**This response is a good demonstration of how to ask a questioner for clarification and/or further information while also still providing a helpful general answer. **
Question: How should Christians treat the fact that there is an agreement amongst mainstream scholars that the Exodus didn’t happen?
Answered by: Austin Chadwick, who has been a volunteer with us since October, 2016 and previously for 9 months in 2013.
Answer: Thanks for sharing this thoughtful question!
Since you did not share the source for your assertion that there is “agreement amongst mainstream scholars that the Exodus didn’t happen,” I tried a Google search on that phrase and had trouble finding anything concrete enough to have a good discussion about. Instead of me speculating on your source and your source’s justification for their claim and then responding to that potential straw man, can you share your source for that assertion? If possible, please share a source that not only makes this claim but also provides reasons including why they think there is this kind of agreement amongst scholars (e.g. they cataloged the views of all/most scholars in some way) and the specific reasons as to why the Exodus did not happen.
From my experience, getting to the bottom of why scholars hold a view is very fruitful since it can be for a handful of reasons that can be surprising. For example, I know of cases where historians hold that certain events did not happen not because of the historical data (e.g. lack of archeological evidence, lack of multiple attestations by ancient historians) but because of philosophical assumptions (e.g. this event could not possibly have occurred even if there is good historical evidence because it is supernatural). Other times it does come down to the historical data. Thus getting to the bottom of your source and their reasons I think would be best for our discussion.
Looking forward to hearing back from you!
– Austin at Got Questions Ministries
**This is the follow-up to the question above. While we do not typically recommend copying multiple outside sources or using links to multiple outside sources, here is an example of where doing so was warranted; the sources were properly acknowledged; and the response is still personal, biblical, and works well.**
Follow-up Question: Hi this is a follow up to our discussion on the Exodus. Here is link for my source and the source has links to other sources. http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Evidence_for_the_Exodus #Mainstream_scholarly_consensus
Answer: Thanks so much for the follow up and the supporting detail!
This subject is a huge can of worms and so it seems that all that can be done is to get the discussion going with only some of the details and then follow up on more as needed (e.g. ask again for more details on something through the Got Questions question form).
First off, from the citations in http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Evidence_for_the_Exodus#Mainstream_scholarly_consensus I do not see anything that clearly states consensus among scholars. From what I can tell it finds at least some scholars that claim it did not happen. However, if I am misreading this, please let me know. As you are going to see, from my research thus far I find other legitimate well educated scholars in the field who disagree and present data for their claims. Furthermore, it would be a logical fallacy to determine truth by popular vote among scholars. Plus there are sociological pressures for scholars especially when it relates to naturalism/anti-supernaturalism (e.g. see the Ben Stein movie Expelled). Thus, the right thing to do is take a look at the data (e.g. thankfully made more available to us by scholars) and objectively evaluate the arguments and evidence for yourself.
Second, I interpret the wiki’s main justification for there being no Exodus is that there is not found “any evidence whatsoever for the events of Exodus.” However, here are some sources that present historical data that contradicts that claim:
· https://www.theologynetwork.org/the-bible/the-factual-reliability-of-the-old-testament.htm by Dr. Kitchen
o Exodus 1:11’s accurate knowledge of the “The city of Ramesses’
o Exodus’s detailed knowledge of the Nile’s activity which could not have been known if written much later and far away from Egypt like the wiki’s sources claim
o Exodus’s detailed knowledge of geography from Egypt to Canaan and military outposts that did not exist at later times
o “The ‘law’ at Sinai (Exodus-Leviticus), renewed in Moab (Deuteronomy) and celebrated in Canaan (Joshua 24), shows the layout and profile of treaties, laws and covenants current in the late 2nd millennium (around 1400-1200 BC), and not of later times”
o “The Tabernacle used wholly 2nd-millennium (and especially Egyptian) design, with its constructional framework plan of outer room and inner sanctum, with rectangular court around it.”
· “THE RELIABILITY OF EXODUS” by Dr. Bergen in Apologetics Study Bible
o ‘Linguistic evidence for an early date of composition is also found in the archaic uses of certain terms, particularly the third-person singular feminine pronoun.’
o “Some nineteenth-century skeptics rejected Mosaic authorship because they believed that Semitic writing systems had not been devised at the time he was alive. However, archaeological evidence has dispelled that objection; Semitic inscriptions written at least a hundred years earlier than Moses have been discovered in the Sinai desert.”
