Egypt+and+the+Wanderings

Group Members: Maddie Addis Rachel Allison

Notes: Semitic - "A subfamily of Afroasiatic languages that includes Akkadian, Arabic, Aramaic, Ethiopic, hebrew, and Phoenician." (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/semitic)

The Hebrews' migration out of Egypt was an important event in Hebrew history - it united the many 'Hebrew' tribes together for the first time under one name. However, there isn't any evidence of a massive migration out of Egypt - or of the Hebrews living in Egypt. (Besides Hebrew sources, i.e. the Bible)
 * http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/hebegypt.html :**

Possible that Hebrews lived in Northern Egypt (Lower Egypt) from around 1500-1250 BC. (Many other Semitic tribal groups lived in Northern Egypt from 1800 BC or so. The source says that they eventually came into power in Egypt, prompting the Third Intermediate Period before the New Kingdom? Then when was the First Intermediate Period? Check up on this. In the New Kingdom, as a result, Egyptians got rid of as many foreigners as possible. Foreigners were called 'habiru' which comes from the word "apiru", which means foreigner. New Kingdom - Egypt began to close itself off in the north and east against outsiders.

Hebrews' oppression in Egypt - possibly labor taxes caused by Egyptian building projects. Unification of Hebrews - Moses Who was Moses? More than one person? He has an Egyptian name, and is often with the Midianites. Midianites - where Moses learns the Yahweh religion.

No Egyptian accounts of the Hebrews in Egypt - what we have to work off of is archaeology and the Bible. The Bible talks about the Hebrews living in Egypt and the labor forced upon the Hebrews - which lines up with information about Semitic foreigners in Northern Egypt. (Many labor taxes were forced upon these foreigners.) Also, in Egypt, in the New Kingdom, foreigners were forced out because they sometimes became too powerful. (Which is what the Bible says happened to the Hebrews) HOWEVER, there are no concrete Egyptian records of the Hebrews specifically in Egypt at all, and none of a huge EXODUS as suggested in the Bible.