So far, there are Semites in Egypt. Canaanites thrived, first as rulers, then not. The Hyksos were expelled into the desert. But they were former rulers, not former slaves. And their expulsion is too early to be the Biblical Exodus.
In the middle of the 14th century, around 1350 BCE, the Pharaoh Akhenaten, adopted monotheism. It is unclear whether there was a connection between his monotheism based on a sun god and the God of the Israelites. Bohstrom points to a vizier’s tomb, a man who served both Akhenaten’s father and then Akhenaten. The man was named Aper-El or Aperia – Aper, who, perhaps, was a a follower of Elohim or Ya. Perhaps this should be considered no more than continued evidence of Semites, Israelites among them, in Egypt long before any Exodus.
Bohstrom describes a papyrus with a poem from the 13th century BCE (the 1200s). This papyrus invites comparisons with the Haggadah, but is from the Egyptian point of view. It describes Egypt overwhelmed by plagues, droughts, violent uprisings and ends with the escape of slaves who took Egypt’s wealth. Bahlstrom says that the found papyrus was a copy from much earlier in Egyptian history.
Bohlstrom also refers to another story from around 1200 BCE. Egyptian authorities allowed Yahweh worshiping Semitic nomads from Edom (an area south of what eventually became the Kingdom of Judah) to pass a fortress east of the Nile delta. The papyrus that records this is also roughly contemporaneous with the Merenptah Stele erected in Thebes to commemorate a military victory and serves as the first historical mention of Israel in Canaan.
The timing is confusing. Bohstrom refers to 20th century CE British Egyptologist Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, who believed that Akhenaten’s mid 14th century BCE monotheism somehow prompted the Israelites monotheistic thinking. Whether in the 14th century BCE or later, Bohstrom is convinced that there was evidence of at least one monotheistic Israelite exodus from Egypt, an exodus that served as the inspiration to the Biblical Exodus story.
The discussion of the origin of the Exodus story is continuous. I’m sure there are scholars who study it continuously. As for me. I look forward to Haaretz sustaining that conversation annually.
And As for me. I am pleased to take a break from our own plagues – COVID-19, Donald Trump, the Republican Senate, and the Republican Supreme Court.