Information for the Book of
Exodus
Prior to the time of Solomon (970 B.C.), it is impossible to correlate biblical events with known dates from Egypt or other ancient empires. Inscriptional evidence does not exist. However, that is not surprising, since Egyptian monarchs did not record defeats, as the story of Exodus tells. Most speculation about the dates of these events, then is that they occured between 1450B.C., and 1290B.C..
Significant sections:
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF EXODUS
I. TITLE:
A. In Hebrew the name of the book is taken from the first two words in the
book twmv hlaw ("these are the names). Sometimes it is shortened to simply
"names" (twmv).
B. In the Greek LXX the book is named EXODOS ("Exodus") emphasizing the
departure of Israel from Egypt
II. DATE OF THE EXODUS 1446 BC
A. This date emphasizes the literal interpretation of the biblical numbers in
Exodus 12:40 ("Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four
hundred and thirty years"), Judges 11:26 ("While Israel lived in Heshbon
and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities
that are on the banks of the Arnon, three hundred years, why did you not
recover them within that time?") and 1 Kings 6:1 ("Now it came about in
the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of
the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in
the month of Ziv which is the second month, that he began to build the
house of the Lord").
B. Hill and Walton offer the following arguments for an early date:(note1)
1. "1 Kings 6:1 indicates the Exodus occurred 480 years prior to the 4th
year of Solomon's reign. His 4th year is variously dated at 966/960/957
B.C., placing the Exodus at 1446/1440/1437.
2. According to Judg. 11:26, Israel had occupied Canaan for 300 years
before the judgeship of Jephthah, which is dated between 1100 and 1050.
This dates Joshua's conquest between 1400 and 1350. Adding Israel's
40 years in the desert puts the Exodus between 1440 and 1390.
3. Moses lived in exile in Midian 40 years (Acts 7:3;cf. Exod. 2:23) while
the pharaoh of the oppression was still alive. The only pharaohs who
ruled 40 years or more were Thutmose III (1504-1450) and Rameses II (1290-1224).
4. The Merneptah Stela (ca. 1220) indicates Israel was already an
established nation at the time.
5. The Amarna tablets (ca. 1400) speak of a period of chaos caused by the
"Habiru," very likely the Hebrews.
6. The early date allows for the length of time assigned to the period of
the judges (at least 250 years). The late date allows only 180 years.
7. The Dream Stela of Thutmose IV indicates he was not the legal heir to
the throne (i.e., the legal heir would have died in the tenth plague).
8. Archaeological evidence from Jericho, Hazor, etc., supports a
15th-century date for the Exodus
9. Exod. 12:40 dates the entrance of Jacob into Egypt during the reign of
Sesostris/Senusert III (1878-43) rather than during the Hyksos period (1674-
1567)."
10. Therefore a plausible (and approximate) reconstruction would be as follows:(note2)
a. 966 = 4th full year (actually into the fifth) of Solomon's reign
(971-931) when the Temple was begun
b. +44 yrs = start of David's reign (1010)
c. +40 yrs = start of Saul's reign (1050)
d. +40 yrs = the time from Saul to Jephthah's statement (1050-1090)
e. +300 yrs = the time in the land (Jephthah's statement) (1390)
f. +16 yrs = Joshua's leadership (1406)
g. +40 yrs = wilderness wondering (1446)
This matches 1 Kings 6:1 where 966 + 480 = 1446!
+430 yrs = the time that Israel lived in
Egypt before the Exodus (Ex. 12:40) and
therefore Jacob moved to Egypt in 1876.
A. Rameses II:
1. Scholars who hold to a late date of the Exodus (c.
1290-1225 BC) identify Rameses II (c. 1304-1237)
as the Pharaoh of the Exodus
2. In addition the name of the city in Exodus 1:11 is
Rameses
a. It is possible that Rameses II merely took
credit for the city and the biblical
reference was modernized (note3)
b. It is possible that the Ramasides was to be
identified with the Hyksos who oppressed
Israel and that the city was called Rameses
in their time (note4)
B. Amenhotep II (c. 1436-1410)
1. It is possible that Hatshepsut (1490-1469) may
have been the princess who reared Moses
2. Thutmose III (c. 1490-1436?) ruled as co-regent
with his stepmother until her death for 56 years.
This allows for the time when Moses was in exile
in Midian (cf. Acts 7:3; Exodus 2:23)
3. Amenhotep II (c. 1436-1410) may have been the
Pharaoh of the Exodus. Note that the Bible does
not say that he drowned but that he led a battle
to the water's edge.
