Anat

Has any of the thread participants observed a recitation of the plagues during a seder? Theoretically one is supposed to drip wine from one's glass for each plague in memory of the suffering of the Egyptians - thus the glass is less than full, because happiness that comes on the account of another's suffering cannot be complete. However, in all seders I had participated in, this recitation wasn't a solemn time but a time of hilarity, with everyone reciting in unison. I think the authors of Exodus just added whatever disasters they could come up with in increasing severity for literary and dramatic purposes. The Exodus cycle is exciting story-telling material.

bfniii

that's not a definition.



you are right. i am sorry. i meant the battle of jericho. sorry about the confusion.



i have done no such thing. i have merely tried to illustrate that it is highly unlikely that their's will be the final say regarding the issue.



when you say "no walls", do you mean none from the alleged time of the battle?



two different people can look at the same artifact and draw different conclusions. that includes people from different times. my point is that it is presumptuous, at this time, to state that the remains contradict the biblical account no matter how exemplary Nigro and Marchetti's work may have been.



a carryover from the previous mistake. sorry. please insert jericho in place of ai.



ugh. i haven't "touted" anything.



another misrepresentation.

xaxxat

Farrell Till beats the Exodus claims to death:

Logistical Improbabilities in the Wilderness-Wandering Tales (1)

http://www.theskepticalreview.com/jf...opulation.html

Lots of interesting articles on that sight...

bfniii

sigh. maybe the ones they had gave birth to more?



addressed below



the numbers being rounded is not the issue. the interpretation of the words is the issue. i have seen at least 3 different suggestions as to how the numbers in exodus, numbers and joshua could be interpreted.



"wells and springs are to be found within a day's journey of each other all down the west coast from the suez area to el-markhah, and the water table is generally close to the surface of the gravelly ground. some sort of vegetation can be found in the wadis, and where there is permanent water, such as at an oasis, the vegetation flourishes accordingly. some of the mountains in the limestone range have small plateaus at their bases, and these provide modest grazing areas for herds and flocks."
r. k. harrison, old testament times, p. 132

bfniii

rewrite? you mean try to understand what they could have meant several thousand years ago based on all available ancient documents?



not at all. i addressed that point specifically



again, we should compare apples to apples. the analogy you gave has several pertinent incongruencies with the exodus narrative. we know much, much more about the romans than we do about the exodus.



which logistics would you be referring to?



what about it?



it has to do with how they used the word. we say "a million" frequently when we don't mean it at all. but what if someone recorded a quote for posterity that contained that colloquialism? would people thousands of years in the future know to not interpret it literally?



i didn't mean exactly side by side in military formation. i meant in terms of width.



and there is no need for you to assume how many people were side by side which drastically affects the length of the train.



i have addressed your response to it so your accusation of it lacking substance is in doubt.



i addressed this in post #204.

xaxxat

How much water would 3 million people consume in a day? How about their livestock?

http://www.theskepticalreview.com/jf...ess/water.html

Anat

Have you seen those places, bfniii? The description you quoted lacks numbers, but you can't have more than a few dozens of people + accompanying livestock at such an oasis. The area where vegetation actually flourishes around an oasis is rather small.

On the numbers - what interpretation fits all the population numbers and results in a number that is reasonable considering the climate and other logistical problems, such as size of camp, access to the water, time it would take for the camp to move, etc? A link to a site that does not require registration is OK, but be specific, saying that there are interpretations isn't enough.

spin

There were no Late Bronze Age walls. Kenyon attempted to say that the Middle Bronze Age walls may stll have been standing in places. However, the Jericho of the period was a small village which reused old tombs instead of cutting new ones.


spin

bfniii

i don't recall making any personal comments.



my comment came in response to personal remarks by you. if you don't like it, stop making personal remarks.



i guess i should be intimidated. again, you aren't the authority on who knows what information.



key word: enough



i'm not making the situation out to be something it's not, like you are. i have not ignored what they found at all, contrary to the way you are portraying me. why do you feel the need to shift the discussion to a personal level whenever someone isn't intimidated by you?



you seem to be assuming that there were absolutely no habiru who stayed in permanent employment, that any who came in to work for a season necessarily left. i am not aware of the text saying that. therefore, it seems that your comment about them being outside of society is not completely accurate.



i'm not avoiding anything. my brittanica is 2002 and you have done nothing to prove it wrong.



i am on the subject and i'm referring to the palestinian authority that controls the site



you imply that i "dislike" the evidence. i don't dislike it at all. i just don't think it is as final as you think it is.



that hasn't been my approach at all.

bfniii

it's not "my book" and it does make sense to some people.



miracles are not supposed to be easy to believe. in order for you to not believe in miracles, all you have to do is prove there isn't a miracle worker. that should be easy.