I am still gathering the facts which have been substantiated by David Rohl’s New Chronology. In 1 Kings 6:1 we are told the Exodus from Egypt occurred 480 years before the founding of the Temple of Jerusalem. According to Thiele’s Chronology Solomon’s coronation took place in 931 BC. Thus the temple was founded in 928 BC. Moses brought the Israelites out from Egypt in approximately 1447 BC. (supported by Judges 11:26 where we are told 300 years elapsed from the conquest of the land to Jephthah (around 1110 BC). Thus Moses birth took place approx 1527 BC
Neferhotep I became Pharoah in 1540 BC. The Royal Canon of Turin records eleven years and one month for Neferhotep’s reign. Thus Moses was born a few years after Neferhotep’s reign. Do we have any evidence for Moses? Eusebius wrote Evangelicae Preparationis (Preparations for the Gospel) in which he refers to a Jewish historian Artapanus whose work didn’t survive. But we have chunks of it quoted by Eusebius and Clement in his Stromata. The story of Moses’ early life was recorded in some detail by Artapanus.
According to Artapanus, Palmanothes was the Pharoah who persecuted the Israelites. He built a city called Kessan and founded a temple there and at Heliopolis. He had a daughter named Merris. She adopted a Hebrew child who grew up to become Prince Mousos. Merris married Khenephres and Mousos administered the land for him and became popular with the Egyptian people. Mousos led a military campaign to Ethiopia lasting 10 years. When he returned Khenephres became jealous of Mousos who fled to Arabia. He lived with Raguel, a priest and ruler of the region and married the daughter of one of his sons Hobab. Khenephres died and Mousos returned to Egypt to a new pharaoh. The plagues hit Egypt and Mousos led the Israelites out of Egypt.
The names are difficult to equate with Egyptian names but Kessan is likely to be Kes, which is in the delta area and thus Goshen (after the Hebrew text). This equates with On or Heliopolis in association with the cities of Raamses and Pithom. Moses married Zipporah, the daughter of Hobab (also called Jethro) the son of Raguel.
Who was Khenephres (Grk)?
Manetho names the third ruler of the 5th Dynasty as Nepherkheres (Egypt). The Egyptian equivalent is Khaneferre. There is only one pharaoh in the whole of Egyptian history has taken this name. After the death of Neferhotep I, Sobekhotep became the 23rd ruler of the 13th Dynasty. Sobekhotep’s full name is Khaneferre Sobekhotep IV. So Moses birth coincided with the reign of one of the most powerful Egyptian pharaohs.
David Rohl estimates Sobekhotep’s reign lasted 20 years from 1529 to 1510 BC. As it seems Sobekhotep married the daughter of the delta king Palmanothes. This was likely to have been a strategic alliance marriage. Colossal statues of Sobekhotep have been found in the Delta region indicating his influence in the area. He reigned long before Pi-Ramesse was founded in the 19th dynasty but other texts associated him with the city of Avaris.
What about the land of Goshen and Moses’ town?
Excavations in the eastern Delta north of the town of Fakus have established this to be the site of Pi-Ramesse, capital of the 19th and 20th Dynasties. An Austrian team of archaeologists, led by Manfred Bietak, have been excavating at Tel ed-Daba since 1960. They have established that the town of Tel ed-Daba sits on top of ancient Avaris, Fakis (Egypt) or Phacusa (Grk). Faiyum is the name given to the Delta basin which surrounds the inland sea. Pa-Yam, Fa-Kus, Pa-Kes all mean “the sea” cf Yam Suph / Suf – the Red or Reed Sea (Hebrew). This is the place the Septuagint names Kessan. These places are all within a stone’s throw from Avaris – Tel ed-Daba
An ancient manuscript has been found which is now kept in Arezzo in Italy which confirms much of this detail. In contrast to the claims that the story of Moses and the Exodus are pure fiction. we will see in following Nuggets the proof which debunks that view. There are still exciting revelations ahead of us. Hang on to your seat and make sure your seatbelt is fastened securely.
Source: A Test of Time by David Rohl
There is a book – Great Pyramid, Its Divine Message, by D. Davidson & H. Aldersmith – published prior to 1925. The authors pursued local traditions that the Great Pyramid contained a record of past, and future history in its measurements. In their calculations, they arrived at 1486 BC as the date of the Exodus, not far off from Rohl. Even more impressive is their future predictions. They said that world events would make a dramatic shift and speed up around the time of the autumnal equinox of 2001, (Sept 22 2001). We know how 9/11 changed the world.
Thanks for drawing my attention to this Mel.