The Exodus according to Egyptian History

Imhotep - Joseph? (Djoser: 2687-2668 B.C.)

According to the Book of Genesis, Joseph, the son of Jacob, was sold into Egyptian slavery by his jealous brothers. In Egypt he was able to interpret Pharaoh's dream to mean that there would be 7 years of plenty and then 7 years of famine. Pharaoh appointed Joseph as vizier of Egypt, and entrusted him with the task of collecting the grain in preparation for the famine. Genesis 41. This was an astounding event, and there should be some record of it in Egypt. In the time of Netjerikhet or Djoser, the best-known pharaoh of the Third dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, there is such a record. In it, the man who became pharaoh's right hand man during the famine was called Imhotep; In the Biblical record, the man who became pharaoh's right hand man during the famine was called Joseph (pronounced 'hotep' in ancient Egyptian).

The most compelling similarities between Joseph and Imhotep are forthcoming from a rock inscription on the island at Sehel, in southern Egypt, which connects Imhotep with a famine lasting seven years. The Sehel inscription consists of 32 columns of text containing a decree from the 3rd dynasty king, Neterkhet Djoser, to a governor situated at Elephantine in the extreme south of Egypt.  According to the text, the king, concerned about a seven year long famine which has ravaged the country, had petitioned the court of Imhotep regarding the cause of the famine. The famine was extreme. Imhotep, after investigating the matter, informed the king that Khnum, the god of Elephantine, was in control of the Nile floods. The following evening, in a dream, Djoser was visited by Khnum, who promised an end to the famine. In gratitude the king responded by offering Imhotep land and posessions, and placed him in charge of a program of storage in his graneries. "All fishermen, all hunters, who catch fish and trap birds and all kinds of game, and all who trap Iions in the desert" were instructed to submit "one-tenth of the take of all of these, and all the young animals born of the females in these miles" and a tenth of all mining production" be awarded to the priests of the Khnum temple. Thus the decree awarded to the priests of the Khnum temple, as a temple endowment en perpetuity, a tax of one tenth or 10% of the revenues from a large stretch of land running southward from Elephantine into Nubia for twelve iter (approximately 880 miles), a strip of land known to the Greeks in the late period as the Dodekaschoinos. This is the first historical reference (preceeding that in the Bible) of the paying of a tenth of income by the people in support of a priesthood.

The fact that both famines lasted seven years is certainly the most striking parallel. The memory of the great Egyptian famine persisted down to the Ptolemaic era, when the Sehel inscription was apparently copied from an ancient stele. This memory may well have influenced the development of literary traditions in distant lands which had likewise been traumatized by famine in the remote past. In fact, the seven year long local famine remembered by many nations may well have taken place at the identical time as the Egyptian famine, since the biblical text states clearly that “all the countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the world.” (Gen 41:57)  Certainly the famine extended into southern Palestine, and the fact that Jacob’s family sought help from Egypt rather than neighboring Syria, suggests that it extended far to the north,  into the Levant, and perhaps beyond the Euphrates. 

Political action based on dreams, so central in the Joseph story, is also a critical component in the Sehal inscription. The dreams of the pharaoh in both instances determine his response to the famine, in the one case anticipated, in the other actualized. When the pharaoh in both instances, as argued by Biblical chronology and expressly stated in the Sehel inscription, appears to be the 3rd dynasty king Djoser, the role played by dreams takes on added significance and argues for the identity of the two famines. In passing we should note that there is no contradiction in the fact that the Joseph story identifies the god of the patriarchs as the sole, all powerful being in control of events as they transpire in the story, while the Sehel inscription claims a God as the controller of the life giving Nile floods.

In both the biblical story, and in the Sehel inscription, special provision is made for the temples of Egypt. In the Joseph story they are exempted both from the loss of ownership of land experienced by the general population and from the tax of 20% on general revenues imposed throughout Egypt. In the Sehel inscription the Khnum temple is singled out for special favour. There is no hint that its lands were forfeit. And the tax of 10% on revenues in the Docekashoinos to provide the temple income and restore it to its former prosperity is arguably a benefit beyond what was prescribed for temples elsewhere; this because the king believed that Khnum was responsible for ending the famine. It is curious, to say the least, that both the biblical and Sehel inscription famines should emphasize the special status afforded temples in the aftermath of the great famine, and that both include mention of the same system oftaxation that followed the famine. 

Both the biblical text and the Egyptian inscription link the seven year famine with the sojourn of the Hebrews in Egypt. A portion of the Sehel inscription concerned with the 10% tax on revenues is published elsewhere on the internet. The tax, as stated in the inscription, applied to all revenues in kind received by various working segments of the population employed in the south. Worthy of mention are the “kiry-workers, and the smiths, and the master craftsmen, and the goldsmiths, and the ... Nubians, and the crew of Apiru, and all corvée labor who fashion the stones”. In the context of this inscription the Apiru can be none other than Semitic Hebrews, almost certainly in control of livestock. The reference brings to mind the conversations that took place between Joseph and his brothers, and between Joseph and the pharaoh, concerning the arrival of the extended family of Jacob.  We are informed early in the Joseph story that “Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians.” (Gen. 43:32) The issue became the topic of conversation later when Joseph was about to bring his extended family into the region of Goshen in the Nile Delta.

