After the mobs have looted the places of the out-of-favor
wealthy and Egyptian society has fractured for the second time, the plagues hit
Egypt. Eventually, the new leadership decides that Egypt needs to cleanse
itself of all foreign influence and the departure (Exodus) begins. The Roman
historian Josephus reports that along with the Hebrews and Israelites, the
Hyksos were also expelled in that departure.
Once again, if this was an ideological revolution, it is
possible that some Egyptian priests told their people to give back whatever they
took from the "foreigners" because it was "evil" and tainted by their "foreign
god." In the middle of ideological madness, Egyptians may have thrown such
things at the people as they left.
When Akhenaten asks for Moses' blessing, it may have been
because Akhenaten knew he would soon die. His illusions of God-like power were
gone and Akhenaten knew the priests would kill him for what he had done to
them.
Demonizing Egypt
As a final point to consider, it is interesting to note how
often -- after Moses -- the Bible hammers down on the idea that things were very,
very bad in Egypt and equally condemning the Israelites' "idol worshiping"
ancestors, the Hebrews.
The Israelites and later Jews have been oppressed by many
different groups at many times in their long history. But in the Bible, the
Egyptian experience is constantly recalled and demonized. What this narrative
and the evidence for it suggests, however, is that this is another example of
Israelite politics at work. When something bad happens, people know that bad
thing happened and recalling it once is enough.
But when people have to be taught, over and over, that there
is only one way of looking at some event, it is always because there is a
strong counterview that is being repressed.
With the end of the covenant of Goshen in Egypt, the
multitude had to put their faith in Moses and the idea that God would give them
a second gift of a homeland. But many in the multitude must have lost whatever
faith they had and deserted Moses over the many years in the desert. This is
likely the source of Jewish tradition which says 90% of the people "stayed
behind" and died in Egypt after Moses left. It may also explain the sudden rise
in the Indo-European population in regions of Mesopotamia at this time.
Two Lasting Ironies
While wandering in the desert, Moses and his supporters
tried to keep people focused on the new land of "milk and honey" that lay ahead
by demonizing what lay behind. This was the start of the dominance of the
Israelites and the suppression of the Hebrew traditions and history. Individual
worship and a personal relationship with God were placed under a new structure that
included hundreds of religious laws, mandatory temple worship and a tribe of
born-priests similar to that of India's Brahmans.
Joseph's older covenant, and the Hebrew ways of
individualism and tolerance of other ways of understanding God, would be
replaced by the God of Joseph's jealous and suspicious brothers who never
apologised for what they did to Joseph but happily profited by his forgiveness
and generosity.
Most people think that the story of the Golden Calf - when
the Hebrews and Israelites fashion a Golden Cow to be used in their worship
while they are in the desert -- is one of "evil" Egyptian influence that is
righteously crushed and punished by God. This story is considered pivotal in
Jewish history, and some Jewish scholars claim every evil that has fallen on
the Jewish people stems from this one, never-to-be-forgotten offence against
God.
But a careful reading of the story shows this is not the
case.
The Golden Calf
Here are the quick facts presented in the Bible story.
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