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Jewish Slavery in Egypt

Hunter H.
Prof. Lark
History-134
11/8/2015

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According to biblical accounts, the Hebrews were direct descendants of one of Noahs
sons, Shem. Through Shem came Abraham and the beginning of Judaism.i In the book of
Exodus, Hebrew slaves were a large part of ancient Egypt. Despite the various chapters devoted
to this theory, many researchers are now questioning its likelihood. Although little evidence has
been gathered to prove the integrity of the Bible and book of Exodus, there is still a great story to
be told.
The geographic origin of the Hebrew people is thought to have been the Land of Canaan.
Today that is known as the holy land which encompasses much of the Middle East.ii As
previously stated, Abraham is directly related to the beginning of Judaism. Through a divine
connection with god, he ventured from Mesopotamia to Canaan to find his people. The story of
Genesis recognizes the tale of the nomadic Ishmael, Abrahams first son. Surprisingly enough, it
is not through Ishmael but Isaac that Hebrews share as a common ancestor.iii Eventually the
Hebrews grew in number and Joseph is introduced, son of Jacob and descendant of Ishmael. The
Hebrews were taken as slaves and forced to undergo dangerous work for the Egyptians. Soon
came the well-known story of Moses. Through divine intervention by the Hebrew god Yahweh,
Moses was given the task of freeing the enslaved Hebrews.iv Channeled through Moses, Yahweh
delivered many crippling events towards the tyrannous Pharaoh. The Pharaoh eventually had
enough and granted freedom to the Hebrew people. However, after Moses led the Hebrews out
of Egypt, the Pharaoh changed his mind and decided to pursue them. Moses and the Hebrews
were granted access by Yahweh to cross the Red Sea to reach the holy lands and escape the
Egyptians. Unfortunately, by the time the Hebrews arrived in Canaan, it was already occupied
and they were unsuccessful in taking it back. Moses spent his final days in eastern Jordan.v

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Considering that the Hebrews actually were enslaved, what would have prompted this
massive movement from Canaan into Egyptian slavery? According to Michael Carasik, The
Bible offers four different accounts that may have been the cause. To begin, there is reason they
believe there was a political demographic reason.vi The book of Exodus sheds some light on the
topic. Essentially, the Egyptians looked at the Israelites and noticed how quickly they were
growing in number. The Egyptians were fearful of being overthrown so they needed to find a
way to deal with the threat. As a result, they set task masters on the people and gave them
incredible labor. The next theory involves a divine plan that mandates the slavery of the
Hebrews. Genesis 15 says:
The lord said to Abram, You must know that your offspring will be strangers in a land
that is not

theirs; the inhabitants of that land will enslave them and oppress them for 400

years. (Gen 15:13)

Basically this theory says that because it was part of the divine text, it must happen in order to be
granted the holy lands. More specifically, the Amorites that occupied the Land of Canaan had
not proven sinful enough to lose their land.vii The next theory made by Carasik is one of social
justice. It implies that Joseph somehow enslaved the Egyptian people and it is only fair that his
people are enslaved as a result. Joseph managed the grain for the Egyptians during the seven
years of plenty and sells it back to the people during the seven years of famine.viii This was seen
as a kind of slavery and Egypt was all too eager to return the favor. The last theory mentioned by
Carasik is one of novelistic reasons. A large majority of the book of Genesis is devoted to family
ties and drama. These brotherly disputes resulted in the migration of the Hebrews and ultimately
enslavement.ix

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The problem with the story is that the evidence is simply not there. During the time of
plenty and famine, Joseph utilized grain silos that held the grain. Additionally, given Josephs
success in regards to Egyptian food management, there should have been some sort of record of
him. There is no mention of Joseph and his achievements in Egyptian records. In its defense,
Egyptian records were not best kept and in fact, many documents were lost in the burning of the
Alexandrian Library.x Furthermore, the main labor of the Hebrew slaves consisted of mud brick
production. One would think that if millions of people created a brick every day for the supposed
400 years they were enslaved, archaeologists would have found related artifacts.xi Some even
credit the enslaved Hebrews for the creation of the great pyramids. In response to this, some note
a large gap in time between the production of the pyramids and the arrival of the Hebrews.
Overall it is difficult to say for certain what happened so many years ago. The Bible and
other religious texts spent a lot of time discussing these events that may not have even happened.
This calls to question the integrity of the sacred books. Despite the potential lack of truth, the
books still offer lessons valuable to its respective faith. We know for certain that the Hebrew
people were from that general area but there is no solid evidence supporting the kind of events
discussed in Genesis and Exodus.