It is clear from this conversation that tending livestock in Egypt was a job restricted to Hebrews, and at the time of the famine, this meant Hebrews from the clan of Jacob. Pharaoh specifically invited Joseph to find some of his brethren with special talent as herdsmen, to “put them in charge of my own livestock.” (Gen 47:6) It is not necessary to equate the “crew of Apiru” in the Sehel inscription with the clan of Jacob in the Joseph story, but the comparison is inviting. And the mere mention of Hebrews residing permanently in Egypt at this early period, and specifically at the end of a famine likened on other grounds with the biblical famine, is yet one more coincidence in need of explanation. 

Apiru, taxation, temple incomes, a seven year famine, a pharaoh who dreams - these are the themes which dominate the Joseph story in the Bible and the Sehel Inscription in southern Egypt. Joseph served the biblical pharaoh as vizier, second in command in all of Egypt. His fame has endured through millenia, exclusively because of the biblical famine story. Imhotep served king Djoser as vizier, second in command of all Egypt. Outside of Egypt his fame lasted well into the Roman period, and in Egypt itself he was revered as a god. There is only one possible response to this sequence of parallels: Joseph and Imhotep are the same person.The matter is beyond debate.

YuYa - Joseph? (during reign of Amenhotep III - 1386 - 1349 B.C)

Another possibility is that the character of Joseph was either the Vizier YuYa or a combination of Vizier YuYa and Imhotep; both were of non Egyptian origin, both were second in charge in Egypt and instigated policies that contributed greatly towards the prosperity of that Pharaoh's reign, but lived some 1,300 years apart. Pharaoh Thutmose IV's wife was named Tiye: her father was YuYa, and the name of her mother was Tuya. Tuya had traditional Egyptian features, however her husband YuYa, as his exceptionally well preserved mummy shows, was clearly of mostly Asiatic/Semitic heritage. Asiatics were renowned for their handling of horses, and were highly valued in the Egyptian military during the 18th Dynasty at which time the Egyptians first utilized the chariot in warfare. The name Joseph (written as Yuseph in Arabic) is a compound name consisting of Yu, and Seph. Yu is not known in Egyptian, but is the root of the Hebrew word Yah, the contraction of the full name of Jehovah. Yah is used to form many other common Biblical names, such as Joel (meaning Jehovah is God). Seph is derived from the first part of the Egyptian name Zaphenath-paneah (Genesis 41:45) given to Joseph, which is translated as "sustenance". Though his name was YuYa (God's one) which was abbreviated to Yu, it is expected that he would have been called YuSeph, as he was the Vizier, the one in charge of the King's storehouses. Yuya's titles (as found in his tomb) included "Master of the Horse," "Overseer of the Cattle of Amun and Min (Lord of Akhmin)," "Deputy of His Majesty in the Chariotry," "Bearer of the Ring of the King of Lower Egypt," "Mouth of the King of Upper Egypt," "The Wise One," "Favorite of the Good God," "Great Prince," "Great of Love," "Unique Friend," "Beloved of the Lord of the Two Lands," "One Made Great by the Lord," "He Whom the King Has Made His Double," and "The Holy Father of the Lord of the Two Lands."

The Bible credits Joseph for a tremendous influx of wealth into Egypt due to his plan to prepare for an extended drought. The seemingly inexhaustible wealth of Egypt at the time of Amenhotep III (1386 - 1349 B.C) stems from the extravagant building programs of the Vizier YuYa. That YuYa was held in very lofty esteem, particularly for a non-Egyptian, is evidenced not only by his titles, but by his marriage to the high ranking Tuya and also by his exceedingly privileged burial in a tomb beside those of the 18th Dynasty Pharaohs themselves in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb of Yuya and Tuya was the most undisturbed tomb found in the Valley of the Kings prior to the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Corresponding to the Bible account, YuYa literally became "father to Pharaoh," that is to the young Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who was not yet a teenager upon the death of his natural father Thutmose IV. Childhood articles belonging to both Amenhotep III and Sitamun were placed in the tomb of Yuya and Tuya indicating that they helped raise them along with their own daughter Tiye.

The Opression of Israel
 
Exodus 1:8. states: "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph." Not that he was ignorant of Joseph's services to the nation, but he wished to make no recognition of them, and, so far as possible, to bury them in oblivion. Josephus wrote, "having in length of time forgotten the benefits received from Joseph, particularly the crown being now come into another family, they became very abusive to the Israelites, and contrived many ways of afflicting them." Antiquities of the Jews, book 1, chapter IX, paragraph 1. By date calculation, this Pharaoh would have been Sesostris III (1878-1841 B.C). His predecessor Sesostris II had no living sons at the time of his death. Sesostris may have been related to this predecessor but he was not in direct line to the throne, so could be classified as belonging to 'another family,' as Josephus says.

