This final act, associated in tradition with the Passover festival, persuaded Pharaoh to release the Hebrews. Shortly after the Hebrews departed, Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued them. At the Sea of Reeds, Yahweh permitted the Hebrews to pass through the waters unscathed but overwhelmed the Egyptians.
The Hebrews pressed into the wilderness to Mount Sinai where the law was given and there they entered a covenant with Yahweh Read Num. After an abortive attempt to seize Canaan by penetrating from the south, they moved eastward and, after many setbacks, took up a position on the eastern side of the Jordan, just north of the Salt Sea.
Here Moses died, and under his successor, Joshua, the attacks on Canaan were launched. Efforts to date the patriarchal period have not been particularly rewarding, for biblical chronology is complex. In the P source, years pass between the time of Abraham's journey to Canaan and Jacob's migration to Egypt see Gen. As we shall see, most scholars date the Exodus near the middle of the thirteenth century, so that Abraham would leave Mesopotamia at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and Jacob's journey to Egypt would occur about B.
Unfortunately, date variations occur in some manuscripts. In the LXX, Exod. According to this reckoning, Abraham's journey would fall in the seventeenth century and Jacob's in the fifteenth century. The early nineteenth century date for Abraham places his departure from Mesopotamia at the time of the Elamite and Amorite invasion.
It harmonizes with the conclusions of Nelson Glueck, who found that between the twenty-first and nineteenth centuries B. Such settlements would provide stopping places for Abraham and his retinue.
The second pattern of dating would place Abraham in the time of Hammurabi of Babylon and would give strength to the argument that the mention of King Amraphel of Shinar in Gen. Abraham would, therefore, be in Canaan during the Hyksos period, and Joseph would have risen to power in the Amarna age. The close of the Amarna period brought to power leaders hostile to Akhenaton and possibly also to those he had favored.
Whatever the correct date for Abraham may be, he represents the beginning of the nation to the Hebrews. Yahweh's promise to the patriarch and his successors is considered to be the guarantee of national existence Num. There are no references to Abraham in the writings of the eighth century prophets, for then stress was laid on the Exodus as the starting point of the nation.
In the seventh and sixth centuries, and in the post-Exilic period, the Abrahamic tradition came to the fore once again. Efforts to determine the date and route of the Exodus have been disappointing. Josephus placed the Exodus at the time of the overthrow of the Hyksos by Ahmose in the sixteenth century, a date that is far too early. Biblical evidence is limited.
I Kings reports that Solomon began building the temple in the fourth year of his reign, years after the Exodus. Solomon's rule is believed to have begun near the middle of the tenth century, possibly about B. Thus, the date of the Exodus would be: minus 4 4th year of reign plus , or In that case, Thutmose III would be the pharaoh of the oppression, and his mother, Hatshepsut, might be identified as the rescuer of the infant Moses.
The Hebrew invasion of Canaan, taking place forty years later or about B. Another theory is based on the reference to the building of Pithom and Raamses in Exod.
It was noted earlier that both Seti I and Rameses II worked at the rebuilding of these cities, and that Rameses is the best candidate for the Pharaoh of the Exodus B. If the Exodus took place between and , the invasion of Canaan would occur in Mernephtah's reign, and some encounter between Egyptians and Hebrews would be the basis for his boast of annihilating Israel.
Attempts to chart the course followed by the fleeing Hebrews is equally frustrating. No one knows for sure the location of Mount Sinai, and the site chosen for the holy mountain determines, in part, the route suggested.
Attempts have been made to identify stopping places mentioned in Num. The traditional site of Sinai, Jebel Musa, near the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula, has been widely accepted since the fourth and fifth centuries A. The traditional route to Jebel Musa begins in Egypt, crosses the Sea of Reeds identified either at the tip of the Red Sea in the Gulf of Heroonpolis [Gulf of Suez] or as one of the papyrus swamps above the gulf , and goes southward along the western edge of the Sinai peninsula before turning inland to Jebel Musa.
