exodus storee is a myth?

[blugiant]

iss da bible storee inn exodus troo? iff da storee inn da exodus bout da jews exodus fram egypt ann wandarinn inn da desert fe forty ears natt troo de story bout promised land is natt troo

bible peeps ann christians cum canvince mii dat de storee aff exodus reallee appen

[blugiant]

The Biblical Exodus Story Is Fiction

Shortly after I started to question my belief in God, I remember talking to my rabbi about Passover and the Exodus from Egypt. My rabbi knew that I was starting to doubt the supernatural and ridiculous aspects of the story. He told me in confidence that while the basic story is historical fact, the supernatural elements might have been an exaggeration or might not have actually happened at all. He assured me, however, that even though there might not have been plagues of frogs and Moses might not have parted the Red Sea, the Jews were slaves in Egypt, and the important thing is that there was an Exodus and that this is the core of what Passover is about. Except, in reality, there wasn't actually an Exodus. I have since learned that the Jews were never slaves in Egypt and that the entire story of Exodus is fiction.

When I first heard that there was not a shred of evidence discovered in the Sinai Desert that a large number of Jews had wandered for 40 years, I thought that wasn't such a big deal. I mean, it's a desert, right? Sand storms probably just swallowed up all the evidence. The more I looked into the story, however, the more I realized that the lack of evidence was actually a pretty big problem. According to the book of Exodus, a lot of Jews were wandering this desert, and it seems extremely unlikely (bordering on impossible) for this many people to leave absolutely no trace, especially when traces have been found for smaller groups of people which predated the Exodus in that same desert.

Just like the lack of evidence is itself strong evidence against the war between the Nephites and the Lamanites in the Americas as told in the Book of Mormon, the same is true with the Exodus story in the Torah.

Still, I didn't think all that much about it until years later, when I stumbled upon the article called, "Did Jewish Slaves Build the Pyramids?" by Brian Dunning. This article really got me thinking about the Exodus story again. Dunning's article reinforced my skepticism about the Exodus story and fueled my feelings of betrayal. I was taught for most of my life that it was a historical fact that the Jews were slaves in Egypt. This "history" was part of my cultural identity as a Jew. Even when I gave up the ridiculous, superstitious beliefs associated with Judaism, I could still proudly feel connected to the Jewish culture, which was grounded in a deep history of liberation from slavery.

As it turns out, well-known Jewish commentator and author Rabbi David Wolpe has also known about the Exodus Myth. In his article, "Did the Exodus Really Happen?" he mentions that other rabbis wanted him to keep the fiction of the Exodus story on the down-low. The basic story of the Exodus from Egypt (extracting supernatural elements) was touted to me as one of the most historical aspects of the Bible, yet it never happened. This seriously puts into question the historicity of any and all of the Bible stories.

Further, how immoral is it for modern Jews to continue to perpetuate this myth at the expense of Egyptian dignity? For thousands of years, the Jews have blamed the Egyptians for enslaving their ancestors when that never actually happened. Continuing to celebrate Passover without acknowledging the truth of history only perpetuates the shame.

Growing up, I loved celebrating Passover. I loved the story of people fighting for their freedom and fighting against slavery. I don't think Jews need to stop celebrating Passover or stop talking about this story. However, they need to acknowledge that the celebration is based on a completely fictional story and that the Egyptians never enslaved the Jews. Rabbis should even make a formal apology to the Egyptian people for vilifying them.

As a Humanist, I think it is important to talk about the plight against slavery and the fight for freedom. But I think people should do it honestly instead of turning real people in history into villains. There are plenty of real villains in history already.

Perhaps the holiday of Passover could focus more on the plight of Jews who escape Germany during the Second World War. There are some very inspirational acts of bravery and heroism worth telling from that time, and they don't require made-up history or supernatural plagues to reinforce the message.

You don't have to believe in fictional stories to celebrate Jewish holidays. In fact, you don't even need to believe in any supernatural claims on insufficient evidence and still hold on to your Jewish identity. Many Jews have left the belief in God behind and have become secular Jews. For more information about what that means, check out the Society of Humanistic Judaism.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/staks-rosch/the-biblical-exodus-story-is-fiction_b_1408123.html

[blugiant]

Doubting the Story of Exodus

Many scholars have quietly concluded that the epic of Moses never happened, and even Jewish clerics are raising questions. Others think it combines myth, cultural memories and kernels of truth.