From Egyptian historical records we learn that Asiatic slaves were used during the twelfth dynasty. "The Asiatic inhabitants of the country at this period must have been more times more numerous than has been generally supposed. Whether or not this largely slave population could have played a part in hastening . . . the impending Hyksos domination is difficult to say." Cambridge Ancient History, vol II part I, page 49. "Asian salves, whether merchandise or prisoners of war, became plentiful in wealthy Egyptian house holds." 1964 Encyclopaedia Britannica volume 8, page 35. Gardiner wrote, "it should be noted, however, that on stelae and in papyri Asiatic slaves are increasingly often mentioned, though there is no means of telling whether they were prisoners of war or had infiltrated into Egypt of their own accord." Egypt of the Pharaohs, page 133. From the Scripture records, we can say that they did infiltrate into Egypt of their own accord, but were subsequently enslaved.

There was an extensive building program carried on in the Delta where the Israelites were located during this dynasty. The temples of the eighteenth dynasty at Luxor were too far away from the delta to have been built with Israelite save labour, and they were built of stone. The buildings constructed in the delta under the twelfth dynasty were made of mud brick. Mountains of such bricks went into the city of Avaris and nearby cities.

Moreover the pyramids of Sesostris III (1878-1841 B.C) and Amenemhet III (1842 - 1797 B.C.) were also made of mud bricks. The early dynasties' burial places were made of mud brick. The magnificent third and fourth dynasty pyramids were built of stone. For some strange reason these twelfth dynasty rulers reverted to mud brick. Josephus wrote, "they (the Egyptians) set them (the Israelites) to build pyramids." Antiquities of the Jews, book 2, chapter IX, paragraph 1. On the assumption that the oppression took place during the eighteenth or nineteenth dynasty, this is regarded by scholars as a glaring blunder by Josephus, for by this time, according to their view, the pyramid age had ended. The Pharaohs of these dynasties were buried in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. But maybe it is the scholars who have blundered, for the kings of the twelfth dynasty did build pyramids, and what is more, they built them of mud bricks laced with straw. "Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves." Exodus 5:7.

Especially relevant is the research done by Rosalie David whose book "The Pyramid Builders of Ancient Egypt" was published in 1986. She researched the work done by Sir Flinders Petrie in the Faiyyum. Petrie worked in the Faiyyum in 1889 and he explored the pyramids of the 12th dynasty and identified the owners. He also excavated the remains of a town that had been occupied by the workmen who actually built these pyramids. He wrote, "The great prize of Illahun was unknown and the unsuspected by anyone. On the desert adjoining the north side of the temple, I saw traces of a town, brick walls, houses and pottery; moreover, the pottery was of a style as yet unknown to me. The town wall started out in a line with the face of the temple; and it dawned on me that this could hardly be other than the town of the pyramid builders, originally called Ha-Usertesen-hotep, and now known as Kahun. A little digging soon put it beyond doubt, as we found cylinders of the age, and no other; so that it was evident that I actually had in hand an unaltered town of the twelfth dynasty, regularly laid out by the royal architect for workmen and stores, required in building the pyramid and its temple. After a few holes had been made, I formed up the workmen in a line along the outmost street, and regularly cleared the first line of chambers, turning the stuff into the street; then the chambers beyond those were emptied into them; and so line after line, block after block, almost every room in the town was emptied out and searched." Ten Years Digging In Egypt, pages 112 - 113.

From the unidentified pottery and other evidence, Petrie concluded that the occupants had been foreigners. Expanding on this thought Rosalie David has an entire chapter headed "The foreign population at Kahun." She wrote, "From his excavations at Kahun, Petrie formed the opinion that a certain element of the population there had come from outside Egypt." The Pyramid Builders of Ancient Egypt, page 175. "It is undeniable that the inhabitants used foreign wares which were derived from the Aegean islands or from Syria-Palestine." page 188. "It is apparent that the Asiatics were present in the town in some numbers, and this may reflect the situation elsewhere in Egypt. It can be stated that these people were loosely classed by Egyptians as 'Asiatics', although their exact homeland in Syria or Palestine cannot be determined. . . The reason for their presence in Egypt remains unclear." pages 190 - 191. Neither Petrie nor David guessed that these Asiatics were the Israelites because Velikovsky's views have so far not been widely accepted by the archaeological world, but obviously the evidence fits the Biblical records in a remarkable way.

The book of Genesis tells how and why they got there, and what they were doing in Egypt. "Then Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives, in the carts which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. So they their livestock and their goods, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him." Genesis 46:5 - 7. "But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them." Exodus 1:7. No doubt the heaviest concentration of the Israelite immigrants was in the Delta, but knowing the Hebrew capacity for industry, trade and enterprise, there is no reason to conclude that they would all confine themselves to the same location, and the tomb paintings at Beni Hassan depicting Asiatic immigrants in the twelfth dynasty indicate that they had spread as far as central Egypt. The Hebrews have always had remarkable ability to maintain their identity, and this would explain the foreign settlement at Kahun which Petrie investigated.

