Most people have no idea that almost everything in the Old Testament (the stories of Abraham, the captivity in Egypt, Moses, the exodus, David, Solomon, etc.) have almost no evidence to back them up and are best regarded as myths.
It looks like Mr. Deity has also finds it hard to distinguish myths from reality and Charlton Heston from Moses. It’s a common mistake.
In fact, many of the episodes in the Hebrew bible have been shown to never have happened. For instance, evidence now available shows that the Exodus never happened and that the pyramids were not built by Hebrew slaves.
Is it not more a case that there is no evidence for the Exodus, as opposed to one of there being evidence against it?
After all, the lack of evidence *against* [insert made-up-stuff(TM) here] tends to be sufficient ‘proof’ *for* [insert made-up-stuff(TM) here] as far as theists are concerned.
The 600,000 men plus wives, children, the elderly, and the “mixed multitude” of non-Israelites would have numbered some 2 million people, compared with an entire Egyptian population in 1250 BCE of around 3 to 3.5 million. They’re suggesting that most of the population then must have consisted of Hebrew peoples? Pretty amazing that 1.5 million Egyptians would be able to enslave a population that matched or even considerably outnumbered them. The logistics of the thing are just stupid to take seriously. To imagine then that, even marching ten abreast, and without accounting for livestock, that many people would have formed a line leading out of Egypt of at least 150 miles. Also, getting lost in the Sinai peninsula for 40 years afterwards with that many people would require such a woefully inept act of navigation as to boggle the mind. I know, I know, manna from heaven and all, but can you imagine how much food and water it would take to support the lowball estimate of 600,000 people in a desert-like climate for 38-40 years? Preposterous.
I think the point here is if there should be evidence for something, and that evidence is not seen where it should be seen, then that is evidence for its absence. This was the case against for example cold fusion. If it was fusion, then there should be certain byproducts. But those were never detected and this counted as evidence against fusion as being the cause of the heat.
In the case of the exodus, having millions of people in the Sinai for forty years should have created evidence of their presence, such as pots and other debris that they would have left behind. But the search for such items have been fruitless, even though artifacts that are older than the time of the exodus have been unearthed.
Isn’t this true for the entirety of “the” bible? Other than a few anachronistic historical references, isn’t the whole thing, including the apocrypha, just a collection of allegories and myths? Why limit this solely to the old testament?
(I wonder if the churches in Cobb County might consider warning stickers!)
The distance from the Nile to the border of present day Israel is less then 200 miles, a trip that would take less then a month by foot. In order for the putative Israelites to spend 40 years in the Sinai Desert, they would have had to be traveling in circles.
But you don’t seem to realize that biblical time is different: 40 years really does not mean 40 nor does 6 days really mean 6. Even Obama thinks so! 🙂
Nor do 600,000 mean 600,000.
One attempt to salvage the story insists on reading the word ‘eleph’ not as ‘thousand’ but as ‘family’.
That was the generally accepted view at the church I grew up in. God caused the Hebrews to stay lost for the forty years.
Not that that helps the story make any more sense.