Separating Biblical Mythology from Biblical History

[av_layout_row border=” min_height_percent=” min_height=’0′ color=’main_color’ mobile=’av-flex-cells’ id=” av_element_hidden_in_editor=’0′ mobile_breaking=” av-desktop-hide=” av-medium-hide=” av-small-hide=” av-mini-hide=” av_uid=’av-797rfp’]

[av_cell_one_fifth av_uid=’av-5be9bp’]

[/av_cell_one_fifth][av_cell_three_fifth av_uid=’av-4d6wmd’]

[av_image src=’https://emanuelnyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Jerusalem_Post_Logo.jpg’ attachment=’10635′ attachment_size=’full’ align=’center’ styling=” hover=” link=’manually,http://’ target=’_blank’ caption=” font_size=” appearance=” overlay_opacity=’0.4′ overlay_color=’#000000′ overlay_text_color=’#ffffff’ copyright=” animation=’no-animation’ av_uid=’av-jmrtexi9′ custom_class=’https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Separating-biblical-mythology-from-biblical-history-587828′ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_image]

[/av_cell_three_fifth][av_cell_one_fifth vertical_align=’top’ padding=’30px’ background=’bg_color’ background_color=” background_gradient_color1=” background_gradient_color2=” background_gradient_direction=’vertical’ src=” background_attachment=’scroll’ background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ link=” linktarget=” link_hover=” mobile_display=” av_uid=’av-2fl4ad’]

[/av_cell_one_fifth][/av_layout_row][av_layout_row border=” min_height_percent=” min_height=’0′ color=’main_color’ mobile=’av-flex-cells’ id=” av_element_hidden_in_editor=’0′ mobile_breaking=” av-desktop-hide=” av-medium-hide=” av-small-hide=” av-mini-hide=” av_uid=’av-797rfp’]

[av_cell_one_fifth av_uid=’av-5be9bp’]

[/av_cell_one_fifth][av_cell_three_fifth av_uid=’av-4d6wmd’]

[av_hr class=’invisible’ height=’20’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’ custom_border=’av-border-thin’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_border_color=” custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ icon_select=’yes’ custom_icon_color=” icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-2ur12d’ custom_class=” admin_preview_bg=”]

[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” av_uid=’av-jmrt0zsw’ custom_class=” admin_preview_bg=”]
By Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson

Published in The Jerusalem Post, Opinion section – April 24, 2019

Eighteen years ago this week, Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles stunned many in his congregation. “The truth is,” he announced, “virtually every modern archaeologist who has investigated the story of the Exodus, with very few exceptions, agrees that the way the Bible describes the Exodus is not the way it happened, if it happened at all” (Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times, April 13, 2001).

Quite a provocative assertion on Passover, the festival recalling Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, but also a fact long acknowledged by many biblical scholars and historians.

No extrabiblical evidence verifies the Bible’s account of the Exodus. If a small band of refugees fled Egypt (some scholars suggest it was the tribe of Levites to which Moses is linked), the much greater mass of would-be Israelites was already living in Canaan, a population that had perhaps liberated the land as a suzerainty of the Pharaoh.

Continue reading original article…
[/av_textblock]

[/av_cell_three_fifth][av_cell_one_fifth vertical_align=’top’ padding=’30px’ background=’bg_color’ background_color=” background_gradient_color1=” background_gradient_color2=” background_gradient_direction=’vertical’ src=” background_attachment=’scroll’ background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ link=” linktarget=” link_hover=” mobile_display=” av_uid=’av-2fl4ad’]

[av_hr class=’invisible’ height=’70’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’ custom_border=’av-border-thin’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_border_color=” custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ icon_select=’yes’ custom_icon_color=” icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-2ur12d’ custom_class=” admin_preview_bg=”]

[av_image src=’https://emanuelnyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/doc_1277-e1556221207476-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’10628′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’center’ styling=” hover=” link=” target=” caption=” font_size=’10’ appearance=’on-hover’ overlay_opacity=’0.4′ overlay_color=’#000000′ overlay_text_color=’#ffffff’ copyright=” animation=’fade-in’ av_uid=’av-juxbgu08′ custom_class=” admin_preview_bg=”]
Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson
[/av_image]

[/av_cell_one_fifth][/av_layout_row]

Related Posts

Mamdani’s Anti-Israel Animus is Spreading Over the summer I visited with a group of congregants and asked them about their foremost communal concerns. The most...

Dear Temple Emanu-El Families, There is something remarkable about the way we tell the stories of Abraham and Sarah. We know their names, their journeys,...

Dear Temple Emanu-El Families, I’ve been thinking this week about what it means to help a child feel safe. Not just physically safe, but the...