The Truth Is…

we chose 1447 as the date of Exodus based on a Google search for “biblical  Exodus date”  that yielded a Wikipedia article “the Exodus” Here’s what the article said:

The Bible gives a very exact date for the Exodus:
1 Kings 6:1 dates the Exodus 480 years before the construction of Solomon’s Temple.
“It happened in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Yahweh.

(Google search for “biblical  Exodus date” yielded  Wikipedia article “the Exodus” )

Equating the biblical chronology with dates in history is notoriously difficult, but Edwin Thiele’s widely accepted reconciliation of the reigns of the Israelite and Judahite kings would imply an Exodus in 1447 BC  during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III  (1479-1425 BC)

Fortunately, even the folks at Answers in Genesis agree with our date of 1447. See AIG-Date of Noah’s Flood.

“Exodus occurred therefore roughly 1,981 + 967 + 480 years ago or 3,428 years ago or 1447 BC +/- 1 year.”

Another “Proof” of the Date

Source: I don’t remember; just another misguided Christian.

The Truth Is…

The exact date of the Exodus is in dispute.
Of course the date of something that never happened SHOULD be in dispute.

Sometime after the initial quest, we did another search that discovered a later article,  written in January of 2010 by  Dennis Bratcher. It was published on the website “The Voice – Biblical and Theological Resources for Growing Christians”. The URL for the website is http://www.crivoice.org/exodusdate.html

This article, written by a Christian for Christians, starts with the observation that ….

“Fixing the date of the exodus has proven to be one of those contentious areas of biblical study that has produced two opposing views. As with many biblical historical issues, the two views are more a clash of how people view Scripture and differing methods of study based on those views than they are a result of conflicting interpretation of the historical evidence.”

What has emerged from these sometimes conflicting perspectives applied to the historical question of dating the exodus are two dates for the exodus that really represent more periods of time than exact dates. The early date is usually placed in the middle 15th century around 1440 BC, while the late date is usually assigned to the close of the 13th century around 1290 BC. The early date relies most heavily on two specific biblical passages understood literally, while the late date relies on a more general view of the nature of Scripture combined with archaeological evidence. Both views depend heavily on assumptions concerning both the nature of Scripture and the methods of study used, as well as rational deduction based on those assumptions. It is for this reason that a brief survey of the debate may help illustrate how such opposing views can arise from conflicting assumptions and methods of historical research.

Mr. Bratcher goes on to present the historical and biblical evidence for both dates. He comes to no conclusion.

See the entire article here

More Support for 1447 BCE

“The Bible, on the other hand, provides us with some very specific chronological data regarding these events. 1 Kings 6:1, a pivotal reference for all Old Testament chronology, dates the Exodus 480 years before the fourth year of Solomon, accepted by virtually all scholars as 966 BC. This places the Exodus in ca. 1446 BC; a date which agrees with the so-called Early Date for the Exodus.”

Associates For Biblical Research

2447 BCE? WTF? NFW!

Because it is so obvious that the Exodus could not have happened in 1447 BCE, a few apologists have realized that truth and tried to argue for another date. One nitwit, Gerald E. Aardsma, Ph.D.  tries to show how the Exodus occurred in 2447 BCE. “Dr. Aardsma’s chronology places the Exodus 2447+/-12 BCE Support for Aardsma’s  position is found at his website: Biblical Chronologist.

A note about Dr. Aardsma:

He has a Ph. D. in nuclear physics and has done extensive work in radiocarbon dating. He readily acknowledges the problem with the traditional date of the Exodus so he comes up with a schema that places everything 1000 years earlier.

We think that in his desperate attempt to prove another, more likely time for the Exodus, Aardsma has ignored another important biblical non event; The Flood”! Jacob arrived in Egypt 430 (400?) years before the Exodus. That would put their arrival in Egypt in 2877 BCE. Various documents put the date of the flood around 2348 BCE. See Creation.com or Answers In Genesis. So, according to this nitwit, Jacob arrived in Egypt BEFORE the flood, the flood occurred and then came the Exodus.  There, now he has just proven that the commonly accepted date for the Exodus is wrong! No problem there!