The Exodus From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation <#column-one>, search <#searchInput> This article is about the events related in the Torah. For other uses, see Exodus (disambiguation) . *The Exodus*, from the Greek word έξοδος, (Hebrew : יציאת מצרים, Modern /Yetsi'at Mitzrayim/ Tiberian /jəsʕijaθ misʕɾajim/ ; "the going out from Egypt") is an event that marked the departure of the Israelites from enslavement in ancient Egypt . The event is described in the Hebrew Bible , but no other original sources. Narrowly defined, the term refers only to the events described in Book of Exodus ; but also frequently takes in the subsequent wanderings in the wilderness, described in the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy , until the conquest by the Israelites of Canaan . According to the Biblical account, the Israelites, under the leadership of Moses and Aaron , departed from bondage in Egypt to return to the Canaan where their forefathers had lived and which they had been promised by Yahweh . The Exodus forms the basis of the Jewish holiday of Passover . The term is derived from Exodus 14:8 - "וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, יֹצְאִים בְּיָד רָמָה" ("the children of Israel /went out/ with a high hand") and Exodus 13:4 - "הַיּוֹם, אַתֶּם יֹצְאִים, בְּחֹדֶשׁ, הָאָבִיב" ("This day you /go forth/ in the month Abib"). The term יציאת מצרים came to be translated into Greek as "Exodus (Greek for 'departure') from Egypt". The term continues to be used in the Passover Hagadah that was authored almost 2,000 years ago in the times of the Mishnah and is used in Jewish scholarship as in Maimonides ' Mishneh Torah .^[1] <#cite_note-0> ^[2] <#cite_note-1> ^[3] <#cite_note-2> ^[4] <#cite_note-3> Although most academics question the historical nature of the Exodus story,^[5] <#cite_note-articles.latimes.com-4> ^[6] <#cite_note-Finkelstein_1994-5> ^[7] <#cite_note-6> there has been at least one critical view that treats much of the Exodus narrative as historical.^[8] <#cite_note-parting-7> Contents [hide ] * 1 Narrative <#Narrative> * 2 Cultural significance <#Cultural_significance> * 3 Route and logistics <#Route_and_logistics> o 3.1 Route <#Route> o 3.2 Logistics <#Logistics> * 4 Dating <#Dating> o 4.1 Traditional exodus <#Traditional_exodus> o 4.2 Late exodus <#Late_exodus> o 4.3 Early exoduses <#Early_exoduses> o 4.4 Critical Evaluation <#Critical_Evaluation> * 5 Extra-Biblical sources <#Extra-Biblical_sources> o 5.1 Josephus <#Josephus> * 6 See also <#See_also> * 7 Notes <#Notes> * 8 Further reading <#Further_reading> * 9 External links <#External_links> [edit ] Narrative /Israel in Egypt/ (1867) Edward Poynter According to the Torah , because of severe famine in Canaan, the Children of Israel entered Egypt at the invitation of the Pharaoh when Joseph was vizier .^[9] <#cite_note-8> After Joseph's death another pharaoh came to power "who knew not Joseph".^[10] <#cite_note-9> Fearful that the Israelites would take over the land, the pharaoh enslaved them and set them to building his cities.^[11] <#cite_note-10> After a long time in Egypt, God revealed himself to Moses, and commanded him to lead the people out of Egypt to the Promised Land (Canaan ). With God's help Moses confronted Pharaoh and his magicians and led the Israelites out of Egypt, "and it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the Land of Egypt" at the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 12:41 in the Masoretic Text ). The Book of Exodus takes the Israelites from Egypt through the wilderness to Sinai , the Mountain of God. There God revealed himself in cloud and thunder, and offered them a Covenant: they would keep his /torah/ (i.e., law, instruction), and in return he would be their God. The people accepted, and God gave them their laws and also instructions for the Tabernacle, which would be his dwelling place among them.