Did Moses Exist?: The Myth of the Israelite Lawgiver

by D.M. Murdock, D.M. Murdock

The biblical figure of Moses has been the center of fascination for over 2,000 years, but what do we actually know about him? Was he a real person? Did the Exodus truly happen? Or is the story in the Pentateuch a mythical account written centuries after the alleged events?Why does Moses's story resemble that of other, older lawgivers and legendary predecessors? Why are there so many elements of sun and wine god myths in the tale of Moses? What does the focus on the serpent in his story signify? Who were Yahweh and the Elohim?Did Moses Exist? Maps and 126 illustrations Extensive bibliography, table of contents and index Hundreds of footnotes and citations from primary sources in multiple languages Best modern scholarship from credentialed authorities Did Moses Exist? provides a massive amount of information from antiquity about the world's religious traditions and mythology, including how solar myths, wine cultivation and fertility cults have shaped the Bible and Judaism. This book may be the most comprehensive study to date, using the best scholarship and state-of-the-art research methods."The existence of Moses as well as the veracity of the Exodus story is disputed amongst archaeologists and Egyptologists, with experts in the field of biblical criticism citing logical inconsistencies, new archaeological evidence, historical evidence and related origin myths in Canaanite culture." --"Moses," Wikipedia"There is no historical evidence outside of the Bible, no mention of Moses outside the Bible, and no independent confirmation that Moses ever existed." --Dr. Michael D. Coogan, lecturer on the Old Testament at Harvard Divinity School"We cannot be sure that Moses ever lived because there are no traces of his earthly existence outside of tradition." --Egyptologist Dr. Jan Assmann, Moses the Egyptian"The life of Moses contains elements--canonical and apocryphal--that mark him as a true mythic hero, and certainly he is Judaism's greatest hero and the central figure in Hebrew mythology." --Dr. David Leeming, The Oxford Companion to World Mythology"...the stories of the creation, of the flood, of Abraham, of Jacob, of the descent into and the exodus from Egypt, of the career of Moses and the Jews in the desert, of Joshua and his soldiers, of the judges and their clients, are all apocryphal, and were fabricated at a late period of Jewish history." --Dr. Thomas Inman, Ancient Faiths and ModernTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsPrefaceIntroductionWho Wrote the Pentateuch?Was Moses an Egyptian Pharaoh or Priest?The Exodus as History?The Exodus in Ancient LiteratureHyksos and LepersWho Were the Israelites?The Exodus as MythThe Lawgiver ArchetypeThe Dionysus ConnectionThe Life of DionysusThe Vine and WineThe Great God SunYahweh and the SunMoses as Solar HeroConclusionBibliographyIndex

Genres: History, Religion, Judaism, Atheism, Nonfiction

1083 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 27, 2014

Reviews

[Bakari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enlightening

Well researched and enlightening. Murdock D.M. provides mountains of literary and archeological evidence to back up her conclusions that Moses only exists as a fictional character, not a real historical figure. This is a long book, but it's well worth the read.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Academic to a fault, but thoroughly fascinating

With a renewed interest in the Bible and other religious texts (primarily as literature), I decided to supplement my reading with this, my first book by Acharya S. It covers material similar to Robert Price's MOSES AND MINIMALISM, but whereas Price's book mainly sticks to the Pentateuch, with appropriate references to other religions and mythologies, Acharya S systematically and thoroughly breaks down every conceivable origin for the MOSES myth. It was quite daunting, mainly because of the depth and breadth of documentation, but also illuminating and rewarding. The only points against it might be that she oversells her main points, making it kind of repetitive at times. Also, and I'm no language expert, it seemed as if she occasionally played fast and loose with etymology. Still, the nonstop, brute force manner in which she lays out her case for MOSES being a mythical character absolutely tears the idea of Biblical inerrancy and originality to shreds, in my opinion. The only downside is that those who would most benefit from this book probably wouldn't even give it a shot. Still, as a work of scholarship on comparative religion, I highly recommend it.

[Gerard E. Trigo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. It took me a while to read as I kept looking up books I had read long ago to read anew and other sources I had not heard about. 100% accurate on her sources. She displays excellent reasoning. I found only a few unimportant things to quibble about. Even if you disagree with her analysis and conclusions, the book is a gold mine for resources for those who wish to dig deeper into the subject.

[Rory Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Packed full of interesting historical and textual information, this is a re-presentation of the argument that the Pentateuch is not literally true. For example, it is noted that references to camels are anachronistic, as archaeology shows they were not domesticated until later than the Pentateuch stories depict (6%).

