Wars of Gods and Men - Zecharia Sitchin-pages

Page 292 of 368

Page 292 of 368
Wars of Gods and Men - Zecharia Sitchin-pages

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289 happen to be a war, they [the Israelites] shall join unto our ene- mies." It was, we suggest, Thothmes II from whose death sen- tence Moses escaped to the wilderness of the Sinai after he had learned of his Hebrew origins and openly sided with his people. Thothmes III died in 1450 B.C. and was followed on the throne by Amenophis I—the Amasis named by Theophilus quoting Manetho. It was indeed "after a long time, that the king of Egypt died," (Exodus 2:23) that Moses dared return to Egypt to demand of the successor—Amenophis II, in our opinion—to "let my people go." The reign of Amenophis II lasted from 1450 to 1425 B.C.; it is our conclusion that the Exodus had taken place in 1433 B.C., ex- actly when Moses was eighty years old (Exodus 7:7). Continuing our calculation backward, we now seek to establish the date when the Israelites arrived in Egypt. Hebrew traditions as- sert a stay of 400 years, in accord with the Lord's statement to Abraham (Genesis 15:13-14); so also states the New Testament (Acts 7:6). The Book of Exodus, however, says that "the sojourn- ing of the Children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years" (Exodus 12:40-41). The qualifying of "so- journ" by the words "who dwelt in Egypt" might have been in- tended to distinguish between the Josephites (who had dwelt in Egypt) and the newly arrived families of Joseph's brothers, who just came "to sojourn." If so, then the difference of thirty years can be accounted for by the fact that Joseph was thirty years old when made Chief of Egypt. This would leave intact the 400 figure as the years of Israelite (rather than Josephite) sojourn in Egypt, and place the event in 1833 B.c. (1,433 + 400). The next clue is found in Genesis 47:8-9: "And Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and stood him before the Pharaoh. . . . And the Pharaoh said unto Jacob: 'How old art thou?’ and Jacob said unto Pharaoh: 'The days of my years are one hundred and thirty." " Jacob, then, was born in 1963 B.C. Now, Isaac was sixty years old when Jacob was born unto him (Genesis 6:26); and Isaac was bom unto his father Abraham when Abraham was 100 years old (Genesis 21:5). Accordingly. Abra- ham (who lived to be 175) was 160 years old when his grandson Jacob was born. This places the birth of Abraham in 2123 B.C. The century of Abraham—the hundred years from his birth to the birth of his son and successor Isaac—was thus the century that wit- nessed the rise and fall of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Our reading of biblical chronology and tales puts Abraham right in the middle of the momentous events of that time—not as a mere observer but as Abraham: The Fateful Years