Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Brian Roberts <formoria AT carolina.rr.com>]

On Saturday, July 24, 2004, at 04:40  PM, Yigal Levin wrote:

> Please remember, that the dates given below are all based on the 
> assumption
> that Shishak, who invaded Judah in Rehoboam's 5th year, is the same as
> Sheshonq I, who invaded "Retenu" in c. 925 B.C.E.  I personally do not 
> doubt
> the equation, but this just shows that this whole dating scheme is not
> purely "biblical" - it is based on modern scholarly research, both of 
> the
> Bible and of Egyptian chronology. So the date of 1446 for the Exodus is 
> no
> more "Biblical" than any other.
>
> Furthermore, what 1 Kings 6:1 actually says, is that Solomon built the
> Temple in his 4th year, which was the 480th since the Exodus. 480 just
> happens to be 40 x 12. 40, as in the reigns of both David and Solomon 
> (and
> Saul, according to Acts), as well as the length of time the Israelites 
> spent
> in the desert, the time (and multiples of) that many of the Judges 
> ruled,
> the number of days that the Flood lasted, that the spies spent touring 
> the
> Land, that Moses spent on Mt. Sinai (so did Elijah) and so on, has long 
> been
> recognized as being a typological number, that is used to signify the
> passage of a whole period of time (a generation). It's even used in the
> Mesha inscription. And 12, of course, is the number of the sons of 
> Jacob, of
> the tribes of Israel, of Solomon's districts, of the Judges, of the 
> month of
> the year and so on. So I would have little qualms about taking any of 
> those
> figures figuratively.
>
> Yigal

So, Yigal, what do you think of an Exodus event in the reign of 
Amenhotep III?