Exodus Proof? No…
A lot of apologists find different ways to claim that Exodus actually happened. Some go for the Chariots in the Red Sea as definitive proof. Others hold on to apologetic reasons rather than any real evidence.
Ted do we have any extra biblical evidence for the Exodus
Yes, Bobby we do and is it’s actually found in the text itself just like the New Testament. Obviously if the New Testament writers were eyewitnesses of the resurrection we look for the same type of evidence in the Old Testament.
This guy uses bad historical reasoning to justify the historicity of Exodus. First, he’s asked if there is extra-biblical accounts for it but gives answer that isn’t extrabiblical.
Eyewitnesses For Exodus?
We want to know is there any type of clues that the writers in the Old Testament is specifically in the book of Exodus that they knew about Egyptian culture and when you begin to dig down into the text and look at some of the things that are written about, it really shows an indication that these are these are people who witnessed, eyewitnessed these things that happen the Exodus.
First, we don’t have eyewitness testimony of anything in Exodus. This was a crafted narrative to teach theological lessons. Namely that Yahweh is responsible for saving the Israelites from slavery. They essentially owe him big time. Yahweh never lets them forget that he was the one that did that either. He reminds them throughout the old testament. The pentatuch was most likely written in a documentary style with several editors that spliced together different existing documents.
Exodus contains evidence of at least 3 separate sources that were stitched together. E, J, and P. These were not eyewitness testimonies that were edited together. These were theological works. Nothing suggests that they were recording anything other than legend, myth, and folklore to create their history.
Finally, I don’t think you understand what “extra-biblical” means because it wouldn’t mean stuff contained in the the text. Generally when looking for extra-biblical evidence, or corroborative evidence, we would want something independent that verifies the events that we are researching. By definition, the evidence cannot exist within the biblical texts.
Hardening Pharoah’s Heart
One example is found in the Egyptian evidence it’s called the Egyptian Book of the Dead. It is a book of spells that talks about what happens in the afterlife and one of the things that happened in the afterlife of course you know that when Pharaoh’s die and they are embalmed they are actually mummified. One of the things that happens in the mummy is the mummies are buried with a scarab
A scarab is a beetle and the beetle actually has a spell from the Egyptian Book of the Dead when we read in the exodus account that when the Pharaoh was confronted by Moses and God and through the plagues it says he hardened his heart.
We know from the Egyptian evidence that the hardening of the heart is not a good thing because in the afterlife the Pharaoh’s heart would be weighed in the balance would we be weighed in a scale balance. If the heart was heavy and if it was hard it would over it would over weigh the feather of truth and the fair would be condemned to wander in the afterlife.
Right here he uses clever language here to conflate “hardening pharoah’s heart” with “making his heart heavier.” He’s right about the mummies and scarabs and the beliefs of the Egyptians but that doesn’t count as eyewitness testimony or anything. That would have been general knowledge about their faith.
We would need something more substantial than just what the egyptians believed to say that these accounts are eyewitness testimony. Normally eyewitness statements include names and places rather than general information. Exodus doesn’t even name the Pharoah. So to claim that anything in Exodus is eyewitness testimony is just ridiculous and essentially proves nothing.
and so the scarab was meant when it was buried in the Pharaoh it was meant to keep his heart soft and so that heart would not be condemned so this is an interesting eyewitness detail that only someone who understood Egyptian culture would have understood
He is just simply wrong. This is not an eyewitness detail. This is general knowledge about the Egyptian faith that isn’t even in the text. There are no names, places, or other specifics that would guide us to any eyewitness account. All the text says is that God “hardened the pharoah’s heart.” This is not a statement about their faith.
It actually serves a Jewish theological purpose. It provides a justification for God punishing the Egyptian people. Even though this seems contradictory to blame Pharoah for something God did to him, we can cover this a different time.
Also, what is the purpose of God following the theology of a different religion? God regularly establishes that he is the only God that is real and everything else isn’t real. So why would he damn someone in their own faith when they are perfectly damned in his own faith?
None of what you just said makes sense in any context.
Moses’ Snake Miracle
the other concept of the snake and you see the snake all throughout in Genesis and you see it all all the way through the Exodus and we know from Egyptian culture that the snake was a very very important symbol in fact the snake was a God
Again this is just common knowledge of the Egyptian theology. This is not a first hand account of a miracle. There is no specifics or sources mentioned here. There is just a legend / myth that was crafted for a theological purpose.
This is a good example of symbolism. The snake had become a symbol of the Pharoah so turning the staff into a snake and then grabbing it up by the tail is symbolism for God’s power and control. For one, you should NEVER grab a snake by it’s tail because it will bite you. Especially if it’s a viper. In this symbolic story, God was more powerful than forgein gods. God was really in control and because Moses trusted God and obeyed, he wasn’t bitten.
This is clever storytelling…not a historical acocunt.
Plagues of Egypt
and then all the plagues of the Exodus all the ten plagues each plague corresponded to an Egyptian God in the final plague the plague of the death of the firstborn corresponded to the divinity affair of himself
First of all this is not even true. There are thousands of God’s in Egyptian theology. They literally just picked out some that fit the plagues and applied them here. The entire event of Exodus is about God’s domination over other Faiths.
The killing of the first born is more likely a mirror to the beginning of Exodus. Pharoah has all the Jewish kids killed so now God is killing Egyptian children. This is the work of fiction, not reality.
Also, even if they did represent the Egyptian Gods, this still only has common knowledge about the Egyptians and not anything specifically that would tie to an eyewitness. If they did craft the story this way, it would only indicate that it is ficiton and not reality.
Where is the External Evidence?
so when you begin to add in this Egyptian understanding of the exes it’s very as a very strongly Egyptian flavoring even the name Moses is an Egyptian name so a lot of internal evidence that the exodus is a definitely a genuine account
But the question was, is there external evidence for Exodus? The answer is no.
None of what he mentioned can be tied to an eyewitness because they were general knowledge claims and not anything specific. There are no sources for Exodus. And everything points to crafted fiction that was edited together by at least 3 authors.