He believes that the account in Joshua of a swift military campaign is less accurate than the Judges account of a gradual takeover of Canaan.
Wood argued that the , figure was mistranslated and the real number amounted to a more plausible 20, The scholarly consensus seems to be that the story is a brilliant mix of myth, cultural memories and kernels of historical truth.
Whatever the facts of the story, those core values have endured and inspired the world for more than three millenniums--and that, many say, is the point.
How does the story inspire me in some way to work for the freedom of all? Teresa Watanabe covers education for the Los Angeles Times. Since joining the Times in , she has covered immigration, ethnic communities, religion, Pacific Rim business and served as Tokyo correspondent and bureau chief. All Sections. About Us. B2B Publishing. Business Visionaries. Hot Property. Times Events. Times Store. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options.
But did the Exodus ever actually occur? This article was originally published March 26, Well, they've all, at one time or another, perpetuated the myth that the Jews built the pyramids. And it is a myth, make no mistake. Even if we take the earliest possible date for Jewish slavery that the Bible suggests, the Jews were enslaved in Egypt a good three hundred years after the B. That is, of course, if they were ever slaves in Egypt at all.
We are so quick to point out the obvious lies about Jews and Israel that come out in Egypt — the Sinai Governors claims that the Mossad released a shark into the Red Sea to kill Egyptians, or, as I once read in a newspaper whilst on holiday in Cairo, the tale of the magnetic belt buckles that Jews were selling cheap in Egypt that would sterilize men on contact — yet we so rarely examine our own misconceptions about the nature of our history with the Egyptian nation.
We tend, in the midst of our disdain for Egyptian, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, to overlook the fact that one of the biggest events of the Jewish calendar is predicated upon reminding the next generation every year of how the Egyptians were our cruel slave-masters, in a bondage that likely never happened. Is this really so different from Jaws the Mossad agent?
The reality is that there is no evidence whatsoever that the Jews were ever enslaved in Egypt. The vizier's name ending in -el could well be related to the Hebraic god Elohim; and the ending Aper-Ia could be indicative of Ya, short for Yahweh. This interpretation supports the argument that Hebrews were present in Egypt during the 18th dynasty starting years ago BCE. The famed British Egyptologist Sir Matthew Flinders Petrie holds the reverse view: that Akhenaten was the catalysis for the monotheistic views of the Hebrews, and that the Exodus happened in the 19th dynasty , around years ago.
That extrapolates to around two million people making the exodus extrapolated from Numbers If around 2 million people left Egypt, when the entire population has been estimated at around 3 to 4. The numbers were undoubtedly exaggerated, as in most ancient records. But nobody claims the invasion of Greece never happened.
That said, as the Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen points out, the Hebrew word for thousand, eleph, can mean different things depending upon context. For example: 1 Kings mentions a wall falling in Aphek that killed 27, men. If we translate eleph as leader, the text more sensibly says that 27 officers were killed by the falling wall.
Bv that logic, some scholars propose that the Exodus actually consisted of about 20, people. The absence of evidence of a sojourn in the wilderness proves nothing.
A Semitic group in flight wouldn't have left direct evidence: They would not have built cities, built monuments or done anything but leave footprints in the desert sand.
Yet more support for the Haggadah may lie in an interesting poem copied onto a papyrus dating to the 13th century BCE although original is believed to be much older , called the " Admonitions of Impuwer or the Lord of All ". It portrays a devastated Egypt haunted by plagues, droughts, violent uprisings — culminating in the escape of slaves with Egypt's wealth.
In short, the Impuwer papyrus seems to be telling the story of Exodus from the Egyptian point of view, from a river of blood to the devastation of the livestock to darkness. Also, the Egyptians were not above altering historical records when the truth proved to be embarrassing or went against their political interests. It was not the praxis of the pharaohs to advertise their failures on temple walls for all to see.
Her inscriptions were erased, her obelisks surrounded by a wall, and her monuments were forgotten. Her name does not appear in later annals. Moreover, records of administration in the east Delta seem entirely gone. Generally, the biblical writers interpreted actual history, rather than invent it. The ancients knew that propaganda based on real events was more effective than fairy tales.
A chronicler might record that King A conquered a city and King B was defeated. A royal scribe might claim that King B offended a God and therefore was punished by the God, who allowed King A to seize his city. To the ancients, both versions would be equally true. However many Egyptologists or archaeologists dance on the head of a pin, each will have his own perspective on the Exodus story.
None will have any evidence beyond contextual evidence to support their theories. The Exodus could be a distant Semitic memory of the expulsion of Hyksos, or small-scale exoduses by different tribes and groups of Semitic origin during various periods.
Or it could be a fable. Psychologically, though, why would scribes invent a tale about such a humble and humiliating beginning such as slavery? Nobody but the Jews describe their community's beginning in such lowly terms. Most people prefer to connect their leaders to heroic deeds or even to claim a direct lineage to Gods. At the end of the day it the story of the Exodus is all matter of faith.
This article does not aspire to prove the historicity of the Passover Haggadah, or that the Land of Israel was promised to slaves coming out of Egypt. It just proves that there were historical figures and events that could have inspired the Exodus account.
This article was originially published in April Philippe Bohstrom Mar. Get email notification for articles from Philippe Bohstrom Follow.
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