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The Exodus from Egypt
Egyptian History is written by the Victor
Egyptian history records are the ultimate in the adage "History is written by the victors" Pharaohs were required to be better than any previous Pharaoh and at times made sure they were more revered even removing entire histories from the walls of stone which the history had been written. Egyptologist all disagree to specific dates and even lineages of kings. There is no consensus except that there is no consensus.
"The current debate on Egyptian chronology is characterized by divergent opinions on the value of Maluthonian tradition, the lengths of reigns of individual Egyptian kings, the existence of coregenicies, and the astronomical evidence. In each of these categories there is little consensus and a wide range of possible solutions; a precise Egyptian chronology is therefore not possible."
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1357231?seq=1
As you explore this evidence remember that no dates can be considered perfect or can any time period be confirmed with exact accuracy.
Exodus Decoded
Produced by James Cameron and Hosted by Simcha Jacobovici We go through the archeology and discover the facts of what archeology can tell us about the Exodus.
Mr. Jacobovici awards for journalism.
Hebrews in Ancient Egypt
Below you will find three proofs of Hebrew people in Ancient Egypt. The amount of evidence showing this is overwhelming, far too much to place here.
Genesis 47 tells us that the first Israelites settled in Goshen near the city of Ramses. So we need to look and see if there are any Semetic settlements near the city of Ramses. Here we have an Asiatic people being called the Hyksos and excavation in the Goshen area just south of the city of Ramses.
"A number of excavations have revealed information about the gradual settling of Asiatic immigrants in the Delta under the Hyksos, a group of people who ruled for over a century during the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt (c.1650-1550 BC). The Hyksos forged a strong power base in the Northeast Delta, an area of great strategic importance for control of critical trade routes with the Near East and the Mediterranean by both land and sea. Tell el-Daba’a is also associated with Pi-Ramesses, the Delta residence of Ramesses II in the 19th Dynasty.
Syrian ‘Mittelsaal’ houses and a ‘Breitraum’ house give an indication of the origin of the inhabitants along with burials yielding foreign weaponry and donkey burials typical of contemporary Syrian traditions. With finds of distinctive Mbiia Levantine painted ware and jugs of Syrian types, such evidence shows interactions parallel to other late 12th Dynasty sites both in and outside Egypt"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5802438/
"The name Hyksos was used by the Egyptian historian Manetho (flourished 300 BCE), who, according to the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (flourished 1st century CE), translated the word as “king-shepherds” or “captive shepherds.” Josephus himself wished to demonstrate the great antiquity of the Jews and thus identified the Hyksos with the Hebrews of the Bible. Hyksos was in fact probably an Egyptian term for “rulers of foreign lands” (heqa-khase), and it almost certainly designated the foreign dynasts rather than an ethnic group. Modern scholarship has identified most of the Hyksos kings’ names as Semitic". https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hyksos-Egyptian-dynasty
"The Hyksos’ rise was reflected in Avaris, too. The city’s footprint nearly tripled, and at its height, the city was home to an estimated 25,000 people, spread out over a square mile of bustling, crowded, stinking cityscape. (Archaeologists have found neither plumbing nor toilets there.) “It was one of the largest cities in the ancient Near East, not just Egypt,” says Irene Forstner-Müller, an Austrian Institute of Archaeology researcher who took over the Tell el-Dab’a excavations in 2009 and used remote sensing to map Avaris’ unexcavated stretches. “The size of the town is amazing,” says Bietak." https://www.archaeology.org/issues/309-1809/features/6855-egypt-hyksos-foreign-dynasty
"Some 30 ancient Egyptian texts with Exodus parallels or "Exodus-like" content have been identified by 56 Egyptologists, archaeologists, and Semanticists from 1844 to date in professional literature. Additional texts are identified in the present study for a total of more than 90 Egyptian texts containing Exodus parallels".https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301982439_Egyptian_Texts_relating_to_the_Exodus_Discussions_of_Exodus_Parallels_in_the_Egyptology_Literature
Archeology concerning the Brooklyn Papyrus
"The verso of the Papyrus is equally intriguing, for it lists seventy-nine servants in a large Dynasty Xlll Egyptian household (ca. 1745 B.C.) of whom forty-five were (mainly Semitic) Asiatics. A few, especiallv the children, bear purely Egyptian names, but most bear Semitic names. Nearly forty of these people actually bear a (usually) Semitic name followed by the epithet 'who-is-called' and a second, Egyptian, name. This provides a powerful contemporary parallel for the construction of Joseph's Egyptian name Zaphenath-Paaneah, (to be the subject of a forthcoming study). One or two names in the Brooklyn list are of special interest. One is identical with the later Hebrew name 'Menahem'. Another is actually a 'Shiphr(ah)', later the name of midwife in Ex. i: 15, who thus bore in her time a name already venerable. A third is etymologically comparable with that of Job. The status of some of these servants is a perfect reflection of Joseph's first status in Potiphar's household. In Gen. xxxix. 2, Joseph is a domestic servant 'in the house'—exactly the status hery-per recorded of Semites and Egyptians in the Brooklyn Papyrus and elsewhere. (Note that this is not an exalted title as Yahuda claimed.) Later, in Gen. xxxix. 4, Joseph rose to be Steward in the household the very common Egyptian title of imy-ra-per."
School of Archaeology and Oriental Studies, University of Liverpool.
