Exodus Part One: Hebrews/Israelites in Egypt

Working backwards from Ex 32:29 'there fell of the people that day about three thousand men', might suggest a different interpretation of 'thousands' as 'families'.. Unless we are talking about three 'families' slain by the sons of Levi? Obviously, 2-3 million people plus livestock couldn`t survive on the water available in their travels, manna or no manna. In WW1, the British Army had to pipe water from the Sweetwater Canal to sustain 50,000 men at one of the most plentiful oases on the line of march into Palestine (From Suez to Aleppo-Keogh)

C`mon, Ray, get real. While artifacts may be misinterpreted, they don`t change. Which of your literary masterpieces exists in the original? You are using versions of versions.

Hi, Jar, the odd thing about the Santorini eruption (circa 1615-1645B.C.) is how little impact it made on Middle East peoples. Apart from the Minoans, you would think it passed unobserved. With a VEI (Volcanic Explosivity Index) of 6-6.9, or approximately the size of Krakatau in 1883,with the widespread effects there, and ashfall deposits found as wide afield as Egypt through to eastern Turkey, surely nations would have experienced atmospheric effects at the very least. Acid ice-cores dating to 1615 B.C. were recovered from Greenland drilling programs, indicating the potential for crop changes. But, the Hebrews in Egypt never noticed them. But, then, they never noticed the Pyramids, the Sphinx, annual flooding of the Nile, canal irrigation,large ships, even the development of superb glass-making or metal-working. Almost like they weren`t there.

Hi, MT, rather than exploit settled areas, don`t you think nomads living off marginal lands might be forced into formerly lush country in search of sustenance? Nomadic existence is borderline at most times, and failure of grazing and water would make the tribes move into areas they knew would support their livestock as well as themselves. Finkelstein (The Bible Unearthed) talks of evidence of an annual migration by desert-dwellers to agricultural villages to trade grain for animal products. Maybe the pressure of existence as a result of Santorini caused the nomads to overrun their former trading partners?

Unless the Hebrew 'msrym' refers to Misramah in Asir, not Egypt.

Trouble is, if you fiddle with numbers, how many were slain at Mt. Sinai, 3000 or 30 or 3?(Ex 32:29) Then again, the breeding program must have kicked in to produce the tribal roll-call in Numbers:26