The Israelites were in Egypt for four hundred years.

Monday, 7/17/17

Our first reading states, “A new king who knew nothing of Joseph came to power in Egypt.”

The Bible says the Israelites were in Egypt for four hundred years, but with Egyptian History making no mention of them, we are left wondering if the Bible just made it all up.

However, there are hints in Egyptian history that fit in with the Bible story. We  know that after 1700 B.C. the Egyptian pharaohs were defeated by the Hyksos, a Semitic people come over from Arabia, and they put in their own dynasty that named their own pharaohs for four hundred  years. They spoke a Semitic language close to that of the Israelites.

The Hyksos pharaohs were deposed in 1320 B. Ci by  a native Egyptian named Ramses I. He was the pharaoh who knew not Joseph, and his son Ramses II was the one who had the Israelites building the supply cities of Pithim and Raamses, reducing them to cruel slavery.