^[12] <#cite_note-11> The Book of Leviticus records the laws given to by God at Sinai following the construction of the tabernacle; the narrative is taken up again in the next book, the Book of Numbers , in which the Israelites, led now by God, journey onwards from Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea , where they arrive in the second year after leaving Egypt. There God gave them manna and water in the wilderness, but they complained against him and longed to return to Egypt, and even Moses was disobedient, so that God declared that the entire generation that had left Egypt would pass away in the wilderness before a new generation would enter Canaan. At the end of 38 years the Israelites then journeyed again to Moab, on the borders of Canaan, where Moses addressed them for the last time, recalling their journeys and giving them new laws. His death (the last reported event of the Torah), concluded the 40 years in the wilderness, and the Israelites were free to begin the conquest of Canaan under their new leader, Joshua . [edit ] Cultural significance Main article: Passover On the night before leaving Egypt, the final plague inflicted by God on the Egyptians was the killing of the first-born. However, to save the Israelites, they were instructed to mark their doors with blood, so that the avenging angel would see it and know to "pass over" that house. On that night, the Israelites were instructed only to eat unleavened bread as they would be leaving in haste. This event instituted the Jewish festival of the Passover. [edit ] Route and logistics Possible Exodus Routes. In Black is the traditional Exodus Route. Other possible Exodus Routes are in Blue and Green. Main article: Stations list [edit ] Route There is little agreement as to the route that would have been taken by the Israelites. Whilst there is a lot of information in the book of Exodus about the route, there is very little that can, with certainty, be ascribed to modern-day locations. Two mountains feature prominently in the landscape of the Exodus: Sinai and Horeb. Neither of these has been identified with certainty. Although the biblical Mt. Sinai is most frequently depicted as Jebel Musa in the south of the Sinai Peninsula, no evidence of the Exodus has been found there. A few of the cities at the start of the itinerary, such as Ra'amses , Pithom and Succoth , are reasonably well identified. Kadesh-Barnea is presumably found, but it was reported that its earliest occupation during the Ramesside era was centuries too late even for a Late Exodus. 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, or even the Gulf of Suez (SSE of Succoth) and the Gulf of Aqaba (S of Ezion-Geber). It is apparent from scriptural usage of the "Red Sea" (lit. /Yam Suf/, i.e. the "Sea of Reeds"), that the term was used to refer to both the Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of Suez, but the meaning of the term can be easily read to refer to a papyrus marsh in Egypt as well. The most obvious routes for travellers through the region were the royal roads, the "king's highways" that had been in use for centuries and would continue in use for centuries to come. The Bible specifically denies that the Israelites went by the Way of the Philistines, the northerly route along the Mediterranean coast. Also, a line of Egyptian forts along this highway would have aided pursuers, but, even so, some scholars support its claims. This leaves the Way of Shur and the Way of Seir as probable routes, the former having the advantage of heading toward Kadesh-Barnea. Finally there are the southern routes which depend on the identification of Jebel Musa with Sinai, although this association dates only from the 3rd century. [edit ] Logistics Exodus 12:37 refers to 600,000 adult Israelite men leaving Egypt with Moses, plus an unspecified but apparently large "mixed multitude" of non-Israelites;^[13] <#cite_note-12> Numbers 1:46 gives a more precise total of 603,550.^[14] <#cite_note-13> If taken literally the total number involved, the 600,000 "fighting men" plus wives, children, the elderly, and the "mixed multitude," would have been two million or more,^[15] <#cite_note-14> equivalent to more than half of the entire Egyptian population of around 3-6 million.^[16] <#cite_note-15> The loss of such a huge proportion of the population would have caused havoc to the Egyptian economy, yet no such effect has been discovered. Archaeological research has found no evidence that the Sinai desert ever hosted, or could have hosted, millions of people, nor of a massive population increase in Canaan , estimated to have had a population of between 50,000 and 100,000, at the end of the march.^[17] <#cite_note-Finkelstein_2002-16> The logistics involved also present problems: Eric Cline points out that 2.5 million people marching ten abreast would form a line 150 miles long, without accounting for livestock.