Although the origin story for Jews, and the foundation for much of Christian theology, many scholars will ask: did it really happen?

Moses leading the newly-born nation of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, wandering through the desert for 40 years, and taking possession of Canaan is an iconic story. Not only is it the central national origin story for Jews, but it also forms the foundation for a great deal of essential Christian theology: the Passover, with its images of lamb’s blood smeared on the front doors to ward off death and judgment, and announce salvation and liberation … the giving of the Ten Commandments and the entire Levitical law … establishing a new religious system … the journey to the Promised Land. These are all themes that are picked up later in the New Testament, and provide the context for Jesus’ mission and death on the cross. For this reason, this story of the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt is a staple for Christian Sunday School curricula and sermons alike.

But many modern scholars will ask a very unsettling question: did it really happen?

To explore this, we talked to Dr. Richard Elliott Friedman, a scholar of ancient Israelite history with impeccable credentials (Harvard; Oxford; Cambridge; University of Haifa [Israel]; UCSD). Points that we talked about include:

• Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 movie The Ten Commandments, with Charlton Heston as Moses, has become the Christian/Western cultural memory of that Old Testament history
• are Christians guilty of cultural appropriation when they take that entire story and make it their own?
• what data do we have for that Old Testament history …. in addition to the Old Testament itself, we now have archaeological data and genetic data, but not other literary data from non-Jewish sources
• there are many Egyptianisms in the Old Testament story (the Hebrew Tabernacle looks like the Battle Tent of Ramses II; the Ark looks like a religious box used in Egyptian parades; ritual practices such as circumcision; sacrifices; brick-making; Egyptian names)
• there was not one massive exodus, but many small exoduses; people groups were constantly coming and going from Egypt
• “the Exodus” did happen; it just didn’t happen the way it’s described (it wasn’t two million people leaving all at once)
• the writing of the Old Testament involved many people (it was not just Moses) and was influenced by a variety of political and religious forces; these include two groups of priests who were more allied with either Moses or with Aaron
• the laity (the people in the church pews) are decades/centuries behind the scholars when it comes to understanding the origin, editing, and redacting of the Old Testament; Evangelical academics are beginning to “catch up”
• the nation of Israel was a confederation of different indigenous people groups who were already living in Palestine (including ones who were already coming and going from Egypt over the prior centuries), as well as a group of Levites who left Egypt in some kind of dramatic fashion; it was the latter who re-shaped their own history together with that of the existing people groups, and who then taught that revisionist history to the children until it became national doctrine
• these various people groups worshipped several gods, including Yahweh (the Midianites and others) and El (Canaanites; Ugarit; Phoenicians)
• the Levites who came from Egypt joined this confederation much later, and re-shaped the religious practices of this emerging nation of Israel
• if the “Exodus” and the religious rituals of Israel didn’t happen in the way that we are led to believe from a superficial reading of the book of Exodus, then what do we do with the Passover, which is a ritual that celebrates that Exodus, and which Christians have completely appropriated as the very foundation of their theology (Christ as the Passover Lamb, and his blood shed for our redemption)
• in the Ancient Near East, atonement required blood

As always, tell us your thoughts on this topic …

Find more information about Dr. Richard Elliott Friedman at his personal web-site.

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also enjoy Episode #57, in which we interviewed Dr. Peter Enns about the origin and writing of the Old Testament, or Episode #80, in which Dr. Aren Maier tells us about the origin and evolution of Judaism and the nation of Israel.

Movie promotional image from Paramount Pictures.

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