p. 11 | Aids for Bible Readers

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 23, 1908

Aids for Bible Readers

Historical quotations and extracts from various writers which may assist the thoughtful student of the Scriptures.

Egypt in the Time of the Exodus

It was not to be expected that the general series of events related in the first fourteen chapters of Exodus should obtain any direct mention in the historical records of Egypt. As M. Chabas remarks, “Events of this kind were not entitled to be inscribed on the public monuments, where nothing was ever registered except successes and triumphs.”

The court historiographers would naturally refrain from all mention of the terrible plagues from which Egypt suffered during a whole year, as well as from any record of the disaster of the Red Sea; and the monarch would certainly not inscribe any account of them upon his edifices. Still there are points of the narrative which admit of comparison with the records of the time, and in which an agreement or disagreement with those records would almost of necessity show itself; and these it is proposed to consider in the remainder of this chapter. Such are (1) the employment of forced labor in Egypt at this period of its history, and the method

of its employment; (2) the inclusion or non-inclusion of the Hebrews among the forced laborers; (3) the construction at the period of “store-cities,” and the names of the cities; (4) the military organization of the time; (5) the untimely loss of a son by the king under whom the Exodus took place; and (6) the existence or non-existence of any indication in the records of such exhaustion and weakness as might be expected to follow the events related in Exodus.

The use of forced labor by the Egyptian monarchs of the time, especially by Seti I and Rameses II, is abundantly witnessed to by the monuments. The kings speak of it as a matter of course; the poets deplore it; the artists represent it. It was the custom of the Egyptians to subject prisoners of war to this life of forced labor. A tomb of the time of Thothmes III has furnished pictures which represent Asiatic captives making bricks; and working at buildings under the rod of taskmasters,—pictures which are a figured commentary on the verses of Exodus (1:11-14) which we have just cited. But under Rameses II the unprecedented development of architectural works rendered the fatigues to which such wretches were exposed far more overwhelming. Gangs of laborers were placed under the charge of an overseer armed with a stick which he applied freely to their naked backs and shoulders on the slightest provocation. A certain definite amount of task-work was required every day of each laborer. Some worked at brick-making, some at stone-cutting, some at dragging blocks from the quarries, some at erecting edifices. Food was provided by the government, and appears not to have been insufficient; but the hard work, and the exposure to the burning sun of Egypt, were exhausting in the extreme, and rendered their life a burden to those condemned to pass it in this sort of employ. . . .

The construction of “store-cities” at the required period has received recent illustrations of the most remarkable kind. The explorers employed by the “Egyptian Exploration Fund” have uncovered at Tel-el-Maskoutah, near Tel-el-Kebir, an ancient city, which the inscriptions found on the spot show to have been built, in part at any rate, by Rameses II, and which is of so peculiar a construction as to suggest at once to those engaged in the work the idea that it was built for a “store-city.” The town is altogether a square, enclosed by a brick wall twenty-two feet thick, and measuring six hundred and fifty feet along each side. The area contained within the wall is estimated at about ten acres. Nearly the whole of this space is occupied by solidly built square chambers, divided one from the other by brick walls from eight to ten feet thick, which are unpierced by window or door, or opening of any kind. About ten feet from the bottom, the walls show a row of recesses for beams, in some of which decayed wood still remains, indicating that the buildings were two-storied, having ing a lower room, which could only be entered by means of a trap-door, used probably as a storehouse, or magazine, and an upper one, in which the keeper of the store may have had his abode. Thus far the discovery is simply that of a “store-city,” built partly by Rameses II; but it further appears, from several short inscriptions, that the name of the city was Pa-Tum, or Pithom; and there is thus no reasonable doubt that one of the two cities built by the Israelites has been laid bare, and answers completely to the description given of it.

Of the twin city, Rameses, the remains have not yet been identified. We know, however, from the inscriptions, that it was in the immediate vicinity of Tanis, and that it was built perhaps in part by Seti I, but mainly by his son Rameses II [the Pharaoh of the Exodus].

