Flb.4] PROCEEDINGS. [1890.
THEPHARAOHS OFMOSES ACCORDING TOHEBREW
AND EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGY.
By Ernest de Bunsen.In this Essaythe attempt will be made to prove thatAhmes
was the Pharaoh of the oppression, andAmenophisI the Pharaoh
of the Exodus, in which case Moses lived about two centuries
and a half earlier thanhithertosupposed.
It is generally assumedthatthe Hyksos werethe bondmasters
of the Hebrews. Accordingto the Elkab inscription,the Hyksos
wereexpelled from Avaris and from Egypt in 'the yearfive'of
Ahmes,the founder of the XVIIIthDynasty.* The bondage of
the Hebrews, whichaccordingto Genesis lasted 400 years,would
thereforehave cometo its end at the beginning of the XVIIIth
Dynasty,certainlyin the sixteenth century,not at the commence
mentof the XlXth Dynasty. Yet RamsesII is held to have been
the Pharaoh of the oppression, and Menephthathe Pharaohof
the Exodus.
If the year B.C. 2360 wasthe year of the Flood, and therefore,
accordingto Genesis, the starting pointof Hebrew chronology,as
it will be proved further on, Hebrews under Abraham migrated
fromHaran 367 years later,fthatis, in 1993. Nothingis opposed
to the assumption that they entered Egypt the same year, and
that then —not under Jacob—the bondage began. If this cannow
be proved beyondthe possibility of a doubt, the attractive; legends
aboutJoseph'smeetinghis brethren, thoughconveyinga true de
scriptionof Egyptian conceptionsandmode of life, will turn out
to be essentially unhistorical.
Accordingto Biblical traditionthe Exodus under Mosestook
place 430 years afterthe Exodus underAbraham, say in 1563.
Thirtyyears haveaccordingly to be added to the 400 years of
bondage,eitherbeforeor after it, for the dwelling in Egypt.J The* Ricords of the Past, vi, 5-10 ; lines 12-15,21-26. "WetookAvaris...
we laid siege to Sharhana in the year five,andHis Majesty (Neb-Pehti-Ra,or
Ahmes),tookit."
t Gen. xi, 10-32.
X Gal. iii, 17 ; Exod. xii 40, 41.
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