By Teresa Watanabe

It's one of the greatest stories ever told: A baby is found in a basket adrift in the Egyptian Nile and is adopted into the pharaoh's household. He grows up as Moses, rediscovers his roots and leads his enslaved Israelite brethren to freedom after God sends down 10 plagues against Egypt and parts the Red Sea to allow them to escape. They wander for 40 years in the wilderness and, under the leadership of Joshua, conquer the land of Canaan to enter their promised land.

For centuries, the biblical account of the Exodus has been revered as the founding story of the Jewish people, sacred scripture for three world religions and a universal symbol of freedom that has inspired liberation movements around the globe. But did the Exodus ever actually occur?

On Passover last Sunday, Rabbi David Wolpe raised that provocative question before 2,200 faithful at Sinai Temple in Westwood. He minced no words. "The truth is that virtually every modern archeologist who has investigated the story of the Exodus, with very few exceptions, agrees that the way the Bible describes the Exodus is not the way it happened, if it happened at all," Wolpe told his congregants.

Wolpe's startling sermon may have seemed blasphemy to some. In fact, however, the rabbi was merely telling his flock what scholars have known for more than a decade. Slowly and often outside wide public purview, archeologists are radically reshaping modern understanding of the Bible. It was time for his people to know about it, Wolpe decided. After a century of excavations trying to prove the ancient accounts true, archeologists say there is no conclusive evidence that the Israelites were ever in Egypt, were ever enslaved, ever wandered in the Sinai wilderness for 40 years or ever conquered the land of Canaan under Joshua's leadership. To the contrary, the prevailing view is that most of Joshua's fabled military campaigns never occurred--archeologists have uncovered ash layers and other signs of destruction at the relevant time at only one of the many battlegrounds mentioned in the Bible.

Today, the prevailing theory is that Israel probably emerged peacefully out of Canaan--modern-day Lebanon, southern Syria, Jordan and the West Bank of Israel--whose people are portrayed in the Bible as wicked idolators. Under this theory, the Canaanites took on a new identity as Israelites were perhaps joined or led by a small group of Semites from Egypt--explaining a possible source of the Exodus story, scholars say. As they expanded their settlement, they may have begun to clash with neighbors, perhaps providing the historical nuggets for the conflicts recorded in Joshua and Judges.

"Scholars have known these things for a long time, but we've broken the news very gently," said William Dever, a professor of Near Eastern archeology and anthropology at the University of Arizona and one of America's preeminent archeologists. Dever's view is emblematic of a fundamental shift in archeology. Three decades ago as a Christian seminary student, he wrote a paper defending the Exodus and got an A, but "no one would do that today," he says.

The old emphasis on trying to prove the Bible--often in excavations by amateur archeologists funded by religious groups--has given way to more objective professionals aiming to piece together the reality of ancient lifestyles. But the modern archeological consensus over the Exodus is just beginning to reach the public. In 1999, an Israeli archeologist, Ze'ev Herzog of Tel Aviv University, set off a furor in Israel by writing in a popular magazine that stories of the patriarchs were myths and that neither the Exodus nor Joshua's conquests ever occurred. In the hottest controversy today, Herzog also argued that the united monarchy of David and Solomon, described as grand and glorious in the Bible, was at best a small tribal kingdom.

In a new book this year, "The Bible Unearthed," Israeli archeologist Israel Finklestein of Tel Aviv University and archeological journalist Neil Asher Silberman raised similar doubts and offered a new theory about the roots of the Exodus story. The authors argue that the story was written during the time of King Josia of Judah in the 7th century BC--600 years after the Exodus supposedly occurred in 1250 BC--as a political manifesto to unite Israelites against the rival Egyptian empire as both states sought to expand their territory. Dever argued that the Exodus story was produced for theological reasons: to give an origin and history to a people and distinguish them from others by claiming a divine destiny.

Some scholars, of course, still maintain that the Exodus story is basically factual. Bryant Wood, director of the Associates for Biblical Research in Maryland, argued that the evidence falls into place if the story is dated back to 1450 BC. He said that indications of destruction around that time at Hazor, Jericho and a site he is excavating that he believes is the biblical city of Ai support accounts of Joshua's conquests. He also cited the documented presence of "Asiatic" slaves in Egypt who could have been Israelites, and said they would not have left evidence of their wanderings because they were nomads with no material culture. But Wood said he can't get his research published in serious archeological journals.

