476 Scripture & Science 15: What Happened in the Exodus? (Will Barlow)

What happened in Egypt during the ten plagues? Approaching the matter from a scientific perspective, our teacher, Will Barlow, brings to light some interesting connections. Probably most of us think God's miracles are akin to magical interventions where he breaks the laws of nature to perform a supernatural feat. As we saw last time, the bible doesn't require that view nor does it shy away from offering details occasionally about how God achieved the miraculous. Drawing on the work of Colin Humphreys, Barlow takes a close look at the events surrounding Israel's exit from Egypt, including the timing of the event, the number of people involved, the ten plagues, and the location of Mount Sinai.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7QRFotwkkw

See below for notes.

—— Links ——

• We are doing follow-up discussions to these episodes on YouTube. Check them out!
• See other episodes in this Scripture and Science Class
• Check out Barlow’s previous podcast episodes
• Learn more about and support the church Barlow and his team are starting in Louisville, KY, called Compass Christian Church
• Find more articles and audios by Barlow on his website: Study Driven Faith
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• Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air
• Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library.
• Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

—— Notes ——

The Miracles of Exodus

• Background• The Ten Plagues of Egypt• A Possible Route

Background

Colin Humphreys received a Ph.D. in physics from Cambridge University. He is also an expert in chemistry, astronomy, and geology. He has spent a great deal of time and effort researching ways to reconcile Scripture and science.

Dating the Exodus

• If we take the evidence from Exodus 1:11, the Hebrews built the city of Rameses (1300 BC)• But 1 Kings 6:1 seems to indicate that the Exodus occurred 480 years before the Temple (1446 BC)

Humphreys prefers the later date because it is easier to reconcile historically.

How then can we understand the 480 years of 1 Kings 6:1?

The Septuagint says 440 years, and this is a great clue. Really, 480 years could be an approximation based on the numbers of generations since the prior events.

Humphreys actually goes much further than this. He demonstrates that there are 14 high priests starting from Aaron and ending at Azariah, the high priest at the time of the construction of the Temple of Solomon.

But Aaron is 2 generations old (age