From: ben (ben@machinegod.org)
Date: Tue May 07 2002 - 12:12:15 MDT
[kharin]
I recently heard that there is some archaeological evidence that the
Egyptians did not use slavery in the construction of the pyramids. Given
that, I was wondering if the biblical account of the slavery of the
Israelites in Egypt might not also be questionable (particularly as I seem
to recall that there are more than few areas where Egyptian history
contradicts the Bible). Do you know anything about this Hermit?
[ben]
I'm not Hermit, but here's my 2cents anyways...
In the Ritual book for the Jewish holiday of Passover, when the story of the
Exodus is retold, there is this paragraph (not all copies of the book, or
"Haggaddah", are identical, phraseology differs substantially but the basic
meaning is the same):
[quote]Liberation is not possible until we become aware of our oppression.
It is said that the Children of Israel had become content to stay in Egypt.
Until they realized that they were slaves, they could not free themselves.
[/quote]
The actual verse in Exodus that this common theory seems to derive from is
6:9 -
[quote]9: Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel; but they did not listen
to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel bondage. [/quote]
Now if you're willing to assume that the "because of their broken spirit and
their cruel bondage" part is a matter of perspective and/or conscious,
intentional 'spin', what we have left is a reference to the Israelites being
offered their 'freedom' and turning it down (for whatever reason).
If the archaelogical evidence is the same evidence I am thinking of (the
discovery of a worker's camp near one of the pyramids, complete with
skeletal remains of workers who had enjoyed benefits typically not available
to slaves ie reparative surgery and decent food/accomodations), then the
above seeems to fit. Perhaps they weren't thought of as slaves, and perhaps
they themselves didnt even think they were slaves, until some person or
group of people started convincing them that they were. Or - if they were
slaves, they were treated much better than slaves of that time and culture
typically were.
-ben
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