The Devil's Gateway

"We've seen how Historical Textual Criticism began. Later, archeology comes into play, so we'll take leave of textual criticism and look at what history and archeology have to do with this.

"In the early days, everybody took the bible for historical truth, and at times teams of archeologists would go out to find what the bible said used to be there, wherever there was for them at the time. One of them was the Exodus, and the subsequent wars; like at Jericho—you know, it of the walls that came tumbling down when Joshua had his army to blow their horns.

"Let's look at 1 Kings, chapter 6, verse 1. Okay, who's my volunteer reader this time?" Annie grinned, and raised her hand. "She loves her job," Liv said with a smile. "Okay, Annie, read it."

She did.

"480 years from the Exodus to the start of Solomon's reign. Solomon's reign has been figured to have started about 970 B.C.E. . If we add 480 years to that, it places the Exodus at 1450 B.C.E., which was during the reign of Tuthmosis III who was Pharaoh between 1479 and 1425 B.C.E.," said Liv.

"History tells us that Hatshepsut reigned before him, and she—a woman, believe it or not—was a great Pharaoh. When Tuthmosis III took over at about 22 years of age, Syria rebelled thinking he was too young and fumbling to do much. Tuthmosis marched through Gaza in present Palestine, and met the rebels at Har-Megiddo, which is close to Lebanon. That means he marched right through what was supposed to be the Kingdom of Israel. It was said to be a 'golden age' for Egypt. History such as that is an objective voice in this drama, thus very believable, especially since there are records of it. Therefore, 1 Kings is not correct, for Egypt was way too strong at that time, and its kingdom went all the way to Syria at the least. Check the Internet, and you should find this is true.

"But other sources favorable to the bible's account say that the Exodus was later for the bible says in the first chapter of Exodus, verse 11, that the Hebrews were sent to build Pi-thom and Ra-am-ses. The Pharaoh Ramesses II lived between 1290 and 1224 B.C.E. Without belaboring it, Egypt was a very powerful nation, and under Ramesses II, it was as strong as ever, it's kingdom still intact. History further states that he fought a war with another power, and though each side bragged, it was probably a draw. That war was fought where one side or the other, or both, had to cross into where the Jews were supposed to be setting up. No way. Again, any internet check will tell you this.

"Further, at the end of the 1200s, The Merneptah stele tells of Ramesses II's son, Merneptah, having said that Israel's 'seed is not!', another objective historical marker that refutes Moses' Exodus and Joshua's wars.

"When archeological evidence is combined with textual criticism and history, it works to have us more than seriously question the whole Exodus, and the wars of Joshua, especially if there's also other historically objective proof. Further, another city cited as being defeated by Joshua, and every one in it killed, was the city of Ai. In their book, 'The Bible Unearthed', archeologists, Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman, write that 'Between 1933 and 1935, the French-trained Jewish Palestinian archeologist Judith Marquet-Krause carried out a large-scale excavation at et-Tell and found extensive remains of a huge Early Bronze Age city dated over a millennium before the collapse of Late Bronze Canaan. Not a single pottery sherd or any other indication of settlement there in the late Bronze Age was recovered. Renewed excavations at the site in the 1960s produced the same picture.' So, what's the truth we can infer about Joshua's wars? And what can we therefore extrapolate about the Exodus itself. More on this later.

"Questions?"

There were a lot of them, and she discussed them with us until it was time to break.

"This is so unbelievable," Caryn said. "My mind is about to explode again." We were all pretty numb from what all was covered by Liv.

* * * *

"Okay, now do you see how Historical Textual Criticism works in conjunction with archeology in this case?"

What could we do but nod in agreement?

"This questioning of the bible is important to you because some churches—primarily fundamentalist types as well as others—have banded together to defeat us in Proposition 8 using what is most likely very untrue. They say that the bible is to be taken literally. There are also others who say that the bible, especially the Old Testament, as well as some New Testament writings, are only stories to be interpreted for their meaning. These more liberal types then go and worship god as if he weren't a story, and we're to believe in one or another of their various interpretations. As far as I'm concerned, I have to say, 'How silly is that?' There would be literally millions of interpretations by their reckoning, and yet many of those people all say we should adhere to what the bible tells us. They just as well tell us to revere Bugs Bunny!

