RE: For those who want proof of the exodus
December 21, 2015 at 5:41 pm
(This post was last modified: December 21, 2015 at 5:47 pm by Simon Moon.)
Jewish archaeologists Israel Finkelstein and Neil Silberman noted:
[W]e have no clue, not even a single word, about the early Israelites in Egypt: neither in monumental inscriptions on the walls of temples, nor in tomb inscriptions, nor in papyri. Israel is absent – as a possible foe of Egypt, as a friend, or as an enslaved nation
Most historians today agree that at best, the stay in Egypt and the Exodus occurred in a few families and that their private story was expanded and “nationalized” to fit the needs of theological ideology.
Israeli archaeologist Ze’ev Herzog, provides the current consensus view on the historicity of the Exodus:
The Israelites never were in Egypt. They never came from abroad. This whole chain is broken. It is not a historical one. It is a later legendary reconstruction – made in the seventh century [BCE] – of a history that never happened.
Many other problems:
The bible says that the “Exodus” consisted of 603,550 able-bodied adult males (not counting Levites), wives, non-fighting men, Levites and children would have brought the total to 3 million or more. The entire population of Egypt at the time was between 4 - 6 million people. The Hebrews were there for 430 years (according to the Bible mythology). Could you imagine the sort of economic devastation the loss of half of the population that would have had?! Yet, the Egyptian economy was very stable from the time before and after the alleged Exodus.
There is zero archaeological evidence that millions of people, their livestock, their pottery, carts etc ever arrived all at once in Palestine. The archaeology of Palestine has failed to substantiate the Bible’s account of the invasion of Canaan by the Israelites arriving from Egypt, of the 31 cities supposedly conquered by Joshua, only one (Bethel) shows a destruction level that equates to the Biblical narrative, and there is general agreement that the origins of Israel lie within Canaan itself.
How did Moses get the word to 2.5 - 3 million Children of Israel scattered throughout Egypt, that they are to slaughter, roast with fire and, with bitter herbs, they shall slaughter before midnight, a first year male lamb which is without blemish, then put the blood of the lamb on both doorposts. Then, starting after midnight, the 2.5 - 3 million had to bake their unleavened bread, steal all they could from the Egyptians, gather their flocks and herds and very much cattle and then, make their way from all over Egypt, once gathered there go to Succoth, depart from Egypt (the border is 60 miles away), THE SAME DAY (Exodus 12:17, 12:42,12:51)!
Lets do the math...
2.5 -3 million Children of Israel, coming to Ramesses, then traveling 37 miles to Succoth, then another 20 miles to Pi-Hahiroth.
How much does a family group, their livestock, carts, and supplies occupy? Estimates are about 50' diameter. Lets say about 300,000 family groups * 50 = 15,000,000' = that is a column of people 2840 miles long. At 3 miles an hour (walking nonstop) it would take the first group 20 hours to reach Pi-Hahiroth, abd over 900 hours for the last group to get to the location of the first group.
Even if they walked 10 family groups across, that would still be a column of 280 miles long. A lot shorter, but still unable to be done in the "selfsame day".
The “Children of Israel” were the same in number as the city of Chicago.
Seriously… How did Moses communicate with all “the children of Israel”? Remember, all this communication transpired in less that 24 hours.
What about the water? The city of Philadelphia, half of the population of the Children of Israel in the desert, requires 230 million gallons a day, just for a comparison. How did the Israelites get enough water for themselves and their livestock? How was it distributed to 3 million people (Philadelphia has 3000 miles pipes)? And they had to carry it with them.
There are so many other problems.
But of course, you can always just "magic" these (and many more) logistical problems away.
[W]e have no clue, not even a single word, about the early Israelites in Egypt: neither in monumental inscriptions on the walls of temples, nor in tomb inscriptions, nor in papyri. Israel is absent – as a possible foe of Egypt, as a friend, or as an enslaved nation
Most historians today agree that at best, the stay in Egypt and the Exodus occurred in a few families and that their private story was expanded and “nationalized” to fit the needs of theological ideology.
Israeli archaeologist Ze’ev Herzog, provides the current consensus view on the historicity of the Exodus:
The Israelites never were in Egypt. They never came from abroad. This whole chain is broken. It is not a historical one. It is a later legendary reconstruction – made in the seventh century [BCE] – of a history that never happened.
Many other problems:
The bible says that the “Exodus” consisted of 603,550 able-bodied adult males (not counting Levites), wives, non-fighting men, Levites and children would have brought the total to 3 million or more. The entire population of Egypt at the time was between 4 - 6 million people. The Hebrews were there for 430 years (according to the Bible mythology). Could you imagine the sort of economic devastation the loss of half of the population that would have had?! Yet, the Egyptian economy was very stable from the time before and after the alleged Exodus.
There is zero archaeological evidence that millions of people, their livestock, their pottery, carts etc ever arrived all at once in Palestine. The archaeology of Palestine has failed to substantiate the Bible’s account of the invasion of Canaan by the Israelites arriving from Egypt, of the 31 cities supposedly conquered by Joshua, only one (Bethel) shows a destruction level that equates to the Biblical narrative, and there is general agreement that the origins of Israel lie within Canaan itself.
How did Moses get the word to 2.5 - 3 million Children of Israel scattered throughout Egypt, that they are to slaughter, roast with fire and, with bitter herbs, they shall slaughter before midnight, a first year male lamb which is without blemish, then put the blood of the lamb on both doorposts. Then, starting after midnight, the 2.5 - 3 million had to bake their unleavened bread, steal all they could from the Egyptians, gather their flocks and herds and very much cattle and then, make their way from all over Egypt, once gathered there go to Succoth, depart from Egypt (the border is 60 miles away), THE SAME DAY (Exodus 12:17, 12:42,12:51)!
Lets do the math...
2.5 -3 million Children of Israel, coming to Ramesses, then traveling 37 miles to Succoth, then another 20 miles to Pi-Hahiroth.
How much does a family group, their livestock, carts, and supplies occupy? Estimates are about 50' diameter. Lets say about 300,000 family groups * 50 = 15,000,000' = that is a column of people 2840 miles long. At 3 miles an hour (walking nonstop) it would take the first group 20 hours to reach Pi-Hahiroth, abd over 900 hours for the last group to get to the location of the first group.
Even if they walked 10 family groups across, that would still be a column of 280 miles long. A lot shorter, but still unable to be done in the "selfsame day".
The “Children of Israel” were the same in number as the city of Chicago.
Seriously… How did Moses communicate with all “the children of Israel”? Remember, all this communication transpired in less that 24 hours.
What about the water? The city of Philadelphia, half of the population of the Children of Israel in the desert, requires 230 million gallons a day, just for a comparison. How did the Israelites get enough water for themselves and their livestock? How was it distributed to 3 million people (Philadelphia has 3000 miles pipes)? And they had to carry it with them.
There are so many other problems.
But of course, you can always just "magic" these (and many more) logistical problems away.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
