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"Православие и современность. Электронная библиотека." (www.lib.eparhia-saratov.ru).

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"Православие и мир. Электронная библиотека" (lib.pravmir.ru).

Part 1

Introduction

"What Did Those Who Wrote the Bible Know, and When Did They Know It?" is the title of the book by University of Arizona professor William Dever. This book was published in 2000, but the question itself has been standing since the excavations made it possible to verify the facts known from written sources. The attitude of historians of the 18th and 19th centuries to the reliability of the Bible was, for the most part, very skeptical, and therefore biblical archaeology was formed in a confessional environment. Most of the specialists were teachers of theological schools, and seminaries and other church institutes provided funds for research. Archaeologist Nelson Gluck said: "It can be categorically stated that no archaeological discovery has ever contradicted the data of the Bible." In his opinion, one should speak of "an almost unbelievably accurate historical memory of the Bible, especially explicit when it is strengthened by archaeological evidence." Not so categorically, but even more convincingly, William Albright, an outstanding researcher of Israelite antiquities, president of the International Association of Old Testament Specialists, proved the solid historical foundations of biblical messages. In From the Stone Age to Christianity: Monotheism and the Historical Process, published in 1940, he placed the Bible for the first time in a historical and geographical context. Albright had no doubt about the correspondence between the Bible and the archaeological data: "One after another, discoveries are made that confirm the accuracy of innumerable details and strengthen the recognition of the Bible as a historical source." In response to critics, he wrote: "Until recently, it was fashionable among biblical historians to regard the stories of the Genesis patriarchs as the artificial creations of Israelite scribes of the Divided Kingdom, or as tales that sang ingenious rhapsodes around Israelite fires for centuries after the occupation of the country. Archaeological discoveries made since 1925 have refuted these views. Apart from a few hardened scholars of the older generation, there is hardly a single historian of the Bible who has not been deeply impressed by the rapidly accumulating data confirming how essentially historical the traditions of the patriarchs are." It must be said that the excavations carried out enriched not only knowledge in the field of ancient history, but also the methods of archaeology itself. During the excavations of Samaria in 1931-1934, the Englishwoman Kathleen Kenyon was the first in the Middle East to use the stratigraphic method, examining the site layer by layer. Its excavations in Jericho and Jerusalem received worldwide recognition. And again, this time from the standpoint of a more subtle study, skeptical "minimalists" began to speak, finding in the biblical texts only scattered reliable evidence. In 1999, Tel Aviv University archaeologist Zeev Herzog caused a sensation in Israeli public life. In a popular magazine, he wrote that the stories of the biblical patriarchs were common myths, as were the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and the campaigns of Joshua. Continuing to shock the public, Herzog declared that the states of David and Solomon, described in the Bible as large and famous powers, were, at best, only small tribal kingdoms. The book "The Excavated Bible", published in 2000, added fuel to the fire of discussions. The authors believe that the story of the Exodus was written during the time of the Judean king Josiah in the 7th century BC, that is, 600 years after the event itself (approximately 1250 BC). It was a kind of political manifesto intended to unite the Israelites in the struggle against Egypt, which sought to expand its possessions. The incipient conflict between the Israelite kings and the newly enthroned Egyptian Pharaoh Necho was metaphorically portrayed by the author (or authors) of Exodus as the struggle between Moses and Pharaoh. William Dever also believes that this is a typical ethnological legend designed to explain the origin of the Israelite people as God's chosen nation. Israel itself, according to critical historians, arose in the lands of Canaan, which included the territories of modern Lebanon, southern Syria, and the west bank of the Jordan River. The inhabitants of these places are described in the Bible as malicious idolaters. The Israelites were part of the local Canaanite population, united or led by a small group of Semites who came from Egypt. Other researchers continue to defend the historical reliability of the biblical text and even find an accurate dating of disputed events on the basis of archaeological materials. The director of the Association for Biblical Studies, Bryant Wood, and a number of his associates are convinced of the reality of Joshua's descriptions of the Exodus and the wars. Since both researchers are based mainly on the dating of Israeli settlements, we will tell you about them in more detail.

