By Ezzat
I was reading this book that makes some very wild claims concerning bible stories, especially the old testament variety.
The thesis is that the stories might have taken place but the geographical location is Yemen and Arabia not Egypt nor Palestine. That the Egyptian geography is a fraud by the scribes who translated the Hebrew Bible to Greek.
He also argues that Egypt was the land of the Copts not Misr/ Mizrain ( all Arabic names). In his view, to do justice to the Torah, it should be returned to its true site, that’s Arabia. He even says the reason the Quran’s seeming similarity with the Torah is not because Mo copied but because they share the same cultural origins: violence, tribalism and slavery that’s why these themes take prominent stage in these books.
On the other hand, the land of the pyramids knew no slaves. And no prolonged droughts. Nor is it conceivable that in 400 years, the Egyptians were not affected by these goat herders. Egypt makes no mention of these goat herders and even the exodus is unknown to Egypt.
It seems to me, a lot of work needs to go into verifying this thesis. Maybe if this happens, those guys fighting may learn to live in peace given they share the same cultural heritage.
Or better still, they all concede it’s myth, and turn the page.
LikeLiked by 1 person
which is the easier bit. but people are rarely moved by facts
LikeLike
Not when they don’t serve the needs.
LikeLike
Hey, Mr. Z….have a recommendation for you. Philip is a sci fi writer and very, very British blogger who almost kind of sort of reminds me of your style. I put in a plug for TOAIN, but check out his site.
http://thecurmudgeonly.blogspot.com/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cool, I’ll check him out. Thanks.
LikeLike
I agree with your thought that the subject needs further examination. For far too long, too many have suffered because of false beliefs or misrepresented facts and geography. It all makes better sense to me. Naked hugs!
LikeLike
yes, indeed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The stuff I’ve read (Israel Finkelstein) notes that the Exodus narrative overall is preoccupied with the middle eastern world in the 8th century BCE, rather than the one in the 13th-15th century BCE. Canaan in that earlier period was a province of the Egyptian empire. If Moses led the slaves out of Egypt, Joshua led them right back in. Neither Exodus nor Joshua is backed up by archaeology.
But apparently there are reasons to suspect that the cult of Yahweh came up through Edom from Midian in northwest Arabia. Although that would have been something like two millenia before Muhammad, a long stretch for it to have been the same culture that generated both.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It’s much simpler to just call it a so so story and move on. This way it is much closer to the facts
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have read it was all cooked up after the return from the Babylonian captivity to justify the reestablished rule (as tax farmers/collectors for the Persian King) of the Hebrew elites over the peasantry that had not been removed during the conquest. They needed a glorious history to justify their role and their rule.
LikeLike
I would do the same if I could rewrite history
LikeLike
[…] I am on Quora and I get weekly digests in mail. Today I see the question where are pyramids not mentioned in the OTย and I recalled I had written about it. In the post I wrote, the author argued that the bible authors were never in Egypt … […]
LikeLike