Moses Was a Composite Character

On the onset, pro is making some underlying assumptions by stating "Moses was a composite character. " He is saying: 1) Moses was not a historical person (for if he was he could not be composite). 2) The story of Moses from Exodus is not completely original and all or parts of the narrative were essentially copied from previous stories (I find calling him a "composite character" to be a sort of euphemism if that is the case). It is the second assumption which will come up throughout the entirety of the debate. For this round I will not focus too much on targeting any of his specific claims, but rather the foundation on which all his opening claims stand. For his opening argument, pro has given us a list of several characters exposing how different details of the Exodus narrative concerning Moses seem to match up well with their stories. These three stories ranged from 2600 BC up to 1750 BC, a span of 850 years. Writing was first developed in Mesopotamia around 3400-3200 BCE , and since that time countless stories, histories, and mythologies have been written. [1] I'd assume that pro is going to list as many stories from the invention of writing up until the J source (generally dated anywhere from 10th century to 6th century BCE) [2]. This would be the equivalent of me looking at two random movies (which have only been around since roughly 1890) and finding similarities between them, then claiming that the later movie was obviously copied from the earlier one. From this standard I could say that Harry Potter was copied from Luke Skywalker because they are both orphans and have magical powers. This is just between two movies that were released 24 years apart, while pro is applying this principle across a span (according to his dating of the J source) of 2700 years. We should expect any writing to haves great similarities to several other writings, just due to the sheer amount of writing done in that extremely long time period. This isn't also to mention that writings from a similar region are naturally going to be more similar to one another than those that are distant. Here are some brief responses to his specific claims: Code of Hammurabi It should be no surprise that the Code of Hammurabi is similar to the Mosaic law because geographical regions tend to have similar moral laws. The fact that both the code and the law contain a form of "lex talionis" [3] should not lend any credibility to pro's claims, considering the geographical proximity in which both were written. Pharo Sneferu There is nothing strikingly similar to the Exodus account to really comment on. Sargon of Akkad The similarity here between the Exodus account and Sargon's account is his mother sending him down the river in a basket. While I think the above argument against pro's claims is enough to defend the similarities, there is also more to keep in mind. One of the assumptions is that this tale predates the J source. The earliest surviving copies of the Sargon text date from Neo Assyrian or later. [4] This suggests that the tale may have been recorded for, or by, the late eighth century Assyrian king, Sargon II, who identified himself with the monarch of Sargon I. [2] The J source is usually dated to the tenth century (950 BCE according to pro's source number 1), which would predate the reign of Sargon II. Also, the verse containing the central elements of the Moses birth narrative similar to Sargon's account, Exodus 2:3 [5], contains at least six words of Egyptian origin. The large concentration of Egyptian terms is strongly against the idea of a Mesopotamian connection. I do not think that looking at similar details within different writings is strong enough evidence to assume one was borrowed from another, nor do I think pro's examples were strikingly convincing. Thank you for your opening remarks and I look forward to the next round. [1] . http://archive.archaeology.org... [2] Israel in Egypt, James K. Hoeffmeier [3] . http://www.britannica.com... [4] . http://www.britishmuseum.org... [5] . http://biblehub.com...