Judaism and Historicity

[mjs1987]

When it comes to the historicity of the Old Testament, there are Christian defenses of Moses, Exodus and other parts of the Old Testament. I have not been able to find any Orthodox or any Jewish defense of Old Testament events. The Exodus is pretty important to Jews as they still celebrate the Exodus. Scholars these days are denying the Exodus even happened and that the Israelites were even in Egypt. I realize in Judaism there is no proselytizing but I would think there would be a desire to try to prove that the events told in their scripture have a basis in fact. For the Jewish religion especially because many traditions of the Jewish people come from the Exodus time frame. Does anyone know of any Orthodox or any Jewish defense of the historicity of the Old Testament?

 

[chosen_people]

When it comes to the historicity of the Old Testament, there are Christian defenses of Moses, Exodus and other parts of the Old Testament. I have not been able to find any Orthodox or any Jewish defense of Old Testament events. The Exodus is pretty important to Jews as they still celebrate the Exodus. Scholars these days are denying the Exodus even happened and that the Israelites were even in Egypt. I realize in Judaism there is no proselytizing but I would think there would be a desire to try to prove that the events told in their scripture have a basis in fact. For the Jewish religion especially because many traditions of the Jewish people come from the Exodus time frame. Does anyone know of any Orthodox or any Jewish defense of the historicity of the Old Testament?

Judaism is not a man made religion. God revealed Himself and spoke to the entire Jewish nation when giving the Torah. A few people could perhaps claim to have spoken to God, but you cannot falsify a claim involving millions of people. The Torah talks to and deals with events which happened to the Sinai generation. If the Torah was full of false history
this generation would have known it and rejected the Torah. If the Torah was given at a latter time and the events were unknown to the Jews and made up, it would also have been rejected. The truth of the matter is that through DNA and genetic testing we not only learn that Jews from all over the world have distinct common genetic markings but Cohenim can be traced back to a single individual some three thousand years ago.

 

[puzzleannie]

When it comes to the historicity of the Old Testament, there are Christian defenses of Moses, Exodus and other parts of the Old Testament. I have not been able to find any Orthodox or any Jewish defense of Old Testament events. ?

maybe as recipients of God’s revelation Orthodox Jews see no need for humans, including self-identified “historians” and “scientists” to defend God’s truth and they accept his word on faith. Since they have been observing their traditions since ancient times when they were established, and have a continuous written and oral tradition record of those traditions, they may be forgiven if they give their own collective recollection more weight that the assumptions of the aforesaid historians and scientists.