The Exodus: The Violent Jews?
The Ten Commandments has immortalised the story of Exodus us. The depictions in the movie regarding several aspects of the story has formed a sort of stereotypical image about the whole event. However, if we look beyond the movie and go back to the original text, the entire gamut of stereotypes that we have, would slowly give way. The movie depicts the a gloomy picture of the life of Israelites in Egypt and emphasizes more upon their love for peace, faith in God and almost forces us to empathise with their plight in Egypt under the oppressive pharaonic rule. Moreover, while the Israelites were fleeing Egypt, they are shown to be totally unarmed and with a little possibility of confronting the chasing army of the Pharaoh.
But was the picture so simple? Even the Book of Exodus donot have such moderate approach. Let us consider some statements in the book-- "He said to his people "These Israelites are so numerous and strong that they are a threat to us. In case of war, they might join our enemies in order to fight against us and might escape from the country" (Exodus 1:9,10)
This statement rightly suggests that the Israelites in Egypt were strong enough to challange the power of the pharaoh and that the possibility of them fighting against the pharaoh during a possible future invasion suggests Egypt might have been going thorugh a phase of civil war. The Israelites were thus armed, strong and threatend the Pharaonic government.
Moreover, there are possible clues that the Israelites already had an organised army. Often the book refers to the "Leaders of Israel in Egypt" this suggests the existence of an organised leadership who might have headed the challange against the Pharaoh.
Finally, in Exodus 13:17,18, there is a clear indication that God wants Israelites to fight the chasing Egyptian army and it clearly stated that the "Israelites were armed for battle".
If the Israelites wee renslaved by the pharaoh, why would he let them keep armaments? No statesman would dare to do that as the pharaoh was always concerned that Israelites might join the invaders against the pharaoh. If the Israelites were really subjected to extreme slavery and torture, how was it possible for them to organise an army, large enough that they would dare to confront the army of the pharaoh? My hypothesis is that, the Israelites never were slaves under the pharaonic rule. They infact were rebels, whom the pharaoh wanted to subdue. The entire depiction of slavery I think is a mere imagery through which the Israelites expressed their dislike towards the overlordship of the pharaoh. As the Indians would often refer to their lives under the British rule as "slavery", thia depiction in the Bible might have had similar implications. Finally, the pharaoh might have ousted the rebels from Egypt and might have chased them down and a fierce battle ensued.................however, the Bible is silent about the battle.
The Bible was initially written from the Jewish point of view which in the New Testament shifted towards Christ and his apostles. Every religious book upholds one clan or sect and regards the other as the tyrant or suppressor. In fact I believe that every religious book, be that the Ramayana or the Mahabharata, the Koran, the Talmud, the Bible or any other book was written simply to glorify a certain community, show that they are good and holy and the rightful heir to the "Kingdom of God". It is simply a Manichean outlook of "us" vs. "them"...the way USA has seen itself as the rightful power with the villains being initially the Nazis, then the Soviets, the Iraq and now Iran and N. Korea :) I think your analysis of the whole thing is wonderful and I fully agree with you :)
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August 14, 2007 at 11:28 AM