The Exodus
Exodus 1: Slavery
The “Hyksos” ruled Egypt from ca. 1700-1550
Foreign people who entered Egypt ca. 1800
Expelled by the Egyptian Ahmose
Egypt’s New Kingdom = ca. 1550 – 1000
The most prosperous time in Egypt’s history
Luxor Temple
Luxor Temple
Luxor Temple
Luxor Temple
Karnak Temple
Karnak Temple
Exodus 1: Slavery
The “Hyksos” ruled Egypt from ca. 1700-1550
Foreign people who entered Egypt ca. 1800
Expelled by the Egyptian Ahmose
Egypt’s New Kingdom = ca. 1550 – 1000
The most prosperous time in Egypt’s history
Moses born ca. 1525
“After the Hyksos…the Egyptians realized that foreigners in large
numbers could not be trusted and needed to be controlled” (Hoerth,
158).
Hence the concern (Exod 1:9-10) and oppression (Exod 1)
Pharaoh Ahmose = the pharaoh who “knew not Joseph” (Exod 1:8)
Exodus 2-11: The Exodus
Thutmose III (1479-1425)
Pharaoh of the oppression (Exod 2:23) or Pharaoh of
the exodus?
Thutmose III
Thutmose III
Thutmose III
Thutmose III
Exodus 2-11: The Exodus
Thutmose III (1479-1425)
Moses kills an Egyptian and flees Egypt
Thutmose try to kill Moses (Exod 2:25) and
intensified the oppression (Exod. 2:23)
Great warrior; ethnocentric; prideful
Thutmose III dies – Exod 2:23
Thutmose III
Thutmose III
Exodus 2-11: The Exodus
Amenhotep II
Pharaoh of the exodus?
Best option…
Amenhotep II
Amenhotep II
Exodus 2-11: The Exodus
Amenhotep II
Egypt’s version of Samson
Valiant sportsman; many stories about his strength and pride
No one could draw his bow
Best archer in Egypt
The best horse trainer
Could row a boat with 200 soldiers by himself
“Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I
do no know the LORD and besides, I will not let Israel go” (Exod.
5:2)
Route of the Exodus
Mt. Sinai
Mt. Sinai
The Date of the Exodus
a.
1446 B.C. (early date)
b.
1200’s B.C. (late date)
Arguments for early date
1 Kings 6:1 says that Solomon built the temple in the 4th
year of his reign (966 B.C.), “480 years after the sons of
Israel came out of the land of Egypt”
2. Judges 11:26 says that Jephthah’s day (1100 B.C.) was
about 300 years after the exodus
1.

1 Kings 6:1 AND Judges 11:26 BOTH place the exodus
around 1400 B.C.
The Date of the Exodus
Archaeological/Historical Support for Early Date
(1446)
Amenhotep II (pharaoh of exodus) replaced not by his
older son, but unexpectedly by Thutmose IV, his younger
son.
“Thutmose IV obtained the throne through an
unforeseen turn of fate, such as the premature death of
an elder brother” (Hayes, a secular Egyptologist)
The Date of the Exodus
Archaeological/Historical Support for Early Date
(1446)
During the Conquest, Amenhotep III (1416-1377) was
pharaoh.
Then, Amenhotep IV
Historically: Both were unconcerned with Palestine
Biblically: Egypt never comes to the aid of Canaanite
city-states
The Date of the Exodus
Archaeological/Historical Support for Early Date
(1446)
Amarna Letters
The Date of the Exodus
Archaeological/Historical Support for Early Date (1446)
Amarna Letters
400 cuneiform letters = correspondence between Canaanites
kings and Egypt
Date = 1300’s
Some sort of turmoil in Canaan cause by invading “Hapiru” or
“Apiru”
“Hapiru” = Hebrews?
“Hapiru” = general term for foreign enemy invaders
The Date of the Exodus
Arguments for Late Date? (1200’s)
Archaeological record
Kathleen Kenyon’s date of Jericho
Destroyed in 1500’s. No city in 1406
Nelson Glueck’s survey of wilderness
No one was there from 1800’s-1300’s
Israel built “Pithom and Ramses” (Exod 1:11)
Old Testament Law
The laws in Exod-Deut seem weird.
Other ANE law-codes show that the OT Law was right
at home in the ancient world
Esp. Code of Hammurabi
1772 B.C.
Hammurabi king of Babylon
List of 282 law codes
Code of Hammurabi
Code of Hammurabi
Code of Hammurabi
Code of Hammurabi
Significance?
Similarities with Law of Moses shows continuity with ANE
culture
196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put
out.
197. If he break another man's bone, his bone shall be broken.
"If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be
done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for
tooth. As he has injured the other, so he is to be injured."
Leviticus 24:19-20
Code of Hammurabi
Significance?
Dissimilarities with Law of Moses: Social hierarchy
198. If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed
man, he shall pay one gold mina.
199. If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's
slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.
200. If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be
knocked out.
201. If he knock out the teeth of a freed man (i.e. former slave), he shall
pay one-third of a gold mina.
“There is little class distinction in the Old Testament law. Although
punishment could be harsh, it was equally harsh for all” (Hoerth,
171)
Code of Hammurabi
Significance?
Dissimilarities with Law of Moses: Intentionality
Only the OT Law distinguishes between intentional crimes
and accidental crimes
i.e. killing someone on purpose and on accident
Code of Hammurabi
Significance?
Dissimilarities with Law of Moses: God-centeredness
Hammurabi’s law code was given “so people could get along with
one another. In the Bible the law code was given primarily so
people could get along with God” (Hoerth, 171)