Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 50:1 (Mar 2007)
Article: Propositions For Evangelical Acceptance Of A Late-Date Exodus-Conquest: Biblical Data And The Royal Scarabs From Mt. Ebal
Author: Ralph K. Hawkins

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Propositions For Evangelical Acceptance Of A Late-Date Exodus-Conquest: Biblical Data And The Royal Scarabs From Mt. Ebal

Ralph K. Hawkins

Ralph K. Hawkins is adjunct professor of religion at Bethel College, 1001 W. McKinley Ave., Mishawaka, IN 46545.

The date of the Exodus-Conquest has been a subject of academic inquiry for over a century. Since the first quarter of the twentieth century the early date for the Exodus-Conquest has become more or less standard among evangelical scholars.1 Here we will briefly review the history of the study of the date of the Exodus, how evangelicals arrived at the early date, and the burgeoning realization among evangelicals that neither the early nor the late dates are without problems. The main body of the paper will trace two lines of argument—one textual and the other archaeological—that may support the late date.

I. Overview Of The History Of The Study Of The Exodus And The Evangelical Consensus For The Early Date

Before the Egyptian hieroglyphs were deciphered, many readers naturally gravitated towards the long-reigning Ramesses II as the pharaoh of the oppression. Ramesses is mentioned in Exod 1:11 as the name of one of the store cities that the Hebrews built for the pharaoh. Ramesses II had, indeed, produced many monuments and left behind ruins of monumental buildings in Egypt. It seemed natural, therefore, to imagine the ancient Hebrews participating in the construction of those projects. With the identification of Ramesses II as the pharaoh of the oppression, his son Merneptah, who succeeded him on the throne, naturally became the pharaoh of the Exodus. Based on this reasoning, the biblical Exodus was securely located by scholars

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within the 19th Dynasty of Egypt (1293–1185 bc) throughout the nineteenth century.2

In 1896, this understanding came under challenge. That year, Sir William Flinders Petrie discovered a monument in the ruins of Merneptah’s morturary temple at Thebes. This Merneptah Stele makes reference to Israel as a people living in Canaan by Merneptah’s fifth year, which is the date of the inscription: 1209 bc. This new data appeared to require that Israel had already been settled there by the end of the 13th century bc. Placing Israel in Canaan this early in the reign of Merneptah raised obstacles for his having been the pharaoh of the Exodus. Israel obviously could not have left Egypt in the first year of Merneptah’s reign, wandered in the wi...

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