"Textual criticism has done much to expose the bible for what it truly is, but what is it truly? Or more to the point, was there ever a point to the bible? Actually, there was, at least in the Old Testament, which we'll get into next week.

"For now, let's consider the Exodus as reported in the bible."

She paused and passed around a copy of the book, 'From Eden To Exile', opened up to a page that showed Egypt, the Sinai Peninsula, Midian, Edom, Moab, and Canaan up to just past Jericho.

"Note adjoining Edom a portion that has Kadesh-barnea encircled. We all know that god was said to be very upset with his people, and had them wander for 40 years until those who did wrong in his eyes died out so they couldn't enter the promised land. Most of that is believed to have been in Kadesh-barnea. I'm not sure if Kadesh-barnea is in the Wilderness of Paran, or if the Wilderness of Paran is separate, but either way, they're one above the other with a common boundary, so it's kind of mote. So, what's wrong with that? Look at it closely, study it, and if you want to see it again, feel free to have it brought back to you."

She waited as we looked at it. Caryn was very familiar with it, at least the story, and so was Mary. Sally and I knew a little about it, but by her look, she was like me, and it was fairly new to us.

"Now we'll look at both Exodus and then the book of Numbers, which is two books after Exodus. What we'll look at is the exodus and how many were there, how many people were in it, and compare this with some historical lack of evidence, plus make a few logistical extrapolations to see if what we're told was possible.

"Annie, I'm not picking on you, but you are such a good reader," Liv smiled charmingly at her; Annie smiled back. "If you will, read from Exodus, chapter 12, verse 37."

Annie read it.

"Six hundred thousand that were men on foot, beside children! It's a small thing, but if this is the inerrant word of God, where are the women, and, as we shall see, the older people—there must have been some.

"In the book of Numbers—numbers is what it literally is for much of it—Annie, please read chapter 1, verse 3." After Annie read it aloud, Liv went on: "From twenty years old that are able to go to war! Now read verse 46 for the totals, if you please, Annie." Annie, doing as she was asked, read it, then Liv went on again.

"There were 603,550 men able to be warriors."

"If she will look at verse 47, I think Annie will agree that this did not include those of the priestly tribe of Levi," she said looking at Annie.

"That's right," Annie said.

"So they had more that were of fighting age, but not counted, as also were not counted were women and children of all tribes, including Levites who did marry and have children.

"One Internet site I had seen said that the number of Israelites in the desert was not too many, that it could be comparable to Denver. Looking up Denver, I read that the county of Denver—not just the city—had 610,345 people as of July 2009. We'll see in a minute that that's not a good comparison.

"The fighting men of Israel numbered six hundred and three thousand plus some others. Let's use their figure for a minute. These are fighting men. They were all probably married since they were old enough, so that made it one million two hundred six thousand. Use an average of 2 children per family, and that takes us up to two million, four hundred twelve thousand people. Then we add on the Levites and their families, plus a few others that were with them from elsewhere, and yes, the bible does specify them, but it's not a great number.

"What we have, in essence, is a quarter of a million people, probably more for families back then had lots of children if they could. They also had cattle, bulls that had to have cows, oxen, donkeys, goats, goods, carts maybe to carry their things on, things like tents; the bible mentioned 'herds', so there must have been quite a few, most likely more animals than people. A half a million isn't unreasonable for that many people, probably too conservative. Oh, and they were big on the lambs and goats too. This is all very reasonable, I'd think.

"Now compare it to Denver. If you divide the population of Denver into the population of Israel, you find that the Israelites had slightly more than four times as many people. That's a big difference.

"What I didn't find in that site was the fact that in Denver, there are apartments on which people are stacked one above the other just like they are here. In the desert, they had no such thing, they had tents.

"Further, Denver has dogs and cats, small birds, but most of them in the houses and apartments. The herds (let's use that word to cover them all) of over a quarter of a million had only the land, not stables or tents. That's over a half million creatures, people and animals bedding down each night.

