The Hyksos, Kings of Egypt and the land of Edom

1. Date of the Hyksos Invasion
Prof J. H. Breasted in "A History of the Ancient Egyptians" 1919, published by Charles Scriber's Sons, New York, Section 170, gives the invasion as in 1657 BC but remarks it could be earlier. Encyclopedia Americana, Canadian Edition 1963, Article Egypt under Chronology, dates the Hyksos Dynasties XV and XVI as 1730 - 1580, after William Stevenson Smith.

2. Hyksos Leaders
Breasted in "A History of the Ancient Egyptians" section 175 argues for the city of Kadesh in Syria as the center of the Hyksos power. George A. Barton, PH D. in Archeology and the Bible, Published by ASSU, Philadelphia PA, USA, IVth Edition, 1952, pp 28-29 notes the drift of opinion toward the Hittites as either the Hyksos or the leading faction in the Hyksos hordes.

Encyclopedia Americana, Canadian Edition, Article Egypt, says "The Hyksos.... in addition to unidentifiable people, included a fair proportion of those speaking Hurrian and Semetic." The mention of "Hurrian" (Horite) is important. See also Prof. J. H. Breasted in "The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, Oriental Institute Publications, Voll III, Chicago, 1930

3. Stories of Patriarchs as Myths, Legends, Etc.
Encyclopedia Americana, Canadian Edition, under Articles Abraham, Bible etc.

4. Hyksos Monuments Destroyed
Breasted, A History of the Ancient Egyptians, Sections 173, 179

5. Meaning of the name "Hyksos"
Breasted, A History of the Ancient Egyptians, Section 172 gives "Rulers of Countries." Barton, "Archeology and the Bible" p 35 states the equivalent of the term Ruler of Countries was previously long in use in Babylonian and other Mesopotamian cities, and it would be perfectly natural for Semitic Hyksos to use it.

Encyclopedia Americana, Canadian Edition, in article "Egypt" under Hyksos Period equates the name Hyksos with the Egyptian "Hikau Khasut" or "rulers of foreign lands." Nevertheless, the idea of "shepherd" is strangely persistent. They Hyksos are constantly referred to by the most up to date writers as "nomads" and "Bedouin" etc.

Breasted, after arguing for Kadesh in Syria as the Hyksos home, speaks in Section 175 of the possibility of the Hebrew tribes in Egypt as "a part of the Bedouin allies of the Kadesh or Hyksos Empire, whose presence there brought into the tradition the partially correct impression that the Hyksos were shepherds. Were the men of Kadesh Bedouins? Our theory allows that the Hyksos were actually a shepherd people in the main at the time of the invasion of Egypt, a point the Egyptians, who despised shepherds should feel keenly and would never forget.

6. Race and Language of the Hyksos
Barton "Archeology and the Bible" pp 28-29 states most scholars have thought the Hyksos were Semites, but now some think they were Hittites or led by Hittites. On p. 35 it is suggested that they could have been Amorites. See in addition Note 2 above where the Hurrian (Horite) language is also mentioned.

7. Location of City Of Avaris
Philip Schaff's "Bible Dictionary' Eleventh Edition, (first published somewhere about 1885), Article, "Zoan," identifies Zoan with Tanis and Avaris. This city has now been tentatively identified as Tell el-Dab'a in the Nile Delta.

Breasted, "A History of the Ancient Egyptians," in Section 171, states the exact site of Avaris is still "undetermined."

Encyclopedia Americana, Can. Ed. (1953), Article, "Tanis," says, "Tanis (Hebrew, Zoan) ancient Egyptian city, south of the Delta, before the founding of Alexandria the chief commercial city of Egypt, capital of the Hyksos kings about 2100 BC." We fear the worthy encyclopedia got its directions mixed, and its date is outdated! But it agrees that the Hyksos capital is identified with Tanis.

8. Hyksos Used Horses Extensively
Breasted, "A History of the Ancient Egyptians" in Section 20, speaks of the "importation of the horse by the Hyksos."

