Editing Historicity of the Bible (section)

=== The Exodus ===
{{Main|The Exodus|Sources and parallels of the Exodus|Book of Exodus}}
Most mainstream scholars do not accept the biblical Exodus account as history for a number of reasons. It is generally agreed that the Exodus stories reached the current form centuries after the apparent setting of the stories.{{sfn|Moore|Kelle|2011|p=81}} The [[Book of Exodus]] itself attempts to ground the event firmly in history, stating that the [[Israelites]] dwelled in Egypt for 430 years (Exodus 12:40–41), and including place names such as [[Land of Goshen|Goshen]] (Gen. 46:28), [[Pithom]] and [[Pi-Ramesses|Ramesses]] (Exod. 1:11), as well as stating that 600,000 Israelite men were involved (Exodus 12:37).{{sfn|Dozeman|Shectman|2016|pp=138–139}} The [[Book of Numbers]] further states that the number of Israelites in the desert during the wandering were 603,550, including 22,273 first-borns, which modern estimates put at 2.5–3 million total Israelites, a clearly fanciful number that could never have been supported by the [[Sinai Desert]].{{sfn|Dever|2003|pp=18–19}} The geography is vague with regions such as Goshen unidentified, and there are internal problems with dating in the Pentateuch.{{sfn|Dozeman|Shectman|2016|p=139}} No modern attempt to identify a historical Egyptian prototype for Moses has found wide acceptance, and no period in Egyptian history matches the biblical accounts of the Exodus.{{sfn|Grabbe|2014|pp=63–64}} Some elements of the story are [[Miracle|miraculous]] and defy rational explanation, such as the [[Plagues of Egypt]] and the [[Crossing of the Red Sea]].{{sfn|Dever|2003|pp=15–17}} The Bible also fails to mention the names of any of the pharaohs involved in the Exodus narrative.{{sfn|Grabbe|2014|p=69}}

While [[ancient Egypt]]ian texts from the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] mention "Asiatics" living in Egypt as slaves and workers, these people cannot be securely connected to the Israelites, and no contemporary Egyptian text mentions a large-scale exodus of slaves like that described in the Bible.<ref>{{cite book
| last           = Barmash
| first          = Pamela
| chapter        = Out of the Mists of History: The Exaltation of the Exodus in the Bible
| editor1-last   = Barmash
| editor1-first  = Pamela
| editor2-last   = Nelson
| editor2-first  = W. David
| title          = Exodus in the Jewish Experience: Echoes and Reverberations
| year           = 2015
| publisher      = Lexington Books
| chapter-url     = https://books.google.com/books?id=jKYlCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1
| isbn           = 9781498502931
| pages          = 1–22
}}</ref> The earliest surviving historical mention of the Israelites, the Egyptian [[Merneptah Stele]] ({{circa|1207&nbsp;BCE}}), appears to place them in or around Canaan and gives no indication of any exodus.{{sfn|Grabbe|2014|pp=65–67}}

Despite the absence of any archaeological evidence, a majority of scholars agree that the Exodus probably has some historical basis,{{sfn|Faust|2015|p=476}}{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=87|ps=: "To some, the lack of a secure historical grounding for the biblical Exodus narrative merely reflects its nonhistorical nature. [...] To others, still in the majority among scholars, the ultimate historicity of the Exodus narrative is indisputable. The details of the story may have become clouded or obscured through the transmission process, but a historical core is mandated by that major tenet of faith that permeates the Bible: God acts in history."}} with Kenton Sparks referring to it as "mythologized history."<ref>
{{cite book
| last           = Sparks
| first          = Kenton L.
| editor1-last   = Dozeman
| editor1-first  = Thomas B.
| title          = Methods for Exodus
| chapter        = Genre Criticism
| year           = 2010
| publisher      = Cambridge University Press
| isbn           = 9781139487382
| chapter-url    = https://books.google.com/books?id=CiqF7sVqDQcC&pg=PA73
| page = 73 }}</ref> Scholars posit that small groups of people of Egyptian origin may have joined the early Israelites, and then contributed their own Egyptian Exodus story to all of Israel.<ref>{{harvnb|Faust|2015|p=476}}: "While there is a consensus among scholars that the Exodus did not take place in the manner described in the Bible, surprisingly most scholars agree that the narrative has a historical core, and that some of the highland settlers came, one way or another, from Egypt{{nbsp}}... Archaeology does not really contribute to the debate over the historicity or even historical background of the Exodus itself, but if there was indeed such a group, it contributed the Exodus story to that of all Israel. While I agree that it is most likely that there was such a group, I must stress that this is based on an overall understanding of the development of collective memory and of the authorship of the texts (and their editorial process). Archaeology, unfortunately, cannot directly contribute (yet?) to the study of this specific group of Israel's ancestors."</ref> [[William G. Dever]] cautiously identifies this group with the [[Tribe of Joseph]], while [[Richard Elliott Friedman]] identifies it with the [[Tribe of Levi]].{{sfn|Dever|2003|p=231}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Friedman|first=Richard Elliott|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_sbADQAAQBAJ|title=The Exodus|date=2017-09-12|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-256526-6|language=en}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=May 2024}} Most scholars who accept a historical core of the exodus date this possible exodus group to the thirteenth century BCE at the time of [[Ramses II]], with some instead dating it to the twelfth century BCE at the time of [[Ramses III]].{{sfn|Faust|2015|p=476}} Evidence in favor of historical traditions forming a background to the Exodus narrative include the documented movements of small groups of [[Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples]] into and out of Egypt during the [[Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Eighteenth]] and [[Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Nineteenth Dynasties]], some elements of Egyptian [[folklore]] and culture in the Exodus narrative,<ref>{{cite book
| last          = Meyers
| first         = Carol
| title         = Exodus
| year          = 2005
| publisher     = Cambridge University Press
| url           = https://books.google.com/books?id=0QHHITXsyskC&pg=PA5
| isbn         = 9780521002912
| pages = 8–10 }}</ref> and the names [[Moses]], [[Aaron]] and [[Phinehas]], which seem to have an Egyptian origin.{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=65}} 

Scholarly estimates for how many people could have been involved in such an exodus range from a few hundred to a few thousand people.{{sfn|Faust|2015|p=476}}

[[Donald Redford]] held that the Exodus narrative is a Canaanite memory of the [[Hyksos]]' descent and occupation of Egypt.<ref>Redford, Donald B. (1992). Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-03606-9.</ref>{{Page needed|date=December 2024}}