Doctor X

Spin:

Yeah . . . but maybe Big Daddy removed the Egyptian influences so we would have to have faith . . . like him creating all of those old rocks and fossils. . . .

Flees the flying bricks. . . .

--J.D.

Postcard73

Whatever. We all know the evidence really exists but it's being misinterpreted and covered up by the EAC(TM).

leonarde

Uh, "Moses" is an Egyptian name, not a Hebrew one. So even us non Hebrew-linguists know that there's at least one word in the language indicative of an Egyptian origin.....

Cheers!

The Evil One

Do you have a source for that? No offence, but in years of reading apologetics, this is the first time I've heard this claim...

leonarde

This is just plain silly. And embarrassingly so. Egypt, like all ancient societies (and not a few modern ones) was prone to epidemics -------: smallpox, probably the Plague etc. To say that
there are no spikeing(s) "of the number" of the dead in the 2nd half of the 2nd millenium is just wrong. The true problem (if one did exhaustive archaeological work to collect the data) would be to discern one epidemic-culling from another.......

Cheers!

Sauron

Embarrassing for you, leonarde - as we'll see.

However, none of these plagues would have:

a. affected both humans and animals;
b. selectively killed just the firstborn in every family, and no one else;
b. affected peasants, merchants, artisans, military and royalty alike, without respect to status or income ( and remember, that wealth translates to better food, cleaner living conditions, access to medicine, and generally avoiding circumstances and locations that breed epidemics);
d. had effective range all over Egypt at the same time, instead of being isolated to seacoasts, lower Egypt, upper Egypt, Sudan, etc.
e. done all this death and destruction within a very short timeframe,

4 And Moses said, Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt:
5 And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.
6 And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.

Items a-e would be true of the alleged plague of the firstborn, but not of any random epidemic.

Moreover, your claim that Egypt was prone to epidemics is not only unproven, but self-defeating. Epidemics were known in ancient times - which is one reason that they were recorded. But there is no recording of any such epidemic that matches this plague of the firstborn - any more than there is any evidence for the other plagues. So pointing to the prevalence of plagues only makes your argument worse, since such a fantastic and unusual plague as this would have a far higher chance of being recorded - - had it ever happened in the first place, of course.

You think so? Then provide evidence of such spiking.

In other words, you have no evidence of any such spiking of deaths at all, and are only hand-waving now. "Well, they might be there".

The reality is that Egyptian history has ALREADY been well-studied, and no such spikings have ever been found. And definitely not any that satisfy the conditions a-e above.

You're free to disagree, of course. If you think you can, then provide your evidence of such spiking, complete with analysis and links.

Dance leonarde, dance.

Malachi151

There was actually a study that provided an explanation for the conditions described in the OT about the Egyptian plague. Had to do with bot flies and floods, an a few other things, but it explained how the conditions could have killed both humans and animals, and mostly effected the first born.

Amaleq13

Are you thinking of the theory involving a massive volcanic eruption on the other side of the Mediterranean?

Marduk

“Uh, "Moses" is an Egyptian name, not a Hebrew one. So even us non Hebrew-linguists know that there's at least one word in the language indicative of an Egyptian origin.....”

“Do you have a source for that? No offence, but in years of reading apologetics, this is the first time I've heard this claim...”

This part is true, Moses means “son of” in Egyptian as in the Pharaoh Thothmosis, The son of Thoth, the Egyptian Wisdom/Moon God.
Miriam is also Egyptian as are many of the names from the Hebrew tribe of Priests, Levites?

spin

Ah, did you read this sentence in my second last paragraph?

(The best one can do is point to a few possible Egyptian names in the Hebrew onomasticon.)

I can give it to you in single syllables as well if you like.

And Moses is not the only hypothesized Egyptian name. Also hypothesized are Phinehas and Hophni. Perhaps even Miryam. But these are only hypothesized. We'll probably never know. The Jews think the name is from the Hebrew M$H, to draw or pull, and the story goes he was pulled from the river.

But don't ya get it? There are no words borrowed from Egyptian in the Hebrew language. You'll find some Greek words. You borrow words that describe things you don't have words for in your own language. That's why we have "dance", "skeleton", "tomato" and even "blitz" in English. But no signs of Egyptian culture after a few hundred years in Egypt are to be found in the language. What words did the Hebrews use to describe all those things that were found in Egypt but not already part of their culture?


spin