"When they were said to be crossing the Red Sea, another site says that the wind could have lasted twelve hours, and cleared a very wide path of six miles, according to their computer model. That wind had better have lasted twelve hours, and maybe more. Okay, think of shouting from one end of the city to the other, and hoping that you heard it being said that you had to get ready, and then move out now because the Egyptians were coming.

"We can do that today, and we did it—minus the animals like cattle, oxen, donkeys, carts, etc.—when hurricane Rita blasted near Houston. They had cars which move much faster than people, and they had several outlets of high speed roads, and they all got the word in a flash via television and radio. Houston had two and a quarter million people in July, 2009, and yet they had traffic jams that stalled it all. People ran out of gas from sitting while waiting for the traffic to move. How do you think it was back then?

"Try comparing it in your mind, how Houston failed to move even in cars, and how a quarter of a million Israelites and their half a million animals and goods were supposed to hear to move out by word of mouth, and all in twelve hours on a six mile wide roadway, if indeed there was a six mile roadway cleared. Houston was stuck for a couple of days. Personally, I think it boggles the mind to try to believe that all the people could be notified by word of mouth alone, and move out quickly, even in twelve hours. There would be mass confusion, and how long do you think it would take to get the word all the way to the end of all of those people? They'd have had to have a miracle again, or maybe two or three.

"Let's suppose that they get away from the Egyptians, and are settled in the desert or wilderness. How long do you think it took each day for everyone to find a space to set up their tents and secure their animals? Very likely it would have been time to move out the next day before they all got settled. Think of how they talk these days of traffic moving like a snake, one part moving, then the rest bumping up, and so forth.

"Then too, women had to be separate in all things, private save with their husbands. Need to pee, or potty? Where do you do either if you're moving and you're a woman and you're out in the open? You're okay if you're a man, but only if you're not in the middle of a huge bunch of people. And suppose there are no bushes to hide in? There's no way to not break God's laws by the dozens each and every moment. Talk about that slowing you down as all of those people and animals try to move out.

"If they're settled down, and have eaten, and want, or need to bathe, how do they do that according to laws that keep women from being seen by any but their husbands, if they were indeed allowed to look at their wives? Remember, they're out in the desert or wilderness, and water is scarce—so scarce that Moses is said to have had to strike a rock to bring forth water.

"Okay, there's more tents, and a wide area for the women to bathe if they have any water, not to mention the men who also have to make sure they aren't seen by any woman who is not his wife. Oh, and the Law said that if a woman is menstruating, she must be apart for quite a few days. Wonder how they were supposed to have done this in the desert, or especially while traveling? And if traveling, what do they do, leave the women in there menses and have them catch up when they can after their prescribed time of separation for they had to be separated for days. And what if they're traveling and some suddenly start menstruating?

"They were said to be in that wilderness for forty years, most of it in the area of Kadesh-barnea. Yes, it's a lot of territory, but if they stay in one spot for any amount of time, think of the stink, the stagnation, from both humans and animals, at least a half a million strong all told.

"And imagine forty years of animals dying and copulating, and having babies, not to mention the women. The women had to replace those that wouldn't be allowed to see the promised land, and Numbers later on says that they did. And that dying thing of over six hundred thousand—and not a single trace has been found of them, nor of their wives which is another six hundred thousand, but who's counting, not to mention the probable million or more animals that died too. Animals don't generally live as long as humans, so where were their bones? I ask this because Finklestein and Silberman tell of finding proof of many small communities of Jews probably before they were known as Jews. If they can find those tiny communities, how could over a million people, not to mention animals, not be found? Nadda! Nothing! Zip! Now that's strange, isn't it?

"And what about the Egyptians? They drowned, right? Annie, Rachel, you two look up Exodus, chapter 14, verses 23 through 28. See if it doesn't say that the Pharaoh's army with chariots, were drowned by the Red Sea. And not one of them remained of the whole host."

Annie and Rachel agreed with Liv.

