Introduction to Hebrew Bible - Essay Example

? John J.Collin’s Chapter 5 The EXODUS from Egypt Synthesis The chapter 5 of John J. Collin’s? Introduction to Hebrew Bible deals primarily on the difficulty of establishing the historical basis of Exodus, but on the other hand claims that probably historical memories lies underneath the story of Exodus. Despite the clear lack of Exodus historicity, the depth and range of its influence as a literary form is incomparable, which continue to inspire people and liberation movements up to this date. He established his arguments on the following grounds: 1.Firstly, he argued that the Book of Exodus is not attested in non biblical books. Its final edition was written about 700 years after its actual occurrence, which is a major flaw in historiography 2. According to Egyptian history written by Manetho during the Hellenistic era, Jerusalem was built by Hyksos, who were expelled in Egypt and accordingly, Moses was a leader of lepers who rebelled against Egyptian who got help from Hyksos. In another historical account by Hecateus of Abdera, Jerusalem was built by people who were driven out of Egypt, whose leader is Moses. 3.Some biblical accounts can be corroborated by external evidence. The plagues narrated in chapters 7-12 could be paralleled to the epidemic in mid 4th century, commonly referred to as the Asiatic illness. 4.Some archaeologist believed that Exodus did took place but in a much smaller scale. The accounts of 600,000 who marched on to Read Sea is probably hyperbolic. 5.The story of Exodus reflects ancient metaphors, folklores myth and philosophy. The crossing of the sea is a metaphor to the defeat of the Pharaoh and his army and was probably composed in celebration of the Israelites liberation from the Egyptian slavery, rather than the actual drowning of the pharaoh and his armies. In Hebrew poetry, the imagery of sinking into water is used several times as a metaphor for distress, such as when Jonah is seemingly inside the belly of a whale and in the song of David when he called for divine intervention in Psalm 69. Therefore the sinking of the Pharaoh and his army is a metaphor to the defeat of the pharaoh and their army! Moroever, some Biblical scholars believed that the theophanies in Mt.Sinai, are not originally part of Exodus and that God’s? revelation through the phrase “I am who I am” is believed to have an undercurrent of the Greek philosophy’s? Absolute being. 6.YHWH is a warrior God that side with the weak which continue to inspire liberation movement of current history. 7.The sources of Exodus is a combination of several traditions namely Yahwist (J),Elohist(E),Deutoronomy (D) and Priestly (P). Exodus 4 which Collins believed to be taken largely from Priestly tradition describes vividly Moses stretching of his hand over the sea and causes the division of water. This should not be taken as a historical account but an attempt to provide concrete expression of YHWH powerful hand in rescuing the Israelites. On the other hand, the presentation of YHWH as a warrior God in Exodus 15 is a clear influence of E tradition in Exodus. My Personal Position in Relation to Arguments Presented Firstly,I fully agree with Mr. Collin’s main contention that it is difficult to establish the historical basis of the whole Exodus. The fact that the Book of Exodus was written about 700 years after its actual occurrence already presents a major flaw in historiography. Moreover, the very limited available non biblical evidence of Jewish history prior to the reign of King David which started around 1,000 BCE is a major challenge .Moreover, the Biblical accounts took place 2 to 3 thousand years before the science of archaeology came into our midst (Miller). But I also agree with him, that Exodus is a literature that speaks of bits and pieces of historical accounts. Previous and recent archaeological findings would attest to it. A.Chariots Found in Gulf of Aqaba in 1978 and 1988 In 1978,Ron Wyatt found numerous chariot wheels with some with axles still on, covered by corals in the Gulf of Aqaba. He also found 6 and 8 spoked wheel. In 1988, Wyatt found 4 spoked gold chariot wheel which is on almost perfect condition, since coral reefs does not grow on gold.