I believe his comment about the Egyptian chronology not being firmly established is meant to leave room for the acceptance of David Rohl's New Chronology which has not been accepted by mainstream scholars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Chronology_(Rohl)
From what I could tell, he does not use the New Chronology. Probably the main reason for him saying this was because he wants to place 1446 BCE during the reign of Amenhotep II, which no standard chronology allows for. The New Chronology has the exodus in the Middle Kingdom, which is even more problematic, and he is clearly talking about an 18th dynasty exodus.
Oh, it was just a lot of distraction and misdirection with crazy outlier theories so that his theory doesn't sound so outlandish. I think the advent of the internet has made this problem worse. Some people are good at presentation and not so good at research. Others are good at research and not so good at presentation. I treat everything I read or see with a healthy dose of skepticism! Also, it is annoying that he kept mispronouncing Hyksos.
A note on Biblical numbers - there are numbers that are associated with God or Israel, perfection or wholeness. If you read the Bible long enough you notice that the number 7 shows up a lot and the number 12 seems to be important also. 10 is a number that is associated with wholeness. These numbers hold special meaning for the ancient Israelites and so when telling their story it made sense to them to use these numbers (and their multiples) to emphasize their unique relationship to God and their special destiny. This was more important to them than the actual date that things occurred or getting the chronology right. You can think of the Hebrew Bible as the narrative type of history similar to Plutarch's Lives - the story is more important than the precise details. This insistence on precise dating and accuracy is a modern phenomenon.
Rachel, I appreciate your thoroughness here! I am also interested in the Exodus, so I want to watch the video and go through everything you mention when I have more time, but I wanted to just let you know that this is very interesting to me. I have followed Dr. David Falk on YouTube for quite a while. He is an Egyptologist and I find his videos very entertaining and also informative. He also supports a late date for the Exodus. You might be interested because he is very thorough and knowledgeable. Here is a link: https://youtu.be/yHzGbrOR0fw?si=i9eHMl-YBZyu_Mva.
I've been a big fan of his channel for over two years now! Watching his videos has truly taught me so much and even helped me to change my mind on some things.
I never said that the author lied. I believe in the inerrancy of scripture, but that it must be interpreted by context and genre. The context of that verse IS a temple dedication, so that must be taken into account. The Bible uses symbolic numbers; get over it already.
Of course - just like it uses 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 symbolically. But context has to inform us when to construe a word or number symbolically, and when not. There's nothing in the context of 1 Kings 6 to indicate a figurative meaning of "480th year." You're bringing that to the text.
Moreover, for other reasons Rameses II doesn't seem to work as the pharaoh of the Exodus. For instance, doesn't the Merneptah Stele (c. 1208 BC) imply Egypt's defeat of an already-established nation of Israel? On the late date hypothesis, the Conquest under Joshua would have begun around 1210 or so. How would Merneptah's "defeat of Israel" fit that picture?
By the way, have you watched the video series 'Pattern of Evidence'?
I believe his comment about the Egyptian chronology not being firmly established is meant to leave room for the acceptance of David Rohl's New Chronology which has not been accepted by mainstream scholars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Chronology_(Rohl)
From what I could tell, he does not use the New Chronology. Probably the main reason for him saying this was because he wants to place 1446 BCE during the reign of Amenhotep II, which no standard chronology allows for. The New Chronology has the exodus in the Middle Kingdom, which is even more problematic, and he is clearly talking about an 18th dynasty exodus.
Oh, it was just a lot of distraction and misdirection with crazy outlier theories so that his theory doesn't sound so outlandish. I think the advent of the internet has made this problem worse. Some people are good at presentation and not so good at research. Others are good at research and not so good at presentation. I treat everything I read or see with a healthy dose of skepticism! Also, it is annoying that he kept mispronouncing Hyksos.
A note on Biblical numbers - there are numbers that are associated with God or Israel, perfection or wholeness. If you read the Bible long enough you notice that the number 7 shows up a lot and the number 12 seems to be important also. 10 is a number that is associated with wholeness. These numbers hold special meaning for the ancient Israelites and so when telling their story it made sense to them to use these numbers (and their multiples) to emphasize their unique relationship to God and their special destiny. This was more important to them than the actual date that things occurred or getting the chronology right. You can think of the Hebrew Bible as the narrative type of history similar to Plutarch's Lives - the story is more important than the precise details. This insistence on precise dating and accuracy is a modern phenomenon.
Rachel, I appreciate your thoroughness here! I am also interested in the Exodus, so I want to watch the video and go through everything you mention when I have more time, but I wanted to just let you know that this is very interesting to me. I have followed Dr. David Falk on YouTube for quite a while. He is an Egyptologist and I find his videos very entertaining and also informative. He also supports a late date for the Exodus. You might be interested because he is very thorough and knowledgeable. Here is a link: https://youtu.be/yHzGbrOR0fw?si=i9eHMl-YBZyu_Mva.
I've been a big fan of his channel for over two years now! Watching his videos has truly taught me so much and even helped me to change my mind on some things.
He is my favorite YouTuber! I have watched all of his videos. Do you have any recommendations for similar content?
I actually wrote a post with my favourite YouTube channels about the Bible and Christianity which you can find here:
https://rachelschoenberger.substack.com/p/the-best-youtube-channels-about-the-cb7
Hopefully that should give you some good things to watch!
Thanks!
"𝘈𝘴 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺."
There's no contextual evidence that it should be taken otherwise. Context is king.
"𝘐𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘕𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴."
So, your argument presupposes that the author lied, then.
On these grounds I'm afraid I can't take the rest of your article seriously.
I never said that the author lied. I believe in the inerrancy of scripture, but that it must be interpreted by context and genre. The context of that verse IS a temple dedication, so that must be taken into account. The Bible uses symbolic numbers; get over it already.
"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴"
Of course - just like it uses 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 symbolically. But context has to inform us when to construe a word or number symbolically, and when not. There's nothing in the context of 1 Kings 6 to indicate a figurative meaning of "480th year." You're bringing that to the text.
Moreover, for other reasons Rameses II doesn't seem to work as the pharaoh of the Exodus. For instance, doesn't the Merneptah Stele (c. 1208 BC) imply Egypt's defeat of an already-established nation of Israel? On the late date hypothesis, the Conquest under Joshua would have begun around 1210 or so. How would Merneptah's "defeat of Israel" fit that picture?
By the way, have you watched the video series 'Pattern of Evidence'?