The Moses Legacy: The Evidence of History

by Graham Phillips

Graham Phillips takes the reader on an exciting journey into biblical times, using the latest archaeological evidence as well as a new reading of the Old Testament to recreate early Hebrew history. He uncovers the real identity of Moses and locates the Mountain of God, which is not todays Mount Sinai but another, more ancient religious site. The Moses Legacy tells a remarkable story that is all the more so for being true.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Religion

327 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Graham Phillips is a British author.
Phillips has a background working as a reporter for BBC radio and as a magazine editor.

Wikipedia - Graham Phillips

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

My struggle with this at the end was on which shelf was I to place it. I solved the conundrum by creating its own spanking new shelf though having constructed it, I now realize there are a few other books I will be able to place alongside it. Don't get me wrong it is enthralling and fascinating and breathlessly wonderful in its leaping around history and myth but it is also nutty as a fruitcake.

Phillips sets out to discover the historical or otherwise position of Moses and the founding of the Jewish Faith. He seeks to explore where the idea of the One True God came from, He investigates whether it was the ancient religion of nomadic tribes who influence and mingle and are absorbed and transformed by those fleeing Egypt at the time of the Exodus. His overall reflection is fascinating and absorbing and I do love the whole breathless sense of uncovering and tracing influences. He does a great line in proving his theories and slotting together wide and varied details and links if by proving you can mean him telling you he has.

From the back of my copy:

'Graham Phillips takes the reader on an excting journey into biblical times, using the latest archaeological evidence as well as a new reading of the Old Testament to recreate early Hebrew history'......... for using latest archaeological evidence read well any of the stuff that suits his theory. For a new reading of the Old Testament read where the hell did that translation come from.

'He uncovers the identity of Moses, unpicking the confused chroloogy of Exodus to reveal that Moses was not one but two men living at different times'......for reveal read wildly theorizes and creates.

'He locates one of the most holy places in the world '......for locates read has fun travelling around and making wonderfully unsubstantiated and indeed unsubstantiable stabs in the desert sun. (And before you say anything I know unsubstantiable isn't a word but if he can make stuff up then so can I.).

'Using his own unique brand of historical detective work'....for his own unique brand read and i mean REALLY unique

'The Moses Legacy combines impeccable research with persuasive argument'....read ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this romp through the 1500 years of the fertile crescent's history that he seeks to uncover. He is a brilliantly clever writer and he has a fantastic imagination and his bringing together of all sorts of strands and theories, 'discoveries' and trawlings through museums is riotously entertaining but my problem with the whole thing presented as some sort of brilliantly pieced together jigsaw which Phillips alone has completed is frankly cracked.

Is he really claiming that scholars, archaeologists, experts, explorers, historians and countless other men and women of great intelligence, rigourous intellectual sharpness and courageous investigation have all failed to see clearly enough to bring together this realization or, even more insanely, are all caught up in some sort of mad conspiracy to keep the truth away from normal folk so as to preserve some semblance of security for the shakiness of Jewish, and therefore by association Christian and Islamic, religious history.

It is a great fun read and, as with other of his works I have read, bestowed upon me as a boxset gift by an atheist mate who I know is secretly working to undermine my faith position(....I know all about your plotting Morris lol.....)is clever and ingenious and covers an enormous amount of geography and chronology but it is the unspoken but evident arrogance of his claims to have cracked the illusion and broken through into the reality which is silly. Conspiracy theories almost always contain glimmers of truth and if skewed or mixed in with enough breathless 'and thus we have shown' or 'and so it is clear' or 'undeniably we now realize' lots of weird things can sound believable.

Having said all that it is fun and entertaining....hence 3

[Venessa Lobo · Rating 3 out of 5]

a wonderful insight to who the author thinks moses really is...a must read for all those who admire biblical history as well as egyptian...

[Dave Clarke · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of light relief after A N Wilson's Elizabethans, i'm re-reading a few of these hocus pocus books (amongst others like Charles Berlitz or Von Daniken, that i discovered in my early 20's) ... There was a brief period, in my late teens/early 20's when i first read these types of books, when i actually thought i'd discovered something secret, after all, why would anyone go to the effort of writing a book, and fill it full of fantasy and nonsense ... bless my innocent naivety LOL ... that said i got fooled again with Gavin Menzies 1421 a few years ago too, but viewed with a critical eye, none of them stand any close examination, being built as they are on foundations of sand, but when read as a bit of light relief, not to be taken seriously, they still can help pass the hours of the commute, if only to spot the obvious logical holes and pitfalls

[Derek Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always interesting but it’s often difficult to follow the chronology and not least at the very end of the text when it is speculated that a particular fruit has a particular effect (summoning God, so to speak). This same fruit is forbidden to Adam and Eve but a serpent tempted them… you’re probably familiar with the story.

So how did that precede all the other events described in the Bible, or at least in this interpretation? Unless of course the Bible is a retrofitted set of myths, interspersed with historical details….

Which is not exactly a massive revelation.

I enjoyed the book in any case and wish I’d realised the chronology at the end was there so I could have flicked back and forth. This will teach me to pay more attention to the Contents page.

[Veerle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun to read, I learned a lot about biblical history. If I believe everything in this book is a different matter however. The author has a remarkable talent to connect different pieces of information together en does this in a nice and at a quick pace. Texts, monuments, religion etc. are being connected to “prove” his theory/ideas.

[Lindsay Winter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting theories. Very wordy could have used more visuals or pictures to help understand locations and descriptions of objects. It described everything in detail and I had to really concentrate to build the picture in my mind of what they were describing. Took a while to get through it.

[Wil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read

[Peter Parslow · Rating 1 out of 5]

A bit of a mixed bag. A lot of interesting insights from archeology and comparative history, combined with some inconsistencies leading to odd suppositions.

Generally, his use of the King James Version for all bible quotations makes some of it harder going than it would be using any of the more modern translations. There are a few places where he is specifically building his case on the manuscripts available to the KJV rather than those available to later translations.

For example, I guess it is because the author is keen on the idea that Moses was the first to consider monotheism that he has to postulate two separate historical Moseses to account for the time gap between the emergence of Ahtenism in Egypt and the Israelite exile. But then he works round to a position of believing that Moses (the first one!) had picked up his monotheism when visiting the Edomites. If the Edomites (descended from Esau) were monotheistic, then why not accept the bible's story that the Israelits (descended from Esau's brother Jacob a.k.a. Israel) were also monotheistic even before Moses? Those Israelites went to Egypt (lower Egypt, probably ruled by a Hyksos dynasty) and could have influenced some Egyptians towards their monotheistic Ahtenism - accepting Phillips' evidence that The Ahten is effectively contemporary Egyption for "The Lord", which is the biblical term for the Hebrew/Israelite God.

[part of the 'two Moses' argument comes from the bible giving two different names for Moses' father-in-law - there are plenty of other explanations for that 'doing the rounds']

Another occasional failing is taking bible verses out of context and building an argument on them. For example, he takes Leviticus 9:5 and decides that "that which Moses commanded" (KJV) is what is being referred to by "stood before the Lord", and that "the Lord" was 'therefore' an object that the people brought. But Leviticus 9:4 shows that "that which Moses commanded" was animals, grain & oil for sacrifice. v7 suggests that if anything "the Lord" is represented in this scene by the alter on which Aaron makes the sacrifice. So his whole interesting digression into Edom's "menorah like thing" has no launching point.

Those things aside, this book can provide interesting context and background for those familiar enough with the text to spot the oddities.

I don’t know why I read it a second time. The last couple of chapters are really illogical fanciful rubbish

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

i found this a good read, but for those that want to debate till the cows come home..? go to the links below



Was Moses a real person and, if so, when did he live? Graham Phillips uncovers the identity of Moses, unpicking the confused chronology of Exodus to reveal that Moses was not one but two men, living at different times..


The Moses Myth, beyond Biblical History By Brian Britt
... continues, but a new set of questions on the cultural legacy of Moses has ... that the only reliable traditions about Moses were his marriage to a Midianite ...
www.bibleinterp.com/articles/Britt-Mo... - 24k - Cached

Moses - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
According to the book of Exodus, Moses was born to a Hebrew ... Moses is depicted in several U.S. government buildings because of his legacy as a lawgiver. ...
Quick Links: Moses in the Bible - Life of Moses - Moses' name
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses - 171k - Cached

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

If his research is correct, this book shows you the factual basis to Old Testament literature. Also read his previous book, Act of God, which supplements this book with greater detail as to the effect of Thera's eruption on Egyptian history.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

A convincing and very interesting account of finding out who Moses really was, or rather the people from whom his story originated. I find these speculative investigations about ancient history very interesting. An enjoyable book to read.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved finding out the authors take on who Moses is. I love the supporting information. I was captivated.

[Asis Adit · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book.

[Brokenfoot · Rating 4 out of 5]

written well, like a detective story. not repetitive but also does not overwhelm with information.