Freethought & Rationalism Archive

FatherMithras · 08-25-2006, 11:00 PM

Anyhow, back on topic, it seems this whole issue has been thoroughly debunked as cherry picking certain stories and force fitting them into an inconsistent and logically unfeasible alternate version of the Exodus, despite no evidence the said event actually occured.

Diogenes the Cynic · 08-26-2006, 07:55 AM

I finally saw the show. At least I saw most of it. I eventually had to turn it off because it was so aggressively dishonest and manipulative.

Essentially, the show tries to equate the Exodus with the Hyksos expulsion but it cherry-picks facts in a misleading way, leaves out facts which are inconvenient, conflates time periods, and leaps to unwarranted conclusions. One of its most irritating tactics is the way it cheats with language. For instance, it uses the word "Semitic" interchangeably with "Israelite," it claims the Hyksos were "from modern day Israel" (giving a false impression that everyone from ancient Canaan was an Israelite) and it claims that a seal had a "Hebrew name" when it actually had a pre-Hebraic Semitic name for which the Hebrew name was only a later variant. They could have just as easily claimed they had found the English name, James, on the signet since that too is an eventual permutation of the same name.

In a similar vein they also made a big deal out of finding a graffito of the name El and tried to make it sound like El was a uniquely Israelite name for God without making any mention that he was part of the Canaanite pantheon before the Israelites ever emerged.

There's some stuff about the Theran explosion and possible descriptions of natural disasters associated with it but that really proves nothing about the Biblical story except plagues may conceivably have represented a mythicized account of that period, appropriated and reformatted into an Israelite myth.

The show lied in numerous other ways as well, too many ways for me to remember now. Suffice it to say that it wasn't remotely a representation of any serious scholarship or archaeology. It was maybe half a rung above a Ron Wyatt video. At least the lead guy (whatever his name was) didn't claim to have the Ark of the Covenant in his basement.

Diogenes the Cynic · 08-26-2006, 08:46 AM

The whole "religious atheism" digression has been split here.

DtC, Moderator, BC&H

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08-25-2006, 11:00 PM	#61
FatherMithras Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 3,890	Anyhow, back on topic, it seems this whole issue has been thoroughly debunked as cherry picking certain stories and force fitting them into an inconsistent and logically unfeasible alternate version of the Exodus, despite no evidence the said event actually occured.

08-26-2006, 07:55 AM	#62
Diogenes the Cynic Moderator - Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota Posts: 4,639	I finally saw the show. At least I saw most of it. I eventually had to turn it off because it was so aggressively dishonest and manipulative. Essentially, the show tries to equate the Exodus with the Hyksos expulsion but it cherry-picks facts in a misleading way, leaves out facts which are inconvenient, conflates time periods, and leaps to unwarranted conclusions. One of its most irritating tactics is the way it cheats with language. For instance, it uses the word "Semitic" interchangeably with "Israelite," it claims the Hyksos were "from modern day Israel" (giving a false impression that everyone from ancient Canaan was an Israelite) and it claims that a seal had a "Hebrew name" when it actually had a pre-Hebraic Semitic name for which the Hebrew name was only a later variant. They could have just as easily claimed they had found the English name, James, on the signet since that too is an eventual permutation of the same name. In a similar vein they also made a big deal out of finding a graffito of the name El and tried to make it sound like El was a uniquely Israelite name for God without making any mention that he was part of the Canaanite pantheon before the Israelites ever emerged. There's some stuff about the Theran explosion and possible descriptions of natural disasters associated with it but that really proves nothing about the Biblical story except plagues may conceivably have represented a mythicized account of that period, appropriated and reformatted into an Israelite myth. The show lied in numerous other ways as well, too many ways for me to remember now. Suffice it to say that it wasn't remotely a representation of any serious scholarship or archaeology. It was maybe half a rung above a Ron Wyatt video. At least the lead guy (whatever his name was) didn't claim to have the Ark of the Covenant in his basement.

08-26-2006, 08:46 AM	#63
Diogenes the Cynic Moderator - Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota Posts: 4,639	The whole "religious atheism" digression has been split here. DtC, Moderator, BC&H

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