Exodus: Fact or Fiction?

History c. 1219 BCE, the Merneptah Steel is the earliest unusual record of a people group called Israel. Founded by the pharaoh Merneptah to commemorate his military victories, Steele declared, “Ashkelon was taken, and Gezer captured. A town named after an Egyptian hieroglyph after Ashkelon, Gezer, and Enomam. Israel is followed by a hieroglyph meaning a people.” Photo: Meryl Levine.

Is the biblical exodus fact or fiction?

This is a loaded question. Although biblical scholars and archaeologists debate various aspects of Israel’s exodus from Egypt, many of them agree that the exodus took place in one form or another.

The question “did the exodus” then becomes “when What happened? This is another heated question, although most people settle into two camps: they argue for a date of Israel’s transition from Egypt to Abyss in the 15th century BC or the 13th century BC.

“Evidence for the Exodus: An Egyptologist Looks at Biblical History” from the May/June 2016 issue. A Review of Biblical Archaeology¹ Wrestle with these two questions – “Did the exodus happen?” and “When did the Exodus take place?” In the article, evidence is presented that generally supports the 13th century BCE exodus during the Ramesside era, when Egypt’s 19th dynasty ruled.

This article examines Egyptian texts, artifacts, and archaeological sites, which show that the Bible recounts accurate memories from the 13th century BC, for example, three place names that appear in the biblical Exodus of Israel correspond to the Ramadide period (13th-11th century BC). The Bible tells us that as slaves, the Israelites were forced to build the store cities of Pithom and Ramesh. After the ten plagues, the Israelites left Egypt and famously crossed the Yam Soph (translated as Red Sea or Reed), whose waters were miraculously parted for them. The biblical names Pithom, Rameses and Yam Soph (Red Sea or Red Sea) correspond to the Egyptian place names Pi Ramsey, Pi Atom and (pa-) TJUF. All three places appear together in Egyptian texts only From the Rameside period. The name Pi Ramsey fell out of use by the beginning of Egypt’s Third Intermediate Period, which began around 1085 BC, and did not reappear for much longer.

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These specific place names recorded in the biblical text show that the memory of the biblical writers for these traditions predates Egypt’s Third Intermediate Period. This supports a 13th-century origin during the Ramesside period as it is only during the Ramesside period that the place names pi-ramsey, pi-atom and (pa-)tjuf (Red Sea or mainland sea) are all in use.

A workman’s house from western Thebes also seems to support a 13th-century date. In the 1930s, archaeologists from the University of Chicago were excavating the mortuary temple of Aya and Horemeb, the last two pharaohs of Egypt’s 18th dynasty, in western Thebes. The temple was first built by Ia in the 14th century BC, but Hormim took over and expanded the temple when he became pharaoh. (He ruled from the late 14th century to the early 13th century BC.) Hormehib took away every place where Aya had the name and replaced it with her. Later – during the reign of Remus IV (12th century BC) – the temple of Aya and Horumb was demolished.

During their excavations, the University of Chicago unearthed a house and part of another house belonging to workers who were tasked with demolishing the temple. The complete house plan is similar to the four-room house characteristic of Israelite dwellings during the Iron Age. However, unlike Israelite models which were usually built of stone, the Theban house was made of wattle and daub. It is significant that this house was built in Egypt at the same time that Israel was building four-room houses in Canaan. Similarities between the two have led some to speculate that the Theban house builders were either proto-Israelites or a group closely related to Israel.

Is this a proto Israelite house? The project houses workers from the 12th century BCE and is shown in western Thebes next to the Temple of Horembe. The house is undoubtedly a four-room house. In Canaan, the four-room house is considered an ethnic marker for the presence of the Israelites in the Iron Age. Is the biblical exodus fact or fiction? This is in favor of “reality,” so the question becomes, “when What happened? The presence of such a house in Egypt during the 12th century BC seems to support an exodus during the Ramesside era. Photo: Courtesy of Manfred Batik.

A third piece of evidence for the exodus is the onomastic aminope. The Onomastic Aminope is a list of classified words from the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt. Written in Heretic, the papyrus contains a Semitic place name brk.twhich refers to the lakes of Pithom. Even in Egyptian sources, the Semitic name of the lakes of Pithom was used instead of the original Egyptian name. It is likely that a Semitic-speaking population lived in the region so long that their name eventually outgrew the original.

Watch full-length lectures from Out of Egypt: The Exodus of Israel between Text and Memory, History and Imagination conference, which tackled some of the most difficult issues in Exodus scholarship. The international conference was hosted by the Qualcomm Institute of Kellet 2 at UC San Diego in San Diego, CA.

Another compelling piece of evidence for the Exodus is found in the biblical text itself. A history of slavery is likely to be true. The article explains:

The story of the Exodus, of a people escaping from a humiliating slavery, suggests elements that are historically plausible. Generally, it is only stories of glory and victory that are preserved in the narrative from one generation to another. There are likely elements of reality in the history of slavery.

Exodus: Fact or Fiction? This four-room house from Ezbet-Serta, Israel, bears many similarities to a 12th-century BCE worker’s house uncovered in western Thebes. Photo: Israel Finkelstein/Tel Aviv University.

So, is the biblical exodus fact or fiction? Scholars and people of many faiths stand on both sides of the equation, and some say both. Archaeological discoveries have confirmed that parts of the biblical Exodus are historically accurate, but archeology cannot tell us everything. Although archeology can illuminate aspects of the past and bring parts of history to life, it has its limits.

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It is certainly interesting when the archaeological record matches the biblical account – as with the examples described here. However, while this evidence certainly adds weight to the historical accuracy of elements of the biblical account, it cannot be used to “prove” that every detail of the Exodus story in the Bible is true.

To learn more about the evidence for Israel’s Exodus from Egypt, read the full article “Evidence for the Exodus: An Egyptologist Looks at Biblical History” in the May/June 2016 issue. A Review of Biblical Archaeology.

Customers: Read the full article “Evidence for the Exodus: An Egyptologist Looks at Biblical History” in the May/June 2016 issue. A Review of Biblical Archaeology.

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This Daily Bible History feature was originally published on April 10, 2016.

Note

1. This Bar In Thomas E. Levy, Thomas Schneider, and William H. C. Propp, eds., the article “A Free Summary of the Historical Status of the Exodus. Israel’s Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective: Text, Archaeology, Culture and Geoscience (Cham: Springer, 2015) In Betik’s article, the scholarly debate about the archaeological remains and the asymmetric data of the Tamilat Valley is treated more broadly.

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