JEWISHLIFEHISTORY
The Exodus Is Not Fiction Richard Elliott Friedman, who holds a Th.D from Harvard, is the Ann and Jay Davis Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Georgia and the Katzin Professor of Jewish Civilization Emeritus of the University of California, San Diego, and was a visiting fellow at Cambridge and Oxford L.: CARVED IMAGE OF PHARAOH RAMESES II’S THRONE TENT IN HIS ENCAMPMENT AT QEDESH; R.: ARTIST RENDERING OF THE and a Senior Fellow of TABERNACLE IN EXODUS. MICHAEL HOMAN POINTS OUT THAT THE TENT AND TABERNACLE SHARE A RECTANGULAR COURTYARD, A SQUARE INTERIOR (TENT AND HOLY OF HOLIES), WINGED FLANKINGS (FALCONS AND CHERUBS), AND AN EASTWARD the American Schools ORIENTATION. ALSO, RAMESES’ REIGN FALLS WITHIN THE LIKELY PERIOD OF THE EXODUS. of Oriental Research in Jerusalem. He is the author of seven books, the mass of millions of people whom the the Exodus—the so-called priestly source, including the bestselling Who Wrote the Bible says were there for 40 years. That some 400 years later—that the number Bible? and Commentary on the Torah. assertion is just not true. There have not 603,550 males was added to the story. He participated in the City of David been many major excavations in the Project archaeological excavations Sinai, and we most certainly have not So are you suggesting that a smallof biblical Jerusalem and served as a combed it. Moreover, uncovering objects er group may have left Egypt? And if so, who might they have been? consultant for PBS’s “Nova: The People buried 3,200 years ago is a daunting of the Covenant: The Origins of Ancient endeavor. An Israeli colleague laughingly Yes. At a recent international conferIsrael and the Emergence of Judaism” told me that a vehicle that had been lost ence entitled “Out of Egypt” on the quesand A&E’s “Who Wrote the Bible?” and in the 1973 Yom Kippur War was recent- tion of the Exodus’ historicity, one point “Mysteries of the Bible.” ly uncovered under 16 meters—that’s 52 of agreement, I believe, among most of feet—of sand. Fifty-two feet in 40 years! the 45 participating scholars was that Still, all of us would admit that two Semitic peoples, or Western Asiatics, Following publication of Reform Judaism’s Spring 2013 edition in million people—603,550 males and their were in fact living in Egypt and were which HUC-JIR Professor David families, as the Torah describes—should traveling to and from there for centuries. Sperling and Rabbi David Wolpe have left some remnants that we would And the evidence indicates that the asserted that the biblical Exodus is find. But few of us ever thought that this smaller group among them, who were a fiction, you wrote expressing con- number was historical anyway. Someone connected with the Exodus, were Levites. cern to the magazine editors. Why? calculated long ago that if that number of The Levites were members of the group people were marching, say, eight across, After reading those articles, your associated with Moses, the Exodus, and readers may have concluded that schol- then when the first ones arrived at Sinai, the Sinai events depicted in the Bible. In arship shows that the Exodus is fictional, half of the people would still be in Egypt! the Torah, Moses is identified as a Levite. There is no archaeological evidence when, in fact, that is not so. There is Also, out of all of Israel only Levites had against the historicity of an exodus if it archaeological evidence and especially Egyptian names: Moses, Phinehas, was a smaller group who left Egypt. textual evidence for the Exodus. Hophni, and Hur are all Egyptian names. I respect Professor Sperling and Rabbi Indeed, significantly, the first biblical We in the United States and Canada, mention of the Exodus, the Song of MiriWolpe. They were understandably follands of immigrants, are especially aware lowing the claims of some of our archae- am, which is the oldest text in the Bible, of how much names reveal about peonever mentions how many people were ple’s backgrounds. The names Friedman, ologists. Those archaeologists’ claims involved in the Exodus, and it never Martinez, and Shaughnessy each reveal that the Exodus never happened are not speaks of the whole nation of Israel. It just something different about where they based on evidence, but largely on its refers to a people, an am, leaving Egypt. came from. Levites have names that absence. They assert that we’ve combed It wasn’t until a much later source of come from Egypt. Other Israelites don’t. the Sinai and not found any evidence of reform judaism
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Car ved image photo courtesy of the Zonder van blog; Tabernacle illustration by Balage Balogh / A rchaeolog yIllustrated.com
interview with Richard Elliott Friedman
spring 2014
2/19/14 12:08 AM