Abstract
Early Egyptologists were steeped in interest in biblical history and in particular the Hebrew exodus story. Edouard Naville and W.M.F. Petrie were among the early pioneers. Of interest to early Egyptologists was the geography of the exodus and the route of the Hebrew departure from Egypt. By the mid-twentieth century, Egyptology’s love affair with Old Testament matters had soured, but this allowed the discipline to develop as its own science.
Over the past decades, Biblical scholars have largely been swept into the current of historical minimalism, leaving Israel’s origin story on the dust heap of history. This development serves as a pressing call for Egyptologists to return to the debate to bring data from Egypt to bear on historical and geographical matters. Indeed some have responded in constructive ways.
This chapter examines interaction between Egyptology and the exodus narratives and then reviews some of the newer archaeological, toponymical, and geological data from Northeastern frontier of Egypt that shed new light on the biblical narratives.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
I am grateful to the secretary of the EES, Dr. Patricia Spencer, for providing me a copy of the original founding charter.
- 4.
- 5.
For a complete bibliography of Couroyer, see Marcel Sigrist (1997: 20–28).
- 6.
This suggestion was first proposed by Ahlström a year earlier in an article which was coauthored by another Hebrew Bible scholar, Diana Edleman (Ahlström and Edelman 1985: 59–61).
- 7.
(Hoffmeier 1997: 138–140). Interestingly, my book is listed in a “Select Bibliography” at the end of the chapter, and it offers the following annotation: “A detailed examination of the biblical account of the Exodus incorporating recent textual, historical, and archaeological scholarship, which concludes that the main points of the narratives are plausible” (120). It is not clear whether this is the conclusion of the author or the editor. Regardless, nowhere in Redmount’s chapter is there evidence that Israel in Egypt was considered in drawing her minimalist conclusions.
- 8.
Surprisingly, Israeli Egyptologists have had little to say about the sojourn–exodus traditions. In a search of the Egyptological Bibliography (1822–1997), I found only a few articles by Israeli Egyptologists that dealt with the sojourn–exodus narratives. One important contribution is by Sarah Israelit-Groll, “The Historical Background to the Exodus: Papyrus Anastasi VIII (Groll 1997: 109–115).
- 9.
For some reason, all the other chapters in this book are updated by leading scholars in their respective fields, while the Exodus chapter is revised by the editor!
- 10.
I point the readers to Bietak’s paper in this volume. It is evident from his presentation at this conference on May 31, 2013, that his work in the NE Delta and particularly at Tell el-Dab‘a have provided extremely valuable information about the Semitic-speaking population (including the Hyksos) living in the Delta, which could well have included the Hebrews among them.
- 11.
The late Habachi Labib (2001: 119–127) wrote at some length on the sojourn–exodus in his publication of materials from his excavations in Qantir (Pi-Ramesses) in the 1950s, but his work only appeared in 2001, over 15 years after his death in 1984. Clearly in this chapter he demonstrates a rare interest among Egyptian Egyptologists in biblical history and the sojourn–exodus tradition, but that may be due to the fact that he was a Coptic Christian.
References
Ahlström, Gösta. 1986. Who Were the Israelites? Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
Ahlström, Gösta, and Diana Edelman. 1985. Merneptah’s Israel. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 44(1985): 59–61.
Alt, Albrecht. 1954. Die Deltaresidenz der Ramessiden. Festschrift für Friedrich zum 70 Geburstage, 1–13. Berlin: Akademie.
Beitak, Manfred. 1987. Comments on the “Exodus”. In Egypt, Israel, Sinai: Archaeological and Historical Relationships in the Bible Period, ed. A.F. Rainey, 163–171. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University Press.
Cazelles, Henri. 1955. Les localizations De L’exode et La Critique Litteraire. Revue Biblique 62: 346–358.
Clédat, Jean. 1919. Notes Sur L’isthme De Suez. Bulletin de l’Institut Français d″Archéologie Orientale 16: 201–228.
———. 1920. Notes Sur L’isthme De Suez. Bulletin de l’Institut Français d″Archéologie Orientale 18: 203–215.
Coote, Robert. 1990. Ancient Israel: A new horizon. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress.
