mg01

The story of the Exodus builds on the "descent into Egypt" motif that appears several times in Genesis and serves as a bridge between what appears to be an older tradition that leaned toward more Canaanite centric practices and the introduction of the worship of YHWH.

Throughout Genesis, the patriarchs are shown to have revelations at places that appear to be Cannanite centers of worship or sacred places with the intention of establishing YHWH as the ancient source of divine inspiration behind them. The case is laid plain to us in YHWH's introduction to us as having formally being known as "El Shadday", pretty much confirming that E's original "God of the Fathers" was El. (El is never chastized in the same mannor we see Baal, Asherah, and company.) The exodus story thus connects the older (Genesis) patriarchal tales that have their origin in a pre-YHWH culture (or at least a less "dominant" one) to the "YHWH only" culture that saw Moses as their hero.

Assuming the DH, it may even have been the original motivation behind E, that is to unite a relatively newer southern Midian/Horeb/YHWH tradition into the northern/Zaphron/El tradition by cliaming they were one and the same going all the way back to Abraham and layering within it the idea that the divine covanent held by the hill people/proto-Israelites had "back in the day" originated from YHWH in the south. The decent/emergence into Egypt unites the two traditions.

Minimalist

Absolutely, and for which there is archaeological and textual evidence that in times of famine Canaanites migrated to the Delta Region. As you say, this is a recurring motif.

Then the Hyksos got carried away and took advantage of a poltical crisis in Egypt to set themselves up as a dynasty. Once the Egyptians tossed them out they set up strict immigration controls, to put a modern spin on it.

mg01

Also in "Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times" Redford states that it was a common theme among canaanites based on the Hyksos experience. I'm not sure if he is speculating or had something specific in mind by that though as he doesn't mention specifics.

Minimalist

You may find this of interest, mg.

http://users.cyberone.com.au/myers/a...ogy-bible.html

Redford's section begins with #2 wherein he writes:

jeffevnz

MHF - You're absolutely right about the important role of fear in religious (particular Abrahamic) memes and social constructs.

Your post makes sense, and the only other thing I'd say is that I think you labor the point a little. I've always thought that the violence, stupidity, and sheer weirdness of the OT are neatly explained by the fact that it was written by goat-herders during the bronze age.

jeffevnz

I dunno. Why did they make up a story about the earth being created in 7 days?

My money says Exodus is a garbled recollection of an earlier Canaanite group's experiences in Egypt, where they were known as the Hyksos. But that's just a hunch. The whole story could easily have been made up.

Minimalist

It's important to remember that current archaeological theory is that the "Israelites" (and their poorer, southern cousins, the Judahites) arose within Canaan among indigenous populations. So, whether or not they were refugees from the Canaanite cities going down to the Sea People onslaught (William Dever) or nomad herders who were forced to settle down and grow their own grain when their trading partners were overrun ( Israel Finkelstein) the point is that they all had a shared culture, including the Canaanite pantheon of assorted gods.