FocusMyView said
Without taking time for a thorough analysis, I have some anecdotal evidence that early on Egyptologists had to wade through the waters of Bible implications in order to announce their results. I remember hearing that some artifacts seem to repudiate the Flood and tower of Babel stories. At the same time, there is the anecdote that the concept of Hittites was scoffed at until they were discovered by archeologists. 

ITs a mixed bag, so I am unsure. 

What I am asking first is this, is there ONE chronology that works for “Israel” having been in Egypt and the Exodus happening? 

  

My research into the Exodus, based on archaeological findings, has concluded two events are being fused together or conflated, Event One (1) The Hyksos expulsion of circa 1530 BC (other expulsion dates being 1570-1515 BC, depending on various Egyptian chronologies: High, Medium, Low), and Event Two (2) the Iron Age I settlements on both sides of the Jordan river, in Moab and Canaan. The archaeological proof? Joshua orders the burning of Jericho after its defensive walls collapse. Find a collapsed wall and burning and we have a link-up with the Biblical account. Such was found by Dame Kathleen Kenyon at Jericho. She found ash everywhere, with walls that had collapsed due to an earthquake. She opined that the burning had been done by Pharaoh Ahmoses I and his army, in pursuit of the Expelled Hyksos and the conquest of their homeland, making Canaan a part of the Egyptian Empire for the next 400 years. She said this collapsed wall was the LAST defensive wall Jericho ever had. Later settlements were without new walls. Bryant Wood challenged her dating claiming it was circa 1406 BC to support the biblical notion Jericho fell to Joshua (based on a chronology found in 1 Kings 6:3). However, recent Radio Carbon dating tests have confirmed Kenyon’s dating (based on the charred remains of grain in storage jars). Event number two (2) The Bible mentions Israel, under Moses, conquering the Amorite Kingdom of Sihon (Moab) and Moses distribute the conqered towns to the tribes of Gad and Reuben. Numerous towns are listed as being settled by these two tribes, among which are Heshbon and Elealeh. Excavations at these two sites (Tell Hisban and ElAl) reveal they came into existence no earlier than Iron Age I (1200-1100 BC). Accordingly, I understand two events have been fused together, that are separated in time by 300 years, menaing the Exodus, as portrayed in the Bible is fiction. We can’t have Jericho being burned by Joshua circa 1530 BC and Heshbon and Elealeh being founded under Moses circa 1200-1100 BC! Regarding the biblical chronology for the Exodus via 1 Kings 6:1, it is stated 480 years elapsed from the Exodus to Solomon’s building of the Temple. Some devout scholars according date the Exodus to circa 1446 BC and Conquest of Canaan and Moab 40 years later at 1406 BC. THE PROBLEM? Two devout scholars, who happen to be Egyptologists, James K. Hoffmeier and Kenneth Kitchen, have studied the Bible very closely and came to the conclusion, independent of each other that 480 years had not elapsed from the Exodus to Solomon’s Temple, a period of time amount to 600+ years had elapsed! When one adds this elapsed period of time one comes up with an Exodus in an Egypt under Hyksos control! Bart Ehrman’s notion that the Exodus is dated to 1260 BC is based on those scholars who argue that ancient Pi-Rameses, founded by Rameses II, must be the factor to date the Exodus by. They err, however. Why? The finding at Jericho, its collapsed walls and burning circa 1530 BC! This suggests that Rameses is actually an anachronism, the author of the Exodus did not know that Pi-Rameses and vicinity was in 1530 BC called Avaris of the Hyksos! This anachronism, in part misdated the Exodus to the Iron Age I Period (actually the Late Bronze Age, 13th century BC). Another anachronism is the mention of Philistines in Canaan who would opposed Israel’s entry into Canaan through their lands. The Philistines arrived circa 1175 BC as the Pelest, a sub-group of Sea Peoples, mentioned by Rameses III who defeats their attempt to conquer and settle in Egypt. There were no Philistines to fear for Israel, and no reason for God to detour Israel to the Way of the Red Sea, to avoid war with the fierce Philistines. Thus, Israel would take the fasted way to Canaan, The Way to the Land of the Philistines (ending at Gaza, from the Egyptian Delta). So, if the Exodus is fiction, as presented in the Bible what’s behind the worship of a Golden Calf and Moses’ smashing the Ten Commandments? I understand its events at Jebel Serabit el Khadim and the worship of the Egyptian cow-goddess Hat-Hor, who, in cow form, was honored by her devotees in drunken, naked, song and dance, thereby emulating her. But Egyptian myths clearly do not identify Hat-Hor as being the Golden Calf, she is the SKY-COW-MOTHER OF THE GOLDEN CALF. At sunrise she gives birth to a deceased Pharaoh as the sun, who is portrayed in tomb art as a male calf standing on a solar bark/boat with a seated Horus behind the calf. A polar star hovers over the calf’s back. Old Kingdom Pyramid texts have Pharaoh Pepi (6th Dynasty) pleading: “Let me aboard the solar bark for I AM A GOLDEN CALF BORN OF HEAVEN.” At sunset, the calf is now a mature bull who impregnates his sky-cow-mother, to be born of her the next sunrise as the Golden Calf again. How does a Sun-Calf lead Israel to Mt. Sinai? At daybreak, in leaving Egypt, Israel would travel east-southeast following the sun, to Serabit el Khadim, following the Golden Calf from an Egyptian perspective. What about Moses’ shattered Ten Commandments? Moses hurls them down at the FOOT of Mt. Sinai upon witnessing Israel singing and dancing in honor the Golden Calf. Near Hat-Hor’s temple/shrine, at the FOOT of nearby mounts, were found, in rock scree rubble, shattered steli-form stone tablets bearing Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions. They exist near the entrances of mining tunnels (mining copper) and invoke the aid of the Asiatic/Canaanite god called EL (in the Bible God is called EL at Mt. Sinai). I suspect these were recast as Moses’ shattered Ten Commandments (they reside in an Egyptian museum today). The pre-biblical source for Moses and Israel at Mt. Sinai/ Jebel Serabit el Khadim is probably the miners from the Negev, who worked the mines with their Egyptian overlords. At the Hat-Hor shrine were found cartouches of Pharaohs who sponsored mining expeditions, among them Pharaoh Ahmoses I who had expelled the Hyksos circa 1530 BC. The last cartouche was Pharaoh Rameses VI of circa 1130 BC. Various Exodus dates exist: 1530 BC (Hyksos Expulsion), 1446 BC (1 Kings 6:1) and 1260 BC Ramesside Exodus. ONLY SERABIT EL KHADIM has archaeological debris for ALL these Exodus dates. No other site! Just south of the Hat-Hor shrine exist two mounts Jebel Ghorabi and Jebel Saniya, perhaps Mt. Horeb and Sinai in corrupted Arabic? So, there you have it, “the pre-biblical origins behind” the Bible’s Exodus and events at Mt. Sinai, linked to archeological data. Regards, Walter R. Mattfeld

