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When I weed through the story of the Exodus and get past the colorful details, I tend to see a few details that MAY tell another side of story if not the real story. The commonly accepted story (well amongst Christians) is that the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt and their god intervened and delivered them after a series of miraculous acts that drove the Egyptians to their knees. When the Egyptians could not take any more, they practically ran the Hebrews out of their land, however, there are some details in the story that might just lead to another conclusion. Is there more to the story?
In Exodus chapter 3, we are told that Yahweh meets Moses in a desert encounter and they have a conversation. God tells Moses that he is going to use him to go to Pharaoh to request the liberation of his people, the Hebrews. He then tells Moses that he is to gather the elders from amongst the people and approach Pharaoh and request a three-day journey into the desert to sacrifice to their god.
Some point out this was merely a formal "feeling out" request of the Pharaoh so that it could be shown up front that Pharaoh was not going to let the Hebrews go, however, the following verses seem to indicate something more on a grand scale. In addition, the following verses are also rather puzzling. God tells Moses that Pharaoh will not let them go so he will have to intervene and deliver the people and upon their exodus out of Egypt, they are to "borrow" silver and gold articles as well as clothing and place them on their [Hebrew] children. What is interesting, however, is that this act would be called plundering.
Two questions jump out. Why was Moses going to request a three-day journey into the wilderness when in the final analysis, the plan was to leave Egypt for good? Secondly, why were the Hebrews commanded to borrow articles from their Egyptian rivals when, again, in the final analysis there was no intention to return anything nor do we ever read they returned these borrowed items. Now plundering would be another matter and would be a better description of what may have transpired because none of these items were ever returned. Considering human nature, this would seem more realistic, but some will take the road of faith and claim that there was a divine mover who worked the hearts of the Egyptians over to sympathize with the Hebrews and as a result, they willingly gave the valuable items to the Hebrews. In this regard, the story then takes on the idea that the Hebrews simply asked for the items and the Egyptians willingly gave or they gave them up voluntarily. Any idea of plunder/stealing is removed.
Then the plagues came. Some have pointed out that these plagues were nothing more than natural events that came about as a result of seismic and volcanic activity in the area, notably from the tremendous volcanic eruption 700 miles away on the Mediterranean island of Thera,* a blast considered to be one of the greatest in human history.
Seismic activity may have ruptured the ground beneath the Nile and allowed poisonous carbon dioxide gas to escape into the waters and shoreline. The resulting effect would create a reddish hue to the Nile's waters giving the appearance of blood (the biblical account points to Moses initiating the event with God's help when he stretched out his hand and struck the waters of the Nile). The gas would also kill nearby grazing livestock and produce boils on the skin of humans. Fishes would die as they cannot escape, but animals like frogs can hop out and find safety further inland, perhaps taking refuge amongst human habitations. Lack of clean water could produce an outbreak of lice and dead fish would gather flies. It is not surprising that all of these plagues came about as a result of the Nile becoming polluted when the waters became poisoned with carbon dioxide.
A huge sky blackening ash cloud may have reached as far as parts of Egypt and darkened the daytime sky and affected the climate which might explain the plague of darkness. The lava blast could have feasibly dropped a hail of fire on the Egyptian landscape which could account for the plague of raining fire and hail. Did hordes of locust also make it to Egypt in search for food, arriving from other areas affected by the blast?
All of the above would be mere speculation of course if we did not have modern examples of such things. In 1986 at Lake Nyos in Cameroon, the lake turned blood red, fishes died, people and animals near the lake died and others broke out with boils on their skin. Africa has three such known lakes (another in Cameroon and one in Rwanda). Lake Nyos is actually atop the crater of a dormant volcano and the other two lakes are also in volcano zones. In addition, it is no modern secret volcano ash can blacken the daytime sky and plunge temperatures. I personally stood on the steps of my grandmother's house in Nevis in the middle of the day in darkness caused by ash from the volcanic eruption on the nearby island of Montserrat 27 miles away.
