out of egypt

out of egypt Latest

Stela from El-Amarna, Egyptian King Akhenaten is seen with his wife Nefertiti and their daughters bearing offerings to the sun-disk Aten.

Feb 24 Blog

Akhenaten and Moses

Pharaoh Akhenaten, who abolished the Egyptian pantheon and instituted worship of a single deity, the sun-disk Aten, in the mid-14th century B.C., may have established the world’s first monotheism. Did this influence the birth of Israelite monotheism?

Moses, pictured here in a painting by 17th-century Baroque artist Guido Reni. Alinari/Art Resource, NY.

Feb 14 Blog

Love Your Neighbor: Only Israelites or Everyone?

By: Richard Elliott Friedman

The Book of Leviticus tells us to love our neighbors, but who are our neighbors? Does the command mean to just love fellow Israelites—or everyone?

Woodcut from Die Bibel in Bildern (1860) by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld.

Jan 25 Blog

Jesus Was a Refugee

By: Joan E. Taylor

Scholar Joan E. Taylor says that it’s worth remembering that Jesus’ earliest years were, according to the Gospel of Matthew, spent as a refugee in a foreign land.

Jan 3 Blog

Water from a Walking Rock

By: Megan Sauter

What does Paul mean in the Bible when he says that the Israelites drank “from the spiritual rock that followed them” during their wanderings in the wilderness?

Nov 6 Blog

Laughter in the Bible? Absolutely!

By: Robin Gallaher Branch

Robin Gallaher Branch on the lighter side of the Bible.

Oct 21 Blog

The Exodus: Fact or Fiction?

By: BAS Staff

Does archaeological evidence connect with Israel’s Exodus from Egypt—a central event in the Bible? Egyptian artifacts and sites show that the Biblical text does indeed recount accurate memories from the period to which the Exodus is generally assigned.

Source: Weltchronik, Germany, Regensburg, ca. 1360. Public Domain.

Sep 4 Blog

The Search for Noah’s Flood

By: Ronald S. Hendel

If we wanted to find the flood that gave rise to the legend of Noah’s Flood, we should look for a big flood in northern Mesopotamia, says scholar Ronald S. Hendel.

Jul 6 Blog

The Expulsion of the Hyksos

By: Noah Wiener

In the 16th century B.C.E., Ahmose I overthrew the Hyksos and initiated the 18th Dynasty and the New Kingdom of Egypt. Recent archaeological discoveries at Tel Habuwa shed new light on Ahmose’s campaign.

Where is Kadesh? The site of Tell el-Qudeirat in the northeastern part of the Sinai Peninsula is considered to be the best candidate. Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority.

May 25 Blog

Wilderness Wanderings: Where is Kadesh?

By: Robin Ngo

According to the Bible, the Israelites stayed at a place called Kadesh-Barnea following their Exodus from Egypt and wanderings through the desert. Where is Kadesh-Barnea?

Painting 'He turned their waters into blood,' by the 19th-century American folk painter Erastus Salisbury Field (1805–1900). Photo: National Gallery of Art, Washington/Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch

Apr 1 Blog

Exodus in the Bible and the Egyptian Plagues

By: BAS Staff

The Book of Exodus describes ten Egyptian plagues that bring suffering to the land of pharaoh. Are these Biblical plagues plausible on any level?

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The Dead Sea Scrolls: Past, Present, and Future

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Ancient Israel in Egypt and the Exodus

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