Israel in Egypt

I have already commented on Dagood’s utterly lame attempt to discredit the Exodus.

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2006/04/plagues-of-egypt.html

Here I’d round out my discussion by drawing attention to a major monograph of the subject which Dagood completely ignores.

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Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Dec 1999 by Aling, Charles

Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition. By James K. Hoffmeier. New York: Oxford University, 1997, 224 pp., $35.00.

Hoffmeier's new work is a necessary corrective to the current trend in Biblical scholarship characterized by the heavy use of anthropological and sociological models and by a hypercritical attitude toward the OT. His stated aim is to follow the evidence where it leads, and he concludes that there is no need for skepticism regarding the essential historicity of the rise of Joseph to power in Egypt, the sojourn and bondage of Israel in Egypt, and the accounts of the exodus.

Hoffmeier's first two chapters present an excellent summary of the current state of the debate over Israel's origins. Hoffmeier brings together a thorough knowledge of the critical literary studies of the OT and the latest historical and archaeological data. The melding of such materials is indeed a strongpoint of the book throughout. Hoffmeier concludes that much of the skeptical attitude toward a conquest model is based on current theories of historiography more than on evidence.

In chap. 3 Hoffmeier summarizes the textual and archaeological evidence for a Semitic presence in late Middle Kingdom Egypt and beyond. His collection of virtually all the available major sources makes it clear that there was a definite Semitic presence in Egypt in the times required for Israel's sojourn.

Chapter 4 deals with the Joseph story, again from both the viewpoint of literary criticism and Egyptology. The chapter is brief, hitting only certain highpoints of this rich Biblical passage. Hoffmeier defends the historicity of the account. Perhaps the best part of the chapter is the section dealing with the Egyptian proper names, while the weakest is that dealing with the status and titles of Joseph. While seeming to accept Ward's denial that Joseph was ever vizier, Hoffmeier does not discuss the possibility that Joseph was chief steward of the king, nor does he attempt to date the career of Joseph.

Hoffmeier's fifth chapter, on the details of the Israelite sojourn in Egypt after Joseph, is excellent. Particularly valuable is his discussion of the toponymns in the account. He is perhaps a bit too hasty in dismissing Tell el-Maskhuta as Pithom on the basis of lack of New Kingdom habitation evidence. If the bondage began earlier than the New Kingdom, under the Hyksos, this site could well be Pithom.

Chapter 6, on Moses and the exodus, presents much important material. Hoffmeier points out the inadequacy of claiming the birth account of Moses is based on that of Sargon of Akkad, but does not call our attention to parallels between the Moses stories and other ancient texts such as the Story of Sinuhe. The main argument of the chapter is that the ten plagues were not so much attacks on individual gods of Egypt as a frontal assault on the power of Pharaoh. Hoffmeier is correct in denying that each plague was an attack on a particular deity, a view held by some (although not I, as Hoffmeier claims in a note: see my Egypt and Bible History, p. 106).

The last three chapters deal with the complex topic of Exodus geography. Hoffmeier attempts, using his own good personal knowledge of the eastern delta, to locate the places named in the account where possible. He identifies the Yam Suph with one of the lakes along the Isthmus of Suez, but stresses that absolute identification is not currently possible.

Hoffmeier's book is an important contribution to the study of the Hebrew experience in Egypt. Its two major strengths are the author's powerful refutation of hypercritical views on the narrative and his presentation of the latest Egyptological data.