Cities of the Israelites in Egypt

In the Book of Exodus, Pythus, Ramesses (Ramessi) and On, founded by the Israelites, are mentioned. The first of them is called a warehouse city. Its location has long caused controversy. Edouard Naville, who carried out excavations at the site of el-Maskutah in 1885, found inscriptions there calling this place "per-itm", which is consonant with Pithom. From ancient Egyptian, "per-itm" is translated as "house of Atum" - the god of the sun. Since other sources refer to the excavated settlement as Tkut or Sakkot, Naville assumed that this was the religious name of the city, while Tkut was a civil name. Not based on the same consonance, D. Uphill suggested that Pyphom was Heliopolis, where the temple of Atum existed. The famous Egyptologist A. Gardiner, however, reasonably objected that Ra-Horakhti, and not Atum, was revered in this city. Donald Redford put an end to the dispute, noting that the expression "per itm" was never used in relation to the city, but only denoted the temple site. He also found the earliest name outside the biblical text, reminiscent of Pythomas. It turned out to be the city of Patumos in the "History" of Herodotus. It was located near the canal, the construction of which was begun by Pharaoh Necho II and completed by the Persian king Darius. Redford therefore assumed that the Pentateuch's account of the geography of Egypt dates from the Egyptian 26th Dynasty (664-525 BCE) and was borrowed after the Babylonian captivity (575 BCE). There is, however, another source that directly names not only the city of Pithom, but also the land of Goshen or Goshen, where, according to the Book of Genesis, the biblical Jacob and Joseph settled. This is the famous guide of the Christian pilgrim Etairia or Egeria, circa 396 AD, giving the key to resolving the question of the location of these cities and territories.