^[18] <#cite_note-17> Hebrew University professor Abraham Malamat has proposed that the Bible often refers to 600 and its multiples, as well as 1,000 and its multiples, typologically in order to convey the idea of a large military unit. "The issue of Exodus 12:37 is an interpretive one. The Hebrew word /eleph/ can be translated 'thousand,' but it is also rendered in the Bible as 'clans' and 'military units.' There are thought to have been 20,000 men in the entire Egyptian army at the height of Egypt's empire. And at the battle of Ai in /Joshua / 7, there was a severe military setback when 36 troops were killed." Therefore if one reads /alaphim/ (plural of /eleph/) as military units, the number of Hebrew fighting men lay between 5,000 and 6,000. In theory, this would give a total Hebrew population of less than 20,000, something within the range of historical possibility. [edit ] Dating [edit ] Traditional exodus The traditional bible chronology would date the Exodus to ca. 1447 BCE . The traditional early date is based on Edwin Thiele's chronology for the reigns of the Israelite and Judahite kings^[19] <#cite_note-18> and on the text of I Kings 6:1. According to I Kings 6:1, the construction of the Temple started in the fourth year of King Solomon's reign which was 480 years after the Exodus. The identification of the pharaoh who was reigning at this time depends on the specific Egyptian chronology that is being used for this time period. The possibilites include three or four pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt , Thutmose II (c.1493-1479 BCE), Hatshepsut (1479-1458 BCE), Thutmose III (1479-1425 BCE), and Amenhotep II .^[20] <#cite_note-19> There are difficulties with this view, though. Bryant G. Wood dates the destruction of Jericho to ca. 1407 BCE,^[21] <#cite_note-20> which is the right time frame for this view of the Exodus dating. However, the majority of scholars are opposed to Bryant Wood's dating of the destruction of Jericho. The scholarly consensus is that Jericho was destroyed ca. 1550 BCE and was not reinhabited until centuries after this traditional early date.^[22] <#cite_note-digitalcommons.library.arizona.edu-21> ^[23] <#cite_note-Dever_2003_44-46-22> [edit ] Late exodus In the mid-20th century the lack of evidence for the traditional early date led William F. Albright to propose an alternative, "late" Exodus around 1200-1250 BCE. His argument included: 1. Digs in the 1930s had failed to find traces of the simultaneous destruction of Canaanite cities c.1400 BCE as described in the Book of Joshua , and in fact Jericho , the first city to fall to the Israelites, was uninhabited at that time and for centuries after. 2. A mummy labeled as Thutmoses III was discovered in the Deir el-Bahri cache in the Valley of the Kings in 1881. Thutmose III 's records do not mention the expulsion of any group that can be identified with over 2 million Hebrew slaves, nor any events which could be identified with the Biblical plagues. 3. Evidence of destruction had been found at Beitel (Bethel ) and some other cities from around that period, and a distinctive round-collared jar was, in his opinion, to be identified with in-coming Israelites. The theory enjoyed popularity around the middle of the 20th century, but has now been generally abandoned except by some conservative Christians, notably Kenneth Kitchen .^[24] <#cite_note-23> The arguments against the late date for the Exodus include: 1. The collar-rimmed jars have been recognised as an indigenous form originating in lowland Canaanite cities centuries earlier.^[25] <#cite_note-24> 2. While some "Joshua" cities, including Hazor , Lachish , Megiddo and others, have destruction and transition layers around 1250-1145 BCE, others have no destruction layers or were uninhabited during this period.^[17] <#cite_note-Finkelstein_2002-16> 3. The scholarly consensus is that Jericho, the first city to be destroyed according to the biblical story, was in fact destroyed ca. 1550 BCE and was not inhabited at the time of Albright's late date for the exodus.