Searching for Moses
Documented by Stephen M Golden
Copyright © 6 August, 2014
Derived from a work
by David Down, Creation Ex Nihilo-Technical Journal (TJ) 15(1) 2001 p.63
Is Moses Documented in
History?
Documentation of Pharaoh of the Exodus
Traditional Egyptian chronology says the 18th dynasty was
from 1550 - 1320 BC.
The Bible says the Exodus occurred about 1446 BC.[1]
According to modern historians, this aligns with the
Egyptian 18th dynasty.
“There is no evidence of the Exodus {,
Moses, or the plagues} in the 18th dynasty
records - nor is there evidence of an invasion of Palestine under Joshua during
this period. …But there are a number of
scholars who claim that a gross error in chronology has been made in
calculating the dates of Egyptian history, and that they should be reduced by
centuries. Such re-dating could bring
the 12th dynasty down to the time of Moses, and there is plenty of circumstantial
evidence in that dynasty to support the Biblical records.”[2]
If you reduce the chronology of Egypt and align the 12th
dynasty to the time of the Exodus, there is abundant evidence for the presence
of large numbers of Semitic slaves, devastation of Egypt, and the sudden
departure of those slaves.
If you adjust the time of the secular chronology, at
Jericho, you find toppled walls and evidence of a great fire that had been
deliberately set.
“One of the last kings of the 12th dynasty was Sesostris
III. His statues depict him as a cruel
tyrant quite capable of inflicting harsh slavery on his subjects.” His son was Amenemhet III who was equally
disagreeable. Moses would have been born
near the beginning of his reign.
Amenemhet III may have had one son known as Amenemhet IV who was an
enigmatic character. Amenemhet IV could
well have been Moses. Amenemhet IV
mysteriously disappeared off the scene before the death of Amenemhet III.
“Amenemhet III had a daughter whose name was
Sobekneferu. It is known that she had no
children. If she was the daughter of
Pharaoh who came down to the river to bathe, it is easy to understand why she
was there. It was not because she had no
bathroom in her palace. She would have
been down there taking a ceremonial ablution and praying to the river god Hapi,
who was also the god of fertility.” When
the basket carrying the baby arrived, she would naturally have considered it
the answer to her prayer.
When Moses grew up and identified himself with the people of
Israel and fled Egypt, there was a vacuum left on the throne. When Amenemhet III died, and there was no
male successor, Sobekneferu ascended the throne and ruled as Pharaoh for eight
years. When she died, it was the end of
the 12th dynasty, and it was succeeded by the 13th dynasty.
It was the Semitic slaves (Israelites) who built the
pyramids of the 12th dynasty. (Exodus
1:8-11)
Excavation of the city of Kahun in the Faiyyum has revealed
that “Asiatics” were present in the town in considerable numbers. The reason for their presence in Egypt
remains unclear. However, the excavators
could not identify the Semetic slaves with the Israelites because they held to
the traditional chronology which placed the Biblical events centuries later
than the 12th dynasty.
Another interesting discovery is the presence of wooden
boxes under the floors of many houses at Kahun.
These boxes contained babies, sometimes two or three to a box, and aged
only a few months at death. (Exodus
1:16, 22)
Shortly after this, the slaves suddenly disappeared off the
scene.
Dr. Flinders Petrie:
“‘It is apparent 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.’”
Think of that... “The departure was sudden and
unpremeditated”!
If the plagues were real, the effects should have been
devastating, and a record should exist.
It does.
In the Leiden Museum in Holland is a papyrus which is a copy
of a papyrus from an earlier “unidentified” dynasty (likely the 13th). It reads,
“...Plague stalks through the land and blood is
everywhere.... Nay, but the river is
blood. ... Nay, but gates, columns and
walls are consumed with fire.... Nay but men are few. He that lays his brother in the ground is
everywhere.... Nay but the son of the
high-born man is no longer to be recognized....
The stranger people from outside are come into Egypt.... Nay, but corn has perished everywhere. People are stripped of clothing, perfume and
oil. Everyone says “there is no
more.” The storehouse is bare.... It has come to this. The king has been taken away by poor men.”
“There are records of slavery during the reigns of the last
rulers of the 12th dynasty — Sesostris III, Amenemhet III, and Sobekneferu {some include an obscure figure known as Amenemhet IV before Sobekneferu}. With the
death of Sobekneferu, the 12th dynasty came to an end as she had no children
born to her. Moses, the adopted heir,
had fled to Midian.”
“A period of instability followed the demise of the 12th
dynasty. {The
idea of dynasties was} ...the invention of
Manetho, the Egyptian priest of the 3rd century BC who left a record of the
history of Egypt and divided the kings into dynasties.”
Many short rulerships took place in the succeeding years,
and there was general anarchy until Neferhotep I took the throne.
Khasekemre-Neferhotep I was the pharaoh from whom Moses demanded Israel’s
release. p.56
“[Archaeologist Flinders] Petrie found scarabs of former
kings at Kahun. But the latest scarab he
found there was of Neferhotep who was apparently the pharaoh ruling when the
Israelite slaves suddenly left Kahun and fled from Egypt in the Exodus. According to Manetho, he was the last king to
rule before the Hyksos occupied Egypt ‘without a battle’.”