"There's a definite anti-Bible bias," Wood said. The revisionist view, however, is not necessarily publicly popular. Herzog, Finklestein and others have been attacked for everything from faulty logic to pro-Palestinian political agendas that undermine Israel's land claims. Dever, a former Protestant minister who converted to Judaism 12 years ago, says he gets "hissed and booed" when he speaks about the lack of evidence for the Exodus, and regularly receives letters and calls offering prayers or telling him he's headed for hell.

At Sinai Temple, Sunday's sermon--and a follow-up discussion at Monday's service--provoked tremendous, and varied, response. Many praised Wolpe for his courage and vision. "It was the best sermon possible, because it is preparing the young generation to understand all the truth about religion," said Eddia Mirharooni, a Beverly Hills fashion designer.

A few said they were hurt--"I didn't want to hear this," one woman said--or even a bit angry. Others said the sermon did nothing to shake their faith that the Exodus story is true.

"Science can always be proven wrong," said Kalanit Benji, a UCLA undergraduate in psychobiology. Added Aman Massi, a 60-year-old Los Angeles businessman: "For sure it was true, 100%. If it were not true, how could we follow it for 3,300 years?" But most congregants, along with secular Jews and several rabbis interviewed, said that whether the Exodus is historically true or not is almost beside the point. The power of the sweeping epic lies in its profound and timeless message about freedom, they say.

The story of liberation from bondage into a promised land has inspired the haunting spirituals of African American slaves, the emancipation and civil rights movements, Latin America's liberation theology, peasant revolts in Germany, nationalist struggles in South Africa, the American Revolution, even Leninist politics, according to Michael Walzer in the book "Exodus and Revolution." Many of Wolpe's congregants said the story of the Exodus has been personally true for them even if the details are not factual: when they fled the Nazis during World War II, for instance, or, more recently, the Islamic revolution in Iran.

Daniel Navid Rastein, an Encino medical professional, said he has always regarded the story as a metaphor for a greater truth: "We all have our own Egypts--we are prisoners of something, either alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, overeating. We have to use [the story] as a way to free ourselves from difficulty and make ourselves a better person."

Wolpe, Sinai Temple's senior rabbi, said he decided to deliver the sermon to lead his congregation into a deeper understanding of their faith. On Sunday, he told his flock that questioning the Jewish people's founding story could be justified for one reason alone: to honor the ancient rabbinical declaration that "You do not serve God if you do not seek truth."

"I think faith ought not rest on splitting seas," Wolpe said in an interview. "For a Jew, it should rest on the wonder of God's world, the marvel of the human soul and the miracle of this small people's survival through the millennia."

Next year, the rabbi plans to teach a course on the Bible that he says will "pull no punches" in presenting the latest scholarship questioning the text's historical basis. But he and others say that Judaism has also traditionally been more open to non-literal interpretations of the text than, say, some conservative Christian traditions.

"Among Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Jews, there is a much greater willingness to see the Torah as an extended metaphor in which truth comes through story and law," said Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles. Among scholars, the case against the Exodus began crystallizing about 13 years ago. That's when Finklestein, director of Tel Aviv University's archeology institute, published the first English-language book detailing the results of intensive archeological surveys of what is believed to be the first Israelite settlements in the hilly regions of the West Bank. The surveys, conducted during the 1970s and 1980s while Israel possessed what are now Palestinian territories, documented a lack of evidence for Joshua's conquests in the 13th century BC and the indistinguishable nature of pottery, architecture, literary conventions and other cultural details between the Canaanites and the new settlers. If there was no conquest, no evidence of a massive new settlement of an ethnically distinct people, scholars argue, then the case for a literal reading of Exodus all but collapses. The surveys' final results were published three years ago.

The settlement research marked the turning point in archeological consensus on the issue, Dever said. It added to previous research that showed that Egypt's voluminous ancient records contained not one mention of Israelites in the country, although one 1210 BC inscription did mention them in Canaan. Kadesh Barnea in the east Sinai desert, where the Bible says the fleeing Israelites sojourned, was excavated twice in the 1950s and 1960s and produced no sign of settlement until three centuries after the Exodus was supposed to have occurred. The famous city of Jericho has been excavated several times and was found to have been abandoned during the 13th and 14th centuries BC.

