Science and The Bible

The Exodus 1

   Most historians have placed the Biblical Exodus in the 13^th century b.c. for reasons they believe to be accurate.The period was given using known dates from the Bible,and applying them to events from nations outside Israel,mainly Egypt.Those dates were again applied to unknown dates in the Bible.It has created enough confusion,that many people do not believe the Exodus even occurred,but to place the blame on the Biblical scribes is unfounded,especially in making the claim they fabricated their history.Archeologists have placed the date of Abraham’s journey to Canaan,around 2,000 b.c.That is most likely accurate,but it poses a problem for Biblical events that follow,if Bible chronology is based on a 13^th century date.The destruction of some of the cities in Canaan,does not fall into the time frame,given by historians, of the crossing of the Jordan river.Evidence from Jericho,for instance,show that the city would have been in ruins for 200 years,if Joshua arrived in in Canaan during the reign of the Egyptian Merneptah,as History implies..The dates for it’s destruction is most likely correct,also,which places the Bible in doubt to those who attempt to find fault with it.These are not contradictions as they appear to be,but mistakes in interpretation and translation.With a knowledge of history,as well as the meaning of the scriptures,the Bible can be shown to be accurate as well as in harmony with history. We are told in Genesis, 15:13 “Then the LORD said to Abram, "Know of a surety that thy seed shall will be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serves them, and they shall be afflict them for four hundred years,15:16 but in the fourth generation they shall come hither again,for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” And Exodus,12:41,”And it came to pass at the end of four hundred and and forty.Years,even the selfsame day,it came to pass that all the hosts of the Lord went out of the land of Egypt.” Because of a seemingly contradiction,in four hundred years and four generations,many have settled on a meaning that is most suited to their belief.Bible scholars have claimed that in that particular instance a generation was one hundred years.It appears that way when the genealogy in Exodus 6 is read,but the theory is not Biblical.The scriptures,in Genesis,however do not claim that the Israelites would be in Egypt for four hundred years,but that they would serve a strange nation for four hundred years.The Hebrews were serving Egypt,from the day that Abraham entered Canaan. Egypt had been in control of Canaan and parts of Syria,before Abraham,and still controlled it when Joshua crossed the Jordan river.There is no reason to believe a generation was one hundred years at that time,when it was not that long anywhere else in the Bible.A generation was counted as much less than a century shortly after the flood,and there's no reason to believe it was longer during the Exodus and then became less again after the Exodus.The four generations,which were actually spent under Egyptian rule,but not in the country of Egypt,began with Levi ,his sons and his brothers.Although the Hebrews had been in Canaan for over two hundred years,they were strangers,because the country did not belong to them,and would not until the iniquity of the Amorites was full The generations of Levi can be figured fairly close,with what the Bible gives us.The generations in Genesis can be figured at 215 years from the covenant with Abraham to the time Israel went to Egypt.Abraham,we are told was 75 when he left Haran,and he died at the age of 175,Gen.12:4 and Gen25:7, giving him 100 years in Caanan.Isaac,the son of Abraham,was born when Abraham was 100.Gen.21:5.Isaac would have been 75 when Abraham died.Isaac was sixty years old when his twin sons,Esau and Jacob were born.They would have been 15,when Abraham died. Jacob went to Egypt when he was 130 years old,Gen.47:9.That comes to a total of 215 years in Caanan.The time spent in Egypt can also be figured fairly close.The table of genealogies in Exodus 6:16-20 offers some help.When Jacob entered Egypt, He brought with him his sons,one of which was Levi.Levi also brought his sons with him. Gen.46:11.One of them was Kohath,who was to be the grandfather of Moses.Moses was the fourth generation of those who came to Egypt.We can already see that it would be difficult for them to have been in Egypt 430 years.The Bible helps by giving the ages of each head of Family when they died.Levi died at 137 and according to the story of Jacob and Laban Gen.29: and Gen.30:1- 38 Gen.30:1-38,Levi could be no more 6 or 7 years older than Joseph. All but one of Jacob's sons were born within a fourteen year period, Gen. 29: 15 Gen.31-41. Levi was the third and Joseph was the 10th. Jacob had no twins.If Joseph was 17 when he was taken to Egypt,Levi was 23 or 24.Kohath would have been very Young.At the death of Levi,Kohath would have been no older than 114,if He had been born when Levi was 1. At the extreme end,Kohath would have been in Egypt no longer than 110 years,having died at 133.Realistically it would have been much less.Amram could not have been in Egypt more than 137 years,if he were born when Kohath was 1.That leaves a possibility of as much as 247 years.We know that Moses was 80,when he left Egypt,Exodus 7:7,making a possibility of no more than 327 years in Egypt.Allowing for a more reasonable age to father a son,this can be reduced to somewhere around 280 years.This could possibly have been rounded off to 300 years but not 400,or 430.It's clear that each genaration could not have been calculated at a hundred years each.
     The Dead Sea Scrolls contain a manuscript, that refer to the time spent in Egypt.It appears as if it had been written by Levi himself.It instructs his children and Grandchildren to teach the Korah as his brother Joseph had done.It was dated the 118th year of Levi.Refering to his brother in past tense,implies that Joseph was already dead.The scrolls also contain a text that gives the death of Amram at 136,in the 152nd year of exile.Since Moses left Egypt no later than 80 years after the death of Amram,the Israelites could not have been in Egypt longer than 232 years.The Massoretic Text is the only ancient text that suggests 430 years.The rest have placed it at 215.The historian Josephus also placed it at 215 years. The time spent in Egypt,plus the time spent in Canaan,totals 430 years the Israelites sojourned in a land that was not monotheist Exodus did not end their servitude, to Egypt,but it was the beginning of having their own land.The Exodus also occurred at the time that Thutmosis,King of Egypt,ended the threat of the Amorites in Canaan in the 15^th century bce.The iniquity of the Amorites was now full.That,along with other factors,would allow the Israelites to take the city-states of Caanan away from Egypt.That would seem an impossibility,except for other events.Timing for the Israelites was everything. That is the nature of miracles.The critics,of course,doubt the validity of the stories of the patriarchs,due mostly to the belief that Israel did not exist until around the time of the divided kingdom.There is Egyptian evidence of not only a famine during the time of Abraham,but also that of Isaac.That would indicate there was an eye witness to the Biblical events during the life of Abraham.