Absence of Evidence is not Evidence of Absence

R' Gil over at Hirhurim has a post about the number of Jews who left Egypt, and how the lack of archaeological evidence of the Israelite's presence in the wilderness, at least in those numbers, among other things, poses a serious question, and it not as easily answerable as the Frumteen's moderator presented it (that there was plently of evidence, etc.).

While Gil does say that this is the current archaeological perspective, and this can change if they discover new evidence, I feel that this point can be stressed more.

In February 2005, I linked to a Jerusalem Post article, and discussed it, in this post. Basically, for years minimalists had been saying that the depiction of Biblical Edom in the days of David and Shlomo could not be right, for there was no evidence that Edom existed back then. A citation:

Jordanian dig confirms Biblical Edom
Just-published evidence from a US-directed archeological dig in Jordan further authenticates the Bible's descriptions of the existence of the ancient nation of Edom during the eras of King David and his son, King Solomon.

...

The new study, headed by archeology Prof. Thomas Levy of University of California, San Diego, contradicts much contemporary scholarship claiming – on the basis of no physical evidence – that no Edomite state existed before the 8th Century BCE. Until the new discovery, many scholars said the Bible's numerous references to ancient Israel's interactions with Edom could not be valid.

While previous investigations in Edom had been carried out in the Jordanian highland zone and put the rise of the Edomite kingdom during the 8th to 6th centuries BCE, the new archeological data from modern-day Jordan presents strong evidence for the involvement of Edom with neighboring ancient Israel as described in the Bible and indicates the existence of the biblical nation of Edom at least as early as the 10th Century BCE – when David and Solomon were alive.

The Edomite lowlands, home to a large copper ore zone, had been ignored by archeologists because of the logistical difficulties of working in the extremely dry and hot region. But with an anthropological perspective and using high precision radiocarbon dating, the team showed evidence of two major phases of copper production – during the 12th to 11th centuries BCE and the 10th to 9th centuries BCE.

That is, they had assumed that the Biblical narrative was incorrect because they did not find archaeological evidence to support it. But, it is possible to miss archaeological evidence. And if the evidence ever turns up, is overturns previous conceptions.

Another example. The word shofet occurs in Devarim, and scholars tried to say that Dvarim was composed very late, for there was no evidence of this root contemporary to the purported time of the exodus from Egypt. Then, they discovered a treasure trove - the royal archive at Mari, which contained many documents - and discovered that shft was indeed a root that was in use well previous to that. There are other examples of this.

As a result, the claim that absence of evidence is a knock-down argument against the exodus from Egypt (or at least in those numbers) as described in the Torah - is unconvincing, to me at least.

This all assumes there is evidence to be found of such numbers of people. After all, not all bones, or vessels, last. The Israelites were in the desert for 40 years. That may seem like a long period of time, but I doubt it is from the perspective of archaeology. Furthermore, they did not spend that time in one place. There were 42 encampments, corresponding to answer to Life, the Universe, and everything, enumerated in Bemidbar 33. They may well have carried many things with them, and that which they left behind could have been collected by desert scavengers. This is without resorting to claiming miracles, of which the Torah itself describes (manna, the Clouds of Glory), and which the midrash itself expands upon. For example, one opinion in a dispute recorded in the midrash claims that the Israelites were surrounded on all 6 sides by Clouds of Glory.

Update: Further, giant squid were thought to be mythological sea creatures, the creation of the minds of seafarers, until in recent times they were spotted, and in fact, washed ashore.