There's an article in the Sep/Oct 2003 Biblical Archaeological Review (BAR) magazine from Manfred Bietak, a well-known Egyptologist, on finding evidence of the Israelites in Egypt. At Medinet Habu (near the Valley of the Queens and Thebes), he found a couple four room Israelite houses. These are an almost sure sign of Israelites, as no one else used it except on rare occasions (and on those instances, there is evidence it was also Israelites dwelling amongst others).
He dates the site to the time of Ramses IV, as the houses are built upon the ruins of an old temple (the temple of Ay and Horemheb) that Ramses IV had destroyed to build one of his own. Ramses IV reigned from 1153-1147 BC, so it is possible that the Exodus, according to him didn't occur until 1150-1125 BC. This is even more interesting, if his dating of the Exodus is right, because in the following article, Baruch Halpern (a noted Israelite archaeologist) tells us that the average legend/story remains accurate for about 200 years as it is passed down through the generations. He says, "How old are the Bible's narratives of the Exodus from Egypt?...To start with the answer, we can date Biblical texts. And the oldest text attesting the Exodus dates to sometime between 1125 and 1000 BCE (Before Common/Christian Era)." He talks about the J (Yahwist) tradition of the scriptures being developed in the ninth century BC, while 2 Samuel was written in the 10 century BC. The earliest texts, however are poems. These are: the Song of Deborah (Judges 5), the Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 33), The Song of the Sea/Song of Miriam in both Psalm 68 and Exodus 15. The Song of the Sea/Song of Miriam is dated no later than the 12th century BC, since the Philistines didn't show up in the coastal plain of Canaan until then. With other considerations he concludes that the Songof the Sea was written sometime between 1125 and 1000 BC, well within the timeframe for a story to be accurate. In fact, it is possible that some people may still have been alive (though now very old) from the time of the Exodus. I thought this interesting, and their evidence rather compelling for the dating and evidence of an Exodus in the timeframe cited. K'aya K'ama, Gerald (Gary) Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.geocities.com/rameumptom/index.html LDS Evidences, Family History, Food Storage, etc. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// --^---------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aaP9AU.bWix1n.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html --^----------------------------------------------------------------
