1890 BC (Wilson 1969: 229), 190 years before Jacobovici’s entry date of 1700 BC. Wrong again! The painting is clearly dated by an inscription to the sixth year of Sesostris II, ca. He then goes on to say that the Beni Hasan tomb painting dates to 1700 BC. The length of the Sojourn as recorded in the Bible was 430 years (Ex 12:40). At this point in the narration, he states “we know from the Bible that the Israelites arrived in Egypt some 200 years before their Exodus.” This is incorrect. Jacobovici wishes to connect a Semite caravan depicted in a Middle Kingdom tomb at Beni Hasan in Middle Egypt with the migration of Jacob and his family to Egypt. (ABR photo by Michael Luddeni)Įxhibit C: Tomb at Beni Hasan. Wooden sarcophagus of Ahmose, Egyptian Museum, Cairo. In addition, the third problem with Jacobovici's thesis is that Ahmose drove the Hyksos out of their capital Avaris by force of arms, whereas the Israelites left peacefully when Pharaoh ordered them out to avoid further calamities. As we have seen, however, more than 100 years separate Ahmose and the Pharaoh of the Exodus, so the identification is invalid. Associations can be seen as far back as the third-century BC Egyptian priest Manetho (Redford 1992: 412–19). But Jacobovici is not the first to make a connection between the expulsion of the Hyksos and the Israelite Exodus. By associating the Exodus event with the expulsion of the Hyksos, Jacobovici maintains that, for the first time, we know who the Pharaoh of the Exodus was-Ahmose. They built palaces and temples at their capital city of Avaris, and had far-flung commercial operations.Įxhibit B: Pharaoh Ahmose. The Hyksos, in fact, ruled Egypt for 108 years. The second major problem with the hypothesis is that the Hyksos were not slaves, but wealthy merchants and rulers of Egypt. There was no rain or flooding associated with the ninth plague of “darkness that can be felt” (Ex 10:21). The stela tells of darkness and a fierce rain storm that caused devastating flooding (Redford 1997: 16). Voilà, discrepancy resolved! Even with this nifty slight-of-hand, there is not a good correlation between the stela and the Biblical plagues. Jacobovici overcomes this difficulty by arbitrarily splitting the difference between the two events he raises the date of the Exodus to 1500 BC and lowers the date of the expulsion to 1500 BC. According to Biblical chronology, on the other hand, the Exodus occurred in 1446 BC (Young 2003), over a century after the expulsion of the Hyksos. First, the expulsion is dated to the 15th year of Ahmose, ca. This raises three insurmountable problems.
His major premise in the documentary is that the Biblical Exodus is the same event as the expulsion of the Hyksos in Egyptian records. Jacobovici claims that the darkness and storm described in the stela are related to the Biblical plagues. The stela tells of a great storm during Ahmose’s rule, ca. Ahmose went on to establish the powerful Egyptian 18th Dynasty. The Hyksos, meaning “foreign rulers” in Egyptian, were Canaanite traders who had emigrated from southern Canaan. It was under the leadership of Ahmose that the Egyptians drove out the hated foreign Hyksos who had infiltrated Egypt’s eastern Nile delta. The information is conveniently organized by “Exhibits.” Let us examine the Exhibits one-by-one to check their credibility.Įxhibit A: The Ahmose Stela. In the end, Jacobovici does more harm than good since he mishandles the archaeological evidence, hence providing fuel to skeptics who wish to undermine the Exodus. But, alas, the presentation suffers from the same fate as other similar “documentaries”-dates are revised willy-nilly to make everything neatly come together to explain the events of the Exodus. Some of Jacobovici’s points are old hat, having been proposed before, while others are indeed new.
Produced and narrated by Simcha Jacobovici, the film purportedly provides new evidence to demonstrate the Exodus really happened. Previously it had been broadcast on the Discovery Channel in Canada in April and was shown at the Jerusalem Film Festival in July. The $3.5 million documentary The Exodus Decoded made its US debut August 20 on the History Channel. The Exodus Decoded made its US debut August 20 on the History Channel. Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Chronologies.People, Places, and Things in the New Testament.People, Places, and Things in the Hebrew Bible.Inspiration, Authority, Biblical Criticism and the Documentary Hypothesis.Ancient Manuscripts, Translations, and Texts.Amazing Discoveries in Biblical Archaeology.Life & Ministry of Jesus & the Apostles.
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