· “Is the Old Testament Trustworthy?” by Dr. Kaiser in Apologetics Study Bible
o “In like manner, where the OT claimed there were peoples such as the Hittites or the Horites, later finds vindicated the presence of these as well as other allegedly missing peoples. A similar list of allegedly missing places could be gathered, such as the land of Ophir or the sites along the Transjordanian route of the wilderness wanderings. But once again archaeology has given great help. ‘
o “At the heart of this theory was the book of Deuteronomy, which critical scholars claimed was first written in 621 B.C., when King Josiah found the Book of the Law. But Deuteronomy exhibits the literary format that is unique to the middle of the second millennium B.C. Hittite suzerainty treaties (c. 1200–1400 B.C.), the same six sections of those treaties being found in the book of Deuteronomy. Had Deuteronomy been compiled in the first millennium (621 B.C.), as the critics claim, it would resemble instead the Assyrian treaties that had by that time deleted two of the six sections. Thus, according to the literary forms and criteria of the critics themselves, the key book in the disputed first five books must be placed in the days when Moses lived (i.e., around 1400 B.C.).”
· “How Has Archaeology Corroborated the Bible?” by Dr. Kaiser in Apologetics Study Bible
o “Over the last century or so, archaeology has strengthened the case for biblical reliability. Missing individuals, peoples, places, and obscure customs, historical, and political settings have been helpfully identified.”
o “Until Hugo Winckler discovered the Hittite Empire in 1906, many unbelievers doubted the Bible’s insistence that the Hittites were part of the land of Canaan (Gn 10:15; Jos 1:4). Now they are so well documented that a score of volumes has been necessary to build a Hittite dictionary based on the tablets left in their civilization. Another mystery group were the Horites, descendants of Esau from Edom (Gn 36:20; Dt 2:12, 22). But in 1995 Giorgio Buccellati discovered the Horite capital city beneath the modern Syrian city of Tell Mozan.”
o “Another example is the disputed list of sites along the route of the exodus in Numbers 33. But Charles Krahmalkov noted three ancient Egyptian maps of the road from Arabah to the Plains of Moab, with the earliest of the three maps inscribed on the walls of Karnak in the reign of Thutmosis III (c. 1504–1450 B.C.). According to this list, the route from south to north follows precisely the way the Israelites listed in Numbers 33 with four stations especially noted: Iyyim, Dibon, Abel, and Jordan.”
· http://www.blogos.org/theologyapologetics/evidence-exodus.php
· https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-reliable.html
If any item cited here counts as evidence, then it disproves the claim of the wiki that there is no evidence at all. Furthermore, if most of the evidence is valid, then there is a strong cumulative historical set of data that makes the hypothesis likely that the Exodus really occurred.
Third, another less direct case can be made for the reliability of the OT that if true leaves with us excellent reason to have confident trust in the entire Old Testament (OT) including the Exodus. What follows is the outline of the argument with links to more detailed scientific, historical and philosophical arguments under each proposition. This is just an intro but hopefully gets across the idea and gives material to dig into more if desired.
1.) God exists
a. http://www.reasonablefaith.org/media/the-evidence-for-god-imperial-college-London
b. https://youtu.be/DRYgBEXkI88
c. http://www.reasonablefaith.org/media/craig-vs-rosenberg-purdue-university
2.) God publicly gave his stamp of approval on the truth of the teaching and claims of Jesus by raising him from the dead
a. http://www.reasonablefaith.org/jesus-resurrection
b. https://youtu.be/BVb3Xvny8-k
c. https://youtu.be/8TjL-HHvbvo
d. http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/criswell_theol_review/1989-fall_jesusresandcontempcrit_pt1.htm
e. http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/criswell_theol_review/1989-fall_jesusresandcontempcrit_pt2.htm
f. http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/areopagus_jesusinspirationscripture/areopagus_jesusinspirationscripture.htm
3.) Jesus taught/believed that the Old Testament of the Bible (OT) was reliable and was God’s word
a. http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/areopagus_jesusinspirationscripture/areopagus_jesusinspirationscripture.htm
b. More of my own data can be given on (2) and (3) if interested.
If the OT is true, then the Exodus really occurred since the OT contains the Exodus events.
Thus, given this data, it appears to me that the best explanation of the evidence is that the Exodus did occur. More significantly, if item (2) above is true, this also has huge implications for life today (e.g. salvation and eternal life is available to you right now… see section below my signature for more on this).
Thoughts? If you have objections, can you please state your evidence and data? Also, you may have more specific and detailed questions in response. Or, you may want more detail on your original question. If that is the case, you are welcome to ask again through the Got Questions form.
Hope this helps and God bless!
– Austin at Got Questions Ministries
