Coinciding Migrations to Egypt Or the Same? Jacob And The Hyskos

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                  

                                                 Here Come the Hyksos To Avaris 

Jacob is often associated with the Hyksos (an Egyptian term meaning "rulers of foreign lands"). The Hyksos were a Semitic and West Asiatic group who gradually migrated from Canaan into the Nile Delta during the Middle Kingdom, eventually establishing their own dynasty as pharaohs.  Was this a larger group that Abram and his family band joined to migrate into Egypt? Abram and his descendants (including Jacob and Joseph) migrated from Canaan to Egypt during times of severe famine.  

Before Jacob (also called Israel) ever left Canaan for Egypt, God spoke to him in a vision at Beersheba. God told him not to be afraid to go down to Egypt because He would make Jacob’s descendants into a great nation there. 

Archaeological findings at the Hyksos capital of Avaris show that a massive Semitic population had settled in the region long before they took control.

While the name "Avaris" does not appear explicitly in the biblical text, biblical scholars and archaeologists connect it to the ancient city of Rameses (or Raamses) and the region of Goshen. Avaris (now known as Tell el-Dab'a) was the ancient capital of the Hyksos and serves as a major focal point in the debate surrounding the Israelites' time in Egypt.

"Tucked beneath the layers of Nile Delta soil lies a city long forgotten by many, yet central to the biblical story of Joseph and the Israelites in Egypt—Avaris, the ancient capital of the eastern Delta. This city, once teeming with Semitic life and bustling trade, holds the key to understanding where Jacob and his family settled when they entered Egypt, as described in Genesis.   

   Jacob and His Family  of Leah with all the children, mother of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun and a daughter, Dinah  on left;   and her sister, Rachel, mother of Joseph now in Egypt with Jacob in center with her 2nd child-Benjamin;  and the sisters' handmaidens-Zilpah from Leah, mother of Gad and Asher; and Bilhah from Rachel, mother of Dan and Naphtali. Jacob's family make up the 70 who descended to Egypt.  According to the Bible, the "70 souls" are Jacob's direct blood descendants, Joseph, and Joseph's two sons. This group specifically excludes the wives of Jacob and his sons.

The Math: 66 direct blood descendants + Jacob himself + Joseph + Joseph’s two sons (Ephraim and Manasseh) = 70 people.

Leah's Descendants (33): Her six sons (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun), their children, and her daughter Dinah.

Zilpah's Descendants (16): Leah's handmaid Zilpah, her two sons (Gad and Asher), and her grandchildren.

Rachel's Descendants (14): Rachel, her two sons (Joseph and Benjamin), and Joseph's two sons born in Egypt.

Bilhah's Descendants (7): Rachel's handmaid Bilhah, and her two sons (Dan and Naphtali) along with their children.

 The reality of the events are described in Genesis and Exodus. We Jews have been educated in the fact that we built storage cities, not the pyramids.   Thanks in part to the tireless work of archaeologists like Manfred Bietak, filmmakers like Tim Mahoney, and interpreters of biblical history like Nate Loper, the true story of Avaris is finally being unearthed—both literally and figuratively.  Avaris, located at the modern site of Tell el-Dab‘a in Egypt’s eastern Nile Delta, became the capital of the Hyksos rulers during the Second Intermediate Period. But before the Hyksos dynasty rose to power, this site was already home to a large Semitic population—shepherds and settlers who had come from Canaan, just as Genesis 47 describes.  In the Bible, the specific region of Egypt designated for Jacob and his family to live is the Land of Goshen. This territory was chosen for its excellent pastures to accommodate their livestock, and it offered the family separation from Egyptian societal and religious practices.  Then, did Jacob's family of 70 come before the migration of the Hyksos?  Seems like it.  In biblical tradition and scholarly chronology, Jacob and his family of 70 migrated to Egypt in 1876 BCE. The Egyptian priest wrote about Hyksos in 3rd century BCE which would be in 300-301 BCE.  Then Josephus in 1st century  CE spread the rumors and people ate it up.   

