Were there Israelites in Canaan Before Moses? (17 July, 2013, 10 Av 5773)
Do New Archaeological Findings Help Strengthen Brit-Am Research Suggestions!
Adapted from our work "Lost Israelite Identity" now being re-edited and upgraded under the title "Hebrew Ancestry".
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Contents:
1. The Israelites in Egypt
2. In Canaan Before the Exodus?
3. Rabbinical Biblical Commentaries that Conform with this Understanding
4. Does the Very Latest Archaeological Find Strengthen the Brit-Am Suggestion?
A Pharaoh Named Machir (Mycineris) Left Sphinx in Israel!
5. Sources:
(a) Unique Egyptian sphinx unearthed in north Israel
(b) PART OF SPHINX FOUND IN NORTHERN DIG
6. Egyptian Inscription Mentioning Machir Found at Beth-Shean!
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1. The Israelites in Egypt
Joseph the son of Rachel, Israel's favorite wife, was favored by his father Israel. The brothers of Joseph were jealous of him. They suspected that he had designs to usurp them. They seized Joseph and sold him as a slave to a trading caravan on its way to Egypt. Their father was informed that wild beast had probably devoured Joseph. In Egypt Joseph became the manager of an important estate but fell out with the owner's wife who first tried to seduce him, then accused him of attempted rape. Joseph was imprisoned. While in gaol he successfully interpreted the dreams of two of the Egyptian king's servants who had also been incarcerated. Consequently, Joseph was recommended to the Egyptian Pharoah and was appointed the effective ruler of the country. Joseph married Asenath, daughter of the Priest of On. They had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Joseph had foreseen a seven year long famine which visited Egypt and other countries including the neighboring land of Canaan. Due to lack of harvest, the brothers of Joseph came on a buying trip to Egypt. Joseph had had grain stored in advance and the brothers wished to purchase some of it. Joseph recognized his brothers but they did not recognize him.
After putting his brothers to a test Joseph saw that they genuinely regretted their treatment of him. Joseph revealed himself to his brother and was reconciled to them. He encouraged his father and kin to move to Egypt. They were to settle in the border area of Goshen east of the Nile River and possibly including part (or all) of the Delta area.
When his brothers arrived in Egypt Joseph intended to introduce them to Pharaoh, the Egyptian ruler, in order to obtain confirmation for their occupation of Goshen. He had advised them what to say upon being presented before the Egyptian king,
Genesis 46:
33 So it shall be, when Pharaoh calls you and says, 'What is your occupation?' 34 that you shall say, 'Your servants' occupation has been with livestock from our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,' that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.
Pharaoh instructed Joseph that if there were any "men of activity" (Genesis 47:6) amongst his brothers, then they should be placed in charge of his own cattle. Pharaoh granted the land of Goshen unto the Israelites to settle in. Goshen was on the borderline between Egypt and Canaan and did not properly belong to Egypt. Eventually, Goshen was to be included within the territories apportioned to Israel (Joshua 11:16).
The total number of males of the family of Israel who entered Egypt was seventy. A list of them is found in Genesis ch.46. The personages mentioned in this list were to become the heads of clans many of which were to become nations in their own right as explained in our work, The Tribes.
Joseph was the virtual ruler of Egypt and he apparently appointed other Israelites to positions of authority. Joseph re-arranged the Egyptian system of land tenure and introduced various changes in administration. In Egypt over the course of generations the Israelites became a great and numerous nation. We do not entirely agree with the dates used in conventional historical accounts BUT we more or less do accept the relative chronological sequence given for the events. At first the Kingdom of Egypt had been a great but relatively backward nation. Then came the Rule of the Hyksos that altered Egypt for the better. Josephus speaks of the Hyksos and explains their name to mean "Shepherd Kings". Modern scholars say the name meant "Foreign Rulers".
See our article:
The Shepherd Kings
We identify the Hycsos kings as Egyptians who were strongly influenced by the Hebrews and relied greatly on Hebrew advisors and officials. Later Egyptian tradition identified them as Israelites or Canaaanites from the land of Canaan. This is consistent with present understanding.
