This is a discussion of the lack of evidence for the Biblical account of the "Flight from Egypt" contained in the Old Testament Book Exodus. It is based on an original posted to the GodAndScience Messageboard on 30 May 2001. The historical dates given for the "Exodus event" were all obtained from Christian websites and, with the greatest respect to my sources, should not be taken as historically or archaeologically reliable. As is evident from the rough tone, the piece was originally written for an audience who believe the Bible to be "historically true".
|
UPDATE 08-OCT-2003: The website Tektonics has added a page
Did the Story of Sinuhe Influence the Bible? to highlight the differences
between the stories of Moses and Sinuhe. No attempt has been made to link to this
page. I will leave it for the intrepid reader to consider whether Tektonics
has adequately addressed the points raised here.
|
Introduction |
Egyptian History |
The Story of Sinuhe |
Other Similar Myths |
Conclusion |
References
Introduction
The story of Exodus, like the rest of the Bible, is an amalgam of history, poetry and mythology. This is a brief examination of the lack of historical evidence for the Bible's account.
Egyptian History
The Egyptians were great braggers... They had a tendency to report military defeats as "great victories". For that reason, it's important to take their histories with a pinch of salt. (This happens to this day, of course: Saddam Hussein talks like he "won" his wars in the Gulf; and the USA has found it very difficult to accept that it "lost" the Vietnam War...) This means that we have to be careful accepting any one historical account as "literally true"... That's why archaeologists and historians seek conformation and corroboration for events from outside sources.
For any part of the Bible is to be considered an unembellished account, it must be able to stand up to the same tests as any other historical document.
The first problem is trying to date when the "Exodus" from Egypt took place... Even Biblical apologists seems unable to agree on this. A little surfing around shows a wide variety of candidates, including
1250-1200, 1290-1224, 1314-1313 and 1570-50 (all dates BCE) [ed].
The earliest dates (1570-50 BCE) come from BibleAndScience.Com. They point out:-
- These are the known dates for the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt (The Hyksos were western Semitic people who migrated into northern Egypt during the 12th and 13th dynasties; and who in all likelihood included the Israelites)
- There are no records of any other mass exits from Egypt (all of the other "candidate dates" for Exodus come from unsupported Biblical chronologies)
- The evidence for these dates fit in well with Josephus' account of the Exodus
However, there is no evidence whatsoever to support the idea of the Jews being enslaved in Egypt:
"...nearly 100 years of excavations have yielded no conclusive evidence that the Israelites were ever slaves, lived in Egypt, or wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Nor is there proof that they conquered Canaan with Joshua as their leader.
Most scholars now believe Israel arose indigenously out of Canaan, land that today is Lebanon, southern Syria, Jordan and the West Bank of Israel. Under the prevailing theory, these Canaanites took on a new identity as Israelites and might have been joined or led by a band of Semites from Egypt, perhaps explaining the Exodus story, scholars say." [eq]
Nevertheless, BibleAndScience.Com's account continues:
"Although the Egyptians saw the expulsion of the Hyksos as a great military victory, the Israelites viewed this as a great salvation victory for them. This seems similar to other events recorded in ancient history where both sides claim a great victory. Ramses II battled with the Hittites and almost lost his life, yet he calls this a great victory, but so do the Hittites..."
"[the] earliest [Egpytian] document that describes the time of the Hyksos is from the Temple of Hat-shepsut (1486-1469 B.C.)..." [bs]
This tells of much consternation and confusion at the time of the expulsion of the Hyksos, including the flooding of the Nile (which apparently turned the water red...) The Egyptians put this down to the fact that:
"[the] Hyksos worshipped Baal which was associated with the Egyptian god Seth... to the neglect of other gods and temples...". [bs]
On the evidence, we have no reason to assume that the flight from Egypt recorded in the Bible refers to any other time. There is no evidence to corroborate the various plagues on Egypt, or the parting of the Red (or more accurately "reed") Sea. That does not by itself mean that miraculous events did not occur - although the usual approach would be to assume that the Exodus account was embellished as the tale was passed from generation to generation...
The Story of Sinuhe
In fact the evidence of "embellishment" is overwhelming when we consider the ancient Egptian story of Sinuhe, which dates from around 1960 B.C - some four hundred years before the expulsion of the Hyksos. BibleAndScience.com tells the story as follows:
"Sinuhe flees Egypt on hearing of the death of King Amenemhet I... and becomes an exile like Moses. His path of flight may have been similar to the Exodus, but his destination was Byblos. He says, "I came up to the Wall-of-the-ruler, made to oppose the Asiatic and to crush the Sand-Crossers....I halted at the Island of Kem-wer. An attack of thirst overtook me"... This "Wall" is the fortresses on the eastern frontier near the present day Suez Canal. Kem-wer is the area of the Bitter Lakes. The ruler of the Upper Retenu (northern Palestine and southern Syria) then befriended him, and Sinuhe marries his eldest daughter. It is a tribal society which fights over pasture land and wells. One battle is similar to the story of David and Goiath. In his old age Sinuhe is allowed to return to Egypt. He leaves his eldest son in charge of his tribe and all his possessions of serfs, herds, fruit, and trees. Finally, Sinuhe receives a proper burial in a pyramid tomb. This story gives helpful background information, but there is no mention of Israel." [bs]
Of course, BibleAndScience.com stops short of the obvious and inescapable conclusion... That the Biblical account of the Exodus and of Moses were based at least in part on the story of Sinuhe.
Other Similar Myths
The influences do not stop in Egypt, however, since the Exodus also has striking similarities with the Indian Mahabarata [kg]. Moses himself has been equated with various of the Egyptian Pharoes and (like Jesus) with the mythical Osiris [mo].
Moreover, the historical evidence shows that the Jewish people did not become monotheistic until around 800 BC [jt]. It would appear that the "story" of Exodus then became incorporated into the Jewish canon based on older verbal traditions.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the fact that the Biblical account of the Exodus repeats elements found in older Egyptian stories means that they cannot be trusted as unembellished history. This has been long accepted by the Catholic and mainstream Protestant Churches - and, in fact, by anyone who doesn't start from the untenable position that the Bible is "always literally true".
From an original posted on the GodAndScience Messageboard on 30 May 2001.
References
- The proposed Exodus dates are taken from Time-Line for the History of Judaism, Jewish Virtual Library; Historical Evidences for Moses and Pharaoh, Bible History.net; and Moses, Crash Course in Jewish history, aish.com. [ed]
- Evidence For The Exodus From Egypt, BibleAndScience.com. [bs]
- Some raise questions about Exodus story, By Kristin E. Holmes, Knight Ridder Newspapers. [eq]
- Sixteen Crucified Saviours ~ 2, Kersey Graves, 1875. [kg]
- Josephus says Moses was Osiris, post to alt.mythology by Eliyehowah, 31 January 1996. [mo]
- Judaism timeline, Jorn Barger June 2001 (updated March 2002). [jt]
|