The relocation and settlement of Jacob’s family in Goshen are primarily covered in Genesis 46 and Genesis 47:

The earliest we know about the Hyksos was from:  The migration and rise of the Hyksos were primarily described by the Greco-Egyptian priest Manetho in the 3rd century BCE. Writing his history of Egypt (Aegyptiaca) in Koine Greek, he portrayed them as violent invaders from the Levant. This account survives today because it was quoted by the 1st century CE Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in his work Contra Apionem. Manetho of 3rd century BCE described the Hyksos as "invaders of an obscure race" who conquered the Nile Delta without a fight and later fled to Judea and founded Jerusalem . Flavius Josephus later preserved these writings, and actively argued that the Hyksos were, in fact, the biblical Israelites.

It couldn't be our family of 70 which includes many children. That would go against all the principles and morality of Jacob.   They were not violent invaders that may have acted like Genghis Khan did with his invasions much later on.  This is how anti-Semitism spreads, saying things about Abram, Jacob and Moses that are not true at all.  

Moses, Leader of 603,550 people Out Of Slavery Of 400 Years

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

     12 Tribes of Israel, Others, slaves of Egypt, Leaving

Moses of the tribe of Levi, the Lawgiver of Judaism, prophet for his people, and founder of the Jewish religion, was born in Egypt to  Jochabed and Amram in 1391 BCE, slaves of the Egyptians, 3,417 years ago in the city of Avaris, in Goshen. Levites did not have a state of their own, commanded to live in all of them to teach their religion. Avaris, the ancient Hyksos capital in the eastern Nile Delta, is most famously referred to in the Bible as Rameses (or Raamses). In the book of Exodus (1:11), it is described as one of the "store cities" built by the Israelites for Pharaoh.                                      

    Egypt's Goshen area and area of Canaan where slaves came from

The people first taken into slavery had been the children, descendants of Jacob and his family of Israelites, for the past 400 years. To understand time; that's like the 1900's when horse and buggies were being used for transportation to the time of 2300 or today.  However, Egypt in that period was not inventing new transportation at all.  They had slaves to do everything.  The Israelite slaves were used to build storage buildings needed in Goshen, so they lived there.                      

Moses and been saved by the pharaoh's daughter at a time boy babies were thought by the pharaoh to grow up and take over Egypt, so they had them all killed that year, and Moses was in great danger.  His mother hid him in the bull rushes growing in the Nile's marshy shallows that emptied into the Mediterranean Sea.  

He was raised as  Prince, so one day he saw an overseer whipping a slave almost to his death, and he stopped him but the overseer fell, hit his head and died in the process.  

 I imagine this is the same chariot that Moses used to get to Midian.

Even a Prince couldn't do that legally so Moses hid his body and left town, seeking refuge in Midian (Saudi Arabia) , a land next to Egypt, making it 420-440 miles to Midian. 

 

He came upon several women who were watching their sheep and being harassed by some other men, and Moses stepped into help them.  That's how he met his wife, Zipporah, daughter of the local priest, Jethro.  He spent his life there, becoming father of 2 sons, Gershom and Eliezer  until he was 80 years old, and then felt he must go back after seeing and hearing a vision in a burning bush, burning unusually from something other than fire,  and help his people escape from slavery. He felt it was a message from G-d.  

He followed the route he had taken 40 some years before back to Egypt and found in the slave's homes his brother, Aaron.  They went together to plead with a younger pharaoh for the Slaves to be freed.

Aaron did the talking as Moses had a lisp.  Snakes of each decided the debate of letting the slaves go with Moses.                                             

After some quick preparation, the people were ready to leave, and Moses took a census and counted 603,550 male Israelite slaves with others mixed in the tribes with:  The book of Numbers explains that before the camp was arranged, a census was taken of the Israelite men who were able to fight. More than 600,000 men were counted, not including women and children (Numbers 1:45-46). This means the camp may have included over two million people, making it like a moving city in the wilderness.

