A True Liberation Story

[Bonam]

Deleted. Double post.

Edited September 1, 2009 by Bonam

[g_bambino]

Who says 600,000?

The Bible claims 603,550 "fighting men", to be exact: Book of Numbers, 1:46.

…It seems to me that the events could easily be based in truth. It could have been just a few dozen or a few hundred people fleeing slavery. That would not have left much evidence, nor been worthy of recording in Egyptian records, and yet be prominent in the memory of that small group that fled and afterward settled elsewhere.

Indeed; and that was the point I was trying to get across. But that means the Exodus is hardly a tale of the emancipation of the Hebrew people. It could have been a few dozen people; it may not have been the Egyptians they were enslaved by; it's possibly a melding of two or more older tales. Archæologists, historians, and even rabbis doubt the veracity of the story.

_[c/e]

Edited September 1, 2009 by g_bambino

[jbg]

I'm no believer of religious texts of any origin, but it seems to me that the events could easily be based in truth. Who says 600,000? That is obviously an exaggeration. It could have been just a few dozen or a few hundred people fleeing slavery. That would not have left much evidence, nor been worthy of recording in Egyptian records, and yet be prominent in the memory of that small group that fled and afterward settled elsewhere.

My own guestimate would be a few hundred to maybe a thousand. My guess is that they arrived as nomadic tribesmen, maybe in the range of a few hundred, and were, for whatever reason, given fertile land to live on, in the nature of the story of Goshen. It is in the nature of governments, when groups or regions prosper, to want more, not less from them. This, I believe, did ultimately lead to fear of the group as outsiders, envy, and ultimately enslavement. In other words the Biblical story makes sense.

Most ancient works seem to be based in truth, often much to the surprise of modern scholars. Homer's Iliad for example was written off as fiction for the longest time, until the remains of Troy were found not long ago.

I tend to agree. The oral histories, when rapidly reduced to writing, in my view are largely true. There may be some exaggeration, along the lines of the "lumberjack" stories, but the substance is true.

[g_bambino]

In other words the Biblical story makes sense. The oral histories, when rapidly reduced to writing, in my view are largely true.

This relies on two things, though: 1) sense equals truth, and 2) the stories were rapidly transferred to written form.