Schullman 1980 (JSSEA) argues that Hyksos domination may have been due to "a combination of residents' usurpation of power and minor invasions from the east" (Hansen p.60 n.3).
It should be noted that in the past numerous academics equated the Hyksos with Indo-European or other groups who they believed had invaded and conquered Egypt. Now matters have come full circle. More and more evidence has accumulated and it seems to be taken as obvious that the Hyksos were of Canaanite origin. Instead of Canaanite we incline to the opinion that they were rather Egyptians perhaps from a semi-Canaanite area of Egypt and who worked closely with the Hebrews. Later the Egyptians overthrew the Hyksos. There was reaction against the former Hyksos rule and culture. This may have corresponded with the sudden antagonism towards the Israelites that the Egyptians revealed.
Exodus 1:
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; 10 come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land. 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. 13 So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. 14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.
The King of Egypt enslaved the Israelites but under the leadership of Moses they were delivered by God and wandered in the wilderness for forty years before re-entering the Land of Canaan and conquering it. The twelve tribes apportioned the conquered land between them.
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2. In Canaan Before the Exodus?
Even while still in Egypt, before their enslavement and subsequent Exodus the Israelites (at least at the beginning) had continued to maintain an active interest in the Land of Canaan. Some Biblical passages seem to strengthen the notion of a constant Israelite involvement in the Land:
In the Biblical Book of Chronicles it speaks of the sons of Ephraim (son of Joseph) as having been active in the country of Canaan:
"And the sons of Ephraim.....Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath slew, because they came to take away their cattle.
"And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him.............
"And his daughter was Sheerah who built Beth horon the nether, and the upper, and Uzzen sheerah" (1-Chronicles 7:20-23).
So too, the Book of Numbers speaks of elements from Manasseh taking control of areas east of the Jordan. The personalities recalled, Yair, Nobah (pronounced Novack), refer to personalities who lived before the Exodus.
"And the children of Machir the son of Menasseh went to Gilead, and took it, and dispossessed the Amorite which was in it.
"And Moses gave Gilead unto Machir the son of Menasseh ; and he dwelt therein.
"And Jair the son of Menasseh went and took the small towns thereof, and called them Havoth Yair.
"And Nobah went and took Kenath, and the villages thereof, and called it Nobah, after his own name" (Numbers 32:39-42).
Similarly, The Book of Deuteronomy (ch.3) speaks of Jair (i.e. Yair) and of Gilead and his father Machir the son of Manasseh taking land east of the Jordan in a way that could be understood as referring to Yair, Gilead, and Machir, themselves as well as to their descendants later.
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3. Rabbinical Biblical Commentaries that Conform with this Understanding
Yehudah Kiel in the commentary Daat Mikra on the Biblical Book of Chronicles speaks at length on the above subject. He says that the place Gath in the Land of Israel with which the sons of Ephraim were involved is (contrary to other opinions which identify it with Kiryat Gath in the south) in the center of the Land towards the north. He affirms that the GATH here spoken of is, like Beth Horon and the cities built by Sheera daughter of Ephraim, in the territory which was later to be apportioned to the descendants of Ephraim. He deduces, in effect, that after coming out of Egypt the different tribes were to receive lands which, at least in some cases, had formerly been associated with their tribal forefathers. His claim is supported by quotations from other exegetes who dealt with this matter before him.
The sources state that since Machir, Nobah, and Yair, were long since dead they could have received nothing in the time of Moses and Joshua but that which it says they were given was received by them long beforehand, within their own lifetime, and later re-possessed by their descendants.
Y. Kiel quotes from the Commentary of the 17th century "Rabbi Yehudah HaHasid" (ca.1690):
"Israel received many possessions from their forefathers in the Land of Canaan. Even though they were in Egypt they were wont to send emissaries to Canaan to prepare fields and vine yards of their own. The descendants of Joseph apparently of Ephraim [Joseph's second son] built cities for themselves in Canaan in the area of their future inheritances. They caused their servants to settle in these cities and raise them tribute and tend their inheritances for them. Because of this situation the Egyptians became fearful lest the two bodies [i.e. Israel and their vassals in Canaan] join together and war against them....Formerly due to Pharaoh's esteem of Joseph by virtue of which Pharaoh honored them... the Israelites had received permission from Pharaoh to so act [in tending their Canaanite possessions]. In the book of Chronicles.. Sheerah [daughter of Ephraim] had established cities [in Canaan]. She lived at least 6 generations prior to Joshua who conquered the land."
