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In early summer 2003, a Bible class at our church began studying the book of Genesis. I became excited and thrilled as I got into this study of Genesis, and read extensive additional materials on that period and the ancient Middle East in general in 2003-4. I especially liked the culture and history, bringing the ancient events to a vivid real-life perspective.
I taught some of the lessons as a substitute for our regular teacher. One of these was the story of the Hebrews going into Egypt. This involved some good details in the Genesis text about the settlement of Jacob's (Joseph's) family in Goshen (Genesis 46:28-47:26). I thought some background to that period would bring to life the events recorded there.
In my search for information on the political and ethnic situation of this period in Egyptian history, I found a good article discussing the Hyksos, thought to be the dynasty ruling Egypt at this time. The ancient Egyptian name for them was Hega-khase, meaning "the foreign kings."
Some sources say the Hyksos rose to power in the 18th century BC. Other authorities reckon it was in the 17th century. They formed the 15th Dynasty and probably the 16th. By the latter reckoning, only 6 kings are considered Hykson, ruling for a period of 108 years, about 1648-1540 BC
Goshen
The Genesis story tells us that Joseph's family — Jacob and his other sons and their families — were settled in Goshen. This province was in the Delta area, which history indicates was a herding and grazing area, in a flat alluvial plane, not primarily agricultural like the Nile Valley which comprised most of Egypt even at this time in history. This also appears to be where the Hyksos capital was, while they gradually conquered more of the area known at times as "Egypt."
Later we are told that the Hebrews had so increased in population that they covered the whole land. It was helpful to determine what the phrase "the whole land" referred to. This was a factor in the later persecution and slavery that developed. The story indicates the "land" was Goshen, not the whole of the land area of what was called Egypt. (More on that later.)
What Size Egypt?
But as invaders, how much of Egypt did the Hyksos control? The land area referred to as "Egypt" varied from dynasty to dynasty and borders changed with various political fortunes. Internal struggles from generation to generation as well as border wars and coups affected the strength and size of the empire called "Egypt" at any particular time in history. The world was not organized into clearly demarcated Nation States as in our modern world.
The Hyksos took power in a time of internal conflict and disintegration of the earlier Empire. Various sources deal with this in some detail. How large was the area ruled by the Hyksos? It appears that at the time Jacob and his family would have come into Egypt, the Hyksos held only a portion of what was sometimes Egypt, and were gradually expanding their territory. The Genesis and Exodus texts are consistent in indicating that the Hebrews lived and were enslaved in the Goshen area. Apparently the projects they were assigned to build were also nearby.
A Slimmer Egypt
At that time, the Hyksos ruled the Delta areas and gradually spread their rule farther west and south. But they apparently never conquered the full upper and lower Egypt. The Hyksos never gained direct cotrol over Upper Egypt, which began a little south of Cairo. Upper Egypt was ruled at that time by Theban princes who seem to have recognized the Hyksos as overlords.
The Hyksos continued to use all the traditional titles of the Dynasty they conquered, which included the claim of the double throne of Upper and Lower Egypt. For a comparative view, it is helpful to note that Roman Egypt, taken over from the Ptolemy Greeks, was also considerably smaller than the land area we know today as Egypt.
The Greeks and Romans likewise never ruled Upper Egypt, or Nubia,which was once part of the Great Dynasties and for a few decades ruled the whole of Egypt. The Hyksos had an alliance with the Nubian Cush, which at times was part of Egypt. At other times, in the combined kingdoms, Egypt included much of what we now know as Sudan, and perhaps northern Ethiopia.
We know the Hyksos capital was not far from the Hebrews' settlement area. The city of Rameses was nearby. It is likely this is the primary work area of the Hebrew slaves. The writer of Exodus says they built Pithom and Rameses. Exodus says their departure point from Egypt was Succoth, which is in that area. If the many details are actually historical, then the people all had to be close and this gathering point had to be close to the meeting headquarters of the King where Moses and Aaron went so often to speak with him.
Many people make extended historical claims from the names and details in the Exodus story. That is not ny interest. Details may be heightened for the oral dramatic effect of the original story. Yet the names seems to match much that is known from history and recent studies in various disciplines. I am not concenred with the details of the Exodus or how many Israelites there were, or their particular route. I am discussing here the matters related to the Hyksos and the various Semitic people who seem to have taken refuge in the Delta area around this time.
Dominant Israelites?
Even so, in light of all other comments in the Genesis and Exodus text, it seems clear the descendants of Jacob lived and worked in the eastern delta area. It is clear in the story also that Joseph's and Pharaoh's homes and offices were there as well.
All this evidence seems to indicate that the Genesis statement that the Hebrews had filled "all the land" is one of the many instances of the common Semitic narrative style of overstatement for emphasis. Modern readers also tend to impose our concept of the Nation-State of Egypt with the boundaries we know today. The recent rationalist history of western culture unfortunately detracts us with its tendency to reduce phrases into an analytical scientistic perspective that assumes the primary goal or purpose of every word or phrase is only to feed our hunger for bare abstract facts.
On the contrary, this ancient literature is a masterpiece of affect — engaging us in the drama of the story and producing in the hearers (not primarily readers) the power of the personal and ethnic emotions involved! There is no indication that the text meant the Hebrews had filled the whole geographical area that might have been part of the Egyptian Empire at this time. In fact, under the Hyksos and for much of continuing history, even the whole of Palestine was part of Egypt for most of its history.
The Land of Goshen
The Exodus story does appear to mean, however, that the descendants of Jacob were the dominant population in the Goshen area where the Hyksos king settled them. What land did they live in? The Land of Goshen. The story indicates that all the Hebrews were small enough in number and in small enough geographical area that they could inform the whole of the Hebrews and get a response in one day. If that were not enough, the story itself is clear that "Goshen" was their settlement area. Exodus 9:26 specifically says that during the plagues the Hebrews were living only in Goshen.
