Searching for Moses

1. Searching for Moses Derived from a work by David Down, Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal (TJ) 15(1) 2001 p.63

2. Searching for Moses • The Bible indicates the Exodus took place around 1446 BC. • According to modern historians, this aligns with the Egyptian 18th dynasty. • There is no evidence of the Exodus, Moses, or the plagues, in the 18th dynasty. • Nor is there evidence of an invasion of Canaan under Joshua during this period. Therefore…

3. Searching for Moses Moses did not exist!

4. Searching for Moses That’s what modern historians have concluded. That’s what modern historians want you to conclude.

5. Searching for Moses However… What is the possibility that modern historians are wrong? There are a number of scholars who claim that a gross error in chronology has been made in calculating the dates of Egyptian history, and that these dates should be reduced by centuries.

6. Searching for Moses • Such re-dating would bring the 12th dynasty to the time of Moses. • There us MUCH evidence in the 12th dynasty to support the Biblical records.

7. Searching for Moses In the 12th to 13th dynasties, we find abundant evidence for • The presence of large numbers of Semitic slaves • The devastation of Egypt • The sudden departure of those slaves

8. Searching for Moses If you adjust the time of the secular chronology, you also find • Toppled walls at Jericho • Evidence of a great fire at Jericho that had been deliberately set

9. Searching for Moses One of the last kings of the 12th dynasty was Sesostris III (also written as Senwosret III or Khakhaure Senusret III)

10. Searching for Moses • His statues and images depict him as a cruel tyrant quite capable of inflicting harsh slavery on his subjects.

11. Searching for Moses • His son was Amenemhet III who was equally disagreeable. (also written as Amenemhat IIIor Amenemes III)

12. Searching for Moses • Amenemhet III had an enigmatic son named Amenemhet IV. • Amenemhet IV mysteriously disappeared off the scene before the death of Amenemhet III.

13. Searching for Moses Sesostris III or Amenemhet III, it’s unclear which, had a daughter named Sobekneferu. (also called Sebekneferu, Skemiophris, Sobkhotpe IV, and Nefrusobek)

14. Searching for Moses • She had no children • She regularly went to the Nile to bathe • Because she needed a bath? No. The palace most certainly had baths. • Because the river god, Hapi, was the god of fertility. • She was praying to the god of fertility for a child.

15. Searching for Moses Sobekneferu wanted a child. • When a basket carrying a baby arrived to her on the Nile, it was only natural for her to conclude it was Hapi’s answer to her prayers. • This child was named Amenemhet IV by Sobekneferu.

16. Searching for Moses When Amenemhet III died, there was no son to take the throne. Where did Amenemhet IV go?

17. Searching for Moses He fled from Egypt into Midian for forty years. We know him as Moses.

18. Searching for Moses • In the absence of Amenemhet IV, Sobekneferu ascended the throne and ruled as Pharaoh for eight years. • When she died, it was the end of the 12th dynasty.

19. Searching for Moses It is widely held that Semitic slaves built many structures in the 12th dynasty including some of the of the “Middle Period” pyramids. We know these Semitic slaves as Israelites.(Exodus 1:8-11)

20. Searching for Moses • Excavation of Kahun has revealed that “Asiatics” were present in the town in considerable numbers. They have no explanation for this. • The excavators could not identify the Semitic slaves with the Israelites because they had already concluded the Biblical events took place three or more centuries later than the 12th dynasty.

21. Searching for Moses So, there are records of slavery during the reigns of the last rulers of the 12th dynasty. After that was a period of many short rulerships and general anarchy for several years. Then Neferhotep I took the throne.

22. Searching for Moses Khaskemre-Neferhotep Iwas the Pharaoh from whom Moses demanded Israel’s release.

23. Searching for Moses The excavators found wooden boxes under the floors of many houses in Kahun. The boxes contained babies, sometimes two or three to a box, some aged only a few months at death.

24. Searching for Moses Shortly after the infant burials, the slaves suddenly disappeared off the scene, abandoning tools and other possessions in the shops and houses. The departure appears to have been sudden and unpremeditated.

