Despite the manifold volumes of Christian apologetics texts lining seminary library shelves, filled with seemingly substantive proofs for every single aspect of biblical history, the truth of the matter is there are still a great many mysteries surrounding the geography, cultures, tribes, and even individuals who play a central role in the history of both Judaism and Christianity. This is never more clear than in grappling with historical evidences for the tremendously important personality we know as Moses, and the event known as the Exodus.
For all that the Old Testament says of him—his childhood and early adult years living as an Egyptian in the royal house, his slaying of the task master, down to the plagues he announced, and the eventual Exodus—for the brutal truth is we know very little. You see, the Old Testament was not written to be a history book, no matter how much Christian theologians and apologists would like it to be. It is a document conveying just enough of the human history of the time and place for readers to understand the divine history behind it. Thus, we do not know a great many things about Moses.
Judaism has a great many things to tell us about Moses that, to our shame, we Christians are either ignorant of, or simply reject. Take for example the many traditions secreted away in the Midrash, an ancient collection of explanations of Old Testament texts, touching on legal issues and moral issues, and filling in the gaps in the various Old Testament accounts regarding people, places, and things. They tell us of events in the life of Moses that we would perhaps never have known. Things such as the tradition that Moses had been a king in the Sudan, perhaps connecting him to the Hyksos. Or how about the story of a young Moses playing with the Pharaoh’s gold crown and throwing it on the floor? The Pharaoh, upon hearing of it, decided to test Moses. He devised a plan by which he would present Moses with two choices. There would be two platters: one holding the golden crown, and the other a burning coal. If Moses took the crown, the Pharaoh would know the young boy had some idea of the insolence of having thrown it on the ground previously (because he would understand its symbolism), and the Pharaoh would have Moses killed. However, if Moses chose the burning coal, he would be considered innocent, because he could not distinguish between the two. According to the Midrash, Moses started to take the golden crown when an angel pushed his hand, causing the young boy to grab the burning coal. Moses then touched the coal to his mouth, burning his tongue, and leaving him with a speech impediment for the rest of his life.
The Midrash also relates a very strange part of the Exodus story with relation to the Golden Calf incident that perhaps lends credence to part of the theory presented in this book: Moses was quite comfortable with Egyptian religion. The Midrash tells us Moses separated himself to speak to God privately about the matter of the Israelites’ worship of the golden calf. According to the Midrash, Moses said, “This golden calf may be thy coadjutor, O God. Thou causest the sun to shine: the golden calf will take over some of the workings of nature, and may cause the rain to descend. Thou wilt send down the dew, and the golden calf will cause the herb to grow.” Moses received the merited rebuke from God, who said, “Thou also hast become an idolater; is there any power in that idol which the people have made themselves as a god? Is it anything but inanimate matter?” (The Midrash, Exodus Rabbah, page 86)
Indeed it appears from the traditions of Judaism that there is much we do not know about Moses, and by proxy the Exodus. Scotty Roberts and John Ward present herein two different theories with regard to the figure of Moses and the Exodus. Theories that Christians and Jews alike should examine with an honest and open mind, not leaving faith at the door, but allowing for a mature faith that embraces historical evidences that, while perhaps not found within the sacred texts of our respective religions, may provide more answers for us, even as extra-biblical texts such as the Midrash do. In the end we may find that our faith is advanced, our embrace of the truths of our religions bolstered, and our sense of their place in human history vindicated.