Bible Scholar

The precise date of the Exodus from Egypt is uncertain, because the information in the Bible can be interpreted to support more than one date. Archaeological discoveries also present a confused picture. The result is that some scholars date the Exodus as early as 1446 B.C., while others place it later, about 1290 B.C.

The circumstances of Egyptian history are not very helpful either, because surviving Egyptian records do not mention either Joseph or Moses in any historical period. Neither does the Bible name the Pharaoh who ruled Egypt in Moses’ day. The Exodus occurred after the rise of a new king who “did not know Joseph,” or, who refused to recognize Joseph’s achievements.

Furthermore, the date of Israel’s departure from Egypt involves difficult problems, and the subject is filled with confusion. Setting aside extreme views by some scholars, who regard the story of the Exodus as a garbled version of the Egyptian saga of Hyksos expulsion, or like others, who give it a very late date under Merneptah or even somewhat later, only two principal views exist. The first places the event around 1441 B.C. in the reign of Amenhotep II of the Eighteenth Dynasty, and the second places it around 1290 B.C. in the reign of Rameses II in the Nineteenth Dynasty.

Although any view of the Exodus date is so plagued with problems that many scholars contend that “the complete harmonization” of the Biblical account “and our extra-biblical material is quite impossible,” it is, nevertheless, true on the basis of many considerations that the early date view (1441 B.C.) is the Biblical one. This is denied by many on the basis of Ex. 1:11 and other evidence. But if one carefully surveys all the Scriptural evidence, taking into consideration the whole time scheme underlying the Pentateuch and the early history of Israel to the time of Solomon, it is clear that the Old Testament places this great redemptive event around the middle of the fifteenth century B.C., rather than a full century and a half later. Evidence both within and without the Bible in support of this is not easily set aside.

An explicit Scriptural statement places the Exodus about 1441 B.C. In I Kings 6:1 it is explicitly stated that Solomon “began to build the house of the Lord” in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt.” The fourth year of Solomon’s reign, when he is said to have begun to build the Temple, would be about 961 B.C. Since Solomon ruled forty years (11:42), the fourth year of his reign would be variously computed by modern chronologists as being the year 958 B.C. Also, contemporary Egyptian history and contemporary events in Palestine support the 1441 B.C. date of the Exodus.

Exodus 1:11 says, however, that the Israelites in Egypt built the store cities of Pithom and Raamses for Pharaoh. Evidently the name Raamses was not used in Egypt before 1300 B.C. If one of the store cities was named for a king by that name, the Exodus could not have happened before 1300 B.C. Thus, some scholars believe the Exodus must have taken place after 1300 B.C.

It has been the opinion of most scholars since the rise of modern Egyptology that the Exodus likely occurred during the reign of Ramses II in the nineteenth dynasty about 1270 B.C.

Now, adherents of the early date of the Exodus (1441 B.C) also find support for their position from the Amarna Letters (1400-1366 B.C.). These cuneiform tablets, discovered at the site of Akhnaton’s capital, contain correspondence from the kings of the city states in Canaan who ask the help of the Pharaoh against a people known as Habiru. This, it is suggested, is a description of the battles fought subsequent to the Exodus by the armies of Israel in seeking to accomplish the conquest of Canaan.

There are, however, serious difficulties in the matter of accepting the early date. During the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egyptian history, when the early date would fall, the capital of Egypt was at Thebes south of the delta, and the building operations of Thutmose III seem to have been centered there. Subsequently, however, during the time of the Rameses the Pharaohs resided in the Delta where they engaged in extensive building activity. It is specifically in the Delta region, adjacent to Goshen, where Moses met with Pharaoh, and it was in the city of Rameses, also known as Avaris and Tanis in the eastern Delta where the Israelites are reported to have labored (Ex. 1:11). Advocates of the early date suggest that the name Rameses is a modernization of an older name. Because of these problems in dating the Exodus as early as 1441 B.C., an increasing number of Biblical scholars have come to accept a date in the 13th century.

However, with all this evidence that has been presented, the date of the Exodus is uncertain, depending on which calculation one uses. We have found that many scholars support a fifteenth century B.C. date while others argue for dates up to two hundred years later. But, the bottom line is this, the Bible gives no date or the name of the Pharaoh of the Exodus.

So, this is the conclusion I have come to. I found from several references that the reign of Solomon was believed to be around 1000-961 B.C. somewhere in between this time period. Also, it has been mentioned that the Bible says in I Kings 6:1 “And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.”

Therefore, based on this calculation, I must lean toward the believe that the Exodus occurred in the 15th century, but, the exact date in the 15th century in my opinion is still unknown.