Sunday, July 4, 2010

The Exodus/Historical fiction

This contradiction is not so much a biblical contradiction but rather an historical one. After I left the church I began to research many of its stories using outside or secular sources to try to either prove their historical validity or dismiss them entirely as Jewish fabrications and myths. One of the stories I found most compelling of the entire bible was that of the exodus of the Hebrews from captivity in Egypt. I thought to myself this story has many unique elements that can be analyzed or probed from a secular perspective fairly and should have some external evidence to support its claims.

One of the first questions I asked myself was what was the approximate date of this enormous exodus, and how many people took part in it? Exodus 12:37 says it was about 600 thousand men not including of course women and children and an unidentified mixed multitude that went out with them. Discounting all of the miraculous hoopla that was inserted into the story I decided to try and look at this from a more mundane perspective. My next question was: Who was this Pharoah that followed the Hebrews into the Red sea? And finally what archaeological evidence has been found to support this story? Given the enormous size of those that supposedly trod the desert with Moses leading the pack, and the enormous size of Pharaohs army that supposedly drowned in the sea there should be more than enough evidence discovered by archaeologists.

If you think of this you will want to know that if this did in fact happen, there should have been traces of Pharaohs army in the sea, things such as chariots, weapons, etc. There should have been some trace of the Hebrews encampments and things found in the Sinai desert, according to the scriptures the generation of people that escaped slavery in Egypt eventually all died in the desert. The ones that made it across to this so called land of milk and honey were all of the children of the former generation all grown up. The bible states that they dwelt in the desert for 40 years surely they must have left plenty of evidence behind to validate their story.

Despite all of those things I have just mentioned an article on wikipedia states: 'A century of research by archaeologists and Egyptologists has found nothing which can be directly related to the Exodus narrative of an Egyptian captivity and the escape and travels through the wilderness,[8] and it has become increasingly clear that Iron Age Israel - the kingdoms of Judah and Israel - has its origins in Canaan, not Egypt:[19] the culture of the earliest Israelite settlements is Canaanite, their cult-objects are those of the Canaanite god El, the pottery remains in the local Canaanite tradition, and the alphabet used is early Canaanite.'

Another tell tale sign of the falsity of this story is that there is no record of a Pharaoh and his entire army drowning in any sea of any kind. Biblical scholars have recently stated that the Red sea is actually a mistranslation of the sea of Reeds which is an entirely different site. Not to mention that conveniently the biblical authors made sure to not identify this pharaoh to try to mask the historical integrity of the story. Without the name of this Pharaoh all one could do is try to match and date the biblical narrative with actual historical Egyptian records but that in and of itself has turned out to be an exercise in futility. Anyone who claims to know who this Pharaoh was is merely speculating, and if he does manage to identify him he also has the enormous task of finding evidence that this Pharaoh died in the sea with approximately over six hundred chariots and his entire army (Exodus 14:7).Regarding the date of the Exodus biblical scholars are all at odds as to the actual dates and have so far not manage to come to a concrete date for the exodus.

14 comments:

  1. Hi there. I appreciate what you do. Many atheists like me have given up trying to pick apart the Bible a long time ago!

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  2. Thanks, it's not just for the theists that I do it but also for the atheists that are not as familiar with the bible. These kinds of articles give them ready answers to the various refutations of theists for their retarded beliefs.

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  3. Is there any reason to hope that this type of information will eventually penetrate the thick insulation of the fundamentalist mind?

    I am wondering if knowing and presenting this kind of expose' has any actual impact towards moving people away from the stupidity that is the Christian religion.

    After seeing all of the "God and Country" hoopla yesterday (July 4th), I'm feeling quite discouraged.

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  4. I agree billy no words or information from us or anyone can persuade anyone otherwise. The choice to study and critique the bible is up to the individual who is bold enough to explore the depths of his questions regardless of what it leads to in the end.

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  5. Actually There is evidence to support the idea that there might be merit to this story

    its call the Beni Hason Mural found in the 19 BCE

    The Khnum-Hotep tomb paintings, in general, provide an important glimpse into daily life and activities in this Egyptian province early in the second millennium BC. Yet this one scene offers a unique glimpse of Asiatics in Egypt at this time. Whether merchants or traveling artisans, the scene and inscription suggest an extended family, of thirty-seven, traveling from Syro-Palestine into Egypt.