It lends additional interest to the discovery of Pithom that the city is found to be built almost entirely of brick. It was in brick-making that the Israelites are said in the book of Exodus (1:7-19) to have been principally employed. They are also said to have been occupied to some extent “in mortar” (1:14); and the bricks of the store-chambers of Pithom are “laid with mortar in regular tiers.” They made their bricks “with straw” until no straw was given them, when they were reduced to straits (5:7-19). It is in accordance with this part of the narrative, and sheds some additional light upon it, to find that the bricks of the Pithom chambers, while generally containing a certain amount of straw, are in some instances destitute of it.

The military organization of the Egyptians at the time of the Exodus is represented as very complete. The king is able almost at a moment’s warning, to take the field with a force of six hundred picked chariots, and numerous others of a more ordinary description, together with a considerable body of footmen. It does not appear that he has any cavalry, for the word translated “horsemen” in our version probably designates the riders in the chariots. Each squadron of thirty chariots is apparently under the command of a “captain” (14:7). The entire force, large as it is, is ready to take the field in a few days; for otherwise the Israelites would have got beyond the Egyptian border before Pharaoh could have overtaken them. It acts promptly and bravely, and only suffers disaster through circumstances of an abnormal and indeed miraculous character. Now it appears by the Egyptian monuments that the military system was brought to its highest perfection by Seti I and Rameses II. It is certain that, in their time, the army was most carefully organized, divided into brigades, and maintained in a state of constant preparation. The chariot force was regarded as of very much the highest importance, and amounted according to the lowest computation to several thousands. It is doubtful whether any cavalry was employed, none appearing on the monuments, and the word so translated by many writers being regarded by others as the proper designation of the troops who fought in chariots. Infantry, however, in large, well-disciplined bodies, always attended and supported the chariot force. Under Menephthah the system of his father and grandfather was still maintained, though no longer in full vigor. He required a fortnight to collect sufficient troops to meet the Libyan invasion. He had then, however, to meet an army of trained soldiers, and had no need to hasten, since he occupied a strong position. Under the circumstances of the Exodus, it was necessary to be more prompt, and sufficient to collect a much smaller army. This he appears to have been able to do at the end of a few days.

It was scarcely to be expected that the Egyptian records would present any evidence on the subject of Menephthah’s loss of a son by an untimely death. Curiously, however, it does happen that a monument at present in the Berlin Museum contains a proof of his having suffered such a loss. There is no description of the circumstances, but a mere indication of the bare fact. The confirmation thus lent to the Scriptural narrative is slight; but it has a value in a cause where the entire force of the evidence consists in its being cumulative.

Three results would naturally follow on the occurrence of such circumstances as those recorded in Exodus. Egypt would be for a time weakened in a military point of view, and her glory, as a conquering power, would suffer temporary eclipse. The royal authority would be shaken, and encouragement afforded to the pretensions of any rival claimants to the throne. The loss of six hundred thousand laborers would bring to an end the period of the construction of great works, or, at the least, greatly check their rapid multiplication. Now this is exactly what all historians of Egypt agree to have been the general condition of things in Egypt in the later years of Menephthah and the period immediately following. Military expeditions cease until the time of Rameses III, a space of nearly forty years. The later years of Menephthah are disturbed by the rise of a pretender, Ammon-mes, who disputes the throne with his son, and according to Manetho, occupies it for five years. Seti II, or Seti-Menephthah, has then a short reign; but another claimant is brought forward by a high official, and established in his place. Soon afterward complete anarchy sets in, and continues for several years, till a certain Setnekht is made king by the priests, and tranquillity once more restored. The construction of monuments during this period almost entirely ceases; and when Rameses III shows the desire to emulate the architectural glories of former kings, he is compelled to work on a much smaller scale, and to content himself with the erection of comparatively few edifices.—“Egypt and Babylon,” by Canon Rawlinson, London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1885, pages 278-287.