entity · trad_exodus
Exodus tradition
Also known as: Exodus narrative, Moses and departure from Egypt
Biblical traditions of enslavement, divine deliverance, departure from Egypt, wilderness travel, covenant, and community formation.
Review and provenance
Specialist reviewer: not recorded. Review date: not recorded.
Dataset workflow: proposed. This is separate from specialist review.
Confidence describes the stated assessment; it does not certify expert approval. How review works.
Chronology
Dating intervals may describe uncertainty or phases; their width alone does not establish event duration.
1300 BCE–1200 BCE
Precision: broad traditional setting
Chronology model: Ramesside setting hypothesis
lowA Ramesside setting is a historical proposal based on geography and names, not a direct date for a demonstrated mass departure.
- informs · proposes interpretation
Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition — James K. Hoffmeier (1999)Supports this hypothesis.
Locator: Ramesside setting and route chapters - informs · critiques interpretation
The Pentateuch: Archaeology and History — Israel Finkelstein (2021)Provides limits.
Locator: archaeological and historical comparison
900 BCE–400 BCE
Precision: broad multistage range
Chronology model: multiple Pentateuchal models
moderateThe surviving narrative is layered and later than its setting; individual blocks may have different dates.
- informs · dates
Secondary Layers and the Pentateuch — Reinhard G. Kratz (2021)Supports multi-stage model.
Locator: secondary-layer methodology - informs · contextualizes
The Composition of the Pentateuch — Konrad Schmid (2025)Provides current range.
Locator: composition synthesis
Research description
Biblical traditions of enslavement, divine deliverance, departure from Egypt, wilderness travel, covenant, and community formation. The date range describes proposed composition/redaction activity, not the narrative setting.
Properties and assignments
A label’s definition and the evidence for assigning it here are separate.
Literary tradition, not contemporary event report
A narrative or motif documented in a text composed or redacted after its narrated setting.
Why does this record have this property?
The surviving Exodus narrative is a layered literary tradition with separately tested historical-memory proposals.
- Secondary Layers and the Pentateuch
defines · secondary-layer methodology - The Exodus as Memory, Myth and History
contextualizes · memory/myth/history
Evidence and sources
- informs · contextualizes
The Pentateuch: Archaeology and History — Israel Finkelstein (2021)Separates narrative settings, archaeological comparisons, and composition.
Locator: archaeology and Pentateuchal history chapter - informs · proposes interpretation
Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition — James K. Hoffmeier (1999)Argues for historically informed memories.
Locator: chapters on Egyptian setting and route - informs · proposes interpretation
The Exodus as Memory, Myth and History — Hendrik Bosman (2014)Supports literary-memory modeling.
Locator: memory, myth, and history framework
Referenced records
- Southern Levant · entity