Sinai has also been identified as Jebel Helal, located in the northern part of the peninsula. The route to this mountain goes from Egypt across the marshy swamp area and follows the Way of Shur, one of the major trade routes of the ancient world, to Jebel Helal and Kadesh Barnea.
Another route to this same mountain goes over the land strip of Lake Sirbonis which becomes the Sea of Reeds , northward along the Way of the Philistines, the coastal route, then southward to Kadesh Barnea and Jebel Helal. Some have insisted that the descriptions in Exod. One choice among these mountains is El Khrob which preserves the name Horeb. Sinai has also been located in Edomite territory, for Judg.
Jebel Faran on the west side of the Wadi Arabah has been suggested as a possible choice, and mountains in the Petra area have also been suggested. Although, for the scholar, there are innumerable problems associated with the Exodus tradition, this memorable event became a central factor in the interpretation of the Hebrew faith.
Here Yahweh had demonstrated his loyal, redeeming love to the people whom he had chosen as his own. In the darkest days of the Exilic period, the memory of the Exodus event became a source of hope, for it was believed that Yahweh would deliver his people from bondage in Babylon even as he had rescued them from Egypt.
A somewhat different tradition of Hebrew beginnings is reflected in Ezek. But here we have a unique situation, for Jerusalem was a Jebusite stronghold which did not become a Hebrew city until the time of David II Sam. The firstfruits liturgy Deut. Etymological analyses of the term "Hebrew" 'ibri have given little help to the study of origins.
The term has been related to a root, meaning "to go over" or "to go across"; hence, a "Hebrew" would be one who crossed over or one who went from place to place, a nomad, a wanderer, a designation that would fit some aspects of patriarchal behavior. A similar term, habiru , is found in cuneiform documents from the twentieth to the eleventh centuries, often used interchangeably with another word, SA.
At times the Habiru appear to be settled in specific locations; at times they serve in the army as mercenaries, or are bound to masters as servants. The El Amarna tablets refer to invaders of Palestine as 'apiru , a word bearing close relationship to the terms habiru and "Hebrew. If the word "Hebrew" parallels habiru or 'apiru , we know that these people on occasion were employed, at times created settlements of their own, and at other times attacked established communities.
The suggestion that the terms 'apiru , habiru and "Hebrew" relate to those who have renounced a relationship to an existing society, who have by a deliberate action withdrawn from some organization or rejected some authority, and who have become through this action freebooters, slaves, employees or mercenaries presents real possibilities.
Perhaps the best that can be said is that the Hebrews of the Bible appear to be one branch of the Northwest Semitic group, related linguistically to Canaanites, Edomites and Moabites, who moved from a semi-nomadic existence to settled life in the Bronze Age. It is clear from biblical tradition that, at the beginning of their history, the semi-nomadic Hebrews with flocks of sheep and goats were at the point of moving into a settled way of life. The patriarchs are chiefs of large families or clans living, for the most part, in peace among their neighbors with whom they enter covenants.
From family and clan beginnings came tribes linked to one another by ancestral blood ties. Bonds between clans or tribes were so strong that the group might be described as having an existence of its own, a personality embodying the corporate membership.
This phenomenon of psychic unity, labeled "corporate personality" by H. Wheeler Robinson, 17 placed particular responsibilities upon each member of the group. Because group life was a unity, injury to a single member was injury to all demanding repayment by the next of kin, the go'el.
Should a man die without offspring, his next of kin had to bring the widow to fruition, and the child born to her became the child of the dead man, the one carrying his name Ruth As the father was at the head of the family, so the tribal chief and elders led the larger group, seeking the well-being, peace and psychic health of the members.
The corporate nature of the group afforded great protection, for wherever a member went, he was backed by the strength of the tribe to which he belonged. When the head of the household died, the widow and orphan were cared for by the next of kin and ultimately by the total group. Tribal and family religion centered in holy places where a local priesthood tended shrines, kept altar fires burning, and shared in offerings I Sam.
The father seems to have acted as ministrant on behalf of the family I Sam. Offerings were made and a meal shared through which the participants were bound more firmly together. There is no evidence that the deity was believed to participate in the meal. Agreements made at holy places were witnessed by the deity who guaranteed fulfillment of terms Gen. The shrine of Ba'al-berith Judg.
The residents woke up to find the waters of their river - the Neuse - had turned red. More than a billion fish died. People working near the river found that they were covered in sores. The cause of this was found to be pollution. The pollution had come from a pig farm further up the river. Millions of gallons of pig-waste had found its way into the river, causing a genetic mutation in a marine micro-organism called pfisteria; turning it from harmless into lethal. The river had been poisoned. John Marr, an epidemiologist specialising in environmental disasters, believes pollution in ancient Egypt could have caused the first six plagues.
Pfisteria, or something like it, caused the fish to die, thus turning the river red; the pollution would have driven the frogs onto the land, on land the frogs would die, causing an explosion of flies and lice.
The flies could then have transmitted viral diseases to livestock, killing them. Ash columns were ejected into the atmosphere, circling the globe within two weeks and causing complete darkness over a radius of miles.
John Marr, epidemiologist, thinks that fall-out of volcanic ash could have produced a toxic bloom of algae in the River Nile; thus setting off a chain of events similar to those produced by pfisteria. The volcanic theory seems dubious because there is no active volcano in Egypt.
But miles to the north of the Nile delta is the Greek island of Santorini. In the 16th century BCE, Santorini was blown apart by a gigantic volcanic eruption that was thousands of times more powerful than a nuclear weapon. It was one of the biggest explosions of the last 10, years.
The ash cloud from the Santorini blast would have been huge and far-reaching. When Santorini erupted, the wind was blowing in a south-easterly direction, towards Egypt. Samples of Santorini ash have been collected from the sea bed, the heaviest concentrations being in the direction of the Nile Delta. Oceanographer Dr Daniel Stanley, went to the Delta to drill for samples of mud and silt to see if the ash could have reached Egypt.
He found volcanic shards that can be firmly related to the explosion. He says: 'I think it would have been a frightening experience. It would have been heard, the event. The blast ash fall would have been felt.
Mike Rampino, a climate modeller from New York University, has run a computer simulation to look at the climatic effects of the Santorini blast. The ash cloud passing overhead would have completely cut out the sun and plunged the Delta into darkness. This would have been accompanied by the kind of unusual weather seen after volcanic eruptions — lightening and perhaps hail.
This would explain two of the 10 plagues — darkness and hail. With river levels dropping, the water would have begun to stagnate. Combined with the poisonous minerals that were raining down from the ash cloud, the Nile would have become a deadly cocktail and conditions would have been ripe for an outbreak of further plagues. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, "What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
According to the Bible, as the Hebrews left Egypt, Pharaoh changed his mind and sent chariots to chase the runaway slaves. Could be a biblical exaggeration? In , on the site of the city of Ramses II, German archeologists unearthed the foundations of an ancient stable. By the end of the dig, they had found enough stables for at least horses and chariots. And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.
But if the exodus took place in the 16th century BCE, could the pillars of fire and cloud by explained by a column of volcanic ash from Santorini? Santorini is miles away, but the column of smoke would have towered some 40 miles above sea level. Climatologist Mike Rampino thinks that the ash could have been seen from as far away as Egypt. During the day, the ash would have looked like a column of smoke and by night static electricity in the atmosphere would have caused lightning in this cloud.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. If you read the bible in the original Hebrew, the word 'red' is mistranslated. In the Hebrew bible Moses and his people cross the 'yam suph' - the Sea of Reeds.
Now this is a strange story. You can imagine trying to cross the Red Sea would be horrendously difficult but a Reed Sea is something quite different. This is marshland areas and this is probably what they crossed. Ancient Egyptian texts mention an area called Patchoufy : The Reeds. This is probably what they crossed. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared.
