until now were 400 years, and we must reckon from that event, for only from the time when Abraham had offspring from Sarah could the prophecy (Genesis 15:13) “Thy offspring shall be a stranger” be fulfilled; and there had been 30 years since that decree made at “the convenant between the parts” until the birth of Isaac. It is impossible to say that this means that they were 430 years in the land of Egypt alone, for Kohath was one of those who came into Egypt with Jacob (Genesis 46:11); go and reckon all his years and all the years of Amram his son and the whole eighty years of Moses, the latter’s son, until the Exodus and you will not find that they total to so many; and you must admit that Kohath had already lived many years before he went down to Egypt, and that many of Amram’s years are included in the years of his father Kohath, and that many of the 80 years of Moses are included in the years of his father Amram, so that you see that you will not find 400 years from the time of Israel’s coming into Egypt until the Exodus. You are compelled to admit, even though unwillingly, that the other settlements which the patriarchs made in lands other than Egypt come also under the name of “sojourning as a stranger” (גרות), including also that at Hebron, even though it was in Canaan itself, because it is said, (Genesis 35:27) “[Hebron] where Abraham and Isaac sojourned”, and it says, (Exodus 6:4) “[the land Canaan], the land of their sojournings wherein they sojourned”. Consequently you must necessarily say that the prophecy, “thy offspring shall be strangers… [four hundred years]” began only from the time when he had offspring. And only if you reckon the 400 years from the birth of Isaac will you find that from the time they came into Egypt until the time they left it, was 210 years (as alluded to in Genesis 15:13). This was one of the passages which they altered for king Ptolemy (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:40; Megillah 9a).
Ramban there also takes this position in explaining the 400 years and simply clarifies the extra 30 years in a slightly simpler manner. This is puzzling. Didn't Ramban just tell us that the Galut began with the relocation of the family?
(ג) והנה הגלות איננו נשלם עד יום שובם אל מקומם ואל מעלת אבותם ישובו. וכשיצאו ממצרים אע"פ שיצאו מבית עבדים עדיין יחשבו גולים כי היו בארץ לא להם נבוכים במדבר. וכשבאו אל הר סיני ועשו המשכן ושב הקב"ה והשרה שכינתו ביניהם אז שבו אל מעלות אבותם שהיה סוד אלוה עלי אהליהם והם הם המרכבה ואז נחשבו גאולים. ולכן נשלם הספר הזה בהשלימו ענין המשכן ובהיות כבוד ה' מלא אותו תמיד.
(1) ‘V’EILEH SHEMOTH’ (AND THESE ARE THE NAMES OF…) (3) Now the exile was not completed until the day they returned to their place and were restored to the status of their fathers. When they left Egypt, even though they came forth from the house of bondage, they were still considered exiles because they were in a land that is not theirs. entangled in the desert. When they came to Mount Sinai and made the Tabernacle, and the Holy One, blessed be He, caused His Divine Presence to dwell again amongst them, they returned to the status of their fathers when the ‘sod eloka’ (counsel of G-d) was upon their tents and “they were those who constituted the Chariot of the Holy One.” Then they were considered redeemed. It was for this reason that this second book of the Torah is concluded with the consummation of the building of the Tabernacle, and the glory of the Eternal filling it.
"Sod Eloka". See Job 29:4, and Ramban’s commentary thereon, (in my Kithvei Haramban: Vol. I, p. 90), where he interprets the verse as follows: “Job is saying that sod eloka — the counsel of G-d - was known in his tent, as if He foretold all future events. Thus Job and all who were with him were guarded from mishaps and troubles. It may be that sod eloka is a reference to the angels of the Supreme One and the host of the heavens that dwelled upon his tent to guard him from all evil, etc.” Ramban is thus intimating here that the complete redemption of the Israelites from their first exile was not achieved until they were restored to the same position held by the patriarchs. Whereas the Divine Presence rested upon the tents of the patriarchs — see Shabbath 55b, where Rashi clearly states that before the building of the Tabernacle, the Divine Presence was to be found upon the tents of the righteous — so Israel regained its original status only when the Divine Glory came to rest upon the Tabernacle at the time of its completion. See end of Book of Exodus. It is for this reason that the second book of the Torah — devoted as it is to the first exile and the redemption therefrom — continues with the account of the building of the Tabernacle.
It now makes perfect sense as to why Ramban sees the Galut as beginning neither from the start of slavery nor the birth of Yitzchak. The beginning of slavery is not the descent away from the tents of the patriarchs, nor is the Geirut of the forefathers a departure from it. The primary departure from the tent with a cloud occurs when we do something very simple - leave the tent with the cloud behind.
We only need to explore the meaning of this tent with a cloud.