Anat

especially considering that Numbers 1 arrives at 603,550 (with breakdown by tribe) and Numbers 26, for the census some 38 years later at 601,730. Because I know the interpretation that has 'elef' mean 'family', but that does not work with the two censi in Numbers.

Jack the Bodiless

Why is it "presumptuous"? What's so special about the Bible, that it would be "presumptuous" to contradict it?
Ad-hominem and projection.

There is no "atheist religion" with a commandment that states "Thou Shalt Deny The Exodus". There is nothing inherently supernatural about the migration of a large number of people (I've never seen anyone deny that the Babylonian Captivity happened, for instance).

It's just that some people base their conclusions on the evidence, whereas others are ideologically opposed to doing so.

xaxxat

C'mon, bfniii... Show us your numbers.

aa5874

Bfniii, lets assume God did cause those plagues, by what means did the magicians turn all the water of Egypt into blood, by what means did the magicians infest Egypt with frogs. Which God helped them to do those acts?

The story of the plagues, as recorded in Exodus, is an illusion. If God is having competition with illusionist, then he must have been created by an illusion. It is conceivable that such nonsense as the plagues could have occurred based on archaelogical findinds and the Bible itself.s

MiddleMan

Addressed here:

http://www.theskepticalreview.com/BPNumbersGame1.html

aa5874

The last sentence should have read, ' It is inconceiveable that such nonsense as the plagues could have occurred based on archaeeological findings and the Bible itself.

xaxxat

bfniii... quit dodging and show us your numbers.

EthnAlln

I'm rather fascinated by the claim that the Habiru (Freebooters, not necessarily proven to be the Hebrews) "built some impressive structures in Egypt." Where are these structures? How is it known that they were built by the Habiru?

Jack the Bodiless

Because of the distinctly non-Hebrew Egyptian hieroglypics on them, I guess.

(you really have to understand bfniii to figure it out)

I am feeling somewhat dizzy. Off to bed.

spin

I missed the line about building stuff in Egypt. Habiru??? Where did this whacko idea come from?

The only information relating Egypt and the Habiru are the Amarna letters. They clearly show that the Habiru were in Palestine, not Egypt.

I think we ought to put a dunce's cap on the one who came up with this outlandish clanger.

----

While we are here, the Habiru in Palestine mentioned in the Amarna letters date to the reigns of Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, Smenkhkare and Tutankhamen. Most people who advocate the exodus need to put it some generations later, because the Hebrews were mentioned in relation to the city of Raamses a place whose name didn't even exist at the time of the Amarna letters, but is named after Ramses II. We have Habiru making a scene in Palestine and further north, while supposedly the Hebrews were still in Egypt.


spin