Anakim and Egyptian Records

Egyptian Exercration Texts of the Middle Kingdom mention a list of enemies of Egypt in Canaan, among them are a group called the ly Anaq or "People of Anaq".  The three rulers of the ly Anaq were Erum, Abiyamimu, and Akirum.

Clearly these are the Anakim or "Sons of Anak" of The Bible.  It's interesting that they aren't refereed to later then the Middle Kingdom.  We believe The Exodus and Joshua's conquest of Canaan happened about when The Middle Kingdom ended, and that is indeed when the Anakim were driven out.

Joshua also refers to the Anakim having three leaders.  I do not not think Sheshai, Ahiman and Telmai were immediate sons of Anak, Anak and Arba it seems were ancestral figures of the Anakim and Kirjath-Arba.  It might be that they developed a Triarchial form of government, and so the three names from the Egyptian texts could be predecessors of the three named in The Bible when they are driven out.

But it's also not impossible that they are alternate names for the same three individuals.

What it means that the Anakim are called Nephlim is something I will be discussing in the future on one of my other blogs.  For now what's relevant here is Egyptian records verify their existence, and places them exactly when Revised Chronology predicts they would.

The refrence to Chaneferre in Artapanus

Artapanus of Alexandria, was a Hellenistic Jewish writer who's works haven't survived directly, we know them form Eusebius and Clement of Alexandria quoting Alexander Polyhistor's quotations of him.

Sites on the subject of revised chronology make much of him referring to a Chaneferre as a Pharaoh linked to the life of Moses.  The name Chaneferre is very rare and can only be linked to 1 known Pharaoh,  Khaneferre Sobekhotep IV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobekhotep_IV

While other facts far more solid then a much later Jewish writer reciting Extra-Biblical legends lend credence to looking for Moses in this period of the Thirteenth Dynasty, there is a major Problem with taking what we're told Artapanus said as face value.

Clement of Alexandria Stormata Book 1 Chapter 23.

And so Artapanus, in his work On the Jews, relates that Moses, being shut up in custody by Chenephres, king of the Egyptians, on account of the people demanding to be let go from Egypt, the prison being opened by night, by the interposition of God, went forth, and reaching the palace, stood before the king as he slept, and aroused him; and that the latter, struck with what had taken place, bade Moses tell him the name of the God who had sent him; and that he, bending forward, told him in his ear; and that the king on hearing it fell speechless, but being supported by Moses, revived again.

