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DOES NEW RESEARCH PROVE THE BIBLICAL EXODUS?

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If you take a moment to read through our research page on the life of Joseph and watch this recommended video called, “Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus.” then you'll have caught up to where we are now. Next, is a dive into the Bible Timeline and the life of Moses.

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Traditionally the church has believed that the Exodus was an event connected to the life of a specific Pharaoh - Ramses. Well, it certainly made for great theatre, but was it factually based? The answer it would seem is no.

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The traditional viewpoint was taken from the verse in the Bible (Exodus 1:11) stating that the Hebrews built the city of Ramses, which archaeologists know existed only during the 13th century BC. There is no archaeological evidence of Semitic culture in the city, archaeologists say, and therefore the Exodus, despite being a nice parable to base a sermon on, has no factual basis.

 

And so many have thought along these lines for years - until they found Avaris.

 

When the Exodus was being transcribed over the years the city of Avaris was no longer there. Not on any maps and not known by the culture. It had been rebuilt and time had hidden what was. A new city had been constructed. The city of Ramses. The Hebrews, 200 years prior had settled in the land of Goshen in the sprawling city of Avaris. But time, war and reconstruction would bury the evidence of their presence.

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Recently archaeologists have uncovered the Semitic remains in the ruins of Avaris, a large city in Northern Egypt that had a population of 30,000. Findings discovered beneath the ruins of the city of Ramses. Pre-dating the city of Ramses and placing the Hebrews there in Avaris with numerous relics and ruins.

 

“And it shall come to pass when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say: What is your occupation? that ye shall say: Thy servants have been keepers of cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and our fathers; that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.’” (Genesis 46:33-34)

 

Beitak described that proof of shepherding, an unusual practice in Egypt, was found around the remains of Avaris. 

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Now God had told Abraham years before that his children would be enslaved to a nation, but that nation would be judged and his people would be set free.

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Genesis 15:14-16

"And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation, they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

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So we have evidence of the Hebrews being in Egypt during the 17th century as the digs in Avaris have uncovered the residence of Joseph, his tomb and a statue of Joseph. At the site, remains were discovered in a palace built around 12 pillars with royal trappings. In the land adjacent to the palace were 12 impressive burial crypts. The most elegant crypt was a small pyramid containing an unusually large statue with skin painted yellow, red hair, and a multi-colored robe. Most intriguing was the fact that the crypt contained no human remains. This corresponds to the Biblical account of Joseph’s bones being carried back to Israel when the Jews left Egypt. There are indications that Avaris showed a later period of significant growth and prosperity, with artifacts of Canaanite origin that are clearly not Egyptian. These sites are still largely unexplored.

 

The Bible Timeline in fact shows clearly that Joseph stood before pharaoh in the year 1771BC.

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Later periods of the dig in Avaris show graves containing skeletons with signs of malnutrition and stress. Even more shocking is an increase in infant graves, from a typical 25 percent rate to 50 percent, and an increase in the remains of females who made it into adulthood as compared to male remains. So the reduction seems to have happened on the male side, precisely as described in the Bible.

 

The Brooklyn Papyrus is further proof. The papyrus documents the domestic accounts of an Egyptian household. Nearly 100 slaves, predominantly female, are listed with Semitic names. This papyrus is not from the New Kingdom when most Egyptologists place the Hebrews in Egypt, but from the Middle Kingdom. During the Middle Kingdom, Joseph was co-ruler in the land of Egypt. 

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The Bible Timeline gives us the date of 1522BC for the Exodus.

 

We know that Joseph was born in 2199. That he stood before Pharaoh at the age of 30 in the year 2229. We know that Joseph lives for 110 years and dies in the year 2309. We know that this coincides with the rise of the Second Intermediate Period of Egyptian history and the invasion of the Hyksos.

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The Greek name "Hyksos" was coined by Manetho to identify the Fifteenth Dynasty of Asiatic rulers of northern Egypt. In Egyptian Hyksos means "ruler(s) of foreign countries", however, Manetho mistranslated Hyksos as "Shepherd Kings". The Hyksos had Canaanite names, as seen in those with names of Semitic deities such as Anath or Ba'al.  They were Amalekite tribes from the east. There is a mis-conception that as the Hykso’s were also shepherds they had an soft spot in their hearts for the Israelites, but they were not shepherd’s. They were fierce warriors with introducing chariots to the battlefield. Israel inhabited the best land. As the new rulers of the land of Egypt, the Hyksos also took for themselves slaves of all foreign peoples living in the land. 

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We know then that this was the 'New Pharaoh' that knew not Joseph. The Hebrews were enslaved at this time.

 

Exodus 1: 8-10

"Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.  And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.”

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Keep in mind that Joseph was the second most powerful man in the world. Through years of famine people would come to buy food from the one nation that thought to store up reserves. Was Joseph rather famous? Yes he was. So we know that this new Pharaoh was not local. 