Check it out on a map. Goshen is not very big. Aside from the story, this was the ideal place for sheep herders, a lush, alluvial plain, apparently unpopulated or lightly populate at that time. This context enables us to see how, even in a real, literal sense, the Hebrews could "fill the whole land."
Oral Drama
The Exodus story assumes a tightly-knit and fast-acting group, necessitating a small number. Numerical exaggeration is a key characteristic of Semitic storytelling. The numbers serve other purposes than to simply fulfill the modern information-oriented obsession with facts. The text of the Exodus story was not written to meet the demands of rationalist, analytical literate westerners about 3000 years later.
The Exodus story is a great masterpiece of oral literature, now written down. It appears to be like much of the Old Testament, the written version of an older oral drama, a proclamation of ethnic-religious history and heritage in the corporate ethnic memory. Oral relational cultures have a different worldview and approach to the oral literature, even when it gets written down for later generations. It was not written down to serve as a history textbook for some future generation in an as-yet undeveloped culture in the arena of world history.
The whole Tanakh (Old Testament) is primarily a collection of deeply meaningful and moving stories, comprising a huge historical story. We read it as a story and watch for factors that might be adaptable to our alien worldview. We do not want to co-opt it to become domesticated to our secular scientistic culture or modern rationality. It was not written in that framework. Shouldn't it be allowed to speak on its own terms?
Ethnic Focus
Anyway, back to my point. My comments here do not address the details of the Exodus story itself or any various interpretations of it, but the ethnic character of the situation assumed by the story. Thus I have not addressed the details of military or geographical factors as presented by any particular archaeological or historical viewpoint. I am interested in the ethnic factors that might be indicated by the historical, archaeological or biblical information.
If you are interested in more biblical details, you might also consider the other Exodus story in the Bible. See Numbers 33:1-15.
The King Who Did Not Know Joseph
The king "who did not know Joseph" was likely the indigenous Egyptian who overthrew the Hyksos after about 200 years of their rule. Various time references in Genesis correspond with this, seeming to indicate that the Hebrews were in Egypt for about 200-250 years. Exodus, on the other hand, also reports that only 5 generatons passed between Jacob and Moses (Exodus 6:16-20).
The Exodus writer says it was 430 years, while totaling up years seems to indicate more like 200. Various scholars have commented on this. Some think the 430 years was intended to count the time from Abraham. However, Flavius Josephus quotes the Egyptian historian Manetho as saying the Hyksos ruled Egypt 511 years.
Because the dynasty he had overthrown was Semitic (the Hyksos), and the large population of the Delta area of Goshen were Semitic (the descendants of Jacob), this would further explain Pharaoh's fear of these people.
It would have been comparatively early in the 200 years of the Hyksos rule in Egypt when Jacob's family moved into Goshen. (Estimates of the Hyksos Dynasty range form abotu 110 to almost 200 years.)
Semitic
The Hyksos were the first successful invaders from the east, largely due to their likely use of chariots, which were never used in Egypt prior to the Hyksos period. The Hyksos are thought to have been Semitic, which explains why they would be so open to Canaanites (like Joseph's family) being in the country. Their records show that the Hyksos had Canaanite names like the Hebrews, and their main gods were Canaanite: Baal and Anath. Their name came to be commonly used in the Egyptian language as a synonym for "Asiatic."
This would mean that the people Joseph dealt with were not even "Egyptians" in the proper sense of the indigenous Cushite people of Egypt. The king and ruling class would be Semitic people, likely with a similar speech as his. This also explains why "a pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph" – that is, this new king did not like or feel positive about Semite "foreigners." The Cushite Egyptians likely associated all the Semites with their foreign rulers.
Indigenized
The Hyksos became indigenized in many respects, however, as the article points out, such as adopting Seth as their favored God. The god On was also still honored at this period. The Exodus story tells us that Joseph was married to a daughter of the High Priest of On (Potiphera). On was also the name of a holy city in the region of later Cairo-Giza, where the Greeks later also established their capital of Heliopolis. The Hyksos also retained the Egyptian language as the official language of administration.
The famine was a recurring climatic event, but 7 years was a longer-than-usual period of drought. These cyclical droughts are still the pattern in the African continent. We experienced this during the 25 years we lived in Kenya.
During the era of history in focus, Semitic groups from Canaan apparently were used to migrating into the northeastern Delta areas of Egypt to graze and get food during famine times, as portrayed in the story. Genesis mentions Abraham going to Egypt also.
Forever Changed
From the Hyksos period, the eastern border of Egypt was never closed as in the old Egyptian period. Canaan's border was a scene of trade and migration even after the overthrow of the Hyksos and was part of the Egyptian sphere, for better or for worse, into modern times. This was only heightened in the Greek and Roman eras.
For more on the Hyksos, and Hebrews in Egypt:
Archaeological Investigations — The Hyksos and Other
Goshen
Goshen Map and Discussion: Succoth, Ramases, Pithom
The Hyksos, Kings of Egypt and the land of Edom
The Hyksos — Semites Invade Egypt
Hyksos — Wikipedia
Joseph, Egypt and The Hyksos
Manetho on the Hyksos
Rameses, the Town and the King
Who Were the Hyksos?
Wadi Tumilat Excavations — the Hyksos, Succoth and Pithom
OBJ
Written 30 November 2004
Rewritten 21 September 2007
Last updated 31 October 2007
Orville Boyd Jenkins, Ed.D., Ph.D.
Copyright © Orville Boyd Jenkins 2004
Permission granted for free download and transmission for personal or educational use. Other rights reserved.
| Email: orville@jenkins.nu |
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