Eusebius  of Caesarea Praeparatio Evangelic Book 9 chapter 27

'AND Artapanus says, in his book Concerning the Jews, that after the death of Abraham, and of his son Mempsasthenoth, and likewise of the king of Egypt, his son Palmanothes succeeded to the sovereignty.
'This king behaved badly to the Jews; and first he built Kessa, and founded the temple therein, and then built the temple in Heliopolis.
'He begat a daughter Merris, whom he betrothed to a certain Chenephres, king of the regions above Memphis (for there were at that time many kings in Egypt); and she being barren took a supposititious child from one of the Jews, and called him Mouses (Moses): but by the Greeks he was called, when grown to manhood, Musaeus.
'And this Moses, they said, was the teacher of Orpheus; and when grown up he taught mankind many useful things. For he was the inventor of ships, and machines for laying stones, and Egyptian arms, and engines for drawing water and for war, and invented philosophy. Further he divided the State into thirty-six Nomes, and. appointed the god to be worshipped by each Nome, and the sacred writing for the priests, and their gods were cats, and dogs, and ibises: he also apportioned an especial district for the priests.
'All these things he did for the sake of keeping the sovereignty firm and safe for Chenepbres. For previously the multitudes, being under no order, now expelled and now set up kings, often the same persons, but sometimes others.
'For these reasons then Moses was beloved by the multitudes, and being deemed by the priests worthy to be honoured like a god, was named Hermes, because of his interpretation of the Hieroglyphics.
'But when Chenephres perceived the excellence of Moses he envied him, and sought to slay him on some plausible pretext. And so when the Aethiopians invaded Egypt, Chenephres supposed that he had found a convenient opportunity, and sent Moses in command of a force against them, and enrolled the body of husbandmen for him, supposing that through the weakness of his troops he would easily be destroyed by the enemy.
'But Moses with about a hundred thousand of the husbandmen came to the so-called Nome of Hermopolis, and there encamped; and sent generals to pre-occupy the country, who gained remarkable successes in their battles. He adds that the people of Heliopolis say that this war went on for ten years.
'So Moses, because of the greatness of his army, built a city in this place, and therein consecrated the ibis, because this bird kills the animals that are noxious to man. And he called it Hermes' city.
'Thus then the Aethiopians, though they were enemies, became so fond of Moses, that they even learned from him the custom of circumcision: and not they only, but also all the priests.
'But when the war was ended, Chenephres pretended to welcome him, while in reality continuing to plot against him. So he took his troops from him, and sent some to the frontiers of Aethiopia for an advanced guard; and ordered others to demolish the temple in Diospolis which had been built of baked brick, and build another of stone from the quarries of the neighbouring mountain, and appointed Nacheros superintendent of the building.
'And when he was come with Moses to Memphis, he asked him whether there was anything else useful for mankind, and he said the breed of oxen, because by means of them the land is ploughed: and Chenephres having given the name Apis to a bull, commanded the troops to found a temple for him, and bade them bring and bury there the animals which had been consecrated by Moses, because he wished to bury the inventions of Moses in oblivion. 'But when the Egyptians were alienated from him, he bound his friends by an oath not to report to Moses the plot which was being contrived against him, and he appointed the men who were to kill him.
'When however no one would obey him, Chenephres reproached Chanethothes, whom he had especially addressed; and he, on being thus reproached, promised to make the attempt when he found an opportunity.
'And Merris having died about this time, Chenephres professed to give the body to Moses and Chanethothes to carry it over into regions beyond Egypt and bury it, supposing that Moses would be slain by Chanethothes.
'But while they were on the way, one of those who were cognizant of the plot reported it to Moses; and he being on his guard buried Merris himself, and called the river and the city thereby Meroe. And this Merris is honoured by the people of the country not less highly than Isis.
'Then Aaron the brother of Moses, having learned about the plot, advised his brother to flee into Arabia; and he took the advice, and sailed across the Nile from Memphis, intending to escape into Arabia.
'But when Chanethothes was informed of the flight of Moses, he lay in ambush intending to kill him; and when he saw him coming, he drew his sword against him, but Moses was too quick for him, and seized his hand, and drew his sword and slew Chanethothes.
'So he made his escape into Arabia, and lived with Raguel the ruler of the district, having married his daughter. And Raguel wished to make an expedition against the Egyptians in order to restore Moses, and procure the government for his daughter and son-in-law; but Moses prevented it, out of regard for his own nation: and Raguel forbidding him to march against the Arabs, ordered him to plunder Egypt.
'About the same time Chenephres died, having been the very first person attacked by elephantiasis; and he is said to have incurred this misfortune because he ordered the Jews to wear linen garments and not to wear woollen clothing, in order that they might be conspicuous, and be punished by him.
'But Moses prayed to God now at last to put an end to the sufferings of the tribes. And God being propitiated, fire, it is said, suddenly blazed up out of the earth, and went on burning though there was no wood nor any other fuel in the place. And Moses was frightened at the occurrence and took to flight; but a divine voice spake to him, to march against Egypt, and rescue the Jews and lead them into their old country.
'So he took courage and determined to lead a hostile force against the Egyptians: but first he came to his brother Aaron. And when the king of Egypt heard of the arrival of Moses, he called him before him, and asked what he had come for: and he said, Because the Lord of the world commanded him to deliver the Jews.
'And when the king heard this, he shut him up in prison. But when it was night, all the doors of the prison-house opened of their own accord, and of the guards some died, and some were sunk in sleep, and their weapons broken in pieces.
'So Moses passed out and came to the palace; and finding the doors opened he went in, and the guards here also being sunk in sleep he woke up the king. And he being dismayed at what had happened bade Moses tell him the name of the God who sent him, scoffing at him: but Moses bent down and whispered in his ear, and when the king heard it he fell speechless, but was held fast by Moses and came to life again.
'And he wrote the name in a tablet and sealed it up; and one of the priests who made light of what was written in the tablet was seized with a convulsion and died.
'Also the king told him to work some sign for him, and Moses threw down the rod which he held and turned it into a serpent; and when they were all frightened, he seized it by the tail and took it up, and made it a rod again.
'Then he went forth a little, and smote the Nile with the rod, and the river became flooded and deluged the whole of Egypt, and it was from that time its inundation began: and the water became stagnant, and stank, and killed all living things in the river, and the people were perishing of thirst.
'But when these wonders had been wrought, the king said that after a month he would let the people go, if Moses would restore the river to its proper state; and he smote the water again with his rod, and checked the stream.
'When this was done, the king summoned the priests from above Memphis, and said that he would kill them all, and demolish the temples, unless they also would work some wonder. And then they by some witchcraft and incantations made a serpent, and changed the colour of the river.
'And the king, being puffed up with pride at what was done, began to maltreat the Jews with every kind of vengeance and punishment. Then Moses, seeing this, both wrought other signs, and also smote the earth with his rod, and brought up a kind of winged animal to harass the Egyptians, and all their bodies broke out in boils. And as the physicians were unable to heal the sufferers, the Jews thus again gained relief.
'Again Moses by his rod brought up frogs, and besides them locusts and lice. And for this reason the Egyptians dedicate the rod in every temple, and to Isis likewise, because the earth is Isis, and sent up these wonders when smitten by the rod.
'But as the king still persisted in his folly, Moses caused hail and earthquakes by night, so that those who fled from the earthquake were killed by the hail, and those who sought shelter from the hail were destroyed by the earthquakes. And at that time all the houses fell in, and most of the temples.
'At last after having incurred such calamities the king let the Jews go: and they, after borrowing from the Egyptians many drinking-vessels, and no little raiment, and very much other treasure, crossed the rivers on the Arabian side, and after traversing a wide space came on the third day to the Red Sea.
'Now the people of Memphis say, that Moses being acquainted with the country waited for the ebb, and took the people across the sea when dry. But the people of Heliopolis say, that the king hastened after them with a great force, having also with him the consecrated animals, because the Jews were carrying off the property which they had borrowed from the Egyptians.
'There came, however, to Moses a divine voice bidding him to smite the sea with the rod [and that it should divide]: and when Moses heard it, he touched the water with the rod, and so the stream divided, and the force passed over by a dry path.
'But when the Egyptians went in with them and were pursuing them, a fire, it is said, shone out upon them from the front, and the sea overflowed the path again, and the Egyptians were all destroyed by the fire and the flood: but the Jews having escaped this danger spent forty years in the wilderness, God raining down meal for them like millet, similar in colour to snow. And Moses they say was tall and ruddy, with long white hair, and dignified: and he performed these deeds when he was about eighty-nine years old.'

