Ian Cooper investigates
After 17 years in the Police Force I understand what is and is not ‘evidence’.
‘Circumstantial’ evidence is not evidence. But like ripples in a pond it shows the consequences of the event which caused it. As far as the Exodus event in Scripture is concerned, we lack the direct evidence of secular history or archaeology. Moses doesn’t even tell us Pharaoh’s name, something common in writings of the time. Even if someone in Pharaoh’s household kept a diary, listing the plagues which brought Pharaoh to his knees, this is unlikely to have survived 3500 years. Egyptian attitudes to history made sure that events which humiliated the great Pharaoh would be erased from all files – after all, Pharaoh needs to enter eternity with an unblemished record. But if we look at the time period – which I believe Scripture pinpoints – can we see ripples of such a catastrophic event?
Which century?
Not everyone agrees, but the Bible seems to give us two clear ‘date stamps’ for the Exodus. In 1 Kings 6.1 we are told that Solomon began building the Temple in the 480th year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. Taking that number at face value, we simply add 480 to the fourth year of Solomon’s reign – 966 BC. The result is 1446 BC. Some maintain that 480 is a symbolic number – made up of lots of 12s and 40s – hugely significant in biblical terms. While I do not deny that as a possibility, we must be aware of the ‘genre’ of Bible book we are reading. 1 Kings is historical narrative – so we would need good reasons for taking any number purely symbolically.
But this is not the only time stamp for the Exodus. In Judges 11.26, Jephthah gives a history lesson to the King of the Ammonites and states that Israel’s wilderness wanderings came to a close ‘300 years ago’. Jephthah is about 140 years before Solomon so the arithmetic leads us back to the mid-15th century BC. Moses was 80 years old when he confronted Pharaoh with God’s demand to let the people go, so, if we want a date for the beginning of Israel’s slavery, we must add at least 80 to our sum, taking us to before 1526 BC.
People and power
In Egyptian history around this time can we see people, places or events which correspond to the Exodus drama?
Firstly, we find Pharaoh Ahmose. He is known in secular history for driving out the Hyksos invaders from Egypt and suppressing an influx of Nubians in the south. A king determined to reinstate Egypt’s former glory and to suppress the immigrant populations of Egypt is a perfect candidate for a Pharaoh who would order the oppression of the Israelite community living in his land. Amenhotep I followed with a reign of 25 years continuing the policy of Ahmose and he could have increased the oppression of the still prospering community of Israelites to the point of ordering the deaths of the male infants. He continued to secure Egypt’s borders and is renowned for a massive building programme and for restoring many of the temples and cities previously destroyed in the earlier Hyksos campaigns.
Pharaoh’s daughter
One of the many striking features of the Exodus account is the fact that baby Moses, floating in his basket in the Nile, was discovered, rescued and protected by none other than Pharaoh’s daughter. Given that her father was considered the most powerful man in the world, we are looking for quite a unique character – willing to defy her own father’s ‘divine’ command. In exactly the right time frame we find Pharaoh Thutmose I whose daughter is infamous in Egyptian history. Her name is Hatshepsut – a girl on a mission. She married her step-brother who became Thutmose II – thereby becoming Pharaoh’s wife. When Thutmose II passed from the scene, his successor, Thutmose III, was just a child. This would not ordinarily be a problem as he would be surrounded with guardians and counsellors to ‘help’ him as king.
But instead we find Hatshepsut climbing on to his throne and taking the full role as Pharaoh whilst her step-son plays in the palace nursery, until she sent him for training in the army. Thutmose is seemingly a willing partner to his mother’s plan, acting as the captain of ‘her’ army as she extends the borders of Egypt.
For over 20 years, Hatshepsut exercised effective leadership over the nation and was largely responsible for the heights of Egypt’s power when Thutmose III finally took his rightful place. We can’t assert with certainty that Hatshepsut was the young girl who lifted Moses from the Nile, but she sits at the right period and at the very least seems the kind of character we are looking for.
One problem for secular historians is that in the late 15th century BC, Thutmose III decided to try to erase his step-mother from history. No-one has yet given a satisfactory explanation for this, but perhaps we have some idea? Even so, enough remained of Hatshepsut to allow the recreation of her reign in some detail.
The Napoleon of Egypt
Some historians say Thutmose III was ‘the’ most powerful Pharaoh. Often called the ‘Napoleon of Egypt’, his many military campaigns extended the borders of Egypt as never before. In fact, he is just the sort of Pharaoh we should be looking for in the biblical account – at the height of his power, arrogant and ripe for a humiliation planned in eternity by a sovereign God. Remember Romans 9.17 and Exodus 9.16: ‘I have raised you up for this very purpose – that I might show my power’. Thutmose III’s military prowess disappears in the mid 15th century BC and his successor Amenhotep II – not his first-born son by the way – has none of his father’s reputation as a warrior. Instead we find him using the huge accumulated wealth of Egypt to buy friends in high places and to secure treaties with other rulers. (Even this corresponds with the Egyptians sending the Israelites out of Egypt with a literal ‘golden handshake’.)
Questions
But didn’t Pharaoh drown in the Nile with his army? Not if you read the Exodus text carefully. Exodus 14.28 tells us that Pharaoh’s army ‘that had followed the Israelites’ perished in the sea. In Psalm 136 there is a reference to Pharaoh and his army being ‘overthrown’ in the Red Sea. Here we are dealing with Hebrew poetry and symbolism which do not necessitate that Pharaoh had to drown personally – merely that the ‘Great House’ had been overthrown and the power of Egypt was broken. The fact that Thutmose III continued to reign after the Exodus and died while in co-regency with his second-born son Amenhotep II does not sink our theory.
Questions also arise when we read in Exodus 1.11 that the Israelite slaves were building the store cities of Pithom and Rameses at the beginning of the oppression. Surely that leads us to conclude that the Pharaoh must have been Rameses II (1290 – 1223 BC) himself in a period which fits much more comfortably from an archaeologists perspective. But the problem evaporates when we realise that Genesis 47.11 tells us that Joseph gave his family land in the region of Rameses some 500 years before the great Pharaoh was even on the scene. Exodus 1.11 does not necessitate that Rameses is our man. In fact, if we take Rameses to be our Pharaoh, then we find none of the ‘circumstantial’ evidence that we see when we look in the time frame to which the Bible points.
We have to admit that there are difficulties with every ‘Exodus’ theory, but when we see the pond rippling, we may deduce that the surface has been broken.
