WHO WROTE:  Moses.  Anyone who would like to argue that this Book (and the other four Books of the Pentateuch) has to argue with Philip (John 1:45) and our Lord Jesus Himself (Mat. 8:4; Mark 1:44; 10:3; 12:26; Luke 5:14; 16:29, 31; 20:37; 24:44; John 3:14; 5:45, 46; 6:32; 7:19, 22, 23).  See also Exodus 24:4; Numbers 33:2; Deuteronomy 31:9, 22; Joshua 8:32; Mark 12:19; Luke 20:28.

 

 

WHAT TIME PERIOD IS COVERED:  The Historic time comprised in this Book stems from the death of Joseph to the erection of the tabernacle in the wilderness, which is about one hundred and forty-five years (see my Bible Spreadsheet:  “GENEALOGY CHART,” or my Bible Spreadsheet:  “CHRONOLOGY CHART,” or even better, my Bible Study:  EGYPT, HOW LONG IN.).  This is based upon the supposition that the four hundred and thirty years (Exo. 12:40) are to be computed starting from the time of the promises made to Abraham (Gal. 3:17).

 

 

WHEN WRITTEN:  B.C. 1499 - B.C. 1489.

 

 

INTRODUCTION:  It took about 4 days to get Israel out of Egypt; but it took 40 years to get Egypt out of Israel.

 

The Book of Exodus is called in Hebrew “shemot,” literally "names" in English, according to the opening words of that ancient document. "And these are the names" is how it begins.

 

Exodus is the name given in the “LXX” (the “Septuagint”), which is the Greek version of the Alexandrian Jews.  It means “departure,” or “outgoing.”  The Hebrews called it by the first words in the Book, according to their custom, “Ve-eleh shemoth,” which means, “and these are the names.”  Sometimes they named the Book after the first noun, “shemoth,” meaning, “names.”

 

By the time of the Exodus however, Israel counted "(37) about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. (38) And a mixed multitude went up also with them," Exodus 12:37-38.  It is estimated to be about 600,000 men, plus 600,000 women, plus 2 children per family, which would equal about 1,200,000, which would total about two and one half million.

 

There is a legitimate argument that according to Egyptian record keeping, there is no record of any event such as the Exodus of Israel, or any other nation.  That is a true statement.  And in-and-of by itself has merit and weight – in any other legitimate historical culture.  By contrast, Egyptian culture of the time (kings; and parts now – due to Muslim culture and influence), did not record any of its defeats.  Plus, the depiction of a brick-making scene “In The Tomb Of Rekhmire,” in the Valley of the Nobles in Lower Egypt, of Canaanite peoples (Israelis) making brick is quite conclusive.  Along with inscriptions under the artwork of said diagram stating, “stablemasters enforcing the making of bricks.”

 

“The covenant made with Abraham four hundred and thirty years before the Law was spoken on Sinai was a covenant confirmed by God in Christ.”  2ST:444.

 

The expulsion of the lepers and the unclean, who before this had desolated the country and acquired supremacy over it, as reported by Manetho and other historians, is an Egyptian version of and for the Exodus of Israel.

 

In regards to the dating and who was Pharaoh at the time of the Exodus, it has been assumed that Ramesses II was the Pharaoh at this time (please see my Exo. 1:8 Note before continuing on).  However, the date given and mostly accepted for his reign is B.C. 1250, based upon the city of Rameses, which the Israelites built.  This is based solely on the first two Chapters of the Book of Exodus, which allows other scholars to place the time of the Exodus at B.C. 1450.

 

The bases for any argument for either date is when Joshua conquered Jericho, which is placed at around B.C. 1210.  If this is true, then the B.C. 1250 dating would not fall in line correctly and the B.C. 1450 dating would be more reliable.  Based upon my Bible Study:  “CHRONOLOGICAL CHART,” I have the date of the Exodus at B.C. 1519.

 

Archeology tends to agree also with the now Biblically accepted date of the Exodus at B.C. 1450, which places Thutmose III as being the Pharaoh of the Exodus (Born B.C. 1481; Died B.C. 1425).  However, the interesting prospect for this being true is that there is no sign of any loss of power, any destruction of the Egyptian economy (like plagues), or any other disruption to Thutmose III’s reign.  Therefore, the destruction of Jericho dating is key to unlocking the dating of the Exodus.

 

According to Genesis 47:11, the land given to Joseph for his family, aligns with the timing of Ramesses II, which again, is around B.C. 1250.  Thus, the timing of the Exodus as being around B.C. 1519-1450 is very acceptable.

 

In regards to the Pharaoh of the time of Moses (Exo. 1:8-11 and onward), there is a Papyrus found called, “Royal Canon of Turin (Columns VI to VIII),” in which, under VII, we find Dudimose, who is the 40th known Pharaoh of Egypt, of the 13th Dynasty.  What is interesting about him is that he is understood to be virtually the last king of the 13th Dynasty, which lines up with his firstborn dying (no successor) and him disappearing from history (not being buried with other Pharaoh’s of Egypt).

 

To back this up, “Manetho on the Hyksos,” as quoted in Josephus, states, “Tutimaeus [= Tutimaeus is the Greek for Dudimose].  In his reign, for what cause I know not, a blast of God smote us (i.e., the Egyptians);” What makes statement this even more powerful, is you would expect an Egyptian to state, “And the God’s [plural] smote us.” Continuing on, “and unexpectedly, from the regions of the East [this would be from Sinai], invaders of obscure race marched in confidence of victory against our land.”  That would be because there was no one else left to defend Egypt from invaders.

 

Continuing on, “By main force they easily seized it, without striking a blow; and having overpowered the rulers of the land, they then burned our cities ruthlessly, razed to the ground the temples of the gods [notice the plural], and treated all the natives with a cruel hostility, massacring some and leading into slavery the wives and the children of others.”

 

Getting back to Jericho, if we read Joshua 11:10 we find:  “And Joshua at that time turned back, and took Hazor, and smote the king thereof with the sword:  for Hazor beforetime was the head of all those kingdoms.”  Notice that Hazor “was the head of all those kingdoms.”  In other words, if Joshua had not taken care of the most powerful of all the kingdoms of the time, only God knows how history would have changed.  Plus, we now know who “the king thereof” of Hazor was, that being “Jabin,” Joshua 11:1.

 

On excavating Hazor, which was destroyed in about the same time as Jericho, a Royal Tablet was found.  It is in Cuneiform, which was common for kings writing to each other at the time, and the name “Yabni-Addu” is who the letter is addressed to, “Yabni-Addu” being the “Jabin,” of the Bible (see Jos. 11:1).  The dating of this would be somewhere around B.C. 1400; or a little more than 40 years after the Exodus.  I have Joshua dying in B.C. 1449 based upon Biblical records of when a person was born and when he died (again, see my Bible Study:  “CHRONOLOGICAL CHART”), and therefore Hazor being destroyed around B.C. 1478.

 

Lastly, according to Joshua 24:25-27, Joshua set up a “stone,” verse 27, in “Shechem,” which has been found in the excavations thereof, still standing to this day.  Now according to Judges 9:45-49, a temple in Shechem was destroyed by fire, exactly as archeology has discovered from unearthing this “stone” set up by Joshua, the timing of which is pre-B.C. 1400.  I’ll let you work it out.