830 PHARAOH
ance of the feudal system of the Middle Empire before the New Kingdom. See, further, article JOSEPH.
3. 4. The Pharaohs of the Oppression and the lixodus. On the supposition that these events took place in the 18th or 19th dynasty, ‘Pharaoh’ is a term which might well be a by a contem- porary historian of them. But Y@6r for the Nile seems to lower the date, and, had the great occur- rences been still fresh in the remembrance of the emigrants or of their immediate descendants at the time of writing down the story, the distinctive names of the Egyptian kings concerned, and other definite information, would meaty have been omitted from the narrative. If the account is literally true, or alunost so, it presents us with a considerable historical sequence to fit into the Egyptian history of the New Kingdom, a period for which our information is much fuller than usual. Ramses Π. of the 19th dynasty is generally (see Driver’s discussion in Hogarth’s Authority and Archeology, 52 ff.) accounted the Pharaoh of the Oppression, and his son and successor, Merenptah, is considered to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus, which some, however (e.g. Lieblein, PSB A, 1899, 66), would place in the reign of Amenhotep UI. or Iv. of the 18th dynasty, supporting their argument by the movements of the * Habiri’ (Hebrews ἢ) in Palestine as disclosed by the Tel el-Amarna letters. The name of Raamses given (Ex 1) toastore city built by the Hebrews clearly refers to some city built for one of the kings named Ramses. Of these Ramses I. was the greatest; he was also pre- eminent as a builder. Several cities were called after his name, and one in the Eastern Delta, in the region of Goshen, retained it till a late date. He was also active at Pithom, as is shown by M. Naville’s excavation there; but it is by no means clear that he was the founder of it: prob- ably the site was already ancient in his day. The Oppression evidently lasted many years. Ramses I. reigned 67 years, and thus the Exodus may have taken place in the short reign of Merenptah, the son and successor of that aged king. The remarkable fact that the Israelites are named on a monument of Merenptah (see Petrie, Six Temples, pls. xiii., xiv.) as destroyed or harried rm him, apparently in Palestine, does not disprove this theory, as detachments from the main body might have left Egypt from time to time, and settled and multiplied at Hebron, round the tombs of the patriarchs. Nor is it disproved by the recent discovery of the mummy ae Merenptah in the tomb of Amenhotep Π., for the biblical narra- tive does not distinctly state that Pharaoh himself was drowned in the Red Sea. The Israelites are said to have passed through the desert of Sinai, and wandered 40 years in its neighbourhood ; and it happens that there are no records extant of Egyptian expeditions to the quarries of Sinai during the reigns of Merenptah and his successor. On the other hand, there is no trace in the Hebrew records of any Egyptian invasion of Palestine be- fore Shishak of the 22nd dynasty ; unless indeed, as some think, ‘the hornet’ of Jos 9413, Ex 2377-%8, Dt 7” refers to the inroad of Ramses. This king of the 20th dynasty certainly harried the country, and, had the Israelites previously entered it in force, it is hardly probable that his invasion would not be mentioned in the Book of Judges. But it is possible to reconcile the chronology of Judges with a theory that would make the entry of the Israelites into Palestine subsequent to the last campaign of Ramses mI. (Petrie, PSBA, 1896, p. 243). Also, even on the usual theory, the passage of the Egyptian armies along the coast roads into Syria would leave untouched the high- lands of Palestine and the Valley of the Jordan,
PHARATHON
from which the spread of the Hebrews must, as a matter of fact, have been only gradual. To sum up, the monuments of Egypt give us no record either of the Oppression or of the Exodus. As the story stands, there are passages in it which are difficult to eredit, but some modifications would enable us to place it in the time of Ramses I. and Merenptah. See, further, art. MOsEs.
5. In 1 Ch 418 there is mention of a ‘daughter of Pharaoh’ in a genealogy; but not only is her chronological position doubtful, it is even un- certain whether a royal title or a personal name is intended by the expression.
6. In David’s lifetime Hadad the Edomite fled to Egypt and was well received by Pharaoh, who gave him the sister of his queen Tahpenes to wife (1 Καὶ 11), Here the queen’s name offers a clue, but at present no such name has been recognized from Egypt. At the end of the 110} cent. B.c. Egypt was ruled by two contemporaneousdynasties, one ruling at Thebes and the other at Tanis(Zoan) in the Eastern Delta, the latter, however, having the suzerainty over the whole country. The power of Egypt must have been small, and no large monuments were raised in that period,
7. Solomon’s Egyptian father-in-law (1 Καὶ 2® 31) should likewise be a Tanite king (21st dynasty); according to 1 Καὶ 916 he took Gezer and gave it to Solomon.