4. The dream inscription of Tutmose IV (c. 1410-
1402?) may indicate that he was not originally
intended to be Pharaoh. Therefore, his brother
would have died in the plagues(note5)
A. Two Basic Views:
1. The Northern View: The Exodus took place at a lagoon bordering
the Mediterranean Sea
2. The Southern (Central) View: The Exodus took place south of Succoth
near Lake Balah or Lake Timsah
B. Textual Clues (Exodus 13:17-22; 14:1-2; Num 33:1-49)
1. The Lord did not lead Israel by the way of the land of the Philistines
(probably the Way of the Sea which was the direct route along the
Mediterranean coast to Palestine)6 13:17
2. The Lord led the people by the way of the wilderness to the Red(note7)Sea 13:18
3. The Lord led Israel from Rameses to Succoth Ex 12:37; Num 33:5
4. Israel set out from Succoth and camped in Etham on the edge of the wilderness 13:20
5. Israel turned back and camped before Pihahiroth, between Midgol and the sea,
in front of Baal-zephron opposite it by the sea 14:2
6. Israel went by the Way of the Wilderness (Ex 13:18) after crossing the Sea of
Reeds and entered the Wilderness of Shur (Ex 15:22; Num 33:8) in the
Northwest Sinai peninsula
C. Although a definitive conclusion is not possible because of the uncertainty of many
of the locations in the biblical text, it seems that the Southern (Central)
view matches what is known more than the northern view(note 8)
D. The Location of Mount Sinai Seems to Be Southern:
1. Some have located Mount Sinai in northwest Arabia
partly on the grounds that it was considered that
a volcano was required to explain the events in
Exodus 19:16-25, but this is better understood as
a typical Theophany. Also, Moses was not only
related to the Midianites (Ex 3:1; 18:1) whose
homeland was considered to be in the region of
Arabia, but he was related to the Kenites who were
a nomadic Midianite clan whose presence in the
Sinai region is well documented (cf. Judges 1:16;
4:11)
2. The biblical text indicates that Mount Sinai was
an eleven-day journey from Kadesh-barnea (Dt 1:2)
3. Elijah took 40 days and 40 nights (a long
journey?) to reach Sinai from Beersheba (1 Kgs
19:8)
4. Jebel Musa (Arabic for "Mountain of Moses), or
Mount Horeb, in the southern Sinai peninsula has
been identified as the Mount Sinai of Moses'
revelation by Christian tradition dating to the
fourth century AD9
A. The journey between Egypt and the Wilderness of Sinai
and Mount Sinai took three months to the day (Ex 19:1-
2)
B. It is possible that Moses composed the book during or
shortly after the encampment of the people at Sinai
(1446)
C. The book occurred sometime before Moses' birth in 1526
(Ex 2)
D. Therefore, the book of Exodus covers events around the
birth of Moses to events at Mount Sinai (c. 1526-1446
BC)
A. "To introduce Israel to her national beginnings by
narrating the events which form the people and the
nation and by instructing the people in the covenant
relation and his ritual dwelling"10
B. To narrate the battle between YHWH and Egypt on behalf
of his people to bring about their deliverance from
slavery
C. To explain the readiness of the people to accept YHWH's
revelations of the Law
D. To describe the impatience of the people awaiting
YHWH's enthronement among the people according to his
design
E. To present the new constitution under which Israel will
relate to YHWH (the Mosaic Covenant)
F. To connect the people under the God's promise to
Abraham to the beginning of the theocratic kingdom
under Moses
G. To reveal God as YHWH--the one who will keep his
promises
H. To express the importance of maintaining covenant
relationship with YHWH
___________________________
1 A Survey of the Old Testament, 108.
2 Wood, A Survey of Israel's History, 88-90.
3 Unger, Archaeology of the Old Testament, 149.
4 Wood, A Survey of Israel's History, 93.
5 Unger, Archaeology of the Old Testament, Prichard, ANET,449.
6 This argues against the northern route.
7 More literally this refers to the Sea of (papyrus) Reeds ([Ws <y) describing the area
between the Gulf of Suez and the Mediterranean Sea were there are many marshy lagoons and lakes.
8 Also See Hill and Walton, A Survey of the OT, 108-10;Hannah, "Exodus," 107, Merrill,
"Numbers," 253-54 BKC.
9 See La Sor et al, Old Testament Survey, 130, n. 38.
10 Elliott E. Johnson, Class notes taken by student.
©1996 David Malick, http://www.bible.org. Anyone is free to reproduce this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author's consent.