Evidence is not lacking to indicate that these Asiatics became slaves. "A famous papyrus (the Brooklyn Papyrus) was left to the Brooklyn Museum . . . On the verso of this papyrus, a woman named Senebtisi attempts to establish her legal rights to the possession of Ninety-five servants. A list of them is included which states their titles, names and surnamed, and their occupations. Of the seventy-seven entries which are presented well enough to enable the individuals nationality to be read, twenty-nine appear to be Egyptian while forty-eight are 'Asiatics' . . . Although the foreign names were not precise enough to enable the exact homeland of these Asiatics to be identified, it can be said that they were from a 'Semitic group of the north west' . . . The Brooklyn Papyrus is important here because it shows that one household employed a large proportion of Asiatics and this household was situated in Upper Egypt (The south) and not in the Delta; therefore it is apparent that Asiatic servants were by now disseminated throughout the community." pages 189 - 190. "Asian slaves, whether merchandise or prisoners of war, became plentiful in wealthy Egyptian households." (during the twelfth dynasty). Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 1964, volume 8, page 35.

"The Asiatic inhabitants of the country at this period must have been many times more numerous than has generally been supposed. Whether or not this largely slave population could have played a part in the hastening, or the paving the way for, the impending Hyksos domination is difficult to say." Cambridge Ancient History, volume II, part 1, page 49. Josephus, the Jewish historian of the first century AD, wrote that the Egyptians "became very abusive to the Israelites, and contrived many ways of afflicting them . . . They set them to build pyramids." Antiquities of the Jews, page 55. It is generally considered that Josephus blundered in this statement, because it is assumed that the Exodus took place in the eighteenth or nineteenth dynasties, and by then the Pharaohs were being buried in tombs in the Valley of the kings, not in pyramids. But the kings of the twelfth dynasty built pyramids, and they built them of mud bricks mingled with straw. "Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, 'You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves'." Exodus 5:6, 7.

An intriguing aspect of Petrie's discoveries was the unusual number of infant burials beneath the floors of the houses at Kahun, a tragic reminder of the harsh edicts issued by the cruel tyrants of the oppression. "Beneath the brick floors of the rooms was, however, the best place to search; not only for hidden things, such as statuette of a dancer and a pair of ivory castanets, but also for numerous burials of babies in wooden boxes. These boxes had been made for clothes and household use, but were used to bury infants, often accompanied by necklaces and other things. On the necklaces were sometimes cylinders with the kings' names; and thus we know for certain that these burials, and the inhabitants of the town, is of the twelfth dynasty, from Usertesen (Sesostris) II onward." Ten Years Digging in Egypt, pages 116 - 117.

We have in the Bible what is probably a partial record of the efforts of the Pharaohs of the oppression to curb the growth of the Israelites. "Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; and he said, 'when you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him'." Exodus 1:15, 16. These were probably only the midwives in the vicinity of the royal palace. Obviously a large population such as the Israelites then were, scattered all over Egypt, would require more that two midwives. These two midwives evaded their grim responsibility to Pharaoh by claiming that the Hebrew women gave birth before they arrived. But we do not know how many other midwives were obliged to carry out the edict.

Later, when Pharaoh found that these measures were not effective, he ordered the Egyptian neighbours to see that the babies were killed. "Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, 'Every son who is born you shall cast into the river'." Exodus 1:22. Some parents managed to conceal their newborn babies for some months. Moses mother "when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months." Exodus 2:3. But many babies must have been drowned. Whether the parents retrieved the bodies, or whether some babies were put to death by other means we do not know. There must have been many traumatic scenes as babies were torn from their mother's arms by hostile neighbours. But this could account for the many infant burials at Kahun. Large wooden boxes, probably used to store clothing and other possessions, we discovered underneath the floors of many houses at Kahun. They contained babies, sometimes buried two or three to a box, and aged only a few months at death . . . internment of bodies at domestic sites was not an Egyptian custom, although such practices occurred in other areas of the ancient Near East.

Finally there is the striking evidence pointing to the slaves' sudden departure. Up to the time of Neferhotep I (1741 - 1730 B.C.) of the middle thirteenth dynasty, who would thus be identified as the Pharaoh of the Exodus, there was evidence of continuous occupation. Then it suddenly all stopped. "There is every indication that Kahun continued to flourish throughout the 12th dynasty and into the 13th dynasty . . . It is evident that the completion of the king's pyramid was not the reason why Kahun's inhabitants eventually deserted the town, abandoning their tools and other possessions in the shops and houses . . . There are different opinions of how this first period of occupation at Kahun drew to a close. . . The quantity, range and type of articles of everyday use which were left behind in the houses may indeed suggest that the departure was sudden and unpremeditated." The Pyramid Builders, pages 195, 199.

"And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years - on the very same day - it came to pass that the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt." Exodus 12:41.

The last ruler of the 12th dynasty was Queen Sebekhnefrure (1785 - 1782 B.C.) who died childless. She may well have been the daughter of Pharaoh who adopted the baby Moses. The 13th dynasty followed and Neferhotep I (1741 - 1730 B.C.) may have been the Pharaoh of the Exodus. His mummy has never been found. He was the last king to rule before the Hyksos occupied Egypt "without a battle", according to Manetho. Without a battle? Where was the Egyptian army? At the bottom of the Red Sea? Exodus 14:28. Neferhotep I was the son of a temple priest in Abydos. His father's position helped him to gain the royal image as the king because he did not have any royal blood in his family. Neferhotep is inspirited on some stones discovered near Byblos. Also, they found other stones in Aswan that were carved with texts which documents all his reign. Neferhotep's body and tomb have never been found.

