A Nation Redeemed. (Part II)

The next installment on the Exodus follows. Since this is a highly contested account in both Christian and secular circles, it seems important to examine it in detail. Might it be contested due to failure to carefully read the Exodus account and parallel accounts in Scripture? Or is it being contested because it portrays supernatural events?


Facts, customs, and widespread beliefs:

• Hebrew language links to Ancient Egyptian:
• Egyptologists' Electronic Forum - Ancient Egyptian words are denoted AE. Scroll down and see entries: [A] 2, 11, 12, 14, 18.
• Menachem Mendel - Blog written by Michael Pitkowsky, who is the Rabbinics Curriculum Coordinator at the Academy for Jewish Religion. Pitkowsky presents recent scholarship associating many Hebrew words with Egyptian roots.
• Genesis 15:12-16 (NIV), "As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, 'Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here [Four generations certainly allows time to become fluent in Egyptian and begin adopting words into Hebrew] . . .'"
• Genesis 41:46-52, "Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh [likely requiring understanding of Egyptian] king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout Egypt . . . Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On [Joseph must have spoken Egyptian with his wife]."
• Genesis 42:18-23, "On the third day, Joseph said to them, 'Do this and you will live, for I fear God: If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households. But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die.' This they proceeded to do. They said to one another, 'Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.' Reuben replied, 'Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn’t listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood.' They did not realize that Joseph could understand them, since he was using an interpreter [implying that Joseph now fluently spoke Egyptian, as he spoke Egyptian to the interpreter]."

• Chariots in Egypt around B.C. 1550:
• Egyptian tourist site - Introduction of chariot technology in Egypt dated to Asiatic Hyksos arrival.
• Ancient History Encyclopedia - Hyksos charioteers introduced the chariot to Egypt around 1650 B.C., when their dynasty in Northern Egypt was established.
• Exodus 14:5-9, "When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, 'What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?' So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him; and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly. Then the Egyptians chased after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon."

• Story and name of Moses:
• An Islamic website - Names Moses as Musa, and relates a story closely paralleling Scripture.
• Another Islamic website - Again names Moses as Musa, and relates a story paralleling Scripture.
• Roman Historian Tacitus - Named Moses as Moyses in his 5th book of Historiae. See third section in linked page. Some parallels to Scripture are evident in Tacitus' story.
• Torah.org - Names Moses as Moshe under Judaism and affirms the historicity of Moshe's life.
• Greek Historian Diodorus Siculus - Identified Moses as the leader of the people who left Egypt to settle in Judaea, as well as the one who gave this people their laws and priesthood.
• Egyptologists' Electronic Forum - Scroll down to entry [A] 11 to see Egyptian origin of the name "Moses".
• Egyptian Historian Manetho:
• According to Josephus, Manetho declares that the Hyksos were expelled from Egypt during the time of Pharaoh Tuthmosis, of the 18th Dynasty. 
• According to George Syncellus, who was commenting on Julius Africanus' preservation of Manetho's Aegyptiaca, Moses and Israel's departure from Egypt should be placed during the reign of Pharaoh Amos, the first king of the 18th Dynasty.
• Compare to Exodus 1-14

• Hebrew Passover:
• Judaism 101 - Provides extensive details on the Passover meal, noting that the Passover is still observed in some form by 67% of Jews to this day.
• Reform Judaism - Similar description of the Passover meal, noting that the first Passover was associated with the Exodus from Egypt. The Passover was also one of the three feasts for which the Israelite people congregated, and yet seek to congregate, in Jerusalem.
• Exodus 12:1-13, "Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 'This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, "On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household . . . You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the LORD’S Passover. For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance."'" 

• Hebrew calendar beginning with Passover month:
• Reform Judaism - According to the Jewish calendar, Passover is observed in the month of Nissan, the first month.
• General Source - Scroll down to months section. Nissan is the first month and is the month of Passover.
• Exodus 12:1-3, "Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 'This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, "On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves . . ."'"

