When Myths Become Salvation

In 722 BCE, the ten Israeli tribes in the north of Canaan were conquered by the Assyrians, and in 586 BCE, the last two tribes in the south were conquered by the Babylonians. At that point, they had lost everything: their freedom, their land and their temple. They struggled to survive as a people and a religion. Their response was revolutionary. They created a past. They compiled stories that purport to describe their history like their enslavement in Egypt and their warrior god who destroyed an Egyptian army and helped them conquer the Promised Land. We know these stories are fictitious for several reasons. They claim they were dictated by God to Moses at Mt. Sinai, but they’re full of demonstrable errors that God wouldn’t have made. Next, the Pentateuch describes Israeli history from the 20th century BCE, but that’s at least seven centuries before they evolved as a people.

This fictitious history was created for a strategic purpose. For people struggling to survive, these stories were a lifeline. They showed how people in crisis created a past to secure a future. Its success in doing so cannot be questioned.

This book is a bold, evidence-driven investigation into these stories, drawing on archaeology, history, and rhetorical analysis.