The events of the Exodus

In the Bible, the story of the unification of the tribes of Israel under David, followed by the great reign of Solomon, followed by schism in the reign of Solomon's son Rehoboam, is the central theme. The hope of Israel is based on the idea of reunification of Judah and Israel under a Davidic king. Of course, all of this is based on the giving of the land to the Children of Israel when they were brought out of Egypt by the hand of God during the Exodus to begin with. Moses represents the divinely inspired leader who revealed the god of the patriarchs to the nation as the Universal Deity.

The Exodus story describes how a nation enslaved grows great in exile and then, with the help of the Universal God, claims its freedom from what was then the greatest nation on earth: Egypt. Powerful imagery, indeed. So important is this story of liberation that fully four-fifths of the central scriptures of Israel are devoted to it. The fact is: two hundred years of intensive excavations and study of the remains of ancient Egypt and Palestine have failed to support the Exodus story in the context in which it is presented.

Mystery, however, is not the exclusive domain of Israel. In all of Egyptian history, nothing is as mysterious as the strange life of Akhenaten and the odd appearance and equally mysterious disappearance of his queen, Nefertiti, whose name means: 'a beautiful woman has come'. We notice in Genesis 12:17 that the 'the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai'. This reminds us of the plagues at the time of the Exodus. We also notice that the pharaoh told Abraham, 'take your wife and go'. This strangely mirrors the demand of Moses: 'Let my people go'.

The timing of this event is also important, and we can nail it down to the time of the eruption of Thera on the island of Santorini around 1600 BC, which happens to be the time that the entire Earth experienced a disruption recorded in ice cores, and brought the Bronze Age world to an end. It was very likely also the time when many refugees from many areas of the Mediterranean all showed up in Palestine - including Danaan Greeks - to form the mixed ethnic groups from which the later Jewish state evolved.

There is also evidence that the eruption of Thera coincided generally with the ejection of the Hyksos from the Nile Delta. There is also evidence that many of the king list segments that are currently arranged in a linear way may have represented different dynasties in different locations, some of which ruled simultaneously exactly as Manetho has told us. In particular, there is evidence that the 18th dynasty overlapped the Hyksos kings to some considerable extent. This is important to us at present because of the fact that the story of Abraham and Sarai in Egypt is mirrored by the story of Akhenaten and his Queen, Nefertiti. The earliest document that describes the time of the Hyksos is from the Temple of Hatshepsut at Speos Artemidos which says:

The expulsion of the Hyksos was a series of campaigns which supposedly started with Kamose (pronounced Ka-Mo-Se) who was king in Thebes. He unsuccessfully rebelled against the Hyksos. His son Ahmose (pronounced Ah-Mo-Se) was finally successful in pushing the Hyksos out. An army commander named Ah-mose records in his tomb the victory over the Hyksos. He says:

Note that Avaris was besieged, there is no mention of how Avaris was taken, and there is no burning of Avaris claimed. What is more, the archaeological evidence shows that Avaris was not destroyed in a military engagement. The likelihood is that, after years of unstable relations with the Southern Egyptian dynasty, Avaris was abandoned due to the eruption of Thera.

This exodus from Egypt by the Hyksos, many of whom fled to Canaan, was part of their history. In fact, there were probably many refugees arriving in the Levant from many places affected by the eruption and the following famine. When the descendants of the refugees were later incorporated into a tribal confederation known as Israel, the story of the exodus became one of the single events they all agreed upon. In this respect, they all did, indeed, share a history. Is there anything in Bible that supports this? Yes. Amos 9:7 states that God Himself brought the peoples out from Egypt, Caphtor and Kir - "[Are] ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?" Kir was a Mesopotamian city east of the lower Tigris River (which is now identified with the modern Badrah) on the main road from Elam (Persia) to Babylon. Kir was the city from which Arameans migrated to Syria (Isaiah 22:6). Their migration, like the migration of the Philistines from the Island of Crete (Caphtor), is spoken of in terms similar to that of the Exodus of Israel from Egypt (see also Amos 1:5).

Other than the expulsion of the Hyksos, there is no other record of any mass exit from Egypt. Avaris was on the coast, and thus closer to the effects of the volcano. Naturally, the Egyptians of Thebes saw the expulsion of the Hyksos as a great military victory, while the Hyksos themselves, in the retelling of the story, viewed their survival as a great salvation victory. This seems similar to other events recorded in ancient history where both sides claim a great victory. Nevertheless, that there was something very unusual going on during this times comes down to us from the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. There is a little diary preserved on the reverse of this work that records the events leading up to the fall of Avaris.

Recorded on a stela of King Ahmose from the same period:

Let us now approach the situation from a totally different angle. Part of the problem of sorting out the different kings and dynasties is the problem of what, exactly, constituted a 'king' during those times. It is beginning to seem likely that many of the kings whose tombs have been found, who memorialized themselves, or were memorialized by their families, were little more than local rulers, or even just glorified puppets of a still higher king.

Another interesting item is the fact that a proposal to extract DNA samples from different mummies to see what the familial relationships really might have been was halted by the Egyptian government.

