Tuthmosis IV death and sudden decline of the Eqyptian Empire fits very well with him being the Pharaoh of the Exodus according to Steven Collins, PHD.
Using Historical Synchronisms to Identify the Pharaoh of the Exodus
by Steven Collins, PHD
If Tuthmosis IV was the Pharaoh of the Exodus, then the combined impact of the core events of the Exodus scenario—the ten plagues, the plundering of wealth, the loss of a large labor force, the loss of Delta military forces, and the death of Pharaoh—would have had an immediate effect on the ability of the Egyptian empire, then arguably at its peak, to maintain a grip on its Asiatic territories.
That is precisely what happened upon the death of Tuthmosis IV. In fact, at no other point in the history of the Eighteenth Dynasty can any clearer line of demarcation be drawn between imperial strength and the beginning of Egypt’s decline. At the point of Tuthmosis IV’s death, what is predicted of Egypt on the basis of the Exodus core events actually took place. In the
reign of his son, Amenhotep III, a definite decline in Egyptian hegemony over Canaan and Syria ensued. During the transition years from Amenhotep III to Amenhotep IV, the Hittites, with impunity, attacked Mittani and took control of Syria. By the early reign of Amenhotep IV, Egypt had, for all practical purposes, lost control of its Asiatic territories and was experiencing a decline, particularly in terms of its former imperial vision.
With Tuthmosis IV as Pharaoh of the Exodus, historical synchronisms align most realistically.
See page 40.
When using historical synchronisms to link the biblical Exodus scenario with a commensurate portion of Eighteenth Dynasty history, I have used only relative dating. Although absolute dating may be more convenient once fixed chronological reference points are established, relative dating is how the ancients understood the timeframes of their world.
How fuzzy is the absolute chronology of ancient Egypt? From the perspective of absolute dating, pretty fuzzy. Take the Eighteenth Dynasty, for example. Scholars are generally divided into three chronological camps: high, middle, and low (see Table 17). If you follow the high chronology, the Eighteenth Dynasty begins in 1570 BCE (Amosis), places the death of
Tuthmosis IV in 1417 BCE, and ends in 1320 BCE (Horemheb). If you hold to the middle chronology, it begins in 1570 BCE (Amosis), places Tuthmosis IV’s death in 1386 BCE, and ends in 1293 BCE (Horemheb). If you take the low chronology, the Eighteenth Dynasty begins in 1540 BCE (Amosis), puts the death of Tuthmosis IV in 1391 BCE, and ends in 1295
BCE (Horemheb). Other configurations either raise or lower these dates.
If the historical synchronism approach, which I have put forth, reasonably identifies Tuthmosis IV as the Pharaoh of the Exodus—with his death at the time of the Exodus—then adjusting the absolute date of the death of Tuthmosis IV to the date of the Exodus should give us a more accurate depiction of the comprehensive history of the period.
The possible biblical dates for the Exodus are 1446 BCE (MT) and 1406 BCE (LXX)—remember that these are “rounded approximations”—based on the reading of 1 Kings 6:1. Thus, the death of Tuthmosis IV would have occurred in one of these two approximate timeframes, neither of which does much damage to the existing chronologies (see Tables 18 and 19).
Compared to the high chronology, a 1446 date for the death of Tuthmosis IV would raise the chronology of the Eighteenth Dynasty by about 29 years. Compared to the middle and low chronologies, an upward adjustment of 55 to 60 years would be necessary.
What I have proposed on the basis of historical synchronisms—that Tuthmosis IV is the Pharaoh of the Exodus—is entirely possible within the range of absolute dating already proposed for that period. For those who take the Bible seriously as a historical document, there will be no problem making such an adjustment. For those whose paradigms disallow the historicity of the Hexateuch, such a revision is still not unreasonable if historical synchronisms between the Exodus narrative and the history of the Eighteenth Dynasty point in that direction.
http://www.biblicalresearchbulletin.com/uploads/BRB-2005-8-Collins-Pharaoh_of_Exodus.pdf
Analysis of why Tuthmosis IV works best and why he rejects other possible Pharaohs is also given in the reference.
When Was the Exodus?
17 Jun '14 06:23
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