slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (10/24/85)
>mikei@hammer.UUCP (Michael IsBell) >Doing some research on the Biblical exile of the Israelites >in Egypt I find a complete void of Egyptian sources which >mention the hebrews. I am not a professional Egyptologist--but am interested in ancient Egypt and do a lot of reading on it. There is a lot of disagreement on lots of Egyptian history--but on this one every source I've read agrees: You won't find any such sources. There is no mention of the Biblical events in any Egyptian source yet found. Nor any mention in any source of any group who could have been the Hebrew tribes. The two obvious conclusions to draw are that, since the Egyptians were absolute fiends about writing down anything important, it never happened, or it happened and wasn't important. If we take the second explanation, then it didn't happen like the Bible says. (Surely the death of every first born son in Egypt would have been a big news event!) That is, the Hebrews were slaves who escaped, but the plagues story was added at a later date to magnify the importance of the event. That second explanation is the one most scholars go with, I believe. There is always the chance that some such source will be discovered in the future--but it grows slimmer as time goes on. As for the Hyskos, there are reams of speculation--Semitic tribes are suspected for some linguistic reasons (the name hyskos itself, for instance) and because they seem to have been light-skinned and bearded. This still leaves room for lots of candidates. (They are not in the right time-frame to be the Hebrews, by the way.) -- Sue Brezden ihnp4!drutx!slb ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I march to the beat of a different drummer, whose identity, location, and musical ability are as yet unknown. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ask@cbdkc1.UUCP (A.S. Kamlet) (10/25/85)
>>mikei@hammer.UUCP (Michael IsBell) >>Doing some research on the Biblical exile of the Israelites >>in Egypt I find a complete void of Egyptian sources which >>mention the hebrews. > I am not a professional Egyptologist--but am interested in ancient > Egypt and do a lot of reading on it. There is a lot of disagreement > on lots of Egyptian history--but on this one every source I've read > agrees: > > You won't find any such sources. There is no mention of the > Biblical events in any Egyptian source yet found. Nor any mention in > any source of any group who could have been the Hebrew tribes. > > The two obvious conclusions to draw are that, since the Egyptians were > absolute fiends about writing down anything important, it never > happened, or it happened and wasn't important. If we take the > second explanation, then it didn't happen like the Bible says. (Surely the > death of every first born son in Egypt would have been a big news > event!) That is, the Hebrews were slaves who escaped, but the plagues > story was added at a later date to magnify the importance of the > event. That second explanation is the one most scholars go with, > I believe. : I have often heard a third explanation, one which I find much more plausible. The Egyptians suffered a great loss and were loath to have any record of it. This explanation is that any records were intentionally destroyed. There are quite a few gaps in pre-biblical Egyptian history, indicating that other periods of time existed where records were either not taken or were deliberately wiped out. I'm sorry I don't have a good reference to this explanation at my fingertips, but perhaps someone can cite references to this explanation. -- Art Kamlet AT&T Bell Laboratories Columbus {ihnp4 | cbosgd}!cbrma!ask
mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) (10/28/85)
I am under the impression that some egyptian text of about the proper age obliquely asserts that pharoah drove the Hebrews out. I't been suggested that the Egyptians were too embarrassed to write down what really happened. Any truth to this? Charley Wingate
sth@rayssd.UUCP (Stephen T. Hirsch) (10/30/85)
No matter what is found, I would take any physical evidence found with a grain
of salt, with all the myriad explanations given equal weight. I really can't
believe that several thousand year old records are the last word on what really
happened. Just take it as another piece of data.
Steve Hirsch, {allegra, decvax!brunix, linus, ccieng5}!rayssd!sth
Raytheon Co, Submarine Signal Div., Portsmouth, RI