Egypt has indefinitely postponed DNA tests designed to throw light on questions that have intrigued archaeologists for years: Who was Tutankhamun's father, and was he of royal blood? The head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, Gaballah Ali Gaballah, said Tuesday that plans for DNA tests on the mummies of Tutankhamun and his presumed grandfather, Amenhotep III, had been canceled. "There will be no test now and we have to see if there will be one later", Gaballah told The Associated Press. He declined to give a reason.

The announcement of the planned tests had sparked a controversy among Egyptian archaeologists. Some said they were an unnecessary risk that might harm the mummies. Others said the results might be used to rewrite Egyptian history. I have refused in the past to allow foreign teams to carry out such tests on the bones of the Pyramids builders because there are some people who try to tamper with Egyptian history, the chief archaeologist of the Giza pyramids, Zahi Hawass , told the Akhbar Al-Yom weekly.

The above news release is more interesting and mysterious than might be initially thought since Tutankhamen was undoubtedly the son of the Heretic king, Akhenaten and Nefertiti who may, indeed, have been Abraham's Sarai which would mean that she was also the putative mother of "Isaac," the patriarch of the Jews. This raises the possibility that either Tutankhamen and Isaac were brothers, or even perhaps one and the same person, though the former is more plausable.

The tomb of Tutankhamun was undoubtedly the greatest archaeological discovery of all time, yet everyone knows this remarkable find was beset by troubles.  The untimely death of Lord Carnarvon just after the opening of the tomb, and his appetite for the occult, swiftly gave rise to rumours of a curse.  Also, the presence of certain art treasures in museums across the United States provides evidence that Howard Carter and his aristocratic patron removed pricelss objects from the tomb [illegally].

What is not so well known is that among the wonderful treasures Carter and Carnarvon unearthed were also rumoured to be papyri that held the true account of the biblical Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. 

Why did Carter threaten to reveal this volatile information to the public at a meeting with a British official in Cairo shortly after the discovery of the tomb?  At a time when Arab hostility towards Britain's support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine was spilling onto the streets of Jerusalem and Jaffa, such actions on the part of the hot-headed Englishman could have caused untold chaos across the Middle East.

The only thing I can think of that would make it imperative to conceal the "true story of the Exodus" by the British government would be because in some way, such information would have put a period to the Jewish claim to the "Promised Land." It may also have put a period to Judaism and Christianity altogether.

The fact is that most of the early Egyptologists came to their subject as committed, if not fanatical, Christians.  They sought to use Egypt as a means of expanding and supporting the Biblical narrative. Many of them saw Akhenaten as the inspired founder of a pre-Christian monotheistic religion, and his faith in one god made him a figure of admiration.

To the early scholars in the field, Akhenaten was "The first individual in History," and his sun-cult was a prototype of the Roman imperial Sol Invictus; but to Freud, who was not a committed Christian and therefore looked through unbiased eyes, he became a mentor of the Hebrew lawgiver, Moses. To some, Akhenaten was a forerunner of Christ or otherwise a great mystic.

Such ideas took shape and moved farther and farther away from the primary sources and it keeps growing like a fungus. As Donald Redford says, "one must constantly return to the original sources in order to avoid distortion."

Our knowledge of Egypt has to be gleaned from a random assortment of archaeological remains, a great deal of religious and mortuary art and architecture, supplemented by a small collection of historical documents.  The Amarna period, the time of Akhenaten, is particularly difficult because it seems that all of Egypt sought to erase the memory of Akhenaten from the individual and collective consciousness.  Akhenaten was hated, and apparently, so was Nefertiti.

The first five years of Akhenaten's reign actually represents a startling discontinuity in historical knowledge. So thoroughly were the memorials of this period eradicated - whether temple reliefs, steles, or tombs - that little remains to tell the story. In other words, historically speaking, no connected narrative is even possible. So complete was the destruction of the Amarna remains by the pharaoh Horemheb, that quite literally, no stone was left standing upon another.

Nothing tears the mask from the Amarna Age like the Edict of Reform.  The picture conjured up is not like the beautiful relief scenes at Karnak or Akhetaten.  Gone are the elegant ladies and gentlemen, bowing low before a benign monarch beneath the Sun-disc, his father; in their place emergy starkly an army allowed to run riot, a destitute peasantry, and corrupt judges.  It may be maintained that these conditions could only have prevailed at the close of the period of heresy, but the evidence opposes any such defense.  The withdrawal and the subsequent isolation of the head of state and his court, which clearly brought on the anarcy, must be laid to the charge of Akhenaten himself.

Horemheb had no heir so he appointed a military leader to succeed him. That leader was Ramesses I and that was when the "sorting of the mummies" began. One can only wonder if some of the confusion that exists today isn't due to the deliberate attempt on the part of Horemheb and his Ramesside heirs to simply create a new history?

One interesting fact to note about the 18th dynasty is that, artistically and in every other way, it appears to be the continuation of the 12th dynasty. If we consider the idea that the Hyksos kings ruled concurrently with a Southern Egyptian dynasty, this factor then begins to make sense.

