This book (Stripling, S., Hoffmeier, J. K., Rendsburg, G. A., Feinman, P., & Hendel, R. (2021). Five Views on the Exodus: Historicity, Chronology, and Theological Implications. Zondervan Academic) flew over my head so often I had to read and re-read 4–5x just to even retain the gist. I know as much about archeology as I know about how to make Portugese tarts.
Anyway, this work brings together five scholars on history and archeology (two of whom — Stripling and Hoffmeier — have served as director of excavations in the Mid-East) doing battle on :
1. Chronology (with 2 of them disagreeing with the other 3 on the century of the exodus and, logically, the name of the Pharoah who got his ass plague-kicked by Moses). The options are:
a) 15th cent BC exodus — the Pharoah would be Amenhotep III, this is the view defended by Scott Stripling, the most Evangelical and ‘pro-Bible’ of the lot when it comes to epistemology; the case for this is from 1 Kings 6:1 (arguably the strongest text bcos Solomon’s temple was built in 967BC so 480 years before that is the 15th cent), Judg 11:26, 1 Chr 6:33–37, Ezek 40:1, and Acts 7:29–30. If he’s right, the Egyptian site of the exodus is the city of Avaris (and not Ramses as per Exodu 12:37 and Numbers 33:3, where Hoffmeier believes the exodus started from)
b) 13th cent BC exodus — the Pharoah would be Rameses II, this is the view put forth by James K. Hoffmeier (who’s clearly the big gun in this volume, even one of the other contributors, Gary Rendsburg, labelled him “unsurpassed master of the historical geography of the eastern delta and the north Sinai coast.”) and Peter Feinman who believes that Moses was Levite slash Hyksos i.e. it was the Hyksos who fled Egypt in the 13th cent and who ‘morphed’ into the Israelites.
c) 12th cent BC exodus — the Pharoah would be Rameses III, this is Gary Rendburg’s position, based mainly on how archeological surveys show that the land of Canaan experienced a huge rise in settlements only in the 12th cent
d) “There were many exodi…” — this is Ronald Hendel’s position on the exodus which he believes is, “not plain history, nor is it pure fiction. It is a mixture of reminiscences of historical events and circumstances, traditional motifs, and narrative imagination.” It was highlighted by his critics that, in Hendel’s own words, this position cannot be proven and even that ‘proof’ when it comes history is irrelevant.
Shades of post-modernism?
2. Stelas (huge-ass stone slabs which were the ancient equivalent of FB home pages, see pic), a key one being the Merenptah Stela (dated to 1208BC) which has Egypt bragging about defeating Israel in the 13th century.
Does this support a 13th cent exodus or a 15th cent one? Stipling says 15th cent because there would not be enough time for Israel to be a formidable force against Egypt if the exodus only happened in the same cent as the creation of the stela. Hoffmeier and Rendsburg says 13th cent because a) Egypt took all enemies and incursions seriously even if they were small groups (like Israel was at the time) and b) how can Israel have been roaming around the area for 2 centuries before Egypt mentioned them (something required by the 15 cent hypothesis)?
The Berlin Pedestal also may provide support for Israel in the 18th Egyptian Dynasty which would place them in the 14th century (Stripling’s position) but skeptics suggest the pedestal could be dated later (in the 13th cent) and, most critically, the text (being broken) may not even denote ‘Israel’.
I found it interesting that even these ‘hard’ archeological evidence can suffer so much dispute; now just imagine theological and philosphical issues!
3. Who the Israelites were (one say they were Hyksos, another they were Canaanites, another Bedoiun, another Malaysians — no just kiddin’); Stripling suggests the Israelites are a people referred to as “Habiru” (or Hebrews) in some Papyrus whilst Hoffmeier seems open but not too certain about it.
4. An obscure text by Josephus on an even more obscure Egyptian priest called Manetho (whose identification of the exodus Pharoah as “Amenophis” may or may not refer to Amenhotep III, the pharoah of the 15th cent)
5. Whether the 480 years in 1 Kings 6:1 meant exactly that number (as with a bank cheque) or was it some exaggerated figure; and what about the genealogy of David in Ruth 4:18–22 which supports a 12 century exodus? Stripling holds to the accuracy of chronologies, Rendsburg (preferring genealogies) claims that, “the years used by the early Hebrew prose writers bear little or no reality and cannot be used for chronological reconstruction”, whilst ppl like Hoffmeier questions both.
6. In my humble pre-amateur opinion, Hoffmeier is really the G.O.A.T. here. His chapter is brilliant in that it marshals tons of archeological evidence to show (among other things) that:
a) Levantine Semitic-speaking people did live in northern Egypt in the 2nd millennium BC
b) Egypt did enslave many foreigners
c) the Torah contains lots of evidence for an Egyptian sojourn among the Hebrews; this is where he points out tons of Egyptian references in the Old Testament which, he insists, couldn’t have been made up; the writers must’ve quoted people who were actually “there” in those places
d) the story of Moses aligns with a lot of Egyptian topographical and geographical data; apparently Exodus 2:3 is a magic verse compressing many Egyptian elements
e) the route of the Exodus can be supported by archeological and geographical data (Exo 12:37, 13:20, 14:2 etc) in which the Israelites left Pi-Ramesse (from Exo 1:11) towards the land of Moab
7. Not for the first time, it’s obvious that the positions we take on such controversial subjects depend a LOT on what we consider plausible, our values, which sources we ‘trust’ (eg, very obvious Stripling is the cheer-leader for the “Exodus is 120% accurate history” camp but even he claims the writer of Exodus wrote Pi-Rammesse in Exodus 1:11 to cater to later readers; also kinda cute to see Hoffmeier grinding an axe with Hendel whom the former claims was unfairly dismissing evangelicals a few years ago), what we consider ‘impossible’ (think evolution vs intelligent design, the miracles debate, etc.), what proofs we accept (although, in Hendel’s case, even the very idea of proof is rejected) and, well, how damn stubborn we are in believing what we want to believe.
The fact that a lot of sites in and around Egypt remain to be excavated only adds to the excitement.
