Two Goals

1. Flaws in Progressive (Postmodernism) Assumptions
2. Is there external Egyptian evidence that renders these stories historically plausible?

Flaws in Progressive Assumptions

James K. Hoffmeier, “‘These Things Happened’ Why a Historical Exodus is Essential for Theology,” in Do Historical Matters Matter to Faith?: A Critical Appraisal of Modern and Postmodern Approaches to Scripture (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012)

The Exodus and Theology

The past 30 years have seen radical shifts in how the OT books from Genesis to 1/2 Samuel have been viewed as sources for Israel’s history, but hardest hit has been the Egypt and Sinai reports

Israel Finkelstein and Neil Silberman claimed Abraham to Moses is “a brilliant product of the human imagination” … “is not the way it happened, if it happened at all”

What’s disturbing about this trend is that some who identify themselves as a “new gen of evangelicals” and embrace the label “progressive evangelical” are accepting this revisionist agenda. Kenton Sparks points to the lack of evidence in Egypt for the exodus as reason to embrace the conclusions of critical scholarship that the exodus was not a major event at all

The 19th century source-critical consensus has completely collapsed in the past 30 years, and today there is little agreement about anything.

The reality is that historians of the ANE have often accepted the witness of written docs w/o corroborating archaeological data.

• Thutmose II invaded Canaan had no archaeological evidence
• Exodus history is rejected because of the same lack of archaeological evidence

Postmodern Hermeneutics

Post modern hermeneutics, the recent rage in many circles, and equally problematic for orthodox readings of Scripture, has had its share of detractors. Jonathan Chaves, of George Washington University, recently offered a devastating critique of postmodern hermeneutics entitled “Soul and Reason in Literary postmodern hermeneutics that cuts to the heart of deconstructionists’ agenda.

• Profoundly anti-Christian
• Are Marxists who are no longer satisfied to apply their leftist analysis to the actual world
• Deep, underlying spiritual crisis
• Only return to God will allow a return to sanity in literary criticism
• Why should evangelicals, whether scholars or lay people, want to embrace a “profoundly anti-Christian” approach to reading the Bible?

Inconsistency of the Approach

• Heiser rejects JEDP (circular reasoning)

Brad C. Sparks

• 1880 never pursued
• 70+ sources - no one ever compiled them?

Mike Chu

“These Things Happened” article

• What is “biblical theology” and “dogmatic theology”
  • Biblical theology focuses of the history of the Bible, its thematic and theological connections between the OT and NT

  • Dogmatic theology focuses on utilizing philosophical models, rational thought concerning the spiritual, and influenced by the individual’s own space, culture, time.

  • Order of these is important
• According to Hoffmeier, what discovery led to modern critical scholars to dismiss the history of Israel’s sojourn and exodus?

  Regarding the sojourn and exodus, it is not as though some new compelling archaeological discoveries were made that led to dismissing the history of the crucial…events. Rather it is the consequence of…the collapse of Enlightenment / scientific methods in the humanities and the rise of postmodern hermeneutics.

  • Substituting our experiences with the gaps
• What are some key points validating the historicity of Israel’s sojourn and exodus?
  • The strong connection of Israel to YHWH
    • Daniel Block - patrimony as an inheritance (can be taken back) dependent on relationship with YHWH
      • The gods are limited by time and space yet YHWH is omnipresent and omnipotent which is different than the Canaanite’s beliefs
      • Connection to the land is a modern concept (e.g. please bless America). Identifying marker
    • People having connection to one another
  • The format and structure of the Sinaitic Covenant matches ancient covenants from the time period
  • The laws/agreements are based on events themselves as the basis on why the Israelites should obey.
    • Based on the people’s experiences
  • The Songs of Moses, Song of Miriam, and the Song of Deborah carry “genuinely archaic” poetic structures and orthography that date as early as the 12th century BCE, comparable to Ugaritic poetry.
    • Ugaritic language was a cousin to ancient Hebrew
  • Other internal literature evidences include:
    • Prophetic literature
    • recorded statements of non-Israelites
    • internal timestamps by the writers
    • historical retrospective evidence

“The Exodus and Wilderness” article

• Ironically, the Documentary Hypothesis explanation, difference sources hypothesis, provide evidence that there was an actual exodus and wilderness journey as they agree on those details across the various “sources.”
  • “Documentary Hypothesis” - 5 books of Moses were not written by Moses:
    • J - YHWH - Strict name of God
    • D - Deuteronomy - Later time, harmony of the thoughts
    • E - Elohimist - General idea about God
    • P - Priestly - Ritual, law, casting Aaron in a positive light
    • Problematic now; not reliable now
  • Hoffmeier argued internal evidence (exodus)

• Hoffmeier points out that part of historical reconstruction is asking good questions, such as “Does evidence exist from Egyptian sources to demonstrate that Egypt was a place where pastoralist came for refuge from droughts to preserve their flocks and livelihoods?”

• What were your reactions to Hoffmeier’s data about the Israelites’ route?
  • Easiest route: close to the shoreline (military encampments, strongholds)

Egyptian Text Parallels to the Exodus

• Mention of the Divine Name in a 13th BCE “Destruction of Mankind”
• Blood on the door allusion
• “Destruction of Mankind” has striking parallels about a foreign people fleeing Egypt
• Drowning of Egyptian army is mentioned

Summary Module 10

• What is the point of Heiser’s questions regarding “Framing Historicity?”
  • Changing the focus from “it absolutely happened” to “it is plausible.” They cannot claim absolutionists
  • Are the stories reliable? Postmodern pervasive suspicions. The person becomes the source of truth
• Heiser and Hoffmeier mentions these flaws in postmodern/progressive approaches
  1. Critical scholarship doesn’t agree with itself, so how is it a reliable guide?
  2. Critical scholarship isn’t immune from its own methodology inconsistencies and hypothesis (Thutmose III invasion of Megiddo)
  3. Progressive hermeneutics arise from spiritual crisis
     • Incomplete, lots of emotions. Issues of integrity, abuse. Hurt and anger has to directed somewhere
  4. Conflict with NT theology (1 Cor 10:1)
     • What did Heiser mean by this?
     • Paul: All that happened are for our benefit

Books

• Abraham’s Silence J. Richard Middleton