After these plagues and the mysterious deaths of Egypt's firstborn, the Bible tells us that Pharaoh orders Moses to get the Hebrews out of his land probably feeling the Hebrews were the reason for the all the disasters, a cursed people, so to speak. On their way out the Hebrews plunder the Egyptians who may have been in shock and grief and maybe even afraid of the Hebrews. The bible then tells us that after the Hebrews left Egypt, Pharaoh has a change of heart, a change initiated by God we are told, and he decides to go back after the Hebrews and bring them back to servitude. What is odd about this is that we are told that Pharaoh is the one who orders the Hebrews to leave his land, but then later we are told that Pharaoh was TOLD that the Hebrews had fled the land indicating he was apparently not aware of this exodus and then he decided to pursue them. Playing devil's advocate here, it can easily be deduced that what we may have had was a foreign people (the Hebrews) who, in the eyes of the Egyptians, may have used various national disasters to their advantage, topped off by plundering [stealing] of their property who then escaped during a national crisis. Pharaoh's pursuit fails (bible mentions yet another miracle that aided their deliverance) and the Hebrews/Israelites eventually go on to butcher their way to the domination of Canaan.
Thoughts?
*Some have argued that the date of the Exodus should actually be pushed back and in doing so, this would place it within the same time frame as the eruption of Santorini.
When I weed through the story of the Exodus and get past the colorful details, I tend to see a few details that MAY tell another side of story if not the real story. The commonly accepted story (well amongst Christians) is that the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt and their god intervened and delivered them after a series of miraculous acts that drove the Egyptians to their knees. When the Egyptians could not take any more, they practically ran the Hebrews out of their land, however, there are some details in the story that might just lead to another conclusion. Is there more to the story?
In Exodus chapter 3, we are told that Yahweh meets Moses in a desert encounter and they have a conversation. God tells Moses that he is going to use him to go to Pharaoh to request the liberation of his people, the Hebrews. He then tells Moses that he is to gather the elders from amongst the people and approach Pharaoh and request a three-day journey into the desert to sacrifice to their god.
Some point out this was merely a formal "feeling out" request of the Pharaoh so that it could be shown up front that Pharaoh was not going to let the Hebrews go, however, the following verses seem to indicate something more on a grand scale. In addition, the following verses are also rather puzzling. God tells Moses that Pharaoh will not let them go so he will have to intervene and deliver the people and upon their exodus out of Egypt, they are to "borrow" silver and gold articles as well as clothing and place them on their [Hebrew] children. What is interesting, however, is that this act would be called plundering.
Two questions jump out. Why was Moses going to request a three-day journey into the wilderness when in the final analysis, the plan was to leave Egypt for good? Secondly, why were the Hebrews commanded to borrow articles from their Egyptian rivals when, again, in the final analysis there was no intention to return anything nor do we ever read they returned these borrowed items. Now plundering would be another matter and would be a better description of what may have transpired because none of these items were ever returned. Considering human nature, this would seem more realistic, but some will take the road of faith and claim that there was a divine mover who worked the hearts of the Egyptians over to sympathize with the Hebrews and as a result, they willingly gave the valuable items to the Hebrews. In this regard, the story then takes on the idea that the Hebrews simply asked for the items and the Egyptians willingly gave or they gave them up voluntarily. Any idea of plunder/stealing is removed.
Then the plagues came. Some have pointed out that these plagues were nothing more than natural events that came about as a result of seismic and volcanic activity in the area, notably from the tremendous volcanic eruption 700 miles away on the Mediterranean island of Thera,* a blast considered to be one of the greatest in human history.
