THE EXODUS AND CONQUEST OF JERICHO
If there truly was an Exodus, then where is the
Evidence?
If there was an Exodus, then there should be some
evidence that the Israelites lived in Egypt, exited
Egypt from Goshen (where Joseph and his family
lived) , and entered Canaan as the Bible states.
Skeptics doubt the Exodus occurred as
the Bible states if it happened at all.
Questions are:
1.Is there evidence an Exodus occurred?
What is it?
2.What about Mt. Sinai? Does the Bible
tell us where it is?
3.What about the conquest of Jericho? Is
there evidence of it and when did it
take place?
One question skeptics ask is regarding the “fourth
generation” as promised to Abraham since from
Abraham to Moses would be five to six generations.
The LXX reads as follows:
GENESIS 15: 13 And it was said to Abram, Thou shalt
surely know that thy seed shall be a sojourner in a
land not their own, and they shall enslave them, and
afflict them, and humble them four hundred years. 14
And the nation whomsoever they shall serve I will
judge; and after this, they shall come forth hither
with much property. 15 But thou shalt depart to thy
fathers in peace, nourished in a good old age. 16 And
in the fourth generation they shall return hither, for
the sins of the Amorites are not yet filled up, even
until now.
The “fourth generation” is not speaking of the
fourth from Abraham but the fourth generation from
“the sojourning into the land.” This would include
the 12 sons of Jacob. Levi was one of those
“descendents” in the “sojourning.” The four
generations are stated in Exodus 6:16-20, where,
starting with Levi (from the time when the twelve
sons went into Egypt), we note that Kohath, Amram
and Moses bring us to the fourth generation.
(Levi, Kohath, Amram, Moses = 4 generations.)
We also read that Joseph lived unto the “third
generation” while he was in Egypt.
The Burning Bush ??
Dictamnus albus (fraxinella)
Common Name: Gas Plant, Dittany
This plant has a strong citrus (lemon) smell to it and its
oil can combust in the heat of the sun or near a flame
while at the same time, not harming the plant. It is
located all over the region of the middle east.
---Description---The members of this small genus are
plants about 2 feet high, bearing flowers in a long,
pyramidal, loose spike, varying in colour from pale purple to
white. It prefers to grow in woods in warm places. The whole
plant, especially when rubbed, gives out an odour like
lemon-peel, and when bruised this grows more like that of a
fine balsam, strongest in the pedicels of the flowers. It is due
to an essential oil, which gives off a vapour in heat or in dry,
cloudy weather, which also congeals as resinous wax,
exuding from rusty-red glands in the flowers. This accounts
for the fact that the atmosphere surrounding it will often take
fire if approached by a lighted candle, without injuring the
plant.
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/b/burbus91.html
also see http://www.gardenmakers.com/dictamnus_albus_fraxinella.htm
Skeptics also doubted that Moses (if he existed)
could not have written the laws because it
would have been centuries before codified
writings of laws would enter into history.
Ur Nammu
Sumer 2100
century B.C.
Oldest Law to
date
Code of Hammurabi, c. 1780 BCE
Exodus 1: 11 And he set over them task-masters,
who should afflict them in their works; and they
built strong cities for Pharao, both Pithom, and
Ramesses, and On, which is Heliopolis. 12 But
as they humbled them, by so much they
multiplied, and grew exceedingly strong; and the
Egyptians greatly abhorred the children of Israel.
13 And the Egyptians tyrannised over the children
of Israel by force. 14 And they embittered their
life by hard labours, in the clay and in brickmaking, and all the works in the plains,
according to all the works, wherein they
caused them to serve with violence.
Now, it is a very curious and interesting fact that
the Pithom bricks are of three qualities.
In the lower courses of these massive cellar walls
they are mixed with chopped straw;
higher up, when the straw may be supposed to
have run short, the clay is found to be mixed
with reeds–the same kind of reeds which grow to
this day in the bed of the old Pharaonic canal, and
which are translated as "stubble" in the Bible.
Finally, when the last reeds were used up, the
bricks of the uppermost courses consist of mere
Nile mud, with no binding substance whatever.
ANCIENT PITHOM
MODERN PITHOM
Until recently, skeptics believed that
the Egyptians never used straw to
build homes and monuments, at least
not until close to the Persian empire.
Once again, archeology has refuted
this statement…..