Reuben:  46,500       Zebulun:  57,400     Asher:       41,500

Simeon:  59,300      Dan:         62,700     Ephraim:   40,500

Judah:     74,600     Naphtali   53,400      Manasseh: 32,200

Issachar:  54,400    Gad          45,650      Benjamin:  35, 400

By day, a pillar of cloud rested over the Tabernacle, and by night, a pillar of fire lit up the camp (Exodus 40:36-38). When the cloud of God’s presence lifted from the Tabernacle, the Israelites would pack up and march in the same order as their camp. 1. Judah’s tribe led the way, followed by 2. Reuben’s, then the 3. Levites carrying the holy objects, then 4. Ephraim’s tribe, and finally 5.Dan’s tribe as the rear guard. This order protected the Israelites and kept them together on their journey through the wilderness.

During their wilderness journey, the Israelites camped at night under the brilliant glow of the pillar of fire. Organized by tribe, the massive encampment featured thousands of tents surrounding the central Tabernacle, with Moses' Tent of Meeting placed at a distance for communing directly with God. 

       Fighting against  the Amaleks 

Moses had learned how to move army groups in his Egyptian classes, so knew how to have them make camp at night, and how to walk during the day.  I doubt if his training had allowed for women to give birth, or rest so many, at times..  The men did have to fight off attackers, though, as they went through certain towns, and the Amaleks were after them, too.  The ones last in the Exodus line were attacked as slower people were there, the aged, more feeble ones finding it hard to keep up.  

Resource:

The Tanach (Old Testament, the Stone Edition, ArtScroll series.

                                                       

Cowboys and Shepherds Battled In Middle East

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

In the Genesis story, Jacob, also known as Israel, and his family, including their livestock (cattle and sheep), arrive in Egypt due to a famine in Canaan. Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, asks about their occupation, and they identify themselves as shepherds. 

Pharaoh himself said to Joseph to tell his father Jacob to load up his

animals and go to Canaan.  Pharaoh gave him the best of the land

of Egypt and they will eat the fat of the land.  Take for yourselves from the land of Egypt wagons for your small children and for your wives;  transport your father and come;  for the best of all the land of Egypt---it is yours!  They took their livestock and their wealth which they had amassed in the land of Canaan and they came to Egypt--Jacob and all his offspring with him,  His sons and grandsons with him, his daughters and granddaughters and all his offspring he brought with him to Egypt;70

people in all went to Egypt.  

They are granted land in Goshen.  However, Pharaoh asks Jacob to watch   over his cattle as well, and Jacob agrees.  

The land of Goshen (Hebrew: אֶרֶץ גֹּשֶׁן, ʾEreṣ Gōšen) is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the area in Egypt that was allotted to the Hebrews by the Pharaoh during the time of Joseph (Book of Genesis, Genesis 45:9–10). They dwelt in Goshen up until the time of the Exodus, when they left Egypt. It is believed to have been located in the eastern Nile Delta, lower Egypt; perhaps at or near Avaris, the seat of power of the Hyksos kings.

Avaris, identified with the modern site of Tell el-Dab'a in the Nile Delta, is often linked to the biblical city of Rameses. The Israelites are believed to have lived and worked in Rameses, and the biblical text mentions Rameses as a place where they were enslaved and later left during the Exodus. Some scholars believe Avaris, the Hyksos capital, could be the same as the biblical Rameses.  The open range, while vast, was still limited, and both cattle and sheep needed grazing land. 

        Did the Pharaoh not know what he was asking of Jacob?  Cattle and sheep cannot exist on the same land!   We know that in the USA today.  The "Sheep Wars" were a series of conflicts in the American West, particularly in states like Colorado, Wyoming, and Oregon, stemming from competition over limited grazing lands between cattle ranchers and sheep herders.      

