The Pyramid Age coincides with the Sojourn of Israel in Egypt

The pyramids of Egypt remain one of the great wonders of the world.

How the Ancient Egyptians managed to cut the huge solid limestone blocks, transport them and lift them into position before the wheel was even invented remains a mystery.

The first pyramid to be built was the Stepped Pyramid of Djoser (Netjerikhet) which is part of a complex in Saqqara Egypt that appears to be a grain storage and distribution center. The Step Pyramid itself was built on top of a shaft that was originally used as a grain silo but then converted into a tomb for the Pharaoh. The Step Pyramid is really a series of Mastabas, made from solid limestone blocks, stacked up on top of one another. The Step Pyramid was used to bury Netjerikhet’s 3 wives and 11 daughters and Netjerikhet’s sarcophagus was placed on a platform in the shaft beneath the Stepped Pyramid.

The Step Pyramid was designed by Imhotep who may well be the Joseph of the Bible. Joseph and Imhotep have many similarities but have not been thought to be one in the same person because of discrepancies between the estimated dates of their existence.

The Step Pyramid became the standard for the burial of pharaohs in subsequent dynasties.

Joseph would have lived well into the fourth dynasty if he was Imhotep of the 3rd dynasty and would no doubt have served more than one pharaoh.

The great pyramids of Giza far surpass the size of the first pyramid at Saqqara and contain enormous blocks that still leave the experts puzzled as to how they could have been lifted into place with the technology of the day.

The 12th dynasty appears to have arisen out of the 11th dynasty which was contemporary with the 6th dynasty. The Middle Kingdom of Egypt, therefore, directly followed the Old Kingdom. There was no first intermediate period as such.

The pyramids of the 12th dynasty were made from mudbricks that contained straw as a reinforcement. Each pyramid would have contained millions upon millions of these mudbricks which were about 24 inches by 12 inches by 6 inches in size. The 12th dynasty pyramids thus had a core that was made of mud bricks but the outer veneer was made of limestone which was becoming more difficult to quarry by the 12th dynasty and therefore in short supply. Over the centuries, the outer veneer of limestone has fallen down and been pilfered exposing the inner mudbrick core.

Paradoxically, the first pyramids to have been built, those of the 3rd and 4th dynasty (Old Kingdom Pyramids), have stood the test of time better than those built in the 12th dynasty (Middle Kingdom Pyramids). This is because the Old Kingdom Pyramids were made entirely out of solid limestone blocks while the Middle Kingdom Pyramids were made largely from Mud Bricks (the core) and only had a veneer of limestone.

The pharaohs of the 12th dynasty would have required a large slave labor force to make the mudbricks for the 12th dynasty pyramids.

The Israelites had come to number around 2 million by the time of the Exodus. The seven pyramids of the 12th dynasty were built over a 200 year period. Flinders Petrie found evidence of a sudden massive exodus of slaves from the town of Kahun in the 13th dynasty. The town of Kahun was a semetic workers village where the builders of the 12th dynasty pyramids lived.

If the Israelite exodus took place in the 13th dynasty then it would seem likely that it was the Israelites who were enslaved during the 12th dynasty and given the task of making mudbricks for the pyramids. After the Exodus in the 13th dynasty, no more pyramids were built.

If the first pyramid was designed by an Israelite, Joseph-Imhotep, and the Israelites were slaves in Egypt up until the last pyramid of the 12th dynasty was built, then the Pyramid age would coincide with the Israelite Sojourn in Egypt! It therefore follows that the pyramid age spanned a 400 year period from around 1900BC to 1500BC.

see Evidence for the Israelite Sojourn in Egypt

The relationship between the Israelite sojourn (430yrs) and the dynasties of Egypt.

A schematic diagram illustrating the relationship between the Egyptian Kingdoms and dynasties and the various phases of Israel as the Israelites grew to be a nation while they were in Egypt and then traveled to the promised land where they were ruled initially by Judges and later by Kings. The nation of Israel became divided into North (Israel) and South (Judah) after Solomon. There was no first intermediate period.

Moses was the only Israelite in the Bible who was in a position to become a Pharaoh. While he may have been a junior co-regent (Amenemhet IV) he never got to rule alone. This was so he could achieve what God had destined him to do.

Moses is the only Israelite in history who was in a position to become a Pharaoh of Egypt. Not even Joseph could lay claim to this although he came very close, becoming a vizier to Pharaoh Netjerikhet in the 3rd dynasty. Joseph, having saved Egypt from a seven year famine and having brought up all the land of Egypt for the Pharaoh was, however, a very prominent person in Egyptian History to the extent that the Egyptians and the Greeks almost deified him (Imhotep). As time went by, Netjerikhet started to become known as the Pharaoh of Joseph (Djoser). Temples were built in Joseph-Imhotep’s name and pilgrims would bring mummified animals to offer to his tomb in the hope of being healed over a 1000 years after his death.

Moses was an equally prominent figure in Egyptian History, not because he made it to the top job, but because of the impact that his disappearance had on the 12th dynasty and because of the impact that the Exodus had on Egypt. In the first half of their sojourn, the Israelites were well received and well treated by the Egyptians. As they flourished and grew in number, the Egyptians began to feel threatened. At the end of the Old Kingdom there was an uprising in Upper Egypt. Amenemhet I, the vizier of Mentuhotep IV of the 11th dynasty, based in Thebes, assassinated Mentuhotep IV and gradually took over the rest of the country. This was the beginning of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom or the 12th dynasty as it was called by Manetho. The pharaohs of Egypt’s Middle kingdom had a very different attitude towards the Israelites to the extend that the Israelites were enslaved and forced to make mud bricks for the public works of the 12th dynasty pharaohs. Eventually, the 12th dynasty pharaohs became so oppressive that they even practiced genocide by killing the male infants of the Israelites. 65% of the graves in Tel ed Daba where the Israelites lived were for infants and many coffins containing babies were found in Kahun which was also an Israelite village.

The Israelite oppression ended when the 12th dynasty ended (marking 400 years in Egypt) but the Israelites did not leave Egypt until 30 years later when Moses returned to confront Neferhotep I of the 13th dynasty.

Moses-Amenemhet IV’s disappearance at the age of 40 was bad news for the 12th dynasty when Egypt’s wealth and power was at a peek because there was nobody to continue the 12th dynasty when Amenemhet III died other than his daughter Sobeknefru. Sobeknefru only reigned for 8 years and then she died. Egypt became politically unstable and began to decline. When Moses-Amenemhet IV returned to Egypt to confront the pharaoh (Neferhotep), inflicting the ten plagues and then leading the Israelites (numbering 2 million) out of Egypt, Egypt was crippled due to the loss of it’s firstborn, the loss of it’s army, chariots, crops and animals; not to mention it’s SLAVES. Egypt became easy pickings for foreign invaders. It was not long after the Exodus that the Hyksos (Amalekites) invaded Egypt and built a fort at Avaris (previously called Tel ed Daba) which was where the Israelites had lived. From Avaris, the Hyksos occupied and controlled lower Egypt for the next 400 years until Sequenre and Kahmose in Thebes, Upper Egypt, (17th dynasty) mounted a rebellion to force the Hyksos to leave Egypt where they were to encounter Saul of Israel who all but wiped them out. The 18th dynasty, or Egypts New Kingdom had begun. Many of the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom seem to have been named after Moses perhaps indicating that the Egyptians had considerable respect for Moses.

Given the enormous impact Moses had on Egyptian History and the fact that he was in a position to become a pharaoh at the end of a mud brick making empire in which his family were the major mud brick producers, it is very plausible and in deed, highly likely that Moses did manage to get to the top job, even if only as a junior co-regent. Things may have been different if he was allowed to rule by himself but then Moses-Amenemhet IV may not have achieved what God had intended for him. God had allowed the Israelites to grow into a nation in Egypt and it was Moses’ job to lead the Israelites back to the promised land as God had promised he would to Abraham.

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It was Sobeknefru who found Moses in a basket among the reeds of the Nile. She raised him as her own, grooming him to take over as the next pharaoh Amenemhet IV.

Sobeknefru. Daughter of Amenemhet III, Foster mother of Moses. Last Pharaoh of the 12th dynasty of Egypt.

Sobeknefru was the daughter of Amenemhet III who reigned over Upper and Lower Egypt for 46 yrs. It was Amenemhet III and his father Senusret III who were co-reigning at the time when Moses was born to the Hebrew slave Jochebed. A decree was given by the pharaoh that the midwives kill all male babies born to the Hebrew slaves. Moses was found hidden among the reeds of the Nile by the Princess (Sobeknefru) when she went down to the Nile to bathe.

Sobeknefru had no children and so there were no male heirs to the throne to continue on from Amenemhet III. Sobeknefru ended up adopting Moses, raising him as her own and grooming him to be the next pharaoh Amenemhet IV.

Amenemhet IV did in fact co-reign with Amenemhet III for 9 years, however, Amenemhet IV seems to have disappeared from the record because when Amenemhet III died, his daughter Sobekneferu had to take the throne. Sobeknefru reigned for 8 yrs and then she died. When she died, the 12th dynasty came to an end.

Egypt lost all it’s chariots at the time of the Exodus. The Exodus would have immediately PRECEDED the dynasty in which chariots reappeared in Egypt.

The Hyksos used chariots to invade Egypt after the Exodus

The Hyksos were able to invade Egypt with little resistance because Egypt had lost it’s army and all it’s chariots at the time of the Exodus.

While the Hyksos are credited with having introduced the horse drawn chariot to Egypt, this should be an indication to Bible scholars that the Exodus took place just prior to the Hyksos invasion.

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No discoveries horse drawn chariots have been found prior to the 15th dynasty. This would tend to suggest that the Exodus took place before the 15th dynasty. One would not expect to find chariots of dynasties prior to the Exodus because they were all destroyed at the time of the Exodus.
Wyatt found chariot wheels covered with coral strewn across the bottom of the Red Sea. There was a well preserved golden 4 spoked chariot wheel. He also found six and eight spoked chariot wheels covered with coral from one side of the Red Sea to the other in the Gulf of Aqaba where there is a large beach and a natural land bridge at the opening of the Wadi Wadir, just a little bit north of Jabel Lawz on the opposite side. Wyatt also found a pair of columns which appeared to have been left by Solomon to mark the site of the Red Sea crossing at this point.
Unfortunately, as no examples of 12th dynasty chariots have been found, the chariot wheels found by Wyatt were dated to the 18th dynasty. This has lead many an archaeologist to go looking for the Exodus in the 18th dynasty. There is no evidence for a mass Exodus in the 18th dynasty. There was an exodus at the end of the second intermediate period but this is when the Hyksos kings were evicted from Egypt and is clearly not the Israelite exodus.
The Bible states that the exodus pharaoh pursued the Israelites with all of Egypt’s chariots and that these were lost in the Red Sea. One would, therefore, not expect to find a chariot that predated the exodus. If a chariot has been found, other than in the Red Sea, then it must have been produced after the Exodus.
While the Hyksos (15th dynasty) did use chariots to invade and occupy lower Egypt, they were only able to do this because the Egyptian army had been decimated by the Exodus and all of it’s chariots were at the bottom of the Red Sea.
Many historians and archaeologists believe that the horse drawn chariot was introduced to Egypt by the Hyksos because there are no findings of 12th and 13th dynasty chariots. If all of Egypt’s chariots were lost at the time of the exodus, the finding of 15th dynasty chariots should suggest that the Exodus occurred prior to the 15th dynasty, namely the 13th dynasty. It also follows that the chariot wheels found in the Red Sea by Wyatt were from the 12th and 13th dynasties.

The Hyksos were credited with having introduced the chariot to Egypt only because no 12th and 13th dynasty chariots have been found until 1978 when Wyatt discovered chariot wheels covered with coral strewn across the bottom of the Red Sea at Nuweiba.   The fact that Hyksos chariots are the earliest surviving chariots to have been found means that the Exodus took place immediately before the Hyksos entered Egypt.  This would further support a 13th dynasty Exodus.

Also supporting a 13th dynasty exodus is the prolific use of mudbricks in the 12th dynasty and the finding of a slave village at Kahun that was rapidly evacuated in the 13th dynasty when Neferhotep I was ruling (as evidenced by scarabs found by Petrie).   Amenemhet III has the credentials to be the pharaoh of Moses birth and the pharaoh that Moses fled from.  Sobeknefru has the credentials to be Moses foster mother and Amenemhet IV has the credentials to be Moses himself!

Sesostris III built the cities of Bubastis, Qantir, and Ramses

Meshing Egyptian and Biblical Timelines by Michelle Isenhoff

The New Answers Book 2 by Ken Ham

The 12th dynasty Pyramids (made with an inner core of mud bricks) are a lasting legacy of the Israelite Oppression in Egypt which took place prior to the Exodus in the 13th dynasty.

There are many theories about who Joseph was in Egyptian History.  Similarly, people theorize  about  who was the Exodus Pharaoh and who was the Pharaoh of Moses Birth and who was the pharaoh of Abraham.

As these Biblical and Historical figures are related to each other in time, sequence and position, the identification of one of these figures (a point of reference) determines where and when to look for the others.

As there are different views about the way the various Egyptian dynasties are ordered and as there are two schools of though regarding the length of the Israelite’s Sojourn in Egypt, many different permutations and combinations are possible when everybody logs in their answers for who they think just four of these iconic Biblical figures may have been in Egyptian History.

For a theory to hold, there needs to be a good character match, sufficient archaeological evidence, any discrepant dates need to be explained and the sequence and time frames needs to be right.

As a point of reference, one might ask, what lasting legacy did the Israelites leave behind (for us to find) when they were slaves in Egypt?  The Bible records that the Israelites were forced to make mud bricks that were reinforced with straw.  The Bible says that there were over 600 thousand Israelite men of fighting age by the time of the Exodus.  The Bible says that the Israelites Sojourned in Egypt for 400 years.

Even if the the Israelites only produced one mud brick per person per day for half of their sojourn, that would be 600000 people  x 200 years  x 365 days x 1 mud brick per day per person = 43.8 billion mud bricks.  That is a lot of mud bricks!!

Where can we find this many mud bricks in Egyptian History?  The answer is: in the 12th dynasty.  (The 12 dynasty lasted about 200 years)!!

click on some of the photos below and view them close up in high resolution

Mudbricks in the 12th dynasty Amenermhet III pyramid at Hawara.

The 12th dynasty pyramid of Sensuret II (Sesostris II) at Lahun.

The 12th dynasty Amenemhet III pyramid at Hawara. The limestone venere has fallen away over the centuries exposing the inner core composed of millions of mudbricks.

Mud bricks in the Ameenhet III pyramid at Hawara. This was the last great pyramid to be built.

There is considerable evidence to suggest that the 12th dynasty was the period when the Israelites were oppressed.  The 12th dynasty pyramids had a mud brick core and a limestone veneer.  (The limestone veneer has fallen away over the centuries leaving the mud brick core exposed.)  There were seven such pyramids constructed over about 200 years.  The Labyrinth, another monolith of the 12th dynasty, was also made from mud bricks.

There was a massive Exodus of slaves from Egypt in the 13th dynasty, after which, no more pyramids were constructed.

The only other significant exodus from Egypt was at the end of the second intermediate period when The Hyksos were chased out of Egypt in a rebellion lead by the family of Ahmose who went on to found the 18th dynasty.  The Hyksos were rulers of Egypt and are clearly not the Israelites.

The only reasonable conclusion is that the Exodus of slaves in the 13th dynasty was in fact the Israelite Exodus.   This is supported by good character matches for Moses, Moses’ pharaoh, Moses’ adoptive mother and the Exodus pharaoh.  The profiles of Amenemhet III, Sobekneferu Amenemhet IV and Neferhotep and the chronology and time frames make it very likely that they were The pharaoh of Moses Birth, the princess that adopted Moses, Moses himself and the Exodus pharaoh respectively.

People have suggested the 12th dynasty vizier Mentuhotep (of Sesostris I) to be Jospeh of the Bible based on a 200 yr sojourn but there is little evidence and a poor character match.

The Bible says that the Israelites were in Egypt for 400 years. They were able to enjoy the protection of Joseph for the first 70 years and some time elapsed before there was a change of dynasties to a pharaoh who neither remembered Joseph, nor was sympathetic to the Israelites.

It is unlikely that the Pharaohs of the 12th dynasty changed their tune half way thru the dynasty.

There is a lot of evidence to suggest Joseph was Imhotep of the third dynasty and this would fit with Menez being Mizraim.  Abrahams pharaoh (Abimelech) was somewhere in between Menes and Imhotep.

We know that the Egyptian chronology has been stretched out too far, that dynasties overlapped and so we cannot use dates to match Biblical figures with their historical counterparts.

If the long sojourn is right, then Joseph would have arrived in Egypt about 200 years before the 12th dynasty began.

The first intermediate period is likely to have been contemporary with other dynasties (3-6th dynasties).  As a consequence, the 12th dynasty (middle kingdom) followed directly on from the old kingdom (dynsasty 3-6).

The pharaohs of the dynasties 7-11 (erroneously referred to as the First Intermediate Period) were probably Nomarches and high officials and not pharaohs at all.  The only record we have of them is there name and how long they reigned.  They were not even buried in pyramids.

Amenemhet I who founded the 12th dynasty was the vizier of Mentuhotep IV of the 11th dynasty.  Amenemhet I assassinated Mentuhotep IV and took over the whole country.  It was he who had a different attitude to the  Israelites and made them into slaves, forcing them to make mud bricks for the 12th dynasty pyramids.

The major objection to Joseph being Imhotep is the dates, and new insights into the Egyptian chronology are slowly but surely resolving this issue.

In any case, there is no doubt that the Bible is true and that Moses and Joseph were real people and one day we will know their Egyptian names and the names of the Pharaohs that they served with more certainty.

The Pharaoh when Moses was Born (Amenemhet III)

The Pharaoh when Moses was Born

Moses/Amenemhet IV was 80 years old when he lead the Israelites out of Egypt in 1446BC.   The Israelites were in Egypt for 430 years. Moses was born 80 years before the Exodus in 1526BC.  The Israelites, therefore, had been in Egypt for 350 years when Moses was born.  Joseph/Imhotep was long since dead and by the time of the Exodus the Israelites numbered around 2 million as there were over 600,000 men of fighting age.

The Israelites flourished and multiplied quickly when they first came to Egypt in the 3rd dynasty when Djoser (Netjerikhet) was pharaoh.   They had the blessing of the Pharaoh and they enjoyed the protection of the vizier Joseph/Imhotep while he was alive.  They lived in Goshen, the most fertile part of Egypt.

At the end of the 6th and 11th dynasty (which ran contemporaneously in different parts of the country), there was an uprising by Amenemhet I who was the vizier for Mentuhotep IV of the 11th dynasty.   He assassinated Mentuhotep IV and became the first pharaoh of the 12th dynasty, eventually taking over all of upper and lower Egypt.    Amenemhet I did not care or remember that the Israelites were related to  Joseph/Imhotep  who had saved Egypt from a seven year famine and made the pharaohs rich.  This pharaoh (Amenemhet I) ruthlessly forced the Israelites to work the fields and make mud bricks for his public works.  The 12th dynasty pyramids were composed largely of mud bricks which were then covered or faced with a limestone veneer. (Some of the inner rooms and passage ways were also made of limestone.)

The 12th dynasty spanned almost 200 years.   Amenemhet III was the sixth pharaoh of this dynasty and he built two pyramids.  He reigned for 46 years.  He co-reigned with his father Sesostris III for as long as 20 years at the beginning of his reign.  At the end of his reign, he co-reigned with his intended successor Amenemhet IV for 9 years but was succeeded by his daughter Sobeknefru because Amenemhet IV suddenly disappeared.  Sobeknefru only lived for another 4-8 years and then the 12th dynasty ended and Egypt was thrown into turmoil.  There was a rapid succession of pharaoh’s in the next dynasty and no pyramids were constructed during this time.  Towards the end of the 13th dynasty, which lasted less than 40 years, there was a sudden exodus of slaves from Egypt.  This occurred during the reign of Neferhotep.  Kahun, for example, was a slave village that was occupied from the time of Sesostris II up until the time of Neferhotep, as evidenced by the scarabs that Flinders Petrie found in the town.  Petrie also found evidence that the town was suddenly vacated.

Moses spent the first 40 years of his life growing up in Pharaoh’s household.  The pharaoh’s daughter, being childless, adopted Moses (a Hebrew baby who she found hidden amongst the reeds of the Nile) and raised him as her own.  She would have groomed Moses to be the next heir to the throne.

There was no change of pharaohs during Moses’s first 40 years.  The pharaoh of the time would have reigned at least 40 years.

Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt at the age of 80 years, 40 years after Moses went into Exile.

Egypt was devastated by the Exodus.  With the loss of it’s slaves, Egypt was no longer able to construct pyramids.  With the loss of it’s army, Egypt was no longer able to defend itself. Egypt was invaded by the Hyksos not long after the Exodus.

It is highly likely that  Amenemhet III was the Pharaoh that was reigning when Moses was born.  He reigned for 46 yrs and would have seen Moses reach the age of 40 years.   Amenemhet III had a daughter (Sobeknefru) who was childless.  Amenemhet III was the last of a long line of pharaohs in the 12th dynasty who needed a large slave labour force to construct the massive pyramids of the 12th dynasty that were composed chiefly of mud bricks reinforced with straw.

The Hebrews were numerous enough and living in Egypt long enough to have made the mud bricks for all of the 12th dynasty pyramids as well as the Labyrinth which was constructed out of mud bricks too.

The ancestry of Amenemhet IV is unknown.  Amenemhet IV may well have been the child of a Hebrew slave.  Sobeknefru may well have been the princess who found him and adopted him and raised him as her own to be the next pharaoh Amenemhet IV after her father  Amenemhet III.

Amenemhet IV‘s tomb has never been found. If Amenemhet IV was Moses, Amenemhet IV would not have died in Egypt.

Amenemhet IV suddenly disappeared after co-reigning with  Amenemhet III for 9 years.  Amenemhet IV never got to reign alone.

The interval between the end of the reign of  Amenemhet III and the end of the reign of the Exodus Pharaoh (Neferhotep) was about 40 years.

The pyramids of  Amenemhet III were the last great pyramids to be built.  The early pyramids of the 3rd to the 6th dynasty were build out of solid limestone but the later pyramids of the 12th dynasty were built out of mud bricks as there was not enough limestone.  No major pyramids were built after the 12th dynasty because Egypt’s slaves had escaped!

Mudbricks in the 12th dynasty Amenermhet III pyramid at Hawara.

What are the implications for Israel, Islam and Christianity if the mud bricks in the 12th dynasty pyramids were made by Israelites?

The Abrahamic faiths, Christianity, Judaism and Islam all have their roots in Egypt.

Abraham, Joseph and Moses are common to all these religions.

They were real people who are considered the patriarchs of the faith.

Their ancestry and what they achieved is history and it is recorded in the Bible.

In an age when atheism and evolution are fairly common, it is good to be able to give evidence that the Bible is historically accurate.

Owing to the gross inaccuracies of the traditional Egptian chronology, many historians and archaeologists have been looking for evidence of the Jews in Egypt in the wrong dynasties.  Not supprisingly, they haven’t found any.

The mud brick pyramids of the 12th dynasty have been staring us so blatently in the face, yet somehow, over the ages, the fact that the Israelites made the mudbricks that went into them has been forgotten.  Fact has become legend, and legend myth.

The loss of historical records (eg when the Alexandrian library burnt down), the white washing of history to cover up humiliating defeats, wars, natural disasters and pilfering has also contributed.  For almost 2000 years, the art of reading heiroglyphics was lost and only recently recovered when the Rosetta stone was found.

When animals become extinct, people begin to doubt they ever existed.

When people no longer believe that the Bible is true, the fact that the Jews were in Egypt and played a big role in building the pyramids also gets lost.

Now, nobody can explain how the pyramids came to be.  Some people have even suggested that they were made by aliens.

The Bible is the oldest, most reliable and ubiquitous source of historical information that we have.  If we ignore it, it is no wonder that we do not know who built the pyramids.

When we believe it to be true, archaeological evidence and historical records and geological information just seem to fall into place.

The Bible provides the only credible explanation for where we come from and how the pyramids came to be.

Isn’t God awsome and marvelous!!

Could Moses and Amenemhet IV have been the same person?

The Pharaoh of Moses had a daughter and no sons.  Amenemhet III had a daughter (Sobekneferu) and no sons to inherit the throne and continue the dynasty.

