The Seventh Potential Exodus Route after David Rohl

Several people have commented or asked whether the Potential Exodus Routes we are considering contain one that is most likely above all the others. Or if any one is more likely to be the route that was in fact the one taken? One or two readers have asked if all potential routes contain issues or problems which can’t be solved? Is there any one route which is more correct than the others? What exactly do you mean by gold standard locations Ian? I imagine this Nugget related to a Seventh Exodus Route will generate questions related to how a seventh Exodus route can appear in the Six Main Theories on the Exodus Route. Allow me to explain before we proceed. Then for subsequent Nuggets on this topic you will find I will have edited the Nugget series to read “Seven Main Theories“.

Before I embarked on this exercise I thought I was up to date with the field of research into the Exodus and figured there were four or five main theories on the Exodus route. But I was very aware I needed to get up to speed with where research was currently. I have been aware of some ‘new theories’ but I didn’t think they would hold surprises for me. So while doing this I have taken the time to research new work done in this field. That has turned up some very interesting things related to the Ancient Near East, biblical studies and recent archaeological discoveries. Yes I have talked about gold standard locations which are those sites or locations which most scholars are in agreement need to feature in any theory which claims to delineate the route taken by the Exodus. These are the sites which cry out to be included:-

• the departure point
• the crossing point
• the location of Mt Sinai
• Wadi Mukkateb (Serabit al-Khadem)
• Rephidim

The other necessary elements from my point of view which form a solid basis for verifying the route chosen are:-

1. the location of places which fit the biblical time frame
2. the order of places in accord with the Numbers 33 list of camps or stopping places
3. the feasibility or naturalness of the fit of everything (what Timothy Mahoney calls Patterns of Evidence)
4. the timing needed for a large number of people to walk the route proposed
5. the expertise of the proponents who have suggested the route

I have found a mass of new material from all of those listed as proponents for the Exodus in the chart I gave you in the first Nugget in this mini series – Investigating The Six Main Theories For The Exodus Route. The astute ones among you who have tracked this route with me as I have put the investigation together will realise the number has been changing. I started with five theories and then it changed to six and now I am adding a seventh. Just what is going on? Simply I am finding out more information and I want what I share with you to be up to date and accurate.

I am grateful to Tim Friberg, a colleague, who not only put me on to some excellent new material in the form of the Patterns of Evidence video series by Timothy Mahoney, but also bought the series for me when I couldn’t access it from New Zealand. Through that video series I learned that David Rohl had not only written a new book but had done some more extensive research into the Exodic related things. So I purchased his book Exodus: Myth or History. I regard David Rohl as gold standard as well.

David is a renowned Egyptologist and archaeologist as well as being a well informed historian of the Ancient Near East. I have mentioned him many times in the Gems and Nuggets I have written. You can find them all simply by typing his name into the search slot at the top of any website page. The main thing I admire about David Rohl is intellectual honesty in his fields of study and his generosity of granting me access and usage of his material when I was putting together the God’s Awesome Book series. When I asked him for permission to use his material he granted it freely. I am delighted to find that David has undertaken an investigation of his own into the Exodus route. But let me spell out from the outset that there is disagreement between David and other Egyptologists and archaeologists as to what is the macro scale time frame of events surrounding the Exodus. David Rohl was the one to come up with the New Chronology of the Egyptian pharaohs, which matched well to the time frame of the biblical events. In fact it was the reason why the discoveries I have shared with you before came about. David Rohl, Manfred Biatek and Bryant Wood among others began looking for the biblical evidence in the right places. Yet David Rohl is a self-confessed agnostic. I find that amazing, but David is just interested in knowing the facts behind the events and doesn’t put an intellectual or religious spin on it. That is refreshing; I could say much more but I won’t.

There is much intellectual snobbery about this whole field over the discoveries that have been made. Many Egyptologists and archaeologist vehemently hold on to the traditional time scale (spelt out well in Timothy Mahoney’s Patterns of Evidence video series) and oppose David Rohl’s ‘theories’. I personally think that Rohl is the one who is most likely correct in what he puts forward by way of explanation. I also like the way he loosely holds to what he proposes and allows for the possibility to be proven wrong as I have quoted David Rohl in the context of the Nuggets on the two previous potential routes. He is merely concerned with what can be proven.

If you are at all interested in the evidence related to the theories on the Exodus, David Rohl’s books and the Patterns of Evidence video series are a necessary purchase. That said in the midst of hoards of videos produced about the Exodus routes and the excursions or Exodus Adventure Trips you can take. In fairness to David Rohl I won’t be taking huge amounts of his published material and sharing it with you. I am open to you asking questions or wanting to pursue lines of enquiry as they come to mind. Just ask. But I do want to give you a good feel for David Rohl’s theory as the Seventh Potential Exodus Route. If I sense that I am quoting too much of his book then I will approach David Rohl again for his permission to use the material.

Finally let me say one more thing related to David Rohl and his findings. This comes from a video of a David Rohl lecture on the Exodus material on YouTube. Timothy Mahoney was allowed to present his first video on the Patterns of Evidence for the Exodus in an Ivy League university in the US. But they would not allow David Rohl to be present at the viewing to field questions or to defend his findings. A large portion of Timothy Mahoney’s basis for the ‘patterns of evidence’ come from David Rohl’s earlier research published in his book A Test of Time: The Bible From Myth to History. But the hierachy of the unnamed ivy league university not only would not allow David Rohl to be present, but in the discussion afterward actually used a photo of David Rohl in his younger years when he played in a rock band. The presenter then asked the question “Would you trust this man to tell you reputable evidence about Egyptology and archaeology?” The Ivy League university (one of three major likely universities) clearly had a hidden agenda. I believe I know what it was but won’t disclose it, at least for now.

David Rohl led two expeditions into the Sinai Peninsula in 2001 and 2004 with the intention of following the Exodus route. Rohl’s plan was to identify the campsites of Numbers 33 and to follow the trail the Israelites walked while testing that trail against the walking pace needed to negotiate the route in the biblical time frame. Rohl and his learned travellers used two 4 x 4’s to follow the route, while mapping and taking GPS readings along the way. Rohl has not just gone as far as Mt Sinai, but continued on to the camps named after Mt Sinai. Those locations on the route after the Mountain of God are those which Dever and Kitchen claim are doomed to failure because they are too vague and unknowable.

This is what will constitute what we look at under this Seventh Potential Exodus Route which I will begin in following Nugget.