Did Moses live in Egypt?
The life of Moses is a powerful story. He is rebel and saint, murderer and lawmaker, refugee and national hero. But did Moses ever exist? The 18 December 1998 issue of TIME magazine devoted it’s cover story to that question. Reader Paul H. Barlow then responded in a letter to the editor, “The story of Moses is pure baloney, as are most of the stories in the Bible. It is incredible that in this day such stories are still being fed to innocent children.”
What do archaeology and historical scholarship have to say about the founder of Israel and the man who codified the basis of our Australian laws? He has influenced our language, beliefs, laws and behaviour more than any other person.
The story of Moses really begins with Joseph the great grandson of Abraham, the father of the Jews and Arabs. Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt in about 1710 BC. Incredibly he rose from being a prisoner to become Prime Minister. So successful was Joseph in organizing Egypt’s food resources for times of famine when the Nile did not flood, that the country had sufficient provision.
Joseph invited his father, Jacob, and his brothers to bring their flocks to settle in the Nile Delta area where food was plentiful to escape their Middle Eastern famine. The pharaohs at this time were the Hyksos dynasty, a Semitic people, and related to Joseph and his family.
For 430 years the Israelites lived in the Delta area, still the richest part of Egypt. They supported large flocks and herds, growing numerically, until The Exodus from Egypt in 1290 BC. The original seventy had grown to thousands. They “had many children and became so numerous and strong that Egypt (the delta area of Goshen) was filled with them.” (Exodus 1:v7). The 18th Dynasty of the Pharaohs overthrew the Hyksos Pharaohs who had been protective to the Hebrews, and “a new king, who knew nothing about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.” (v8). This was Pharaoh Seti I who was followed by his son, Rameses II. Their method of control was to force the people into slave labour to build the great store cities, Rameses and Pithom, in the delta area. (v9-14).
The Hebrews slaved in the fields and the massive building projects:
“The Egyptians put slave-drivers over them to crush their spirits with hard labour.” (11) Archaeologists have discovered an inscription from the reign of Rameses II indicating how he built these two cities using a group of people called the “hapiru” – that is, “Hebrews”- as slaves. Great temples, obelisks, and two colossal statues of the pharaoh have been discovered. It was during that time, that into the family of Rameses Moses was brought as a baby.
And so it was in Egypt that Moses started his journey to become one of the world’s most significant people: prince and prophet, lawgiver and leader, murderer and miracle-worker, fugitive and victor, exile, shepherd, rebel and healer. An incredible man by any standard.
Rev The Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes, A.C., M.L.C.