Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

I feel somewhat misrepresented here, which is probably my own fault. In my 
previous post, I set out to present the "mainstream" view of those scholars, 
who do assume that there was some sort of historical event that lies behind 
the Exodus story. This is what I understood Oun Kwon's original question to 
be about. In other words, "assuming that there WAS an "Exodus", when was it 
most likely to happen?" For the record, I also think that there must have 
been SOMETHING behind the story, and that the 13th century, i.e. the reign 
of Raamses II, is the most likely time for it. I also realize that since 
there is no hard evidence, my opinion is no more than that, and other 
opinions, as long as they don't contradict what evidence there is, are also 
legitimate. I specifically stated that I would let Karl, Jim and others 
present their own views, and I think that they certainly have.

Yigal Levin
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "G. Zack" <atdgz AT hotmail.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 12:36 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Year of Exodus


> Further to your mention of Hoffmeier and, in partial challenge to Yigal's 
> somewhat categorical claim that there is no extra-biblical support to the 
> Exodus narrative, in a recent article in BAR Hoffmeier does argue for the 
> availability of such evidence, arguing against deniers such as Finkelstein 
> and others.
>
> He points out to recent excavations in the Nile Delta and other Egyptian 
> sources and establishes, e.g. that Delta towns such as Pi'Atoum were not 
> in existence in later centuries and could not be the basis to late 
> narrative projected backwards.
>
> If memory serves I believe that Hoffmeier shows that Ramssess existed as a 
> town only betweem 1275 and 1075 BC.
>
> He uses other places mentioned in the narrative as well as practices of 
> Semetic slave-labour, the practice of mus brick making, harsh quotas and 
> straw deprivation etc. as, again, all pointing to mid 1200 bc as the 
> likely period.
>
> Indeed, if accepted,  the numbers would always remain an issue as well as 
> the biblical narrative that claims Exodus as the SOLE demographic source 
> of the emerging  Israelite nation, as opposed to being only one component 
> as much evidence suggests, that managed, however, to imprint its lore as 
> central in the Israelites annals known as the Bible.
>
> But away from such "historicity"-- there is, according to Hoffmeier, 
> archaeological and topographical evidence that supports the Exodus 
> narrative as a plausible account of some people's/clans'/families' 
> departure from an abusive sejourn in Egypt circa 1230...
>
> Gad Za'k
> Canada
>
> > Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:50:19 -0800
> > From: uhurwitz AT yahoo.com
> > To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > Subject: [b-hebrew] Year of Exodus
> >
> >    Yigal has written:
> >
> >  "So, while the match is not perfect, the most logical time for an 
> > Israelite
> > conquest (or whatever historical process came to be described as the
> > conquest) is around 1200, with the Exodus occuring around 1240 BCE. Of
> > course, there IS no actual evidence of either..."
> >
> >
> >  There is always the possibility that Exodus does retain general 
> > memories.
> >
> >  That some ancestors of Israelites had indeed been in Egypt; that they 
> > were
> > in bondage; and , significantly, picked up  there a belief in a single 
> > deity
> > intolerant of other gods, can be supported, though not proven, by much 
> > extra-biblical material .
> >
> >   Therefore, one can fully accept the outline of the Exodus story, as 
> > well as the
> >  Patriarchs narratives, as Outline History. This was of course done 
> > before, see e.g  A.Malamat. As for Egypt, no serious discussion of the 
> > subject can exclude
> >  the views of K. Kitchen and Hoffmeier.
> >
> >   What is difficult to accept are the large numbers involved in the 
> > Exodus narratives;
> > further, that not all Hebrews had gone to Egypt was assumed by major 
> > scholars such as Albright, and Meek a long time ago.
> >
> >    Uri Hurwitz 
> > Great Neck, NY
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>
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