Sluiten WLE Austria Logo (no text).svg Wiki Loves Africa: Share your African cuisine photos with the World ! The Exodus From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the events related in the Torah. For other uses, see Exodus. Departure of the Israelites, by David Roberts, 1829 The Exodus (from Greek ἔξοδος exodos, going out) is the founding myth of Israel; its message is that the Israelites were delivered from slavery by Yahweh and therefore belong to him through the covenant.[1] It tells of the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt following the death of Joseph, their departure under the leadership of Moses, the revelations at Sinai, and their wanderings in the wilderness up to the borders of Canaan.[2] No archeological evidence has been found to support the Book of Exodus[3] and most archaeologists have abandoned the investigation of Moses and the Exodus as a fruitless pursuit.[4] While significant portions of the story told in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy were never intended to be historiographic, the overall intent was historical according to the understanding of the ancient writers: to demonstrate Gods actions in history, to recall Israels bondage and salvation, and to demonstrate the fulfillment of Israels covenant.[5] The opinion of the overwhelming majority of modern biblical scholars is that the Pentateuch as we know it was shaped into its final form in the post-Exilic period,[6] although the traditions behind the narrative are older and can be traced in the writings of the 8th century prophets.[7] How far beyond that the tradition might stretch cannot be told: Presumably an original Exodus story lies hidden somewhere inside all the later revisions and alterations, but centuries of transmission have long obscured its presence, and its substance, accuracy and date are now difficult to determine.[5] The Exodus has been central to Judaism: it served to orient Jews towards the celebration of Gods actions in history, in contrast to polytheistic celebrations of the gods actions in nature, and even today it is recounted daily in Jewish prayers and celebrated in the festival of Pesach. In secular history the exodus has served as inspiration and model for many groups, from early Protestant settlers fleeing persecution in Europe to 19th and 20th century African-Americans striving for freedom and civil rights.[8] Contents 1 Origins of the Exodus story 2 Cultural significance 3 Historicity 3.1 Numbers and logistics 3.2 Archaeology 3.3 Anachronisms 3.4 Chronology 4 Route and date 4.1 Route 4.2 Date 5 Extra-biblical accounts 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 External links Origins of the Exodus story A Semitic slave. Ancient Egyptian figurine. Hecht Museum The opinion of the overwhelming majority of modern biblical scholars is that the Torah (the series of five books which make up Genesis plus the Exodus story) was shaped in the post-Exilic period.[6] There are currently two important hypotheses explaining the background to this: the first is Persian Imperial authorisation, the idea that the post-Exilic community needed a legal basis on which to function within the Persian Imperial system; the second relates to the community of citizens organised around the Temple, with the Pentateuch providing the criteria for who would belong to it (the narratives and genealogies in Genesis) and establishing the power structures and relative positions of its various groups.[9] In either case, the Book of Exodus forms a charter myth for Israel: Israel was delivered from slavery by Yahweh and therefore belongs to him through the covenant.[1] The completion of the Torah and its elevation to the center of post-Exilic Judaism was as much or more about combining older texts as writing new ones – the final Pentateuch was based on earlier traditions.[10] While the story in the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy is the best-known account of the Exodus, there are over 150 references throughout the Bible.[11] The earliest mentions are in the prophets Amos (possibly) and Hosea (certainly), both active in 8th century BCE Israel; in contrast Proto-Isaiah and Micah, both active in Judah at much the same time, never do; it thus seems reasonable to conclude the Exodus tradition was important in the northern kingdom in the 8th century, but not in Judah.