View source for Date of the Exodus

==Early date of 1446 B.C.==
The early date of 1446 B.C. places the Exodus under the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep II of the 18th Dynasty, and many scholars contend that this is the correct biblical date.  This has been denied by some scholars citing Exodus 1:11 and other evidences, however, a careful survey of the biblical narrative for the Exodus up until the time of Solomon, in addition to  extra-Biblical evidence, places the Exodus event during the the mid-fifteenth century B.C., rather then more than a century later.

1st Kings 6:1 states that Solomon began to build the Temple ''"in the 480th year after the children of Israel were come up out of the land of Egypt,"''  which was during the fourth year of his reign, or about 966 B.C.  This agrees with modern archaeologists who established a rough timeframe for Solomon's kingship,<ref>Kitchen, Kenneth A. "How we know when Solomon ruled." Biblical Archaeology Review 27.5 (2001): 32.</ref> making the date of the Exodus to have been about 1446 B.C. This date fits the timeframe as established by the biblical narrative, and chronologists attempting to establish the later date of 1290 B.C. during the reign of Rameses II must thoroughly reject the 1st Kings verse, and by extension reject the chronology of the narrative in Judges 11:26 and the early kingships in Israel as not being able to fit within contemporary history of that time. (Unger, pg. 332)

Contemporary history of Egyptian events also supports the 1446 B.C. date.  The pharaoh who refused to allow the Hebrews to leave most certainly would have been Amenhotep II, who reigned c. 1455-1425 B.C.  He was the son of the empire builder and conqueror Thutmose III, and Amenhotep lived off his father's largesse.  It is also clear from Egyptian inscriptions that the son who succeeded him to the throne, Thutmose IV, was not his first born; this was indicated by the inscription on a slab known as the [[Dream Stele]] at the foot of the Great Sphinx which states that the god Amun would give him the throne if he cleared away the sand from the feet of the Sphinx and restore it: 
*''"One of those days it came to pass that the king's son, Thutmose, came, coursing at the time of midday, and he rested in the shadow of this great god.  A vision of sleep seized him at the hour (when) the sun was in the zenith, and he found the majesty of this revered god speaking with his own mouth, as a father speaks with his son, saying: "Behold thou me! See thou me! My son Thutmose.  I am thy father, Harmakhis-Khepri-Re-Atum, who will give to thee my kingdom on earth at the head of the living.  Thou shalt wear the white crown and the red crown upon the throne of Keb, the hereditary prince.  The land shall be thine in its length and breadth, that which the eye of the All-Lord shines upon.  The food of the Two Lands shall be thine, the great tribute of all countries, the duration of a long period of years."'' [http://www.kent.net/DisplacedDynasties/Menkheperure.html]

===The Amarna Letters===
The [[Amarna Letters]], named for Pharaoh [[Akhenaton]]'s city where they were discovered in 1886, provide a glimpse into the details of an invasion of the land of Canaan by a people called the "Habiru" or "Hapiru"; although some are divided on the matter, many agree that the "Haibiru" are actually the Hebrews just entering the Promised Land and putting fear into the vassals of Egypt in the area.<ref>Waterhouse, S. Douglas. "Who are the Habiru of the Amarna Letters?." Journal of the Adventist Theological Society 12.1 (2001): 3.</ref> The letters date from c. 1375-1350 B.C., corresponding to the entry of [[Joshua]] according to the Biblical timeframe. [http://www.terraflex.co.il/ad/egypt/amarnaletters.htm]

===David Rohl===
Egyptologist and historian David Rohl created a stir when he published a [[New Chronology]] in 1995, essentially re-writing Egyptian history because he believes it was off by approximately 125 years as a result of mistakes made by archaeologists during the late 19th century.  While not far off with his date of the Exodus (1446 B.C.), he stated in his book that the pharaoh of the Oppression was Khenefere Sobekhotep IV, and the pharaoh of the Exodus was Dedumose; this based on the writings of a Jewish historian named Artapanus, who wrote ''Peri Ioudaion'' (''Concerning the Jews''), and was cited by the early church historian Eusebius, as well as consulting [[Josephus]] in his ''Antiquities of the Jews'' (Rohl, pg. 252-280).