Was there a prince in Egpyt?

Well its Passover again, and its yearly infliction on the digestive systems of the Jewish people as we struggle to find fiber substitutes for our oatmeal. As part of our family observance my kids like to watch the Dreamworks movie, the Prince of Egypt. It is by far the best of the many movies about the exodus story with great art, good music and a basic adherence to the biblical text.

Of course the one thing it cannot overcome is the factual basis of the exodus story overall. It is at this time every year that Slate or someone else feels the need to run a piece on how the exodus story might have happened (the darkness was a eclipse, the Red sea was actually a small lake and the parting an odd wind). But none of these work-arounds can get around the big problem. There is no evidence that the Jews were ever in Egypt in the first place.

And that lack of evidence, both in the Egyptian archives and the absence of physical remains (600,000 people schlepping across the desert would leave a wide trail, even thousands of years later) is compounded by the chronology problem.

Simply put, the window of opportunity for the exodus exists between Ramses II construction of the cities of P'tom and Ramses (he ascends the throne in 1290 bce, and the bible mentions these cities as being built by the Israelites) and Merenptah's campaign in the Levant circa 1208 bce. There he mentions Israel as one of the people/places he has laid waste to during the course of re-subjugating the area to Egyptian rule. It is actually the first written reference to Israel anywhere and certainly provides evidence of the people of Israel in the Land of Israel for over 3000 years (take that, revisionists).

So, that leaves a short 80 year period for the exodus and 40 years in the desert to have occurred. Therefore, all of the events described in the book of Joshua (i.e. the conquest of the land of Israel) should be reflected in the archeological record. This is simply not the case. Many places, especially Jericho and HaAi are simply not inhabited at this time. Others like Hazor were not burned or destroyed at this time (it's easy to see ash in the strata).

Nonetheless, its a great ritual and a great story of national origin. It might be that is more myth than fact- but it is a 2000 year old ritual (the seder) and a wonderful way to celebrate family and community. Perhaps most importantly, its ours. Our ritual, our collective memory and our own story of redemption and origin- that makes it worth celebrating. Even without a mention in the royal archive.

Now, if I could just find a high fiber corn cereal.