March 24, 2024
Reading: If you wish, begin reading in Exodus
Father God, open our hearts and minds to Your word. Help us to look at the journey of the Israelites with Your eyes. Help us to understand that what Your word says is truth. In Jesus Name. Amen.
As we begin to look at Exodus, we need to approach it with open minds and not be fixed on the traditional views of the journey. We need to understand that archaeology may or may not have gotten the timing and places right. There are so many different opinions of when the Israelites left Egypt, where they left from, the route they traveled and which body of water they crossed that killed the entire Egyptian army. It’s just like science. Years ago, certain scientific discoveries were considered absolute fact, but in years since, those facts changed as a result of subsequent research. The same is true here. Early digs, translations of hieroglyphs and other discoveries were used to ‘fix’ dates and places. However, since those early discoveries, other information has been discovered and the timelines and places have been adjusted. To top that, there are a number of experts who have come up with the definitive dates and places. And they are not all the same.
I will tell you right now I am not a traditionalist. I don’t believe that the current “Mount Sinai” is the correct Mount Sinai. I don’t believe that the Israelites crossed the Reed Sea rather than the Red Sea. I also have trouble believing that there are natural explanations to the 10 plagues that God sent upon Egypt. So, with that said, let’s approach Exodus with open minds and see if you can or can’t agree with my opinion.
We left the Israelites in Egypt almost four hundred years ago. The Bible tells us in Exodus 12:40. “And the abode of the children of Israel that they made in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. Now at the time of Moses’ birth, the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. Makes you wonder how they went from honored guests to slaves. The Bible only tells us that a Pharoah who did not know Joseph feared the huge population of the Israelites and enslaved them (Exodus 1:8-11). When this Pharoah came to power is unknown, and speculation is that he was a conqueror of Egypt and had no knowledge of Egypt’s history of the famine and Joseph’s efforts to save Egypt. Which, to me, would make the most sense.
The book of Exodus begins some eighty year before the trek out of Egypt with the birth of Moses. Moses was 80 years old when God sent him back to Egypt to lead the people out. So based on the story of Moses’ birth, the Israelites were slaves and had been slaves for quite some time since they were crying out to God for their freedom. By the time Moses returned to lead them out, another 80 years had passed.
There are a lot of speculations of just which Pharoah was the one that Moses went up against and when. This link https://biblearchaeology.org/ancient-near-eastern-studies-list/104-research/sojourn-of-israel-in-egypt tells us that when Jacob and his family migrated to Egypt, they were settled in “the land of Rameses.” Initially, they were property owners there (Genesis 47:11, 27). Eventually the Egyptians subjected the Israelites to bondage, using them as slave laborers to build the city of Rameses (Exodus 1:11). It is understandable that any ruler would be afraid of a people who lived in his land and were a huge population. It is estimated that when the Israelites left Egypt, they numbered around two million souls. Taking away their rights and freedom and subjecting them to hardship would have been a natural reaction to that fear. Going even as far as trying to stem the population growth by killing the baby boys.
When Israel left Egypt after 430 years (Ex 12:40), the Bible tells us they departed from Rameses (Exodus 12:37). Last week, I told you of a city that has been found by archaeologists under southern sector of the ancient city of Rameses. It is called Avaris. In this city, they have found a palace compound which has 12 tombs with memorial chapels above them, as was the custom of the Egyptians. According to these archaeologists, one of the tombs belongs to Joseph. A tomb shaped like a small pyramid. The others, probably his brothers. So, it is obvious that they were not slaves shortly after they arrived in Egypt. They were honored guests for quite some time. Inside the pyramid tomb, there is no sarcophagus or body. If you will remember, at the end of Genesis, Joseph made the tribes swear to take his body with them when they left Egypt. But there is a statue of a man with red hair, pale yellow skin and a coat of many colors. The red hair and yellow skin was a typical depiction of northerners (non-Egyptians). (Patterns of Evidence-Exodus by Timothy Mahoney, Chapter V: Step One: Evidence of Arrival, 2002). The more the dig in Avaris goes on, the more they find a settlement of Semite origin. Semites being the Israelites.
Here are two quotes I found online in Got Questions about the Pharoah of the Exodus, which also gives a probable time for the Exodus.
Staying with mainstream Egyptian chronology would make Amenhotep II, seventh Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty, the ruler who was forced to let God’s people go. Egyptian history indicates a sudden lack of military action by Amenhotep II beginning in 1446 BC, a fact that would be consistent with the loss of nearly the entire army at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:28). Ancient records also claim Amenhotep’s successor, Thutmose IV, was not the “true” heir—which would be true if Amenhotep’s firstborn son and “legitimate” heir died during the tenth plague (Exodus 11:4–5; 12:29). For those reasons, biblical interpreters are most likely to identify Amenhotep II as the Pharaoh of the exodus. That opinion is hardly universal, however, and by no means free of challenges. https://www.gotquestions.org/Pharaoh-of-the-Exodus.html
Amenhotep II, the seventh Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty, notably suffered a lack of military campaigns beginning in 1446 BC (Exodus 14:28), and his heir, Thutmose IV, was criticized for being a less-than-legitimate successor (Exodus 11:4–5; 12:29).https://www.gotquestions.org/date-of-the-Exodus.html
So, these are some of the issues surrounding the Exodus. There are even some opinions that the Exodus did not even happen or if it did, it was a gradual thing. But, as I have said before, if it is in the Bible, I believe it to be fact. How one interprets it is also important. The clues to the Exodus are in the text. When we get to the actual route they took, I will show you what I mean.
Be in prayer about this book, and the ones after it. These books are the foundation of our faith. Genesis is the history of the people, Exodus is the story of the beginning of the nation. The rest is the Law of God and the basis of our moral compass. The Law of God is what Jesus came to fulfil. And Jesus fulfilled the Law completely and perfectly.
Father God, Thank You that we can look at Your word and know it as truth. We know that what it says is how it happened. Help us to stand on that fact. In Jesus Name, Amen.
