Egypt Intertwined in Jewish History and Present Day

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           

Joseph, 11th of the 12 sons of Jacob but the 1st-born of Rachel, Jacob's true love:  The favoritism that Jacob showed to Joseph caused his brothers to be very jealous, so jealous that they decided to get rid of him.  They sold him to the Ishmaelites traveling to Egypt.  There he was bought by Potiphar, chief of the Pharaoh's household.  Handsome as he was, Potiphar's wife made a pass and he resisted, angering her, who had him put in prison.  While in prison, he interpreted the dreams of those around him.  This got to the pharaoh who also needed his frightening dreams interpreted.  All this got him to be 2nd to the pharaoh.    The story of Joseph has been dated during the Hyksos domination of Egypt (18th-16th centuries BCE by Christian dating.  Jewish dating is usually a little off of theirs.)               

  First, Jacob, grandson of Abraham b: 1948 BCE,  and his family go to Egypt from their home in Canaan.  Joseph’s brothers traveled back to Canaan and told their father Joseph is still alive and that he is the governor of Egypt now.  He wants to see his father.  Jacob settled in Goshen in eastern Egypt, dying there at the age of 147. He wanted to be buried in Canaan in the Cave of Machpelah at Hebron, so his sons walked him back and buried him there.                    

Moses was born in Egypt at a time when the Israelite population had grown, causing the pharaoh to worry.  In trying to stem the growth of the Israelites,  the pharaoh had decreed the slaughter of new-born males. His mother hid him among the reeds of the Nile River and later was found by the pharaoh's daughter who raised him in her own household, telling the pharaoh she had given birth.  When he grew up, he learned of his origin and that changed his life.  He left Egypt to escape punishment, but returned to free his people.  

Moses was born in Egypt 1391 BCE and died in 1271 BCE. His parents were Amram and Jochebed of the tribe of Levi.  When 80 years old, he returned to Egypt and won, with his brother Aaron, the argument with the pharaoh the freedom of the Israelite slaves.  So in 1311, the Exodos began.  They traveled for 40 years, reaching Canaan with 601,730 freed slaves.  Moses died at age 120 outside of Canaan.   Joshua gave all tribes but the Levites land.  Levites would live with others and be the teachers.                                                

    Being guided on the Exodus away from Egypt by:  The pillars of cloud and fire are first mentioned in chapter 13 of the Book of Exodus, shortly after Moses leads the Israelites out of their captivity in Egypt. The narrative states that the pillar of cloud went ahead of them by day to guide their way, and the pillar of fire by night, to give them light. 

By 1271 BCE, the Israelites, led by Joshua, entered Canaan.  They ruled themselves by appointing judges.  Their first king was Saul in the 11th century BCE.  David was the 2nd, ruling from 1010-970 BCE.  His son, Solomon, the 3rd king,  ruled from 961-920 BCE.  When he died, his throne was contested.  His son, Rehoboam was his heir, but Solomon's supervisor of work wanted it, too, Jeroboam.  This turned into a Civil War and the 10 northern tribes ceded from the union and Judea and Benjamin were left alone.   In Israel, Jeroboam ruled from 933-912 BCE.  In Judah, it was Rehoboam who ruled from 933-917 BCE.                                            

Shishak came from a royal Libyan lineage who had the great chief of the Meshwesh as their identity.  He ruled from 945 to 924 BCE.  He is usually identified with the pharaoh Shoshenq.

Our ancestors called Egypt "Mitzrayim."  The history of the Jewish people from our beginnings has been connected with Egypt.  The patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, all visited Egypt.  The beginnings of our Hebrew history are bound up with the 400 year bondage in Egypt and the Exodus.

The 1st Hebrew immigration into Egypt was connected with the period of domination there of the Semitic Hyksos dynasty (18th-16th centuries BCE).  It's possible they were part of that.  Egypt was at that period closely involved in affairs of Canaan, as is shown by the TEL el-AMARNA   letters, which illustrate the background of the 1st Israelite incursions there.  

Throughout the period of the Monarchy, there were constant Judea-Egyptian relations.  Solomon married an Egyptian princess and concluded a trade treaty.                             

Shishak/Sheshonk, about 925 BCE, an Egyptian king of Libyan origin.  When Jeroboam fled from Solomon, he found refuge with Shishak.  

The pharaoh, Shishak, attacked Jerusalem in about 930 BCE to assist the newly-established Northern kingdom.  Shishak's campaign against the Kingdom of Judah and his sack of Jerusalem are recounted in the Hebrew Bible, in 1 Kings 14:25 and 2 Chronicles 12:1-12. According to these accounts, Shishak had provided refuge to Jeroboam during the later years of Solomon's reign, and upon Solomon's death, Jeroboam became king of the tribes in the north, which separated from Judah to become the Kingdom of Israel. 

In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, commonly dated ca. 926 BCE,  Shishak swept through Judah with a powerful army of 60,000 horsemen and 1,200 chariots, in support of Jeroboam. According to 2 Chronicles 12:3, he was supported by the Lubim (Libyans), the Sukkiim, and the Kushites ("Ethiopians" in the Septuagint).