Couroyer, Bernard. 1946. La résidence ramesside du Delta et la Ramsès biblique. Revue Biblique 53: 75–98.
———. 1956. Quelques égyptianismes dan l’Exode. Revue Biblique 63: 209–219.
———. 1960. Un égyptianisme biblique ‘Depuis la fondation de l’Égypt’ (Exode, IX, 18). Revue Biblique 67: 42–48.
Dever, William. 1992. Archaeology, Syro-Palestinian and Biblical. In Anchor Bible Dictionary 1, ed. D.N. Freedman, 354–367. New York, NY: Double Day.
Dever, William. 2001. What did the Biblical writers know & when did they know it? What archaeology can tell us about the reality of ancient Israel. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
———. 2003. Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From? Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Finkelstein, Israel. 1988. The Archaeology of the Israelite Settlement. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society.
Finkelstein, Israel, and Neil Silberman. 2006. David and Solomon: In search of the Bible’s Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition. New York, NY: Free Press.
Fritz, Volkmar. 1997. Albrecht Alt. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology of the Ancient Near East 1, ed. Eric Meyers, 79. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Garbini, Giovanni. 1988. History & Ideology in Ancient Israel. New York, NY: Crossroad.
Gardiner, Alan H. 1922. The Geography of the Exodus. In Recueil D'etudes Egyptologiques Dediees a La Memoire De Jean-Francois Champollion a L'occasion Du Centenaire De La Lettre a M. Dacier, ed. E. Champion, 203–215. Paris: Bibliotheque de L’Ecole Des Hautes Etudes.
———. 1924. The Geography of the Exodus: An Answer to Professor Naville and Others. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 10: 87–96.
Groll, Sarah. 1997. The Historical Background to the Exodus: Papyrus Anastasi VIII. In Études égyptologiquies et Bibliques à la mémoire dy Père B. Couroyer, ed. Marcel Sigrist, 109–114. Paris: Cahiers de la Revue Biblique 36.
Habachi, Labib. 2001. Tell El-Dab‘a I: Tell El-Daba and Qantir the site and its connections with Avaris and Piramesse. In Manfred Bietak & Ernst Czerny editors. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie Der Wissenschaften.
Helck, Wolfgang. 1965. T kw und Ramses-Stadt. Vetus Testamentum 15: 35–48.
———. 1971. Die Beziehungen Ägyptens zu Vorderasien im 3. und 2. Jahrtausend v. Chr., 2, verbesserteth ed. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
Hoffmeier, James. 1997. Israel in Egypt. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
———. 2005. Ancient Israel in Sinai. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Keel, Othmar. 1978. The Symbolism of the Biblical World: Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms. Trans. T.J. Hallett. New York, NY: Seabury.
Keel, Othmar, and Christoph Uelinger. 1998. Gods, Goddesses and Images of God in Ancient Israel. Trans. T.H. Trapp. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress.
Kitchen, Kenneth. 1966. Ancient Orient and Old Testament. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity.
———. 1977. The Bible in Its world: Archaeology and the Bible Today. Exeter: Paternoster.
———. 1993. The Tabernacle—a Bronze Age Artifact. Eretz-Israel Avraham Malamat 24: 119–129.
———. 1998. Egyptians and Hebrews, from Ra′amses to Jericho. In The Origin of Early Israel—Current Debate: Biblical, Historical and Archaeological Perspectives, ed. Shmuel A˙ituv and Eliezer D. Oren, 65–131. London/Beer-Sheva: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Press.
———. 2003. On the Reliability of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Kitchen, Kenneth, and Paul Lawrence. 2012. Treaty, Law and Covenant in the Ancient Near East, 3 volumes. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Lemche, Niels Peter. 1985. Early Israel: Anthropological and Historical Studies on the Israelite Society before the Monarchy. Leiden: Brill.
———. 1988. Ancient Israel: A New History of Israelite Society. Sheffield: JSOT.
———. 1998. The Israelites in History and Tradition. Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox.
Lesko, Barbara S. 1997. Edouard Naville. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, vol. 4, ed. Eric Meyers, 113. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
Lucas, Alfred. 1938. The Route of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. London: E. Arnold.
Lucas, Alfred. 1962. Ancient Egyptian materials and industries. 4th edition: Harris J.R. 1989. London: Histories & Mysteries of Man.