Encyclopedia Americana, Can. Ed., Article, "History, Ancient," says, The Hyksos "contribution was the introduction of the horse and the war chariot." Again, in Article "Egypt," under Hyksos Period, it states, Barbarians though they were, the Hyksos were aided in their conquest not only by internal weaknesses of the Egyptian state, but also by their technologically superior war material, the horse and chariots, body amour, and the composite bow."

Ishmael was "an archer" par expellant (Gen 21:20). The composite bow may have been introduced by the Ishmaelites.

9. Hyksos Religion
Breasted, "A History of the Ancient Egyptians," Section l78,states, "Their patron god Sutekh is of course the Egyptianized form of some Syrian Baal."

10. Haran
The light to be brought out by the present archaeological research work at the important city of Haran will be watched by all with great interest. This city in Genesis is constantly linked very closely with the Patriarchs, and we may learn much concerning the importance of Abraham's people.

The Book of Genesis pictures the worship of Jehovah as being practiced in Haran. Laban says to Jacob, "The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor" (Abraham's brother) "the God of their father Terah judge betwixt us" (Gen.3l:53). Nevertheless, Terah and his father Nahor also indulged in idolatry (Josh.24:3), which is probably the reason Abraham had to entirely separate from his father's with him family. Terah very likely carried with him the religion of the Moon-god Sin from Ur. For all we know he may have been the one who implanted it in Haran. We do know from early records that at Ur and at Haran wee to great centers of this religion of Sin, the Mood-god. See also the article Haran in Unger's Bible Dictionary, by Merrill F. Unger, published by Moody Press, Chicago, Second edition, 1959

11. Importance of Abraham
Encyclopedia Americana, Canadian Edition, Article "Abraham" has to admit that the higher critical school acknowledge the reality of the man Abraham and that he must have been rather important, even while the historicity of the entire Biblical account of him is impugned and discredited. "The critical view is that thee was a real Abram or Abraham (the traditions existing in both forms) with his home at Hebron, probably a considerable man form the number and the persistence of the legends about him, but that is all we know. The name of his brother and ancestry are not persons, but Arab clans.

12 Horites (Hurri)
Barton "Archeology and the Bible" Vth Edition (not IVth) gives quite some information regarding the Hurri.

We cannot but notice there was a lot of travel between Canaan and upper Mesopotamia in the Age of Abraham. In the Bible Abraham himself so journeys, Eliezer goes for Rebekah, Jacob goes himself, unknown others brought family news to Abraham about his brother's family in Haran (Gen 22:20-24) The Hittite Kingdom was in Asia Minor, but a group of Hittites live at Hebron (Gen 23:2,3,10,16-20) where not many years before the Amorites held the district. (Gen 14:13, 24) The Hittites had evidently moved in, in the interval. The Hurri or Horite Kingdom was not far from the city of Haran, yet Horites had moved into Seir, etc, just south of Canaan (Gen 14:6). It could be that Emmims, Zuzimz, and Rephaim were branches of the same people, as they seem to be significantly linked together again in Deuteronomy 2:1-23. All this indicates travel between Canaan and Upper Mesopotamia.

The Horites being such near neighbors of Abraham's relatives in Haran, might explain how Esau's family became such intimates with the Horites south of Canaan.

13. The Egyptians had no "L"

Barton, "Archaeology and the Bible," (IVth Ed.), p. 335, footnote.

14. The King held as a god
Sir C. Leonard Woolley, "Ur of the Chaldees" 1930, published by Charles Scribner's sons, New York, p. 65, speaks of the early kings of Ur being honored as gods, long before Abraham's time.

Lieut-Comm. Victor L. Trumper, R.N.R., M.R.A.S., in "The Mirror of Egypt in the Old Testament," (about 1928), Published by Marshall Morgan & Scott Limited, London England p. 122, says, "The Pharaoh was considered by his subjects and himself as a god, and endeavored to act and speak as such." Also consult any good encyclopedia on the subject.

15. Land of Uz

Schaff, "Bible Dictionary," Article "Uz," states, "It was the "General portion of the Arabian Desert east of Edom and south of Trachonitis, extending indefinitely toward the Euphrates." Unger's Bible Dictionary, Article Uz (4) adds further details.