K. A. KITCHEN.
Avaris & Goshen
Avaris in Goshen
This Semetic archeological site is in Goshen exactly as predicted in the scriptures. The site is simultaneously attributed to a Semitic people and the Bedouin who are not Semitic but are nomadic dessert dwellers. The Bedouin have no records of building a city in their history. These were Hebrews.
Patterns of Evidence
Tim Mahoney walks you through the timeline and reconstructs what we know with Egyptologist David Rohl
The Ibscha Relief from the tomb of Khnumhotep II,
This shows possible Hebrew slaves being moved and traded.
Proof of Hebrew peoples in Ancient Egypt
So often Christians are confronted with "there is o proof of the exodus from Egypt". This is obviously false.
Tales of the Exodus from Joseph to Mt. Sinai
The Exodus narrative is more than the Ten Plagues. It starts with Joseph and ends with the Ten Commandments. The Symposium here tells us of many Egyptian text and narratives that tell us the same things as the Exodus from the Bible. From there I will do my best to show as much as I can, again there is simply far too much to include here.
Joseph recorded in Egypt
This is your Feature section introductory paragraph. Use this space to present specific credentials, benefits or special features you offer. This is a chance to highlight the unique and valuable aspects that differentiate you from the competition. From the Bible we learn that Joseph came to Egypt a slave and was sold to Potiphar whos wife attempts to seduce Joseph and he is subsequently thrown into prison. . There is a stela of Egyptian hieroglyphs telling a very similar tale The Stela of Potiphar is held at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It is catalogued as Cairo JE 65444.
Josephs Signet Ring in Egypt
In the various documentaries I have placed here this evidence is among the strongest and most compelling. Not only was this ring found but 5 have been found by Manfred Beitek near the pyramid of Joseph. Everything about this ring fits with the biblical narrative. It also fits with Egyptian tradition.
So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt." Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. Gen 41
Statue of Joseph in the Pyramid at Avaris
In the Hyksos settlement of Avaris we have established as Hebrew people we find a pyramid dedicated to a Semitic leader and the only person in Egyptian history to receive a pyramid, albeit small, that was not a pharaoh. Now if Joseph indeed did interpret the dream & did save Egypt from the famine causing Egypt to become very powerful. If he did build the canal and did gain such authority as to be given signet rings and did win the heart and favor of pharaoh, then he would deserve a pyramid and remembrance. This statue proves not only that Joseph was in Egypt but that he was given the highest honor that could be given.
Further evidence
https://egyptianexpedition.org/articles/joseph-ahiqar-and-elephantine-the-joseph-story-as-diaspora-novella/
https://www.thetorah.com/article/joseph-and-the-famine-the-storys-origins-in-egyptian-history
https://www.rabbimichaelsamuel.com/what-does-josephs-egyptian-name-zaphenath-paneah-actually-mean/http://www.biblicalchronologist.org/answers/Imhotep_Joseph.php
https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1294&context=icc_proceedings
Moses
Moses' name in hieroglyphs
"The assertion that there are no ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic texts that make mention of the Hebrew Patriarchs Joseph, Moses, and Solomon and the Queen of Sheba is incorrect. There are unmistakable Hieroglyphic texts."
"The notion that there are no Hieroglyphic texts that identify Joseph, Benjamin, Moses, and Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, is a patent absurdity. These patriarchal figures have been shunted back in time from c 1550 BC to 2600 BC, from c 1350 BC to 2400 BC, and from c 950 BC to 1450 BC, and so on, and as a result they have been obscured."
Moses In The Hieroglyphs Paperback – January 17, 2006
Grant Berkley Trafford on Demand Publishing
You need to understand something that few archeologists will tell you. Hieroglyphs are very hard to translate accurately. Moses can be written any one of more than 30 different ways.
Perhaps the strongest evidence comes from the name Moses itself. You see Moses is not a Hebrew name but the name given to Moses by the daughter of Pharaoh. Now given that the earliest copy of the Exodus comes from about 100 BC. The question then becomes "How did bronze age Semitic people know Moses meant to draw out of water from a language from more than 1600 years earlier?" "She named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water.".
In Egyptian this is pronounced as "Moshe". Now either we have an Egyptian speaking Hebrew who wrote the Exodus much later than 1600 BC of which there is zero evidence of this, or Moses got his name exactly the way and for the reason described in the Bible. These are the only two reasonable options. Do remember that Moses was a Egyptian speaking Hebrew. If this is not the case how did a specific name from 1700 years prior in a different language come to be exactly correct? Consider that 1600 years ago English did not exist as Greek and Latin were the primary languages of Europe. If then the Exodus did not occur we have an Egyptian trained Hebrew writing a text with an Egyptian name that counters the oral tradition sacred to the Hebrew people they have been taught from birth.
"This was translated from the slab known as Sania 115 dated back to 1842 B.C.E. It is displayed at Harvard's Semitic Museum. This slab identifies Joseph and his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. It has an inscription "6 Levantines: Hebrews of Bethel, the beloved."
Petrovich also translated 16 more Hebrew inscriptions from four other ancient slabs found in Egypt and Sinai. This includes a slab dated around 1446 B.C.E. and describes Moses as a person prefigured by the ancient Jews for leading them out of Egypt"
Here we have Dr. Douglas Petrovich, archaeologist and professor of Egyptian History at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario telling us he has found the names of Joseph, Ephraim Manasseh and Moses in Hieroglyphics. There are some who scrutinize his work however he maintains that it is definitive, challenging anyone to prove him wrong. No one to date has done so.