Miller, J. Max. 1987. Old Testament History and Archaeology. Biblical Archaeologist 50(1): 301–312.
———. 1991. Solomon: International Potentate or Local King? Palestine Exploration Quarterly 123: 28–31.
Montet, Pierre. 1968. Egypt and the Bible. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress.
Naville, Edouard. 1885. The Store City of Pithom and the Route of the Exodus. London: EEF.
———. 1887. The Shrine of the Saft El-Henneh and the Land of Goshen. London: Egypt Exploration Fund.
———. 1924. The Geography of the Exodus. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 10: 18–39.
Peet, T.E. 1922. Egypt and the Old Testament. Liverpool, NY: University of Liverpool.
Petrie, W.M.F. 1888. Tanis, Part II: Nebesheh and Defenneh (Tahpanhes). London: Egypt Exploration Fund.
———. 1906a. Hyksos and Israelite Cities. London: British School of Archaeology in Egypt.
———. 1906b. Researches in Sinai. New York, NY: E.P. Dutton.
———. 1911. Egypt and Israel. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
Puech, Émile. 1997. Biographie Intellectuelle du R. P. B. Couroyer. In Études égyptologiquies et Bibliques à la mémoire dy Père B. Couroyer, ed. Marcel Sigrist, 9–19. Paris: Cahiers de la Revue Biblique 36.
Rainey, Anson F. 1991. Rainey’s Challenge. Biblical Archaeology Review 16(6): 93.
———. 2001. Israel in Merenptah’s Inscription and Reliefs. Israel Exploration Journal 51: 57–75.
Rainey, Anson F., and R.S. Notley. 2006. The Sacred Bridge: Carta’s Atlas of the Biblical World. Jerusalem: Carta.
Redford, Donald. 1963. Exodus I 11. Vetus Testamentum 13: 408–418.
———. 1970. A Study of the Biblical Story of Joseph. Leiden: Brill.
———. 1987. An Egyptological Perspective on the Exodus Narrative. In Egypt, Israel, Sinai: Archaeological and Historical Relationships in the Biblical Period, ed. A.F. Rainey, 137–161. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University Press.
———. 1997. Observations on the Sojourn of the Bene-Israel. In Exodus, the Egyptian Evidence, ed. E.S. Frerichs and Lesko Leonard, 56–66. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
———. 2009. The Land of Ramesses. In Causing His Name to Live: Studies in Egyptian Epigraphy and History in Memory of William J. Murnane, ed. Peter Brand and Louise Cooper. Brill: Leiden.
Redmount, Carol. 1998. Bitter Lives: Israel in and out of Egypt. In The Oxford History of the Biblical World, ed. Michael D. Coogan, 79–121. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sigrist, Marcel (ed.). 1997. Études égyptologiques et bibliques à la mémoire du Père B. Couroyer. Paris: J. Gabalda et Cie Éditeurs.
Thompson, Thomas. 1974. The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives; the Quest for the Historical Abraham. Berlin: de Gruyter.
Van Seters, John. 1975. Abraham in History and Tradition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Williams, Ronald. 1963. Dictionary of the Bible, ed. James Hastings, F. Grant, and H.H. Rowley.
———. 1975. ‘A People Come Out of Egypt’: An Egyptologist Looks at the Old Testament. Vetus Testamentum Supplements 28: 231–252.
Williams, Vivien. 1983. The Works of R. J. Williams. In: Egyptological Miscellanies: A Tribute to Professor R.J. Williams, ed. J.K. Hoffmeier, and E.S. Meltzer, 126–128. Ancient History 6, Ares Publishers.
Yurco, Frank. 1997. Merneptah’s Canaanite Campaign and Israel’s Origins. In Exodus: The Egyptian Evidence, ed. E.S. Frerichs and Lesko Leonard, 27–55. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hoffmeier, J.K. (2015). Egyptologists and the Israelite Exodus from Egypt. In: Levy, T., Schneider, T., Propp, W. (eds) Israel's Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective. Quantitative Methods in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04768-3_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04768-3_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-04767-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-04768-3
eBook Packages: Mathematics and StatisticsMathematics and Statistics (R0)