Egyptians
The great power beside Israel from Abraham’s day to the exile. Egypt shelters the patriarchs, holds Israel in slavery, raids Jerusalem, and later fights over Judah.
What the sources say, and how sure we are
- The text says
Abram, Joseph and Jacob’s family go down to Egypt. The Exodus story begins under a pharaoh the text never names. Shishak raids Judah in Rehoboam’s fifth year, Necho kills Josiah, and Jeremiah warns the refugees in Egypt about Pharaoh Hophra.Gen 12:10; Gen 46:1–4; Exod 1:8; 1 Kgs 14:25; 2 Kgs 23:29; Jer 44:30
- Outside evidence
Egyptian carvings at Karnak record Shoshenq I’s campaign into Israel and Judah (about 926–925 BC). The Merneptah Stele (about 1208 BC) is the oldest Egyptian text that names Israel. Taharqa, the “Tirhakah” of 2 Kings 19:9, left carved stelae at Kawa.Karnak relief of Shoshenq I; Merneptah Stele (Cairo JE 31408); Kawa stelae
- Debated
The Bible never names the pharaoh of the Exodus, and no Egyptian record of an Exodus is known. Scholars date the Exodus to about 1446 BC (early) or the 1270s–1250s BC (late). The Merneptah Stele shows Israel was in Canaan by about 1208 but says nothing about an Exodus.1 Kgs 6:1; Exod 1:11; Merneptah Stele
- Debated
Taharqa was not yet king in 701 BC; the Bible’s “king” is read as a later label.2 Kgs 19:9; Kitchen, Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society (1973)