INDEX... (text)

The Campaign to Impeach George W. Bush
Click here for more information


DID MOSES WRITE
EXODUS IN THE BIBLE?



Contradictory accounts of how Moses led the Exodus from Egypt
Multiple sources and variant traditions


      If Moses wrote the two stories of the Exodus from Egypt found in the Torah in the Bible, the it must be explained why their are contradictions in that history. The existence of sources in the Torah indicate that there was more than one author at work coming from various different traditons.

      The accounts of the sojourning out of slavery in Egypt and into the promised land are given in different versions in the Pentateuch. In the book of Genesis we are introduced to the people of Edom, a country bordering ancient Israel.

"The district of Seir is Edomite territory." (Genesis Chapter 32 verse 3)

      In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses is portrayed as saying:

"The descendants of Esau who live in Seir granted us passage, and so did the Moabites in Ar...But King Sihon of Heshbon refused to grant us passage." (Deuteronomy Chapter 2 verse 29)

      The book of Exodus is in agreement with this version of events.

"The chiefs of Edom were dismayed, trembling seized the leaders of Moab. Through the might of your arm they stayed stone still while your people passed, Lord, while the people whom you made passed by." (Exodus Chapter 15 verse 15)

      According to Deuteronomy the encounter with the Edomites and Moabites was uneventful and peaceful, for it was the plan of God to send the people to battle with the Amorites.

"And command the people, 'you are about to pass through the territory of your brethren the sons of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So take good heed; do not contend with them; for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on ... And YAHWEH said to me, 'Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle ... and when you approach the frontier of the Ammonites, do not harass them ... Rise up, take your journey, and go over the valley of the Arnon; behold, I have given into your hand the Amorites ... contend with them in battle." (Dueteronomy Chapter 2 verse 4, 9, 19, 24)

      The book of Numbers was also allegedly composed by Moses (although, like most of the other books, Moses is referred to in the second person). In Deuteronomy we are told that the Edomites 'consented' and in Exodus we are told that they were scared to death, and 'stayed stone still while the people passed by.' In Numbers we are given a different version of what took place.

"From Kadesh, Moses sent envoys to the King of Edom, saying 'Grant us, we ask, passage through your country.' But the Edomites answered, 'you shall not cross our land. If you do, we will march out and attack you.' The Israelites said, 'But, we shall keep to main road. If we drink your water, we will pay for it. Ours is a trifling request. We would simply cross your land on foot.' But the Edomites refused and marched out with an army in full strength. Israel turned and went a different way." (Numbers Chapter 20 verse 14)

      The version of events given in the book of Judges also holds to this scenario and contradicts the versions presented in Exodus and Deuteronomy.

"When they came up from Egypt, they sent envoys to the King of Edom asking him to grant passage through his country, but he would not consent. The King of Moab also would not agree, so Israel remained at Kadesh. They then journeyed through the wilderness, skirting Edom and Moab." (Judges Chapter 11 verse 16)

     The account of the journey is given in conflicting versions. You can compare this to one description of an event that states that a certain party went to Bonn, Madrid and then Barcelona, and another which states that they went to London, Paris, and then onto Rome, and they avoided Madrid and Barcelona. This is the actual state of affairs in the Torah. The version in Judges summarizes the Numbers account, and it stands in sharp contradiction to the Deuteronomy narrative, in that the entire book of Deuteronomy takes place in the country of Moab. It is obvious that 'the Moabites consented' and far from avoiding the territory of Moab 'and going a different way' the people spent a considerable amount of time in Moab, and even buried Moses in Moab, according to Deuteronomy.


The Campaign to Impeach George W. Bush
Click here for more information


MORE PAGES LIKE THIS ONE: DID MOSES WRITE THE BIBLE?

RELATED ESSAYS

Was Moses the single author of the Torah? Topical index.

The Exodus story of the Golden calf, and the two versions of the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments

Contradictions on the inerrancy of the Torah in the Gospel of Matthew

The radical prophets and the early church rejected Moses as the author of the Torah

The late dating of the composition of the Torah. When were the Torah laws composed?

Two separate traditions describe the Exodus from Egypt

For summary of what I believe and why I believe it, visit my Site Summary page...


PREVIOUS PAGE: Moses. Topical Index

INDEX... (text)       HOME       TORAH INDEX ...(text)

NEXT PAGE: Historical contradictions, politically motivated
editing in the story of Balaam

EMAIL





A Unified Field Theory

 failed_gravity_theory.gif - 10361 Bytes



The Unified Field Theory
is also available as a zip file -> unified.zip

Introduction :The Pioneer Effect and the New Physics. A brief description of the new physics required to explain the 'Pioneer Effect', which is the constant deceleration of space craft as they fly through space.







Principles of Evolution: A Study in the Evolution of Bedbugs


A couple of years ago my bedroom was invaded by bedbugs. There were two variant genetic lines. One type of bedbug was an enlongated, thin, tubular insect, and the second genetic line was a flat, perfectly circular insect. The result of the cross breeding of these two genetically distinct variants was the production of a bedbug with charcteristics of both, an enlongated, flat bedbug with a central bulge (such that the shape of the bedbug was somewhere between 'long' and 'circular'). The long skinny bedbugs were such strange and unfamiliar looking insects that at first I did not recognize them as being bedbugs, and considered them to be a seperate species of insect. However, as the photographs of bedbugs above indicate, enlongated and skinny bedbugs are not uncommon, and the photographs also show the variants that are produced by genetic combinations that result in an insect somewhere in between 'circular' and 'enlongated'.

