Product Description

Riddle of the Exodus takes you on a journey of discovery that offers a radical new view of this pivotal event in the history of the Jewish people. By comparing Egyptian archaeology and ancient records, here is proof that this epic event signaled the demise of Egypt's Golden Age and the end of the 6th Dynasty.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #985265 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04
• Binding: Paperback
• 199 pages

Isaac E. Mozeson, Editor, Author of "The Word: The Dictionary that Reveals the Hebrew Source of English"
"Long's powerful, highly readable book divulges proof of the Exodus, squaring the difficulties between archeaological theory and Biblical record."

Dr. Eugene E. Narrett, Cambridge College, Cambridge, MA
"It belongs in all serious history courses that purport to teach western civilization...."

R. Yechiel Eckstein, Int'l Fellowship of Christians and Jews
"...one of the best responses..to those skeptical of the historicity of the Exodus...and authenticity of the Biblical account."

Customer Reviews

Fascinating and provocative
With what appears to be excellent research and a very good working knowledge of the book of Exodus, the author challenges traditional archeologists to review their data. I have always felt that the dismissal of the story of the Exodus as just another Biblical story was wrong and that that dismissal was the work of Biblical revisionists. The author, James Long, makes sense of a chronology that too often has been twisted to fit other agendas. This is a fascinating read.

worthless as peer-reviewed research
Don't buy it if you expect a learned author with peer-reviewed credentials. This is another one of the bronze-age books written by amateurs with no serious background in archeology or egyptology, whose only credentials are a strong religious bend. The book expounds a thesis with no factual backing.

I am very disappointed that no other review pointed this out. If you look for actual facts and serious analysis stay away. This purchase was a total waste. After the first few pages I was too embarassed to read this book in public. The positive ratings for this book are probably "ideological" ratings that rate the book high because it supports a fundamentalist reading of the Bible - in no way do they represent a true rating of this book. Real historians probably know better and don't buy/rate it...

Cross the Red Sea with this book!
James Long is mainly concerned to make a case for Joseph, Moses and the Exodus taking place in the 6th Dynasty of Egypt (other current writers advocate the 18th dynasty or the end of the 12 dynasty for the Exodus). His case for adjusting the chronology of Ancient Egypt is good, and has been made by a number of others. He just takes it farther than all the others, without any clearer reason other than Talmudic legend offers some clues that (read in one way) might point in this direction. His discussion about the parting of the Red Sea is about the best yet, and also the possible location(s) of the real Mt Sinai. Probably the most tenuous links are those between the rulers at the end of the 6th dynasty and the artefacts concerning the Exodus, though his exposition of the Ipuwer papyrus is excellent (it just doesn't necessarily link up to his chronology - Ted Stewart makes a similar case for this same document in respect of a 12th Dynasty Exodus, and similar evidence for the closing sequence of Pharaohs!). The one area I struggled with was the "traditional Jewish dating", which if taken to its logical conclusion means that Thiele's master work (the Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings) needs a couple of centuries extracting from its timelime somehow in order for James Long's thesis to hold up. I suspect that if this dating (with respect to the dates of the Patriarchs) was adjusted by a couple of centuries, and the Egyptian timeline dealt with in a similar way, then more clarity could appear. Much good information, very well written, dodgy arguments!