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How Real is Story of Exodus?
Evidence scanty, but theologians call message clear
Friday, July 13, 2001
NEWS - FAITH & VALUES 01E

By Felix Hoover / Dispatch Religion Reporter

Moses didn't actually lead the Israelites out of Egypt any more than Charlton Heston did, archeologists increasingly conclude.

The biblical story of Exodus recounts that Moses -- portrayed by Heston in the cinematic classic The Ten Commandments -- persuaded Pharaoh to release the enslaved Jews after 10
divine plagues. Then, it says, God parted the Red Sea to let his people escape from pursuing Egyptian troops, whom he drowned.

Is the story literally true? Or is it an inspirational allegory? Scholars disagree -- even those who do concur that the Bible and all its parts are divinely inspired.

Bible readers also divide over whether the Good Book is good history. A 1998 Gallup Poll shows that 33 percent of Americans believe the Bible is the "actual word of God"; 47 percent
think it is "the inspired word of God, but not everything in it should be taken literally"; and 17 percent say it's a "book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man."

What if no Israelites really were enslaved in Egypt? And if they were, what if Moses did not really exist?

Is the Bible diminished if it's less than 100 percent historically accurate?

Not for Jews, whose communal identity stems from the Exodus story, said Stephen Garfinkel, dean of academic affairs at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.

"Whether the Exodus happened the way it was described is irrelevant as far as the Jewish epic story; it takes on a life of its own," he said.

"The narrative without God is not of value as a theological or religious document; the narrative with God is not historically verifiable. They are two separate realms of discourse."
(The Full Story)

From the local paper, I was reading this piece this morning over crackers & Swiss cheese (just before popping in my “Mr. Majestyk” tape).

Dan