Out of the Desert By William H. Stiebing Jr.

Two of the best-known stories in the Bible are those of Moses leading his people out of Egypt and Joshua's conquest of the Promised Land. Indeed, they form one of the cornerstones of the Judeo-Christian tradition. But is the Bible a reliable source of information for Israel's early history? Are the Exodus and Conquest actual historical events? And if they are, when and where did they occur?

Out of the Desert? rigorously examines accounts of these historic events and traces the authenticity, dates, and explanations for the Israelites' departure from Egypt and subsequent conquest of Canaan. Clarifying these events in a straightforward, informative manner, Out of the Desert? includes a generous number of charts and illustrations.

William H. Stiebing, Jr. places the Exodus within its cultural context during the beginning of the Iron Age (1200-1100 B.C.), a time of drought, famine and collapse of social order, which gave way to the emergence and dominance of the tribes that joined forces to become the confederation of Israel.

Many conventional ideas concerning the Exodus and Conquest are radically challenged in Out of the Desert?. Stiebing's accounts of archaeological digs and rival theories make the narrative lively and engrossing; his unique insight into the field of modern archaeology provides a rare glimpse into the wonders of man's history. Out of the Desert

Read & Download Out of the Desert

Out

There is no archaeological evidence supporting the Exodus myth. Where one would expect many archaeological sites produced by tens of thousands of people wandering the Sinai for decades, there are essentially none. Paperback Two stars deducted: one for style and one for substance

Style: The text was clearly created using OCR from the printed book. Which on its own is perfectly reasonable—but is it really too much to ask to run a spellcheck before digital publication?

Substance: The entirety of chapter 4 is useless, bringing up increasingly dubious alternative hypotheses in order to refute them. My favorite, naturally, is:

'In clouds above the Earth, reactions between carbon and hydrogen from the tail of the comet produced carbohydrates that fell to Earth and were considered heavenly food manna and ambrosia.'.

Entertaining as that may be, it did not deserve a place in a serious discussion. Paperback This is an excellent study of Exodus era life and conquest narratives. Although my books are set in an earlier time period, my feeling is that not much had changed in the basic desert lifestyle. Great research tool! Paperback Not too heavy of a read, but the reader should have a general knowledge of traditional Jewish history, or have a basic understanding of Old Testament text. The book partially debunks a lot of the Mosaic text, regarding of who conquered what, and where it did or didn't happen. But as biblical writings are verbally passed down, it's common for the scholar to know that the Bible, or Torah, should not be taken literally. Did the Israelites enter Egypt? Did they slaughter a massive army known as the Canaanites? Were they guided by a deity? These questions, and many more, are answered in this book. History and Archaeology buffs, pick this book up! Paperback