Seismic activity may have ruptured the ground beneath the Nile and allowed poisonous carbon dioxide gas to escape into the waters and shoreline. The resulting effect would create a reddish hue to the Nile's waters giving the appearance of blood (the biblical account points to Moses initiating the event with God's help when he stretched out his hand and struck the waters of the Nile). The gas would also kill nearby grazing livestock and produce boils on the skin of humans. Fishes would die as they cannot escape, but animals like frogs can hop out and find safety further inland, perhaps taking refuge amongst human habitations. Lack of clean water could produce an outbreak of lice and dead fish would gather flies. It is not surprising that all of these plagues came about as a result of the Nile becoming polluted when the waters became poisoned with carbon dioxide.
A huge sky blackening ash cloud may have reached as far as parts of Egypt and darkened the daytime sky and affected the climate which might explain the plague of darkness. The lava blast could have feasibly dropped a hail of fire on the Egyptian landscape which could account for the plague of raining fire and hail. Did hordes of locust also make it to Egypt in search for food, arriving from other areas affected by the blast?
All of the above would be mere speculation of course if we did not have modern examples of such things. In 1986 at Lake Nyos in Cameroon, the lake turned blood red, fishes died, people and animals near the lake died and others broke out with boils on their skin. Africa has three such known lakes (another in Cameroon and one in Rwanda). Lake Nyos is actually atop the crater of a dormant volcano and the other two lakes are also in volcano zones. In addition, it is no modern secret volcano ash can blacken the daytime sky and plunge temperatures. I personally stood on the steps of my grandmother's house in Nevis in the middle of the day in darkness caused by ash from the volcanic eruption on the nearby island of Montserrat 27 miles away.
After these plagues and the mysterious deaths of Egypt's firstborn, the Bible tells us that Pharaoh orders Moses to get the Hebrews out of his land probably feeling the Hebrews were the reason for the all the disasters, a cursed people, so to speak. On their way out the Hebrews plunder the Egyptians who may have been in shock and grief and maybe even afraid of the Hebrews. The bible then tells us that after the Hebrews left Egypt, Pharaoh has a change of heart, a change initiated by God we are told, and he decides to go back after the Hebrews and bring them back to servitude. What is odd about this is that we are told that Pharaoh is the one who orders the Hebrews to leave his land, but then later we are told that Pharaoh was TOLD that the Hebrews had fled the land indicating he was apparently not aware of this exodus and then he decided to pursue them. Playing devil's advocate here, it can easily be deduced that what we may have had was a foreign people (the Hebrews) who, in the eyes of the Egyptians, may have used various national disasters to their advantage, topped off by plundering [stealing] of their property who then escaped during a national crisis. Pharaoh's pursuit fails (bible mentions yet another miracle that aided their deliverance) and the Hebrews/Israelites eventually go on to butcher their way to the domination of Canaan.
Thoughts?
*Some have argued that the date of the Exodus should actually be pushed back and in doing so, this would place it within the same time frame as the eruption of Santorini.
I watched a documentary on Lake Nyos today which confirmed the above in bold.
It is MY opinion that the story of the Exodus was heavily embellished. Perhaps there was some kind of Exodus of Semitic peoples out of Egypt, but the "hand of God" mentioned in the entire story was, shall we say, something to spice up and validate the story.
One reason I say this is because I feel that there are some redactions (edits) that can be seen in the story thus undermining the idea Moses or someone contemporary wrote the story and more like someone wrote the story about Moses and the Exodus at some much later time to probably stir up unity or nationalism.
In Exodus 10, Pharaoh tells Moses to never show his face again in his presence and Moses tells him, "yes, you have spoken correctly. I will never see your face again." From here, without really reading the story, one would get the idea that the next event was the flight of the Hebrews from Egypt which led to the death of Pharaoh. What we find, however, is in the very next chapter, Moses back before Pharaoh predicting the death of Egypt's firstborn. After doing so, we read,..."Then he [Moses] went out from Pharaoh in great anger." (Exodus 11:8b)
YYdanay...very cool way of explaining this in scientific terms. But let's not forget who controls all of nature...GOD himself had all these things happen. I can tell you of many miracles that have happened in my life that have a scientific explanation but if it weren't for God's hand in my life....it would not have happened at the exact time they did
Cool post though
It is MY opinion that the story of the Exodus was heavily embellished. Perhaps there was some kind of Exodus of Semitic peoples out of Egypt, but the "hand of God" mentioned in the entire story was, shall we say, something to spice up and validate the story.