(Wyatt). The finding of these chariot wheels is significant in determining the actual dates of Exodus.According to Mr. Nassif Mohammed Hassan, director of Antiquities in Cairo,Egypt. The chariots appears in Egyptian literature as early as 17th dynasty during the reign of Kamose who started expelling Hyksos from Egypt.But it was not until the early years of the 18th Dynasty that chariots were used by the army (Hoffmeir). According to Professor Yigael Yadin,the Egyptian chariots of 18th dynasty , which were made of light flexible wood and wrapped by leather straps and uses 4 spoke wheels were exactly the same as the Canaanite chariots. Exodus 14:6-7 made mention of chariots. And he took 600 chosen chariots. The gold chariot, accordingly could have been used by the priestly caste who came with their army on pursuit of Moses and the great multitudes of Israelites who flee Egypt. Wyatt believed that priest of every God were summoned to accompany the army, after they had seen the mighty power of the Israelite God. Moreover, in one of inscriptions found in Thutmoses III of 18th century, it was written that the kings received gold chariots as war booties. Also there were drawings of Egyptian constructing chariot wheels seen in ancient tombs and monuments (Wilkinson). B.Evidence of Plagues The plagues of Egypt were in the records of King Murshilish,a Hittite King at the time Joshua led the Israelite people into the Promised Land. King Murshilish summons their storm God on a plague afflicting and causing their people to die. He questions thy storm God for letting a plague afflict their people from the time of his father and brother ,unto his own time. In his prayer,he asked the storm God why did he let the plague broke into Egyptian prisoners into Hatti land. Accordingly, Hittites caught the plague from Egyptian soldiers who were in Amqa, an Egyptian territory (Wyatt). In the accounts of Collins, the plague took place in mid 4th century. C. Evidence in the Destruction Of Jericho Jericho, is a city in Canaan (Joshua 2: 1) which forms part of Yahweh’? promised land. In the book,‘New Bible Evidence” by Charles Marston, there were tremendous evidences and information which were presented that verifies the existence and destruction of Jericho in 1407 BC, which corroborates the narrative account on the destruction of Jericho in biblical account. In 1930-31, Professor Gorstang and his wife studied more than 100,000 fragments from strata of the burned city of Jericho which were attested to belong to 1500-1400 BC( Marston). Moreover, the discovery of the royal tombs belonging to 1500-1400 BC and the unearthing of a scarabs bearing the royal seal of Amenhetep III , in 1931. D.Tel-Amarna Letters There were correspondences between Amenhotep and the Bayblonian King named Kadashnan-Enlil,that were found in a group of Tablets found in Ancient Amarna.The royal wife of Amenhotep 3 had written to a Hittite King, an emerging power at the time,asking for a one f his son to be his husband as she have lost her husband and she is left only with servants, whom she could not take as her husband. This provide us a picture that indeed members of the priest and army of Egypt have been drowned in the Red sea, that the queen is left with servants alone! Indeed, I believed these are factual evidences leading us to the proof of the historicity of the accounts in Exodus. I think future archaeological discoveries would further shed light on the accounts of Exodus. Preservation and Survival of Ancient Knowledge Moreover, it should also be taken into consideration that the accuracy of Exodus should be treated in the context of ancient Near East tradition, whose manner of record preservation is totally different from our current way of recording history. For instance, in 1875, a story from 2 cuneiform tablets was published by George Smith, a leading figure in retrieving Babylonian literatures. The cuneiforms were from the time of King Ashurbanipal of Assyria. The cuneiform story is starkly similar to the story of Moses, who was put in a basket in the Nile River, when he was 3 months old because there was a decree from the Pharaoh to kill every first born son. The published story from cuneiform was the story of Sargon. He was a baby born by priestess belonging to a class who are prohibited in bearing children, thus she had her baby in basket onto Euphrates River.Later on, Sargon was said to be favored by Ishtar( a goddess) and became the first known emperor (Millard). Recent discoveries shows that a great monarch Sargon of Akkad, ruled Babylonia from about 2340 to 2284 B.C. or from 2296 to 2240 B.C (Millard). It is attested in this published cuneiform that preservation of Babylonian knowledge and history were done by scribes who have made copies of monuments they saw in old temples that they have visited. Therefore, it is to be supposed that scribes have copied texts of