Let's Turn to One of the Most Vivid Figures in the Bible, Moses. Who Is the Moses of the Bible, and Could There Have Been Such a Person?

The Moses of the Bible Is Larger Than Life. the Moses of the Bible Is a Diplomat Negotiating with the Pharaoh; He Is a Lawgiver Bringing the Ten Commandments, the Covenant, Down from Sinai. the Moses of the Bible Is a Military Man Leading the Israelites in Battles. He's the One Who Organizes Israel's Judiciary. He's Also the Prophet Par Excellence and a Quasi-Priestly Figure Involved in Offering Sacrifices and Setting up the Priestly Complex, the Tabernacle. There's Virtually Nothing in Terms of National Leadership That Moses Doesn't Do. And, of Course, He's Also a Person, a Family Man.

What Spurs the Transformation of a Real Person into Such a Legendary Figure?

We Can See the Moses Narratives as the Products of a Period of Trauma. We See This at Other Times and Places. Think About Our Own American History. in the Difficult Period of the Revolutionary War, There's a Lot of Trauma and Turmoil. Should People Fight for Freedom and Risk Losing Everything? or Should They Remain Dominated by European Colonial Powers? and One Man, George Washington, Emerges as a Superhero, the One in Whom People Could Put Their Faith, Who Would Take Them to New Terrain, Who Would Lead Them to Independence. If You Look at the Biographies of George Washington That Were Written Before 1855, You Would Think He Was a Demigod. the Mythology About Him Is Incredible.

Evidence of the Exodus

Yes. Despite All the Ways in Which the Exodus Narratives in the Bible Seem to Be Non-Historic, Something About the Overall Pattern Can, in Fact, Be Related to What We Know from Historical Sources Was Going on at the End of the Late Bronze Age [Circa 1200 B. C. E.], Around When the Bible's Chronology Places the Story of Departure from Egypt.

You and Other Scholars Point out That There Isn't Evidence Outside the Bible, in Historic Documents and the Archeological Record, for a Mass Migration from Egypt Involving Hundreds of Thousands of People. but It May Be Plausible That There Was a Much Smaller Exodus, an Exodus of People Originally from the Land of Canaan Who Were Returning to It. Is That Right?

Yes. Despite All the Ways in Which the Exodus Narratives in the Bible Seem to Be Non-Historic, Something About the Overall Pattern Can, in Fact, Be Related to What We Know from Historical Sources Was Going on at the End of the Late Bronze Age [Circa 1200 B. C. E.], Around When the Bible's Chronology Places the Story of Departure from Egypt.

Origins of the Israelites

The Emergence of Ancient Israel in the Highlands of Palestine Is Shrouded in Clouds and Mystery. We'll Really Never Know the Whole Story. We Can Only Conjecture How the Inhabitants of New Settlements in the Highlands, in Places Where There Never Had Been Any Settlements Before, Somehow Began to Identify with Each Other. And, at Least as I See It, They Could Have Met with People Who Had Made the Trek Across the Sinai Peninsula.

Do You Think That These People Returning to Canaan Met up with Other Canaanites in the Hill Country and Became the People of Israel?

The Emergence of Ancient Israel in the Highlands of Palestine Is Shrouded in Clouds and Mystery. We'll Really Never Know the Whole Story. We Can Only Conjecture How the Inhabitants of New Settlements in the Highlands, in Places Where There Never Had Been Any Settlements Before, Somehow Began to Identify with Each Other. And, at Least as I See It, They Could Have Met with People Who Had Made the Trek Across the Sinai Peninsula.

Remembering the Exodus

Yes. While Very Few Israelites May Have Actually Made the Trek Across Sinai, It Becomes the National Story of All Israelites and Is Celebrated in All Kinds of Ways. Their Agricultural Festivals Become Celebrations of Freedom, for Instance. Many Aspects of a New Culture Emerge and Are Linked with the "Memories" of Exodus.

So Even Though Most of the Early Israelites Had Not Themselves Made the Exodus from Egypt, They Adopt This Story as Part of Their Heritage.

Yes. While Very Few Israelites May Have Actually Made the Trek Across Sinai, It Becomes the National Story of All Israelites and Is Celebrated in All Kinds of Ways. Their Agricultural Festivals Become Celebrations of Freedom, for Instance. Many Aspects of a New Culture Emerge and Are Linked with the "Memories" of Exodus.

When Was the Story of the Exodus First Written Down?

It's Really Hard to Know When the Story of the Exodus First Was Put into Written Form. but It Appears in One of the Earliest Poems in the Bible, the Song of the Sea, Found in the Middle of the Book of Exodus [Exod 15:1-22]. This Victory Hymn Probably Dates to the 12Th Century B. C. E.

And It's a Theme That Still Resonates with Us Today.

Absolutely. the Theme of the Exodus Is an Archetype in Not Only the Bible but in Western Culture in General. Even Though It May Be Rooted in Some Cultural Memory Experienced by Only a Few People, It Became a Way of Looking at the World That Would Have Great Power for Generations and Millennia to Come—the Idea That Human Beings Should Be Free to Determine the Course of Their Own Lives, to Be Able to Work and Enjoy the Rewards of the Work of Their Own Hands and Their Own Minds.

This Feature Originally Appeared on the Site for the Nova Program "The Bible's Buried Secrets". See the Original Site for More Related Features.

Moses and the Exodus | Nova

By Sophia Al-Mansoor

• Oct 8, 2026 • 11 min read

Direct Answer • Key Takeaway

Carol Meyers: Too Often in Modern Western Thinking We See Things in Terms of Black and White, History or Fiction, with Nothing in Between. but There Are Other Ways of Understanding How People Have Recorded Events of Their Past. There's Something Called Mnemohistory, or Memory History, That I Find Particularly Useful in Thinking About Biblical Materials. It's Not Like the History That Individuals May Have of Their Own Families, Which Tends to Survive Only a Generation or Two. Rather, It's a Kind of Collective Cultural Memory.

Sophia Al-Mansoor

Global Business & E-Commerce Reporter

Sophia analyzes international trade, startup ecosystems, retail transformation, and supply chain logistics for modern digital publications.

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