Did the Exodus Really Happen? Evidence, Memory, and the Bible | Prof. Ronald Hendel

Welcome to KEDEM Channel! In this episode, the first in a new series, we sit down with Prof. Ronald Hendel (UC Berkeley) to ask one of the biggest questions in biblical studies: Did the Exodus really happen? Prof. Hendel is among the most distinguished biblical scholars of our time, widely respected for his research on the history, literature, and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. Rather than framing the issue as a simple “myth vs. history” debate, he helps us think more carefully about evidence, cultural memory, and the ways foundational stories are shaped, transmitted, and reworked. Together, we explore what can (and cannot) be recovered historically, what archaeology and Egyptian sources may contribute, and why the Exodus remains central to Israel’s identity and the Bible’s theological imagination. In this conversation, we discuss: What historians mean when they ask “Did it happen?” Archaeology, Egyptian history, and the limits of external evidence Exodus as cultural memory: how collective memory preserves and reshapes the past How the biblical text was composed, edited, and given its final form Why the Exodus story became Israel’s defining origin narrative Support KEDEM on Patreon:   / kedem   About our guest: Prof. Ronald Hendel is the Norma and Sam Dabby Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University in Biblical History and Northwest Semitic Philology, and is the author of numerous books and articles, including The Book of Genesis: A Biography (2013) and Genesis 1–11: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (2024). He also serves as a general editor of The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition (Society of Biblical Literature). Chapters: 0:00:00 No evidence for a mass Exodus? (opening hook) 0:00:23 Welcome + guest intro (Ron Hendel, UC Berkeley) 0:00:50 The Exodus as cultural memory (framing) 0:01:03 Studying the history of the memory (not the event) 0:01:51 Barcelona Haggadah: why the slavery memory is so strong 0:02:53 Archaeology: early Israel as an indigenous hill-country phenomenon 0:04:21 Egypt’s empire in Canaan (map, timeline, “moving away from hegemony”) 0:06:24 Imperial ideology: “everyone in Canaan is a slave to Pharaoh” 0:08:59 Amarna letters: “dirt under the sandals” and “under the feet” language 0:10:38 Corvée labor, taxes, royal lands, and garrisons (including Jaffa) 0:12:54 The “Exodus” as Egypt’s withdrawal from Canaan 0:13:30 Why would Israel ground its origins in slavery? 0:17:34 Merneptah Stele and Egyptian oppression (and memory-making) 0:19:01 Egyptian influence on Israelite religion and culture (mostly limited) 0:22:08 When were Exodus traditions written? Song of the Sea and later growth 0:26:39 Ramses/Pithom and Egyptian “coloring”: verisimilitude vs history 0:34:12 What “cultural memory” is: present relevance, forgetting, and reshaping 0:37:15 Davidic dynasty, Samuel as Mosaic reflection, and Moses missing in Exod 15 0:41:05 Egyptian withdrawal creates a vacuum: rise of Israel, Moab, Edom, etc. 0:45:40 Counter-memories in the Bible: Jeremiah vs priestly narrative 0:46:33 Israel as a coalition of groups (lead-in to next section) Subscribe for long-form conversations with leading scholars in the Hebrew Bible, the Ancient Near East, and ancient history. #Exodus #HebrewBible #BiblicalStudies #AncientEgypt #Archaeology #RonaldHendel #kedem --------------------------------------------