If you're talking about a shallow reed swamp of maybe two or three metres maximum of water, this sort of thing is physically possible. In fact it's been witnessed within the last years The Egyptian army might not have been completely decimated.
Many of the horses would have been killed, chariots would have been stuck in the mud. Computer simulations of the Santorini eruption show that the collapse of the island would have triggered a mega-tsunami - a foot wave travelling at miles an hour. Floyd McCoy, a tsunami expert, says this was one of the largest waves in history and must have reached Egypt.
We find evidence, believe it or not, on the deep ocean floor. The tsunamis actually scraped across the bottom of the ocean floor in the Mediterranean and disturbed the sediment. We can find that sediment. That gives us some indication of the directions they went The computer model showed us waves radiating out all over the Mediterranean, reaching the Nile Delta.
Could the tsunami have divided up the waters of the Reed Sea? If you look at ordinary waves you can see that just before they break, the water withdraws from the shore. A mega-tsunami would syphon billions of gallons of water - not just from the shore but from connecting rivers and lakes - creating dry land for as long as two hours. We should think of a two-metre tsunami wave like a rapid change of the sea level by two metres along the coast, and that can can travel several kilometres inland.
The destructive force of the wave could easily destroy an army. In , the Philippine island of Mindoro was hit by a tsunami and an earthquake. The earthquake caused a massive crack in the bed of a lake about a mile inland. An eye-witness said he saw the water like a waterfall in the centre of the lake just go down. After a while, he could see the bottom of the lake: "I thought I could even walk through.
Then the tsunami arrived one mile further down the river and swept away a 6, ton barge lying on the shore. The mega-tsunami which hit the Nile delta was a thousand times more devastating than this one. Moses' appearance marks a kind of new beginning in the biblical story. Israel's ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are in the past.
In time of famine their descendants went down to Egypt, the largest and wealthiest neighbouring country, and settled there. These Hebrews became numerous, but Egypt's ruler, the Pharaoh, decided that they would be a good source of cheap labour, and began to exploit them in building projects; he also decided to make them less dangerous by keeping their numbers down through killing their male children at birth Exodus 1. When Moses was born, his mother sought to protect him by putting him in a basket to float on the river Nile.
Here he was providentially found by the Pharaoh's daughter who took pity on him and brought him up as her own child Exodus 2. One day Moses saw an Egyptian and a Hebrew fighting.
He intervened and killed the Egyptian. But when this became known he fled for his life. In the land of Midian, probably somewhere in the Sinai peninsula, he married the daughter of a priest, had two children, and settled down to life as a shepherd. That might have been the end of his story - except that his compatriots were still enslaved in Egypt, and God resolved to do something about it.
The Bible contains astonishing accounts of God and Moses speaking face to face begin when Moses is quietly minding his own business as a shepherd.
God appears to Moses in a burning bush. Moses sees a bush which burns without being consumed - a symbol of the presence of God which defies usual human experience of things. And he hears a voice which calls him by his own name Exodus The point is that God has chosen to effect his plan through a human agent, Moses.
It is for this reason that Moses is called the greatest prophet in Israel, for a prophet is someone who speaks and acts on God's behalf. God is calling Moses to embody the pattern of human response to God that becomes basic within the Bible.
The other great face to face encounter with God is when Moses has brought the Israelites out of Egypt and has returned with them to Sinai where he first met God. The encounter is awesome. When God appears to the people of Israel, a whole mountain burns; for when God comes, Sinai becomes like a volcano not an actual volcano, but God's coming is so awesome that the only way to depict it is in the language of the most overwhelming of known phenomena :. God then gives the Ten Commandments to Moses as a kind of basic constitution or charter for Israel, together with some more detailed laws that apply the Commandments within everyday situations.