Moreover, specialists in the Hebrew Bible say that the Exodus story is riddled with internal contradictions stemming from the fact that it was spliced together from two or three texts written at different times. One passage in Exodus, for instance, says that the bodies of the pharaoh's charioteers were found on the shore, while the next verse says they sank to the bottom of the sea.

And some of the story's features are mythic motifs found in other Near Eastern legends, said Ron Hendel, a professor of Hebrew Bible at UC Berkeley. Stories of babies found in baskets in the water by gods or royalty are common, he said, and half of the 10 plagues fall into a "formulaic genre of catastrophe" found in other Near Eastern texts.

Carol Meyers, a professor specializing in biblical studies and archeology at Duke University, said the ancients never intended their texts to be read literally. "People who try to find scientific explanations for the splitting of the Red Sea are missing the boat in understanding how ancient literature often mixed mythic ideas with historical recollections," she said. "That wasn't considered lying or deceit; it was a way to get ideas across."

Virtually no scholar, for instance, accepts the biblical figure of 600,000 men fleeing Egypt, which would have meant there were a few million people, including women and children. The ancient desert at the time could not support so many nomads, scholars say, and the powerful Egyptian state kept tight security over the area, guarded by fortresses along the way.

Even Orthodox Jewish scholar Lawrence Schiffman said "you'd have to be a bit crazy" to accept that figure. He believes that the account in Joshua of a swift military campaign is less accurate than the Judges account of a gradual takeover of Canaan. But Schiffman, chairman of Hebrew and Judaic studies at New York University, still maintains that a significant number of Israelite slaves fled Egypt for Canaan. "I'm not arguing that archeology proves the Exodus," he said. "I'm arguing that archeology allows you, in ambiguity, to reach whatever conclusion you want to."

Wood argued that the 600,000 figure was mistranslated and the real number amounted to a more plausible 20,000. He also said the early Israelite settlements and their similarity to Canaanite culture could be explained as the result of pastoralists with no material culture moving into a settled farming life and absorbing their neighbors' pottery styles and other cultural forms.

The scholarly consensus seems to be that the story is a brilliant mix of myth, cultural memories and kernels of historical truth. Perhaps, muses Hendel, a small group of Semites who escaped from Egypt became the "intellectual vanguard of a new nation that called itself Israel," stressing social justice and freedom.

Whatever the facts of the story, those core values have endured and inspired the world for more than three millenniums--and that, many say, is the point.

"What are the Egypts I need to free myself from? How does the story inspire me in some way to work for the freedom of all?" asked Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben of Kehillat Israel in Pacific Palisades. "These are the things that matter--not whether we built the pyramids."

http://www.raceandhistory.com/historicalviews/doubtingexodus.htm

[blugiant]

too much blakk peeps a gawn like da storee aff exodus mekk sense.

even bob marley sang bout exodus like itt was real.

y do blakk peeps tink it incredible dat 600,000 jewish warriors ann dem families (about 2,300,000 people), about 1/3 of the population of egypt at the time, leff egypt ann no reliable egyptian record exists of itt?

itt incredible dat 2,300,000 jews spent 40 ears inna desert butt leff no archaelogical footprint whatsoever natt even a piece of pottery or a grave?

even dat ark aff da covenant widd da ten commandments dem cyaan find.

imagine no proof aff dat ann den still a fool peeps bout promise land myth

da story aff exodus is a myth?

cum widd itt

[Wahalla]

there was some interesting evidence about that period based on pork bones....that demonstrate the conflict between pork eaters and non pork eaters at the time of exodus in Otermere

No this is not me being fasceous... serious... it demonstrated that there were a conflict between two different groups.... with the none pork eaters gradually encroaching on the pork eaters... like a lot in archeology they examined refuse dumps and noticed this difference which could indirectly confirm this conquest....

[Tropicana]

Is there evidence of the Exodus from Egypt?

The following article is based on the book A New Approach to the Chronology of Biblical History from Abraham to Samuel andThe Biblical Chronologist Volume 2, Number 2. Further details and references can be found there.