^[22] <#cite_note-digitalcommons.library.arizona.edu-21> ^[23] <#cite_note-Dever_2003_44-46-22> [edit ] Early exoduses A number of authors have advocated an "early" Exodus, prior to c.1440 BCE. A recent example was published in a 2009 book,^[8] <#cite_note-parting-7> /The Parting of the Sea: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Plagues Shaped the Exodus Story /, by Barbara J. Sivertsen . According to the author, "The Exodus was in fact two separate exoduses. The first exodus followed a 1628 B.C.E. Minoan eruption that produced all but one of the first nine plagues. The second exodus followed an eruption of a volcano off the Aegean island of Yali almost two centuries later, creating the tenth plague of darkness and a series of tsunamis that … drowned [Tuthmose III and] the pursuing Egyptian army." Sivertsen's account fits chronologically with the conquest of Jericho and confirms that the Israelites were in Canaan before the end of the sixteenth century BCE. Per this view, the first exodus occurred ca. 1628 BCE. As a result, it is possible that the Israelites were indeed at Jericho when City IV was destroyed ca. 1550 BCE.^[22] <#cite_note-digitalcommons.library.arizona.edu-21> Also, according to this view, the Israelites and the Hyksos are separate groups of people, and the first Exodus from Egypt occurred before the expulsion of the Hyksos . As a result, this interpretation of the exodus does not suffer from the difficulties that come from identifying the Israelites with the Hyksos rulers of Egypt. This book advocates the High Egyptian Chronology,^[26] <#cite_note-25> ^[27] <#cite_note-26> which dates the reign of Thutmose III to the time period from 1504 BCE to 1450 BCE rather than the time period from 1479 BCE to 1425 BCE that it occupies in the Conventional Egyptian chronology . Sivertsen also argues that the mummy from the Deir el-Bahri cache in the Valley of the Kings that was labeled as Thutmose III is actually the mummy of a different person.^[28] <#cite_note-27> As a result, it is possible that the second exodus occurred in 1450 BCE (which is close to the traditional early date of 1447 BCE) and it is also possible that the reign of Thutmose III ended at the time of this exodus. David Rohl 's 1995 /A Test of Time / attempts to reconcile Biblical and Egyptian history by shortening the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt by almost 300 years, making the 13th Dynasty pharaoh Djedneferre Dudimose (Dedumesu, Tutimaos, Tutimaios) the pharaoh of the Exodus.^[29] <#cite_note-28> Rohl's theory, however, has failed to find support among scholars in his field.^[30] <#cite_note-29> There are numerous difficulties with views that equate the Israelites with the Hyksos .^[31] <#cite_note-30> ^[32] <#cite_note-31> There are obvious differences between Egyptian history in the period of the Hyksos and the story told in the Torah: the Hyksos were in Egypt for only a little over a century, against the 400 years described in the Bible, they left Egypt as defeated foreign rulers rather than as fleeing slaves, and the Pharaoh Ahmose pursued them across northern Sinai and into southern Canaan, where their arrival c.1500 BCE (if the Exodus story of 40 years of Wilderness wandering is followed - Ahmoses's own account implies a much shorter period, and he obviously was not lost in the Red Sea) would leave a 250-year gap before the first appearance of proto-Israelite artefacts in the archaeological record. Nor does the Bible story give any impression of the fact that Egypt had more than one Pharaoh at this time, the Hyksos 15th dynasty ruling in the Delta, the native Egyptian 17th dynasty in the Nile valley to the south, with the 16th dynasty as a line of petty kings on the margin. An alternative "late" date links the Exodus with the eruption of the Aegean volcano of Thera in c.1600 BCE, on the grounds that it could provide a natural explanation of the Biblical "Plagues of Egypt " and some of the incidents of the Exodus, notably the crossing of the Red Sea .^[8] <#cite_note-parting-7> [edit ] Critical Evaluation Many archaeologists,^[5] <#cite_note-articles.latimes.com-4> including Israel Finkelstein , Ze'ev Herzog and William G. Dever , regard the Exodus as non-historical, at best containing a small germ of truth. In his book, /The Bible Unearthed /, Finkelstein points to the appearance of settlements in the central hill country around 1200 BCE, recognized by most archaeologists as the earliest settlements of the Israelites.