These wars, which occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, saw violence ranging from threats and property damage to mass killings of sheep and, in some cases, even violence against herders.                      

Jacob was set up to fail and then the Pharaoh could take back his land.  Jacob had afew cattle, but not a herd at this point, nor did he ever being he was a shepherdwith sheep and goats.                         

Joseph said to Pharaoh that his father and brothers, their flocks, their cattle, and everything they owned had arrived. from the land of Canaan and were in Goshen.These cattle are behind a fence.  That's the only way.  Sheep eat the grass down to the roots.  They graze by nibbling on plants, often closer to the ground than cattle. Sheep are less selective than cattle and will eat various forbs, legumes, and grasses. They also tend to graze more actively in the morning and late afternoon.  Sheep will eat more of the weeds in a pasture than cattle and can be used, in some situations, to control noxious weeds. Goats, for the most part, prefer to browse on woody plants, where they eat the young leaves and stems.  

While cattle use their tongues to pull and tear, sheep use their teeth to nibble, grazing much closer and getting into parts of the pasture that cattle either ignore or can't reach. This can increase grass tillering and sward productivity – meaning animals will, long-term, gain more weight.

In the Bible, specifically in Genesis, the story of Abraham and Lot's separation is rooted in a disagreement between their shepherds, ultimately leading to the division of their families and resources. This conflict, a result of increased livestock and limited land, necessitates a parting of ways for the two families. Abraham was born

about 1948 BCE, 4,000 years ago.  

Fear of others can be a powerful source of unity. In Exodus 1,The next Pharaoh singles out the rapidly expanding Hebrew minority as an emerging threat. What Genesis describes as God’s faithfulness in blessing the Israelites through many descendants (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:1-6; 28:1-4; Exodus 1:7), Pharaoh describes as a terroristic threat that may endanger Egypt’s security and way of life. There is no hint in the biblical narrative that the Israelites are anything but good, faithful citizens of the empire. Yet the delusional Pharaoh imagines that the growing but still small Israelite minority in Egypt is more numerous and more powerful than we. He warns the Egyptians that in the event of war the Israelites might join our enemies and fight against us. Pharaoh’s responds by trying three different (but ultimately unsuccessful) strategies to stem the growth of the Israelite people: a) Exodus 1:11-14, Pharaoh enslaves the Israelites, b) Exodus 1:15-21, Pharaoh commands midwives to kill Hebrew boys at birth, and c) Exodus 1:22-2:10, Pharaoh commands all Egyptians to throw Hebrew boys into the Nile River.

Reference:

Tanakh, the Stone Edition (Old Testament)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_and_Lot%27s_conflict#:~:text=Abraham%20and%20Lot's%20conflict%20(Hebrew,a%20fight%20among%20their%20shepherds.

https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-21/commentary-on-exodus-18-22-21-10-3

Coming From A Family Of Sheep-herders: The Jewish People

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

Abraham, and his son, Isaac, and his son, Jacob, were all shepherds in eastern lands from Israel-probably lands  along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, since Ur, where Abraham came from was near the mouth of the Euphrates. Their tribe could have originated even more eastern, like in Persia, for that matter.   Jacob had told the Pharaoh of Egypt that they were a family of shepherds, and that their families had been shepherds.  (Genesis 47-3)  "The meadows don sheep and the valleys cloak themselves with fodder, they shout joyfully, they even sing!"  Psalm 65, David.    

According to the Bible, the land given to Jacob in Egypt was called Goshen. When Jacob and his family moved to Egypt to join their son Joseph, they settled in the region of Goshen, the land emptying into the sea.  Goshen was considered a good area for grazing livestock, which was important for Jacob's family who were shepherds.  The Egyptians generally disliked shepherds, so living in Goshen allowed Jacob's family to maintain a separate identity and not mix in socially.                                    

