3rd March 2003 at 06:20 PM gladiatrix said this in Post
#90
How about the simple fact that the Bible is not a history or science book, but a book on theology. Take the case of Mose and Exodus. Until you find some external evidence, as far as I am concerned, Moses never existed, the Jews were never slaves of the Egyptians, Exodus didn't happen..... [/B] [/QUOTE]
I think your post is the wrong counter to Micaiah because it doesn't address his arguments. However, I will address the claim of
no external evidence of the Exodus. Of course, one of the big pieces of evidence is the Kingdom of Israel. It existed. How did it arise. The Exodus and Conquest of Canaan is one explanation. I haven't seen any alternative hypotheses with data to support them. Perhaps you know of them.
I have gone to the library and found the book that mentions the Hebrews in Egypt. It is The Bible as History by Werner Keller, George J. McLeod, Ltd, Toronto, 1956. I am going to present the information without endorsement. I simply do not have the expertise to critically evaluate some of the information. I will say that Keller seems to look for natural explanations and is very careful about the conclusions he draws from the data. He does not mention creation at all. He talks of the Flood based on flood deposits in the Tigris-Euphrates valley, thus talking only about a local flood. (Actually, he seems to think a tidal wave came up the valley from the Persian Gulf) He compares the Noah accounts to the epic of Gilgamesh and the activity of Utnapishtim, a Sumerian "Noah" and wonders why no one has looked at Mt. Nisir where Utnapishtim is supposed to have ended up. I was particularly impressed with Keller's discussion of the "manna" from heaven, correlating it with an exudate of the tamarisk trees that still happens. Where he has no data, i.e., the plague of firstborns in Egypt, Keller readily admits he doesn't know.
I will be quoting a lot, but not because I am trying to overwhelm you with authority. Rather, I view this as raw data. I know it is a secondary source, but, as I said, I am not qualified to evaluate the primary sources. So the quotes are a way of letting you examine the data for yourself so you can draw your own conclusions.
Keller begins with a story on the Orbiney Papyrus that tells a tale very similar to the beginnings of the Joseph story: the wife of his brother falsely accuses the man of rape.
"Might this story of an adulteress in the heart of an Egyptian tale be the prototype of the Biblical story of Joseph? Scholars argued the pros and cons based on the text of the Orbiney Papyrus long after the turn of the century. On the debit side, there was not the slightest trace of Israel's sojourn in Egypt apart from the Bible itself. Historians and professors of theology alike spoke of the "Legend of Joseph". ...
"No country in the ancient East has handed down its history as faithfully as Egypt. Right back to about 3000 BC we can trace the names of the pharaohs practically without a break. ... No other people have recorded so meticulously their important events, the activities of their rulers, their campaigns, the erection of temples and palaces, as well as their literature and poetry.
"But this time Egypt gave the scholars no answer. As if it were not enough that they found nothing about Joseph, they discovered neither documents nor monuments out of this whole period. the records which showed hardly a break for centuries suddenly stopped about 1730 BC. From then on for a long time an impenetrable darkness lay over Egypt. Not before 1580 BC did contemporary evidence appear once again. "
What happened was the invasion of the Hyksos. They swept over Egypt like a storm. Their success seems to be due to their new wonder-weapon: the chariot. The chariot was like the tank of the time, it simply ran over the infantry. The Hyksos were Semitic tribes from Canaan and Syria. Hyksos itself means "rulers of foreign lands" according to Keller. Back to Keller.
"The memory of this political disaster remained alive among the Nile people, as a striking description by the Egyptian historian Manetho testified: 'We had a king called Tutmaeus. In his reign it happened. I do not know why God was displeased with us. Unexpectedly from the regions of the East, came men of unknown race. Confident of victory they marched against our land. By force they took it, easily, without a single battle. Having overpowered our rulers, they burned our cities without compassion, and destroyed the temples of the gods. All the natives were treated with great cruelty, for they slew some and carried off the wives and children of others into slavery. Finally they appointed one of themselves as king. His name was Salitis and he lived in Memphis and made Upper and Lower Egypt pay tribute to him, ... and when he found a city in the province of Sais which suited his purpose, it lay east of the Bastite branch of the Nile and was called Avaris, he rebuilt it and made it very strong by erecting walls and installing a force of 240,000 men to hold it. ...'
