Egypt of the Exodus

EGYPT OF THE EXODUS

Jacob and his sons were allowed to settle in a choice portion of “the land of Ramesses” (Gen 47:11) called “the land of Goshen.” The city of Ramesses (Egyptian: “the House of Pr- Ramesses”) was built on the former site of the Hyksos capital, Avaris. It served as the northern capital for the pharaohs of the nineteenth and twentieth dynasties. By the end of the twelfth century B.C. the branch of Nile beside Ramesses had silted up, forcing the pharaohs of the twenty-first dynasty to build a new capital at Zoan (Tanis). They plundered the ruins of Ramesses and brought many statues, stelae and other ornamented architectural pieces to their new city. The pharaohs of the twenty-second dynasty established a second delta capital at Bubastis and also brought in statues and other pieces from the ruins of Ramesses. During the fourth century B.C., the worship of a deified Ramesses was practiced at both Zoan and Bubastis, while the gateway city to Egypt had become Pelusium. This led late Jewish writers to identify Zoan with Ramesses (Ps 78:12, 43) or with Pithom (the Targum) and Pelusium with Ramesses (Targum; Josephus). The translators of the Greek Septuagint equated Pithom with Heliopolis (biblical On) and the Goshen/Land of Ramesses area as the Wadi Tumeilat.

Article abstract from The Sacred Bridge