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Free PDF: Donovan A. Courville, The Exodus Problem and Its Ramifications, 2 Vols. (1971)

Gary North – September 24, 2020

Donovan Courville was a professor of chemistry. In his spare time, he wrote the most important revisionist book on the dating of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. He defended the Bible’s dating: 15th century, B.C.

He self-published his two-volume book in 1971. It is difficult to locate a copy.

The book was ignored by Egyptologists. This was predictable. Courville promoted a chronological reconstruction along the lines of the one offered by Immanuel Velikovsky in Ages in Chaos. Velikovsky is a pariah for ancient historians. Not for Courville.

. . . . Velikovsky should be credited with the first serious attempt to point out that there is no genuine possibility of arriving at any credible harmony between Old Testament history and current views, and that the solution lies in the direction of a complete reconstruction of the chronology of the ancient world (Vol. 1, p. 128).

Courville went far beyond Velikovsky’s revision. He was a revisionist’s revisionist.

In 1974, I gave a lesson to R. J. Rushdoony’s Sunday morning Bible study, held in Westwood, California. I mentioned the 13th-century dating of exodus. After the meeting, Rushdoony told me to read Courville’s book. I ordered a copy. I read it. I then recorded a revised presentation, which Rushdoony’s tape producer sent to subscribers.

I found his narrative difficult to follow. He was not a well-organized writer. So, I wrote to him. I asked him to write a summary article on Old Testament biblical chronology for The Journal of Christian Reconstruction, which I edited.

He was retired from Loma Linda University. He asked me to drive to Loma Linda for a talk. He was interviewing me. I met with him. In our discussion, he mentioned that he had published the book under the name “Challenge Books.” He said that he was then contacted by a publishing company with that title. He was asked not to use that name. He agreed. He changed his company’s name to Crest Challenge Books. But it was too late. The book never went into a second edition. He never used the new publisher’s name.

He agreed to write the article. I published it in the Summer 1975 issue. It is here.

This week, I paid to have the book scanned and made searchable. I also appended the 1975 article. It is a large file. It may take two minutes to download. Download it here:

The Exodus Problem and Its Ramifications

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Like Doves Flying Home

In the 1930s, a group of new immigrants visited Rav Kook in Jerusalem. The Jewish refugees had fled Germany, forced to leave behind most of their wealth and property.

As the chief rabbi met with them, he felt the depth of their dejection and unhappiness.

Wishing to boost their spirits, Rav Kook quoted Isaiah’s comforting words of consolation. With poetic imagery, the prophet described Jerusalem’s amazement as her children — the Jewish people — suddenly return after long years of exile:

מִי אֵלֶּה כָּעָב תְּעוּפֶינָה וְכַיּוֹנִים אֶל אֲרֻבֹּתֵיהֶם.

“Who are these? They fly like clouds, like doves returning to their cotes!” (Isaiah 60:8)

What is the difference, Rav Kook asked the new arrivals, between the flight of a cloud and that of a dove? Why did Isaiah use these two analogies?

Clouds and Doves

A cloud, he explained, moves involuntarily. Buffeted by storms and strong winds, clouds are pushed from place to place.

The dove, however, is a different story. It flies where it wishes to travel. Longing for home, the dove returns to its beloved nest.

Isaiah foresaw that the Jews returning to the Land of Israel would not be a homogenous group. Some would arrive charged with idealism. Stirred by powerful yearnings to return to their homeland, they would come like doves returning to their cotes.

But other Jews would migrate because violent storms uprooted them from their countries. With few available options, they would find themselves in the Land of Israel, wandering like the involuntary movement of clouds.

Rav Kook then spoke directly to the new immigrants:

Even those who arrive like displaced clouds can find within themselves the longings of a dove wanting to come home. Once you have discovered these aspirations within, you will be able to make your homes here in joy and happiness. As it says,

וּפְדוּיֵי ה’ יְשׁוּבוּן וּבָאוּ צִיּוֹן בְּרִנָּה וְשִׂמְחַת עוֹלָם עַל רֹאשָׁם.
שָׂשׂוֹן וְשִׂמְחָה יַשִּׂיגוּן נָסוּ יָגוֹן וַאֲנָחָה.

“Those whom God redeemed will return.
Singing, they will enter Zion;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
while sorrow and sighing will flee away.” (Isaiah 51:11)

(Adapted from Mo’adei HaRe’iyah pp. 148-149)

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