25. Searching for Moses The Ten Plagues Were Real In the Leiden Museum in Holland is a papyrus which is a copy of a papyrus from an earlier “unidentified” Egyptian dynasty (likely the 13th) which reads:

26. Searching for Moses “Plague stalks through the land and blood is everywhere… Nay, but the river is blood… Nay, but gates, columns and walls are consumed with fire…. Nay, but men are few. He that lays his brother in the ground is everywhere…. Nay, but the son of the high-born man is no longer to be recognized…. The stranger people from outside are come into Egypt…. Nay, but corn has perished everywhere. People are stripped of clothing, perfume and oil. Everyone says, ‘there is no more.’ The storehouse is bare…. It has come to this. The king has been taken away by poor men.”

27. Searching for Moses According to ancient historian Manetho, Neferhotep I was the last king to rule before “the Hyskos occupied Egypt ‘without a battle’.”

28. Searching for Moses Without a battle? Where was the Egyptian army? It was at the bottom of the Red Sea.

29. Searching for Moses The mummy of Khaskemre-Neferhotep I has never been found. Where is the body? At the bottom of the Red Sea.

30. Searching for Moses “But I thought the name of Pharaoh at this time was Rameses.” In the movie, “The Ten Commandments,” the Pharaoh was named Rameses. This is a misunderstanding of what the Bible says.

31. Searching for Moses The Bible does not mention a Pharaoh named Rameses, but refers to the region of northeastern Egypt. (See Genesis 47:11; Exodus 1:11; Exodus 12:37; and Numbers 33:5)

32. Searching for Moses • So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed. Genesis 47:11 • So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. Exodus. 1:11 • The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. Exodus 12:37a • The Israelites left Rameses and camped at Succoth. Numbers 33:5

33. Searching for Moses Rameses, as mentioned in the Bible, is a location and can be linked to an Egyptian word meaning “door of two roads.”

34. Searching for Moses It was the point at which travelers leaving the Nile Delta of Egypt traveling to the East had to choose either the road to Canaan heading north, or Succoth, heading south, because the desert wilderness was directly East.

35. Searching for Moses The Israelites left Rameses and headed south to Succoth.

36. Searching for Moses In later times, Rameses was a name used by several Pharaohs. It is likely they used the name to indicate they were the door of two roads: Prosperity or poverty Joy or despair Life or death

37. Searching for Moses Pharaoh’s of the Bible Amenemhet I (also called Amenemhat I, or Amenemes I ) Joseph sold into Egypt. Sesostris I (also called Senwosret I, Senusret, or Khakhaure Senusret I ) Joseph elevated to Governor. Ameni This is a person referenced in Egyptian inscriptions at the time of Sesostris I who had charge of the treasury and public works. I believe this was Joseph.

38. Searching for Moses Pharaoh’s of the Bible Sesostris II Amenemhet II Sesostris IIIOppressed the Hebrews. This was the one who decreed all the children of the Hebrew slaves two years and under be slain. Amenemhet IIIThis was Sesostris’ III son who tried to kill Moses. Moses fled from Egypt.Exodus 2:15

39. Searching for Moses Pharaoh’s of the Bible Amenemhet IV I believe this was Moses. Amenemhet IV disappeared off the scene before Amenemhet III died. Sobekneferu Either the daughter of Sesostris III or Amenemhet III. She is the one who drew Moses out of the Nile and raised him. She ascended to the throne after Amenemhet III’s death and ruled eight years. When she died, the 12th dynasty ended.

40. Searching for Moses Pharaoh’s of the Bible Khasekemre-Neferhotep I Forty years into the 13th dynasty, this is the Pharaoh from whom Moses demanded Israel’s release. His mummy is not in its tomb. Where is his body? At the bottom of the Red Sea. Then the Hyskos took over Egypt without a battle. Without a battle? How? The entire army was at the bottom of the Red Sea.

41. Searching for Moses Pharaoh’s of the Bible RamesesAs mentioned in the Bible, is a location. It is associated with an Egyptian word which means “Door of two roads.”Pharaohs in later times (including the 18th dynasty) called themselves Rameses attributing dichotomous power to themselves.

42. Searching for Moses So, there is evidence for • Israelite slavery in Egypt • Sudden disappearance of these slaves • The plagues • And the destruction of Pharaoh and the Egyptian army If you look in the right time period.