The Bible Unearthed - Exodus

Hi Judge. Out of curiosity, how did you arrive at this date? If correct, the pharaoh would have been the 17th Dynasty king Tao II Sekenere (1591-1573, capital Thebes) under the Hyksos (he's the guy who started the ultimately successful war against them). Tao only controlled Upper Egypt, and was killed in battle. His son, Kamose finished the war, and ushered in the New Kingdom period. Interestingly, Tao II's mummy shows evidence of battle ax, spear, etc wounds. He didn't drown.It seems a little strange that you are claiming he was the one who died in the Exodus account.

Hi judge - thanks for the links. Interesting bits of calculation they do. Still and all, for me the question remains which pharaoh was killed in the Exodus? The second link indicates 1591 +- 1, which again roughly puts it at the start of Tao II's reign. I don't care which/what date is accurate according to the bible - I'm just interested in seeing which historical figure was involved based on the date you pick. We have pretty good archeological evidence from the Middle and New Kingdoms as to who was doing what when, based on finds found in the particular strata.Which brings me to an interesting side note: from the conclusion of the second link you provided: This statement doesn't bode well for the accuracy of anything that comes from the site. It appears the author is advocating for the use of creationist-style reinterpretation and downright falsification to shoehorn archeology into the Bible - even if it doesn't fit - just like the creationists try to shoehorn biology. Not a good sign.(edited to add the reference cited in the quoted passage. Sorry. 1 Aardsma, G., "A new approach to the chronology of Biblical History from Abraham to Samuel", 1993, Institute for Creation Research, San Diego.)[This message has been edited by Quetzal, 03-19-2003]

Weird. I wonder why you're having problems? It opened easily from here. Anyway, once you get it working, let me know what your take on the dating bit is.

Hi judge. Looks like Paul has done a much better job than I could have. Go away for a couple of days and...Just one or two comments:1) There's a pretty good chronology of kings and events for the 12th Dynasty, corroborated by archeological finds (stele, inscriptions, etc). As noted, the 13th Dynasty kings are more problematic, principally because of a lack of archeological finds, the fact that many of the kings weren't related to each other, etc. It was the weakening of the power of the Egyptian kings that prevented any effective resistance to the "Hyksos" takeover - which may not have been an invasion, but rather an assimilation or combination event. There's quite a bit of evidence for the existence of foreigners living in the delta for a number of generations before the "invasion". However, I can find no evidence that the overall dates are nearly 50-100 years off as Setterfield claims.2) Manetho is a later writer - and writing from an Egyptian standpoint. He was a priest in Heliopolis hired by Ptolmy I to write a history of ancient Egypt, so may not have been necessarily as authoritative as some people have made out (like Josephus, for instance). There may be a bit of historical revisionism or "filling in the gaps" with literary license where hard evidence or records were unavailable. In any event, even if he was 100% accurate, he makes no reference to plagues, even in the sense of a "plague of Hyksos". Here's an interesting essay on Manetho's possible errors: Competing for a Greater Antiquity. The only evidence of large scale plague at this period at all was from excavations in Avaris dated to during the Hyksos period - mass graves with no attempt at the normal burial ceremonies, etc. Anyway, Hyksos occupation of Avaris is pretty solid on dates, as is their final abandonment of the fortress as I noted. There doesn't appear to be any Exodus event or even pharaoh that matches what Setterfield states.