Likewise, another Rabbinical source (quoted by Kiel and ascribed to a Student of Saadia Gaon) and perhaps dating to ca.1100 CE says:
"Machir [son of Manasseh who was the brother of Ephraim, Menasseh and Ephraim being the two sons of Joseph] ..was the progenitor of Gilead. Later Yair [a descendant of Gilead] confirmed possession of the lands of Gilead [east of the Jordan River]. After the generation of Joseph and his brothers died out, the surrounding nations increased in power and two of them, Geshur and Aram, seized the villages of Yair....For this reason the later descendants of Machir [after coming out of Egypt] desired to settle in the Land of Gilead. Moses therefore granted them the land which had formerly been held by their forefather and Joshua [the successor of Moses] confirmed this grant".
"This point should be made quite clear, those matters spoken of in the Pentateuch concerning Machir, Nobah, and Yair [having held territory in the land], are speaking of a previous era. Machir, Nobah, and Yair were not alive at the time of the wandering in the wilderness [after coming out of Egypt] and so they received nothing in that period."
The lands spoken of here appear to be those of the Machir-dominated half tribe of Menasseh east of the Jordan River. According to Prophecy when the Lost Ten Tribes return in the future they will initially receive areas east of the Jordan to settle in.
"And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man..I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them" (Zechariah 10:7,10).
"Lebanon" is the modern day State of Lebanon and "Gilead" means present-day Syria and Jordan.
The upshot of the above is that the Israelites in Egypt had been influential and had enjoyed positions of authority and that even while in Egypt some type of connection had been maintained for some time with the Land of Canaan.
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4. Does the Very Latest Archaeological Find Strengthen the Brit-Am Suggestion?
A Pharaoh Named Machir (Mycineris) Left Sphinx in Israel!
Archaeologists in recent days have announced the discovery in Hatzor, Israel, the remains of a granite Egyptian sphinx statue. The discovery was made in August 2012 but appears to have been announced only recently (ca. 9th July, 2013). A sphinx was a mythical creature with the head of a man and the body of lion. The find includes the paws and part of the forearms of the mythical creature. The name of Mycerinus is carved in hieroglyphics between the forearms. Mycerinus is another form of the Hebrew name Machir. Machir was the son of Manasseh. There are also symbols reading "beloved by the divine souls of Heliopolis". Heliopolis in Egyptian is On. Joseph had married Asenath daughter of the Priest of On and mother of his children, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Genesis 41:
45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-Paaneah. And he gave him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.
46 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. 47 Now in the seven plentiful years the ground brought forth abundantly. 48 So he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; he laid up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them. 49 Joseph gathered very much grain, as the sand of the sea, until he stopped counting, for it was immeasurable.
50 And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. 51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house. 52 And the name of the second he called Ephraim: For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.
Machir was the son of Manasseh:
Genesis 50:
23 Joseph saw Ephraim's children to the third generation. The children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were also brought up on Joseph's knees.
No such find related to Mycerinus has been found in Egypt though it seems to have been made in the city of On and brought to Hatzor from there.
It is believed to have been brought to Hatzor during the reign of the Hyksos Kings. We identify these kings as Egyptians who were strongly influenced by the Hebrews and relied greatly on Hebrew advisors and officials. Later Egyptian tradition identified them with Hebrews. Hebrew officials under the Hyksos were very powerful and apparently allowed quote a degree of autonomy.
They may have been responsible for bringing the sphinx of Machir to the area.
Hatzor was a Canaanite city in the Galilee that the Israelites conquered and settled in. It was apportioned to the Tribe of Naphtali (Joshua 19:37) just north of Manasseh.
Perhaps there is a link between the Pharaoh named Mycerinus and Machir son of Manasseh?