Without a battle? How
did that happen? Where was the Egyptian
army? It was at the bottom of the Red
Sea.
The
mummy of Khasekemre-Neferhotep I has never been found. His body is also likely at the bottom of the
Red Sea.
“In the movie ‘The Ten Commandments’ Pharaoh was named
Rameses.” This was the result of a
misunderstanding of the Bible.
“Rameses {, as
mentioned in the Bible is a location, and.} can
be linked to an Egyptian word which means ‘door of two roads.’” {It
was the point at which travelers leaving Egypt had to choose the road to Canaan
heading north, or the road to Succoth heading south, because the desert
wilderness was to the east.}
This word matches with archaeological finds for evidence of
Israel in Egypt. But not to pharaohs
later called Rameses.
It should be noted that the Bible does not mention a Pharaoh
named Rameses, but the name mentioned refers to the region of northeastern
Egypt from which travel was either to Canaan or to Midian. (Genesis 47:11)
So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and
gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed. When Moses and the children of Israel left
Rameses, they left the region, not a person.
Exodus
1:11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and
they built Pithom and Rameses as store
cities for Pharaoh.
Exodus
12:37 The Israelites journeyed from
Rameses to Succoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot,
besides women and children.
Numbers
33:5 The Israelites left Rameses and
camped at Succoth.
So, we have “evidence for Israelite slavery in Egypt, sudden
disappearance of these slaves, devastation of Egypt by ten plagues, {and} the destruction
of the Egyptian army — if we look for it at the right time, and time is a vital
element in the interpretation of ancient history.”
“According to the Biblical records, the Exodus occurred 480
years before Solomon laid the foundations of his temple at Jerusalem (1 Kings
6:1). This would place the Exodus about
1446 BC. God's covenant with Abraham was
430 years earlier (Exodus 12:40, Galatians 3:16,17) about 1850 BC. From the ages of his predecessors back to
Noah, given in Genesis 12&13, it can be calculated that the great universal
flood occurred 427 years earlier, about 2302 BC. But according to most authorities on Egyptian
chronology the pyramids were built about 1550 BC and the first dynasty of Egypt
ruled about 3100 BC.”
3100 – First Egyptian Dynasty?
2303 – The Flood
1876 – Abrahamic covenant
1550 – Pyramids?
1446 – Exodus
This presents a conflict between traditional Egyptian
Chronology and the Bible. Egyptian
dynasties could not have existed before the Flood. One of them is incorrect. Which one will you believe?
Also, 436 synchronisms indicate the 12th dynasty should be
about 300 years later than modern historians place it.[3] {Generally
recognized as 1991 BC to 1802 BC, should be 1691 BC to 1502 BC.}
3100 – First Egyptian
Dynasty?
2303 – The Flood
1991 – 12th
Dynasty?
1876 – Abrahamic covenant
1802 – end of 12th
Dynasty?
1691 – 12th Dynasty
1550 – Pyramids?
1502 – end of 12th Dynasty
1446 – Exodus
Joseph sold into Egypt
Joseph elevated to Governor. This was the son of Amenemhet I
This
is a person referenced in Egyptian inscriptions at the time of Sesostris I who
had charge of the treasury and public works.
I believe this was Joseph.
Oppressed the Hebrews. This was the one who decreed that all the
children of the Hebrew slaves two years and under be slain.
This was Sesostris’s III son who wanted
to kill Moses.
I believe this was Moses. Amenemhet IV disappeared off the scene before
the death of Amenemhet III.
Either the daughter of Sesostris III or
Amenemhet III who drew Moses out of the Nile and raised him. She ascended to the throne after Amenemhet’s
III death. She ruled 8 years and when
her rule ended it is called the end of the 12th dynasty.
Forty years into the 13th dynasty, this
Is the Pharaoh from whom Moses demanded Israel's release. His mummy is not in its tomb. Where is it?
At the bottom of the Red Sea. The
Hyskos took over Egypt without a battle.
How? The entire army was at the
bottom of the Red Sea.
As mentioned in the Bible, is a
location. It is associated with an Egyptian word which means 'door of two
roads.’ Genesis 47:11; Exodus 1:11;
Exodus 12:37; Numbers 37:5. There were
several Pharaohs named Rameses, in the 18th dynasty, but they lived long after
the time of Moses. They used the name to
indicate their dichotomous power: joy and dispair, wealth and poverty, life and
death
See also
Red Sea Crossing
[1] Around 1491 according to “Evidentialism —the Bible
and Assyrian Chronology” by Larry Pierce -TJ Vol 15 Issue 1, https://www.Answersingenesis.org/tj/v15/i1/chronology.asp
[2] Unless otherwise noted, all
quotes are from an article by David Down, Creation Ex Nihilo-Technical Journal
(TJ) 15(1) 2001 starting at p.63
[3] Solving the Exodus Mystery, Vol.I by Ted Stewart as
related in a book review by Ruth Beechick in TJ 17(2) 2003.