From Etheria's guidebook

"The Land of Goshen (biblical Goshen – A.S.) was, of course, known to me from the time when I first visited Egypt. My object, however, was now to see all the places where the children of Israel had gone on their way from Ramesses until they reached the Red Sea at what is now called Klisma, because of the fortress there. So our desire was to go from Klisma to the land of Goshen, and we especially wanted to visit the city of Arabia. From this city all this land is called "the land of Arabia," which is "the land of Goshen," and is the best part of Egypt. From Klisma, i.e. from the Red Sea to the city of Arabia through the desert, it is four days' journey. On the way, I constantly asked the holy men, monks and presbyters who accompanied us on the way about the places mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. Some of these places were located on the left side of the road, others on the right side, some away from the road, and others almost near the road. In the distance, on the road to Magdal, we saw Epauleum. Magdala is now home to a fortress with a garrison and an officer representing the authority of Rome in these places. According to the rule, they accompanied us to the next fortress and there showed us Baal-zephon, which we did not hesitate to visit. This is now the plain above the sea, near the slope of the mountain, where the children of Israel cried out at the sight of the Egyptians pursuing them. We saw lying near the wilderness, according to the Scriptures, Ophom, and also Succoth, now a small hill in the middle of the valley, near which the children of Israel encamped, since the law of the Passover was given to them at this place (Exodus 12:43). On the way we saw the city of Pithom built by the children of Israel, and at this place, leaving the lands of the Saracens, we entered the borders of Egypt. Today, Pifom is a fortress. And the city of Iroon, which existed at the time when, according to the Scriptures (Gen. 46:28), Joseph went out to meet his father Jacob, who was on his way to Egypt; now it is a village, though a large one, what we would call a small town. In this small town there is a church, the tombs of the holy martyrs, as well as many cells of the holy monks. In accordance with our custom, we stopped here to inspect everything. This town, now called Iro, is already within the borders of Egypt and 16 miles from the land of Goshen. And so, leaving this very pleasant place, thanks to the tributary of the Nile, and the city of Iro, we came to a city called Arabia, which lies within the borders of the land of Goshen. It is written about it in the book of Genesis (47:6) as follows: "And Pharaoh said to Joseph, In a better land you shall settle your father and your brethren, let them dwell in the land of Goshen." Ramessi lies four miles from the city of Arabia. In order to reach our lodging for the night in Arabia, we had to pass through the middle of Ramessi. These days, Ramessi is an empty place, without a single home. But even now it is clear that there were many buildings that occupied a huge area. Now there is nothing here except one huge Theban stone, in which are carved two very large figures of holy men, as they say, Moses and Aaron. It is also said that the children of Israel erected these statues in their honor. In addition, there grows here, as they say, the sycamore tree planted by the (biblical – A.S.) patriarchs, very ancient and almost dried up, but still bearing fruit. And even now, if anybody is sick and comes and tears a branch from that tree, it will help him. We learned about this from the holy bishop of the city of Arabia. He told us that this tree in Greek is called dendros alethiae, but we call it the tree of truth... The blessed bishop also told us how Pharaoh, learning that the children of Israel had deserted him, entered Ramessi, and although it was a large city, burned it to the ground, and then only rushed in pursuit of the children of Israel. Now our path lay through the borders of Egypt, through which the open (safe) road from the Thebaid to Pelusium passed, through the city of Arabia, and therefore there was no longer any need for military protection. From here our path lay through the land of Goshen, among vineyards producing wine, balsam plantations, past vegetable gardens, richly cultivated fields, and numerous gardens along the banks of the Nile. The road passed by numerous estates and villages that once belonged to the children of Israel. I think I have never seen a country more beautiful than the land of Goshen." The "city of Arabia" mentioned by the pilgrim allows us to determine the location of Ramesses, Pythom and Sakkot quite accurately. On the map of Egypt, in the area of the western entrance to the dry riverbed of Wadi Tamilat, a settlement called in Arabic El Abbassa el Gharbiyya is indicated. "Gharbiyya" is very reminiscent of the distorted "Arabia". And if so, then the country "Gesen" or "Goshen" could retain its distorted name in the names of the Arab villages of Ghazaleth el Kis and el Kis. Both of them are located west of Gharbiyya and east of the ancient Egyptian city of Bubastis. In 1887, the French archaeologist Naville discovered tombs here, which allowed him to identify this area with the land of Ques. In the name "Kes" the scientist saw a distorted Goshen, or Goshen. Let us pay attention to one more detail – in what order the pilgrim described these places. It turns out that all of them: the land of Goshen (Gesen), the "city of Arabia", Ramesses, Iroon-Pifom and Sakkot - lie on the same line in the direction from west to east. Interestingly, the pilgrim mentions a branch of the Nile flowing next to Pythomas. So his identification with the canal dug in the IV century BC by Necho and Darius suggested itself. But by the time of Egeria's pilgrimage, it had long been covered with sand. And what if it is a branch that ends in the middle of the dry bed of the Wadi Tamilat near the place marked on the map of Naville as Kassassant? Here, the further flow of the Nile to the east was stopped by a steep hill - the western part of the Tell Retabeh hill. Perhaps Retabeh is Pythom, especially since Egyptian sources of the time of the pharaoh of the XIX dynasty Merneptah mention the ponds of Pithom? However, researchers were disappointed. Excavations at El Maskutah have shown that the city, founded during the Middle Kingdom, was subsequently abandoned until the 20th Dynasty, and the settlement did not exist during the reign of Merneptah. Excavations in 1970 under the direction of J. Hollowday revealed a completely paradoxical picture. The architectural monuments of the time of Ramesses II, discovered by Naville, were combined with the complete absence of ceramics of this period. All of it dates back to the end of the 7th century BC and was associated with the era of Pharaoh Necho II, the one who became famous for the construction of the famous canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, which anticipated the Suez Canal. After reviewing the materials obtained by Naville in 1885, Hollowday became convinced that the warehouses at Maskhutah had been erroneously attributed by his predecessor to the Ramsesside era. The first, earliest layer dates back to the Hyksos period (1550-1530 BC), and the later ones to the Persian and even Ptolemaic times. But where, then, did the statues of Ramesses II come from? It turned out that they had been transported on boats by order of Necho during the construction of the canal. This means that if Pifom is really Maskutah, then it was founded during the construction of the canal around 610 BC. Having made this conclusion, J. Hollowday inevitably came to the next conclusion. The biblical Pythom could not have been included in the text of the Pentateuch until 610. Studying other texts, the researcher established that some part of the Jews, fleeing from revenge for the murder of the governor of Judah Gedalaus, a protégé of the Babylonian king (582 BC), could have settled in Pythom-Maskutah. Nearby were tombs from the Hyksos era, and tradition associated them with the famous episode of the Exodus of the Israelites led by Moses from Egypt. Consequently, the Pentateuch and the Book of Exodus are later works dating back to the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. This conclusion coincides with Radford's view. Consequently, by the time of Etairia's pilgrimage, Pythom had changed his name to Iroon. With the city of Ramessi (Ramesses), it would seem that everything is clear, since the city of Per-Ramesses, built by Ramesses II in the Kanatira region, is famous. Here, in the fields of Zoan and Tanis, according to the Psalms, God manifested His miracles. But in the description of the pilgrim it is said that Ramessei lies four Roman miles from the city of Arabia. Where does this discrepancy come from? Again, the assumption suggests itself that the Pentateuch was compiled in the VI-V centuries, at a time when the Jews did not have a clear idea of where the city of Ramesses was located. Since there were numerous monuments in Egypt containing inscriptions with the name of Ramesses II, almost any Egyptian city, from the point of view of the newcomers, could be called Ramesses. The large concentration of inscriptions and monuments dedicated to this pharaoh in the area of Wadi Tamilat and the western delta may have led the Jews to mistakenly call this area "The Land of Ramesses" after the captivity period.