Editing Book of Exodus (section)

==Historicity ==
{{Main|Sources and parallels of the Exodus}}
[[File:Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1075 - British Library Papyrus 2053 recto - Book of Exodus 40.jpg|thumb|[[Papyrus Oxyrhynchus]] 1075, a 3rd or 4th century CE manuscript showing part of [[Exodus 40]]]]
Most mainstream scholars do not accept the biblical Exodus account as historical for a number of reasons. It is generally agreed that the Exodus stories were written centuries after the apparent setting of the stories.{{sfn|Moore|Kelle|2011|p=81}} Archaeologists [[Israel Finkelstein]] and [[Neil Asher Silberman]] argue that archaeology has not found evidence for even a small band of wandering Israelites living in the Sinai: "The conclusion – that Exodus did not happen at the time and in the manner described in the Bible – seems irrefutable [...] repeated excavations and surveys throughout the entire area have not provided even the slightest evidence".{{sfn|Finkelstein|Silberman|2002|p=63}} Instead, they argue how modern archaeology suggests continuity between Canaanite and Israelite settlements, indicating a heavily Canaanite origin for Israel, with little suggestion that a group of foreigners from Egypt comprised early Israel.{{sfn|Barmash|2015|p=4}}{{sfn|Shaw|2002|p=313}} They also argue that the exodus narrative perhaps evolved from vague memories of the [[Hyksos]] expulsion, spun to encourage resistance to the 7th century domination of Judah by Egypt.{{sfn|Finkelstein|Silberman|2002|p=69}}

However, a majority of scholars believe that the story has an historical core,{{sfn|Faust|2015|p=476}}{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=87}} though disagreeing widely about what that historical kernel might have been.{{sfn|Geraty|2015|p=55}} Kenton Sparks refers to it as "charter myth" and "mythologized history".{{sfn|Sparks|2010|p=73}} Biblical scholar [[Graham I. Davies]] notes that several literary texts from Ancient Egypt document the presence of Semitic peoples working for building projects under the [[19th Dynasty of Egypt]], suggesting a possible historical basis for the account of Israelite servitude to the Egyptians.{{sfn|Davies|2020|p=152}} However, there is an increasing trend among scholars to see the biblical exodus traditions as the invention of the [[Babylonian exile|exilic]] and post-exilic Jewish community, with little to no historical basis.{{sfn|Russell|2009|p=11}}