The Science of Exodus:
goshen
The Brink of Slavery
Being a teen is rough these days. But it was undoubtedly rougher for Israelites about to become a slave to Pharaoh in Egypt.
Generations, Not Centuries
Aboriginal oral histories in Australia may be accurate to 13,000 years ago, say researchers. So does that mean the most boring parts of the Hebrew Bible, the endless genealogical lists or “begats,” are the most historically accurate?
Climate Plagues
A toxic algae bloom in a primary water source causes a mass die-off of amphibians, attracting insects that become vectors of disease. Changes in weather patterns bring on freak storms and an explosion of vermin, wiping out crops and livestock. The government responds to criticism with crackdowns, worsening the overall disaster. And finally, a deadly food-borne illness turns a joyful holiday into a national calamity.
All of this could be in our future. But could it also be what happened almost five thousand years ago, when the Book of Exodus tells us the plagues came to Egypt?
Pithom and ra'amses
What is a “store city,” anyway? The ancient Egyptian equivalent of a gigantic Amazon fulfillment center? Archaeologists have never found anything matching that description, in Egypt or anywhere else. Every village and town in the world has depots and repositories of various types, but – at least until very recently – there’s never been so much stuff around that you needed a metropolis to store it where people had no room to live.
So, assuming that at least part of the Exodus story contains elements of truth, the products of Israelite labor mentioned in the Hebrew Bible were more likely to be city-sized storage facilities within much larger municipalities than actual “store cities.” But that still begs the question of where Pithom and Rameses were located.
After more than a century of searching, now we know.