Highlights of Jewish History before Second Temple Period

When did the Exodus happen? ► ► 16 th cent. BCE ► ► 13 th cent BCE

Ancient Egyptian Chronology ► ► Old Kingdom Old Kingdom (3rd–6th Dynasties, 2686 – 2181 BCE) ► ► First Intermediate Period First Intermediate Period (7th–11th Dynasties, BCE) ► ► Middle Kingdom Middle Kingdom (12th–13th Dynasties, BCE) ► ► Second Intermediate Period Second Intermediate Period (14th–17th Dynasties, BCE) ► ► New Kingdom New Kingdom (18th–20th Dynasties, BCE)

A group of Semitic people depicted entering Egypt c.1900 BC. From the tomb of a 12th dynasty official Khnumhotep under pharaoh Senusret II at Beni Hasan.Senusret IIBeni Hasan

Hyksos (ruled c BCE) ► ► The Hyksos were Semites who infiltrated Egypt beginning in the 18 th cent. BCE and set up capital at Avaris ► ► Hyksos king Salitis occupied Memphis (the Egyptian capital) in 1674BCE ► ► Controlled Lower Egypt (first the Delta then the whole North) ► ► Defeated by Ahmose I in 1550

► ► Hyksos means “foreign rulers” in Egyptian ► ► Amulet bearing the name of the Hyksos King Apophis

► ► Statue of Ahmose I (r. ca BCE) ► ► Son of guy above ► ► He defeated the Hyksos Mummy of Seqenenre Tao II, a.k.a. The Brave, began war of liberation against the Hyksos

Pharaoh Ahmose I defeating the Hyksos

Josephus, Contra Apion 1.73 ► ► Manetho, in the second book of his Egyptian History, writes concerning us [the Jews] in the following manner. I will set down his very words, as if I were to bring the very man himself into a court for a witness: ► ► “…There came, after a surprising manner, men of ignoble birth out of the eastern parts, and had boldness enough to make an expedition into our country and with ease subdued it by force, yet without our hazarding a battle with them.…This whole nation was called Hyksos.…These people…kept possession of Egypt five hundred and eleven years.” ► ► After these, he says, "That the kings of Thebais and the other parts of Egypt made an insurrection against the [Hyksos] shepherds, and that there a terrible and long war was made between them." He says further, "That under a king, whose name was Alisphragmuthosis, the [Hyksos] shepherds were subdued by him, and were indeed driven out of other parts of Egypt… ► ► “They went away with their whole families and effects, not fewer in number than two hundred and forty thousand, and took their journey from Egypt…. They built a city in that country which is now called Judea, and that large enough to contain this great number of men, and called it Jerusalem…” ► ► This is Manetho's account. And evident it is from the number of years by him set down belonging to this interval, if they be summed up together, that these shepherds, as they are here called, who were no other than our forefathers, were delivered out of Egypt, and came thence, and inhabited this country.

Why not the Hyksos ► ► Evidence of destruction and new settlements in Israel only in the 13 th cent., not in the 16 th cent. ► ► “Pitom and Raamses” ► ► Pharaohs of Shemot are likely:   Seti I ( BCE)   Ramses II ( BCE)   Merneptah ( BCE)

Merneptah’s sarcophagus and the Merneptah Victory Stele

Historical context of the biblical story ► ► Puts the migration of Jacob’s family to Egypt within the context of a larger movement of Semites moving to Egypt ► ► Explains how Joseph could rise to great power and marry an Egyptian noblewoman. He was a Semite just as they were. ► ► Explains why Pharaoh was so paranoid about the Israelite nation increasing and joining enemies to conquer the Egyptians.

Important Dates ► ► 1000BCE King David ► ► 722BCE Northern 10 tribes exiled by Assyria