Getting back to our problem, it seems that what we are dealing with is a rather restricted time frame in which the Middle Bronze age came to a cataclysmic end, the Hyksos were ejected from Egypt, and these events did not occur in the middle of the 15th century BC, but rather over 200 years earlier. We also find that the curious 'cryptographic writing' of the 18th dynasty fits a model that includes the end of the Middle Bronze Age and extraordinary climatological events.

The archaeological excavations of the Islands of Santorini and Crete demonstrate that the destruction of the Middle Bronze Age civilization occurred in two phases which would account for the turmoil in the time of Hatshepsut, followed by a second period of disruption at the time of Akhenaten. This coincides with the fact that there were indications of climatological anomalies as early as 1644 BC, leading up to the final disaster of the eruption of Thera in 1628 BC, followed by climatological disruption for the following forty years or so. The evidence on Santorini and Crete show that there was initial volcanic activity - earthquakes - followed by rebuilding and habitation for some time before the final, decisive eruption of Thera at least one or two generations later! That there was some warning of the impending eruption is verified by the fact that no bodies were found in the several meters thick layer of pumice that buried the town of Akrotiri. Also, since portable precious items were missing, it seems safe to assume, therefore, that the population abandoned the town in haste.

The Dilmun civilization of Bahrain is said to have existed from 3200 BC until 1600 BC. The Indus Valley civilization is said to have ended around 1700 to 1600 BC. The Great Babylonian Empire ended around 1600 BC. The Middle Kingdom in Egypt is said to have ended around 1600 BC (though we now think that the 18th dynasty was the last of the Middle Kingdom dynasties). The Xia Dynasty in China ended in 1600 BC. The use of Stonehenge ended around 1600 BC. In nearly every case, the end of the civilization and the mass destruction read in the record unearthed by the spade is ascribed to war and rampaging Sea Peoples or tribes of barbarians on the march.

Two of the most influential German scholars, von Rad and Noth, have argued that The Exodus and Sinai traditions and the events behind them were originally unrelated to one another. Von Rad pointed out that the Sinai covenant in the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated at Shechem while the settlement tradition was celebrated at Gilgal with the Feast of Weeks. Von Rad also noted that the salvation history was strikingly silent about the Sinai events in Deuteronomy 26. It was then proposed that early Israel was actually a tribal league more or less like city-state confederations later attested in Greece and Italy and known to the Greeks as amphictyonies. If such tribal groups were later amalgamated during the reign of Hezekiah, it would then be necessary to 'create' a national history, utilizing the available oral traditions. And this is, of course, where it becomes most interesting because it seems that at least one small group - Abraham and his wife Sarai - had a series of experiences during these times that was utterly extraordinary.

There are various suggestions as to where Mt. Sinai really was. Jewish tradition seems to place Mt. Sinai in Arabia. Demetrius stated that Dedan was Jethro's ancestor which is identified with the oasis of el- Ela, and when Moses went to Midian he stayed in Arabia. In 1954 Mendenhall put forth the idea that the Sinai covenant is similar to the Hittite suzerainty treaties. There does seem to be clear parallels between the Sinai covenant and ancient treaties, and ancient tribal leagues did exist.

In Josephus' book Antiquities of the Jews he placed Sinai where the city of Madiane was. In the Babylonian Talmud R. Huna and R. Hisda say, the Holy One, blessed be He, ignored all the mountains and heights and caused His Shechinah to abide upon Mount Sinai.

According to Old Testament passages Mt. Sinai is identified with Seir and Mt. Paran. Deuteronomy 33:2 says, 'The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran'. It seems that the itinerary that was followed in Numbers 33:18-36 locates Sinai in northern Arabia. Midian was also located here where Moses lived with Jethro, priest of Midian, for forty years. De Vaux believed that the theophany of Sinai was a description of a volcanic eruption in northern Arabia because Exodus 19:18 describes the mountain like a furnace of smoke. From a distance it would look like a pillar of cloud in the day, and a pillar of fire at night. Following this cloud of smoke would lead them right to the volcano.

The only problem is, there are no volcanoes in Sinai. There are several in northern Arabia, but we come back again to the fact that the only known large eruption around this time is Santorini on the Greek island of Thera. On this point, we discover an intriguing passage in The Histories of Tacitus:

The Jews are said to have been refugees from the island of Crete who settled in the remotest corner of Libya in the days when, according to the story, Saturn was driven from his throne by the aggression of Jupiter. This is a deduction from the name Judaei by which they became known: the word is to be regarded as a barbarous lengthening of Idaei, the name of the people dwelling around the famous Mount Ida in Crete.

A few authorities hold that, in the reign of Isis, the surplus population of Egypt was evacuated to neighboring lands under the leadership of Hierosolymus and Judas. Many assure us that the Jews are descended from those Ethiopians who were driven by fear and hatred to emigrate from their home country when Cepheus was king. After all, in Amos 9: 7 God says "[Are] ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel?" They would not be seen by God as children of the Ethiopians unless that is where they originated. There are some who say that a motley collection of landless Assyrians occupied a part of Egypt, and then built cities of their own, inhabiting the lands of the Hebrews and the nearer parts of Syria. Others again find a famous ancestry for the Jews in the Solymi who are mentioned with respect in the epics of Homer: this tribe is supposed have founded Jerusalem and named it after themselves.