[7] In a recent work, Stephen C. Russell traces the 8th century prophetic tradition to three originally separate variants, in the northern kingdom of Israel, in Trans-Jordan, and in the southern kingdom of Judah. Russell proposes different hypothetical historical backgrounds to each tradition: the tradition from Israel, which involves a journey from Egypt to the region of Bethel, he suggests is a memory of herders who could move to and from Egypt in times of crisis; for the Trans-Jordanian tradition, which focuses on deliverance from Egypt without a journey, he suggests a memory of the withdrawal of Egyptian control at the end of the Late Bronze Age; and for Judah, whose tradition is preserved in the Song of the Sea, he suggests the celebration of a military victory over Egypt, although it is impossible to suggest what this victory may have been.[11] Cultural significance Main article: Passover The exodus is remembered daily in Jewish prayers and celebrated each year at the feast of Passover. [12] The Hebrew name for this festival, Pesach, refers to Gods instruction to the Israelites to prepare unleavened bread as they would be leaving Egypt in haste, and to mark their doors with the blood of slaughtered sheep so that the Angel or the destroyer tasked with killing the first-born of Egypt would pass over them. (Despite the Exodus story, scholars believe that the Passover festival originated not in the biblical story but as a magic ritual to turn away demons from the household.)[13] Jewish tradition has preserved national and personal reminders of this pivotal narrative in daily life. Examples include the wearing of tefillin (phylacteries) on the arm and forehead, the wearing of tzitzit (knotted ritual fringes attached to the four corners of the prayer shawl), the eating of matzot (unleavened bread) during the Pesach, the fasting of the firstborn a day before Pesach, and the redemption of firstborn children and animals. Historicity Most histories of ancient Israel no longer consider information about the Exodus recoverable or even relevant to the story of Israels emergence.[14] Nevertheless, the discussion of the historicity of the exodus has a long history, and continues to attract attention. Numbers and logistics The consensus among biblical scholars today is that there was never any exodus of the proportions described in the Bible.[15] According to Exodus 12:37–38, the Israelites numbered about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children, plus many non-Israelites and livestock.[16] Numbers 1:46 gives a more precise total of 603,550 men aged 20 and up.[17] The 600,000, plus wives, children, the elderly, and the mixed multitude of non-Israelites would have numbered some 2 million people,[18] compared with an entire Egyptian population in 1250 BCE of around 3 to 3.5 million.[19] Marching ten abreast, and without accounting for livestock, they would have formed a line 150 miles long.[20] No evidence has been found that indicates Egypt ever suffered such a demographic and economic catastrophe or that the Sinai desert ever hosted (or could have hosted) these millions of people and their herds.[21] Some scholars have rationalised these numbers into smaller figures, for example reading the Hebrew as 600 families rather than 600,000 men, but all such solutions have their own set of problems.[22] The view of mainstream modern biblical scholarship is that the improbability of the Exodus story originates because it was written not as history, but to demonstrate Gods purpose and deeds with his Chosen People, Israel.[3] Some have suggested that the 603,550 people delivered from Egypt (according to Numbers 1:46) is not a number, but a gematria (a code in which numbers represent letters or words) for bnei yisrael kol rosh, the children of Israel, every individual;[23] while the number 600,000 symbolises the total destruction of the generation of Israel which left Egypt, none of whom lived to see the Promised Land.