MUD BRICK STAMPED WITH THE CARTOUCHE OF RAMSES II
Egypt: Thebes, Ramesseum Dynasty 19, ca. 1279-1212 B.C.Sun-dried mud
and straw 25.0 cm H, 17.0 cm WGift of the Egyptian Research Account,
1896OIM 1347http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/HIGH/OIM_1347_72dpi.html
A well-known painting in the tomb of Rekhmire (15th century B.C.E.) shows slaves making
mudbricks. The Bible indicates that a brick-making quota was imposed on the Israelites. At
one point, they were required to find their own straw, but the quota remained the same (
Exodus 5:6–18). There is evidence from Egypt that such quotas did exist; the Louvre Leather
Roll (1274 B.C.E.) reports the shortfalls of the assigned quotas, 13 just as the Bible reports
that the Israelite foremen were beaten because their charges failed to meet the quotas (
Exodus 5:14). This same Egyptian text indicates that workers were granted time off for their
religious holidays. Similarly, a text discovered in the workmen's village of Deir el-Medineh
states that workers had gone "to offer to their god." 14 This of course is reminiscent of the
Israelites' request to take off three days to go into the wilderness to worship their God (
Exodus 3:18, 5:3). ( bib-arch.org )
Erich Lessing
Brick-making in Pharaoh's Egypt. "The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the
Israelites," the Book of Exodus 1:13–14 recounts, "and made their lives bitter with hard
service in mortar and brick." The Hebrews' labors for Pharaoh were no doubt similar to
these realistic scenes painted on the walls of the tomb of Rekhmire, the Egyptian vizier (or
prime minister) in the mid-15th century B.C.E. Two workmen with hoes (bottom left) knead
clay moistened with water; a third, kneeling figure (lower right) tightens his hoe. Other
workers pass buckets of wet clay to two brick makers (upper right), who use molds to form
the bricks. At top left, a worker constructs a wall with the newly manufactured bricks. The
accompanying inscription declares that the workers are "making bricks to build anew the
workshops in Karnak." ( bib-arch.org )
The bricks, too, described a part of the oppression,
reflecting close knowledge of conditions in
Egypt. A 15th-century tomb painting depicts
Canaanite and Nubian captives making bricks at
Thebes. One text even complains about a lack
of straw for brickmaking—a situation
encountered by Israel in Egypt.
In Canaan, by contrast, straw was not typically
an ingredient of mudbrick. Almost every detail in
the tradition mirrors conditions around the time
of the Exodus, especially, the idea of a sudden
rise in forced labor around the time of Ramesses
II and is entirely consistant with historical reality.
Skeptics also doubted that the Israelites
actually lived and exited out of Egypt.
Ancient Tablets dated close to the time
of the Exodus list names of numerous
slaves. Many of them listed both the
Egyptian names alongside the Hebrew
names. One of the names is Shiphrah
which is a name that is used in Exodus 1
for one of the midwives.
Brooklyn Papyri
Evidence is not lacking to indicate that these Asiatics became
slaves. "A famous papyrus (the Brooklyn Papyrus) was left
to the Brooklyn Museum . . . On the verso of this papyrus, a
woman named Senebtisi attempts to establish her legal
rights to the possession of Ninety-five servants. A list of
them is included which states their titles, names and
surnamed, and their occupations. Of the seventy-seven
entries which are presented well enough to enable the
individuals nationality to be read, twenty-nine appear to be
Egyptian while forty-eight are 'Asiatics' . . . Although the
foreign names were not precise enough to enable the exact
homeland of these Asiatics to be identified, it can be said
that they were from a 'Semitic group of the north west' . . .
The Brooklyn Papyrus is important here because it shows
that one household employed a large proportion of Asiatics
and this household was situated in Upper Egypt (The south)
and not in the Delta; therefore it is apparent that Asiatic
servants were by now disseminated throughout the
community." pages 189 - 190. "Asian slaves, whether
merchandise or prisoners of war, became plentiful in wealthy
Egyptian households." (during the twelfth dynasty).
Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 1964, volume 8, page 35.
According to the Book of Exodus, not
only did the Egyptians enslave the
Israelites, to keep them in check, but
Pharaoh even gave orders for all their
male babies to be slain at birth, to stem
the numbers (1:15-16). In the light of this
grim episode, an intriguing aspect of Sir
Flinders Petrie's discoveries was the
unusual number of infant burials
beneath the floors of the houses of
Illahûn. Rosalie David thus describes
Petrie's find :
David Rohl , moreover, also has noted multiple
graves in the Delta region, at Tell el-Daba during
the same approximate period, had an excessively
large proportion of babies:
... it was discovered that there was a higher
percentage of infant burials ... than is normally
found at archaeological sites of the ancient world.
Sixty-five per cent of all the burials were those of
children under the age of eighteen months. Based
on modern statistical evidence obtained from premodern societies we would expect the infant
mortality rate to be around twenty to thirty per
cent. Could this be explained by the slaughter of
the Israelite infant males by the Egyptians?
Larger wooden boxes, probably used
to store clothing and other
possessions, were discovered
underneath the floors of many houses
at Kahun. They contained babies,
sometimes buried two to three to a
box, and aged only a few months at
death .... Internment of bodies at
domestic sites was not an Egyptian
custom, although such practices
occurred in other areas of the ancient
Near East.
