Transcript The Persian Period

Highlights of Jewish History
before Second Temple Period
When did the Exodus happen?
►
►
16th cent. BCE
13th cent BCE
Ancient Egyptian Chronology
► Old
Kingdom
(3rd–6th Dynasties, 2686 – 2181 BCE)
► First
Intermediate Period
(7th–11th Dynasties, 2181-2080 BCE)
► Middle
Kingdom
(12th–13th Dynasties, 2080-1640 BCE)
► Second
Intermediate Period
(14th–17th Dynasties, 1640-1550 BCE)
► New
Kingdom
(18th–20th Dynasties, 1550-1069 BCE)
A group of Semitic people depicted entering Egypt c.1900 BC.
From the tomb of a 12th dynasty official Khnumhotep under
pharaoh Senusret II at Beni Hasan.
Hyksos (ruled c. 1700-1550 BCE)
► The
Hyksos were Semites who infiltrated
Egypt beginning in the 18th cent. BCE and
set up capital at Avaris
► Hyksos king Salitis occupied Memphis (the
Egyptian capital) in 1674BCE
► Controlled Lower Egypt (first the Delta then
the whole North)
► Defeated by Ahmose I in 1550
► Hyksos
means “foreign
rulers” in Egyptian
► Amulet
bearing the
name of the Hyksos
King Apophis
Mummy of Seqenenre
Tao II, a.k.a. The Brave,
began war of liberation
against the Hyksos
► Statue
of Ahmose I (r. ca.
1550-1525 BCE)
► Son of guy above
► He defeated the Hyksos
Pharaoh Ahmose I defeating the
Hyksos
Josephus, Contra Apion 1.73
Manetho, in the second book of his Egyptian History, writes concerning us
[the Jews] in the following manner. I will set down his very words, as if I were
to bring the very man himself into a court for a witness:
► “…There came, after a surprising manner, men of ignoble birth out of the
eastern parts, and had boldness enough to make an expedition into our country
and with ease subdued it by force, yet without our hazarding a battle with
them.…This whole nation was called Hyksos.…These people…kept possession of
Egypt five hundred and eleven years.”
► After these, he says, "That the kings of Thebais and the other parts of Egypt
made an insurrection against the [Hyksos] shepherds, and that there a terrible
and long war was made between them." He says further, "That under a king,
whose name was Alisphragmuthosis, the [Hyksos] shepherds were subdued by
him, and were indeed driven out of other parts of Egypt…
► “They went away with their whole families and effects, not fewer in number
than two hundred and forty thousand, and took their journey from Egypt….
They built a city in that country which is now called Judea, and that large
enough to contain this great number of men, and called it Jerusalem…”
► This is Manetho's account. And evident it is from the number of years by
him set down belonging to this interval, if they be summed up together, that
these shepherds, as they are here called, who were no other than our
forefathers, were delivered out of Egypt, and came thence, and inhabited this
country.
►
Why not the Hyksos
► Evidence
of destruction and new
settlements in Israel only in the 13th cent.,
not in the 16th cent.
► “Pitom and Raamses”
► Pharaohs of Shemot are likely:
 Seti I (1294-1279BCE)
 Ramses II (1279-1213BCE)
 Merneptah (1213-1203 BCE)
Merneptah’s sarcophagus
and the
Merneptah Victory Stele
Historical context of the biblical story
► Puts
the migration of Jacob’s family to Egypt
within the context of a larger movement of
Semites moving to Egypt
► Explains how Joseph could rise to great power and
marry an Egyptian noblewoman. He was a Semite
just as they were.
► Explains why Pharaoh was so paranoid about the
Israelite nation increasing and joining enemies to
conquer the Egyptians.
Important Dates
► 1000BCE
King David
► 722BCE Northern 10 tribes exiled by Assyria