[24] Archaeology A century of research by archaeologists and Egyptologists has found no evidence which can be directly related to the Exodus captivity and the escape and travels through the wilderness,[3] and most archaeologists have abandoned the archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus as a fruitless pursuit.[4] A number of theories have been put forward to account for the origins of the Israelites, and despite differing details they agree on Israels Canaanite origins.[25] The culture of the earliest Israelite settlements is Canaanite, their cult-objects are those of the Canaanite god El, the pottery remains in the local Canaanite tradition, and the alphabet used is early Canaanite, and almost the sole marker distinguishing the Israelite villages from Canaanite sites is an absence of pig bones, although whether even this is an ethnic marker or is due to other factors remains a matter of dispute.[26] Anachronisms Despite the Bibles internal dating of the Exodus to the 2nd millennium BCE, details point to a 1st millennium date for the composition of the Book of Exodus: Ezion-Geber, (one of the Stations of the Exodus), for example, dates to a period between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE with possible further occupation into the 4th century BCE,[27] and those place-names on the Exodus route which have been identified – Goshen, Pithom, Succoth, Ramesses and Kadesh Barnea – point to the geography of the 1st millennium rather than the 2nd.[28] Similarly, Pharaohs fear that the Israelites might ally themselves with foreign invaders seems unlikely in the context of the late 2nd millennium, when Canaan was part of an Egyptian empire and Egypt faced no enemies in that direction, but does make sense in a 1st millennium context, when Egypt was considerably weaker and faced invasion first from the Persians and later from Seleucid Syria.[29] The mention of the dromedary in Exodus 9:3 also suggests a later date of composition – the widespread domestication of the camel as a herd animal did not take place before the late 2nd millennium, after the Israelites had already emerged in Canaan,[30] and they did not become widespread in Egypt until c.200–100 BCE.[31] Chronology The chronology of the Exodus story likewise underlines its essentially religious rather than historical nature. The number seven, for example, was sacred to God in Judaism, and so the Israelites arrive at Sinai, where they will meet God, at the beginning of the seventh week after their departure from Egypt,[32] while the erection of the Tabernacle, Gods dwelling-place among his people, occurs in the year 2666 after God creates the world, two-thirds of the way through a four thousand year era which culminates in or around the re-dedication of the Second Temple in 164 BCE.[33][34][Notes 1] Route and date Main article: Stations list Possible Exodus Routes. In black is the traditional Exodus route; other possible routes are in blue and green. Route The Torah lists the places where the Israelites rested. A few of the names at the start of the itinerary, including Raamses, Pithom and Succoth, are reasonably well identified with archaeological sites on the eastern edge of the Nile delta,[28] as is Kadesh-Barnea, where the Israelites spend 38 years after turning back from Canaan, but other than that very little is certain. The crossing of the Red Sea has been variously placed at the Pelusic branch of the Nile, anywhere along the network of Bitter Lakes and smaller canals that formed a barrier toward eastward escape, the Gulf of Suez (SSE of Succoth) and the Gulf of Aqaba (S of Ezion-Geber), or even on a lagoon on the Mediterranean coast. The biblical Mt. Sinai is identified in Christian tradition with Jebel Musa in the south of the Sinai Peninsula, but this association dates only from the 3rd century CE and no evidence of the Exodus has been found there.[35] Date Main article: Pharaoh of the Exodus The two major proposals for the date of the Exodus are the 15th century BCE and the 13th.[36] The former is based on the statement in 1 Kings 6:1 that the Exodus occurred 480 years before the construction of Solomons Temple, which would imply an Exodus c.1446 BCE, during Egypts Eighteenth Dynasty.[37] However, it is widely recognised that number in 1 Kings is symbolic,[38] representing twelve generations of forty years each.