their knowledge and history that were in circulation more or less 500 years earlier. The Sargon story is a classic example of how knowledge and history have survived in ancient Babylonia, and so I would suppose that Exodus, which is a literature from the Near East tradition would have been passed on by generations of generations and preserved in the same manner that the story of Sargon has been preserved. The Number of Multitudes that Flee Egypt Collins presented that the account that more than 600,000 people flee and crossed the Red Sea is hyperbolic. I agree with this statement of Mr.Collins. I believed it is difficult to approximate the magnitude of the actual number who participated in the actual exodus, as of this moment of current history ,where no archaeological findings have been found to support it. Moreover,I agree that this hyperbolic figure is a reflection of several ‘exoduses’ that occurred in a long span of time. The forced labor scenario and the iron hand of the Egyptian pharaoh is ,for me,is more than enough reason for the slaves to rebel and flee away from Egypt. Red Sea as the Site of Exodus Mr. Collins, presented that in Hebrew Bible, Yam Sup ,which is currently believed today as the Red Sea, is referred on different occasions as Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of Suez. He further relates that scholars believed that Moses and the Isrealites crossed a marsh or a lake, rather than a sea, which I agree with him, since sup literally means reed. However, they think its impossible for Moses and the multitude to have crossed either the Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba . To this, I disagree with him. I think, they crossed the Lake of Aqaba, as I have earlier presented the facts of gold chariots excavated beneath the corals of Lake Aqaba by Ron Wyatt in 1978. Further on the article ‘The Route of the Exodus Journey’, by the same writer, it clearly described that Mt.Sinai lies in northwestern part of Saudi Arabia, which has no evidence of Egyptian rule (Wyatt). Influence of Exodus I agree with Collins, that despite the difficulty of establishing fully the historicity of Exodus, it remains to inspire liberation movements around the world up to this time. The escape from Egypt by the Israelites is a primary symbol for liberation amongst the advocates and practitioners of Liberation theology. The God that sides with the poor and the warrior God in Exodus is the controversial piece of liberation theology. Yahweh’? command “let my people” go is a popular battle cry amongst Christian in the midst of socio-political struggle for liberation. Liberation theology’?s central belief that God is always and everywhere on the side of the poor ,the oppressed and the marginalized is basically innate in the Exodus story. Moreover, I agree with Collins claim that Israelites recognizes the story of Exodus, as its founding myth and for establishing Jewish identity as a nation that worships one God that does not present thyself in the naked human eye. Conclusion Much has been written on the factual basis of Exodus and there is much that has been questioned. And I believed there is much to be discovered. At this point, where several controversies have been raised against the authenticity and historicity of Exodus, I agree with Mr.Collins conclusion (at this time) that indeed beneath Exodus is a historical memories. The manner in which history is passed on to the next generation during the ancient history should be taken into much consideration, in our further study of the Exodus and the rest of the Biblical accounts. But, I believed that the current volume of archaeological findings supporting portion and bits of Exodus account is already a triumph in establishing the material basis of Exodus. It would be immaterial now to conclude that Exodus is just a myth or a mere piece of literature. The manner in which Babylonian knowledge has been preserved, the recent findings of wheels and gold chariots in the Gulf of Aqaba,,the existence of Moses as a leader of leper who rebelled and fled from Egypt is more than enough at this time to claim that Exodus did took place. References: 1. Miller, William T .The Book of Exodus: Question by Question, Paulist Press, 2009 2. Wilkinson, Gardiner. The Ancient Egyptian-Their Life and Customs. Senate, 1994 3. http://www.arkdiscovery.com/red_sea_crossing.htm 4. Collins, John J. A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible . Fortress Press, 2007 5. Millard,Allen, How Reliable is Exodus? Biblical Archaeology Review, July-August,2000 Read More