The Bible tells of Abraham traveling to Mitsrayim and Moses leading the Hebrews out of Mitsrayim during the Exodus. Conventionally Mitsrayim is located in Egypt. However, the name ‘Misr’ was used for Egypt only after the 14th century BCE.
Abraham lived before this time, therefore, the identification of ‘Misr’ with Egypt is not attested at the time of Abraham and puts a question mark on this identification.
However, the Bible gives names of certain other places associated with the Exodus. Scholars have found similar names in Egyptian literature. In this post, we discuss these similarities since they provide evidence for the location of Misr in Egypt.
Dr. David A Falk has shown the following similarities:
Biblical Rameses = Egyptian Pi-Ramesses
Etham-Succoth = pr-tm ṯkw (Etham = pr-tm, Succoth =tkw)
Pi-Hahiroth = pr-ḥwt-ḥrt
Baˁal Zephon = bˁr-ḏȜpn
Migdol = mˁktir
Yam suf = ṯwfy
These similarities are evidence for placing the Exodus from Egypt.
Rameses, Etham, and Succoth
Dr Falk begins with the identification of Rameses. The Bible says that the Hebrews “requested from the Egyptians silver and gold items and clothing… and so they plundered Egypt.” Then they “journeyed from Rameses to Succoth” (Exodus 12:35-37). This means that they plundered the Egyptians at Rameses and embarked on the Exodus from here.
Dr Falk identifies Rameses with an ancient site named Quantir which is mentioned in Egyptian inscriptions as Piramesses. He says that the prefix “pi” is often dropped in the Egyptian language hence Piramesses could refer to Rameses. Then he identifies Etham with the site of Tell el-Rabatah and suggests that Succoth was the name of the region. The ancient name of Tell el-Rabatah was “pr-tm-ṯkw.” He identifies Etham with the first part of this Egyptian name “pr-tm,” and Succoth with the second part of the same name “tkw.” These identifications are credible.
Now, the Hebrews had left Rameses to go to the Promised Land at Yisrael which lies to the northeast of Egypt. The map given by Dr Falk shows an ancient route known as the “Way of Horus” that moves northeast from Quantir to Yisrael. This would be the straightforward route for the Hebrews to take. However, Dr. Falk suggests that the Hebrews traveled south from Quantir to Tell el-Rabatah. The question is, why the Hebrews should move south from Quantir when their destination was Yisrael on the northeast?
Further, Dr Falk states that Quantir was established by Pharaoh Seti I who ruled from 1304 to 1289 BCE. Scholars often locate the Exodus at this time therefore the archaeological evidence matches with the Biblical description. However, The Bible also tells us that Joseph had settled Jacob at Rameses: “He gave them territory in the land of Egypt, in the best region of the land, the land of Rameses…” (Genesis 47:11). Therefore, Rameses was in existence many centuries before the Exodus. However, archaeological evidence indicates that there was no earlier habitation at Quantir, which was established by Seti I on virgin ground.
Now, coming to Etham. The Bible says it was located on the edge of the wilderness: “The Israelites traveled from Rameses and camped in Succoth… They traveled from Succoth and camped in Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness” (Exodus 33:5-6). Tell e-Rabatah, however, is located in the same Nile Valley as Quantir and not in a different desert-like area.
Yet another problem with the identification of Succoth with the region of Quantir-Tell el-Rabatah is that of the Philistines. The Hebrews were camped at Succoth. At this time, the Bible says, “God did not lead them by the way to the land of the Philistines, although that was nearby… So God brought the people around by the way of the desert to the Red Sea…” (Exodus 13:17-18). Now, the Philistines are known to be seafarers. The only waterway in the area could be the Nile River which flows to the west of this region. There could be no Philistines to the east of Tell el-Rabatah which God might have wanted the Hebrews to avoid.
Pi-Hahiroth
The Hebrews moved from Etham to Pi-Hahiroth. Dr. Falk identifies Pi-Hahiroth with a place named pr-ḥwt-ḥrt that is mentioned in the Egyptian Papyrus Anastasis III without identifying it with a specific place. The Papyrus tells of pr-ḥwt-ḥrt having bountiful cultivation: “Twigs of the orchards and wreaths of the vine-yards… The Great-of-Victories youths… stand beside their doors. Their hands bowed down with foliage and greenery of pr-ḥwt-ḥrt and flax of the Waters-of-Horus.” The word Pi-Hahiroth, on the other hand, means “a place where sedges grow” (Strong’s 06367). Sedges are hardy grasses that grow in “most inhospitable of sites.” Therefore, the context of Egyptian pr-ḥwt-ḥrt does not match with the meaning of the word “Pi-Hahiroth.”
Ball Zephon, Migdol, and Yam Suf
These three places are mentioned in the Bible close to the crossing of the sea by the Hebrews. Dr Falk has provided Egyptian place names similar to the Biblical names: Baal Zephon = bˁr-ḏȜpn, Migdol = mˁktir and Yam suf = ṯwfy. Dr Falk does not identify the location of these places but the similarity of the place names holds.
Discussion:
The similarities pointed out by Dr Falk between the Egyptian and Biblical place names are both remarkable and credible. The difficulty is that the geography of the places where these places are identified in Egypt does not match the geography of the same places mentioned in the Bible. One, according to the suggestion made by Dr Falk, the Hebrews moved south from Quantir to Tell el-Rabatah; while the Bible tells of their moving from Rameses towards Yisrael on the northeast. Two, the waterway of the Nile flows to the west of the region of Quantir and Tell el-Rabatah out of their path to Yisrael; while the Bible tells of the short route to Yisrael passing through the land of Philistines. Three, Tell el-Rabatah is located within the fertile Nile Valley; while the Bible tells of the place being located on the edge of the wilderness. Fourth, the Egyptian text tells of pr-ḥwt-ḥrt being associated with bountiful cultivation; while the Bible indicates it is a hardy area.
On the archaeological front, no evidence for the existence of Rameses at Quantir before 1304 BCE is available. This does not match with the Biblical description of this place at the time of Jacob.
Given above we feel that the observed similarity of place names between Egypt and the Bible may not be connected. It may be that the scribes who composed the earliest Bible known as Septuagint in the 3rd century BCE have introduced certain Egyptian place names into the Biblical narrative. The real Mitsrayim, Rameses, and Succoth may be located in India. Biblical Mitsrayim may be Indian Mathura with common consonants M-t-r. Biblical Rameses may be Indian Rameshwar with the first part Rames being common. Biblical Succoth may be a reference to the living town of Sukkur in Pakistan.