Have I Correctly Dated the Exodus?

בס”ד

Perusing a Univ of Chicago announcement, today, of a new translation of the “Tempest Stela”, dating from the reign of Paro Akh–Moses (great-grandfather of Queen-Pharaoh Khât-shepꞋset), I noticed that they’ve suggested his reign “could actually be 30 to 50 years earlier.”

This “realigns the dates of important events” in the entire Middle Eastern history, dragging the calculated date of the יְצִיאָה (Yᵊtzi•âhꞋ; exit, popularly “Exodus”) some 30-50 years earlier.

To make it easier to deal with, I decided to put the data into an Excel format that would automatically crunch the various dates for me. When I did, I discovered a small, 10-year, error of my own in my digital paper: Chronology of the Tanakh from the “Big Spread-apart” [formerly, “Big Bang”] (www.schuellerhouse.com). The calculated date should have been B.C.E. 1463 instead of 1453. Together, this pushes the reign of Queen-Pharaoh Khât-shepꞋset‘s sole reign to ca. B.C.E. 1554-1533 (after a trustee-reign for her underage son, Tuth–Moses III, after the death of Tuth–Moses II, from B.C.E. 1565-1554) and her son and successor, Paro Tuth–Moses III, back to ca. B.C.E. 1533-1500.

The Great Thera eruption is estimated to ca. B.C.E. 1550. Therefore, the Great Thera eruption falls either in the reign of Queen-Pharaoh Khât-shepꞋset or at the beginning of the reign of her son and successor, Tuth–Moses III – the Paro of the Yᵊtzi•âhꞋ.

Accordingly, the Yᵊtzi•âhꞋ, therefore, seems to have occurred in the window between B.C.E. 1550 and 1533. (I’m presently trying to update my Chronology paper to the changing new information.)

Still, there seems to be a gap of about half a century – from around B.C.E. 1550 back to the B.C.E. 1605-1621 window of the radiocarbon dating of an olive tree that was buried in the volcanic residue of a Thera eruption.

However, there is no reason to assume that Thera had always been inactive before its great eruption. Ergo, the weather description on the Tempest Stela, dating from the reign of Paro Akh–Moses, wasn’t necessarily the “Big Event” eruption. Thera was likely active, with periodic episodes, more than a few of which were likely severe, that would have been duly noticed and recorded in Egypt, for perhaps a century, or even over a period of several centuries. This would also explain why Mosh•ëhꞋ would have been able to associate various Mak•otꞋ (plagues) as an expected aftermath (after a century of accumulated history on Thera’s activity), which Egyptians had periodically seen before. He could, therefore, logically (rather than supernaturally) “prophesy” to the Paro, based on his own new sightings of a “pillar of smoke and fire” on the northwest horizon. This obviousness would also explain why Paro (Tuth–Moses III) failed to be impressed – repeatedly.

This also suggests an explanation why Tuth–Moses III would have chiseled-away the Egyptian history during the reign of his mother from the walls of her mortuary temple (built by her mysterious paramour, Sen-en-mut) at Deir el-Bahiri. His mother, Queen-Pharaoh Khât-shepꞋset, may have been complicit in the Yᵊtzi•âhꞋ of Israel. Tuth–Moses III may have spent around 20 years trying to “undo” his mother’s “black smirch” on Egyptian history. After 20 years failing to achieve the glory of bringing Israel back into Egyptian captivity to restore Egyptian hegemony, he may have finally concluded it wasn’t going to happen and chiseled-away the historical account – and his failure to rectify it – from her mortuary walls.

All this further suggests that the princess who found Moses in a wicker-basket in the Nile (Shᵊm•otꞋ 2.5) was none other than Princess Khât-shepꞋset, whose paramour, Sen-en-mut, may have been the Egyptian name of the Pharaonic Prince Moses – as I proposed in my docunovel, The Mirrored Sphinxes (www.schuellerhouse.com)!

Khag Pesakh sameiakh