 Khaneferre Sobekhotep only reigned about 10 years according to what we can gather from Archeological information.  Also his capital was the Fayum region, so saying he ruled only above Memphis doesn't work.  So maybe Artapanus knew something helpful that's since been lost, but his narrative is clearly exaggerated. 

My Pharaoh of the Exodus working theory

During the time Khnumhotep II was Nomarch (from year 19 of Amenenhat II to 6 of Senruset II) a Semitic chief named Abishai, a Biblical Hebrew name,offered gifts to him in the Bani Hassen region.  (Bard, Kathryn A. An Introduction To The Archaeology Of Ancient Egypt. Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell Ltd, 2008. p. 190.).  Also this link.

We do have documented Evidence of Semitic Slaves with Hebrew names during the 13th Dynasty at least one of them matches a name of an individual mentioned in Exodus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiphrah
The text in question is discussed here, with no mention of a possible Exodus tie in.
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/3369/Historical_Papyrus_in_Five_Pieces
Add to that the mysterious Sithathor being listed on some kings-lists between Neferhotep I and Sobekhotep IV though Archaeology presents no evidence of his Reign, in my theory he was the 1st Born of Pharaoh, who may have been made a Co-Ruler with Neferhotep already before he died as was a common Egyptian practice.

Sir Flinders Petrie excavated the city of Kahun in the Fayum and Dr Rosalie David wrote a book about his excavations in which she said,
‘It is apparent that the Asiatics were present in the town in some numbers, and this may have reflected the situation elsewhere in Egypt … . Their exact homeland in Syria or Palestine cannot be determined … . The reason for their presence in Egypt remains unclear.’(David, A.R., The Pyramid Builders of Ancient Egypt: A Modern Investigation of Pharaoh’s Workforce, Guild Publishing, London, p. 191, 1996.)

Neither Rosalie David nor Flinders Petrie could not identify these Semitic slaves with the Israelites because they held to the traditional chronology which placed the Biblical event centuries later than the 12th dynasty.

There was another interesting discovery Petrie made. ‘Larger wooden boxes, probably used originally to store clothing and other possessions, were discovered underneath the floors of many houses at Kahun. They contained babies, sometimes buried two or three to a box, and aged only a few months at death.’(David, Ref. 15, Plate 16.)

My time frame for the Hyksos period is longer then normally given, It really begins with the later 13th Dynasty. Dedoumes was the Pharaoh they overthrew, and I believe Hor II was the same as the Midianite king Hur mentioned in the Bible as contemporary with the Wandering.

The original reason for identifying Neferhotep is that he's the last Pharaoh attested by Scarabs at Kahun.

There are also numerous inscriptions in the Aswan region mentioning Neferhotep I's name, as well as the names of family members and officials serving under this king. It is from these inscriptions that we know the name of his wife (Senebsen) and his son Haankhef and his daughter Kemi. (Ryholt, The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, 231)
He had a Son, and yet the throne was passed to his brother, this suggests his Son predeceased him, and perhaps was the same person as Si-Hathor (That being his Throne name or something like that).

I don't agree with the Traditional assumption (Which also influenced The Ten Commandments) that the Bithiah mentioned in Chronicles is Moses's foster mother. Mostly for two reasons, she probably adopted Moses in part because she was barren (She may have been at the Nile at the time doing a sort of fertility ritual) and Bithiah bore Children to Mered. At the time of the Exodus Moses's Foster Mother would have been nearly 100 at the youngest if still alive which is itself unlikely.

Bithiah is interesting though, she was probably the Daughter of the Exodus Pharaoh, or one soon before. Bithiah is not an Egyptian name, it's Hebrew, in fact it's Yahweh theophoric. So that wasn't her original name but one she took after converting. It's possible she is the same person as Kemi.

There are several monuments mentioning Neferhotep I and Khaneferre Sobekhotep IV together. This could mean that they may have reigned for some time together. Nevertheless the reigns of these two brothers in the Thirteenth Dynasty mark the peak of this otherwise rather shaky era.[W. Grajetzki: The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, London 2006] There are many private monuments date-able under these kings, and especially in sculpture some remarkably high quality art works were produced.

Artpanus claims Chenephres/Khaneferre was the Phraorh Moses served under when he campaigned for Egypt against Ethiopia (an extra Biblical detail about Moses recorded by Josephus) he may have had garbled information that Chenephres/Khaneferre was involved in Moses's life, but was mistaken on how. If this Pharaoh did campaign against Nubia, perhaps it was to try and replace the recently lost Hebrew slaves? Maybe in a fictional depiction based on this theory, if Neferhotep did perish in the Red Sea (I've decided it's unclear whether or not the Bible says that happened, but Neferhotep doesn't have a Mummy found yet) then maybe it's Chenephres who should get the "His god is God" line, though originally I would have given that to either Jannus or Jambres.

The 13th Dynasty was originally just a local Theban Dynasty under the 12th, Sobekhotep II is the soonest one to have likely had sole rule of Egypt, his reign starts about 25 years before Neferhotep died. So that means it was under the 12th Dynasty that Moses fled. It makes sense, if I recall God said ALL who sought Moses's life where gone, which could imply an entire change in Dynasty.

Amenemhet IV is frequently listed as a son of Amenemhat III, but there isn't much evidence to back that up, it seems how long it took Amenemhat III to choose a co-regent implies a dynastic Crisis. I think Moses was exiled right before Amenemhat IV was made co-regent (And perhaps Moses had an alternate Egyptian Throne or Horus name while being groomed as a possible Heir that could potentially be Hellenized as Lamares or Ameres, who Manetho throws into the 12th Dynasty though no records of him exist).

This would make Moses's birth early in Amenemhat III's reign.
http://ggreenberg.tripod.com/writings/articles/w-m12d-jssea29-t2.htm
I agree with this timeline for the 12th Dynasty.

I would sort of put Sobekneferu in the Nefertari role, the woman the successor has to marry. Given the length of this Pharaoh's Reign, I think she was a much younger Daughter then the lesser known Neferuptah, who seems to have predeceased her Father and was originally the intended Dynastic wife. Neferuptah was the Foster Mother of Moses I think.