[39] (The number 480 is not only symbolic – the twelve generations – but schematic: Solomons temple (the First Temple) is founded 480 years after the Exodus and 480 years before the foundation of the Second Temple).[40] There are also major archeological obstacles to the 15th century date: Canaan at the time was a part of the Egyptian empire, so that the Israelites would in effect be escaping from Egypt to Egypt, and its cities were unwalled and do not show destruction layers consistent with the Bibles account of the occupation of the land (Jericho was small and poor, almost insignificant, and unfortified (and) [t]here was also no sign of a destruction - Finkelstein and Silberman (2002), page 82).[41] The lack of evidence for a 15th-century Exodus led William F. Albright, the leading biblical archaeologist of the mid-20th century, to propose an alternative 13th century date of around 1250–1200 BCE for the Exodus event and the entry into Canaan described in the book of Joshua.[42] (The Merneptah Stele indicated that a people called Israel were already known in Canaan by the reign of Merneptah (1213–1203 BCE), so a date later than this was impossible). His argument was based on many strands of evidence, including the archaeologically attested destruction at Beitel (Bethel) and some other cities at around that period and the occurrence of distinctive house-types and round-collared jars which, in his opinion, were Israelite.[42] Albrights theory enjoyed popularity at the time, but has now been generally abandoned in scholarship:[42] the so-called Israelite house-type, the collar-rimmed jars, and other items which Albright thought distinctive and new have now been recognised as continuations of indigenous Canaanite types.[43] In a similar vein, while some Joshua cities, including Hazor, Lachish, Megiddo and others, have destruction and transition layers around 1250–1145 BCE, others, including Jericho, have none or were uninhabited during this period.[44][45] Other attempts to date the Exodus to a specific century have been equally inconclusive.[46] Details in the story in fact hint that a complex and multilayered editing process has been at work: the Exodus cities of Pithom and Rameses, for example, were not inhabited during most of the New Kingdom period, and the forty years of wilderness wanderings are also full of inconsistencies and anachronisms.[47] It is therefore best to treat the Exodus story not as the record of a single historical event but as a powerful collective memory of the Egyptian occupation of Canaan and the enslavement of its population during the 13th and 12th centuries (Ann Killebrew (2005), p. 151).[47] Extra-biblical accounts The earliest non-Biblical account of the Exodus is in the writings of the Greek author Hecataeus of Abdera, who arrived in Egypt c.320 BCE. In his version the Egyptians blame a plague on foreigners and expel them from the country, whereupon Moses, their leader, takes them to Palestine.[48] The most famous is by the Egyptian historian Manetho (3rd century BCE), known from two quotations by the 1st century CE Jewish historian Josephus. In the first, Manetho describes the Hyksos, their lowly origins in Asia, their dominion over and expulsion from Egypt, and their subsequent foundation of the city of Jerusalem and its temple. Josephus (not Manetho) identifies the Hyksos with the Jews.[49] In the second story Manetho tells how 80,000 lepers and other impure people, led by a priest named Osarseph, join forces with the former Hyksos, now living in Jerusalem, to take over Egypt. They wreak havoc until eventually the pharaoh and his son chase them out to the borders of Syria, where Osarseph gives the lepers a law-code and changes his name to Moses.[50] Manetho differs from the other writers in describing his renegades as Egyptians rather than Jews, and in using a name other than Moses for their leader,[51] although the identification of Osarseph with Moses may be a later addition.