One reason I say this is because I feel that there are some redactions (edits) that can be seen in the story thus undermining the idea Moses or someone contemporary wrote the story and more like someone wrote the story about Moses and the Exodus at some much later time to probably stir up unity or nationalism.
In Exodus 10, Pharaoh tells Moses to never show his face again in his presence and Moses tells him, "yes, you have spoken correctly. I will never see your face again." From here, without really reading the story, one would get the idea that the next event was the flight of the Hebrews from Egypt which led to the death of Pharaoh. What we find, however, is in the very next chapter, Moses back before Pharaoh predicting the death of Egypt's firstborn. After doing so, we read,..."Then he [Moses] went out from Pharaoh in great anger." (Exodus 11:8b)
If the crossing of the Red Sea was just spiced up, why have they found the actual spot where the Children of Israel crossed over? And why have they found the coral incrusted remains of Pharaohs army at that spot?
"Chariot Wheels Found in the Red Sea - Page 1" (http://www.discoverynews.us/red_sea.html - broken link)
yydanay515, if you read up on the meaning of the 7 Feasts of the Lord and other prophecies, you will see God planned all the events in the Exodus as a foundation of his prophecies! Many of the prophecies are dual and some events in the past will again happen in the future in a much bigger and more significant scale.
For example, the night the Angel of Death killed all the firstborns in Egypt but "passed over" the household with the blood of a lamb w/out blemish wiped on their doorposts, it becomes the Passover. Then centuries later we know Jesus was crucified and died exactly on the day commemorating the Passover. He therefore fulfilled the prophecy of Passover by becoming the Lamb without blemish whose Blood will save us from eternal death.
If the crossing of the Red Sea was just spiced up, why have they found the actual spot where the Children of Israel crossed over? And why have they found the coral incrusted remains of Pharaohs army at that spot?
"Chariot Wheels Found in the Red Sea - Page 1" (http://www.discoverynews.us/red_sea.html - broken link)
That is just another one of Ron Wyatt's many hoaxes.
YYdanay...very cool way of explaining this in scientific terms. But let's not forget who controls all of nature...GOD himself had all these things happen. I can tell you of many miracles that have happened in my life that have a scientific explanation but if it weren't for God's hand in my life....it would not have happened at the exact time they did
Cool post though
Well you are certainly entitled that that opinion. From since the beginning of time, man has had the opinion that gods or a god controls nature. Maybe there's one out there who does. I just make no pretensions to know one and I'm not taking anyone's word for it either.
If the crossing of the Red Sea was just spiced up, why have they found the actual spot where the Children of Israel crossed over? And why have they found the coral incrusted remains of Pharaohs army at that spot?
"Chariot Wheels Found in the Red Sea - Page 1" (http://www.discoverynews.us/red_sea.html - broken link)
Campbell, we've been over this site and the author of that site before. He's rather questionable in his conclusions for me to take his word. Sorry.
yydanay515, if you read up on the meaning of the 7 Feasts of the Lord and other prophecies, you will see God planned all the events in the Exodus as a foundation of his prophecies! Many of the prophecies are dual and some events in the past will again happen in the future in a much bigger and more significant scale.
For example, the night the Angel of Death killed all the firstborns in Egypt but "passed over" the household with the blood of a lamb w/out blemish wiped on their doorposts, it becomes the Passover. Then centuries later we know Jesus was crucified and died exactly on the day commemorating the Passover. He therefore fulfilled the prophecy of Passover by becoming the Lamb without blemish whose Blood will save us from eternal death.
Ahhh...that's a spiritual interpretation and you are entitled to that. Forgive me for preferring something a little more grounded in a scientific explanation.
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