Don't Know Much About the Bible - Kenneth C. Davis [52]
Pellegrino writes:
The biblical path taken by the people who left Egypt—south into Sinai—makes perfect sense if, indeed, one of the migrations took place during the time of Thera and Thutmosis III…. Anyone leaving Egypt, and not in the pharaoh’s good graces, would have wanted to avoid both Canaan and the shore road leading to it. The only safe route was south, into the Sinai Peninsula (whose coasts, incidentally, provided some of the best fishing in the world and could have easily sustained a population of migrants). Because Thutmosis III had placed military outposts along the north shore of Sinai and along the coast of Canaan, some of his soldiers would inevitably have come to harm from Theran tsunamis…. It then became but a small step from interpreting the tsunami and the ash fall as divine punishment on Egypt…. (pp. 240-241)
Does it really matter, a few hundred years here or there, one Pharaoh or another? Spiritually speaking, it doesn’t really make a difference, if you accept the biblical version. But historians like things to be a little neater. Imagine in some distant future, a historical discussion in which the English “sea dog” Sir Francis Drake is said to have led a fleet of sailing ships against Hitler’s navy. Drake’s 1588 victory over the Spanish Armada is only 350 years removed from World War II, a blink of the eye when set against Egyptian history.
POSSIBLE EXODUS PHARAOHS
(Dates from Chronicle of the Pharaohs by Peter Clayton)
Rames I
1292-1290 BCE
Sethos (Seti) I
1290-1279 BCE Cyrus Gordon’s choice for Joseph’s Pharaoh
Ramses II
1279-1212 BCE Consensus favorite for the Exodus Pharaoh
Merneptah
1212-1202 BCE He led Egypt in a battle against the Israelites, indicating that they were already in Canaan.
Amenmesses
1202-1199 BCE
Sethos II
1199-1193 BCE
Siptah
1193-1187 BCE
Teosret
1187-1185 BCE
Setnakthe
1185-1182 BCE
Ramses III
1182-1151 BCE Cyrus Gordon’s choice for the Exodus Pharaoh
Whoever the cruel Pharaoh of Exodus was, there is another noteworthy footnote to the history of Jewish forced labor. King Solomon, one of the greatest Jewish kings, also put his own Israelite subjects to work constructing his massive public works projects a few hundred years later. His fellow Hebrews were no happier doing it for Solomon than they had been for the Pharaoh.
Which sea did the Israelites cross?
Crushed by the final, terrible plague, Pharaoh relents and Moses gathers the tribes to make a hasty getaway. Bread is prepared without leavening—hence the tradition of Passover matzoh bread, a reminder that eating a flat loaf as free people is better than a whole loaf as slaves. The account in Exodus claims that six hundred thousand men left Egypt. Adding women and children, more than a million Hebrews had to gather up their things on short notice and leave. Setting out for the Promised Land, the liberated Israelites are led by God in the form of a “pillar of cloud” by day and a “pillar of fire” by night. Then Pharaoh has a change of heart—actually God tells Moses he will “harden” the Pharaoh’s heart, provoking him to follow Moses and the Hebrews. Pharaoh sends out six hundred chariots—three men to a chariot, or eighteen hundred soldiers—in hot pursuit of these million-odd people. Pressed up against the waters of the “Red Sea,” with six hundred chariots bearing down on them, the Hebrews have second thoughts and wonder if they weren’t better off as slaves. But Moses asks God for help and he is told to stretch his staff across the water. This is where DeMille and Charlton Heston fudged the biblical version. As the pillar of flame holds off the Egyptians, a strong wind blows all night; the parting is not instantaneous. The next day the waters divide, allowing the Israelites to pass through. When the Egyptians follow, the wheels of