The author also revisits arguments which suggest that if the 600,000 families in the Exodus story truly made the Exodus journey of 130 miles, then they would have stretched the full distance even if marching 10 abreast (15%).

Jewish and Christian theologians have been aware of these issues for a long time, and apart from the most literal minded, there is a recognition that there are elements in the Pentateuch which are not-historically true. The critically important question is how much of the text should be considered to be non-literal.

The author’s view is that it is all, or almost all non-literal, and even the character of Moses himself is a literary fiction. She states that Exodus ‘could be analysed as Egyptian Mythology reworked as a national epic” (29%). She makes the case that there are similarities between the biblical text and pre-existing myths, but similarities and the fact that Exodus ‘could’ be copied from other texts, is not a proof that it actually was copied in the way that she believes.

We have many examples of historical events that look like previous stories. For example the 1914 sinking of the Titanic is eerily similar to the 1912 book about the Titan hitting an iceberg and sinking. Examples like this should warn us that just because an event is like a pre-existing story, it does not mean that the event is in fact just a myth based on the story. Coincidences happen.

This means that the author is going beyond the evidence when she asserts rather firmly that ‘The Exodus epic represents an elaboration of a mythical event with historical… details added to it, not the other way around.’ (30%). Maybe that is so, but maybe there is a historical kernel to the story for which archaeological evidence has not been discovered yet.

What seems to be happening is that the author has a preexisting negativity about religion and that is influencing her conclusions to go beyond the evidence. For example, she describes the Old Testament as ‘mind-numbing and absurd…and grotesque… repugnant…’ (7%), and there is a repeated mockery of ‘Gods inerrant Word’ (13%) each time she finds a detail of the text which can be disputed on historical or archaeological grounds. This is not the viewpoint of an author who is dispassionately assessing evidence to reach a conclusion.

On a stylistic note, the book is a very long 981 pages. It is a bit repetitious in places and it also reads as a bit of an information dump, where the author drops every piece of research and possible historical linkage between stories. Where a couple of examples would make a point, instead we have a plenitude of examples. We also have references to Jesus and the New Testament, which are of very questionable relevance to a book which is supposed to be about Moses. If ever a book was crying out for the firm hand of a professional editor, this one is.

Overall, there are interesting details in the book, but the quantities of information in the book make it a needlessly difficult read, where it is not always easy to keep sight of what the actual point of a paragraph or chapter is meant to be.

[Alan Fuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of the four Murdock books I've read, this is my favorite. She makes a convincing case that the Moses story is not "history." It shares mythical archetypes with other ancient stories based on nature, primarily astrotheological. She asserts that popular religious, spiritual and mythological ideas often floated between cultures during contacts of a wide variety in a process of syncretism. There are many useful references.

She admits that ancient philosophers, as well as most of the early Jews and Christian fathers such as Philo, Josephus, Papias, Pantaenus, Irenaeus, Clemens Alex., Origen, the two Gregories of Nyssa and Nazianzen, Jerome, and Ambrose, believed there was mythos or allegory in the Bible. Murdock does not mention the term "general revelation." In theology, general revelation, or natural revelation, refers to knowledge about God and spiritual matters, discovered through natural means, such as observation of nature (the physical universe), philosophy and reasoning. (Romans 1:20, Psalms 19:1-6, Matthew 5:45) Murdock denies the historicity of scripture and yet seems to accept the Documentary hypothesis whose ideas are based on historical situations.

Murdock is not a fan of "fanatic intolerant monotheism." She believes the “historical” Jesus was fashioned in order to unify the religions of the Roman Empire. What would you expect from a "9/11 truther?"

[Claudia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a somewhat interesting read.. It advocates that the origins of the Bible equate to Jewish mythology and are proper of the Stone Age civilization resident at and around the Jordan river - the Canaanites. - well the biblical account was written much later and contained what I repute to be a mythical origin - especially in relation to the Old Testament. People will disagree with these findings but they would be wrong according to most Biblical archeology scholars. So the Bible is not entirely historic (although there are plenty of historic occurrences in the Bible). It may be true…in the way that Indigenous dreams are true because of their cultural and religious import. Perhaps some accounts in the Bible are not historical. And that is the point that this book makes. The author is taught to have been classically trained with a Bachelor's in Classics . But I do not consider this scholarship. Not even close. It is closer to a wikipedia catalog of grievances. She lost me entirely when she called the Bible repugnant. You have got to be tremendously arrogant to say such a thing. I am sorry. It’s a no from me.