• Enmity between Israel and Egypt enduring into modern times:
• The Middle East Quarterly - Modern-day wars and tensions between Egypt and Israel.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica - Egyptian-Isreali conflict example in six-day war between Israel and its Egyptian-led Arab coalition in 1967. 
• Jerusalem Post - Egyptian study showed that the Egyptian people view Israel as the most hostile nation toward them (Egyptian public opinion research site - poll referenced in Jerusalem Post article is 3rd from top on web page).
• Exodus 1:8-11, "Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, 'Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.' So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses."
• Exodus 14:28-30, "The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained. But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore." 

• Red Sea and the Sinai wilderness relative to Goshen, Egypt:
• Red Sea:
• Islamic viewpoint - Scroll down to Part 9. The Red Sea is considered to be an actual portion of the Red Sea, with deep water, and not marshland.
• Jewish viewpoint -  Jewish interpretation of the Torah holds the Red Sea to name a body of deep water also, not merely marshland or a flood-plain.
• Exodus 13:17-18, "Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, 'The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.' Hence God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea; and the sons of Israel went up in martial array from the land of Egypt."
• Exodus 14:26-29, "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.' So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained. But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left."

• Mount Sinai/Horeb:
• Islamic viewpoint - Both the Islamic Quran and the Old Testament require that Horeb be located in or near the land of Midian (the people of Moses' father-in-law), which corresponds to modern-day Saudi Arabia. Jabal al Lawz is one suggested candidate mountain in Saudi Arabia.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica - The Midianites were nomadic people believed to have lived east of the Gulf of Aqaba in modern-day Saudi Arabia.
• Jabal al Lawz - A mountain with a visibly darkened peak, as seen below:

• Exodus 3:1-2, "Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed."
• Exodus 19:17-20, "And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder. The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up."
• II Chron. 5:10, "There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of Egypt."
• Psalm 106:19-22, "They made a calf in Horeb
              And worshiped a molten image.
        Thus they exchanged their glory
              For the image of an ox that eats grass.
        They forgot God their Savior,
              Who had done great things in Egypt,
        Wonders in the land of Ham
              And awesome things by the Red Sea."           

• Split rock in the wilderness:
• Al Naslaa, Tayma petroglyph - Lone rock in Saudi Arabia at Tayma with very uniform split running through middle, visibly eroded base, and clear trace of nomadic presence. 
• Geography of modern day route from Cairo to Tayma (see split rock Al Naslaa above):

Google Maps modern day route from Cairo, Egypt to split rock at Tayma, Saudi Arabia

• Psalm 78:13-18, "He divided the sea and caused them to
        pass through,
              And He made the waters stand up like a heap.
        Then He led them with the cloud by day
              And all the night with a light of fire.
        He split the rocks in the wilderness
              And gave them abundant drink like the ocean
              depths.
        He brought forth streams also from the rock
              And caused waters to run down like rivers.
        Yet they still continued to sin against Him,
              To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
        And in their heart they put God to the test
              By asking food according to their desire."

• Rock Art in Saudi Arabia:
• Cattle petroglyphs - Artistic work is very similar to that seen in ancient Egypt. The Saudi petroglyphs may date to sometime in the 2nd millenium B.C.
• Exodus 12:37-39, "Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock. They baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had not become leavened, since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves."
• Sheep petroglyphs - Awassi, fat-tailed sheep drawn on surfaces of rocks were bred and domesticated prior to 2000 B.C. Their fat tail allows them to endure arid climates in Africa, the Middle East, and other regions (see fao.org website for more information).
• Leviticus 6:6-7, "Then he shall bring to the priest his guilt offering to the LORD, a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation, for a guilt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD, and he will be forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt."
• Leviticus 7:2-3, "'In the place where they slay the burnt offering they are to slay the guilt offering, and he shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar. Then he shall offer from it all its fat: the fat tail and the fat that covers the entrails . . .'"