Archaeology, Part 3: Egypt

Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: The Days of Abraham

As we proceed through Israel’s history, we find that Abraham’s grandson Jacob, in his old age, traveled to Egypt to live under the protection of his son Joseph, who had become the pharaoh’s assistant (Gen 47.1ff). At that time only 70 of his descendants came with him (Gen 46.27), but 400 years later they numbered in the millions; at the Exodus there were just over 600,000 men of fighting age (Num 1.46), so we can estimate that there were probably 2 million Israelites including old men, women, and children.

There’s not much if any archaeological evidence of these people in either Goshen or the Sinai Peninsula. However, this is exactly what we would expect. Since we know that Goshen was prime agricultural land (Gen 47.6), the Egyptians would have moved rapidly into it after the Israelites left, obliterating whatever material culture they left behind. And in the Sinai, while initially we would think that 2 million people would leave some traces behind, we must remember that Israel was itinerant for the entire 40 years; they would have built nothing, leaving behind just firepits and latrines, which would have decomposed and disappeared quickly.

But there are archaeological findings that raise our interest. I’d like to note two of them.

Thutmose IV Dream Stele

Between the paws of the Sphinx on the Giza Plateau, near the pyramids, stands a stele—what moderns might think looks like a large vertical tombstone. But stela do not normally mark a grave; they contain an inscription typically announcing some great person or deed. This one is about 12 feet tall and was erected by Pharaoh Thutmose IV, a son of Amenhotep II.

In the inscription Thutmose describes falling asleep on that spot one hot summer day and having a dream in which a god promised him that if he would clear the sand from the Sphinx, he would become Pharaoh.

Now, this interpretation is sketchy at best, but scholars have noticed that if Thutmose was Amenhotep’s eldest son, he would already have known that he was going to be Pharaoh, and he wouldn’t have had to do any landscaping for that to happen. Something must have happened, then, to an older brother.

Thutmose took the throne in 1401, 45 years after the exodus. He reigned just 10 years, which may mean that he was relatively old when he became pharaoh—perhaps, oh, 60 or 70.—and was perhaps 20 or so when he had the dream, just before his older brother died.

Of what?

Well, there was that whole firstborn thing.

Now, caution is due here. The timing seems right, but all we have is that he was told he would be pharaoh. Everything else is speculation.

But it’s interesting timing.

Merneptah Stele

This stele was placed by Pharaoh Merneptah (or Meren-ptah), who reigned from 1213 to 1203 BC, about two centuries after Israel occupied the land of Canaan. It contains 28 lines of hieroglyphic writing, most of which describe his military campaigns in North Africa. But the last 3 lines have drawn attention, because they describe a campaign in Canaan. One of the locations is “I.si.ri.ar” or “Ysrir.” Most scholars now agree that this is a reference to Israel. This would mean, then, that Israel is established in that land 200 years after Joshua.

Side note: Most critics place the Exodus, if they believe it happened at all, in the mid-13th century BC. Conservatives date it at 1446 BC, based on 1 Kings 6.1. That’s a large topic, too big to handle here. The Merneptah inscription could accommodate either date, but I would argue that the apparent solid establishment of the nation would favor the earlier date for the conquest.

So far this is the earliest inscriptional reference to Israel we have outside the Bible. Israel is established as settled in the land in the late 13^th century BC.

As we know, Israel’s history extends far beyond this date, and as time progresses, we would expect more and more artifacts to be extant. We’ll look at some of these in future posts.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash