EXPERIENCE THE EXODUS!

PART I:
OUR HISTORY DURING THE 18TH DYNASTY TO THE TIME
OF THUTMOSE III

Richard M. Davidson
Andrews University
British Columbia Campmeeting
Camp Hope, July 29, 2019
 BIBLE TRIVIA QUESTION:

• Are there any human beings alive today

who personally witnessed with their own
eyes Israel’s Exodus from Egypt?
• Moses
• Jesus
• Enoch
• Who else?
 EXPLOSIVE BIBLICAL INSIGHT:

• Exodus 13: 5, 8
• Deuteronomy 5:2,3; 6:20-22
• Joshua 24:6-7
• Galatians 3:29
• Passover principle: Corporate solidarity
• “You were there!” We were there at the Exodus!!
• Let’s strip away our spiritual amnesia. . .
 WHEN DID THE EXODUS HAPPEN?
• 1 Kings 6:1– 4th year of Solomon’s reign
• Solomon died in 930 BC (Edwin Thiele’s Mysterious Numbers of
the Hebrew Kings)
• Solomon reigned 40 years by himself (1 Kgs 11:42), and four
years as coregent with David
• 930 + 40 + 4 = 974 BC = Beginning of His coregency (William
Shea, “Exodus, Date of” ISBE article)
• 4th year from start of coregency = 970 BC
• 480 years after Exodus: 970 + 480 = 1450 BC
 WHEN DID THE EXODUS HAPPEN?

• 1450 BC = Date of the Exodus

• Time of the Eighteenth Dynasty in Egypt
• Exod 7:7 –Moses was 80 years old (1530 BC)
• Aaron was 83 (born 1533 BC)
• Takes us back to the beginning of the 18th
dynasty
 BACK TO THE BEGINNING
(OF EXODUS)

• The story of OUR Exodus took place

during the 18th Dynasty of Egypt
• Fifteenth century BC
• Not 19th dynasty and 13th century date
used by scholars who do not accept the
literal chronology of the Bible
 REMEMBER THE EXODUS!
18TH DYNASTY
▪ Exod 1:8 --Pharaoh “rose up” who knew not Joseph—
▪ New dynasty, who threw off the Hyksos (Semitic/Asiatics
who ruled Egypt nearly 150 years, until -1580 BC)
▪ Golden Age of Egypt—18th dynasty– 3500 years ago!
▪ Ahmose I – 1580-1546 BC –Great “Liberator” of Egypt
▪ Name means “born of the Moon [god]”
▪ Puts ownership of land and property back in the hands of
the people (reverses Joseph’s policy)
AHMOSE I
PHARAOH OF THE OPPRESSION?

▪ Exod 1:11-12:
• Amenhotep I – 1553-1532 BC
• Name means “Amun is satisfied”
• Aaron born in 1533, under oppression
but before death decree
AMENHOTEP I – 1553-1532 BC
PHARAOH OF THE DEATH DECREE?

• Exod 1:22
• Thutmose I –1532-(1508?)
• Name means “Born of the [moon] god Thoth
• Ruthless ruler—hangs heads of executed
enemies from royal barge in 2nd year of reign =
1530 BC – in the very year of Moses’ birth
• Semitic slaves employed in building
THUTMOSE I
 BIRTH OF MOSES

• Moses: Son of Amram and Jochobed—

born 1530 BC –during death decree
• Exod 2:1-4
• Ark in the bulrushes! Proximity of Semitic
people to Avaris the northern capital of the
18th Dynasty
DELTA OF EGYPT
 FORTRESS PALACE AT
AVARIS IN THE NILE DELTA
THE NILE IN GOSHEN
BULRUSHES ON NILE IN GOSHEN
 PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER

• (Exod 2:5-6)
• Hatshepsut! Daughter of Thutmose I
• Name means “Foremost of Noble Ladies”/
• Name given to the baby? (v. 10)
• Hapi-Moses! -- “Born of the Nile”
• First reference to “Hebrews,”as workers in the
vineyards of the Delta.
HATSHEPSUT!
 HATSHEPSUT (1504-1482 BC)

• Born of royal blood (daughter of Queen Ahmose)

• At the death of her mother Queen Ahmose,
Hatshepsut was the highest-born person in the land.
• She was probably still a teenager when she found the
baby Moses in the ark of bulrushes.
• When her father died (ca. 1508?), she became wife
and queen (“Great Royal Wife”) of Thutmose II (1508-
1504?), when Moses was about 22.
 HATSHEPSUT –CONT.

• Thutmose II (also a commoner, the half-brother of Hatshepsut), ruled only

a short time (1508-1504?), with Hatshepsut as co-regent.
• Remember Heb 11:24! Moses refused to accept the Egyptian religion
and be initiated into the priestly mysteries (which were required of all who
ruled Egypt), and this would have not ingratiated him with the Egyptian
caste of priests.
• After the death of Thutmose II (ca. 1504 BC), the priests took his toddler
son Thutmose III (only 2 years old) and made him co-regent with
Hatshepsut—in an apparent move to circumvent Moses as crown-prince,
who was at that time about 25-26 years old.
WHAT HAS CHANGED?
 HATSHEPSUT –CONT.

• Hatshepsut took matters out of the hands of the priests:

the universal order received a shock that rocked it to its
foundations!
• In ca. 1504, Hatshepsut made her self KING!
Hatshepsut took the titles of king (except “great bull”).
• She is usually referred to in writings as “he.”
• She is pictured wearing an artificial beard but with
female breasts.
 HATSHEPSUT—CONT.

• Her growth and beauty are detailed: “her majesty grew

beyond everything; to look upon her was more
beautiful than anything;. . . her form was like a god,
she did everything like a god; her splendor was like a
god; her majesty was a maiden beautiful, blossoming.”
• (cf. the translation of the inscription on the walls of her funerary temple Deir –el- Bahri;
Breasted, 2:78-83, 91.)
 HATSHEPSUT--1504-1482 BC
FUNERARY TEMPLE DEIR-EL-BAHRI
 MOSES AS GENERAL UNDER
HATSHEPSUT
• Josephus mentions about Moses as general, leading a campaign against the
Ethiopians.
• For a long time scholars thought that Hatshepsut’s reign was totally peaceful
without any foreign campaigns.
• But now evidence has come to light that during her reign she (thorough her
generals) actively conducted military campaigns in Nubia and in Palestine. Scenes
on her funerary palace depicts the campaign to Punt (Somaliland, Kenya),
showing the expedition returning with apes, ivories, gold, spices, exotic animals,
leopard skins, and myrrh from the myrrh trees.
• One scene pictures an obese queen (with elephantitis?), dwarfs, houses on poles,
different style of clothes; another scene pictures the army returning, with perhaps
Moses in the foreground as general! (Se Redford, Studies.)
MOSES AS A YOUNG MAN
 THUTMOSE III—1504-1450 BC

• In Hatshepsut’s twelfth year (ca. 1492), Thutmose III (then

about 14 years old) was officially initiated into the priestly
mysteries and officially made co-regent by the priests (at least
ten years before Hatshepsut died).
• It seems likely Moses saw that Hatshepsut’s days were
numbered, and he would also be eliminated, and decided to
cast in his lot with his people.
• Moses leaves Egypt 1490 B.C. at the age of 40 (when
Thutmose III is about 16;)
MOSES IN MIDIAN
 THUTMOSE III – CONT.

• Hatshepsut dies while Moses is gone in Midian

• When Thutmose becomes sole ruler in 1482 BC:
• He tries to cut out her picture and name from all
her monuments; many of the sculptures were
smashed into 1000’s of pieces and buried in a
heap
• Co-regent with son Amenhotep II—1453-1450 BC
THUTMOSE III—GREATEST
PHARAOH OF ALL TIME!
 THUTMOSE III—
GREATEST PHARAOH OF ALL TIME
• Military Genius:
• (See the Annals of Thutmose III, with 223 lines, on the inside walls
inclosing the corridor which surrounds the holy of holies of the great
Karnak temple of Amon. “This document. . . is the longest and most
important historical inscription in Egypt, and forms the most complete
account of the military achievements of any Egyptain king” (Breasted,
2:163). “The conquests recorded in the Annals involved the most serious
military projects undertaken by any Egyptian king—projects so
successfully carried out by Thutmose III that he is to be regarded as
unquestionably the greatest military leader of ancient Egypt.” (Ibid.,
2:166).
 THUTMOSE III—
GREATEST PHARAOH OF ALL TIME
• Goes on his first campaign a few months after Hatshepsut died (his 23rd year—he
counted his reign from the beginning of Hatshepsut’s reign, 1504)

• Fights a coalition of 330 kings at Megiddo: (Jan 31 in power; April 16 starts out; 9 days
later in Gaza; 12 days later, below Carmel Ridge with the enemy in the plain

• Decision which pass to take to cross the Carmel Ridge; the generals say “don’t take
the Aruna Road” (the most dangerous of the three); he knew the enemy would think
that too so he went over the Aruna road to victory at Megiddo

• Lord Allenby in World War I read Thutmose III’s strategy at Megiddo, and the Turks
and the German allies were driven out by the British by the same tactics.
 THUTMOSE III—
GREATEST PHARAOH OF ALL TIME

• 16 more campaigns into Palestine and Syria

(practically every year)—1482 -1462 BC. (his 42nd
year).
• Some campaigns were battles, others peaceful—to
collect yearly tribute
• Conquers Kadesh but never did more than raid
across the Euphrates; did not completely conquer
the Mitanni
 THUTMOSE III—
GREATEST PHARAOH OF ALL TIME

• Army: three types of forces:

• chariotry (attacking, “tank force”) two horses and two men per
chariot (contrasted with Hittites and Palestinians who had 3 men
in a chariot, the third held the shield)
• “Pharaoh and his horseman” = chariot drivers (not cavalry; they
did not ride the horses)
• infantry (spears, shields, bows and arrows, daggers (no long
spears or swords)
• quartermaster (engineering) corps –keep the army going
 THUTMOSE III—
GREATEST PHARAOH OF ALL TIME

• Building projects:
• Builds port cities of Gaza, Byblos, etc. for supplies
• Needs a northern quartermaster city in Egypt as a military depot
(to supply troops and receive tribute); so builds Qantir/Ramesses
as the last major staging area in the NE; these were the cities built
by the Hebrews (Exod 1:11)
• Roads built for the first in an organized way
 THUTMOSE III—
GREATEST PHARAOH OF ALL TIME

• Civil projects:
• Government reserve of cedar forest
• Experiments to introduce new species into Egypt: plants; cattle
• Brags that he breeds a species of animal that gives birth every
day! = chicken!
• Hunting expeditions in game fields: the first to introduce lions and
elephants to Egypt
 THUTMOSE III—
GREATEST PHARAOH OF ALL TIME

• Empire:
• Nubia (Ethiopia)—gold mines
• Palestine, Phoenicia, Syria—cattle, timber, olive oil
• Administrative centers: Gaza, Beth-shean, Yarimuta, etc.
• Advisors to local rulers; assure tribute
• Native crown princes of other countries trained in Egypt
• The wealth of Asia flows to Egypt
 THUTMOSE III—
GREATEST PHARAOH OF ALL TIME

• Enlightened Ruler:
• Speech to Rekh-mi-Re at his installation as prime minister: “You
will have a hard life with the welfare of people in mind; don’t
tolerate corruption.” (Much ahead of his time!)
• Co-regency at the end of his life:
• Last (about) three years, appoints his son Amenhotep II to the
throne as co-regent (but he was not his firstborn).
• Dies after 54 years of reign, on March 17, 1450 BC.
 THUTMOSE III:
PHARAOH OF THE 10 PLAGUES
FORTRESS PALACE OF
THUTMOSE III
MOSES MEETS THUTMOSE III
AT HIS PALACE IN AVARIS
 THE MEETING BETWEEN
THUTMOSE III AND MOSES

• Remember that moment?

• The greatest pharaoh who ever lived
meets with the meekest man who ever
lived, and who would have been that
Pharaoh if he had chosen to!
• Yahweh against the gods of Egypt!