Stephen said
Sapiensape43, there has been a remarkable discovery made that renders long blocks of text much easier to read.  It’s called the paragraph.  Really my friend do you assume we’ll expend the effort to read your post knowing that we’ll lose our place every time we blink? 

 

Aside from the lack of archeological evidence for such a mass migration there are other reasons to question the historicity of the Exodus episode.  There are other traditions that contradict it mixed in the sources edited together to make the Hebrew text.

Go ** you do not have permission to see this link ** for an interesting article about an alternative textual tradition where the Exodus included only Moses’ own tribe, Levi, with hints he actually made it into the Promised Land! 

Go ** you do not have permission to see this link ** for an article describing the surprising lack of knowledge of many of the Biblical writers about the Exodus which reveals the tradition of an alternative origin story for the people of Israel.

All of this in the Bible by the way.   

  

Steefen has NOT addressed the question put to him, How can he champion an Exodus circa 1455 BC (and Conquest of Moab circa 1415 BC), according to David Rohl, when Eleahleh did not exist in the 15th century BC for Moses to award to the tribe of Reuben? The best he can come up with as a response is to criticize my lack of paragraphs. So, how about it Steefen, are you ready to admit Rohl is wrong about a 1455 BC Exodus, and admit that you were wrong to support him, you being apparently IGNORANT of the fact Elealeh did not exist in that time period? Or, are you one who turns a blind eye to facts, and can not admit to never being wrong on anything?

Robert said
Hi, Sapiensape43. Just to let you know that Stephen is not Steefen. Two very different perspectives!

  

Thanks! My apologies to those concerned.