A Long Reign

Before the account of the Exodus itself, the Bible tells of the enslavement of the Israelites and the first 80 years of the life of Moses. One remarkable feature of this story is apparent from the following sequence of events:

1. A new king comes to power in Egypt who "did not know Joseph." (Exodus 1:8)
2. This king orders the death of all newborn Hebrew boys. (Exodus 1:22)
3. Moses is born into this regime. (Exodus 2:2)
4. Moses is adopted by the Pharaoh's daughter. (Exodus 2:5)
5. Moses grows up, murders an Egyptian, and flees the country. (Exodus 2:12,15)
6. Moses marries Zipporah and they have a son. (Exodus 2:12,15)
7. Eventually, "in the course of those many days", the king of Egypt dies. (Exodus 2:23)
8. God meets Moses and sends him to the new Pharaoh. (Exodus 3,4)
9. Moses is 80 years old when he stands before the new Pharaoh. (Exodus 7:7)

The Bible indicates that the same Pharaoh whose daughter adopted three-month-old Moses died when Moses was nearly 80 years old! This Pharaoh must have reigned for a very long time.
Pepy II

Only one pharaoh in the history of Egypt can meet this Biblical requirement---Pepy II.

Pepy II is traditionally thought to have governed the country for ninety-four years... (Grimal, page 89.)

Pepy II's Successor

From the Biblical account we would expect the reign of Pepy II's successor to be quite short. This pharaoh had to deal with Moses and the plagues, and the Bible indicates that he drowned in the "Red Sea" with the rest of his army. Grimal makes this mention of the pharaoh who followed Pepy II:

The exceptional longevity of Pepy II resulted not only in the gradual fossilization of the administrative system but also in a succession crisis. The Abydos king-list mentions a Merenre II (also called Antiemdjaf), who seems to have been the son of Pepy II and Queen Neith. This very ephemeral ruler, who reigned for only a single year, would have been married to Queen Nitocris, who according to Manetho was the last Sixth Dynasty ruler. (Grimal, page 89)

So there is a good fit between the secular history of Egypt and the Biblical account with these two pharaohs; an extremely long reign is followed by a very short reign, as required.
More Evidence

The Biblical account of the ten plagues is quite detailed. It describes the pollution of the water supply, and devastation of the livestock and vegetation of the land. The Israelites left, depriving the land of its slave labor, and they carried away much of the land's wealth in the form of silver, gold, and clothing (Exodus 12:36). Also, the army and the Pharaoh were drowned in the "Red Sea," leaving the country with weakened defenses. The Exodus must surely have left a bold signature in Egyptian history. What do the historians find following the reign of Pepy II's successor?
Pepy II's successor was the final Pharaoh of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. Grimal says: "The Old Kingdom ended with a period of great confusion." (page 89). Summarizing an ancient Egyptian literary/historical work called Admonitions, which comments on Egypt following the reign of Pepy II's successor, Grimal says:

It was the collapse of the whole society, and Egypt itself had become a world in turmoil, exposed to the horrors of chaos which was always waiting for the moment when the personification of the divine being - the Pharaoh - neglected his duties or simply disappeared. (Grimal, page 138)

This time period was characterized by famine, an expected result of the plagues described in the book of Exodus. This famine was limited to the Nile valley (Grimal, page 139)---as the Bible's narrative would lead one to expect. There was anarchy and a struggle for political power. Egypt's foreign trade ceased and Egyptian mining in the Sinai peninsula "also seems to have been abandoned" (Grimal, page 139). The nation of Egypt had obviously suffered a severe blow---as one would expect from what the Bible tells us of the events accompanying the Exodus.
Chronology

The match between the Bible's narrative of the Exodus and the secular history of Egypt at the end of the Old Kingdom might possibly be brushed aside as coincidence were it not for the fact that this match happens at the right date according to modern Biblical chronology.
Dr. Aardsma's chronology places the Exodus 2447+/-12 B.C. The current "standard" chronology of Egypt places the end of the Old Kingdom---when the evidence discussed above says the Exodus happened---around 2200 B.C. The difference of 247 years between these two dates is close enough for such ancient times to regard the dates as the same. Uncertainties of a few hundred years in historical/archaeological chronologies are normal at such early times in the history of civilization. Nicholas Grimal notes that "The chronological span of the First Intermediate Period [which must be known to date events in the Old Kingdom accurately] is also a problem." Haas et al. have suggested, based on an extensive suite of radiocarbon dates (totally independent of Dr. Aardsma's work), that the First Intermediate Period should be lengthened by about 260 years. This would push the secular date for the end of the Old Kingdom back to around 2460 B.C., indistinguishable from Dr. Aardsma's Biblical date of 2447+/-12 B.C. for the Exodus. Pottery analysis in the Sinai Peninsula by E. D. Oren and Y. Yekuteli is also supportive of this adjustment.
Thus the qualitative match between the Bible's narrative of the Exodus and the secular history of Egypt at the end of the Old Kingdom is supported by quantitative chronology.
Conclusion

Evidence for the Exodus from Egypt is plentiful---as long as one has their Biblical chronology right, and thus knows to examine Egypt's history around 2450 B.C., rather than around the traditional 1450 B.C.
References

http://www.biblicalchronologist.org/answers/exodus_egypt.php

The Bedouin will also tell you about the Moses sole that came about by being cut in half when the waters parted. It looks like half a fish.

