Shadowland: Beginnings

Shadowland: Beginnings: Week 50

As this and the next few Chapters begin Israel's sojourn in Egypt, it is worth noticing the parallel in Abraham's sojourn in Egypt in 12:10-20, with Sarai as a type of Israel, Jehovah's wife.

12:10 A famine drives Abraham and Sarai to Egypt
12:15 Sarai is taken into Pharaoh's house as a concubine (slave)
12:17 God sends plagues upon Egypt
12:20 Pharaoh sends Abraham and Sarai away with great riches

Genesis 43

43:9 Unlike Reuben, Judah offers himself as surety for Benjamin.
44:16 Joseph does not reveal himself to his brothers until they fully confess their sin (44:16) "I will go away and return to My place Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me." Hosea 5:15

When did Joseph rule Egypt?

There is no known unambiguous Egyptian record of Joseph, leading skeptics to question whether Joseph was historical. We have an anchor in secular history for the founding of Carthage. (Plus or minus 11 years, since it isn't always clear whether an author means island or mainland Carthage when they date it's founding.)

831 BC Pygmalion begins reign
825 BC Dido flees Tyre in 7th year of Pygmalion, founding the fortified island city of Carthage.
814 BC Founding of mainland Carthage

Multiple independent sources all agree on 155 years from Hiram's reign to the founding of Carthage - or on 143 years from the start of Solomon's temple begune in the 12th year of Hiram's reign.

980 BC Hiram begins his reigh 155 years before the founding of Carthage
968 BC Solomon begins building the temple in the 12th year of Hiram's reign, 143 years before the "founding" of Carthage

1 Kings 6:1 tells us Solomon began his temple 480 years after the Exodus, giving a generally agreed on date for the Exodus. There is less agreement on which Pharaoh had the plagues (as dating Egyptian artifacts is problematic). Thutmose_II is a candidate, despite being dated a little before 1448, because his is the only mummy to display cysts from boils (and secular scholars don't have the hard date from a reliable document that we do). He also had a prosperous reign, but both his reign and the prosperity suddenly ended with no heir, leaving his queen Hatshepsut as pharaoh. Note that Pharaoh Ramesses named in the "Ten Commandments" movie is almost certainly not the pharaoh of the Exodus.

1857 BC Joseph becomes Prime Minister of Egypt
1848 BC Jacob leaves Caanan at age 130 (Gen 47:28)
1831 BC Jacob dies at age 147
1767 BC Joseph dies at age 110 (Gen 50:26)
1448 BC the Exodus after 400 years in Egypt (Gen 15:13). Strangely, to me, Rabbinical tradition gives 1313 BC as the Exodus - making everything including the founding of Carthage 135 years later.

I depart from secular history at this point in also giving a hard date to Joseph, as Genesis 15:13 tells us Israel was in Egypt 400 years (but it's not actually that simple - see next lesson). That puts Joseph within the 12th or 14th dynasty. The 12th and 13th dynasties still ruled the south of Egypt, but the eastern delta region (including Goshen) was ruled by the 14th dynasty, a Caananite dynasty. The gaps in the knowledge of the 14th dynasty of Egypt are such that its absolute chronological position is debated and varies by as much as 75 years among authorities.

Egyptologist Kim Ryholt proposes that the 14th dynasty emerged during the late 12th dynasty, c. 1805 BC, during or shortly after Sobekneferu's rule. He contends that the local Canaanite population residing in the eastern Delta declared its independence and staved off possible attempts from the 13th dynasty Memphite kings to recover the Delta. According to Ryholt, the 14th dynasty thus lasted from 1805 BC until its demise under the Hyksos 15th dynasty.