The early history of the HebrewsSayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
History
The early history of the Hebrews
Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
Bible. Old Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Jews -- History -- To 953 B.C.
If Apophis II. was the Hyksos king under whom Joseph governed Egypt, he
would have lived four generations before Ahmes, the founder of the
eighteenth dynasty.[148] The ‘four hundred years,’ therefore, during
which Israel was evil-entreated in Egypt (Acts vii. 6) will correspond
with the era of four hundred years mentioned on a stela discovered by
Mariette at San, the ancient Zoan.[149] The stela commemorates a visit
paid to Zoan in the reign of Ramses II. by Seti, the governor of the
frontier, on the fourth day of the month Mesori, and ‘the four hundredth
year of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Set-âa-pehti, the son of the
Sun, who loved him, also named Set-Nubti, beloved of Harmakhis.’ Since
Set or Sutekh was the Hyksos god, and Zoan the Hyksos capital, it is
clear that we have here a Hyksos era, the four hundredth anniversary of
which fell in the reign of Ramses II. It seems probable that it marked
the accession of the third and last Hyksos dynasty. According to
Manetho, as reported by Africanus, this lasted for one hundred and
fifty-one years, which would take us to about B.C. 1720, and the same
date is obtained if we calculate the four hundred years of the stela of
Sân, back from the thirtieth year of Ramses II. One generation more—the
thirty additional years given in Exod. xii. 40—will bring us to the
period of the Exodus, which, as we shall see hereafter, must have taken
place under Meneptah, the son and successor of Ramses II.
The precise connection between the Hyksos and Hebrew eras must be left
to the future to discover. At present, the only reference found to the
first is that on the stela of Sân. Some connection, however, there must
be between them, like the connection between Zoan and Hebron indicated
in Numb. xiii. 22, where it is said that ‘Hebron was built seven years
before Zoan in Egypt.’ The Hyksos were invaders from Asia, and between
them and the Hebrews there may have been a closer relationship than we
now suspect.
Two approximate dates have accordingly been found for early Hebrew
history. One results from the synchronism between Abraham and Amraphel,
and may be set down as about 2300 B.C.; the other is the synchronism
with Egyptian history, which gives us about B.C. 1720 for the settlement
of the Hebrew tribes in Goshen. We must now see what light can be thrown
by the Egyptian monuments on the date of the Exodus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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