[jah_yout]

even bob marley sang bout exodus like itt was real.

exodus is a famous fictional bible story but he was singing about the current exodus of the current enslaved exiles returning to the current promise land--- true story

[blugiant]

exodus is a famous fictional bible story but he was singing about the current exodus of the current enslaved exiles returning to the current promise land--- true story

exodus: movement of Jah people! oh, yeah!
(movement of Jah people!) send us another brother moses!
(movement of Jah people!) from across the red sea!
(movement of Jah people!) send us another brother moses!
(movement of Jah people!) from across the red sea!
movement of jah people!

da promised land dennis brown ting too

da ting is iff da storee aff exodus is a myth den so iss da promise land. man created religion. man created da god of isreal. moas kulture created dem own god to mold ann shape dem peeps canciousness. da promised land wass created fe justify teefinn land

[blugiant]

there was some interesting evidence about that period based on pork bones....that demonstrate the conflict between pork eaters and non pork eaters at the time of exodus in Otermere

No this is not me being fasceous... serious... it demonstrated that there were a conflict between two different groups.... with the none pork eaters gradually encroaching on the pork eaters... like a lot in archeology they examined refuse dumps and noticed this difference which could indirectly confirm this conquest....

da pork eater versus non pork eater ting. mii wandar iff deer wass ova two million non pork eaters y archeologists doan find more non pork eaters dumps ann more eveedence aff dem wandarinn wanderinn da desert. plus yuh kno wen dem found non pork eaters dumps dem also found a latt aff shellfish remains. iff dem aggoo use non pork eater dumps fe argue fe da affirmative, den wat doo doo de shellfish remain among da non pork eater remain prove?

durinn da thyme aff da exodus tribes wander da desert so fe say deer were canflicts wood be accurate. let take itt furdar ann sed yes dear were canflict between poor eaters ann non pork eaters. so da implication wood be dat non pork eaters were da jews but deer is a lack aff dump evedences aff ova 2 million non pork eaters. so da indirect evedence wood indicate dat a latt aff jews were pork eaters.

seereeusslee a latt aff peeps ann sum kulture inn dat regions neva nyam pork so fii gawn like dem non pork eaters wid hellfish remains woo battle da pork eaters were da exodus peeps natt widdstandinn da lack aff eveedence fram ova 2 million exodus is weak ann reachinn.

[blugiant]

http://www.biblicalchronologist.org/...odus_egypt.php

The Bedouin will also tell you about the Moses sole that came about by being cut in half when the waters parted. It looks like half a fish.

iff a book was written aftah an event happen, den fi chatt bout chronological aff da storee written aftah da fact support da storee iss dubious

itt like chattinn bout da ten commandments were given to moses pon mt siani, den discoverinn da negative confessions aff ancient egypt written before moses peeps cood read ann rite doan raise qwestians wear da ten commandments reallee cum fram

[blugiant]

Pillar of Superstition
The Politics of the Exodus Myth

“I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.”

– Exodus 23:27

During this interlude in Israel’s second unprovoked incursion of Gaza, we might pause to reflect on what is, arguably, the real reasons for Netanyahu and Lieberman to execute their victims corralled in the walled prison of Gaza. This incursion, (curious the word incursion which means a “temporary invasion,”) reflects the will of the ancient G-d of the Israelites as the above quote from Exodus suggests, especially if we continue to read from Chapter 23: “…I will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites; … I will drive them out little by little before you, until you have grown numerous enough to take possession of their land.” Then does this G-d draw the boundaries of Israel: “I will set your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River” (i.e.to the sea, Mediterranean, to the river, Euphrates). Reflect now if you will on how these words of the ancient G-d of the ancient tribes of Israelites captures the reality of Israel’s present gift to the people of Gaza: “…all who dwell in this land I will hand over to you to be driven out of your way. You shall not make a covenant with them or their gods.”

