ajm51987

Besides the Bible, is there any other evidence for the mass Exodus from Egypt by the Jews? In World History the teacher used the Bible as a realible source of history, but if you ask me the whole think sounds like BS. First off, how the heck does one coordinate the mooving of thousands of people from MANY diffrent citys? I thought about bringing it up in class, but there seem to be alot of christians in the class three surround me infact, and I did not want to get all caught up in some debate and yadda yadda yadda, so back to my first sentance, is there any evidence?

[ October 18, 2002: Message edited by: ajm51987 ]</p>

SanDiegoAtheist

Not substantial evidence, no. Certainly nothing that would indicate the escape of upwards of a half million or so people (as the Biblical tale claims). A movement of that large an amount of people should have produced lots of physical evidence (campsites etc.)

In addition, there is no evidence for any large number of semitic slaves ever having been held by the Egyptians - this certainly should have produced some physical evidence (given the huge amount of archaeology done in Egypt) of burial sites, living quarters, etc. If they were actually there, they did one heckuva job blending in with the rest of the population - using nothing at all, and leaving no trace, that differed in any significant way from the average Egyptian of the time (e.g. all their 'stuff' (much of which would've have to have been handmade by them) was identical to the 'stuff' that average Egyptians made and used...unlikely in the extreme)

If I remember clearly (and I'm sure someone on this forum will), there is some small evidence of what could have been a proto-semite tribe which was expelled from Egypt sometime around 1500BCE - but nothing of the magnitude which is claimed in Exodus.
Cheers,

The San Diego Atheist

WRW Mattfeld

You list yourself as a student, I am curious, what grade are you ? What is the Class Description ? Ancient History, Geography, Religions, etc ?

As to your query, "Is there any evidence for the Exodus ?" The answer is YES. Is the Exodus as portrayed in the Bible ? NO. To understand these answers you will need to read my articles on the Exodus, given in the urls which follow. I will be pleased to answer any other queries after you have read the articles.

<a href="http://www.bibleorigins.net/Hebrewhabiruslaves.html" target="_blank">http://www.bibleorigins.net/Hebrewhabiruslaves.html</a>
The Exodus Traditions (Their pre-biblical backgrounds)
<a href="http://www.bibleorigins.net/Exodus1540BCHyksos.html" target="_blank">http://www.bibleorigins.net/Exodus1540BCHyksos.html</a>
Dating the Exodus, The Hyksos Expulsion of 1540 BCE ?
<a href="http://www.bibleorigins.net/ExodusTimnaSerabitelKhadim.html" target="_blank">http://www.bibleorigins.net/ExodusTimnaSerabitelKhadim.html</a>
Exodus Memories of Southern Sinai
(Linking the Archaeological Data to the Biblical Narratives)

All the best, Walter
Walter R. Mattfeld, M.A. Ed (a retired Educator)
<a href="http://www.bibleorigins.net" target="_blank">www.bibleorigins.net</a>

ajm51987

Im in the 10th grade, the class is officialy "World History" we started with early humans, homo hablis, ect.. and i guess we will go to the post cold war era, if we move at a fast enough pace...

[ October 18, 2002: Message edited by: ajm51987 ]</p>

WRW Mattfeld

Thank you for clarifying you are in the 10th grade. Having recently retired as an educator, having been a qualified Social Studies teacher for grades 6-12, I can attest that many teachers do NOT possess a well-grounded background in Bible studies, noting all the problems. They tend to deliver the standard party line of making sure to offend no-one (that gets you in trouble with parents and then the administration, that likes a good public relations image with the community). Better to not say too much that will upset the students and parents, so investigations into the veracity of ANY religion IS TABOO. A list like this exists to explore the Taboos of religion.

All the best,

Walter R. Mattfeld, Master of Art, Education (1968, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo)Major Social Studies (History), Minor: Art, retired educator, formerly of Heidelberg, Germany, 2002.