NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Moses - more a myth than a man?

By Andrew Brown
Observer·
30 Nov, 2014 04:00 PM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Christian Bale plays the character of Moses in the Ridley Scott blockbuster Exodus: Gods and Kings.

Christian Bale plays the character of Moses in the Ridley Scott blockbuster Exodus: Gods and Kings.

With Exodus: Gods and Kings set for release, there is debate over whether Judaism’s hero really existed.

The actor Christian Bale has said that Moses was "likely schizophrenic and one of the most barbaric characters I ever read about in my life", which may illuminate the way he plays the character in Ridley Scott's upcoming film Exodus: Gods and Kings.

But what light does it cast on the historical figure of Moses? The rather surprising answer is: none. There is no historical figure of Moses, and no reason from archaeology or history to suppose any of the exodus story is true.

Since the central rite of Jewish identity is the Passover festival, which commemorates the moment that Moses freed his people from slavery in Egypt, the absence of evidence outside the Bible story is potentially embarrassing, says Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, who leads Reform Judaism in Britain. "You have to distinguish between truth and historicity," she said.

The controversy so far has usually dealt with the miraculous elements of the story - the plagues of blood and frogs and locusts, God's slaughter of the firstborn children of Egypt and, especially, the parting of the Red Sea. One of the earliest attempts to demythologise the story occurred with the suggestion that the Red Sea was actually "the sea of reeds", a swamp that might have been temporarily cleared by wind. Scott's film turns God's parting of the sea into an earthquake.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But the problem with historical evidence goes much deeper. "Moses himself has about as much historic reality as King Arthur," archaeologist Philip Davies famously concluded. A more moderate conclusion comes from the historian Tom Holland: "The likelihood that the biblical story records an actual event is fairly small."

Cyprian Broodbank, professor of archaeology at Cambridge University, wrote that the exodus was "at best a refracted folk memory of earlier expulsions of Levantine people" following the reconquest of the Nile delta by the Egyptian king Ahmose around 1530BC.

This date is about 900 years earlier than the period in which the Hebrew Bible is supposed to have been codified and written down, including its first five books that were supposedly written by Moses himself. There is no archaeological evidence for the biblical story, and certainly no extra-biblical evidence, in Egyptian inscriptions. Not even the Bible account claims that the Israelites were employed as slaves to build the pyramids as they are in Hollywood. They are simply slaves.

Yet there are tantalising glimpses in the story of something that may be more than mere folk tale. For a start there is the name "Moses" itself, which is Egyptian rather than Hebrew, suggesting the stories drew on memories of real interactions. Holland points out that Moses is mentioned 137 times in the Koran. There were times in the 16th and 17th centuries BC when tribal groups from the eastern Mediterranean were found in what is now northern Egypt. And the story of Moses has a strange echo in the life of Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, the first monotheist known to history. He reigned from 1352 to 1338BC, and proclaimed that there was only one true God, Aten, the sun disc. All others were false, their images destroyed and their names erased. When Akhenaten died, the old religious system revived and then obliterated his memory and, had it not been for the chance discovery of his tomb in the 19th century, the experiment would have been forgotten. As historian Jan Assmann puts it: "Moses is a figure of memory, not of history, whereas Akhenaten is a figure of history, but not of memory."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In the Bible, Moses did not invent monotheism. He had it revealed to him by the One God, who appeared in a burning bush and would not give his name - "I am that I am". Unlike Akhenaten, who appeared alongside his God in sculptures, Moses was very clear about the difference between himself and God. He is horrified when God tells him to return to Egypt and lead the Israelites out, and arranges for his brother Aaron to be the front man and deliver the speeches.

Read more:
*Director Ridley Scott defends Exodus: Gods and Kings whitewashing

"When you're frightened, you internalise a voice that says 'why me, why do I have to do it?' - that's the Moses voice," says Janner-Klausner. "What matters to me is that the language and the modelling of that kind of leadership is extremely true - to have a flawed leader, a reluctant leader. The question I ask of the story is: is there enduring truth that will move me, move the people I'm involved with, and give them liberation? Yes."

Alex Goldberg, an Orthodox rabbi, takes an unemphatic view of the historicity of Moses. "I believe that Moses existed, but that's not the point. From a Jewish perspective, what matters is the theophany on Sinai and receiving the laws. We have faith that the Torah was given to us, and that there was a God event in Sinai."

Discover more

World

Hollywood rediscovers its faith

26 Dec 04:30 PM
Opinion

The Clash: Splitting books for movies: Good or god-awful?

26 Nov 08:35 PM
Entertainment

Scott says he's not directing Blade Runner

27 Nov 02:15 AM
Entertainment

Why Moses is white

27 Nov 03:41 PM

Having little historical evidence for biblical narratives is not the same as having none. Egyptian and Assyrian documents of a much later date than the supposed exodus clearly mention the Hebrews, and archaeology shows that the inhabitants of inland Palestine, which is now the occupied West Bank, were refraining from pork by about 1000BC, while the people nearer the sea, in what is now Israel, were happily eating pigs.

Some features of what would become Judaism were clearly established a very long time ago. But there is no archaeological evidence for the genocide of the Canaanites and even if David and Saul and Solomon all existed, they must have been tribal leaders and not the kings of the Bible. Yet what gives all these figures life is not their grandeur but their frailty. This humanity serves to magnify the power and otherness of God.

And the story of the exodus has a power entirely independent of its historical truth. By believing that it happened, and that it was in a sense, still happening in eternity, people brought and still bring liberation into their lives today. The American civil rights movement could be seen as an attempt to re-imagine black Americans as Israelite slaves, led out of bondage to the promised land. For many, regardless of whether he existed, Moses is as alive today as he ever was.

'White' comment offends
Media baron Rupert Murdoch sparked fury on Twitter after claiming Egyptians are white.

Exodus: Gods and Kings has been criticised for a lack of ethnic diversity among its leading actors. Murdoch, owner of News Corp, tweeted: "Moses film attacked on Twitter for all-white cast. Since when are Egyptians not white? All I know are."

That was followed by: "Everybody-attacks last tweet. Of course are Middle Eastern, but far from black." He then added: "OK, there are many shades of colour. Nothing racist about that, so calm down!"

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

- additional reporting Independent

- Observer

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Entertainment

Entertainment

Watch: Discover top talent at this year's Smokefreerockquest and Showquest

12 Jun 01:57 AM
Premium
Lifestyle

Did Kylie Jenner get plastic surgery? She did, and she'll tell you exactly how

12 Jun 01:25 AM
Entertainment

Sabrina Carpenter's provocative album cover sparks fan backlash

12 Jun 12:15 AM

BV or thrush? Know the difference

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Entertainment

Watch: Discover top talent at this year's Smokefreerockquest and Showquest

Watch: Discover top talent at this year's Smokefreerockquest and Showquest

12 Jun 01:57 AM

Behind the scenes action and talented performers captured in this week's webisodes.

Premium
Did Kylie Jenner get plastic surgery? She did, and she'll tell you exactly how

Did Kylie Jenner get plastic surgery? She did, and she'll tell you exactly how

12 Jun 01:25 AM
Sabrina Carpenter's provocative album cover sparks fan backlash

Sabrina Carpenter's provocative album cover sparks fan backlash

12 Jun 12:15 AM
Watch: Noel Edmonds returns to TV with reality show on Kiwi country life

Watch: Noel Edmonds returns to TV with reality show on Kiwi country life

11 Jun 11:14 PM
It was just a stopover – 18 months later, they call it home
sponsored

It was just a stopover – 18 months later, they call it home

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP