The
evidence presented so far,can be used to verify other passages in the
Bible that refer to the Exodus.One of those was made in Judges
11:26.The judge Jephthah claimed that the Isrealites had been in
Heshbon for 300 years.That has been discounted by many historians,due
to the fact that 300 years from 1250,would have Jephthah reigning
around 950 b.c.,the period that has been given to Solomon.Popular
opinion is that the amount of years were an estimate,or a misprint.It
has also been common practice to allot the combined reign of the
Judges two hundred years less than the Bible does.If the Exodus date
is changed to 1458 b.c.the reigns of the Judges can remain as they
appear in the Bible,including Jephthah's.From the first judge to the
beginning of his reign can be figured around 301 years,using Biblical
passages.That would not allow for a long conquest of Canaan,as some
have claimed,but it does coincide with the Bible within a few
years.Careful study of the Scriptures will show that the conquest did
not end with the beginning of the Judges.Although some Judges may
have overlapped others,as we are told the Bible accounts for all
periods of war,subjection,and rest.
The other reference to the Exodus,is in Kings 6:1.Solomon began
building the Temple in His fourth year,which was the 480th year of
theExodus.As history has stated,His reign can be placed around 980
b.c.It can actually be pinpointed to the year,which is one of the few
early rulers that can be.It is common knowledge that the Egyptian
contemporary to Solomon was Siamun.His reign has been dated as
beginning in 978.b.c.Solomon was given Siamun's daughter to
marry,which could not have been earlier that 978 b.c.1 Kings 2:39
makes reference to three years,which according to 1 Kings 3:1,was
before Solomon's marriage.The marriage must have taken place in the
first year of Siamun's reign,or 978 b.c.Solomon's first year would be
around 982 b.c.The temple would have been started,also in 978
b.c.,placing the Exodus 480 years earlier,or 1458 b.c.
With the help of history,what is
believed to be contradictions,can be shown not to be.It is evident
that the Exodus can now be placed in the year 1458 b.c.All the
Biblical and historical evidence points to that year,as long as we
realize that the Isrealites were not in Egypt for 430 years.With that
in mind,we can leave the Scriptures as they appear in the Bible,and
still be in harmony with history.That includes the controversy over
the cities the Bible claims were destroyed by Joshua.Since the
discovery of the ruins of Jericho,Historians have had a problem with
how it was destroyed.Archaeologists dated it near 1400 b.c.It was
then taken for granted that the city was in ruins when the Israelites
saw it,since the Exodus had been dated around 1250 b.c.If the Exodus
took place in 1458 b.c.,the Conquest would have been forty years
later,in 1418 b.c.,and the destruction would have occurred exactly
when history claims.If the Israelites had found the city in
ruins,they would not have know it was surrounded by a double wall
with houses built on top of them.Joshua 2:15”Then she let
them down by a Cord through the window,for her house was built upon
the town all,and she dwelt upon the wall”.
Archaeologists also know that sometime before
Jericho
was
destroyed,it suffered an earthquake.That was apparent by close
inspection,and the discovery of a mass grave that contained bodies of
various ages.The graves contained personal property and food.Famine
and a siege could be ruled.They also found evidence that the Jordan
had stopped it’s flow for several hours,Their conclusion was
that the people suffered a plague,followed by an earthquake.Since
their dating was not in conjunction with the conquest,their
conclusion was made without the book of Joshua in mind.
Miracles,as
we know,can come in many shapes and sizes.If the Israelites found
Jericho with weakened walls,it was no less a miracle.The author of
the book,never claimed that the Israelites destroyed the walls,only
that they fell.It is possible that the Israelites marched around the
city,in order to attract attention to themselves while others dug
around the walls.It was common practice during a siege to do just
that,in order to fell walls that otherwise would be impossible to
destroy.Once the earth was removed from underneath the walls,they
could be collapsed by shaking either with battering rams,or loud
noise.It was also noted,by the archaeologist John Garstang,that the
walls of Jericho had Fallen outward,showing they were not battered by
an assault. "As to the main fact, then, there remains no
doubt: the walls fell outwards so completely, the attackers would be
able to clamber up and over the ruins of the city."Kathleen
Kenyon,noted"The destruction was complete. Walls and floors
were blackened or reddened by fire and every room was filled with
fallen bricks."Garstang dated the destruction in 1400 b.c
while Kenyon believed the destruction occurred in 1550 B.C. Either
one has set the date much closer to the Biblical version than other
Archaeologists.Charcoal from the site has been dated to 1410 b.c. Dr.
Bryant Wood ,current excavator wrote"The pottery, stratigraphic
considerations, scarab data and a carbon-14 date all point to a
destruction of the city around the end of the Late Bronze Age,about
1400 BCE.”The evidence would not only support the Bible as to
how the city was destroyed,but When.It was,without a doubt,the
Israelites,and it occurred at the time Solomon And Jephthah claimed
it did.After the Israelites entered the wilderness,they met with the
Amelekites.It has been said that they were the Hyksos,returning to
Egypt.It is possible.The Egyptian historian Manetho,who has been less
than reliable,a lot,claimed that the Hyksos
had been planing to
retake Egypt.He also states,however, that the Israelites were in on
the plan.Together they could have taken,at least, the Delta
area.Manetho wrote that the Hyksos left Egypt the first time with
over 200.000 households.It doesn’t seem likely that if they
were allied,they would have fought each other.Whover they
were,Manetho and the
Ipuwer
Papyrus claim
that a foreign people,possibly the Amelikites entered Egypt after the
destruction.That would once again place the Bible in it’s
proper historical context.
Since before the Israelites entered Egypt,they
were led by miracles,either from “natural” causes,or
human intervention.If it had not been for the brothers of Joseph
leaving him in a pit,He may not have gone to Egypt.Had Joseph not
been in Egypt,at the start of the famine,the Israelites probably
would not have found the security they needed to survive.Although
being made slaves was terrible for them,it helped keep them together
in one place.They were also in the area where Thutmosis III,was
conducting his campaigns into Canaan.They would have known not to go
north to the coast,where they could travel the “Way of the
Philistines”.It was a direct route into Canaan,with cities
along the way.It was also the route the Egyptian army took.Exodus
13:18, …”God
led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines,although
it was near,for God said lest peradventure the people repent hen they
see war,and they return to Egypt”. For
the Israelites to survive the wilderness,it was necessary for someone
to be familiar with it.That fell on Moses.While in Median,he would
have learned the right kind of wood to use to to take the bitterness
out of water,Exodus 15:25,a trick that even today Bedouins use.Moses
would Also have learned that limestone sometimes contain water that
will gush forth,when the outer Crust is knocked away.Exodus 17:6.He
would also have learned that by arranging stones in a circle,one can
collect enough moisture to grow grapes and olives, and thus suck
honey (grape juice) from the rock,and oil from the flinty
rock,Deuteronomy 32:13.