    Because Khnum-Hotep’s administration occurred at the turn of the nineteenth century BC, the depiction of Asiatics in Egypt at this time can’t help but conjure up a picture of the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph each of whom also spent time in Egypt during this general time period. A group of men, women and children suggests an extended family unit working and traveling together, reminiscent of Jacob’s family traveling to Egypt. So the Beni Hasan Asiatics’ appearance, dress, equipment and mode of travel should reflect much about the Patriarchs.


    Both the Biblical Patriarchs and the Beni Hasan Asiatics traveled from the same region Syro-Palestine to the same region Egypt during the same period (twentieth–nineteenth centuries BC) While no one proposes these are the Israelites, it is the right people, the right places and the right time to offer greater insights into the world of Biblical characters.

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  6. call this an argument from silence. Whenever I did that in college my professor got mad at me. You can't argue that from it because the silence could be caused from many factors. To argue that because it silent supports your thesis is a fallacy because it fails to take into account the other variables for the lack of silence evidence
    for example
    Atheists used to argue that you can't trust the bible because there was no archeological evidence to support that the city of Jericho existed. only later people found the city.

    If you claim to be a man of reason and intellect do the work and show me
    1 Citations from respected academic scholars
    2 all Academic data that would refute your thesis and how you would deal with it.
    3 A willingness to admit your wrong when the evidence says contrary. I would admit I was wrong. If you don't its not reason, just your anger, and pride that guide you
    If reason is what guides you, then when something comes along that is logical, reasonable, verifiable, you must admit you’re wrong just like I will.

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  7. ps Here is the link to the Mural

    http://www.tabletmag.com/images/features/feature_776_story.jpg

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  8. Dan with the so called evidence you have presented all you are doing is grasping at straws. You claim that this mural demonstrates that there were asiatics in Egypt basing yourself on this mural and trying to make the connection with the Patriarchs, in hopes that it will later on lead to the verification of the exodus from Egypt. "While no one proposes these are the Israelites, it is the right people, the right places and the right time to offer greater insights into the world of Biblical characters." This is what is called speculation and speculation is not evidence but rather the grasping at straws. Trying to make history fit with the biblical narrative by manipulating any evidence that may or may not be related to the case. The usual christian tactics of rewriting history to lend truth to their false myths and legends.

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  9. Here is a great link that refutes the entire Exodus narrative and in fact ties it to some earlier myths. http://ptet.dubar.com/myth-exodus.html It has sources at the end and you can do the research to your hearts delight Dan don't forget to copy and paste it to your browser to access the site.

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  10. Brother,

    that's not totally fair, I've noticed you doing the same thing an many occasions fitting evidence to fit your thesis. You are inducting rather than deducting
    For instance you argued one can't trust the bible based the time removed from the events that happened. But that is a bad argument because from a strictly secular point of view you'd have to discount the works of Plato, Ceaser, and Aritsotle on the same grounds as dismissing the bible. Now you may have other reasons for not trusting the bible, but that particular argument is not based in logic of a secular deductive study anyway. It is an instance where you are misusing academic logic to fit your own conclusions. Is this not what you you accuse Christians of?

    Brother if logic is king in your life then you must accept its conclusions even if you don't like where they lead. that is pure reason. otherwise you are interpreting facts through your personal experience. I know brother that you are hiding being logic. But honestly its a front. I know its a front because of this:

    If I were able to give a sound logical and thought out answer to every single one of your questions and from a strictly logical point of view I was able to show that there was a creator you would not believe it because its not what you want to hear

    You might say the same thing to me but honestly if reason fostered the idea that God did not exist than I would choose that because reason and logic are important. The question I have you is if reason is your king will you accept any conclusion it gives you even if you don't like it? Or are you just looking for reasons to live the way you wanna live?

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  11. Mild criticism to state that no relics have been found of the so-called exodus. even more more unique there should be tons of excrement from 600,000 people as well as the bones of animals eaten and campfire remains. I'm afraid all that we have is tons of BS from the people and their followup religions.

    Rasna36

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  12. There are two arenas in which this problem must be viewed: philosophically and historically. The philosophical is always subjective; however, archaeology DOES provide us with evidence that Old Testament events such as the Exodus DID occur. The problem is: It's not the evidence, it's the INTERPRETATION of the evidence. I would suggest reading "My Professor Says the Bible is a Myth" by Thomas B. Tribelhorn (www.MyProfessorSays.com). He does an exceptional job of answering these objections - not from wishful thinking, but from solid archaeological evidence.

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  13. god is a lie all belive in him are just retearted

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  14. You're obviously an uneducated retard!

    Anonymous2

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