The biblical narrative of an extended Israelite stay in Egypt and a spectacular mass exodus under the nose of pharaoh long has been the laughingstock of ancient Near Eastern scholars, as no evidence of any of these events outside the biblical narrative has been presented.
These days are coming to an end.
Dramatic and spectacular evidence both for the Israelite sojourn in Egypt, the exodus, and the first Passover is the focus of the book I am now writing, entitled: Evidence of Israelites in Egypt from Joseph's Time until the Exodus and will contain an important contribution from ABR's Director of Research, Dr. Bryant Wood. In preparation for the book, I just published an article in the secular, Egyptological journal, The Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections (5/2: 9-28). This article serves the 'John the Baptist role' for the book, offering no biblical references, but preparing the scene for all that will come. The following is a summary of what is found in the article.
An Austrian archaeological team, led by Dr. Manfred Bietak, has excavated the palatial district at Avaris (Tell el-Dab'a) and produced some significant results for illuminating the Nile Delta's history during the 15th and 18th Dynasties. While Bietak's subsequent publications primarily have focused on the exquisite Minoan wall paintings and the site's likely association with Peru-nefer, Egypt's naval base during the height of her imperialistic thrust into Asia, much less attention has centered on the timing of the mid-18th-Dynasty abandonment of Avaris (= biblical Rameses) that Bietak says occurred 'after Amenhotep II', and was followed by an inexplicable occupational gap. Did the abandonment occur during the reign of Amenhotep II, at the end of his reign, or during the reign of Thutmose IV?
The present work will seek to bring together all of the relevant data-from the archaeological evidence at the site, the epigraphical record, and corroborative evidence from Theban tomb paintings-in an attempt to determine more precisely the timing of the mid-18th-Dynasty abandonment of the site (i.e. the mid-2nd millennium BC).
This article powerfully validates the conclusions drawn in the article I previously wrote on the identity of the exodus-pharaoh, which also is available on the ABR website. Due to the policy of JAEI, the new article cannot be uploaded onto the internet for random downloading. However, I am able to provide it individually to whomever I would like to give a copy.
If you desire to have a PDF file of this article, Toward Pinpointing the Timing of the Egyptian Abandonment of Avaris during the Middle of the 18th Dynasty, please submit your request to the ABR office by email and ABR will provide you with an electronic copy on my behalf. This article is not to be posted publicly on any internet forum or website. Doing so could jeopardize our ability to properly share this important research with Christians and sincere seekers. The article may be cited or quoted in a normal scholarly fashion in a manner that does not violate its copyright status or entail plagiarism.
Please pray for this article and subsequent book to successfully equip the church to defend the historicity of the Exodus and to demonstrate, once again, that critics of the Bible are grossly in error.
Yours for the King,
Douglas Petrovich, PhD Candidate, ThM, MDiv, MA
University of Toronto, NMC Department
ABR Associate