16. Traditional Date of Job
Schaff, "Bible Dictionary," Article, "Job." "Hales places him before the birth of Abraham, Usher about 30 years before the Exodus." Unger's Bible Dictionary, Article "Job-Time and Composition" notes tremendous disagreement among Bible scholars about the date of Job.

17. Job at Orfah. Tradition.
Schaff, "Bible Dictionary," Article, Uz. "Near the Haran-gate in that city (Orfah) is 'Job's well,' which is a sacred shrine to the people because the patriarch drank of its waters."

18. Rehoboth at Rahabah by Euphrates

Schaff, "Bible Dictionary" article "Rehoboth"
Since the discovery and excavation of Mari, a very important city only about 30 miles south-east Rahabah, it has become common among scholars to ignore Rahabah altogether. However, I cannot find any reference to a close investigation of Rahabah and its immediate vicinity to determine whether there was a "city" there in the second millennium B. C.

Several factors remain to suggest that the Rehoboth of Genesis 36:37 lay somewhere near this region. 1. It was "by the river," a term otherwise understood to mean by the Euphrates. 2. As to the suggestion by some that this Rehoboth is er-Ruheibah in the Negev, south westerly from Beer-sheba, we wish to point out that we seem to have no evidence whatever that there was a "city" at that place in early times (Early or Middle Bronze Age); and, moreover, that place is not ever said to be "by the river." 3. A very important factor is that I am informed the Mari tablets actually mention a place called "Rehoboth." It is a far cry from Mari to the north western Negev. It therefore seems most doubtful that the Mari tablets refer to er-Ruhe1bah, so tiny a spot and so far away. It is far more likely to refer to a place relatively near to Mari where the tablets were unearthed. 4. It is fairly certain that Mari was only a little south of the Hurrian boundary. This indicates that Rahabah near the Euphrates, lying north westerly from Mari, was probably within Hurrian territory. If the Edomites were destroying or had destroyed the Hurrians, then Rahabah could have fallen into Edomite hands. This may be giving too wide a meaning to the Biblical statement that the Edomites destroyed and supplanted the Horites (Hurrians), but the idea should not be too readily discounted as sometimes the Biblical statements have been found to have a wider scope than at first supposed.

19. Hyksos at war with Assyrians
The story of the Hyksos preserved in "Josephus Against Apion" tells us Salatis their king feared the Assyrians, upon which Breasted comments, ("A History of the Ancient Egyptians" Section 172) "If we eliminate the absurd reference to the Assyrians," the story may be reasonable, etc. But we wish to point out that if the Edomites were the Hyksos, and the Edomite capital city had to be established at Rahabah, prior to the conquest of Egypt, then a reference to war with Assyria might indeed be quite historical.

20 Tema, Teima, or Teyma
Robert William Rogers, "Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament" 2nd Edition, about 1926, published by Oxford University Press, London, Page 374, Nabonidus King of Babylon, father of Belshazzar king of Babylon (referred to in the Book of Daniel) resided at Tema, in the Arabian Desert. See also Tema on Nabataea.net

21. Havalah, Ha'il, Hayil, in Central Arabia
"Barton, Archeology and the Bible" p 541 treats "Havalah" as meaning Arabia in general; but George Adam Smith in a much older work, "Historical Atlas of the Holy Land," identifies it with Ha'il or Hayil in Central Arabia.

22. Ruled Other Countries Before Entering Egypt
Barton, "Archaeology and the Bible," P. 35, mentions the Hyksos ruled other countries previously. Breasted, "A History of the Ancient Egyptians, Section 19, also states the Hyksos evidently ruled over a number of countries before invading Egypt.

