Julian

Well, that may have been a bit exaggerated. It's not that I think it is a big deal but since it is supposed to be inspired of god it is not the kind of mistake I would expect to see...

Julian

Sheshbazzar

How many "handbreadths" was the diameter?
How many "fingerbreadths" was the diameter?

How many "handbreaths" was the circumference?
How many "fingerbreadths" was the circumference?

How many "reeds" was the diameter?
How many "reeds" was the circumference?

Give an exact and unvarying answer to these questions, then you may be able to correctly interpret and understand the significance of the measures.

spin

On the contrary, it's quite a strong argument. While numbers can be bogus while leaving the event possible, several hundred years in a foreign culture without any significant linguistic influence is remarkable. Just have a look at how many Greek words snuck into the Hebrew lexicon used by talmudic writers. It's very normal to take on linguistic influences over long periods of time. English is famous for its myriad of examples. It's also very normal for a society which lacks the cultural traits of the host society to absorb the terminology to describe those traits. Egypt was the local "high culture" and yet Hebrew doesn't evince any evidence of contact.

Instead, Hebrew is just another Canaanite language which displays more conservatism than Phoenician, suggesting that Hebrew was a later development than Phoenician from the Canaanite linguistic group, as the longer a language is separated from its family the more diverse it becomes. Phoenician was more diverse thus older than Hebrew.

When Egypt influenced, it was certainly because of the Egyptian presence in Canaan. An interesting indication here is that over the 1000 years from 1500 BCE to 500 BCE many sites in the area featured Egyptianizing scarabs, ie locally manufactured scarabs. Egyptian influence was there in Canaan, so you'd expect some influence as perhaps represented in the names Phinehas and Hophni But there was no widespread influence of an everpresent high culture because the Hebrew speakers were never in Egypt -- at least in "exodus time", though there were often temporary nomadic movements into Egypt.


spin

noah

I recommend this article. I haven't seen anyone dismantle the Exodus story more thoroughly. In the process, he debunks Holding and Hardaway's fraudulent attempt to prove the veracity of the Exodus story.

http://theskepticalreview.com/palmer/numbers.html

Cheers!

froggy

I am reading a book at the moment but only just start so it is hard to say, it is about Kaballah or sort of the Sufi of the Jews. It seem there are group of Jews who don't take the Bible narration leterally. I don't know how big this group is but the book itself fascinating book and I am enjoying it greatly. I do believe maybe there was an exodus on small scale which the Qur'an stated a small number of people, but I take the narration as spiritual story or spiritual guide.