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From: slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Egyptian records of exodus?
Message-ID: <350@drutx.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 23-Oct-85 17:47:31 EST
Article-I.D.: drutx.350
Posted: Wed Oct 23 17:47:31 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 31-Oct-85 07:44:48 EST
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver
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>mikei@hammer.UUCP (Michael IsBell)
>Doing some research on the Biblical exile of the Israelites
>in Egypt I find a complete void of Egyptian sources which
>mention the hebrews. 

I am not a professional Egyptologist--but am interested in ancient
Egypt and do a lot of reading on it.  There is a lot of disagreement
on lots of Egyptian history--but on this one every source I've read
agrees:

You won't find any such sources.  There is no mention of the
Biblical events in any Egyptian source yet found.  Nor any mention in 
any source of any group who could have been the Hebrew tribes.

The two obvious conclusions to draw are that, since the Egyptians were
absolute fiends about writing down anything important, it never
happened, or it happened and wasn't important.  If we take the
second explanation, then it didn't happen like the Bible says.  (Surely the
death of every first born son in Egypt would have been a big news
event!)  That is, the Hebrews were slaves who escaped, but the plagues
story was added at a later date to magnify the importance of the
event.  That second explanation is the one most scholars go with,
I believe.

There is always the chance that some such source will be discovered
in the future--but it grows slimmer as time goes on.  

As for the Hyskos, there are reams of speculation--Semitic tribes
are suspected for some linguistic reasons (the name hyskos itself,
for instance) and because they seem to have been light-skinned and 
bearded.  This still leaves room for lots of candidates.  (They are 
not in the right time-frame to be the Hebrews, by the way.)

-- 

                                     Sue Brezden
                                     ihnp4!drutx!slb

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I march to the beat of a different drummer, whose identity,
   location, and musical ability are as yet unknown.
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