Most authorities, however, agree on the following account. The whole of Egypt was once plagued by a wasting disease which caused bodily disfigurement. So Pharaoh Bocchoris went to the oracle of Hammon to ask for a cure, and was told to purify his kingdom by expelling the victims to other lands, as they lay under a divine curse. Thus a multitude of sufferers was rounded up, herded together, and abandoned in the wilderness. Here the exiles tearfully resigned themselves to their fate. But one of them, who was called Moses, urged his companions not to wait passively for help from god or man, for both had deserted them: they should trust to their own initiative and to whatever guidance first helped them to extricate themselves from their present plight. They agreed, and started off at random into the unknown.

But exhaustion set in, chiefly through lack of water, and the level plain was already strewn with the bodies of those who had collapsed and were at their last gasp when a herd of wild asses left their pasture and made for the spade of a wooded crag. Moses followed them and was able to bring to light a number of abundant channels of water whose presence he had deduced from a grassy patch of ground. This relieved their thirst. They traveled on for six days without a break, and on the seventh they expelled the previous inhabitants of Canaan, took over their lands and in them built a holy city and temple.

In order to secure the allegiance of his people in the future, Moses prescribed for them a novel religion quite different from those of the rest of mankind. Among the Jews all things are profane that we hold sacred; on the other hand they regard as permissible what seems to us immoral. In the innermost part of the Temple, they consecrated an image of the animal which had delivered them from their wandering and thirst, choosing a ram as beast of sacrifice to demonstrate, so it seems, their contempt for Hammon. The bull is also offered up, because the Egyptians worship it as Apis. They avoid eating pork in memory of their tribulations, as they themselves were once infected with the disease to which this creature is subject.

They still fast frequently as an admission of the hunger they once endured so long, and to symbolize their hurried meal the bread eaten by the Jews is unleavened. We are told that the seventh day was set aside for rest because this marked the end of their toils. [ &] Others say that this is a mark of respect to Saturn, either because they owe the basic principles of their religion to the Idaei, who, we are told, were expelled in the company of Saturn and became the founders of the Jewish race, or because, among the seven stars that rule mankind, the one that describes the highest orbit and exerts the greatest influence is Saturn. A further argument is that most of the heavenly bodies complete their path and revolutions in multiples of seven.

Rather than cremate their dead, they prefer to bury them in imitation of the Egyptian fashion, and they have the same concern and beliefs about the world below. But their conception of heavenly things is quite different. The Egyptians worship a variety of animals and half-human, half-bestial forms, whereas the Jewish religion is a purely spiritual monotheism. They hold it to be impious to make idols of perishable materials in the likeness of man: for them, the Most High and Eternal cannot be portrayed by human hands and will never pass away. For this reason they erect no images in their cities, still less in their temples. Their kings are not so flattered, the Roman emperors not so honored. However, their priests used to perform their chants to the flute and drums, crowned with ivy, and a golden vine was discovered in the Temple; and this has led some to imagine that the god thus worshipped was Prince Liber, the conqueror of the East. But the two cults are diametrically opposed. Liber founded a festive and happy cult: the Jewish belief is paradoxical and degraded.

Regarding the hearsay recitation of Tacitus is that he states quite clearly that the nation of Israel was an amalgamation of tribes, including people who had once lived on Crete, who brought a volcano story with them, and another most unusual group that had been expelled from Egypt under very peculiar circumstances, bringing an altogether different story to the mix. Tacitus' record of this group, its expulsion, and the fact that he has connected them to King Bocchoris is an important clue.

The pagan story of the flood of Ogyges and its relationship to the story of Noah was a problem for biblical commentators, as was that of the later flood of Deucalion, which Deucalion survived with his wife by floating in a large chest. Eusebius tells us that Ogyges 'lived at the same time of the Exodus from Egypt.'

In the past, scholars concluded that Ahmose must have caused the destruction of the Middle Bronze Age, but Redford has shown that Ahmoses' campaign was restricted to Sharuhen and its neighborhood to punish the Hyksos. The first substantial campaign against inland Palestine was by Thutmose III. From a survey of the central hill country, Finkelstein does not connect the Egyptian conquest with the end of the Middle Bronze Age. He states: "There is no solid archaeological evidence that many sites across the country were destroyed simultaneously, and such campaigns would fail to explain the wholesale abandonment of hundreds of small rural settlements in the remote parts of the land'.

Again, what I am suggesting is that the 18th dynasty of Egypt was not only the continuation of the 12th dynasty in Southern Egypt, but that it ran concurrently with the last Hyksos dynasty, the 15th dynasty, that it ended simultaneously with the expulsion of the Hyksos.

Now, I am not even going to attempt to sort out all the assumed or presumably confirmed family relationships of the Egyptian dynasties. For our present purposes, the Egyptian chronology is only important insofar as it enables us to sort out those matters that might lead to the identification of the Ark of the Covenant and its possible wherabouts during certain periods of the past. This period of time is that surrounding the eruption of Thera, the fall of Avaris and the END of the 18th dynasty.