On Sun, 21 Jun 2020 01:09:54 -0700 (PDT), Andre Jute
wrote:

On Saturday, June 20, 2020 at 9:24:27 PM UTC+1, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
I
repeated the mistake a few years later by writing a speculative essay
on the politics of Moses, what were the Jews probably doing for 40
years while wandering around the desert, and why they suddenly decided
to organize into 13 tribes and take over most of Israel. Think of it
as an expansion on some early writings by Immanuel Velikovsky.

Velikovsky! My grandmother kept his book COLLISION OF WORLDS by her
bedside, underneath her Bible.

My guess(tm) is she had a vary open mind and was quite willing to
question authority. However, judging by the approximate time
(1950's), she probably didn't discuss Velikovsky outside of her home.

Velikovsky was a mixed bag of contradictions. He was much like George
Lemaître trying to reconcile Vatican doctrine with the cosmology of
his time. Velikovsky solve the problem by writing books that were
essentially stand alone, even if they were contradicted in his later
books. Amazingly, that seemed to work, mostly because the
archeologist considered him an amateur and could therefore dismiss his
predictions out of hand, and the supporters of various religions based
on the bible could do the same:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Velikovsky
The book I was referring to was "Ages in Chaos":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_in_Chaos
It was essentially a reorganization of the Egyptian chronology in an
attempt to harmonize it with biblical chronology. Moving the date of
the Exodus was a key part of the book, which is why I mentioned it.
Instead of the powerful Ramses II being the pharaoh at the time of the
Exodus, Velikovsky moved it to the reign of Tutmoses III, a rather
weak pharaoh. Ramses II would never have tolerated Moses's demands or
a slave revolt. Tutmoses III would likely have initially resisted but
later caved in, as described in the Old Testament:
https://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-exodus-date-1440bc.htm

Joseph was a carpenter or more likely, considering the tools and
purposes of the trade at the time, a rough joiner, perhaps not
a significant distinction to the scholars who put together the
King James Version.

Ever been to Israel? You won't find many trees, even with
reforestation and swamp draining beginning after WWI. What little
wood was available was mostly used for ship building. The area had
been largely deforested long before Jesus, mostly by the Phoenicians:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedars_of_God

The modern interpretation is that Joseph and son were in the stone
masonry business:
https://www.christianpost.com/news/jesus-carpenter-or-stonemason.html
https://opentheword.org/2018/03/26/jesus-a-carpenter-or-stonemason/
Nazareth, being only 3 miles away from a major rock quarry should be a
clue.

But strength would be required, regardless of the split hair. Still,
one wonders, where, in a desert, did the wood he supposedly worked
come from? Solomon imported the wood for the Temple from Tyre.

Mostly the mountains of Lebanon but that didn't happen.

Incidentally, I forgot to mumble something about the temple guards.
One might expect that the area occupied by the money changers would be
as well guarded as a modern bank. It was much too big a target for
thieves to ignore. I would expect the money changers to hire their
own guards, as well as the temple providing guards to insure that the
temple received its allotted share of the profits and to some degree
insuring that the money changers didn't cheat the temple. There were
probably enough armed guards available to take on anyone who was
causing a disturbance. So, why did all these guards do nothing?

Also, you might ask yourself what how many Jews left Egypt and how
many arrived 40 years later invaded Canaan with Joshua? What were
they doing in the desert for 40 years? They would be nuts to return
to Egypt. They weren't strong enough to invade the other neighboring
kingdoms (Moab and Ammon). They wandered around doing what? It must
have been fairly lucrative because they continued to do it for 40
years during which time they broke apart into 13 tribes. What
happened after 40 years of "wandering" to make get 13 tribes
organized, leave the desert, and take their chances on a military
adventure? (To be continued in my next thrilling episode of Exodus
version 2.0).

I'll stop here before the religious riots begin.

I was about to say, "You'll excuse me if I don't stand too near
to you for fear of becoming collateral damage."

Don't worry. You won't catch anything. My keyboard is sanitized, I'm
wearing a face mask, and you are more than 2 meters distant.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558