Shishak took away treasures of the Temple of Yahweh and the king's house, as well as shields of gold which Solomon had made; Rehoboam replaced them with brass ones.  According to Second Chronicles,

When Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields Solomon had made.— 2 Chronicles 12:9

Flavius Josephus in Antiquities of the Jews adds to this a contingent of 400,000 infantrymen. According to Josephus, his army met with no resistance throughout the campaign, taking Rehoboam's most fortified cities "without fighting". Finally, he conquered Jerusalem without resistance, because "Rehoboam was afraid." Shishak did not destroy Jerusalem, but forced King Rehoboam of Judah to strip the Temple and his treasury of their gold and movable treasures.

Shishak was also related by marriage to Jeroboam. The wife of Jeroboam is unnamed in the Masoretic Text, but according to the Septuagint, she was an Egyptian princess called Ano: And Sousakim gave to Jeroboam Ano the eldest sister of Thekemina his wife, to him as wife; she was great among the king's daughters...  Therefore, Jeroboam's wife was an Egyptian named Ano.                                              

       Necho II, king of Egypt, 609-593 BCE.  Nekō) of Egypt was a king of the 26th Dynasty,  which ruled out of Sais.  At the battle of Megiddo in 608 BCE, he defeated and slew Josiah of Judah and appointed Jehoiakim in his stead.  Necho was defeated at Carchemish by Nebuchadnezzar in 603 BCE.  Necho played a significant role in the histories of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Kingdom of Judah. Necho II is most likely the pharaoh mentioned in several books of the Bible. The aim of the second of Necho's campaigns was Asiatic conquest, to contain the westward advance of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and cut off its trade route across the Euphrates. However, the Egyptians were defeated by the unexpected attack of the Babylonians and were eventually expelled from Syria.

Josiah 637-608 BCE, became king at age 8 after the murder of his father, Amon.  When a man, he caused religious reforms, removing foreign cults from Judah and established real monotheistic religion.  He had the support of the prophets, Nahum, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah.  They repaired the Temple and in doing so found a book of the law, found by high priest Hilkiah.  In 608 BCE he tried to bar the passage of the Egyptian army under Neccoh/Necho which was moving to assist Assyria against his Babylonian allies.  He will killed at Megiddo.  

King Josiah of Judah (637-608 BCE) was killed in 608 BCE when attempting to check the march of Pharaoh Necho through his territory.  He successor, Jehoahaz (608), was deported, and Jehoiakim (608-598) was installed in his place by the Egyptians.                                                  

I'll skip to 1947 when the UN resolution on Palestine caused Arabs to respond with violence against Jews and lasted until the signing of the armistice Agreements in 1949.  This was THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. Units of Arab irregulars crossed into the country from Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.  

THE SINAI WAR 29 October  to 5 November 1956. The threat was removed and the blockade was broken.  The hostile actions, in which Egypt played a central role, had reached their climax.  USSR had been supplying Egypt and Syria with military equipment.  

THE SIX DAY WAR 5th to 11th June, 1967  Egypt spread, then used false reports saying that Israel was amassed on the border but these were false-truth coming from UN that were ignored.  

In September 1970, President Nasser of Egypt died and Sadat succeeded him.  In July 1972 Sadat expelled the majority of the Soviet military personnel from Egypt.  The war began on 6 October 1973, when the Arab coalition jointly launched a surprise attack against Israel on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, which had occurred simultaneously with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in that year. ... The Israeli military then launched a four-day-long counter-offensive deep into Syria.   A coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria attacked Israel. 

                                                  

 On 19 November 1977, Sadat became the first Arab leader to visit Israel officially when he met with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and spoke before the Knesset in Jerusalem about his views on how to achieve a comprehensive peace to the Arab–Israeli conflict, which included the full implementation of UN Resolutions 242 and 338. He said during his visit that he hopes "that we can keep the momentum in Geneva, and may God guide the steps of Premier Begin and Knesset, because there is a great need for hard and drastic decision".

The Egypt–Israel peace treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., United States on 26 March 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords. The Egypt–Israel treaty was signed by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, and witnessed by United States president Jimmy Carter.

                                                                

Egypt's Flag Carrier Starts Direct Flights to Tel Aviv, in First Since 1979 Peace Accords.  The Cairo-Tel Aviv flight is the first official EgyptAir arrival in Israel. The route, which joins other new regular flights between Israel and the UAE, Morocco and Bahrain, will run four times a week.

                                                           

The production platform of Leviathan natural gas field is seen in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Haifa

(photo credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)

Israeli, Egyptian energy ministers discuss natural gas trade plans

The two ministers discussed ongoing cooperation in the field of 

natural gas, and future plans to strengthen cooperation between the

 two countries.

 

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2021/09/circumcisions-beginnings-in-egypt-with.html

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/egypt-s-flag-carrier-starts-direct-flights-to-tel-aviv-in-first-since-1979-peace-1.10261606