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5. Sources:
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(a) Unique Egyptian sphinx unearthed in north Israel
http://www.kaogu.net.cn/en/News/New_discoveries/2013/1026/43215.html
Extracts:
An Australian excavation volunteer on July 9, 2013, displays part of an ancient Egyptian king's unique sphinx with a hieroglyphic inscription dating circa 3rd century [i.e. millenium] BCE, found during excavation at the northern Israeli site of ancient Tel Hazor. The sphinx was unveiled with researchers struggling to understand just how the unexpected find ended up there.
AFP - Part of an ancient Egyptian king's unique sphinx was unveiled at a dig in northern Israel on Tuesday, with researchers struggling to understand just how the unexpected find ended up there.
The broken granite sphinx statue -- including the paws and some of the mythical creature's forearms -- displayed at Tel Hazor archaeological site in Israel's Galilee, is the first such find in the region.
Its discovery also marks the first time ever that researchers have found a statue dedicated to Egyptian ruler Mycerinus who ruled circa 2,500 BC and was builder of one of the three Giza pyramids, an expert said.
"This is the only monumental Egyptian statue ever found in the Levant - today's Israel, Lebanon, Syria," Amnon Ben-Tor, an archaeology professor at the Hebrew University in charge of the Tel Hazor dig, told AFP.
"It is also the only sphinx of this particular king known, not even in Egypt was a sphinx of that particular king found."
Ben-Tor said that besides Mycerinus's name, carved in hieroglyphics between the forearms, there are symbols reading "beloved by the divine souls of Heliopolis".
"This is the temple in which the sphinx was originally placed," Ben-Tor said of Heliopolis, an ancient city which lies north of today's Cairo.
Tel Hazor, which Ben-Tor calls "the most important archaeological site in this country," was the capital of southern Canaan, founded circa 2,700 BC and at its peak covering approximately 200 acres and home to some 20,000 Canaanites. It was destroyed in the 13th century BC.
"Following a gap of some 150 years, it was resettled in the 11th century BC by the Israelites, who continuously occupied it until 732 BC," when it was destroyed by the Asyrians, Ben-Tor said.
He said the find was approximately 50 centimetres (20 inches) long, and estimated the entire statue was 150 centimetres (60 inches) long and half a metre (20 inches) high".
How, when and why it reached Tel Hazor remains a mystery.
"That it arrived in the days of Mycerinus himself is unlikely, since there were absolutely no relations between Egypt and this part of the world then," said Ben-Tor.
"Egypt maintained relations with Lebanon, especially via the ancient port of Byblos, to import cedar wood via the Mediterranean, so they skipped" today's northern Israel, he said.
Another option is that the statue was part of the plunders of the Canaanites [i.e. Hyksos?], who in the late 17th and early 16th century BC ruled lower Egypt, the expert said.
"Egyptian records tell us that those foreign rulers... plundered and desecrated the local temples and did all kinds of terrible things, and it is possible that some of this looting included a statue like this one".
But to Ben-Tor the most likely way the sphinx reached Tel Hazor is in the form of a gift sent by a later Egyptian ruler.
"The third option is that it arrived in Hazor some time after the New Kingdom started in 1,550 BC, during which Egypt ruled Canaan, and maintained close relations with the local rulers, who were left on their thrones," he said.
"In such a case it's possible the statue was sent by the Egyptian ruler to king of Hazor, the most important ruler in this region."
Shlomit Blecher, who manages the Selz Foundation Hazor Excavations in Memory of Yigael Yadin, was the archaeologist who actually unearthed the finding in August 2012.
The statue's incrustation was meticulously removed over a period of many months by the excavation's restorer, before the intricate carvings and hieroglyphics were fully visible.
"It was the last hour of the last day of the dig," she told AFP of the moment of the find. "We all leapt with joy and happiness, everyone was thrilled."
"We hope the other pieces are here and that we find them in the near days," she said.
Ben-Dor said the statue was most likely deliberately broken by new occupiers at Tel Hazor in an act of defiance to the old rule.
Finding the sphinx was "unexpected," said Ben-Tor, "but fits" archaeological facts and findings. "When you're in a bank, you find money," he said.
To Ben-Tor, however, the true coveted find would be archives buried somewhere on Tel Hazor that could serve as an inventory to the ancient city's content.
