Hebrew scribes, contains literary embellishments about miraculous events of the flightâ. 7 Thus they have sought evidence of great catastrophes that befell Egypt and expected to find the names of Moses and Joshua in Egyptian texts. More misleading, through misinterpretation of the Israel Stela and their belief that the Sojourn lasted 430 years, they have sought evidence of the Exodus into Sinai in the wrong eras, the reign of Ramses II or of Merenptah.
As long ago as the early 1960s, however, Yoyotte, who had done a great deal of work in the Delta and among the Ramesside remains, became one of the few to see through the âembellishmentsâ of the biblical account and identify the historical core of the story â that the Shasu wars are the only possible equivalent of the biblical story of the Exodus:
âThe persecution of the Jews was undoubtedly part of the Ramesside campaign against the Shasu (bedouin) ⦠The exact date of the Exodus is disputed. According to the Bible, the Jews toiled in a town called Ramses, and a stele of the time of Merenptah, a son of Ramses II, speaks of the âannihilationâ of Israel. From this evidence it has been deduced that their persecutors were Ramses II and Merenptah and that the Exodus took place under the latter in about 1200 C. But the âIsrael Steleâ, in fact, gives the impression that the Jews had already returned to Palestine by this time. Considering biblical chronology and the results of excavations at Jericho, it.seems probable that their sufferings took place at the time of Seti I â¦
âThe âIsrael Steleâ is a misleading name for a document consisting of twenty-eight lines, twenty-five of which describe the triumph of the king over Libya. Mention is made of Palestine only in a three-line epilogue in which the famous name Israel appears among others. As far as the Ramesside government was concerned, the Exodus was merely a migration of bedouin labour, the Shasu among others.â 8
As we said before, there are strong indications that the Exodus did not take place before the Ramesside period of the Nineteenth Dynasty. However, as Seti I campaigned against Israel in north Sinai and south Palestine immediately on succeeding to the throne, the Israelites must have left Egypt proper during the short reign of his father, Ramses I.
This chronology would make sense in more ways than one in the light of the Book of Exodus. As we shall see, before coming to the throne, Pa-Ramses (later Ramses I) had been appointed by Horemheb as his vizier, Commander of the Troops, Overseer of Foreign Countries, Overseer of the Fortress of Zarw, Master of the Horse. Ramses, himself said to have come from the Eastern Delta, was therefore at that time the most powerful man in Egypt after Horemheb. If the Bible, which never gives the name of the ruling Pharaoh, names the Eastern Delta city built by the harsh labour of the Israelites as Ramses, the name must derive not from Pharaoh but from vizier Ramses, who personally forced them to work. Then, while Moses was still hiding in Sinai, the Lord informed him that the King of Egypt (Horemheb) had died. In this case, the king whom Moses met after his return must have been a new king (Ramses I). Yet this new king could not have ruled for a long time as, after the different punishments inflicted upon him for not allowing the Israelites to depart, that by their nature take one full year as they are seasonal and follow the inundation of the Nile, they leave, he follows them and dies.
The Bible does not state directly that the pursuing Pharaoh died in the waters although this is implied:
And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. (Exodus, 14:28)
The Koran, however, makes it clear that the pursuing Pharaoh, too, was drowned:
We took the Children
Of Israel across the sea:
Pharaoh
As long ago as the early 1960s, however, Yoyotte, who had done a great deal of work in the Delta and among the Ramesside remains, became one of the few to see through the âembellishmentsâ of the biblical account and identify the historical core of the story â that the Shasu wars are the only possible equivalent of the biblical story of the Exodus:
âThe persecution of the Jews was undoubtedly part of the Ramesside campaign against the Shasu (bedouin) ⦠The exact date of the Exodus is disputed. According to the Bible, the Jews toiled in a town called Ramses, and a stele of the time of Merenptah, a son of Ramses II, speaks of the âannihilationâ of Israel. From this evidence it has been deduced that their persecutors were Ramses II and Merenptah and that the Exodus took place under the latter in about 1200 C. But the âIsrael Steleâ, in fact, gives the impression that the Jews had already returned to Palestine by this time. Considering biblical chronology and the results of excavations at Jericho, it.seems probable that their sufferings took place at the time of Seti I â¦
âThe âIsrael Steleâ is a misleading name for a document consisting of twenty-eight lines, twenty-five of which describe the triumph of the king over Libya. Mention is made of Palestine only in a three-line epilogue in which the famous name Israel appears among others. As far as the Ramesside government was concerned, the Exodus was merely a migration of bedouin labour, the Shasu among others.â 8
As we said before, there are strong indications that the Exodus did not take place before the Ramesside period of the Nineteenth Dynasty. However, as Seti I campaigned against Israel in north Sinai and south Palestine immediately on succeeding to the throne, the Israelites must have left Egypt proper during the short reign of his father, Ramses I.
This chronology would make sense in more ways than one in the light of the Book of Exodus. As we shall see, before coming to the throne, Pa-Ramses (later Ramses I) had been appointed by Horemheb as his vizier, Commander of the Troops, Overseer of Foreign Countries, Overseer of the Fortress of Zarw, Master of the Horse. Ramses, himself said to have come from the Eastern Delta, was therefore at that time the most powerful man in Egypt after Horemheb. If the Bible, which never gives the name of the ruling Pharaoh, names the Eastern Delta city built by the harsh labour of the Israelites as Ramses, the name must derive not from Pharaoh but from vizier Ramses, who personally forced them to work. Then, while Moses was still hiding in Sinai, the Lord informed him that the King of Egypt (Horemheb) had died. In this case, the king whom Moses met after his return must have been a new king (Ramses I). Yet this new king could not have ruled for a long time as, after the different punishments inflicted upon him for not allowing the Israelites to depart, that by their nature take one full year as they are seasonal and follow the inundation of the Nile, they leave, he follows them and dies.
The Bible does not state directly that the pursuing Pharaoh died in the waters although this is implied:
And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. (Exodus, 14:28)
The Koran, however, makes it clear that the pursuing Pharaoh, too, was drowned:
We took the Children
Of Israel across the sea:
Pharaoh
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