IPEWER PAPYRUS
IPEWER PAPYRI
• The Plague of Blood
In Ipuwer Papyrus 2:5-6, it
says: Plague is throughout the
land. Blood is everywhere.
Compare this with the Book of
Exodus 7:21: There was blood
throughout all the land of
Egypt.
IPEWER PAPYRI
• In Ipuwer Papyrus 2:10, it says: The
River is Blood. Compare with Exodus
7:20: All the waters that were in the
river were turned to blood.
In Ipuwer Papyrus 2:10, it says: Men
shrank from tasting...and thirst for
water. Compare with Exodus 7:24:
And all the Egyptians digged round
about the river for water to drink; for
they could not drink of the water of
the river.
• The Plague of Hail
Ipuwer papyrus 9:23: The fire ran along
the ground. There was hail, and fire
mingled with the hail.
• Exodus 9: 23 And Moses stretched forth his
hand to heaven, and the Lord sent thunderings
and hail; and the fire ran along upon the
ground, and the Lord rained hail on all the land
of Egypt. 24 So there was hail and flaming fire
mingled with hail; and the hail was very great,
such as was not in Egypt, from the time there
was a nation upon it.
• The Plague of Darkness
Ipuwer Papyrus 9:11: The
land is not light.
• Exodus 10:22: And there
was a thick darkness in all
the land of Egypt.
• The Plague of Egyptian Cattle
Ipuwer papyrus 5:5: All animals,
their hearts weep. Cattle moan.
Exodus 9:3: Behold, the hand of
the Lord is upon thy cattle which
is in the field, upon the horses,
upon the asses, upon the camels,
upon the oxen, and upon the
sheep: there shall be grievous
murrain (disease).
• The Plague of the Firstborn of Egypt
Ipuwer Papyrus 2:13: He who places his
brother in the ground is everywhere.
Exodus 12:27: He (the angel of the Lord)
smote the Egyptians.
• Ipuwer Papyrus 4:3: Forsooth, the
children of princes are dashed against the
walls. Exodus 12:29: At midnight the Lord
smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.
Ipuwer Papyrus 6:12: Forsooth, the
children of the princes are cast out in the
streets, Exodus 12:30: There was not a
house where there was not one dead.
• Response of the Egyptians to the Loss of
their First born
Ipuwer Papyrus 3:14: It is groaning that is
throughout the land, mingled with
lamentations.
• Exodus 12:30: There was a great cry in
Egypt.
• Diodorus Siculus, Greek Historian from
Sicily living from 80 BC to approximately 15
BC (20 years before Christ's birth in AD 5 or
6)
Diodorus Siculus wrote, "In ancient times
there happened a great plague in Egypt, and
many ascribed the cause of it to God, who
was offended with them because there were
many strangers in the land, by whom
foreign rites and ceremonies were employed
in their worship of the deity. The Egyptians
concluded; therefore, that unless all
strangers were driven out of the country,
they should never be freed from their
miseries.“…………
•
Upon this, some writers tell us, the most
eminent and enterprising of those
foreigners who were in Egypt, and obliged
to leave the country...who retired into the
province now called Judea, which was not
far from Egypt, and in those times
uninhabited. These emigrants were led by
Moses, who was superior to all in wisdom
and prowess. He gave them laws, and
ordained that they should have no images of
the gods, because there was only one deity,
the heaven, which surrounds all things, and
is Lord of the whole." (Diodorus Siculul,
Library of History, lib. 1., ap Phot.)
Biblical criticism comes from the late
archaeologist Gosta Ahlstrom. He
declares: "It is quite clear that the
biblical writers knew nothing about
events in Palestine before the 10th
century BCE, and they certainly didn't
know anything of the geography of
Palestine in the Late Bronze age," the
time of the desert wandering and
subsequent conquest of the land of
Canaan.
Ahlstrom's proof? He cites the
biblical listing of cities along the
alleged route that the Israelites
traveled immediately before reaching
the Jordan River -- Iyyim, Divon,
Almon-divlatayim, Nevo, and Avel
Shittim (Numbers 33:45-50), and
reports that most of these locations
have not been located, and those
that were excavated did not exist at
the time the Bible reports.
http://aish.com/societyWork/sciencenature/
Archaeology_and_the_Bible_-_Part_2.asp
In the meantime, writings
from the walls of
Egyptian Temples say
differently. It is well
known that Egypt had
much reason to travel to
Canaan in those days;
trade, exploitation,
military conquest. These
routes are recorded in
three different Egyptian
Temples -- listed in the
same order as provided
in the Bible, and dated to
the exact period of the
Israelite conquest of
Canaan.