23. Pau, Pai, Phauara, Edomite city
Schaff, Bible Dictionary, Article "Pau"
Unger's Bible Dictionary, article "Pau" admits its position is unknown

24. City of Pe, in Nile Delta
Breasted, "A History of the Ancient Egyptians" Section 34

25. Names of Hyksos Kings
"Encyclopedia Americana" Can. Ed., Article, "Egypt," under "Chronology" names the following Hyksos Kings:

Khian (Se-weser-en-ra); whom we have listed
Apepi (Aa-weser-ra); whom we call Apophis I
Apepi (Neb-khopesh-ra)
Aa-seh-ra
Apepi (Aa-kenen-ra)

Barton, "Archaeology and the Bible," p.35, says one seems to have been named 'Jacob-el' or 'Jacob-her.' Was he named after Jacob, Esau's father? If our theory is correct, Jacob was a family name amongst the ancestors to these kings

26. Manda People
Barton, "Archaeology and the Bible," (Vth edition).

27. Hyksos god Sutekh
Breasted, "A History of the Ancient Egyptians," Section 173, reports a King Apophis made an altar to Sutekh, "lord of Avaris, when he (Sutekh) set all lands under his (the king's) feet."

28. Khabiri People in Amarna Letters
Breasted, "A History of the Ancient Egyptians," Section 278, declares, "the advance of the Khabiri, among whom we must recognize bands of Hebrews and Aramaeans." Barton, "Archaeology and the Bible," gives some helpful translations.

29. A "New" King
Trumper in "The Mirror of Egypt in the Old Testament," page 68, draws attention to the Greek word, for "another" (insert Greek picture here) used of this king in Acts 7:18, which means "another of a different kind, as opposed to the Greek word (Insert second Greek word here) which is "another of a similar kind."

30. Expulsion of Hyksos Kings
Breasted in "A History of the Ancient Egyptians" Section 173 informs us the expulsion required quite some time. A siege of Avaris was necessary; then the Hyksos were besieged three years in Sharuhen.

Older translations give the siege as "six" years, but Breasted corrected his earlier translation, to three years.

31. Length of Hyksos Rule in Egypt
Breasted, "A History of the Ancient Egyptians," Section 177, gives 100 years as ample time.
Encyclopedia Americana, Canadian Edition, Article "History, Ancient," dates Hyksos rule in Egypt as 1680-1580 B.C. (See also Note 1.)

32. Siege of Sharuhen
Some authorities, following Breasted's older translation still give "six"" years for the siege; but see Note 30 above.

33. Location of Sharuhen
"Unger's Bible Dictionary" Article "Sharuhen" states "This site reveals impressive evidence of Hyksos fortifications"
Schaff, Bible Dictionary under articles "Sansannah, Hazar-susah, and Hazar-susim" treats another city seemingly near to Sharuhen. The latter two names mean, "Horse court" or "depot of horses." Being in the same group of places as Shilhim or Sharuhen (Josh.15:31-32; 19:5-6; I.Chron.4:31- "Shaaraim" is Sharuhen) It is possible we here have a Hyksos horse depot. If so, excavation of Hazar-susim might turn up more light on the Hyksos peoples.

34. Song of Moses
One cannot but wonder if the grouping of names in Exod.15:l4-l5 is not a reference to the Hyksos peoples which would still be well known to the Israelites. The name Edom would include the "Hurrians" or Horites amalgamated with them; "Palestina" would take in the Philistines at Gaza (near which Petrie found Hyksos graves) and the Avim; "Moab" comes in as an ally of Hyksos-Edom; and "Canaan" would take in the Hittite and Hivite helpers from that land, which we have referred to. Only the Ishmaelites appear to be missing. This grouping of names must be significant of some connection uniting these people in thought or purpose, and, aside from the explanation offered in this book, the author knows of no reason why these names should be thus grouped in the Song of Moses.

35. Sinai and Edom Deserts
Palestine Exploration Fund Annual III, (1915) London, England, describes this desert region on pages 15 and those following. The desert appears to be most "inhospitable" as there stated. However, this general survey of the area seemed to indicate there had been some activity in that region near the middle of the second millennium BC or a little earlier, judging from the pottery sherds, etc.

Barton in "Archaeology and the Bible" pages 35-36, mentions that Sir Flinders Petrie found two remarkable camp sites in Egypt, one about 20 miles north of Cairo, the other at On (Heliopolis), which he believed were original Hyksos camps before they began to assume Egyptian ways and civilization. The relatively crude, black pottery of these people is just what one would expect of a nomadic people just come from the inhospitable deserts of Sinai and Edom, and of Horites coming from the same regions.

End of Appendix One