News And Notes -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Bible and Spade (Second Run)
Volume: BSPADE 08:3 (Summer 1995)
Article: News And Notes
Author: Anonymous


News And Notes

Egyptian Texts Support Exodus Account

Israel has its roots in the Exodus of bands of slaves from Egypt. And it is to Egypt that a scholar has returned to discover evidence of the detailed Biblical itinerary of the flight to the Promised Land.

In an article in the September-October 1994 issue of the Biblical Archaeology Review, Charles R. Kramalkov says that Egyptian maps from the Late Bronze period, when the Exodus occurred, list sites described in the book of Numbers.

The maps provide at least a partial answer for some modern scholars who question the historical authenticity of the Exodus account because archaeologists have found no evidence that the cities of Dibon and Hebron existed in the period from 1400 BC to 1200 BC according to Krahmalkov, a professor of ancient Near Eastern languages and northwest Semitic philology at the University of Michigan.

“This is a historical exercise. I am a historian,” Krahmalkov said in an interview. “For me, it’s merely a confirmation that the historians of ancient Israel did preserve an amazing record of the period.”

Numbers 33 lists Israel’s itinerary from Egypt to the border of Canaan. The trans-Jordanian route taken by the Israeli invaders as a prelude to their conquest of Palestine included the ancient city of Dibon.

Elsewhere, in Numbers 13, Moses sent spies to look over Hebron in preparation for the Israelite invasion. When the invasion came, Krahmalkov notes, Hebron was a principle target, according to the books of Joshua and Judges.

Some scholars who question the authenticity of the Exodus accounts have pointed out that excavations at Tell Dhiban, ancient Dibon, have revealed nothing earlier than the ninth century BC. And some also believe it was only at the beginning of the tenth century BC—again, long after the Exodus is believed to have occurred—that Hebron was regarded as an important center.

Krahmalkov said that the Egyptian maps from the Late Bronze Age period, when Egypt ruled Palestine, provide evidence that places mentioned in the Biblical accounts, including Dibon and Hebron, did exist.

Krahmalkov said this does not confirm the existence of specific persons or events, although he realizes some of those who believe in the historical

authenticity of the Exodus passages in the Bible will greet the findings warmly.

He said he hopes that the finding will at least encourage archaeologists to reconsider their investigations of some of the cities.

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