"If the Red Sea isn't so deep in places, why haven't any of the chariot of the Egyptian army been found? It seems that it should be easy to find some or wreckage of the whole host of the army. They say they know about where it happened, or close to it since there are places the computer could find that aren't so deep.

"Can you see what I'm saying though, all that was to supposed to be happening, or see them move away from it all each day because there are no sewers? Denver has sewers. Yes, it's hot out there in the wilderness, but enough to do away with all of the defecating and urinating that had to be done each day? Could they move each day far enough to resettle and do it all again, but not near to where they were before? Do the logistics not require a miracle or two, or maybe more, per day for sanitation's sake? Or how much space was taken up to set up private latrines for the women and men?

"What do you think?" she ended, looking around at us.

All of us were trying to fathom all she had laid out for us. It was mind-boggling to say the least. She was silent for a few minutes while we drank it all in.

"Ladies, I didn't see anything on the Internet talking about the sanitation problems that were inherent, but I wonder what the fundamentalist, and other believers, would say about this, how they would defend this? You can bet they would though, somehow, no matter how ridiculous.

"Any questions?"

Once more, many questions were asked, and Liv did her best to answer them, and a pretty good job she did too, for no one seemed to be doubting her.

"I will repeat what I said the first time: check me out, and see it all in your own mind, and decide for yourselves what is, and what may not be. Only you can check it out and decide. Martin Luther had good reason to believe that reason was the enemy of faith, especially if that faith might have been based on what was not true, or as presented. You have the book, or books, and you have reason, and no one here is saying you better not question or check it out.

"What I hope I've accomplished today was to show you how Historical Textual Criticism works, and how it can be tied in with archeology to get at the truth.

"As I said, next week we'll learn if there truly was a purpose to the bible to begin with, and that means starting with the Old Testament which is the anchor for Christianity and Islam. Somewhere along the line we'll also look at other archeological finds. May you enjoy your evening and tomorrow. Read and believe what you come up with logically with your reason. Till next week."

Chapter 10

It staggered our minds. We could come up with nothing to figure a way for all those people and animals, tents, and what not, to move out, and quickly. It was just about impossible to consider what the logistics had to be. Did God move them all miraculously each time they had to move, and for forty years? We even tried to imagine the county of Denver moving out, or better, the city of Houston which was nearer the same amount of people. Even with our modern ways, there would have to be many miracles, as far as we could see. Maybe we weren't looking properly, but what the bible said just didn't seem possible any way one looked at it.

We all were at Sally's and Ariel's house talking about it, but too often we fell into a dead silence. Caryn was very upset, yet her mind was pondering it all as if there was nothing else to think about.

"I'm glad we went," Sally said. "It's troubling as can be, but how could we be so blind as to believe all of what we've been told."

"That's what gets me," Caryn said sharply. "I've been fed this stuff all my life, and goodness only knows what else I'm going to find out that is a lie. We've already read a bunch of stuff in a couple of the books she suggested, and they don't ask you to just believe what they say, they give you where to look, and why, and it makes sense, but how to sort it all out? It's blowing my mind."

Mary had been looking at a bible, and she nearly gasped as she looked up sharply. "I'm looking in Numbers, and in chapter 26, it tells of another head count of warrior aged people, and they come up with 601,730. I wonder if all of those other people died and these are replacements? They had to be. And it does tell of people from other tribes being with them too."

"Yeah, and did you see how many animals they are said to have taken in chapter 31 of Numbers?" Sally asked. She had been browsing in Numbers, apparently, after seeing what Mary talked about.

"Uh-uh, how many?" Ariel asked.

"It's a little hard to read in this King James, but it looks like it says after they fought the Midianites, they took 675,000 sheep alone. Christ, no wonder Liv said it was probably very conservative to say how many animals they had if this is how many they took from the Midianites. Oh, and 61,000 asses and 72,000 beeves, it calls them, I guess meaning cows. And not to mention 32,000 women that were supposed to be virgins. Now how the hell did they know that many were all virgins? I mean, who checked them out? That's a lot of women," Sally ended.