Introduction

Jews, Christians, and Muslims all believe, in various aspects and to varying degrees, the stories contained in the Old Testament/The Torah/The Scrolls of Abraham. These books make up the foundation of the religious beliefs of the three largest branches of the Abrahamic religious tree. These three groups of religious believers collectively represent a full 55% of the world’s population. If we include the numerous offshoots of these three Abrahamic faiths, that number creeps closer to 60%. Unfortunately for all of the believers in all of these religions, the entire foundation of ALL of these major branches is built on quicksand.

On this blog, I will explore and examine all of their collective origin stories and mythology from their shared foundational text sources (among other topics). In this post we shall examine the story of the Exodus.

By way of disclosure, my background is from a conservative Protestant Christian sect, and I was born and raised in the USA, thus my perspective is shaped by the Protestant Christian American view of the events. But, I am no longer a Christian in any sense of the word and have not been for a couple of decades. So, if you are religious, and you are reading this, you should probably be made aware that I would be classified as a heretic and a blasphemer by all of the sects of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and I don’t really care what you think of that. If your faith is shaky, you should probably stop right here and close this window. But, if you are curious, and want to know the actual facts and actual possibilities surrounding biblical events, then by all means continue.

In this post I will address numerous theories about the Exodus and its timeline. This is by no means comprehensive (that would require a document the size of the Bible itself), but I will address the major points. I will use the theories I find most plausible and focus on them. There are multiple theories regarding the Exodus, and there are other theories out there that you might find more to your liking than mine, that’s totally fine by me. My intent is NOT to analyze every single one of the extant theories. My intent is to find, analyze, and compare the most plausible theories,  correlate them with the Old Testament timeline, all known, pertinent archaeological and historical facts, and come to coherent, reasonable, and plausible conclusions at the end. Although I have liberally scattered my personal opinion throughout this blog, the facts are all as solid as conventional history, research, and modern scientific methods can produce.

None of these pictures, figures, drawing, or maps are my creations and none are owned by me unless they are specifically noted as such. All of the figure titles are links to the sources from where I found them and links to sources for further reading on those specific topics. (If you are the owner and creator of these items and you object to my use of them please let me know and I will remove and replace them).

Diagram of the Evolution of and Relationship Between the Major Branches of the Abrahamic Religions

The Evolutionary Tree of Myth and Religion

 

All three major Abrahamic branches agree (more or less) in their belief in the Jewish Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament,the so-called “Books of Moses”). Numerous stories are contained within these five books, among them: The Creation Myth, Cain & Abel (AKA The Bullshit Story About How Black People Came to Be, AKA The Underlying Reasons About Why & How Overt & Systemic Racism & Discrimination is Sanctioned & Condoned by all Three Major Abrahamic Religious Branches), The Flood Myth (AKA Yahweh, the Petulant, Childish, Worship-Demanding, Genocidal Maniac), The Tower of Babel (AKA The Bullshit Story About Why There Are Different Languages Spoken in the World), Jacob and Esau (The First of the Two Major Splits Between the Jews and Gentiles, the Jews and Christians, and between the Christians and the Arab Islamists), The Exodus, and numerous others. Eventually I would like to write a detailed dissertation exploring the realities and possibilities surrounding each one of these stories.

In this post, we shall explore the realities, possibilities, and feasibility of the supposed entry of Joseph into Egypt as a slave, supposed Israelites’ existence in Egypt as a free and later enslaved population for more than 400 years, their supposed subsequent escape from slavery under the Pharaonic system, their claimed 40 years of wandering in the desert, and finally, their supposed conquest of the “Promised Land of Canaan/Israel” all with the claimed help of their deity.

The Biblical account states that Joseph (he of the coat of many colors), the great-grandson of Abraham (Abram), was sold into slavery in Egypt by nine of his ten older half-brothers (with Reuben dissenting). He was later freed after providing valuable service to a pharaoh in the form of dream interpretation. When a famine struck in Canaan, the entirety of Joseph’s brothers and extended family (wives, children, and households, including servants and slaves) emigrated from Canaan to Egypt. After spending more than 400 years in Egypt, and supposedly becoming an enslaved population, under the leadership of Moses, the Israelites fled captivity.

Read More About the Descendants of Abraham Here.

Read More About the Genetics of the Descendants of Abraham Here

This story is foundational for the entire Abrahamic religion’s family tree. Without this story there is no “Promised Land.” Without this story, there is no re-entry into that “Promised Land” by the “Chosen People of God.” Without this story, there is no oppressed people to establish the long history of Israelites as the long-suffering and chosen people of their god. Without this story, there is no Pesach/Passover. Without this story, there is no Sukkot (Feast of Booths/Tabernacles). Without this story, there is no Shavuot /Feast of Weeks. Without this story, Moses cannot become the great hero of the Abrahamic religions. Without this story, there is absolutely no reason to make the claim that the ancient Israelites were the Chosen People of God. Without this story, the Israelites are just a tribe of ancient Semitic Canaanites who conquered a small portion of the ancient Near East and only held that territory for less than 400 years as a functional and independent nation-state, but whose religion has had a very outsized measure of influence on the world since that time.

Side Note: Except for a brief 15-year period of time when a combined Persian and Jewish army defeated the Byzantine Empire, literally ALL of the time prior to the establishment of (in 1050 BCE), and all of the time since the conquest of the  Kingdoms of Israel and Judah (around 597 BCE) by the Neo-Babylonian Empire, right up until the United Nations’ 1948 establishment of the nation of Israel, this territory has been owned and controlled by groups of people/empires/nations who are NOT Israelite or Jewish. The only periods of partial independence of Israel or Judah were as client or vassal states during various periods of time under the Neo-Assyrian, Egyptian 26th Dynasty (Pharaoh Necho II), Neo-Babylonian, and Persian Empires. (This post is by no means an examination of the question of Palestinian versus Jewish rights to ownership, possession, or residence in the area of modern Israel. That is a topic for another post and another time).

None of these bible stories can be accepted as factual unless we consider them in the larger context of what we know (through documentation) was happening in the world around them at the same time. For instance: Joseph cannot be a slave in Egypt if Egypt didn’t practice slavery during that period of time. Ergo, Egypt must practice slavery at the possible times that Joseph is supposedly enslaved in Egypt otherwise the story cannot have any factuality to it. Israel cannot become an independent country when the entire area is controlled by other empires. Ergo, Israel can only become an independent nation during a time period when other much more powerful nations are not in control of the area in question otherwise the story cannot have any factuality to it. So, let’s establish these (and many more) correlated and contextual facts so that we may understand the Exodus in its larger context.

In all of my posts where the Bible is quoted, I will use the King James Version (KJV) of the Christian Bible as my reference. All scripture quotations will be from the KJV unless otherwise specified. This is simply because it is the most widely and commonly used Bible in the history of the World, followed closely by the Catholic Church’s Latin Vulgate edition. All Bible quotes are in green text.