Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Karim · 03-24-2002, 04:33 AM

Hello,
I'm new to the board so hi everybody.
The Old Testament mentions "the people of Israel journeyed from Ram'eses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very many cattle, both flocks and herds" Exodus 12:37-38. The problem is whether to consider the bible a book of fiction or not. We have here over two million people at least whom both Egyptians and their hosts the Moabites forgot to mention. Archeology doesn't however, rely only on written documents. Architecture can help, constructions, buildings....So we must at least find signs of this activity.
Example: The United Kingdom of Israel is supposedly dated to the 10TH century BC. At that time Jerusalem wasn't a city yet and Judah had around 2000 people. This is 480 years after the exodus supposedly happened. So if we think of the population size of these places we wonder how big was the Egyptian army to dare challenge 2 million people and what was the size of palestine to pose a serious challenge to the new comers. The answer is simple the number is wrong so are the dates and the locations. Then if we follow the school of Copenhagen and admit that the OT was a post exilic document, this will lead us to admit that the writer(s) of the OT could have been talking about something that probably had nothing to do with the Hebrews and happened probably nowhere near Palestine or Egypt.
Second option The OT mentions "A mixed multitude also went up with them". What the hell is this multitude? I believe that the notion and the nation of Israel was not existing at that time except in the mind of the writers. Remember even Yahweh requested a mark to tell Israel from Egypt. Yahveh Exodus 11:7 says"The lord makes a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel" and then Exodus 12:13 "the blood shall be a sign for you"
So to me The first important question is Who are the people of Israel. The OT wanted to make them a distinct people, but that doesn't make a lot of sense.
Regards

Answerer · 03-24-2002, 05:03 AM

Well, basically the Exdous is more of a lie than fact so why bother about it?

Jayhawker Soule · 03-24-2002, 05:31 AM

You might wish to spend a few minutes reading through the various threads addressing the Exodus.

03-24-2002, 04:33 AM	#1
Karim Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: USA Posts: 8	Who fled Egypt? Hello, I'm new to the board so hi everybody. The Old Testament mentions "the people of Israel journeyed from Ram'eses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very many cattle, both flocks and herds" Exodus 12:37-38. The problem is whether to consider the bible a book of fiction or not. We have here over two million people at least whom both Egyptians and their hosts the Moabites forgot to mention. Archeology doesn't however, rely only on written documents. Architecture can help, constructions, buildings....So we must at least find signs of this activity. Example: The United Kingdom of Israel is supposedly dated to the 10TH century BC. At that time Jerusalem wasn't a city yet and Judah had around 2000 people. This is 480 years after the exodus supposedly happened. So if we think of the population size of these places we wonder how big was the Egyptian army to dare challenge 2 million people and what was the size of palestine to pose a serious challenge to the new comers. The answer is simple the number is wrong so are the dates and the locations. Then if we follow the school of Copenhagen and admit that the OT was a post exilic document, this will lead us to admit that the writer(s) of the OT could have been talking about something that probably had nothing to do with the Hebrews and happened probably nowhere near Palestine or Egypt. Second option The OT mentions "A mixed multitude also went up with them". What the hell is this multitude? I believe that the notion and the nation of Israel was not existing at that time except in the mind of the writers. Remember even Yahweh requested a mark to tell Israel from Egypt. Yahveh Exodus 11:7 says"The lord makes a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel" and then Exodus 12:13 "the blood shall be a sign for you" So to me The first important question is Who are the people of Israel. The OT wanted to make them a distinct people, but that doesn't make a lot of sense. Regards

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03-24-2002, 05:03 AM	#2
Answerer Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Singapore Posts: 3,956	Well, basically the Exdous is more of a lie than fact so why bother about it?

03-24-2002, 05:31 AM	#3
Jayhawker Soule Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Chicago Posts: 1,777	You might wish to spend a few minutes reading through the various threads addressing the Exodus.

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