Now that we have the chronological link between Shishak and Ramesses, we now know that Ramesses II was the Pharoah who destroyed the temple in Jerusalem in 925 BC. As a result of that chronological certainty, David Rohl has calculated the date of Joseph’s arrival in Egypt as 1683 BC. Rohl estimates that Joseph’s appointment as Grand Vizier in Egypt was in 1670 BC and therefore Jacob’s arrival in Egypt is thus determined to be 1662 BC. As a result of determining these key dates we can consult the New Chronology for the Egyptian pharaohs to determine that Amenemhat III was the Pharoah who gave Joseph his political office.
Can we find evidence of a significant famine during the reign of Amenemhat III which gives credibility to the Biblical story?
Between the forts, Semna on the west Nile bank and Kumma on the east Nile bank there are hieroglyphic marks with an inscription on the rock face. Each inscription gives the name of the king and the regnal year in association with the high water mark. These inundation marks were first discovered by Karl Richard Lepsius in 1844. Archaeologists have not found a mark for every year. Not every year was recorded it seems and some marks have fallen off or been washed away. But fifteen marks are intact covering the Middle Kingdom period. The question then arises, why was this period monitored so closely. Why were there no marks after Year 8 of Senuseret III when the fortresses were manned? Some have suggested that only the abnormally high levels of flow volumes were recorded. What constitutes normal and what is a good inundation level?
In Senuseret’s reign at the beginning of the 12th Dynasty a good flood level was 12.5 metres (or 11.3 metres recorded at the Island of Elephantine). The average high flood level of Nile in this period was 12 metres above the low water mark. The evidence recorded at the Semna fort indicates that in the first two decades of Amenemhat’s reign, the average flood level on the Nile River rose to 17 metres, an increase of 5 metres above the normal flood level. A good flood, with water levels that were not too high and allowed for fast drainage of the flood plain would bring extra silt and expand the area of cultivation for future years. A 17 m flood was probably right on the maximum level for a good flood. A flood higher than that seems indicative of a flood that resulted in too much excess water to handle, meaning the flood plain was left inundated for a long time thus shortening the growing season for crops.
By Amenemhat’s twentieth year the flood levels rose to an average of 21 metres for the next 6 years or so. These would certainly have been disastrous floods with three to four times the volume of water in the Nile, bringing destruction and leaving the land inundated for successive months. Especially if this was a serial event year after year, the fields would have been destroyed and could not have been replanted for a long period of time. The second decade of Amenemhat’s reign coincided with Joseph’s prophecy of the coming famine.
The next six Pharoahs following Amenemhat have Sobek in their name – Sobek is name of the “crocodile God”. After Amenemhat came Sobekkare, Sobekneferure and Sobekhotep etc. Egyptian pharaohs often added to their name, the names of the gods they were seeking to appease. This series of pharaohs with the additional name “sobek” suggests an attempt to appease the river gods and the concern of the leaders for the successive years of high water levels on the Nile.
During this period, the reigns of the pharoahs following Amenemhat III began a series of very short reigns, indicating political instability. Archaeologist Montet commented on the fact that there were many sad faces on the portraits of the pharaohs on the outside of the sarcophagi which entombed the mummies of these deceased pharaohs. According to David Rohl’s calculations Joseph was released from prison in Amenemhat’s 30th year. The match is perfect. Read again Chapter 41 of Genesis from the first verse to the thirty-first. The duration of seven years of abundant harvest followed by seven years of famine matches well the recorded marks for successive years of first abundance and then lack. It marks the delicate balance between floods which were benign and floods which were disastrous. After Amenemhat III’s thirtieth year the flood records returned to normal 17 m flood levels. By Pharoah Sekhemkare’s reign the floods had stopped.
Note that in Joseph’s dream he saw the cows coming up from the river. It seems the dream was a portent of the disaster to come and that disaster was going to come from the Nile River. Which of course accords well with the details recorded in the high-water marks etched with hieroglyphics explanation left as inscriptions on the rock face both sides of the Nile river at the Semna and Kumma forts. The timing in terms of the Joseph story recorded in the Bible matches the details found in records from the time of Pharoah Amenemhat III under David Rohl’s New Chronology.
But it doesn’t stop there. Be prepared for more in the next Nugget.
Source: A Test of Time by David Rohl