The Truth About Moses's Exodus From Egypt

This is a review of the Biblical Egyptology course available through the Universal Life Church Seminary. This class explores the Exodus from Egypt by Moses. The question conce ing the existence of empirical proof supporting the Biblical Exodus was handled in great detail in this course. When I went through theological training thirty yrs. ago, I was taught that there was absolutely no proof outside in the Bible supporting the Exodus. That was the prevailing view among intellectuals from the day, but Dr. Federspiel has done a very good job of updating my information on the subject, and I would have to agree with him that there is indeed considerable proof lending support to parts of the Biblical version. He did not provide unquestionable proof of the Exodus, but there is certainly a preponderance of proof that one thing approximating the Biblical story happened nearly 3500 years ago. Even though I had been advised that there was no extra Biblical proof that supports the Exodus, I accepted its existence as both an issue of faith and aided by the know-how the Bible wasn't written as being a fictional version but was trying to be factual and was taken extremely seriously by Jews, Muslims, along with Christians. Although I had been preivously taught that the initial 11 chapters of Genesis had been in essence tribal myth and shouldn't be interpreted literally, from Abraham on, there has been empirical support for the Biblical accounts along with the discoveries from archeologists, has lent support to the facts extremely well. The numbers may possibly have been exaggerated, but there has been evidence for the existence of the people along with the locations referred to in the text. Because the Exodus is referenced inside part with the Bible that deals with historical records and was taken by the Hebrew individuals as factual, I have at all times been accepted that the simple facts of the story are. That doesn't imply that I have accepted each of the events as literally heart-felt, as they were recollections of individuals carried through the centuries, of a heroic past. We in the modern times often exaggerate the exploits of our ancestors, so I had expected no less from the Children of Israel, nonetheless from the basic facts, I always had thought there has got to be a general actuality, which would include their appearance in Egypt hundreds of years before the Exodus, as well as the leadership of the particular person named Moses to lead a group of Semitic individuals out of that land. It didn't have a need to seem like the Hollywood version with the story to be generally real. There may well have been a seemingly small number of Jews departing Egypt along with settling contained in Palestine for that story to be heart-felt in my mind. Dr. Federspiel has convinced me that my assumption was indeed right and some thing definitely happened. Furthermore, although it gives the appearance that a huge amounts of Egyptian history was lost because of internal squabbling, fighting, wars, as well as normal disasters, adequate circumstantial evidence exists to support the existence of a lot of of Semites from Egypt who came to be in Jerusalem. I became fascinated to learn that a staff was discovered in Jordan of Tuthmoses IV –Moses II, inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphic symbols and Graham Phillips presumed it had belonged to Moses. Though it is not irrefutable proof, it really is an intriguing hypothesis which I feel needs more in-depth study. Certainly, it proves that Egyptian along with Semitic men and women were in contact with one another within the region of current day Israel . One matter that appears certain was that Moses had been a authentic individual. He was referenced by both the name ‘Manetho’ along with the name ‘Artapanus’. Manetho claimed that the Egyptians were "troubled by calamities, in order that the divine wrath may be averted, expelled the foreigners…their leader said to have bee Moses." If a paga Egyptian priest existing three hundred years before the Common Era had a record of a individual named Moses who was kicked out of Egypt to appease the gods, Moses in all likelihood did indeed exist. Moses is a popular Egyptian name, not a Hebrew one. It really is not very likely that the Hebrew writers of the story would have invented the name from thin air. Just the fact that they had been in a position to find an Egyptian name for their hero suggests at least a little knowledge of Egypt. To have an Egyptian pagan priest confirm the basic facts in the story is far more than an ‘interesting’ happenstance. It suggests the basic events of the story actually happened as well as had a noticeable impact on Egypt. Please recall that Manetho was relating something that took place a lot more than a thousand years before his birth. We do not remember trivial things that occurred long ago. Some thing significant must have taken place. As a matter of fact, with the empirical proof of an Egyptian priest, I am convinced that the Exodus was far more important an event tha I’d first thought. My expectations about the Exodus were small. I figured that a relatively few number of people escaped from Egypt and became settled Palestine. I really downplayed it in my mind, the onset of the plagues, being the recipient of the liberal theological education. After looking at the empirical proof presented by Dr. Federspiel, I have been nudged into accepting the possibility that even the plagues (as reported and proclaimed miracles may possibly have be valid. That the plagues had been noted and remembered for over a thousand yrs. in all of Egypt, they must have happened, and Moses should be given credit for those things. Another thing, it appears very likely the military defeat within the "Red Sea" may perhaps have occurred too, as that could well be a plausible reason the people remembered Moses. It's too bad that a fire decimated the Alexandria Library and that the anti-pagan fervor during the Christian era lead to the destruction of so much material contained in Egypt. It's also a tragic thing that early European Archeologists who were collecting samples from ancient Egypt ended up being so unprofessional that they ruined irreplaceable papyri codices and fragments. Because so much material has been permanently destroyed, we’ll never possess the total picture of Moses and the Exodus. Nonetheless, to say there is no evidence that survives to present day appears to be far from being true. We have a very large amount of circumstantial empirical proof preserved by Josephus and Eusebius. Furthermore, there exists possible archeological proof continuing to be unearthed today, though our comprehension of the hieroglyphs will make it unbelievably hard to interpret. With the passage of time along with further work on interpreting of Egyptian Hieroglyphs, it seems certain the existence of Moses is going to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

This fascinating 20 week program offered by the Universal Life Church Seminary is just one of many programs on spiritual growth, religion, and personal growth.