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Citations
Carasik, Michael. Were the Israelits Enslaved in Egypt? Jewish Ideas Daily. 6 April 2012.
Jewish Ideas Daily. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.
Michael Carasik is professor at the University of Pennsylvania and writer for Jewish Ideas Daily.
Carasik has his own blog and podcast related to Jewish history. These combined factors make
him a reliable source of information in this subject area. The article itself evaluates theories
regarding the enslavement of Hebrew people in ancient Egypt. The first theory ties political
reasons to the enslavement of Israelites. The second is based on theological purposes, which
investigates the idea that the Hebrews were following the plan of god, in which they must suffer
before reaching the holy land. The third is the reason of social justice. Josephs relatives, the
Hebrews, are punished for his choices when managing grain for Egypt. The last reason is a
novelistic reason that supports the dozen pages of biblical scripture dedicated to this event.

Larue, Gerald A. Ancient Jewish History: Who Were the Hebrews? Jewish Virtual Library.
1997. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.
Gerald Larue write for the Jewish Virtual Library which is a website funded by the AmericanIsraeli Cooperative Enterprise. The website is the host of many articles referring to the history of
Judaism. The article itself is titled, Ancient Jewish History: Who Were the Hebrews? In this
article, Larue tells a brief version of the timeline in regards to Judaism and its origin. Starting
with Shem, Larue explains the complex family tree and eventually tells the story of Moses. In
addition to brief lineage, Larue addresses the lack of concrete evidence proving the integrity of
the book of Exodus.

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Zachman, Randall C. Oracles, visions, and oral tradition: Calvin on the foundation of
Scripture.

Interpretation 63.2 (2009): 117+. Popular Magazines. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.

Randall Zachman wrote an academic journal called, Oracles, visions, and oral tradition: Calvin
on the Foundation of Scripture. In it, he elaborates on biblical scripture and parts related to the
supposed movements of the Hebrews. Zachman has published various articles analyzing biblical
passages and theology as a whole, making him a credible source for information.

N.M. Acknowledging the Exodus. World and I. May 2004: 152. Popular Magazines. Web. 8
Nov. 2015.
Author known as N.M. composed a scholarly article, retrieved from the Michigan eLibrary,
which provides the reader with an opposing view with regards to the book of Exodus. This
articles main focus is actually on an attempted lawsuit towards the Egyptians in relation to
events that happened centuries ago. Although its main focus is not on totally discrediting the
book of Exodus, it provides information regarding nonexistent artifacts that would otherwise
prove the books integrity.

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Gerald Larue goes into detail regarding the birth of Judaism.

Larue describes the geography of the region and the general location of Canaan.
iii
Larue provides details regarding the common lineage and ancestry in regards to people of Hebrew decent, linking
them back to Isaac.
iv
Referring to biblical scripture, Larue describes the task given to Moses by God.
v
Larue shares the final resting place of Moses and how he spent his last days.
vi
Michael Carasik evaluates the possibility of a political-demographic reason behind the enslavement of the
Hebrews, mainly due to the rapidly increasing population of the Hebrews.
vii
According to Carasik, because the Amorites that occupied the holy land were not sinful enough to have it
revoked; the Hebrews did not go back which hints that they were following a divine path.
viii
Carasik details the performance of Joseph in regards to his position within the Egyptian management. He
successfully rationed enough grain to survive the famine, however, his downfall was to sell instead of give.
ix
Carasik notes that a lot of brotherly drama within Genesis sparked issues that could have led to the enslavement of
the Hebrews.
x
Randall Zachman goes into detail regarding the period of time in which the Hebrews were kept as slaves and
relates it to the lack of artifacts.
xi
N.M. tells us that most archaeologists and historians have doubts about the truth behind the book of Exodus,
mainly because no artifacts have been found.
ii