Just how stupid were the ancient Israelites?

[Mystic]

It's all symbolism, imho. A story told to convey a certain message. Maybe there was slavery of the Jews in Egypt and a man named Moses who helped lead them to freedom, but if that's the case, the story, as it is told, is exaggerated to make a point.

Thanks for the courage to state your view. This hurts me a little. I don't know why, but it hurts.

[The Valkyrie]

It's all symbolism, imho. A story told to convey a certain message. Maybe there was slavery of the Jews in Egypt and a man named Moses who helped lead them to freedom, but if that's the case, the story, as it is told, is exaggerated to make a point.

This I agree with.

There may have been some Hebrew slaves in Egypt, but certainly not hundreds of thousands. And there is no archaeological evidence to support a large group crossing the Sinai for 40 years.

[Minimalist]

It's all symbolism, imho. A story told to convey a certain message. Maybe there was slavery of the Jews in Egypt and a man named Moses who helped lead them to freedom, but if that's the case, the story, as it is told, is exaggerated to make a point.

Both Redford and Finkelstein have zoned in on the late 7th century as the origination date for the exodus tale.  Of course, we don't know exactly when it was finally edited but geopolitically what was going on at the time was that the Assyrian Empire - of which Judah had been a loyal vassal - was collapsing under attack by the Babylonians.  The Egyptians under the 26th Dynasty kings, Psammetichus and Necho, were allied with Assyria.  The Judahites seeing a power vacuum as the Assyrians retrenched had an idea to move into the vacated areas and gave themselves a mythical story as to how they had come into possession of the whole region in the first place.

Even the bible honestly tells us how that went!

29 wIn his days xPharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him at Megiddo, as soon as he saw him.

Whacked, like a low-level mafia hood!  That's what happens when you are on the wrong side.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

It's all symbolism, imho. A story told to convey a certain message. Maybe there was slavery of the Jews in Egypt and a man named Moses who helped lead them to freedom, but if that's the case, the story, as it is told, is exaggerated to make a point.

When will people get it through their heads that the Egyptian empire included all of the Levant area to the Tigris River?  That means that it included what's now known as Israel, supposedly the home of the Israelites/Hebrews/Jews.

https://www.ancient.eu/image/538/

[Minimalist]

True enough in the Late Bronze Age.  Certainly not true by the Iron Age.

The Egyptians abandoned their principal administrative center in Canaan at Beit Shean in the mid 12th century BC.  They never regained their previous position.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

True enough in the Late Bronze Age.  Certainly not true by the Iron Age.

The Egyptians abandoned their principal administrative center in Canaan at Beit Shean in the mid 12th century BC.  They never regained their previous position.

The Hittites were the ones with the iron chariots that Yahweh couldn't defeat.  In the story the Yahweh god character is actualy the Egyptian Pharaoh.

[SaStrike]

It's all symbolism, imho. A story told to convey a certain message. Maybe there was slavery of the Jews in Egypt and a man named Moses who helped lead them to freedom, but if that's the case, the story, as it is told, is exaggerated to make a point.

This I agree with.

There may have been some Hebrew slaves in Egypt, but certainly not hundreds of thousands. And there is no archaeological evidence to support a large group crossing the Sinai for 40 years.

No evidence she says. As if that stops theists!

[Mystic]

Yeah that should stop us cause we really care what present day Pharaohs and their education tell us is evidence and history!

Let people access to the many vaults around the world with no one knowing what documents are stored, and then I will begin to take this evidence thing seriously.

[Minimalist]

True enough in the Late Bronze Age.  Certainly not true by the Iron Age.

The Egyptians abandoned their principal administrative center in Canaan at Beit Shean in the mid 12th century BC.  They never regained their previous position.

The Hittites were the ones with the iron chariots that Yahweh couldn't defeat.  In the story the Yahweh god character is actualy the Egyptian Pharaoh.

You know what that "iron chariots" shit tells me?  It tells me that the moron who wrote that nonsense would not have known a chariot if it hit him in the ass.

Chariots were designed for speed.  They were not tanks.

IOW -

This:



Not this:

[The Valkyrie]

Yeah that should stop us cause we really care what present day Pharaohs and their education tell us is evidence and history!

Let people access to the many vaults around the world with no one knowing what documents are stored, and then I will begin to take this evidence thing seriously.

Yes.

Damn those annoying people and their facts.

Curse the scholars of multiple belief systems and disciplines who have spent years and decades in the field and laboratory so they provide us with insights into our ancestors.

Remember that it was many Israeli archaeologists who set out to prove their religious beliefs and history who discovered that the claims of their holy books were so much nonsense.