The Date; The Route; The Archaeology An objective search for what really happened
14-03-2015
The logic of the Exodus narrative
In this first article, we have first to decide wether the Exodus narrative, described in the book of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy is written in the first millenium BC as a myth or as an eyewitness's account of a historical event.
Nobody can deny that the Exodus narrative looks like history. Most of the sentences start with 'and', which shows that it's a historical account. Another important thing is that 2 of the main feasts in Israel are related to the Exodus: passover and the Feast of Tabernacles. Jews celebrate these feasts for centuries. The most likely theory is that those feasts come from historical events. In a following article, we will show that the author must have been a 2nd millenium BC eyewitness.
However, it can of course be true that the author wanted the story looked like as if it's history, though it was just a myth. This idea is actually illogical. Most myths of other peoples show that they are the best people and the purest race, descended from either gods or the first man. Thin for example about the many flood myths. Most of the time, the people from whom the flood story is are the immediate descendants of the flood hero. Or take for another example this Choctaw indians myth about the seperation of various tribes:
"Some contiued thenceforward to speak the original tongue, the language of the Choctaw, and from these sprung the Choctaw tribe. The others, who could not understand this language, began to fight among themselves. Finally they seperated." [1]
As you can see, the own tribe surpasses the others.
Now again to the exodus story. I can't see why various elements of this story are made up. The Israelites are a tribe of slaves from Egypt. That is not very impressive. And what is even less impressive is the fact that almost the whole journey to Canaan, the Israelites murmur because they are not satified. The only good person is Moses and even he makes mistakes. That's strange for a later author. If he came from Juda, you would expect that Juda is the tribe which does everything good. And if the author came from Efraim, you would expect that Efraim does everything good.
However, there are many theologians and archaeologist who say the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deutoronomy are written in the 1st millenium BC. They made several theories to explain why those books were written.
(1) The contra Egypt hypothesis After Finkelstein and Silberman [2] the story of the exodus was originated because in the 7th century BC, the kingdom of Judah was a rival of Egypt. However, during the time of Josiah (the time in which Exodus was written after Finkelstein), Assyria was an important enemy either. And during the exile, only Babylon and Persia were important. So the choice for Egypt is quite strange, especially it was the country many Asians fled to in times of trouble. Another problem is that Egypt is quite positively described in the exodus story. Actually it is only the pharoah who is bad person in the story.
(2) The Hyksos hypothesis After the egyptologist Donald Redford, the exodus story is an echoe of the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt. however, it is highly unlikely that a story in which the Asians are the suppressors and the Egyptians the servants changes into a story of slavery in Egypt! Another problem is that no other people than the Israelites have the story of the exodus.
My conclusion is that the best theory is that the exodus narrative is an account of a historical event. However, if archaeology shows that the exodus could not have happened, a less logical theory must be accepted.
Has the Exodus really happened as described in the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deutronomy? Minimalist archaeologists such as Israel Finkelstein say:
"Putting aside the possibility of divinely inspired miracles, one can hardly accept the idea of a flight of a large group of slaves from Egypt through the heavily guarded border fortifications into the desert and then into Canaan in the time of such formidable Egyptian precense."[1]
Others, like the adventurer Ron Wyatt, claim to have found several important places from the book of Exodus.
In this blog, I want you to tell what really happened in 1400 BC. I am not a scientist, though I want to become one. I am a fellow of a very fundamentalist church, the The Netherlands Reformed Congregations. However, I believe e.g. in the evolution theory and I wouldn't forsee any problems when scientific results show that the exodus couldn't have happened.
To understand my articles properly, you must read the articles from up to down. The latest article is at the bottom.
I wish you much pleasure with reading my articles, Scientist
[1] I. Finkelstein, N.A. Silberman, The Bible unearthed, Touchstone 2001, p. 61