^[6] <#cite_note-Finkelstein_1994-5> Using evidence from earlier periods, he shows a cyclical pattern to these highland settlements, corresponding to the state of the surrounding cultures. Finkelstein suggests that the local Canaanites would adapt their way of living from an agricultural lifestyle to a nomadic one and vice versa. When Egyptian rule collapsed after the invasion of the Sea Peoples , the central hill country could no longer sustain a large nomadic population, so they went from nomadism to sedentism . Dever agrees with the Canaanite origin of the Israelites but allows for the possibility of a Semitic tribe coming from Egyptian servitude among the early hilltop settlers and that Moses or a Moses-like figure may have existed in Transjordan ca 1250-1200.^[33] <#cite_note-32> [edit ] Extra-Biblical sources [edit ] Josephus In his /Antiquities of the Jews / and /Against Apion /, Josephus recounts a distorted tale supposedly from Manetho , identifying the expulsion of the Jews both with the Hyksos, and with the expulsion of a group of Asiatic lepers, led by a renegade Egyptian priest called Osarseph . It appears this tale is a conflation of events of the Amarna period, of the earlier Hyksos expulsion, and events throughout the 19th Dynasty.^[/citation needed /] [edit ] See also * Exodus Decoded * Passage of the Red Sea * Biblical Mount Sinai * Tabernacle * Thera (Santorini) eruption Association with the Exodus * Biblical Ramses * Plagues of Egypt * Torah portions telling the Exodus story: Va'eira , Bo , and Beshalach * Higher criticism * Exodians , whose name derived from the Exodus experience * Prophets * Ipuwer papyrus [edit ] Notes 1. *^ <#cite_ref-0>* "Rabbi Eleazar ben Azaryah said: 'I am like a man of seventy years old, yet I did not succeed in proving that the /exodus from Egypt/ must be mentioned at night-until Ben Zoma explained it'." Passover Hagadah translation, (chabad.org) 2. *^ <#cite_ref-1>* אָמַר לָהֶם רִבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן עֲזַרְיָה, הֲרֵי אֲנִי כְּבֶן שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה, וְלֹא זָכִיתִי שֶׁתֵּאָמֵר יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם Passover Hagadah according to Mishneh Torah (Hebrew original), (mechon-mamre.org) 3. *^ <#cite_ref-2>* "It happened that Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarphon were reclining in B'nei Berak. They were discussing the /exodus from Egypt/." Passover Hagadah translation, (chabad.org) 4. *^ <#cite_ref-3>* מַעֲשֶׂה בְּרִבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר וְרִבִּי יְהוֹשׁוּעַ וְרִבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן עֲזַרְיָה וְרִבִּי עֲקִיבָה וְרִבִּי טַרְפוֹן, שֶׁהָיוּ מְסֻבִּין בִּבְנֵי בְרָק; וְהָיוּ מְסַפְּרִין בִּיצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם Passover Hagadah according to Mishneh Torah (Hebrew original), (mechon-mamre.org) 5. ^ ^/*a*/ <#cite_ref-articles.latimes.com_4-0> ^/*b*/ <#cite_ref-articles.latimes.com_4-1> Teresa Watanabe, "Doubting the Story of Exodus", /Los Angeles Times/ April 13, 2001 6. ^ ^/*a*/ <#cite_ref-Finkelstein_1994_5-0> ^/*b*/ <#cite_ref-Finkelstein_1994_5-1> Finkelstein, Israel and Nadav Naaman, eds. (1994). /From Nomadism to Monarchy: Archaeological and Historical Aspects of Early Israel/. Israel Exploration Society . ISBN 1880317206 . 7. *^ <#cite_ref-6>* Dever, William G. (2002). /What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?/. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8028-2126-X . 8. ^ ^/*a*/ <#cite_ref-parting_7-0> ^/*b*/ <#cite_ref-parting_7-1> ^/*c*/ <#cite_ref-parting_7-2> Sivertsen, Barbara J (2009). /The Parting of the Sea: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Plagues Shaped the Story of the Exodus/. Princeton University Press . ISBN 9780691137704 . 9. *^ <#cite_ref-8>* Genesis 47:5-6 10. *^ <#cite_ref-9>* Exodus 1:8 11. *^ <#cite_ref-10>* Exodus 1:9-11 12. *^ <#cite_ref-11>* More accurately, His "name" would dwell in the Tabernacle - the word has overtones which are not easily translated into English. 13. *^ <#cite_ref-12>* Exodus 12 14. *^ <#cite_ref-13>* Numbers 1 15. *^ <#cite_ref-14>* Mattis Kantor ("The Jewish Time Line Encyclopedia" Jason Aronson Inc., 1989, 1992) places the estimate at 2 million "[i]n normal demographic extensions...." 16. *^ <#cite_ref-15>* Robert Feather, /The Copper Scroll Decoded/ and [1] , [2] , and [3] ). 17. ^ ^/*a*/ <#cite_ref-Finkelstein_2002_16-0> ^/*b*/ <#cite_ref-Finkelstein_2002_16-1> Finkelstein, Israel and Neil Asher Silberman (2002). /The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts/. Free Press. ISBN 978-0684869131 . 