 Most likely these shepherds carried the Y haplotype of J1, or J2.  Somewhere along their route, they may have  met up with the Q line as well, all shepherds seeking pasture for their sheep.                                                         

      Abraham's journey from Ur to Canaan.  The Hyksos: Invaders from western Asia who took control of northern Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period. The pharaohs claimed the Hyksos were foreign invaders, but some historians believe this was propaganda. Modern scholars believe the Hyksos were migrants from the Levant who moved into Egypt over centuries.  

Joseph, 11th son of Jacob and 1st son of  Rachel, his mother,  became Viceroy to a Pharaoh. It was he who received the grazing land in Goshen, which was the beginning of Israelite settlement in Egypt.  The story of  Joseph has been dated during the Hyksos domination of Egypt which was the 18th to 16th centuries BCE.  

                               

Elimelech and his wife, Naomi, and their son, Mahlon and Chilion,  lived in ancient Moab in the Eastern part of the world, actually in southern Transjordan, today's Jordan.   It was bounded by the river, Heshbon in  the North, and the river Zered in the South, the Jordan and Dead Sea to the West, and the Syrian Desert on the East. They were sheepherders, and related  to the Israelites.  They were historically descended---like the Ammonites---from Lot, a more ancient relative.                                

Lot was the son of Abraham's brother, Haran.  Lot had traveled with Abram from Aram (Syria) to Canaan, but their hired shepherd helpers had a fight over pasture land for Lot's sheep and Abram's sheep, and so they thought it best to part company in order for each to have enough pasture for their growing herds.  Lot settled in Sodom  where he was captured by 5 kings attacking the country together.  Abram came to his rescue when Lot's  shepherd on a camel arrived and asked for help.  

  Naomi had come from Bethlehem in Judah and had gone to Moab in a famine period where they had lived.  After Elimelech and her sons died, she returned to Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law, Ruth.  Naomi played the matchmaker by introducing Ruth later to her cousin, Boaz, and they married.      Boaz had fields of wheat.  The poor were allowed to glean, to pick up the droppings from the harvest, for themselves.  Ruth did this for the two of them, so they could make bread.                                         

                       Boaz and his friends

Boaz was a good catch, a man of property.  Ruth was a Moabite.  She had married Mahlon, but when he died, she wanted to stay with Ruth, who she was very attached to.  Ruth had been so good to her, she was like Ruth's loving mother.  They decided to go back to Bethlehem and cast their lot  because Ruth had family there, and Ruth had had enough of the Moabites.  Her own family had also died as well. (Lot (Gen. 19:37) The Moabite language was similar to biblical Hebrew.  

During the patriarchal era, the Moabite line settled in their land which had been captured  from the Rephaim/Emim (Deut.2:10-11).  During the Exodus Period, part of this Moab territory came under the rule of the Amorite monarch, Sihon, but after his defeat by the Israelites, was occupied by the Israelites and his land became an object of contention between Israel, Moab, and Ammon. The Moabites united into a single tribal kingdom.  However,  they had started as a clan,  divided into smaller tribes.  Of course, they were shepherds.                                                                                                 

                   David had protected his sheep from wolves with his sling.  He knew he could take down Goliath; had lots of self pride in his capabilities.  

Boaz and Ruth had a son named Obed or Oved.  Oved had a son named Jesse who married the daughter of Ithra.  They had 8 children, the last named David who grew up to be the King of Israel from 1,000 to 960 BCE.  He was born in Bethlehem.   David spent his early childhood as a shepherd.  David was 8 generations away from Judah, son of Jacob.                         

                  Saul killed by Philistines in battle at Mt. Gilboa

At the age of 25, David became the armor-bearer of Saul, friend of Saul's son, Jonathan.  He meant he was a soldier with Saul and fought against the Philistines.  He did so well that he earned the right to marry Saul's daughter, Michal.  Saul became jealous of his son-in-law and it became so serious that David had to leave town and seek refuge with the king of Gath, Achish. Gath was a Philistine city, home of Goliath!  David captured this city.   He only returned to Israel after Saul and 3 of his sons had been defeated and killed at the battle of Mt. Gilboa.  David settled in Hebron in Judah and declared himself king of Judah.  Hebron is the town belonging to Abraham who bought a plot of land with the Cave of Machpelah that he used as a place for their burial.  Abner, Saul's general, sided with Eshbaal, Saul's remaining son, even crowning him king at Mahanaim.  

