SOURCE: Bimson, John J. Introduction to Redating the Exodus and Conquest, pp. 10-28. Sheffield, England: The Almond Press, 1981.

In the following essay, first published in 1978, Bimson examines several different theories concerning the historicity of Exodus.

0.1 the Question of Historicity

It is a fundamental assumption of this work that the biblical traditions of the bondage in Egypt and of the Exodus have a firm historical basis. In 1925 J. W. Jack wrote: “… It is far from likely that any nation would have placed in the forefront of its records an experience of hardship and slavery in a foreign country, unless this had been a real and vital part of its national life” (1925: 10). Similar statements affirming the basic historicity of the Exodus tradition have been made by many other writers since (cf. Noth 1960: 112; Yeivin 1971: 235-6; Bright 1972: 119, 120). It has been further pointed out: “… The national tradition of the enforced sojourn in Egypt...