[50][52] See also Ipuwer Papyrus The Parting of the Sea: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Plagues Shaped the Exodus Story Vaeira, Bo, and Beshalach: Torah portions telling the Exodus story Notes See Thompson, The Mythic Past (1999), pages 73 and following, for an overview of the place of the exodus in the biblical chronology. References Sparks 2010, p. 73. Redmount 1998, p. 59. Meyers 2005, p. 5. Dever 2001, p. 99. Redmount 1998, p. 63. Enns 2012, p. 26. Lemche 1985, p. 327. Tigay 2004, p. 107. Ska 2006, p. 217, 227–228. Carr & Conway 2010, p. 193. Russell 2009, p. 1. Tigay 2005, p. 106–107. Levinson 1997, p. 58. Moore & Kelle 2011, p. 81. Walton 2003, p. 258. Exodus 12 Numbers 1 Kantor 2005, p. 70. Butzer 1999, p. 297. Cline 2007, p. 74. Dever 2003, p. 19. Grisanti 2011, p. 240ff. Beitzel 1980, p. 6–7. Guillaume 1980, p. 8, 15. Shaw 2002, p. 313. Killebrew 2005, p. 176. Practico 1985, p. 1–32. Van Seters 1997, p. 255ff. Soggin 1998, p. 128–129. Finkelstein & Silberman 2002, p. 334. Faye 2002, p. 3. Meyers 2005, p. 143. Hayes & Miller 1986, p. 59. Davies 1998, p. 180. Hoffmeier 2005, p. 115ff. Shea 2003, p. 236. Shea 2003, p. 238–239. Moore & Kelle 2005, p. 81. Thompson 1999, p. 74. Hughes 1990, p. 40. Finkelstein & Silberman 2002, p. 77–79. Kitchen 2003, p. 309–310. Killebrew 2005, p. 175–177. Finkelstein & Silberman 2002, p. 82. Dever 2003, p. 44–46. Killebrew 2005, p. 151. Killebrew 2005, p. 152. Assman 2009, p. 34. Droge 1996, p. 121–122. Droge 1996, p. 134–135. Noll 2001, p. 34. Feldman 1998, p. 342. Bibliography Beitzel, Barry (Spring 1980). Exodus 3:14 and the divine Name: A Case of Biblical Paronomasia. Trinity Journal (Trinity Divinity School) 1: 5–20. Butzer, Karl W. (1999). Demographics. In Bard, Kathryn A.; Shubert, Steven. Encyclopedia of the archaeology of ancient Egypt. Routledge. ISBN 0-907459-04-8. Conway, Colleen M. (2010). Introduction to the Pentateuch. An Introduction to the Bible: Sacred Texts and Imperial Contexts. John Wiley & Sons. Davies, Graham (2001). Introduction to the Pentateuch. In Barton, John. Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press. p. 37. Davies, Graham (2004). Was There an Exodus?. In Day, John. In search of pre-exilic Israel: proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar. Continuum. Davies, Philip (1998). Scribes and Schools: The Canonization of the Hebrew Scriptures. Westminster John Knox. Dever, William (2001). What Did the Biblical Writers Know, and When Did They Know It?. Eerdmans. ISBN 3-927120-37-5. Dever, William (2003). Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?. Eerdmans. ISBN 3-927120-37-5. Droge, Arthur J. (1996). Josephus Between Greeks and Barbarians. In Feldman, L.H.; Levison, J.R. Josephus Contra Apion. Brill. Enns, Peter (2012). The Evolution of Adam. Baker Books. Faye, Bernard (2013). Classification, History and Distribution of the Camel. In Kadim, Isam T.; Mahgoub, Osman; Faye, Bernard. Camel Meat and Meat Products. CABI. Feldman, Louis H. (1998). Josephuss interpretation of the Bible. University of California Press. Finkelstein, Israel; Silberman, Neil Asher (2001). The Bible Unearthed. Free Press. ISBN 0-684-86912-8. Gmirkin, Russell E. (2006). Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic Histories and The Date of the Pentateuch. T & T Clark International. Grisanti, Michael A. (2011). The Book of Numbers. In Merrill, Eugene H.; Rooker, Mark; Grisanti, Michael A. The World and the Word. B&H Publishing. Guillaume, Philippe. Tracing the Origin of the Sabbatical Calendar in the Priestly Narrative, Genesis 1 to Joshua 5. Journal of Hebrew Scriptures. 5, article 13, Spring 1980. Hayes, John Haralson; Miller, James Maxwell (1986). A History of Ancient Israel and Judah. Westminster John Knox. Hoffmeier, James K (1999). Israel in Egypt. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195130881. Hoffmeier, James K (2005). Ancient Israel in Sinai. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195155464. Killebrew, Anne E. (2005). Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity. Society of Biblical Literature. Kitchen, Kenneth (2006). Egyptology and the traditions of early Hebrew antiquity (Genesis and Exodus). In Rogerson, John William; Lieu, Judith. The Oxford handbook of biblical studies. Oxford University Press. Knight, Douglas A (1995). Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomist. In Mays, James Luther; Petersen, David L.; Richards, Kent Harold. Old Testament Interpretation. T&T Clark. Lemche, Niels Peter (1985). Early Israel: anthropological and historical studies. Brill. Levinson, Bernard Malcolm (1997). Deuteronomy and the hermeneutics of legal innovation. OUP. McDermott, John (2002). Reading the Pentateuch. Paulist Press. McEntire, Mark (2008). Struggling with God: An Introduction to the Pentateuch. Mercer University Press. Meyers, Carol (2005). Exodus. Cambridge University Press. Moore, Megan Bishop; Kelle, Brad E. (2011). Biblical History and Israels Past. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802862600. Noll, K.L. (2001). Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: An Introduction. Sheffield Academic Press. Practico, Gary D. (Summer 1985). Nelson Gluecks 1938–1940 Excavations at Tell el-Kheleifeh: A Reappraisal. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR). No. 259: 1–32. Redmount, Carol A. (1998). Bitter Lives: Israel In And Out of Egypt. In Coogan, Michael D. The Oxford History of the Biblical World. OUP. Rofé, Alexander (2002). Deuteronomy: Issues and Interpretation. T&T Clark. Rogerson, John W (2003). Deuteronomy. In Dunn, James D. G. Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Eerdmans. Rohl, David (1995). Pharaohs and Kings. Crown Publishers. Russell, Stephen C. (2009). Images of Egypt in early biblical literature. Walter de Gruyter. Shaw, Ian (2002). Israel, Israelites. In Jameson, Robert; Ian. A dictionary of archaeology. Wiley Blackwell. Shea, William H. (2003). The Date of the Exodus. In Grisanti, Michael A.; Howard, David M. Giving the Sense: Understanding and Using Old Testament Historical Texts. Kregel Academic. Ska, Jean Louis (2006). Introduction to Reading the Pentateuch. Eisenbrauns. Soggin, John (1998 [tr.1999]). An Introduction to the History of Israel and Judah. SCM Press. Check date values in: |date= (help) Sparkes, Kenton L. (2010). Genre Criticism. In Dozeman, Thomas B. Methods for Exodus. Cambridge University Press. Thompson, Thomas L. (1999). The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology And The Myth Of Israel. Basic Books. Tigay, Jeffrey H. (2004). Exodus. In Berlin, Adele; Brettler, Marc Zvi. The Jewish study Bible. Oxford University Press. Van Seters, John (1997). The Geography of the Exodus. In Silberman, Neil Ash. The land that I will show you. Sheffield Academic Press. ISBN 978-1850756507. Walton, John H. (2003). Exodus, date of. In Alexander, T.D.; Baker, David W. Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch. InterVarsity Press. Whitelam, Keith W. (2006). General problems of studying the text of the bible.... In Rogerson, John William; Lieu, Judith. The Oxford handbook of biblical studies. Oxford University Press. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Book of Exodus. Exodus 12 and following chapters [hide] v t e Passover Seder Seder The Exodus Outstretched Arm Ten Plagues Afikoman Ma Nishtana Seder Plate Beitzah Charoset Karpas Maror Zeroa Haggadah Songs Adir Hu Chad Gadya Dayenu Echad Mi Yodea Illustrations Sarajevo Haggadah Szyk Hagaddah Passover foods Matzah products Matzo Matzah ball Matzah brei Matzo farfel granola Matzah companies Streits Manischewitz René Neymann Yehuda Matzos Rakusens Religious Observances Bedikas Chametz Fast of the Firstborn Eve of Passover on Shabbat Passover sacrifice Chol HaMoed Mimouna Isru Chag Pesach Sheni Laws/Customs Chametz Challah from Shmurah Matzah Kitniyot Gebrochts Prayers Song of Songs Torah readings Prayer for dew Categories: Exodus Stations Book of Exodus Hebrew Bible events Moses Myth of origins Passover Sacred history Navigation menu Create account Log in Article Talk Read Edit View history Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article Donate to Wikipedia Wikimedia Shop Interaction Help About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact page Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Wikidata item Cite this page Print/export Create a book Download as PDF Printable version Languages Български Deutsch Español Esperanto Français Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Nederlands Português Русский Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Svenska ייִדיש Edit links This page was last modified on 11 November 2014 at 09:41. 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