Judah became the remaining state  of Israel of the 12 tribes stemming from Jacob's 12 sons.  They became the Jewish people.  Judah, one of the 12 sons, had a name change to Israel. 

Jews are important to the world because the "Old Testament" Tanakh to Jews, was written about them, and that led to the New Testament, starting with the gospels of 12 Jews who had started a new religion, Christianity from their original religion of Judaism.  Jews have barely survived, being 0.02% of the world population; or known to be 2% of the USA and re-establishing Israel after waiting for over 2,000 years with another 6 million Jews.  Muslims' history is found in the Tanakh as well, for Mohammad was born in 570 CE, and he had met Jews during his life, as some tribes of Jews were then living in Arabia.    During the 1800s CE there were many living in Palestine, there to see many Jews return from foreign lands and join their families who had never left.  

Jews have won 22% of all Nobel Prizes awarded between 1901 and 2023, which is 110 times their proportion of the world's population. Some notable Jewish Nobel laureates include: 

• Albert Einstein: Won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 
• S.Y. Agnon: Won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966 
• Henry Kissinger: Won the Nobel Prize in Peace in 1973 
• Isaac Bashevis Singer: Won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978 
• Elie Wiesel: Won the Nobel Prize in Peace in 1986 
• Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres: Won the Nobel Prize in Peace in 1994 
• Bob Dylan: Won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016 
• Gerty Cori: The first Jewish woman to win the Nobel Prize, studying carbohydrate metabolism with her husband 

Jews have won Nobel Prizes in all six of the Nobel Foundation's awards:

• Chemistry: 37 winners
Economics: 38 winners
Literature: 16 winners
Peace: 9 winners
Physics: 56 winners
Physiology or Medicine: 60 winners 
These same Jews were ones kept out of medical school for fear that other religions would   
not have a chance to become doctors, evidently; so there were quotas on Jewish students.  
By 1924, there was a quota on Jews allowed to enter the USA and become citizens.  

 The Holocaust slaughtered 6 million Jews.  Now, the world has turned on them, even in the USA where anti-Semitism is running rampant.  As a Jew, I shake my head in wonderment  why the hatred, and is it because they have stuck to their promise of believing in one G-d instead of the many offered during Greek and Roman days, making them "different?"  They have been trying for almost 4,000 years to maintain their ethical law, their mores, never trying to force their beliefs onto others, but just being an example of family life as a way to be happy unto themselves and to others.  That's how we were charged to believe and not to change.  The Golden Rule in our schooling:  Don't do to others what you don't want to happen to you....yes, the negative side of the Golden Rule others have been taught.  That's what we try to remember and live up to:  

                                                                 

           Senior Home Life:  Regardless of Religion, welcome if a Senior somewhere:    Medicare, medicaid, the important words to know about.  So many of us are on United Insurance plans, and the head CEO, Andrew Witty,  was just assassinated.  You can't lower prices by shooting the insurance man.    I ask again, when will people learn?  We couldn't afford to live without insurance today.  Frankly, I don't know how they can afford to cover us!  All prices are too high!!!

Well, now, I see the world about to fall apart with the hatred in full swing again.  Will people ever learn?  I have hope, even while living in an Assisted Living Center where I'm surrounded by wonderful people I adore who give their hearts and souls to our care.  If only the rest of the world were as lovely.  These people, made up of new immigrants and old, young and old, have what it takes to be wonderful citizens of any country.  I'm so glad to have the opportunity to meet and to know them.  There is hope for the future.  They are so like shepherds caring for their charges; us residents.                 

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia