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Line 88: + + + + + − − Furthermore, after the reign of Amenhotep II, Egypt's military power was greatly diminished, and Egypt was no longer capable of conducting major military expenditures as in the reign of Amenhotep II's predecessor, Thutmose III. Douglas Petrovich states "Once the native Egyptians eradicated the foreign invaders who had dominated their landscape for a century, they quickly moved to rebuild the destroyed city and establish it as a storehouse, eventually to be utilized as a military garrison with weapon-making facilities. Peru-nefer/Avaris became the most vital cog in the unprecedented military campaigning under the reigns of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II. Yet during the height of Egypt’s enterprise and glory, her naval base was abandoned mysteriously, and her imperialistic machinery ground to a halt. Egypt suddenly sought to make treaties rather than seize what she desired."<ref name="Petrovich, Douglas 2013"/> This correlates with the biblical account of the exodus, where God destroys the army of pharaoh once the it is commanded to pursue and destroy the fleeing Israelite's (Exodus 14:26-28).
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=== Evidence ===
=== Evidence ===
There are several historical indicators that have established the historicity of the exodus. The description of the conditions of the Hebrews under Egyptian slavery in the [[Book of Exodus]] precisely equates to the known historical slavery that the Egyptians put to their own slaves. For one, it is known that the Egyptians had foreign Semitic slaves under their empire. This is especially well known to be depicted in the tomb of vizier Rekhmire, dating to c. 1460 BC.<ref>Kitchen, Kenneth Anderson. The Bible in its world: the Bible and archaeology today. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2004. pg. 77</ref> The Book of Exodus describes that the Egyptians "worked the Israelites ruthlessly and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar and in all kinds of fieldwork." (Exodus 1:13-14) It has been in fact confirmed that Egyptian slaves were forced to make bricks and engage in many forms of both fieldwork and construction work.<ref>Arnold, Bill T., and Richard S. Hess, eds. Ancient Israel's History: An Introduction to Issues and Sources. Baker Academic, 2014. pp. 56-58.</ref> Furthermore, the renowned egyptologist [[Kenneth Kitchen]] has demonstrated that ancient Egyptian brickmakers had to meet quota for their brick production,<ref>Kitchen, Kenneth Anderson. "From the Brickfields of Egypt." Tyndale Bulletin 27 (1976): 137-147.</ref> a fact that is highly reminiscent of Exodus 5:4-19.
Various studies have been conducted on the Book of Exodus, revealing that it is heavily influenced by the Egyptian language and uses a large number of specifically Egyptian words.<ref>Lambdin, Thomas O. "Egyptian loan words in the Old Testament." Journal of the American Oriental Society 73.3 (1953): 145-155.</ref><ref>Muchiki, Yoshiyuki. Egyptian proper names and loanwords in North-West Semitic. Diss. University of Liverpool, 1990.</ref> A recent study by [[Benjamin J. Noonan]] has revealed that the [[Hebrew]] language used in the Book of Exodus uses more Egyptian loanwords than any other book of the [[Bible]], and more than any other ancient language or dialect in general.<ref>James K. Hoffmeier, Alan R. Millard, and Gary A. Rendsburg
eds. "Did I Not Bring Israel Out of Egypt?" Eisenbrauns. pp. 48-68.</ref> In fact, the only ancient texts that had a comparable usage of Egyptian words to the Book of Exodus were those written in Imperial Aramaic, a dialect of Aramaic that was only spoken and written inside of Egypt. Thus, Noonan established that the only ancient language that exhibits similar levels of Egyptian influence to the Book of Exodus and wilderness narratives is a dialect of Aramic that exhibited intense Egyptian contact, thus revealing that the influence of Egypt in the Book of Exodus could only have come about through direct influence and life in the Egyptian world itself. This is considered by Noonan to be strong historical evidence for the exodus. Noonan interestingly also revealed that several of these Egyptian words in the Book of Exodus had to be borrowed in the [[Late Bronze Age]] of Egypt, rather than later periods of time.
Manfred Bietak excavated the Egyptian city of Avaris/Tell el-Dab'a, and in a geophysical investigations report on Avaris, Bietak noted "Another important matter is the stratigraphy, which shows the abandonment of the site of Tell el Daba/Ezbet Helmy after the reign of Amenhotep II and its reactivation in the late Eighteenth Dynasty."<ref>Bietak, Manfred. "Perunefer: the principal New Kingdom naval base." Egyptian Archaeology 34.2009 (2009): 1-3.</ref> Bietak's excavations revealed that the major Egyptian city of Avaris (modern day Tell el-Dab'a) was abandoned, and Bietak subsequently dated this abandonment after the reign of Amenhotep II (during the reign of his successor, Thutmose IV). Scholarly investigation ended up revealing that the abandonment of Avaris actually took place under the reign of Amenhotep II himself, contrary to Bietak's initial thoughts.<ref name="Petrovich, Douglas 2013">Petrovich, Douglas. "Toward Pinpointing the Timing of the Egyptian Abandonment of Avaris during the Middle of the 18th Dynasty." Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 5.2 (2013): 9-28.</ref> The previously discussed dating of the exodus reveals it to have taken place under the reign of Amenhotep II, and archaeological investigations have shown that the entire Egyptian city of Avaris (biblical city of Rameses) was abandoned during Amenhotep II's reign. This provides a serious parallel for the Israelite abandonment of Egypt under Moses in the reign of Amenhotep II.
Manfred Bietak excavated the Egyptian city of Avaris/Tell el-Dab'a, and in a geophysical investigations report on Avaris, Bietak noted "Another important matter is the stratigraphy, which shows the abandonment of the site of Tell el Daba/Ezbet Helmy after the reign of Amenhotep II and its reactivation in the late Eighteenth Dynasty."<ref>Bietak, Manfred. "Perunefer: the principal New Kingdom naval base." Egyptian Archaeology 34.2009 (2009): 1-3.</ref> Bietak's excavations revealed that the major Egyptian city of Avaris (modern day Tell el-Dab'a) was abandoned, and Bietak subsequently dated this abandonment after the reign of Amenhotep II (during the reign of his successor, Thutmose IV). Scholarly investigation ended up revealing that the abandonment of Avaris actually took place under the reign of Amenhotep II himself, contrary to Bietak's initial thoughts.<ref name="Petrovich, Douglas 2013">Petrovich, Douglas. "Toward Pinpointing the Timing of the Egyptian Abandonment of Avaris during the Middle of the 18th Dynasty." Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 5.2 (2013): 9-28.</ref> The previously discussed dating of the exodus reveals it to have taken place under the reign of Amenhotep II, and archaeological investigations have shown that the entire Egyptian city of Avaris (biblical city of Rameses) was abandoned during Amenhotep II's reign. This provides a serious parallel for the Israelite abandonment of Egypt under Moses in the reign of Amenhotep II.
== The Exodus in Popular Culture ==
== The Exodus in Popular Culture ==