Biblical Hebrew Forum

[RGmyrken AT aol.com]

Dear Walter (and Marianne),

   It is important to note that Manetho does not describe any expulsion of 
Hebrews, but rather an expulsion of Hyksos, and then an expulsion of Hyksos 
together with polluted Egyptians.  It is only Josephus who equated these 
groups 
with the Jews of the Exodus (although some Egyptians in Manetho's day equated 
the figure Osarseph in the second story with Moses - but neither the Jews nor 
Moses appear in the story itself).  Note that the Hyksos worshipped the god 
Seth 
at Avaris, and Osarseph revived the cult of Seth ["Typhon"] at this same city 
(which reflects the historical Ramesside revival of the cult of Seth).  In 
Egyptian literature (and in Plutarch's Isis and Osiris) the followers of Seth 
are repeatedly defeated, expelled from Egypt, yet regroup and return.  The 
two 
expulsion of Sethians in Manetho reflect this stock Egyptian 
literary-religious 
motif.  I wouldn't put much stock in Manetho's account as historical, 
especially his second story (as there appears no historical evidence for a 
Ramesside 
return of Hyksos to Avaris!).

Best regards,
Russell Gmirkin

> 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.
>