"Avaris is a town that under another name plays an important role in Biblical history. Later called Pi-Ramses, it is one of the bond cities of ancient Egypt (Ex. 1:11)"
"The Biblical story of Joseph and the sojourn of the children of Israel in Egypt belong to this period of turbulent conditions on the Nile under the rule of the foreign Hyksos. It is therefore not surprising that no contemporary Egyptian information has come down to us. Nevertheless, there is indirect proof of the authenticity of the Joseph story. ..."
"Potiphar was the name of the Egyptian to whom Joseph was sold. It is a thoroughly characteristic native name. In Egyptian it is 'Pa-di-pa-ra,' 'the gift of the god Ra.' Joseph's elevation to viceroy of Egypt was reproduced in the Bible exactly according to protocol. He is invested with the insignia of his high office, he receives the ring, Pharaoh's seal, a costly linen vestment, and a golden chain (Gen. 41:42) This is exactly how Egyptian artists depict this solemn ceremony on murals and reliefs." And here Keller has Fig. 14, a reproduction of a mural showing the installation of an Egyptian vizier. It matches the text.
"As viceroy, Joseph rode in the Pharaoh's "second chariot" (Gen. 41:43). That implies the time of the Hyksos. These "rulers of foreign lands" were the first to bring the swift war chariot to Egypt. We know too that the Hyksos rulers were the first to use a ceremonial chariot on public occasions in Egypt. Before their day this had not been the practice on the Nile."
Keller then discusses a canal which brings water to the town of Medinet-el-Faiyum, which lies 80 miles south of Cairo. The 200 mile canal brings water to this desert community and allows extensive agriculture. The canal is ancient, and is known as "Bahr Yusuf" -"Joseph's Canal" throughout Egypt. "People say that it was the Joseph of the Bible who planned it."
Now comes the migration of Joseph's relatives to Egypt.
"Years of drought, bad harvests, and famine are well attested in the lands of the Nile. In very early times, for example, at the beginning of the third millennium, there is said to have been a seven-year famine according to a rock inscription of the Ptolemies. ...Traces have been found of the granaries which existed even in the Old Kingdom. In many tombs there were little clay models of them. Apparently they were making provision for possible years of famine among the dead."
"The viceroy brought his father, brothers, and other relatives into the country: [quote from Gen.46:27-28]. The viceroy had obtained permission from the highest authority for his family to cross the frontier, and what the Bible records corresponds perfectly with the administrative procedure of the government. [quote from Gen.47:5-6 saying they can live in Goshen].
"A frontier official wrote to his superiors on papyrus: 'I have another matter to bring to the attention of my lord and it is this: We have permitted the transit of Bedouin tribes from Edom via Menephta fort in Zeku, to the fen-lands of the city of Per-Atum ... so that they may preserve their own lives and the lives of their flocks on the estate of the king, the good Sun of every land ...'
"Per-Atum, which crops up here in a hieroglyphic text, is the Biblical Pithom in the land of Goshen, later one of the bond cities of Israel in Egypt.
Keller then notes the description of the death and embalming of Joseph, which would have been unknown in Canaan. The description matches (according to Keller) with the description of Herodotus about the practice.
"Under the Pharaohs a sand-dweller could never have become viceroy. Nomads bred asses, sheep, and goats, and the Egyptians despised none so much as breeders of small cattle. Only under the foreign overlords, the Hyksos, would an Asiatic have the chance to rise to the highest office in the state. Under the Hyksos we repeatedly find officials with Semitic names. On scarabs dating from the Hyksos period the name 'Jacob-Her' has been clearly deciphered." At this point I would remind ourselves that the Hyksos were Semitic, so giving favors to other Semites does not seem impossible.
"For a space of four hundred years, during which, politically, the face of the Fertile Crescent was completely altered, the Bible is silent."
Keller recounts the revolt against the Hyksos and their eventual expulsion. The Egyptians then conquered Canaan, to prevent a repeat of the Hyksos invasion. They sparred with the Mitanni at the head of the Tigris-Euphrates and then encountered the Hittites coming down from what is now Turkey. They skirmished for over 100 years. Then Ramses II fought a battle in 1280 BC with the Hittites. He didn't win, but apparently didn't lose either. Anyway the Hittites and Egyptians concluded what Keller calls "the first nonaggression and mutual defense pact in world history." Ramses also got a Hittite princess for a bride.
Keller thinks the Pharaoh of the Exodus was Ramses II. He points out that the Hebrews would be despised because they were Asiatics and sand ramblers. Also, they were of the same race as the hated Hyksos.
Finished next post.