Israel responds by promising obedience Exodus As soon as Moses has rescued Israel from Egypt and brought them to Sinai where they become God's people, things almost unravel. For while Moses is on the mountain with God receiving the law the people persuade his brother Aaron, who had clearly been left in charge, to make a golden calf to symbolize God's presence. They want to worship the calf, instead of God.
Consequently the new relationship between God and Israel almost comes to an end. When Moses comes down from the mountain he symbolically smashes the stone tablets which contain the Ten Commandments, Israel's charter. Yet even so Moses does not give up on Israel, but prays for them and asks God to be merciful. He persists in this, and God responds favourably. Exodus But even Moses gets caught up in a failure to heed God.
The story of his failure is told in Numbers The consequence is that Moses is prohibited from entering the Promised Land with Israel. So he gives a long series of addresses in the book of Deuteronomy, explaining in depth the dynamics of God's relationship with Israel.
Then, he ascends Mount Nebo, east of the river Jordan, from where God gives him a panoramic vision of the whole of the Promised Land; and there he dies, as he had lived, in God's presence Deuteronomy Moses has an understanding of God that perhaps his ancestors didn't have.
He kills an Egyptian slave master and escapes to the Sinai Peninsula, where he lives as a humble shepherd for 40 years. One day, however, Moses receives a command from God to return to Egypt and free his kin from bondage, according to the Hebrew bible.
Along with his brother Aaron, Moses approaches the reigning pharaoh who is unnamed in the biblical version of the story several times, explaining that the Hebrew God has requested a three-day leave for his people so that they may celebrate a feast in the wilderness.
When the pharaoh refuses, God unleashes 10 plagues on the Egyptians, including turning the Nile River red with blood, diseased livestock, boils, hailstorms and three days of darkness, culminating in the slaying of every firstborn son by an avenging angel. Terrified of further punishment, the Egyptians convince their ruler to release the Israelites, and Moses quickly leads them out of Egypt.
The pharaoh changes his mind, however, and sends his soldiers to retrieve the former slaves. As the Egyptian army approaches the fleeing Jews at the edge of the Red Sea, a miracle occurs: God causes the sea to part, allowing Moses and his followers to cross safely, then closes the passage and drowns the Egyptians. According to the Hebrew Bible, the Jews—now numbering in the hundreds of thousands—then trek through the Sinai desert for 40 tumultuous years before finally reaching their ancestral home in Canaan, later known as the Land of Israel.
For centuries, scholars have been debating the details and historical merit of the events commemorated during the Passover holiday. Although the ancient Egyptians kept thorough records, no mention is made of an Israelite community within their midst or any calamities resembling the 10 biblical plagues.
A handful of scholars, including the first-century Jewish historian Josephus, have suggested a link between the Israelites and the Hyksos, a mysterious Semitic people—possibly from Canaan—who controlled lower Egypt for more than years before their expulsion during the 16th century B. Most modern academics, however, have dismissed this theory due to chronological conflicts and a lack of similarity between the two cultures.
One of the most important Passover rituals for observant Jews is removing all leavened food products known as chametz from their home before the holiday begins and abstaining from them throughout its duration. Instead of bread, religious Jews eat a type of flatbread called matzo. According to tradition, this is because the Hebrews fled Egypt in such haste that there was no time for their bread to rise, or perhaps because matzo was lighter and easier to carry through the desert than regular bread.
On the first two nights of Passover, families and friends gather for a religious feast known as a seder for the Jewish holiday. For example, vegetables are dipped into salt water representing the tears Jews shed during their time as slaves, and bitter herbs usually horseradish symbolizing the unpleasant years of their bondage are eaten. A seder plate at the center of the table contains Passover foods with particular significance to the exodus story, including matzo, bitter herbs, a lamb shankbone and a mixture of fruit, nuts and wine known as charoset , which represents the mortar Jews used while bonding bricks as slaves in Egypt.
Other typical menu items include matzo kugel a pudding made from matzo and apples , poached fish patties called gefilte fish and chicken soup with matzo balls.
Children play an important role in the seder and are expected to take part in many of its customs.
0コメント