JakeStarkey
Diamond Member
- Aug 10, 2009
- 168,037
- 16,522
- 2,165
- Banned
- #1
The inerrants literally believe the claim that 600,000 men (which means about 2,000,000 women and kiddos) boogied out of Egypt under the leader of Charleton 'Moses' Heston. Doubters, including atheists, say (rightfully) "where is the archaeology supporting your greater claims?" [Book of Mormon criticism levies the same logic].
What if there exists a 'better' answer? There just may be.
Title: The Exodus
Author: Richard Elliott Friedman
Publisher: Harper One
Genre: Jewish History
Year: 2017
No. of Pages: 282 (including Index)
Binding: Hardback
ISBN: 9780062565242
Price: $27.99
Reviewed by Gary McCary for the Association for Mormon Letters
I am a Christian believer, though a "progressive" one. Richard Elliott
Friedman is, in my view, a member of "the loyal opposition" (a term that
originated in 18th century England to let the out-of-power party express
its views without fear of being charged with treason). As a Biblical
and historical scholar who is also Jewish, and an agnostic, he has not
allowed his skepticism to get in the way of honest investigation. His
latest work, "The Exodus: How It Happened and Why It Matters," is a
prime example of such intellectual honesty.
At a time when most historical-critical scholarship is doubtful that the
biblical story of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt to the Sinai
Peninsula ever occurred, Friedman boldly casts doubt on both the
assumptions and conclusions of such scholarship.
He does so with the same detective panache that made his bestselling
"Who Wrote the Bible?" such an eye-opening classic some three decades
ago. Friedman makes a convincing case that the Exodus really did
occur--just not in the same way that the Bible suggests it happened.
This argument is a key component underlying his entire historical
detective drama. According to Friedman, the scholars who are skeptical
of the exodus as a historical event are tripped up by a flawed
assumption--that the biblical text's description of 600,000 men should
be taken literally. With women and children counted in, this would
suggest that around 2 million people left Egypt and went into the
Sinai. Neither archaeology nor Egyptian records give any evidence of
such an exodus.
But what if, instead of 2 million people, there was an exodus from Egypt
of a much smaller number of people (say five hundred or a thousand)
around 1200 B.C., people who called themselves "Levites." And what if
they eventually merged with indigenous people already in Canaan--people
who called themselves "Israelites" and who referred to their god as
"El." And what if these Levites from Egypt called their god "Yahweh."
And what if, years later, the writers of this joint narrative history
had pet versions of their stories, coming from priests, Levites,
Elohists, Yahwists, Deuteronomists, and the like? According to
Friedman, this is entirely plausible.
What if there exists a 'better' answer? There just may be.
Title: The Exodus
Author: Richard Elliott Friedman
Publisher: Harper One
Genre: Jewish History
Year: 2017
No. of Pages: 282 (including Index)
Binding: Hardback
ISBN: 9780062565242
Price: $27.99
Reviewed by Gary McCary for the Association for Mormon Letters
I am a Christian believer, though a "progressive" one. Richard Elliott
Friedman is, in my view, a member of "the loyal opposition" (a term that
originated in 18th century England to let the out-of-power party express
its views without fear of being charged with treason). As a Biblical
and historical scholar who is also Jewish, and an agnostic, he has not
allowed his skepticism to get in the way of honest investigation. His
latest work, "The Exodus: How It Happened and Why It Matters," is a
prime example of such intellectual honesty.
At a time when most historical-critical scholarship is doubtful that the
biblical story of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt to the Sinai
Peninsula ever occurred, Friedman boldly casts doubt on both the
assumptions and conclusions of such scholarship.
He does so with the same detective panache that made his bestselling
"Who Wrote the Bible?" such an eye-opening classic some three decades
ago. Friedman makes a convincing case that the Exodus really did
occur--just not in the same way that the Bible suggests it happened.
This argument is a key component underlying his entire historical
detective drama. According to Friedman, the scholars who are skeptical
of the exodus as a historical event are tripped up by a flawed
assumption--that the biblical text's description of 600,000 men should
be taken literally. With women and children counted in, this would
suggest that around 2 million people left Egypt and went into the
Sinai. Neither archaeology nor Egyptian records give any evidence of
such an exodus.
But what if, instead of 2 million people, there was an exodus from Egypt
of a much smaller number of people (say five hundred or a thousand)
around 1200 B.C., people who called themselves "Levites." And what if
they eventually merged with indigenous people already in Canaan--people
who called themselves "Israelites" and who referred to their god as
"El." And what if these Levites from Egypt called their god "Yahweh."
And what if, years later, the writers of this joint narrative history
had pet versions of their stories, coming from priests, Levites,
Elohists, Yahwists, Deuteronomists, and the like? According to
Friedman, this is entirely plausible.