Who was Abraham? (3)

Based on the works of scholars, who will be revealed when the blogging for this topic ends. Works of other authors may be included, but where these are done, full acknowledgement will be made.

Advice: Those who may take offence in seeing biblical (OT) quotations or liberal discussion of OT biblical characters should not read this topic.

“The Israelis journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children …..” (Exodus 12:37)

The Book of Exodus relates the preparation of the Hebraic exodus from Egypt after the Pharaoh, cowered by the 10 plagues including the death of his firstborn, gave Moses leave to lead 600,000 male Jewish slaves plus their families, totalling some two million people.

2,000,000 Hebrew slaves migrating out of Egypt!

Yet, not one mention of this monumental migration was ever recorded in Egyptian history! Not one!

“Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lords’ division left Egypt …..” (Exodus 12:40-41)

Nearly half a millennium of residence in Egypt by 2,000,000 Hebrews – again there wasn’t any Egyptian record of them! Not one!

This had been an unexplained omission of amazing proportion by the Egyptian scribes. Or, was it?

Were there Hebrews in Egypt afterall? Was there ever an Exodus?

The word ‘Egypt’ appeared in the Bible more than 750 times while ‘pharaoh’ was mentioned over 200 times. More than any of the Israelite nation’s neighbouring countries, Egypt was the most described country in the Scriptures.

Egypt – the nation that, according to the Bible, held 2,000,000 Hebrews in slavery until God instructed Moses to lead his people out of Egyptian bondage. The Egyptian pharaoh only released them after a bitter and acrimonious struggle resulting in the deaths of all Egyptian first-borns including the pharaoh’s own.

Egypt – where the Israelite people including its kings would always run to for refuge and sanctuary when threatened by other warring nations such as the Babylonians. The prophet Jeremiah threatened the Hebrews about running to Egypt for refuge when the Babylonians were advancing, by relaying God’s message: “As my anger and wrath have been poured out on those who lived in Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt” (Jer 42:18). But the Hebrews nevertheless went to seek sanctuary in Egypt, and Jeremiah, notwithstanding his own warnings, followed, purportedly to rail against the Israelites for picking up Egyptian worship (Jer 44).

Surely in Egypt there must be something to explain all those mysterious and very monumental omissions of records indicating Hebraic presence there, unless of course there was no Hebrew ever in Egypt, and thus no Hebraic exodus took place.

To be continued ........