[Darla Stokes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took me FOREVER to read. It started out pretty fascinating, discussing notions of how the character of Moses might have been derived from Akhenaten, among other actual historical figures. It slowly became more tedious, with long, involved sections detailing various groups of people in history with no apparent context. At that point I found it very easy to put the book down for months at a time. It picked up again when it started connecting Moses to Bacchus, but then became tedious when it also connected Moses to pretty much every type of deity proposed throughout history: wine gods, sun gods, serpent gods, etc.

I wish wholeheartedly that I'd read the last chapter first. The conclusions put all the previous tedium in context and would have made it more readable.

I do have to praise the author's thorough scholarship. There were over 1800 footnotes, and at least 1/3 of the volume of the book was taken up by endnotes and index.

[Kevin de Graav · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very thorough point by point deconstruction. Remained technical and at times repetitive. Would personally have preferred more of the author tracing the mosaic myth's origin to the surrounding myths of the Levant. This he skilfully does with great knowledge and skill in the field of etymology of the semitic and Asiatic languages. Just too much time was spent on dispelling the absurd nature of the 'historocal accounts'. Time wasted as those interested in this genre are already aware of the mythical nature of the accounts in the Pentateuch and need not be convinced.

[Deborah Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible information anyone can use to verify the problems surrounding the Old Testament claims.

[Orgadena · Rating 3 out of 5]

House

House
– Hû'mosū, Atûm –
Heroöpolis.
~

[Kevin de Graav · Rating 4 out of 5]

The biblical figure of Moses has been the center of fascination for over
2,000 years, but what do we actually know about him? Was he a real
person? Did the Exodus truly happen? Or is the story in the Pentateuch a
mythical account written centuries after the alleged events? Why
does Moses's story resemble that of other, older lawgivers and
legendary predecessors? Why are there so many elements of sun and wine
god myths in the tale of Moses? What does the focus on the serpent in
his story signify? Who were Yahweh and the Elohim? Did Moses Exist? includes: Maps and 126 illustrations Extensive bibliography, table of contents and index Hundreds of footnotes and citations from primary sources in multiple languages Best modern scholarship from credentialed authorities Did Moses Exist?
provides a massive amount of information from antiquity about the
world's religious traditions and mythology, including how solar myths,
wine cultivation and fertility cults have shaped the Bible and Judaism.
This book may be the most comprehensive study to date, using the best
scholarship and state-of-the-art research methods."The existence
of Moses as well as the veracity of the Exodus story is disputed
amongst archaeologists and Egyptologists, with experts in the field of
biblical criticism citing logical inconsistencies, new archaeological
evidence, historical evidence and related origin myths in Canaanite
culture." --"Moses," Wikipedia"There is no historical
evidence outside of the Bible, no mention of Moses outside the Bible,
and no independent confirmation that Moses ever existed." --Dr. Michael
D. Coogan, lecturer on the Old Testament at Harvard Divinity School"We
cannot be sure that Moses ever lived because there are no traces of his
earthly existence outside of tradition." --Egyptologist Dr. Jan
Assmann, Moses the Egyptian"The life of Moses contains
elements--canonical and apocryphal--that mark him as a true mythic hero,
and certainly he is Judaism's greatest hero and the central figure in
Hebrew mythology." --Dr. David Leeming, The Oxford Companion to World Mythology"...the
stories of the creation, of the flood, of Abraham, of Jacob, of the
descent into and the exodus from Egypt, of the career of Moses and the
Jews in the desert, of Joshua and his soldiers, of the judges and their
clients, are all apocryphal, and were fabricated at a late period of
Jewish history." --Dr. Thomas Inman, Ancient Faiths and ModernTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsPrefaceIntroductionWho Wrote the Pentateuch?Was Moses an Egyptian Pharaoh or Priest?The Exodus as History?The Exodus in Ancient LiteratureHyksos and LepersWho Were the Israelites?The Exodus as MythThe Lawgiver ArchetypeThe Dionysus ConnectionThe Life of DionysusThe Vine and WineThe Great God SunYahweh and the SunMoses as Solar HeroConclusionBibliographyIndex

[Denton Holland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heavily noted treatise on the Jews incorporation of the mythological "law giver" from much older cultures into their religious canon. Appeared the author wrote it principally for an audience of critics, and thereby, made it a laborious read.