also be maintained by many forcible arguments, and my object is to examine the question impartially, and to be guided by what appears most probable, I gladly avail myself of this opportunity of introducing Lord Prudhoe's view of the subject, which he has done me the favour to embody in the following remarks: "It is extremely difficult to determine the date of the Exodus in Egyptian history, from the want of sufficient data in the Bible, and from the incorrectness of names given by ancient historians; but the event is so important, that even an attempt to ascertain that date must be interesting. "The first text bearing on the subject is*, 'Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee, the land of Egypt is before thee, in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell: in the land of Goshen let them dwell.-And Josepht gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.' In this quotation it does not appear that the land was called Rameses when Pharaoh gave it to Jacob his words are, give them the best of the land: the remainder of the text is in the form of a narration by Moses. But the land was called Rameses when Moses wrote, and consequently it was so called before the Exodus. It probably received its name from one of the Pharaohs; we may therefore conclude the Exodus did not take place until after the reign of a Remeses; and + Gen. xlvii. 11. * Gen. xlvii. 5, 6. the earliest king of that name* is distinguished among students in hieroglyphics by the title of Remeses I. "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.'t This text would agree with Remeses I., who appears to have been the first king of a new dynasty, and might well be ignorant of the benefits conferred on Egypt by Joseph. 'Therefore they did set over them (the children of Israel) taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens, and they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.' The last was the name of the Pharaoh; and it is remarkable, that the prefix used to designate Remeses II. was compounded of Pithe,' and Thme Justice.' And though the figure of the goddess Thme is introduced into the names of his father and of other Pharaohs, he is the first Remeses in whose prefix it occurs, and we may therefore conclude it was for this monarch that the Hebrews built the treasurecities. "Another instance of the name so used, is confirmed by the testimony of Strabo and Aristotle, who attribute the making of the Suez canal to Sesostris; and Herodotus says, that it entered the sea near the town of Patumos. Sesostris is now generally considered to be Remeses II., and the circumstance of his name being found on buildings near the canal, gives another Pithom built by this king. : * Private individuals bore the name long before but it is uncertain whether there was any older king Remeses. + Exod. i. 8. Exod. i. 11. Lysimachus mentions, that in the reign of Boccoris, king of Egypt, the Jewish people, being infected with leprosy, scurvy, and sundry other diseases, took shelter in the temples, where they begged for food; and that in consequence of the vast number of persons who were seized with the complaint, there became a scarcity in Egypt. Upon this, Boccoris sent persons to inquire of the oracle of Ammon, respecting the scarcity: and the God directed him to cleanse the temples of all polluted and impious men, and to cast them out into the desert, when the land would recover its fertility.' This the king did with much cruelty. "If Boccoris could be a mistake for the Coptic name OCIPI, with the article II prefixed, it was Osiri, the father of Remeses II., who thus oppressed them. Again, the son of Remeses II. was called Pthamenoph. Josephus states, that the king Amenophis was desirous of beholding the Gods, as Orus, one of his predecessors in the kingdom, had done. And having communicated his desire to the priest Amenophis, the son of Papis, the priest returned for answer, that it was in his power to behold the Gods, if he would cleanse the whole country of the lepers and other unclean persons who abounded in it; upon which the king gathered them together, and sent them to work in the quarries.' Josephus relates, in continuation, that a revolt was the consequence of this measure: and after some delays and difficulties, king Amenophis marched with 300,000 Egyptians against the enemy, defeated them, and pursued them to the bounds of Syria, having previously placed his son Sethos under the care of a faithful adherent. "It is probable, that by Amenophis, Josephus meant Pthamenoph; and this opinion is twice confirmed: 1. by his son Sethos, the Se-ptha of the hieroglyphics, which is the only instance of a king so called in the known series of the Pharaohs ; and, 2. when he describes Horus as one of his decessors for the grandfather of Pthamenoph succeeded to Horus, who was the only Egyptian monarch who bore that name. pre "If these corrections of names be permitted, six Pharaohs, who succeeded each other in regular succession, are mentioned, either as a direct or a collateral evidence of the Exodus having taken place at this era: 1. Horus, one of the predecessors of Amenophis: 2. Remeses I., the new king, who knew not Joseph: 3. Osiri I., or Boccoris, who oppressed the Jews: 4. Remeses II., who built Pithom and Raamses: 5. Pthamenoph, the Pharaoh of the Exodus: 6. Sethos, his son, who was placed with an attendant. "From the many complaints of oppression in the Bible, it appears that the bondage was both severe and of some duration; these two reigns may therefore not be too long; but what, may be inquired, would be the effect in Egypt of an oppression of so numerous a population, and of their subsequent Exodus? for even if the number of 600,000 men, besides children,' had not been mentioned, it is evident, from the previous account of their increased numerical force, that the Jews were a very large body. 1. To oppress and keep them in bondage required a powerful monarch, and a warrior; and such were in an eminent degree Osiri I. and Remeses II. 2. The labours of so great a population could not fail to be distinguished; and no Pharaohs have left finer buildings, nor in greater numbers, than these two kings. 3. A successful revolt could only take place under a feeble monarch, and such was Pthamenoph: and the loss of so great a population would inflict a blow on the prosperity of Egypt, and cause a lasting debility. Such was the state of Egypt after the reign of Remeses II., when a sudden decline of the arts and power of the country ensued; and if at the accession of Remeses III. they for a time re-appeared, and in great splendour, yet with this monarch the glory of ancient Egypt departed for ever." From the preceding statement, it is evident that Lord Prudhoe places the Exodus in the reign of Pthahmen, (or, as he writes it, Pthamenoph,) the last king of the 18th Dynasty; and that consequently the dates of those monarchs are all thrown back about 200 years. The decision of this interesting question I leave to the learned reader; and shall feel great satisfaction, when the subject becomes so well understood as to enable a positive opinion to be pronounced upon it. I now return to the 19th Dynasty. Pthahmen Septhah appears to have been the Sethos of Manetho and other authors, and the * So often mistaken for Sesostris. This rests on the authority of Josephus's version of Manetho: “ Σεθων τον Ραμεσσην ωνομασμενον.” |