The Pharaoh of Moses reigned for at least 40 years as it was the same pharaoh from Moses birth to his Exile at 40 yrs.  Amenemhet III reigned for 46 yerars.

The Pharaoh of Moses had a big need for mud bricks.  Amenemhet III built two pyramids (Hawara & Dashur) and The Labyrinth (Hawara) which were composed mainly of mud bricks.

The Pharaoh of Moses reigned towards the end of the Israelites’ oppression.  Amenemhet III‘s pyramid at Hawara was the last of the Great Pyramids to be built.

The Pharaoh of Moses reign ended around 40 years before the Exodus.  Archaologist Flinders Petrie found a workers village at Kahun which was occupied from the time of Sesostris II to Neferhotep I.  Neferhotep I reigned about 30-40 years after Amenemhet III.  The village appeared to have been suddenly vacated.

The Pharaoh of Moses’s daughter adopted a child. Amenemhet IV had no records of his birth in Egyptian records.  Sobekneferu is often cited as the wife sister of Amenemhet IV although there is no evidence to substantiate this.

Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s House Hold by the Princess as her own and hence Moses was an heir to the throne but was never the Pharaoh who reigned.

Amenemhet IV never reigned over Egypt by himself but he did co-reign with Amenemhet III for 9 yrs.

Moses suddenly disappeared at the Age of 40 years.  Amenemhet IV also suddenly disappeared.

The Jews were slaves for half of their time in Egypt (the first 200 yrs was for multiplication and then they were slaves for the next 200 yrs).  The 12th dynasty lasted about 200 yrs.

The Jews had to make mud bricks that contained straw.  There were millions of Jews and they served as slaves for 200 years.   That is a lot of mud bricks!!  The Pyramids of the 12th dynasty and The Labyrinth were made out of mud bricks containing straw.  The 12th dynasty pyramids only had a limestone facing / veneer which no longer exists.

Who else could have made all these mud bricks?

Could Moses have been born during the 12th dynasty of Egypt?

The Israelites had grown to number around 2 million by the end of the 12th dynasty when Moses was born.

Joseph (Imhotep) had long since died and the Pharaohs of the 12th dynasty had forgotten his connection to the Israelites.  Joseph / Imhotep had looked after his family and ensured that they were able to multiply to become a great nation.  Joseph died at the age of 110 years; 80 years after coming to Egypt.

The Israelites were in Egypt for 430 years by the time of the Exodus.

The Israelites had become so numerous by the start of the 12th dynasty that the Egyptians were beginning to feel threatened.

Amenmhet I (the first pharaoh of the 12th dynasty), was the vizier of Mentuhotep IV (the last pharaoh of the 11th dynasty) whom he may have assasinated.

The pharaohs of the 12th dynasty required a large slave labour force for the construction of their pyramids and other public works.  The Jews were given the task of making mud bricks and working in the fields.  The 12th dynasty lasted almost 200 years and at least seven pyramids were constructed during this time.

A semitic slave village at Kahun was built during the time of Sesostris II and occupied up until the time of the Exodus when Neferhotep I was reigning.  We know this because scarabs of these pharaohs were found in the town.

The pyramids of the 12th dynasty had a core of mudbricks and a limestone veneer.  The cores of each of these pyramids contained millions of mudbricks.  Mudbricks were also used for other structures such as the Labyrinth which was built by Amenemhet III, the 6th pharaoh of the 12th dynasty.

Amenemhet III reigned for 46 yrs but had a 20 year co-regency with his father Sesostris III at the beginning of his reign. Moses was born early in the reign of Amenemhet III. It was Amenemhet III who tried to kill the male Israelite babies at birth. It was his daughter Sobekneferu who found Moses in a basket among the reeds of the Nile and adopted him and raised him as her own.  Moses was groomed to be the next pharaoh Amenemhet IV and may have even been co-regent with Amenemhet III for 9 years (as Amenemhet IV).  He never got to rule by himself.  When his affections for the Israelites became known, Moses (alias Amenemhet IV) had to go into exile in Midian or be killed by Amenemhet III.

This not only fits well with historical records and the archaeological evidence, it allows complete synchrony of the Bible with the Egyptian Chronology.