Quote: However, names and numbers (especially numbers) in the OT can not be relied upon 100%. An error in transmission easily changes 1450 to 2450, for instance.
While I certainly agree with your first sentence...probably even more than you would like me to agree with you!.... the second part is over the top.
There is no date reference at all. The "anchor point" is the mythical Solomon building the mythical temple. Xtians and jews point to the early 10th century for this and then date the Exodus to 480 years earlier.
They are trying to back into the dates by postulating as a fact the building of a temple which has not yielded a single artifact...ever.
Second, there is no indication of mass slavery in the Old Kingdom. It was simply not the economic model they used. Peasant farmers were recruited for building projects during the annual Nile flood periods. It functioned as a virtual social welfare program.
But you simply cannot adjust the chronology by 1,000 years in order to try to make something fit. Occam's Razor comes into play and it is easier to decide that the bible stories are bullshit. It is not as if they are even original.
Quote:Sargon, the mighty king, King of Agade, am I. My mother was a vestal, my father I knew not, while my father's brother dwelt in the mountains. In my city Azuripani, which is situated on the bank of the Euphrates, my mother, the vestal, bore me. In a hidden place she brought me forth. She laid me in a vessel made of reeds, closed my door with pitch, and dropped me down into the river, which did not drown me. The river carried me to Akki, the water carrier. Akki the water carrier lifted me up in the kindness of his heart, Akki the water carrier raised me as his own son, Akki the water carrier made of me his gardener. In my work as a gardener I was beloved by Ishtar, I became the king, and for forty-five years I held kingly sway.
-- Sargon I c. 2800 birth myth