"I know there are two archives," he said. "We already have 18 documents from two periods, the 17th and 14th century BC. If I found those archives, people would come running here."
(b) PART OF SPHINX FOUND IN NORTHERN DIG
by Arutz Sheva
First Published 9th July, 2013
Extracts:
As modern Egypt searches for a new leader, Israeli archaeologists have found evidence of an ancient Egyptian leader in northern Israel.
At a site in Tel Hazor National Park, north of the Sea of Galilee, archeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have unearthed part of a unique Sphinx belonging to one of the ancient pyramid-building pharaohs.
The Hazor Excavations are headed by Prof. Amnon Ben-Tor, the Yigael Yadin Professor in the Archaeology of Eretz Israel at the Hebrew University"s Institute of Archaeology, and Dr. Sharon Zuckerman, a lecturer at the Hebrew University"s Institute of Archaeology.
Working with a team from the Institute of Archaeology, they discovered part of a Sphinx brought over from Egypt, with a hieroglyphic inscription between its front legs. The inscription bears the name of the Egyptian king Mycerinus, who ruled in the third millennium BCE, more than 4,000 years ago. The king was one of the builders of the famous Giza pyramids.
As the only known Sphinx of this king discovered anywhere in the world, - including in Egypt, - the find at Hazor is an unexpected and important discovery. Moreover, it is [the] only piece of a royal Sphinx sculpture discovered in the entire Levant area (the eastern part of the Mediterranean).
Along with the king"s name, the hieroglyphic inscription includes the descriptor "Beloved by the divine manifestation; that gave him eternal life." According to Prof. Ben-Tor and Dr. Zuckerman, this text indicates that the Sphinx probably originated in the ancient city of Heliopolis (the city of 'On' in the Bible), north of modern Cairo.
The Sphinx was discovered in the destruction layer of Hazor that was destroyed during the 13th century BCE, at the entrance to the city palace. According to the archaeologists, it is highly unlikely that the Sphinx was brought to Hazor during the time of Mycerinus, since there is no record of any relationship between Egypt and Israel in the third millennium BCE.
More likely, the statue was brought to Israel in the second millennium BCE during the dynasty of the kings known as the Hyksos, who originated in Canaan. It could also have arrived during the 15th to 13th centuries BCE, when Canaan was under Egyptian rule, as a gift from an Egyptian king to the king of Hazor, which was the most important city in the southern Levant at the time.
Hazor is the largest biblical-era site in Israel, covering some 200 acres, and has been recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The population of Hazor in the second millennium BCE is estimated to have been about 20,000, making it the largest and most important city in the entire region. Its size and strategic location on the route connecting Egypt and Babylon made it "the head of all those kingdoms" according to the biblical book of Joshua (Joshua 11:10).
Hazor's conquest by the Israelites opened the way to the conquest and settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The city was rebuilt and fortified by King Solomon and prospered in the days of Ahab and Jeroboam II, until its final destruction by the Assyrians in 732 BCE.
Documents discovered at Hazor and at sites in Egypt and Iraq attest that Hazor maintained cultural and trade relations with both Egypt and Babylon. Artistic artifacts, including those imported to Hazor from near and far, have been unearthed at the site. Hazor is currently one of Israel's national parks.
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6. Egyptian Inscription Mentioning Machir Found at Beth-Shean!
In addition, a similar find had previoulsy been known from Beth-Shean in northern Israel. It is that of an Egyptian stele (stone pillar) with an inscription bearing the name Machir. This is discussed in,
"On the Skirts of Canaan in the Iron Age: Historical and Topographical Researches"
By Edward Lipinski, Peeters Publishers, Belgium, 2006
https://books.google.co.il/books?id=837DDbYsxAoC&pg=PA268&lpg
p.274, M-k3-r3 [i.e. Makir i.e. Machir] "represented on the Beth-Shean stele from the time of the Egyptian Eighteeenth Dynasty, ca. the 14th century B.C. " is identified by Lipinski as Machir son of Manasseh of the Bible. Lipinski points out that Beth Shean is opposite, and close by, to the Machir area east of the Jordan between the Yarmuk and Jabbok Rivers in the area of Gilead.
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