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The Yisraelites Remain A Further Three And A Half Centuries In Egypt

(1580-1225 B.C. -approximate dates)

1580: the Hyksos were driven out of the Delta by the Egyptian national army. 1225: the Yisraelites, of their own free will, left the land of Goshen: this was the Exodus under the leadership of Mosheh. Thus the Yisraelites remained about three and a half centuries after the departure of the Hyksos. What happened to the Yisraelites during this long period? The reader of the Scriptures might be tempted to think, somewhat too hastily, that directly after the defeat of the Hyksos Yacob's descendants experienced the persecution so horrifyingly described in one of the chapters of Shemoth. In reality two successive and clearly defined periods must be distinguished: first a long period (two centuries and a half, perhaps even three centuries, 1580-1325/1275 B.C.) preceding the great persecution. The Yisraelites under fairly agreeable conditions continued their life as shepherds in the Wadi Tumilat region. This was followed by a much shorter period during which they suffered under the Egyptian policy which aimed at the systematic destruction of the Yisraelites remaining in Egypt. 22 These are periods in the history of Yisrael which must now be examined in succession.

22 Did all the Yisraelites (the house of Yacob, Abraham's direct descendants) go down with the patriarch into Egypt? Modern scholarship is inclined to believe that some of the tribes of Yisrael never left the land of Canaan, and certain authors think only the clans of Yoseph, Levi and Simeon went down to the Delta. The argument is a little far-fetched. On the other hand it might well be supposed that some clans, at the time of the defeat of the Hyksos, thought it prudent to follow them eastwards. This might in some measure account for the well-known inscription, dating from 1229, of the pharaoh Meneptah which speaks of the destruction of 'Yisrael' among the peoples defeated in Palestine. At this time, it must be emphasized, the house of Yoseph was still in the land of Goshen. In fact this whole question is extremely difficult to resolve. There are too many hypotheses and not enough facts. In such a case the historian must proceed with great prudence, since excavation may at any moment produce startling and more accurate information.

The Period Preceding The Great Persecution

(1580-1325/1275 )

Yacob was dead; seven years afterwards Yoseph followed him to the grave. The former vizier of the Hyksos rulers does not seem to have been troubled by the new government of the pharaoh Ahmosis I: nor does it appear that he was asked to justify his collaboration with the occupying power. Of course, he lost no time in leaving his palace and as unobtrusively as possible rejoined the tents of his clan in the land of Goshen.

We have already seen the xenophobe character of the Egyptians, and so might expect to find that they treated very harshly the various groups which after the rapid departure of the Hyksos did not feel obliged to follow them. The Yisraelites were certainly not the only ones thus, to stay where they were. It would be wrong to say that these foreigners were regarded with favour by the victorious Egyptians to whom they recalled memories of the hateful invaders, but, at the outset at least, they do not seem to have been seriously or systematically molested.

In this pastoral setting, which constituted a change, certainly, from the luxurious surroundings of his former palace, Yoseph lived until the age of a hundred and ten this age being regarded among the Egyptians as the ideal length for a full life. Thus he had the joy of being present at the birth of his children's children, the sons of Manasseh and Ephraim, whom he adopted as his heirs.

On his deathbed he performed a ceremony of a kind that we have already encountered: he made Yisrael's sons [that is, his brothers] swear an oath, 'When YAHWEH remembers you with kindness [that is, when finally you set out for Canaan] be sure to take my bones from here.' For the time being, in fact, it was impossible to leave Egypt since at that period military operations were proceeding east of the Delta. Thus shortly after Yoseph's death his body was embalmed. His coffin could not leave Egypt until three centuries after these events. The Yisraelites, led by Mosheh, then took with them Yoseph's body during the forty years of marching and countermarching in the wilderness, before it was solemnly buried at Shechem when the Yisraelites entered the Promised Land (about 1200).

The Hebrews continued to lead a relatively peaceful life

During this period in the Wadi Tumilat, the Hebrews continued to lead a relatively peaceful life. The proof of this is to be found in the fact that we find at this period an extraordinary growth in numbers. In this healthy fertile valley, Yacob's clan which numbered about seventy (not including, of course, the servants and slaves) increased to such an extent that, about three centuries afterwards -at the time of the Exodus -the Yisraelites could put in the field 60,000 men capable of bearing arms. On the basis of these figures it has been calculated that the total population of Yisrael amounted at this period to between two and a half millions and three millions.

This figure cannot be accepted, for at that rate the Yisraelites would have outnumbered all the other inhabitants of the valley of the Nile. This problem will be examined in greater detail in the chapter dealing with the Exodus.

For the moment it should be noted that dwelling in the rich and fertile land of the Delta the tribe of Yoseph became a people, the people of Yisrael. This could hardly have happened, at any rate so quickly, on the plains air Canaan where living conditions were far harder. Thus we can begin to understand the need for this sojourn in Egypt which enabled a small clan to show so rapid an increase in numbers.

This unexpected increase of the Yisraelite population did not pass unnoticed by the Egyptian authorities. The officials began to be worried. 'Look,' they said, 'these people, the sons of Yisrael have become so numerous and strong that they are a threat to us' (this was an obvious exaggeration). Thereupon they began to spread alarming rumours of a tendentious character: 'We must be prudent and take steps against their increasing any further, or if war should break out they might add to the number of our enemies. They might take arms against us.'

What steps exactly were taken by the government is unknown. Were the Yisraelites taken for forced labour at this period? It is possible that they were from time to time, but it seems more probable that the officials of Ahmosis confined themselves to a stricter supervision of the activities and movements of the Yisraelites. Logically, a system of forced labour would not have enabled them to increase in numbers so rapidly. In any case the time of the great persecution was drawing near.

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 Yoseph Index  Yoseph Sitemap  Scripture History Through the Ages  Yoseph Egyptian Adventure  Yoseph Scriptures and Dreams  The Plot Against Yoseph  Yoseph's Brothers Cruel Seqel  Yoseph In The House Of Potiphar  Yoseph In Prison  Pharaoh's Strange Dreams  Yoseph Slave Becomes Viceroy Of Egypt  Yoseph's Unexpected Family Reunion  The Ten Brothers Before Yoseph  Yacob Goes To Egypt  Yoseph and the Death Of Yacob YAHWEH's Sword History  Further Anxieties Of Yoseph's Brothers  Yisraelites Remain In Egypt   Period Of The Great Persecution

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