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At the time of Moses birth the reigning Pharaoh would have been an unnamed Hyksos King sitting in the throne of Lower Egypt as the Pharaoh. Moses was born in the midst of the years of slavery, but raised as a prince in the house of Pharaoh.

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Flavius Josephus, Against Apion, I:75–77.

"By main force they easily seized it without striking a blow; and having overpowered the rulers of the land, they then burned our cities ruthlessly, razed to the ground the temples of gods… Finally, they appointed as king one of their number whose name was Salatis. He had his seat at Memphis, levying tribute from Upper and Lower Egypt and always leaving garrisons behind in the most advantageous positions."  The reign of Salitis would match well to the birth date of Moses.

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Salatis went on to make himself pharaoh of a new dynasty, living in Memphis while collecting tribute from both upper and lower Egypt, and rebuilding the city of Avaris with a walled fortress in the Saite nome. He also set up garrisons in strategic locations, with the particular aim of going on to take Assyria next.52 The name of this first Hyksos ruler reflects the title shalit given to Joseph when he became the Pharaoh's governor in Genesis 42:6,53 whereby he revolutionized the system of tribute owed to the king (Gen. 47:26). 

 

With Jacob coming into Egypt in the year 2238AM (1762BC) is Levi who has Kohath, both of whom live well under the rule of Joseph and a friendly Pharaoh. Not until the Hyksos invasion do things change drastically for the Hebrews. Now Kohath has Amram, born into slavery. For a generation the people suffer under cruel bondage and cry out to God for a deliverer. Moses is born in the year 2398AM (1602BC), mid way through the slavery years. 

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At the birth of Moses we have the fourth generation after Jacob entered the land of Egypt.

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We know that for forty years Moses lives like a prince. 2398 - 2438AM (1602-1562BC)

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According to the Egyptian historic timeline we note that Moses is born under the rule of the Hyksos Pharaohs who were enslaving the Hebrew children. By the time Moses is forty 2438AM (1562BC) and has his personal revelation of nationhood, the current realm is coming under attack as Egyptians attempt to regain the throne and ruler-ship of their own lands. 

 

Seqenenre Tao, called 'the Brave', ruled over the last of the local kingdoms of the Theban region of Egypt in the Seventeenth Dynasty during the Second Intermediate Period. He may have risen to power in the decade ending in 1560BC or in 1558BC (based on the probable accession date of his son, Ahmose I, the first ruler of the eighteenth dynasty). Seqenenre Tao is credited with starting the opening moves in a war against Hyksos incursions into Egypt, which saw the country completely liberated during the reign of his son Ahmose I.  

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For forty years Moses lives like a shepherd and comes back to Egypt following his burning bush experience. Now eighty years old Moses is walking back into Egypt in the year 2478AM (1522BC).

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It is fond to think of Moses in a relationship with a single Pharaoh through his lifetime. Being born in the house of Pharaoh and coming back to face his kin in some epic struggle for freedom. Romantic notion, but not at all a historic telling of the tale. In fact when you examine the line of Pharaoh's their time on the throne was short, with many dying in battle or during internal revolts or assassinations.

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We know that Kamose was the son of Seqenenre Tao II and Ahhotep I and the full brother of Ahmose I. His reign fell at the very end of the Second Intermediate Period. Kamose is usually ascribed a reign of three years (his highest attested regnal year), although some scholars now favor giving him a longer reign of approximately five years. His reign is important for the decisive military initiatives he took against the Hyksos, who had come to rule much of Ancient Egypt. His father had begun the initiatives and, quite possibly, lost his life in battle with them. It is thought that his mother, as regent, continued the campaigns after the death of Kamose (also in battle with the Hyksos), and that his full brother made the final conquest of them and united all of Egypt.

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The Ipuwer Papyrus is an ancient Egyptian poem. It is housed in the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities. The sole surviving manuscript dates no earlier than the 19th dynasty in the New Kingdom. It describes Egypt as afflicted by natural disasters and in a state of chaos, famine and death are everywhere. Describing the 10 plagues during Moses' time: ‘the river is blood and one drinks from it’. The writing of the Papyrus would date it to be in the same time of Obed in the time of the Judges. So obviously a poem written in Egypt, not during the events, but looking back at the events of the Exodus. In the poem, Ipuwer – a name typical of the period 1850-1450 BC – complains that the world has been turned upside-down: a woman who had not a single box now has furniture, a girl who looked at her face in the water now owns a mirror, while the once-rich man is now in rags. 

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Again, we know the Exodus took place in the year 1522BC - so this too is evidence supporting the biblical narrative. 

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Josephus identifies the Israelite Exodus with the first exodus mentioned by Manetho, when some 480,000 Hyksos "shepherd kings" (also referred to as just 'shepherds', as 'kings' and as 'captive shepherds' in his discussion of Manetho) left Egypt for Jerusalem. It is known that this term "shepherd kings" is a mistranslation by Josephus and what the actual translation says is simply - foreigners or foreign kings.

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Thanks 

M. Joseph Hutzler, Eschatologist
www.FullBibleTimeline.com

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