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Evidence for the Israelite Sojourn in Egypt: Difference between revisions
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Evidence for the Israelite Sojourn in Egypt (view source)
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The histories of [[Israel]], [[Egypt]] and [[Mesopotamia]] are interwoven. At various point in time, these ancient civilizations have interacted with one another as trade partners or in war. | The histories of [[Israel]], [[Egypt]] and [[Mesopotamia]] are interwoven. At various point in time, these ancient civilizations have interacted with one another as trade partners or in war. | ||
The Israelites were in Egypt for some 430 years. They numbered only seventy when they first arrived in Egypt at the invitation of the Pharaoh whose acclaimed vizier [[Joseph and Imhotep|Joseph]] (Israel / Jacob's eleventh son) was saving Egypt from a famine that had lasted several years. Joseph had interpreted the Pharaoh's dream and the Pharaoh had put him as second in charge of Egypt. Joseph had built grain silos during the years of abundance that had preceded the famine and had implemented a 20% tax on the grain that was produced to fill them. When the famine came, Joseph sold the grain to the Egyptians and surrounding countries who eventually had to part with their animals and land in order to buy enough food from Joseph to survive. The Israelites were allowed to settle in the best part of the land; Goshen. They multiplied quickly and soon became numerous. | |||
Joseph died at the age of 110 years, 80 years after first came into the service of the Pharaohs. He would have served several pharoahs. When Joseph died, he was given a royal Egyptian burial. | |||
Many years after Joseph died, a pharaoh emerged who did not know Joseph and did not care that he had made the pharaoh's rich. He resented that Joseph's family, the Israelites, were becoming so numerous and feared that they would join their enemies. He decided to enslave them and make them work the fields or make mud bricks. | |||
By the time the Exodus, the Israelites had come to number over 2 million. There were 600,000 men of fighting age. If the Pharaoh made them produce just one mud brick per person per day for half of their time in Egypt, that would be 600000x365x200years =438,000,000,000 mud bricks. That's a lot of mud bricks. | |||
If one was to look for some evidence of the Israelites in Egypt, something that we know they did or produced that would have survived the test of time (over 3500 years), it would have to be the 'grain silos' that Joseph made and billions of mud bricks that the Israelites would have produced during the time of their slavery. | |||
One would also expect to find evidence for Joseph Egyptian records given the enormity of his achievements. One would expect to find evidence of a mass Exodus of slaves and see what impact this had on the Egyptians. | |||
As there were only some 200 pharaohs in Egypt with similar number of viziers, one would think that it should be reasonably easy to come up with a short list of contenders for Joseph and Moses and their respective pharaohs. | |||
Egyptian records, however, have not been as well preserved as one would hope. In fact many of the most useful historical documents were deliberately destroyed eg the works of Manetho which were lost when the Alexandrian Library was burnt down. Various wars, erosion and earthquakes have resulted in many of Egypts monuments being destroyed or defaced. Some pharaohs have even tried to whitewash their predecessors records leaving no trace of them. | |||
In order to find evidence for the [[Israelites]] in [[Egypt]], one needs to look in the right place in the right time period. | In order to find evidence for the [[Israelites]] in [[Egypt]], one needs to look in the right place in the right time period. | ||
The only lasting legacy of the Israelites mentioned in the Bible may just be 'grain silos', 'mudbricks' and the embalmed bodies of Jacob and Joseph. | |||
Once the Egyptian identities of these Biblical figures is known, we may be surprised to learn what else they did that did not get recorded in the Bible. | |||
The truth is not always convenient or what we would have liked, but if it supports scripture, then Christians should celebrate because history and the Bible agree with one another. | |||
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