Did the Exodus from Egypt take place over decades? The Hollywood version seems to suggest that the trek to Palestine took a few months at most. Yet the Bible clearly states that 40 years were spent wandering in the wilderness of Zin, and that most of the generation of Hebrews that left Egypt, had died by the time they entered Palestine. So, was the exodus a long, slow migration (as most were most population movements in the ancient world), or was it relatively fast? Take the geography-today, one can walk from Alexandria, to present day Tel Aviv (barring any border complications) IN LESS THAN A WEEK. Yet Exodus states that the Israelites took the long route, down the Sinai peninsula, and presumably, up the gulf of Aquaba. It seems to me that the Book of Exodus is a recounting of the reports of many people, spanning a great deal of time. If this is so, archaeologists ought to be able to find all kinds of evidence of the Israelite’s passage (campsites, fire sites, etc.) Has this been done?
First of all, remember that “40 years” is Biblespeak for “a very long time”. Second, acording to the Bible, the Israelites did not only wander in the Sinai, but also conquered much of the area which is now Jordan, invading Canaan from the East. That’s a lot more territory to cover, especially at the leisurely pace of a group of nomadic tribes.
I haven’t been keeping up on archeological reaserch, so I don’t know of any proof - or lack thereof. As far as I know, nothing has been disprooved yet. Personally, I believe in the whole Exodus story (though not in all the details), but that’s just wacky, religious old me.
According to the Bible, the trip from Egypt to Canaan was intended to take only a little while. While they didn’t take the most direct route (along the Mediterranean coast, because they would have then had to deal with the Philistines…see Exodus 13:17) They stopped at Sinai for about a year to receive the Torah and build the Tabernacle, but after that, as I recall, it was said to be a journey of a few days. However, they sinned by believing the bad reports of the spies and were punished by being forced to wait 40 years before entering the land (Numbers 14:34). So it wasn’t a gradual migration; the 40 year wait was a deliberate delay.
As for archaeological evidence of their passage, I doubt there would be any. They lived in tents which they took with them. And what little they might have left behind is probably not solid enough to not be eroded by desert winds and sand dunes.
egkelly wrote:
First we have to ask, did the Exodus from Egypt take place at all?
As far as I know, no archaeological or historical evidence (other than the books of Moses in the Old Testament) has come to light indicating that the Israelites ever were in Egypt to begin with.
The Exodus from Egypt almost certainly did not take place, at least not in the way described in the Bible. There is some possibility that the Levites were captive in Egypt. But this would be a few thousand people max, not the 3 million described in the Bible.
In response to cmkeller’s statement that there would be no archaeological evidence, that is simply wrong. Yes, tents are moveable. But it’s absolutely impossible for 2-3 million people to move across a desert for 40 years (or any long period of time), without leaving some evidence. A broken pot. A lost article of clothing. Some bones from the hundreds of animal sacrifices they performed. The bones from every single Israelite except for two.
Furthermore, the loss of several million laborers from Egypt would have had devastating effects upon the economy. For that matter, so would the death of every firstborn child, the plagues of locusts and frogs, the Nile turning into blood, and the death of all the livestock. Yes, we know that the Egyptians didn’t like to record their defeats. But these things are simply impossible to coverup. It would be as if the U.S. intentionally suppressed all of the records of the Civil War. It would still be evident from the socio-politico-economic changes experienced by the country in the next 40 (or 140) years.
The better question is not how long the Exodus took, but how long did the author(s) of the Biblical account intend for it to take. They most likely intended the 40 years to be a symbolic representation of the Israelite’s separation from God during a time when he was most visible to them. The facts of their ancient history was probably just as unknown to them as it is to us, if not moreso.
It took 40 years because that damned Moses wouldn’t pull over and ask for directions!
Moses also led them to the only place in the Middle East without oil!