18. *^ <#cite_ref-17>* Cline, Eric H. (2007), /From Eden to Exile: Unravelling Mysteries of the Bible/, National Geographic Society, ISBN 978-1426200847 p.74 19. *^ <#cite_ref-18>* Thiele, Edwin R (1983). /The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings/. Zondervan . ISBN 9780825438257 . 20. *^ <#cite_ref-19>* Howard, David M. Jr. and Michael A. Grisanti (editors) (2003). "The Date of the Exodus (by William H. Shea)". /Giving the Sense: Understanding and Using the Old Testament Historical Texts/. Kregel Publications. ISBN 9781844740161 . 21. *^ <#cite_ref-20>* Bryant G. Wood, "Did the Israelites Conquer Jericho? A New Look at the Archaeological Evidence," Biblical Archaeology Review 16(2) (March/April 1990): 44-58. 22. ^ ^/*a*/ <#cite_ref-digitalcommons.library.arizona.edu_21-0> ^/*b*/ <#cite_ref-digitalcommons.library.arizona.edu_21-1> ^/*c*/ <#cite_ref-digitalcommons.library.arizona.edu_21-2> Bruins & van der Plicht, "Tell es-Sultan (Jericho): Radiocarbon Results of Short-Lived Cereal and Multiyear Charcoal Samples from the End of the Middle Bronze Age," Radiocarbon 37:2, 1995. Available here [4] 23. ^ ^/*a*/ <#cite_ref-Dever_2003_44-46_22-0> ^/*b*/ <#cite_ref-Dever_2003_44-46_22-1> Dever, William G (2003). /Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?/. Eerdmans . pp. 44-46. ISBN 0802844162 . 24. *^ <#cite_ref-23>* Kitchen, Kenneth A (2003). /On the Reliability of the Old Testament/. Eerdmans . pp. 309-10. ISBN 978-0802849601 . 25. *^ <#cite_ref-24>* Mary Joan Winn Leith, "How a People Forms", review of "/Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines and Early Israel/" (2001), Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 2006, pp.22-23 26. *^ <#cite_ref-25>* Johnson, J.H. and E.F. Wente, eds. (1976). "A Chronology of the New Kingdom (by E. F. Wente and C. C. Van Siclen III)". /Studies in Honor of George R. Hughes/. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. ISBN 978-0918986016 . 27. *^ <#cite_ref-26>* Casperson, L.W., "The Lunar Dates of Thutmose III," Journal of Near Eastern Studies 45 (1986): 139-50. 28. *^ <#cite_ref-27>* Wente, Edward F. "Who Was Among The Royal Mummies?" (This article originally appeared in The Oriental Institute News and Notes, No. 144, Winter 1995, and is made available electronically with the permission of the editor.) Available at [5] 29. *^ <#cite_ref-28>* Rohl, David (1995). "Chapter 13". /A Test of Time/. Arrow. pp. 341-8. ISBN 0099416565 . 30. *^ <#cite_ref-29>* Bennett, Chris. "Temporal Fugues", Journal of Ancient and Medieval Studies XIII (1996). Available at [6] 31. *^ <#cite_ref-30>* "Debunking "The Exodus Decoded" ". Sep 20, 2006. http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2006/09/Debunking-The-Exodus-Decoded.aspx. Retrieved 8 August 2009. 32. *^ <#cite_ref-31>* "The Exodus Decoded: An Extended Review ". Tuesday 19 Dec 2006. http://www.heardworld.com/higgaion/?p=459. Retrieved 8 August 2009. 33. *^ <#cite_ref-32>* Dever, William G. (2002). /What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?/. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8028-2126-X . [edit ] Further reading * /Encyclopedia Judaica/. S.v. "Population". ISBN 0-685-36253-1 * Sivertsen, Barbara J. /The Parting of the Sea: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Plagues Shaped the Story of the Exodus/. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-691-13770-4 * Yilgal Shiloh. "The Population of Iron Age Palestine in the Light of a Sample Analysis of Urban Plans, Areas and Population Density." /Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research/ (BASOR) 239, (1980): 25-35. ISSN 0003-097X * Nahum Sarna . "Six hundred thousand men on foot" in /Exploring Exodus: The Origins of Biblical Israel/, New York: Schocken Books (1996): ch. 5. ISBN 0-8052-1063-6 * Hershel Shanks, William G. Dever, Baruch Halpern and P. Kyle McCarter. /The Rise of Ancient Israel: Symposium at the Smithsonian Institution October 26, 1991/, Biblical Archaeological Society, 1992. ISBN 1-880317-05-2 * Manfred Bietak. /Avaris: The Capital of the Hyksos: Recent Excavations/, London: British Museum Pubs. Ltd, 1995. ISBN 0-7141-0968-1 . Here, Bietak discusses Thutmose III era finds in the vicinity of the later city of pi-Ramesses. * Thomas E. Levy and Mohammed Sajjar. "Edom & Copper", /Biblical Archaeological Review (BAR)/, July/August, 2006: 24-35. * /Exodus: The Egyptian Evidence/, edited by Frerichs, Lesko & Dever, Indianapolis: Eisenbrauns, 1997. ISBN 1-57506-025-6 See esp. Malamat's essay there. * Theophile Meek, /Hebrew Origins/, Gloucester, MA.: Peter Smith Pub. Inc., 1960. ISBN 0-8446-2572-8 * John J. Bimson. /Redating the Exodus/. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1981. ISBN 0-907459-04-8 * Yohanan Aharoni. /The Archaeology of the Land of Israel/. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1982. ISBN 0-664-21384-7 . This book is notable for the large number of Ramesside cartouches and finds it cites throughout Israel. * Johannes C. de Moor. "Egypt, Ugarit and Exodus" in /Ugarit, Religion and Culture, Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Ugarit, Religion and Culture/, edited by N. Wyatt and W. G. E. Watson. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 1996. ISBN 3-927120-37-5 * Richard E. Friedman . /Who Wrote the Bible?/. HarperSanFrancisco, 1997. ISBN 0-06-063035-3 . (an introduction for the layman to the view that there are in all probability multiple sources for the "Books of Moses") * Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman. /The Bible Unearthed/. New York: Free Press, 2001. ISBN 0-684-86912-8 * Amnon Ben-Tor. "Hazor - A City State Between The Major Powers." /Scandinavian J. of the OT/ (SJOT), vol. 16, issue 2, 2002: 308. ISSN 0901-832 * Dever, William G. Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From? * John J. Bimson and David Livingston, "Redating the Exodus," /Biblical Archaeology Review/ 13:05, Sep/Oct 1987. * Hoffmeier, James K. /Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition/. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. * Noll, K. L. /Canaan and Israel in Antiquity/. Sheffield Academic Press, 2001. ISBN 1-84127-318-X . Case study of the biblical exodus can be found here. [edit ] External links * Traditional Route of the Exodus * /Those Amazing Biblical Numbers: Taking Stock of the Armies of Ancient Israel/ * /Playing the Numbers Game A Critique of Attempts to Rationalize the Population Numbers of Exodus/ Revised 2005. * /Me'am Loez on Beshallach IV/ : /Me'am Loez on Beshallach IV: 50 Miracles/, no. 7, says that the Israelites crossed the Red Sea in twelve paths, one for each of the tribes, and cites Ps. 136:13 which has it that the Red Sea was divided into parts during the Exodus. * /Rashi's Commentary/ : The regarded eleventh century Talmud scholar called 'Rashi' made the comment that the Red Sea had been split "asunder in twelve pieces for the twelve tribes" to his commentary on the Psalms. /Rashi's Commentary/, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki or Rabbi Shlomo Yarchi, commentary on Ps. 136:13. * /Book of Exodus/ article (Jewish Encyclopedia) * Is Bryant Wood's chronology of Jericho valid? A recent refutation of Wood's attempt redate an early fall of Jericho to the traditional Exodus date. * The Megiddo Expedition Israel Finkelstein's site on the excavation. [hide ] v • d • e Passover • פֶּסַח Seder *Seder *: *The Exodus* • "Outstretched Arm" • Ten Plagues • Afikoman • Ma Nishtana *Seder Plate *: Beitzah • Charoset • Karpas • Maror • Zeroa Passover 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*: Streit's • Manischewitz • Yehuda Matzos Religious *Observances*: Bedikas Chametz • Fast of the Firstborn • Erev Pesach on Shabbat • Korban Pesach • Mimouna • Pesach Sheni • Chol HaMoed *Laws/Customs*: Chametz • Kitniyot • Gebrochts *Prayers*: Song of Songs • Torah readings • Prayer for dew Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exodus" Categories : Ancient Jewish Egyptian history | Exodus Stations | Passover | Sacred history | Torah events | Evacuations Hidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from June 2008 Views * Article * Discussion * Edit this page * History Personal tools * Try Beta * Log in / create account Navigation * Main page * Contents * Featured content * Current events * Random article Search Interaction * About Wikipedia * Community portal * Recent changes * Contact Wikipedia * Donate to Wikipedia * Help Toolbox * What links here * Related changes * Upload file * Special pages * Printable version * Permanent link * Cite this page Languages * Deutsch * Français * Italiano * עברית * Nederlands * Русский * Svenska * ייִדיש Powered by MediaWiki Wikimedia Foundation * This page was last modified on 1 November 2009 at 13:52. * Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. , a non-profit organization. * Privacy policy * About Wikipedia * Disclaimers