Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #996071 in Books
• Published on: 1996-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 425 pages

Customer Reviews

Proving the Biblical events by redating- finding the Bible in Egypt
By re-adjusting the generally accepted historical dates, David Rohl essentially proves the broad veracity of the historical events recorded in the Bible.
As Robert Bianchi writes in the forward: "If the era of Israel's could possibly be re dated to last phases the Late Bronze Age, then the earlier events, recorded in the final chapter of the Book of Genesis and in the book of Exodus, might be reasonably accommodated in the late 12th dynasty (the Joseph story) and in the 13ht dynasty...This was the epoch which produced, at the city of Avaris, the most extensive traces of an Asiatic/Canaanite presence ever found in the l;and of the Pharaohs's.

Thus the author provides a watertight case though painstaking and meticulous research in dating, astronomy and archaeology among a variety of sciences to prove that the Israelites were in Egypt, and did migrate to the Holy Land, and that the historic figures of Joseph, Moses and Joshua did exist, as did the Israelite kingdoms of Saul, David and Solomon. The author presents the archaeological evidence.
We do not have to wait for new evidence to come to light confirming the existence of David, Solomon, and the earlier charismatic Israelite leaders, Joseph and Moses, as all we have to do is take a look at the archaeological material we already posses from the new perspective of a revised Egyptian chronology.

He documents how the town which the Ramesses II plundered and which appears to be one of the high points in the year 8 campaign into the Levant, was called Shalem, the earliest known name for the holy city of Jerusalem.


Conclusions that Rohl comes to include:

* The archaeological evidence from the Lesser Vaults of the Serapeum suggests that the length of the Third Intermediate Period may have been artificially over-extended by historians.

* The burial of Djedptahefankh in the Royal Cache indicates that the 21st and 22nd dynasties were not
chronologically sequential, as is currently believed, but partly contemporary.

* There is no compelling evidence to suggest that Ramesses II was either the biblical Pharaoh of the Oppression or Exodus.
Rameses II was in fact the King Shishak who ransacked Jerusalem during the reign of the King of Judah, Rehoboam.
This is pointed to by the identification of Ramesses II as Shishak by Egyptian artefacts, reliefs and documents.

The author successfully removes a century from the chronology of the transition period between the late 19th century and the early Third Intermediate Period.

Rohl points out the fact that the El Armana EA 256 contains the names of five of the leading players from the Book of Samuel. The letter itself was written by Ishbaal son of Saul, who in turn refers to Joab, (David's military commander), Baanah (one of Israel's chieftains), David (ruler of Hebron and son-in-law of Saul) and finally Jesse, father of David.
The author also points out that the bonded Asiatic servants recorded in the various document of the fifth dynasty are to be identified with the 'mixed multitude' of Asiatics who eventually left Egypt under the leadership of Moses (Exodus 12:38). The Israelite population descended from Jacob, formed the major part of this group and a number of Hebrew/Israelite names can be recognized within the documents of this period.
Rohl reconstructs the life of Moses from Egyptian documentation paralleling the life of the Moses of the Bible. He also uncovers, and this is mentioned in the Talmud, that the young Moses was a general of the Pharaoh's who led an Egyptian campaign against the Ethiopians in the south.
The Pharaoh of the Exodus may be identified with Pharaoh Dudimose, 36th ruler of the 13th dynasty in whose reign according to Manetho, "G-D smote the Egyptians". The death-pits found at the end of Tell el-Daba stratum G/I might provide some archaeological evidence for the disasters associated with the Tenth Plague tradition of Exodus.

Also Rohl identifies the early Hyksos invaders of Egypt with Amalekite tribesman who migrated through Sinai from northern Arabia. The Hyksos ruled Syria and are the likely ancestors of the Arabs of Syria, Jordan, Northeast Egypt, the Moslem Lebanese and Palestinian Arabs.
The identification of the Hyksos with the Amalekites is verified in the Koran.
Rohl also identifies the person of Joseph as the Grand Visier who undertook major administrative and and agricultural reforms during the late 12th century of the Middle Kingdom.
Joseph, son of Jacob, was the vizier of Egypt during the reign of Amenemhat III- the most powerful pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom- and continued in office through the reins of the first rulers of the 13th dynasty.

The pyramid tomb and the palace of Joseph at Tell el Daba are identified.

This book identifies a watertight case for the basic facts historiagraphed in the Bible and disprove the lies of Jew-hating revisionist historians who wish to eradicate the link of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel.
This highly recommended volume re-establishes beyond a shadow of a doubt the veracity of that link.

Stimulating and intelligent
I have just finished reading Pharaoh's and Kings from cover to cover, and could not put it down. Dr. Rohl's conclusions are startling but generally well supported, and provide a valuable insight into ancient Egypt and the Levant. For an introduction to the field of Egyptology and its relation to the Old Testament this book is outstanding.

I do not have a background in Egyptology or Biblical Archaeology, but do hold a Master's degree from Edinburgh University. From my experience, the one drawback to the book is that Dr. Rohl does not provide enough technical data to necessarily support all of his arguments. I have no doubt, however, that all of the supporting documentation was not included with a view towards general public consumption and introduction to Dr. Rohl's exciting work. Still, this is a minor point since overall the chronology he presents, and the re-examination of existing evidence which supports it, are in wide agreement throughout.

I look forward to reading Dr. Rohl's thesis and other published works and encourage all who come across this book to become acquainted with it's contents. No question - this book deserves a 5-star rating!

An important re-evaluation
David M. Rohl would have us believe that several hundred years have been mistakenly added to the conventional chronology of our established history. He claims this mistake has prevented archaeology from finding any clues as to the existance of Old Testament characters. I have had this book three years, and have re-read it five (I think) times. Such is the wealth of data contained in this book that I defy anyone (save those who make this subject their career) to read it once, and come to a reasonable conclusion. Rohl presents arguments backed by data that, in the absence of alternate theories - many of which he provides - are hard to refute. Classical Egyptology has poured scorn on this work. I urge readers to tackle traditionalist treatments of the same data (e.g by the respected English scholar Kenneth Kitchen), and then draw their own conclusions. For myself, I feel David Rohl has made an argument at least as convincing for his thesis, as those made by mainstream Egyptologists.