Certainly the Israeli military together with the Prime Minister chose to lead the Israeli IDF into this latest “incursion” of Gaza with the announcement beforehand that the ancient G-d of the tribes would be visible as a pillar of clouds by day and a pillar of fire by night. This is an appeal to the religious parties and the rigid right wing “settlers” who accept the word of their bible that G-d has defined the true borders of Israel and determined how that “historical” land should be regained. No doubt this is also the reason that the State of Israel has not declared its borders nor created a constitution to guide this purported “democratic state.” It is also a testament to the power of the religious parties and the settlers that they can control the government of Israel because no government can be formed now without their inclusion. Reflect now if you will on what this means in the 21st century.

Recent scholarship like that of Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman (The Bible Unearthed, 2001) suggests that the Biblical narrative of the Exodus did not happen. They conclude rather that both Egypt and Judah during the seventh century BCE was a time of great revival. “It was a time when Josiah embarked on an ambitious attempt to take advantage of the Assyrian collapse and unite all Israelites under his rule. His program was to expand to the north of Judah, to the territories where Israelites were still living a century after the fall of the kingdom of Israel, and to realize the dream of a glorious united monarchy: a large and powerful state of all Israelites worshipping one God in one Temple in one capital—Jerusalem—and ruled by one king of Davidic lineage.” Instead of the Exodus happening in the 13th century, when the estimated population of the Israelites numbered somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000, it never happened as told about the Israelites. It was recorded in the 7th century using ancient stories gathered together into a “history” of the Israelites to aid Josiah in creating his dream kingdom. “The conclusion—that the Exodus did not happen at the time and in the manner described in the Bible—seems irrefutable when we examine the evidence …” (see also Doug’s Biblical Chronology, Dr. Aardsma’s Chronology of Exodus, and www.accuracyinggenesis.com).

These conclusions would suggest that the Bible as the word of God is rather a fabrication created for the masses for political, religious and cultural reasons. That the words of that God could mobilize another gathering of people from around the world in 2012 to accomplish the same end, including the conquering of lands inhabited by millions of people for over twenty five hundred years, seems preposterous.

Yet recent commentators have suggested that many religious leaders claim that Jewish
religious laws justify killing of civilians during war time; statements made in 1974 following the Yom Kippur war and later in 2004 when Israel invaded the West Bank and Gaza, and again in 2006 when Israel invaded Lebanon, support this observation. More recently, Dr. Noam Chomsky has noted the increasing role played by Rabbis in sanctioning military wars:...

..............Needless to say, these ragings of a fool do not refer to the biblical wording, but they reflect the guidance that Israel’s ancient God directed to His people as He led them to genocide against the tribes that inhabited His land. So let us reflect on the barbarity inherent in the biblical commands to destroy one’s enemies.



William A. Cook’s latest book is Decade of Deceit.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/26/the-politics-of-the-exodus-myth/

[jah_yout]

exodus: movement of Jah people! oh, yeah!
(movement of Jah people!) send us another brother moses!
(movement of Jah people!) from across the red sea!
(movement of Jah people!) send us another brother moses!
(movement of Jah people!) from across the red sea!
movement of jah people!

da promised land dennis brown ting too

da ting is iff da storee aff exodus is a myth den so iss da promise land. man created religion. man created da god of isreal. moas kulture created dem own god to mold ann shape dem peeps canciousness. da promised land wass created fe justify teefinn land

the promise land is not a myth...perhaps you are speaking to people who only see "the bible"; the thing is - stories & allegories are told by every peoples in history as a means of teaching & conveying certain ideas or knowledge...just because a story is mythical does not mean it can not speak of real issues;
the brethren & sistren of rastafari were stolen from a certain place so I and I know that such place is a birthright given by the divine force and no doubt valuable to the sustenance of I and I creed--- hence a promise land; a land of promise---
it's on a deeper level than the minds of men can comprehend---
and not on the level of present day zionism as practiced by men such as 'israel' & a few others

[Emperah]

it is a big myth there is no history in egypt of a ppl such as hebrews ever being there in any bondage and being led out over 3 million a dem

[jah_yout]

it is a big myth there is no history in egypt of a ppl such as hebrews ever being there in any bondage and being led out over 3 million a dem

weh yuh get 3 million from?

according to the myth i thought it was about 600,000

[Emperah]

mek try remember it but mi tink de 600 000 were soldiers