What is the evidence, given the alternate timeline?
Bs"d
Independent of any time-line, we have the Ipuwer papyrus written by an Egyptian priest, which describes the 10 plagues of Egypt, with a baffling similarity to the Biblical account.
And there is the Al Arish stele:
At last the Israelites could leave Egypt, but they were right away chased by the Egyptian army:
"Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hakhiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’ 4 Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.
5 Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people; and they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” 6 So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. 7 Also, he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them. 8 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with boldness. 9 So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hakhiroth, before Baal Zephon."
Ex 14
And there you are, at Pi Hakhirot, right at the sea, and then the whole Egyptian army comes barging in. Luckily, a miracle happened:
"Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
24 Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. 25 And He took off[a] their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.” 26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.” 27 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28 Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. 29 But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 30 So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.”
And GONE was the Egyptian army.
Isn't that miraculous?
But of course, there are unbelievers who'll say that these are all fairy tales, and nothing like this ever happened.
But for that eventuality we have the Al Arish stele. (stele:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stele ) That is a black stone found in Al Arish, on the border of Israel and Egypt. And on that it is written: “The land was in great trouble. Disaster fell on this earth …. The capital was in great disarray ….. during nine days nobody could leave the palace (there was no way out of the palace) and during these nine days of upheaval is was storming so much that nor humans nor gods (the royal family) could see the faces of those next to them.”
This was one of the plagues, again written in the Torah, which God brought over the Egyptians when they didn't want to let the Israelites go:
“And the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. 23 They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.”
And the hieroglyph text mentions also that pharaoh followed the “evil ones” to the place called “Pi Khiroti”.
And doesn't “Pi Khiroti” look an awful lot like “Pi Hakhirot” where according to the Torah the pharaoh caught up with the Israelites?
Please keep in mind that “Ha” is the Hebrew definite article which is written as a prefix to the word it defines, so “Pi Hakhirot” = “Pi Khirot”.
The stele speaks about “Pi-Khiroti”.
And the stele continues and tells us about the death of the pharaoh: “When his majesty fought against the evil ones in this whirlpool, the evil ones were not victorious over his majesty. His majesty jumped into the place of the whirlpool.
This looks an awful lot like: “For the horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them. But the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea."
Doesn't it?
A person might wonder: “How is this possible, if it never happened?”
So we have the Al Arish stele, we have the Ipuwer papyrus with the plagues on it, how can anybody in his right mind deny it happened?
For more archeological evidence, see “The Exodus Decoded” and "Patterns of Evidence".
"For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of Y-H-W-H our God for ever and ever."
Micah 4:5