Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 12:3 (Fall 2008)
Article: Dating the Exodus
Author: Terry J. Betts

SBJT 12:3 (Fall 2008) p. 82

Dating the Exodus

T. J. Betts*

*T. J. Betts is Assistant Professor of Old Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a fourth generation Baptist minister and has pastored fourteen churches in Ohio and Indiana. Dr. Betts is the author of Ezekiel The Priest: A Custodian Of Tora (Peter Lang, 2005).

Probably one of the most controversial and hotly debated subjects pertaining to biblical chronology is the dating of the Exodus. Basically, most biblical historians are divided between what are called the late date1 and the early date2 of the Exodus. Most proponents of the late date believe the biblical and archaeological data discovered so far indicate the Exodus happened in the thirteenth century B.C. sometime around 1267 B.C. in the nineteenth dynasty, twenty years into the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II (1279-1213 B.C.).3 Most proponents of the early date of the Exodus argue it happened during the eighteenth dynasty in the fifteenth century B.C. about 1447/46 B.C. The following is an overview of major arguments pertaining to both sides of the debate.

The Debated Texts

Exodus 1:11

Exodus 1:11 is a key passage in the debate. It states, “Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Rameses.” Many have equated the city of Rameses with the city of Pi-Ramesses. According to Kitchen, Seti I initially built a summer palace at its location, then Ramesses II built the vast store-city of Exodus 1:11.4 Pi-Ramesses was located at modern-day Qantir near Faqus and is called Tell el-Dabva. Hoffmeier suggests Ramesses II probably commenced work on Pi-Ramesses about 1270 B.C., but he recognizes that construction on this sight predates Ramesses II at least to the time of Horemheb (1323-1295 B.C.), meaning the oppression of the Hebrews may have begun a number of decades before Ramesses II came to the throne.5 Ramesses II finished the construction of the city naming it after himself. It is inconceivable that the city could have been named after a pharaoh who did not even exist. Therefore, it is impossible for the Exodus to have happened before a pharaoh named Ramesses was on the throne. Furthermore, the majority of archaeological discoveries along with inscriptional references to geographical locations from this sight appear to come f...