Chili

Nice metaphor.

The pillar of fire represents the fiery revolving sword that was stationned at the gate when they were banned from Eden (called the promised land here). The column of smoke is the foggy mind that failed them by day after a forceful entree into the promised land that was achieved by parting the waters to gain access the Tree of Life (which is exactly what makes Israel the promised land). The problem here was that such a forced entry will only partially illuminate them by night to leave them stranded each and every day until they died . . . "nonetheless" Jesus said in Jn. 6, who therefore showed how to walk on water to get into the promised land that we call it heaven instead of Israel .

boneyard bill

If you had to guide a large number of people through the desert at night, the easiest thing to do would be to have someone lead them carrying a torch of fire. During the day, you would put something wet over it to create smoke which would be more visible in daylight. I don't think you need volcanoes or other complicated explanations.

We don't even need to assume that the event occurred. Whoever wrote of the event simply claimed that God led the Israelites the same way people do it.

Wads4

Oh really!--perhaps the Israelites should just have turned their heads to the left occasionally, and then they would have seen it! Perhaps they were wearing blinkers.

Wads4

Yes it could well be, but although the geological dating of the eruption is reasonably accurate I believe, -how well can political events like the siege of Avaris and the expuslion of the Hyksos be dated? Just a few decades out could bring the two events together. Also Santorini's first eruption might have gone on unnoticed, but subsequent furthur outpourings, and the gradually accumulating fall-out could set the date forward a bit.
The fall-out can explain all the plagues, except death of the first-born, which I agree with Malachi could have been an add on just to illustrate how God was allegedly punishing the Egyptians. Another rather implausible explanation is that the first-born died, because it was their job to open up the granaries as a seasonal event, and they all caught a fungal pneumonia from inhaling spores in infected corn,--perhaps the damp got into it.

Wads4

Yes but in those days it seems most people could not write rational dispassionate history,--it all had to be embellished with doings of gods etc,-rather like Homer I suppose. Another thing we don't hear much about is where did the "sea-peoples" suddenly arrive from,-who included the Philistines, who attacked Egypt and also settled on the coast of Palestine (hence the name). Egyptian history records that Rameses III defeated them at sea and land around 1200 BCE or later. Probable origins is they were refugees from Crete, having been displaced by the Mycenaens, secondary to furthur eruptions from Thera,-- or Trojan refugees, likewise displaced by the Mycenaen conquest of Troy. Some were also "Shadana" from Sardinia apparently. There seems to have been a lot of displaced people around that time, all looking for a new home.

Wads4

Even nicer metaphor (You caaan't be serious!)

Wads4

Yes good point, I had not thought of someone carrying a large torch. Seems though like a lot of fuss to make about a mere torch,- and recording it in history. Had they never seen someone holding a flaming torch before. What did they do at night to move around camp while in Egypt?

Codec

Why would 3 million people, including children and the aged, want to walk at night at all? Given it took 40 years, you'd think they could skip the walking at night bit!
The best I can think is its a conflation of lots of myths and legends. Numbers tend to grow in the retelling.

Moses and a few of his friends managed to escape from Egypt.
Moses and all his family, and his relatives managed to escape from Egypt.
Moses led hundreds of oppressed people to freedom.
Moses and Aaron threatened pharoh, and took all the slaves (500) out of Egypt.
Moses and Aaron humiliated pharoh, and took all the slaves (5000) out of Egypt.
Moses and Aaron humiliated pharoh, gave his troops a good kicking and took all the slaves (50,000) out of Egypt
...
Aural histories can be accurate, but with a little spin can be much more entertaining.

Wads4

ps--sorry, did not mean to sound patronsing. As an occasional sailor I assumed the basics of navigation were obvious. If you have a fixed object on the horizon (like a volcano),-it does not have to be in front of you in the direction in which you are heading. Once you obtain a visual fix on it you can consistently travel in any direction relative to it.

Skippymjp

Maybe the whole exodus story is simply a case of "my god can whip your god". I mean, didn't Ramses II consider himself in the later years to be an earthly embodied god?? If thats the case, maybe the early writers that were making up the story felt that this gave Ramses the upper hand on their god, him being visible and touchable and all, and they had to kick his butt. To elaborate.....why didn't god, if it's all that, pick up little mortal Ramses and punt his tail clear to the middle of the Seregeti; or just pinch his little mortal head off....well, because everyone knew that Ramses lived into his 90's, and that would have made their story an obvious lie. So, they just had their god myth slaughter thousands of nameless imaginary egytpians and convince Ramses to give in, and then he just erased everything about it from history. Sure, ok!

My god can whip your god!

Oh and I know that the Ramses thing is still in contention, so just insert Pharaoh if you like that better