Biblical Hebrew Forum

[MarianneLuban AT aol.com]

In a message dated 7/30/2004 1:23:23 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
kwrandolph AT email.com writes:


> There are several clues, taken individually don't mean much, but taken 
> together suggests to me that the pharaoh of the Exodus could very well 
> have been Hyksos

Many of the ancient historians believed there was an exodus of the Hebrews at 
the time of the Hyksos--but that the pharaoh who presided over that was 
Ahmose I, which these chroniclers named specifically.  The Hyksos was 
Semites.  
They sacked Memphis ca. 1760 BCE and assumed rule over the Delta as far south 
as 
Hermopolis--but no farther.  But it wasn't until around a half a century 
later 
that one of their number actually felt sufficiently confident to proclaim 
himself "pharaoh" in the north of Egypt, assuming Egyptian throne names, etc. 
 
The Hyksos rule lasted about 108 years.  Then, as Manetho tells us, a fierce 
and 
prolonged war broke out between the Hyksos and a dynasty ruling from Thebes 
in the south.  Several Theban princes fought the Hyksos, but only Ahmose I 
succeeded in driving them into Canaan.  The reason some of the historians of 
antiquity believed an exodus took place at this time was because the Land of 
Goshen 
was part of the Hyksos holdings.  And, yes, it would seem likely that, once 
it became known that Ahmose was on the water,  everyone in the eastern Delta 
headed for Avaris, a large and very great Hyksos fortified city with 
legendary 
walls, for shelter.  I really do not know of any evidence at all that a 
Hyksos 
king could be the pharaoh of the BOE.  On the contrary, Manetho seems have 
have indicated that it was Joseph who served a Hyksos King, Apophis, and even 
gave the exact years of his lengthy reign when Joseph arrived in Egypt and 
then 
became vizier.  If one credits this, then it is impossible for any Hyksos 
ruler 
to have been coexistent with Moses because Joseph came into Egypt 215 years 
prior to the exodus.  Manetho--quite obviously-- did not agree with the 
theory 
that an exodus took place at that time.  He said the negotiations for a 
release did not arise until the time of a king named Thutmose, Avaris having 
been 
resettled by then--and Manetho admitted he didn't know just what kind of 
people 
the Hyksos really were.  There is a lot to be said about the ancients and 
their various theories--but Manetho was considered to be a very great 
authority by 
them all.  In order for me to set it down here, I would have to re-type my 
whole book.  Too much work :-(