Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 50:2 (Jun 2007)
Article: The Biblical Date For The Exodus Is 1446 BC: A Response To James Hoffmeier
Author: Bryant G. Wood

JETS 50:2 (June 2007) p. 249

The Biblical Date For The Exodus Is 1446 BC: A Response To James Hoffmeier

Bryant G. Wood

Bryant G. Wood is Director of Research at the Associates for Biblical Research, P.O. Box 144, Akron, PA 17501.

In his introductory remarks in his response to my article critiquing the 13th-century dating of the biblical Exodus,1 James Hoffmeier states, “It seemed trivial [in his book Israel in Egypt] to be preoccupied with when the exodus occurred while the real issue being debated is whether it happened at all!”2 This statement seems to imply that scholars should not be wasting their time debating the date of the Exodus since there are weightier issues with which to be concerned. I would strongly disagree with this point of view. If we are looking in the wrong century for evidence to support the biblical account of the exodus, clearly we will not find any evidence! As Hoffmeier himself correctly stated, “[I]f this chronological scenario [a 13th-century exodus-conquest] is wrong, then archaeologists should not expect to find cities destroyed in Canaan as the biblical materials report.”3 Thus determining when the exodus occurred is a necessary first step in researching the biblical exodus-conquest.

Hoffmeier’s introduction of lxx chronological data in his section “What is the Biblical Date of the Exodus?” is irrelevant to his defense of a 13th-century date since, although the lxx data differ from the mt at some points, the lxx certainly does not support a 13th-century exodus date.4 As pointed out in my original article, the key chronological data for determining the date of the exodus are 1 Kgs 6:1; Judg 11:26; and 1 Chr 6:33–37. Judges 11:26 and 1 Chr 6:33–37 are the same in both the mt and lxx, while, as Hoffmeier points out, 1 Kgs 6:1 is 440 years in the lxx rather than the 480 years of the mt. If one chooses to utilize the lxx reading of 1 Kgs 6:1, the exodus still falls in the 15th century bc, not the 13th ...