Folklore and History

June 12, 2009, 5:12 am by dc-agape.

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Exodus Chapter 1

In the opening chapter of the Book of Exodus we read that within four generations the sons of Israel multiplied rapidly and “the land was full of them”.  As the Israelite numbers grew, in those four short generations, the Egyptians began to worry about Israelite rebellion.  The relationship between Egypt and the Hittite Empire was not always completely peaceful, so in this regard the Pharaoh did have some logic.  But to deal with this the Pharaoh punishes the Israelites by making them slave-labor.  Wouldn’t only make it more likely that they would revolt when the opportunity arouse?  But even slavery was not useful, so the Pharaoh requested that the mid-wives kill all baby boys.  Since the Israelites had been nomadic and were now slaves they must have had a very strong constitution.  The mid-wives never got the chance to carry out the Pharaoh’s orders.  But here is the first question I want to ask: why would the mid-wives for the Israelites not be Israelites?  Why would they obey such an order anyway?  But it is the last verse from the first chapter that is bewildering:

Exodus 1:22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

Is there some sort of typo here?  Why would the Pharaoh command his entire empire to destroy all the boy children?  Notice that this was not directed in any way towards the Israelites.

One other thing about this chapter makes me ask a question I covered in my last post.  The verse that is written here:

Exodus 1:11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 

This also links to a verse that I missed in the Book of Genesis:

Gen 47:11 So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed.

The cities of Pithom and Rameses were not built until Ramses the Great ruled Egypt as Pharaoh (1273 – 1213 BCE).  If Moses is truly the author of the Pentateuch then there can be no doubt that he was referring to Ramses the Great!  Goshen being the same as the “district of Rameses” can be attributed to the fact that the Book of Exodus was not written until the time of Ramses the Great. 

The more I read the Word of God the more I realize that either man has tampered with the material since its origin or the Bible is truly just a Tradition of Men.  The names are wrong for the “traditional” opinions.  The histories of other nations must be used to determine the historical “truth” of the Bible.  There are too many Tall Tales in the events of the Bible.  Even other texts like the Dead Sea Scrolls must agree with the Word of God.  If these things do not occur, then the Bible is just folklore.  And if the Bible is just folklore, then Judaism and Christianity are man-made Traditions with no supernatural guidance. 

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