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  • From: "Walter R. Mattfeld" <mattfeld12 AT charter.net>
  • To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] The Exodus' mention in Egyptian Annals ?
  • Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 12:02:58 -0400


Bányai Michael wrote :

"We all know the Egyptian propagandistic literature. It exploits even the smallest incident."

Banyai's statement recalled to mind the oft heard assertion that the Exodus is apparently _unrecorded_ in Egyptian annals. One of the "rationalizations (AKA "arguments from silence") which some scholars resort to, is to the effect that Egyptian pharaohs did _not_ record the "defeats" of Egypt ONLY the victories, thus it is not to be wondered that Egypt would remain silent on such an humiliating event.

K. A. Kitchen (an Egyptologist) speaking of the "absence" of the Exodus in Egyptian annals :

"And as the pharaohs _never_ monumentalize _defeats_ on temple walls, no record of the successful exit of a large bunch of foreign slaves (with loss of a full chariot squadron) would ever have been memorialized by an king in the temples in the Delta or anywhere else." (p. 246. K.A. Kitchen. _On the Reliability of the Old Testament_. Grand Rapids. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 2003)

Then there are the war-reliefs of Ramesses II carved on his temple facades celebrating his "great victory" at Kadesh on the Orontes over the Hittites, but when the Hittite archives were excavated, they suggested a "stalemate," as the Egyptian border was NOT pushed north of the city. So the Egyptians engaged in a _little_ "spin," making a defeat or "draw" into a resounding victory !

Another Egyptologist, Donald B. Redford, sees things quite differently from Kitchen, he understands that the Hebrews did what Ramesses II did, that is to say, he understands that the defeat and expulsion of the Hyksos under pharaoh Ahmose I was "re-spun" into a mighty vicory for Yahweh, setting his people free :

"In sum, therefore, we may state that the memory of the Hyksos expulsion did indeed live on in the folklore of the Canaanite population of the southern Levant. The exact details were understandably blurred and subconsciously modified over time, for the purpose of 'face-saving.' It became not a conquest but a peaceful descent of a group with pastoral associations who rapidly arrived at a position of political control. Their departure came not as a result of an ignominious defeat, but either voluntarily or as a flight from a feud, or yet again as salvation from bondage." (p. 413. "Four Great Origin Traditions." Donald B. Redford. _Egypt, Canaan and Israel in Ancient Times_. Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton University Press. 1992)

Redford's analysis, is not a "new" one though, he was preceded by some 2000 years, by the Egyptian priest-historian Manetho and the Jewish historian Josephus, who associated the Hebrew Exodus with the defeat and expulsion of the Hebrews under two events, the Hyksos expulsion and a later expulsion under Amenophis and son Rameses.

If _"IF"_, Manetho and Redford are correct, then the Exodus _IS INDEED_ recalled in Egyptian annals, but as a VICTORY not a _defeat_ for Egypt ! It was, then an "earth-shaking event" for both nations, Egypt was LIBERATED and the enemy defeated and chased back to Canaan, while the Israelite version had the Egyptians as oppressors who were defeated. That is to say both versions, Egyptian and Israelite are somewhat "mirror-images" of each other (you know, two sides to the same coin).

Although the Egyptian annals which have been unearthed suggest that the Hyksos did not reign over Egypt for 400 years, they do reveal that after the Hyksos expulsion Egypt ruled over her former oppressors for 400 years (again another "mirror-image" or inversion/reversal).

Did Yahweh "defeat" Egypt after a period of 400 years of bondage for his people ? Yes, the Hyksos and their descendants in Canaan were "ruled/oppressed" by Egypt from ca. 1530 to 1130 BCE when Ramesses VI withdrew from Canaan, and Israel begins to appear in hundreds of suddenly appearing Iron I villages of stone, wresting the land away from Canaanites who earlier had Egypt's protection against Israel (Merneptah having claimed he defeated a rebellious Israel ca. 1207 BCE).

By what "mechanism" did the Israelites obtain the notion of an Exodus ? Redford thainks they are nomadic Shasu wandering the Negev and Edom who conquer and settle in Canaan with the Egyptian withdrawl, noting the Exodus stories of Yahweh dawning from Sinai, Seir, Paran and Edom and Egyptian Rameside annals referring the the Yaw Shasu of Seir.

From a biblical point of view, the "mechanism" might be preserved as
Canaanite mothers and fathers teaching their Israelite sons and daughters their Canaanite-Hyksos Origins traditions as noted by Redford. The Bible does suggest that the Israelites DID marry the Canaanites and worship their gods and goddesses.

Judges 3:5-7 RSV

"So the people of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and they took their daughters to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons; and they served their gods."

Thus, if the Bible is right (Judges 3:5-7) Israel of Iron II (ca. 1000-587 BCE) is an AMALGUM of Canaanites and Hebrews; Why wouldn't these Canaanites NOT pass on to their "Israelite sons and daughters" THEIR Hyksos Expulsion origins, and Egypt's 400 year oppression of their ancestors ?

Well, that's _my_ "Spin" on the notion that Egypt NEVER made any mention of the Exodus.

Regards, Walter
Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre, M.A. Ed.
mattfeld12 AT charter.net
www.bibleorigins.net






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