There are stories that describe events that allegedly took place in front of a large audience, but there is no direct connection between them and current generations. For example, imagine a tradition that tells of the revelation of GOD before a great army in some war thousands of years ago. If the current generation is not the direct descendants of those soldiers, it is easier to convince them of such a story, even if it did not happen in reality, because they did not expect to hear about it from their Biblical ancestors. Therefore, even such a tradition is not particularly credible.
Not for nothing, many fairy tales in antiquity took place in the “mythical period,” that is, in an indefinite time and location. There is a big difference between a legend that takes place at the beginning of history and a story that takes place at a set time. A story that takes place in mythical times is a story that is not necessarily expected to leave a historical memory. When it comes to a story of this style, it is much easier to comprehend, understand and accept it, because it takes place in a period from which accurate information is not kept.
Jewish tradition, on the other hand, claims that all Jews are descended from all the People of Israel, who came out of Egypt and stood before Mount Sinai. Even the Jews in all the diaspora of the world heard from his fathers the story they had received from their fathers, and these from their fathers before them, according to which “we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and the Lord our GOD brought us out of there.”
This is not just an event or even a mass event that happened to unfamiliar people, but an event that happened to our Biblical ancestors and passed from them in a direct tradition to descendants of Israel. This is exactly the kind of story that is very difficult to convince an entire nation of if it did not take place in reality, since who among them would believe a story that was supposed to reach people in the tradition of their Biblical ancestors, if they had never heard of the stories before?
In addition, the story of the Exodus even claims to take place within the actual history of the People of Israel. Experience shows that many groups of people have preserved their history in a general sense. Whoever was trying to convince an entire people of the existence of a fabricated historical event, was required not only to convince them of the very existence of the event but also to replace the history known to the people at that time. Had it been a fabricated story, the people would probably have refused to accept it, or at least there would have been conflicting traditions that describe the original story. The fact that the story of the Exodus is unquestionably agreed upon by all of the People of Israel testifies to its credibility.
The Exodus is not only described in the Bible itself but is often mentioned in various books throughout the Bible, from Joshua and Judges to Ezra and Nehemiah. Nowhere in the Bible or outside it does a different tradition appear regarding the origin and history of the People of Israel! Had it been a late invention, one would have expected other traditions to be preserved somewhere, and to find conflicting versions of Jewish history. In practice, as stated, there are no differing accounts. Moreover, in the books of the prophets, the prophets turn to the people and remind them how GOD brought them out of Egypt and treated them with devoted care. They are not trying to persuade the people that it happened, but simply mention several of the famous facts known to all. Therefore, this story is not the domain of a spiritual elite, but a common group memory of all strata of the people.