Therefore it is my hypothesis that evolution occurs by means of the transfer of dominate genes, with the production of such dominant genes being the product of 'biological algorithms', a genetic software program that brings physical characteristics into harmony with behavior, such that when behavior changes, and a conflict then exists, this acts as a trigger and causes the release of dominant genes. The result is rapid evolution of species. The bedbug is a relatively new insect, not the product of millions of years of evolution but rather an insect that is evolving in real time. The newly emerging dominant form of the insect is the flat, round ciruclar insect, well adapted to living in human bedrooms (it is flat, rather than tubular, thus allowing it to hide in the smallest cracks, living a stealthy lifestyle, and it is round, which gives the insect a maximum storage capacity such that it must endanger itself only a few times a month by emerging to feed.

Other examples of rapid evolution include the development of long legs in an invasive species of toad in Australia. As the toads move into the mountainous regions of Australia, and their behvaior changes, making them 'climbing toads', over the course of just a couple of decades the toads in the highlands have grown long legs specially adapted to climbing. It is worth noting here that the toads are poisonous, and are a successful invasive species because they have no natural predators in Australia, and so it would not be the case that the toads with long legs were 'the fittest survivors', because all the toads are survivors, and therefore predation does not explain the rapid emergence and spread of such well adapted, long legged toads. Once again we see evidence for the existence of biological algorithms and the rapid spread of dominant genes through a population, which once introduced proceed to overwhelm the older genes which are being replaced (making toad long legged and a bed bug round and flat).


A Theological Experiment

My interest in pursuing the Unified Field Theory is spurred on by my need to discover the theoretical explanation of a new form of propulsion (as explained on this page: Why the Unified Field Theory?). The experiment involving the bedbugs came out of nowhere.

I also believe that it is possible to justify theological propositions using experimental methods. If a thing is an objective truth then it can be verified and proven true by means of experimentation. Such a theological proposition is of more value than a ‘divine revelation’, since such revelations depend upon nothing more than establishing authority figures which requires the creation of artificial hierarchies, for the only reason why I might be encouraged to believe an authority figure who orders me to believe unsubstantiated opinions is if I could somehow be convinced that this authority possessed a mind that was somehow superior to mine, and thus was fit to express opinions as though opinions were unquestionable facts and thus worthy of being elevated to the status of absolute dogma.

There is a self evident human inequality which is visibly apparent. Some people are ‘beautiful’ and thus are the true elite on this planet, and some people are not. It is this sexual inequality and the degeneration that follows upon beauty that is the true driving force behind all the evil that happens on earth. The need for ruthless oppression and the pursuit of wealth and the consequent creation of suffering and poverty which must follow upon this practice is for the purpose of creating an artificial alpha elite.

The true elites are the young and the beautiful. The artificial elite are the rich and the wealthy. The elite aging rich artificial alpha male has no good looks, for he is physically degenerate, but he will be found escorting beauty because he has a beautiful wallet. If he loses his wallet he will be found at home with all the other unattractive aged beta males sitting in a rocking chair watching reruns of Bonanza. No money, no sex. It is for this reason that the alpha males are found to be so ruthless and so violent in pursuit of their goal. The alpha male has fallen. The beta male has arisen and now the whole planet is full of ruinous destruction for it.

We see in religion a confused and contradictory reaction to this reality. On the one hand religion preaches a sexless heaven where castration and the clitorectomy create ‘pure spirits’. Muslims throw women under sacks. On the other hand religion supports hierarchy and is the prop of the elite alpha male. It is for this reason that religion is incoherent when it comes to speaking about sex.

Now we see this same principle at work in all of nature. Guppies dance and show off their colorful tails and the guppy who dances with the most colorful tail is the sexually successful guppy. Therefore it is the doctrine of the ruthless oppressor which teaches that the solution to human sexual violence is to be found in castration and the creation of pure ghosts. This would be equivalent to damning an aardvark for having the ‘sinful aardvark nature’ or prosecuting an anteater for the high crime of ‘ant genocide’.

Therefore it was my theological hypothesis that the correct solution to this problem is to give every guppy a beautiful colorful tail. I compare this solution to the classic religious solution which is to cut off every tail since having a tail is ‘sinful’. If having a tail is sinful then God must be sinful for no human being has any choice in deciding whether or not they would be born with a colorful tail, or whether they would not.

When I was young I was a beautiful guppy with a lovely tail. So everyone seemed to think. I am older now. My nose became very badly sunburned and destroyed. It seemed good to me to test my hypothesis by using these ‘biological algorithms’ to correct this problem. I healed half my nose as you can see by the line separating the still very dark patch on the side in the photograph below.





I documented my experiment on these pages. one two t hree four fi ve six


I have confirmed to my own satisfaction that my theological proposition is correct and that religious dogma is erroneous, being based as it was upon nothing more than ‘divine revelation’ which is just a form of opinionated speculation. For the time being I am not continuing this experiment, for I must wait until the weather on this planet improves, and the dark clouds of ruthless oppression break letting a little sun shine come through so that I can show the world the truth about God, by showing people how God goes about giving an old guppy back his beautiful colorful tail.


Until then I will have to sit on the sidelines, while all my scientific breakthroughs are deliberately ignored, while I wonder to myself what ever in the world could be wrong with the human race, because what this all will prove at the end of it all is that there definitely was something wrong with the people on this planet.