The Truth: The Exodus Story

The Exodus story is an important foundational idea, however, its historicity is questionable. The Exodus from Egypt is not attested in sources outside the bible, there’s no historical record to corroborate, and the Exodus story has what Collins calls, “legendary,” and “folkloristic,” elements, in addition to being a compiled, multi-source, narrative. Although, there are aspects present which might support the Exodus such as the presence of Semitic Slaves in Egypt, “local color” within the story, and a certain presence of “historical memory,” which Collins feels exists within Exodus. Personally, I think the evidence compellingly supports a conclusion against the mass Exodus as it’s popularly described. One theory which seems more probable is that the Exodus story was inspired by smaller groups leaving Egypt over several centuries, still the evidence, or lack of evidence, suggests the nonexistence of a biblical Exodus. …show more content…
First is the simple lack of attestation outside of the bible, which makes it difficult to corroborate the story in a meaningful way and the lack of specifics such as the lack of a name for Pharaoh prevents attempts to compare the story with our historical knowledge. The second is the difficulty of reconciling the story with what historical data we do have, for instance, that the Egyptians kept close control over the eastern border and also were diligent record keepers. Two facts which are difficult to rectify with the existence biblical Exodus since they both suggest there would be some record or notable evidence if the event did occur. Furthermore, the archaeological evidence doesn’t support the idea that early Israel was made up of people who had escaped from