What is the meaning of the story of the Exodus?

[edhopper]

Yes I am going there today.
Given that the entire story is metaphor, allegory or cultural appropriations, or however you want to categorize it, we know it is not true.
There was no Moses, Hebrews were never slaves in Egypt and the Egyptians never had that type of slavery anyway.
So this story of freedom is also the story of genocide. It is also the story of a God who seems fully capable of freeing His people allowing generation after generation to live in slavery until he decides to do something. Why? Because Moses saw things weren't kosher?
What should we learn from this tale? What is it we celebrate?

[NeoGreen]

1. Could it be a mea culpa guilt text...

...written as a sad justification for the purported (celebrated?) genocides committed after the "escape" from Egypt?

[MineralMan]

2. It's just a "chosen people" story.

Overcoming hardship, escaping from that hardship, and therefore justified in slaughtering people to create a homeland.

That's all. A saga story filled with legendary heroes, laws handed down, traditions establishes, and so on and so on.

Fables.

[Pope George Ringo II]

3. Men would rather wander 40 years than stop and ask for directions.

I think that's really the lesson here.

[MineralMan]

4. LOL! So true.

[Act_of_Reparation]

5. Always pack a map.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. It would be interesting to know if the story existed before the Assyrians attacked Israel

in the 8th century BC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_captivity

because it could be read as a legend telling them "have faith, you won't be in captivity for ever, your god will rescue you when you are sufficiently religious". There's also the Babylonian captivity of Judah, after that.

[edhopper]

7. Well

a lot of it existed in Babylon in the 25th Century BCE.

When the Hebrews adopted it is a good question.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Really? I hadn't heard of an 'exodus' story from them

It's fairly specific to a people who fled an empire. What's the Babylonian version?

[edhopper]

9. Not exodus per se

but I believe they have a earlier version of Moses.

Or I maybe misremembering which ancient culture that was from.

...

Googled a little.

I believe I was thinking of Sargon of Sumeria.

[marylandblue]

10. Only part was Sargon of Akkad was a foundling in a basket on a river

And grew into a great leader. Other than that, the Exodus story seems to be original with the ancient Hebrews.

[edhopper]

11. A story

about there enslavement in Babylon, transported to Egypt.

But of course we don't have enough or the stories from the other cultures as we would like.