If the Exodus didn't happen, the Jews wouldn't put themselves under the Mosaic law

[Minimalist]

Did tens of thousands of Israelites conspire to fabricate the history of the Exodus?

Read Israel Finkelstein's "The Bible Unearthed."

Because the Exodus did not happen. Neither did the Conquest.

[The Grand Nudger]

But why would the Jews subject themselves to such a rigorous law if they knew it was a myth?

Social construct/contract

Of course, I could just say it was all a mass delusion and call it a day.

You could, but then you'd be ignoring (what I think to be) a salient point. I have serious doubts that any religious narrative was ever experienced by anyone in the fist person to begin with (so no, tens of thousands of people didn't conspire to do anything at all "never attribute to malice" -lol). Mass delusion is not required (and is cumbersome) as an explanation. Particularly in the case of the above.

As per your exchange. -All- social constructs with religious underpinnings would be examples of the same. To allow the one on the grounds stated is to allow them all. The norse gods, for example, would be in. As would the egyptian gods (if those recorded "miracles" didn't occur, if pagans the world over had not experienced those events, why would they place themselves under those laws?). The answer to that question in the case of norse and egyptian pagans appears to be decidedly less than divine. It's entirely likely that whomever you are having this conversation with will agree on that point at least. What may (at first) seem to be a tidy line of reasoning for a preferred concept may ultimately become more messy than the user had ever wished for or concieved of. I doubt that your apologist wants to defend every pagan faith in this manner. Good luck btw.

[Dolorian]

Read Israel Finkelstein's "The Bible Unearthed."

Because the Exodus did not happen. Neither did the Conquest.

The issue is that this type of Christian doesn't really seems interested in that. Bible says it I believe it kind of thing.

[Minimalist]

But why would the Jews subject themselves to such a rigorous law if they knew it was a myth?

An interesting point and one which erroneously derives from the idea that the jews were somehow special. They weren't. In fact, before they were "jews" they were just average Canaanites but the laws they had lived under in that culture derived from ancient sources.

The Code of Hummurabi dates back to the Middle Bronze Age c 1750 BC. There is evidence that even it was a derivation of earlier law codes.

Check out a few examples.

http://eawc.evansville.edu/anthology/hammurabi.htm

So you must ask the question, did people willingly subject themselves to this law or, did the guys with spears impose it? I think you'll find that throughout much of history the answer is the latter.

[Dolorian]

I have serious doubts that any religious narrative was ever experienced by anyone in the fist person to begin with (so no, tens of thousands of people didn't conspire to do anything at all "never attribute to malice" -lol).

Yeah that is something I pointed out to him, that it wasn't thousands of people who wrote the account. But then went ahead and ignored my points about there being a lack of evidence for the event outside the Bible and the modern scholarly consensus which doubts that it was such a huge number of people to begin with.

As per your exchange. -All- social constructs with religious underpinnings would be examples of the same. To allow the one on the grounds stated is to allow them all. The norse gods, for example, would be in. As would the egyptian gods (if those recorded "miracles" didn't occur, if pagans the world over had not experienced those events, why would they place themselves under those laws?). The answer to that question in the case of norse and egyptian pagans appears to be decidedly less than divine. It's entirely likely that whomever you are having this conversation with will agree on that point at least. What may (at first) seem to be a tidy line of reasoning for a preferred concept may ultimately become more messy than the user had ever wished for or concieved of. I doubt that your apologist wants to defend every pagan faith in this manner. Good luck btw.

Thanks. Yeah one can definitely make an argument for very much any religious event or text using that same reasoning. I mean, if we are going to ignore the evidence and rely solely on the claims of the book; we may as well accept as true every other account of the same nature.

[vorlon13]

Strict compliance with rules, edicts, strictures, etc. can only be accomplished at swordpoint. And don't think for a second the folks wielding the sword points are zealous in following them either, that is a perk of having the sword.

Ever notice the christers we get here? No matter how vigorously they believe (and beseech others to follow suit) or profess to believe, damn few of them swill poison, molest serpents, or even eschew subsequent wives.

It's how religion 'works'.

[JuliaL]

They might.
My model has it as a code for clerics by clerics. If you don't want to actually work for a living, say by tilling the soil or raising the flocks, you have to convince somebody to support you. Tell them that they are unclean (and they're probably pretty stinky anyway, no water, no baths) and they need to perform some act to make them (ritually) clean. A side effect of the cleaning ritual is that you have all these sacrificial (and really valuable in the society in question) carcasses to dispose of. Burn a few of them and show the bodies to make sure that the serfs don't want them back and to have the nasty smell cover the fact that you are cooking the rest of them. Eat in private. Use a powerful imaginary friend for security and voi-la, you've got Levites. It's their gig for a few thousand years.
I find this a pretty plausible scenario.

[Drich]

From an exchange...

Did tens of thousands of Israelites conspire to fabricate the history of the Exodus? If those events did not occur, and those recorded miracles were not experienced by tens of thousands of Israelites, why would they subject themselves to such a burdensome legal code and hard life?

The person in question doesn't seems interested in there being or not archeological evidence for the event.

Are there any examples of people in other religions doing something similar? I know he would reject such accounts but it would be nice to point it to him to show him why I reject the Bible account

My answer would be, "good point."

[Dolorian]

My answer would be, "good point."

Why would you consider it a good point?

[ThomM]

From an exchange...

Did tens of thousands of Israelites conspire to fabricate the history of the Exodus? If those events did not occur, and those recorded miracles were not experienced by tens of thousands of Israelites, why would they subject themselves to such a burdensome legal code and hard life?

The person in question doesn't seems interested in there being or not archeological evidence for the event.

Are there any examples of people in other religions doing something similar? I know he would reject such accounts but it would be nice to point it to him to show him why I reject the Bible account

1 - Why did Thousands of Egyptian warriors fight for their gods - if they were not real? (And thousands of warriors from other religions for their gods) ANd their gods - at least some of them WERE actually real - they could be seen and heard - and still today their mummies can be seen as well.
2 - If the 72 virigns are not real - why would a billions Islamic men put themselves under that rule?

The problem is that such claims are simple ways to point out the lack of intelligence of uneducated humans before they learned to read and write.
And stupid people will do lots of foolish things when told that an almighty creator god will kill them if they eat meat on a friday in lent and then subject them to eternal punishment for it as well.