Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>]

Also, another problem I forgot to mention is that, to the best of my
knowledge, it was the invading Hyksos in the 14th dynasty who brought the
invention of the use of horse and wheel (i.e. chariots). This was previously
unknown in Egypt. This would present insurmountable problems for a theory
which supports the idea that the 13th dynasty Pharaoh (Sekhemre) had an army
of chariots that could be drowned in the Yam Suph.

James Christian

2010/2/13 James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>

> Hi Karl,
>
> The next question: is there any archaeological evidence for the Exodus? The
>> answer is “Yes.” During the 13th Dynasty.
>>
>> Historical evidence from the 12th and 13th Dynasties shows that there were
>> large numbers of “Asiatic“ slaves in Egypt, many with Hebrew names. They
>> then left so suddenly that some men abandoned their tools, and some women
>> forgot their jewelry, as later found by archaeologists. After that, the
>> Hyksos were able to take over Egype “without a battle” as there was no
>> Egyptian army to oppose them (it was drowned in the Red Sea).
>>
>>
>  I remember you pointing me to this theory some time ago and read the
> interesting article you linked me to. There are several inviting features to
> this theory as you suggest but there are some problems as well.
>
> Firstly, in an 18th dynasty temple we get the earliest extra biblical
> mention of the Hebrew god. Yhw of the land of the Shashu. How could we
> interpret this data in favour of a 13th dynasty Pharaoh?
>
> Secondly, we have have letters from Canaan written in Akkadian to 18th
> dynasty Pharaohs complaining about his lack of reaction to skirmishes from
> Habiru in Canaan. No mention or hint of an Israelite nation. How could we
> reconcile these observations with a 13th dynasty Pharaoh? Surely, Canaan
> would have been sufficiently conquered by now and even if there were still
> some Canaanite towns left the tone of the letters surely we would expect to
> be different. They would be complaining about their entire territory having
> already been conquered and not skirmishes to a few fringe towns.
>
> Secondly, in a late 19th dynasty Stele, the Merneptah stele, we get the
> first mention of Israel (ysrir) referred to as a nomad people occupying
> Canaan along with 3 city states one of which we know well to be the
> Phillistine city state of Ashkelon, another we believe we can identify with
> Tel Gezer not too far away from Jerusalem, the location of the third is
> contentious but the  proximity of Ashkelon and Gezer suggest to me that the
> rough location of the Shashu was in and around the Jerusalem/Jericho areas
> and so I would expect the third city state to also not be too far away. How
> could we reconcile the still relatively small and nomadic status of Israel
> in Canaan with a 13th dynasty Pharaoh?
>
> I fully appreciate the limitations of Manetho as a source. And I am willing
> to accept that there may have been some exaggerations of length of reigns
> along the way. But here we are dealing with physical archaeological evidence
> in the form of written on stone testimonies. While we could argue that each
> Pharaoh ruled for much less time than claimed by Manetho between the 13th
> and 18th dynasties as far I know each of these Pharaohs is archaeologically
> confirmed to have existed and so we seem to have a 5 dynasty bridge to gap
> to explain the lack of existence of Israel in Canaan if we are to support a
> 13th dynasty Pharaoh hypothesis.
>
> Finally, beyond all else the most identifying hall mark of an Exodus
> Pharaoh must undoubtedly be that of a firstborn son who died before he got
> chance to be fully fledged Pharaoh. Is there any suggestion of this being
> the case for any of the 13th dynasty Pharaohs?
>
> James Christian
>
> James Christian
>
>