Over 100 years ago archaeologists unearthed a broken stone monument at Karnack, a village of east-central Egypt on the right bank of the Nile River on part of the site of ancient Thebes, erected by a Pharaoh named Ahmose I, from the eighteenth dynasty, who lived around 1550 BCE. The Ahmose stele, now in the basement of the Cairo Museum, and discovered by Henri Chevalier, may hold the key to the Exodus enigma. It tells of a furious storm, which is very unusual in the dry arid climate of Egypt. Hieroglyphic inscriptions on the stone mirror the Biblical tale. The Bible tells of a great storm at the time of the Exodus. The Ahmose stele also tells of an incessant tempest all over Egypt and that Egypt was enveloped in darkness when the God manifested his power. Jacobovici states that in Hebrew, the Egyptian name Ahmose would mean "Brother of Moses.” The Ahmose stele tells that the statues of the God’s of Egypt were toppled to the ground (probably from an earthquake storm).
In the 17th century BCE, (according to traditional chronology), the Hyksos who, like the Israelites, were Semites, invaded Egypt and ruled Lower and Middle Egypt for over 100 years, forming the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Dynasties of Egypt (c. 1648–1540 BC). (Wikepeidia). In the 1960’s the ancient Hyksos capital Avaris was discovered north of Cairo. The Hyksos were expelled in a mass exodus, known as the Hyksos expulsion, by Pharaoh Ahmose I about 1500 BCE.
Most scholars date the Hebrew Exodus to 1270 BCE during the rein of Ramses II, but he Bible gives evidence that the exodus occurred about 480 years before the rein of Solomon in the middle of the 15th century BC, or 1470 BCE, less than 100 years from the traditional date of the Hyksos expulsion. (Prof. John Bismon, Trinity College).
Jacobovici, like the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus before him, equates the Hyksos with the Israelites, and postulated a new date for the Exodus around 1500 BCE. Israelites arrived in Egypt some 200 years before their Exodus, which would have been 1700 BCE, the same time as the arrival of the Hyksos in Egypt. Hebrew Bible calls the Israelites, “God’s People,” or “Amo Israel.” About 400 Km south of Avaris is the tomb of Beni Hassan, which dates to about 1700 BCE. A perfectly preserved wall painting records a migration into Egypt from the area of modern Israel. Bearded Semites are depicted riding donkeys and bringing their families and flocks into Egypt and wearing multi-colored tunics, like the Biblical Israelites. The Hieroglyphic inscription on this painting calls these people the “Amo,” or God’s People.
As confirmation that the Israelites where the same as the Hyksos, Jacobovici explores the artifacts unearthed at the archaeological excavations of Avaris, and finds that nine signet rings made of clay were found bearing the inscription Yakov (or Jacob). The Bible tells that Joseph wore a ring with the seal of Pharaoh. Joseph, son of Jacob, would have been identified by his family name. A Hebrew name on an Egyptian royal seal seems to directly connect Avaris with the Joseph and Jacob of the Bible.
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