Did the Exodus Really Happen?

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Hello, everyone, it's Takuya here.

Daniel McClellan (0:02)

And I'm Gabby.

SPEAKER_1 (0:03)

And we are the hosts of History of Everything, a podcast which you can probably guess by the name is, well, I mean, it's about everything. Do you want to know why people thought potatoes were evil and would give you syphilis? Are you curious about all the stories of the terrible and stupid ways that people have kicked the bucket over the years?

Do you want to hear tales about all of the different badasses of history and the lives that they had brought to life? Well, if so, then look no further.

History of Everything is just the right podcast for you. It's available on Spotify, Pandora, and anywhere else that you get your podcast from. Join us for some fun and just see how weird and wacky history can be.

Daniel McClellan (0:42)

The firstborn of thy sons, shalt thou give unto me. Yikes indeed.

Daniel Beecher (0:48)

I mean, if I'm reading that correctly, that cannot mean what it seems to mean, can it?

Daniel McClellan (0:55)

You're supposed to redeem your child so that it does not get sacrificed. It's like, why not just not have the commandment to sacrifice them in the first place?

If anyone is under the misapprehension that we are claiming this is something we should be reinstituting, I don't think they understand our podcast very well. Hey everybody, I'm Dan McClellan.

Daniel Beecher (1:18)

And I'm Dan Beecher.

Daniel McClellan (1:20)

And you are listening to the Data Over Dogma podcast where we try to increase the public's access to the academic study of the Bible and religion, and combat the spread of misinformation about the same. How are things, Dan?

Daniel Beecher (1:34)

Things are great. You and I just got back from a trip to Denver where we learned about how to podcast. We'll maybe do it right one of these days.

Daniel McClellan (1:42)

We're getting there.

Daniel Beecher (1:44)

We're getting there, slowly but surely.

So that's great. I had a good time. I hope you did as well.

Daniel McClellan (1:50)

I did. It was a good time. I'm glad you talked me into it.

Productive for us and we'll have some updates in the future about new directions. Yeah, not changing the content at all, but we're going to hopefully be able to improve the quality and the reach of our podcast.

Daniel Beecher (2:12)

I unfortunately will be fired from the program, but other than that, everything should stay the same.

Daniel McClellan (2:20)

And yeah, other than that, things will be awesome.

Daniel Beecher (2:25)

Yes, indeed.

Hey, we got a great show coming up. We're going to stick to Exodus. We're going to have some fun in one of the Bible's weirdest books, I think. So let's dive into that.

Daniel McClellan (2:45)

Okay, so our first segment is entitled That's History. That's History, and really the question is going to be, is that history?

We're going to talk about the Exodus narrative. Moses, the enslaved Hebrew peoples taking off from Egypt, and all of the details that surround it.

Daniel Beecher (3:08)

Yeah, it's something that I've wondered about a lot. I'm very glad that we're getting into this because as you read Exodus, and I have done, this story, and it's a story we're all familiar with, right? Cecil B. DeMille gave us all a wonderful, if fanciful primer on this story of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt going through a whole bunch of stuff.

God saves them. And I don't know, saves is a pretty strong word when you see what happens to these people who then are wandering in the desert for 40 years. They don't feel very saved a lot of the time.

Daniel McClellan (3:55)

Yeah, Cecil B. DeMille gave us a great representation of that. And then Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey gave us a great soundtrack to that. That was the era in which I grew up. And I am not even joking when I have heard people in like Sunday school classes talk about how Moses became brothers with the Pharaoh and he gave him his ring because he loved him so much. And I had to be like, you're thinking of the Prince of Egypt?

That's actually not in the Book of Exodus?

Daniel Beecher (4:30)

That's not one of the things. That's not an actual Bible thing. So wait, that's an interesting point right there.

Cecil B. DeMille just made that part up. Is that right?

Daniel McClellan (4:44)

I don't know what role Cecil B. DeMille had to play in the production of the Prince of Egypt.

Daniel Beecher (4:48)

No, no, no, I'm saying the being raised as a prince in Egypt part.