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Joseph and the Israelites in Egypt |
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Many people know the Bible story of Joseph in Egypt, and later on the Israelites, and how God miraculously delivered them from bondage and led them to the land of Canaan. Are these Bible stories true? Where is the historical evidence supporting them? For starters, we will first look at the evidence, internal and external, of Joseph being in Egypt and ruling over it. External evidence would records of Joseph’s actions or a mention of him in official Egyptian government records. So far, no such records have been found in addition to any reports of the Israelites ever living in Egypt prior to the Exodus. Actually this is not surprising as Egyptian pharaohs were careful not to mention negative things such as defeats in battle etc. Some pharaohs even went so far as to attempt to erase the records of prior kings and to even go so far as to erase the name of a king inscribed on the stone of monuments and place his own name on it. With this sort of attitude and mentality, need we doubt that the negative impacts that the Israelites had on Egypt would be “erased”? |
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External and Internal Evidence Based on the internal evidence in the Bible, external evidence has been found that correlate with points made in the story of Joseph being in Egypt. As the story goes, Joseph, a favored son among Jacob, is sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, and ends up in Egypt. The events that transpire result in Joseph predicting 7 years of plenty and 7 years of drought and suggesting the necessary steps, which led him to be ruler of Egypt. External evidence supports that there was 7 years of plenty followed by a devastating famine around the time of Joseph being in Egypt. [Top] External evidence in Tanzania & Lake Quaran Studies in 'ice cores' found in Mount Kilimanjaro, the mountain which supplies the Nile with water, in Tanzania have revealed that a drought took place around 3600 years ago which is around the time the Bible sets Joseph's story. We also know of another event around the same time. One of the most fertile areas in Egypt was the land around Lake Quarun. This lake was supplied with water from one of the branches of the Nile. Droughts in Egypt used to cause this branch to dry up, leaving the land around the Lake destitute. We do know that between 1850 and 1650 BC a canal was built to keep the branches of the Nile permanently open, enabling water to fill Lake Quaran and keep the land fertile. This canal was so effective that it still successfully functions today. There is no record of who built the canal, but for thousands of years it has only been known by one name. In Arabic it's the Bahr Yusef. This translates into English as The Waterway of Joseph. Could this canal have been built by a certain Prime Minister called Joseph as part of his work to save Egypt from famine? Was this Prime Minister the son of a Canaanite called Jacob? 1 [Top] More outside evidence supports that Joseph did exist in Egypt and that he held a high position, an ancient inscription reveals that a Yemenite Arab noble woman made a sincere complaint that she could not purchase grain from Egypt with her gold. Here it is:
A Yememite
Incription About a Famine During The Time of Joseph Joseph was good to Egypt and saved it, if no obvious mention of him is made, how do we expect that any mention of the Israelites in Egypt will be made? According to the Bible, their departure had a great negative impact upon them. Knowing the attitude of ancient Egyptians concerning recording negative historical facts, it is no surprise that there is only one poetic eulogy that mentions Israel. It was written to Pharaoh Merneptah who ruled Egypt after Rameses the Great, between 1212-1202 BC. [Top]
There is a short
section at the end of the poem describing a campaign to Canaan by
Merneptah in the first few years of his reign around 1210 BC. One line
mentions Israel: "Israel is laid waste, its seed is not." This is the
earliest mention of Israel outside the Bible, and the only mention of
Israel in Egyptian records.
[Top] Significance of a specific Bible detail Another point to consider is the fact that when Joseph was originally sold into Egypt as a slave, he was bought by a man named Potiphar. Genesis 39:1 says, “And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither.” The name Potiphar (Pa-di-Ra) means “that given by the god Ra” and was a common Egyptian name so specifying that he was an Egyptian is significant. The specification of the name Potiphar being Egyptian suggests that foreign rule must have been instituted. [Top] Effect of Foreign rule in Egypt Scholars suggest that Joseph may have entered Egypt during the unusual time when the nation was being ruled (1730 to 1580 B.C.) by the foreigners called the Hyksos, who were the ones who introduced chariots, horses, and certain types of weapons to the Egyptians.2 When the Hyksos were driven out of Egypt through war, their monuments and records were destroyed by the Egyptians. The names of their kings, a few sarcastic remarks about them, and a few brief episodes from the war of liberation are all that remain in Ancient Egypt history. This is probably why no obvious mention of Joseph is made. [Top] When discussing Bible stories in relation to history, one should never argue before looking at what facts are present, what facts are not present and why they are not present. It is understandable why there is not much internal evidence supporting the presence of Joseph ruling Egypt or the Israelites being there because of the prideful attitude of ancient Egyptian historians and scholars. However, the external evidence bears weight, as apparently seen in the above. The lack of evidence does not support that these Bible stories were not true, and the evidence that does exist strongly supports their truth. As in all fields and aspects of knowledge, valid opinions are based on educated backgrounds. Empty opinions that argue against the Bible stories of Joseph in Egypt and the Israelites apparently reflect a lack of some basic education, that you, the reader, have just been briefly associated with. In conclusion, we should form our opinions based on our own efforts to educate ourselves with appropriate and valid facts. A man by the name of Bill Beattie said, “The aim of education should be to teach rather how to think, than what to think—rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men.” [Top]
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