In the first century, the emperor Vespasian supposedly built a city near Shechem that he called Neapolis. After having its name shortened to Nablus about years later, when the Romans were replaced by Arab rulers, it saw a series of conquests by groups including Crusaders and the Ottoman Empire.
As the present conflict shows, the complicated history of the city has continued into modern times. The site is particularly prone to disorder due to its politically controversial geography. The tomb is located in Nablus, which itself is situated in the West Bank. Despite its location in the larger of the two Palestinian territories, peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians left a small Israeli presence near the tomb. Write to Lily Rothman at lily.
Lithograph of the tomb of Joseph, by David Roberts. By Lily Rothman. Get our History Newsletter. Put today's news in context and see highlights from the archives. Does archaeology confirm any of this? Up until recently, it has not. The Egyptian archaeologists, using the conventional chronology, have not been able to find any evidence of the Hebrew people in the Land of Goshen as indicated in the Scriptures. They do find various groups of Semitic people occupying Goshen at various periods of time, but they do not see any mass Semitic occupation at the time the Exodus was supposed to occur.
In their chronology, if the Exodus event occurred at all, it would have had to have been about BC. Only traces of Semitic occupation are found at that time period. This has led the archaeologists to conclude that the Exodus never happened.
Part 2 — this article first appeared in the July Levitt Letter. It is important to understand that the Biblical chronology does not put the Exodus at BC, but rather some years before that, around BC. What a difference a couple of hundred years make!
At that time period, there is evidence of a massive Semitic occupation of Goshen. Until recently, though, Egyptologists have claimed that this could not be the Hebrew occupation described in the Scriptures, because it is too early.
They ascribe this occupation to other type Semites, such as the Hittites. However, there is a small but very vocal group of Egyptologists, led by British scholar David Rohl author of Pharaohs and Kings , that is vehemently challenging the conventional chronology.
They assert that there are numerous fallacies in the assumptions of the accepted chronology, and they have established a new chronology based on what they believe are more sound Egyptian archaeological grounds.
Having done this, these secular scientists were astonished to discover that the new chronology supports the Biblical chronology, and the once mute Egyptian evidence is alive with testimony to the validity of Biblical history.
One case in point is the historicity of Joseph. By looking for Hebrew occupation in the several hundred years before BC instead of around BC , there is much evidence. There are large peasant-type cities in Goshen, with a Semitic culture obviously different from that of their Egyptian hosts.
There are also some mass graves with numerous bodies, very unusual in Egypt, indicating some kind of plague that struck the land, as indicated in the Book of Exodus. In the upper Nile River, where the water flows between high cliffs, there are markings by the Pharaohs of the high levels of the river.
There are several years in a row in this early time frame, when the level was marked as extremely high. This would cause excessive flooding along the Nile, making it impossible to plant crops until it was too late for the growing season, ruining the harvest.
There is other evidence of Joseph in Egypt during this time period. An artificial lake was made in ancient times called Lake Moeris. It was formed by a canal running off the Nile River called to this day the Canal of Joseph. The Pharaoh of the time was obviously very proud of the lake and the massive building, because he built his own pyramid at the site for his burial. Nothing like this complex exists anywhere else in the vast ruins of ancient Egypt. Again, the new Egyptologists suggest that this complex is stunning evidence for a remarkable foreign assistant to Pharaoh, and occurs in the correct time frame for Joseph.
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