Is there solid evidence for the Old Testament that can be derived from ancient Egyptian records?

Answer 1

Because there is no such evidence, some have sought to disprove the Old Testament record simply on this basis. This only demonstrates the truth of the statement 'absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.' This is particularly so in the case of Egyptian and other records where ancient people were particularly reluctant to record anything negative, including military setbacks. So, any indications at all would be surprising indeed and so arguments from silence here carry little weight.

What is known for certainty about Egyptian chronology also indicates that it is due for revision in terms of the dating of the time when the pharoah's ruled. This in turn will have an effect on consideration of the topic at hand.

Answer 2

Some have sought to find evidence for the Pentateuch and the story of Joshua from the Old Testament, in the ancient Egyptian writings and in their civilization. Some attempt to construe any possible ambiguity in the Egyptian record as fitting the Old Testament record. However there is nothing to be found. The evidence of ancient Egypt includes:

• The Egyptians had their own creation myths, which were totally different from those of the Old Testament. If the Old Testament creation accounts were true, then you would expect to find this reflected somehow in the stories passed down in the oldest essentially continuous civilization of the region.
• We know that the Egyptian civilization continued undisturbed right through the period during which The Bible says the wordwide flood occurred.
• There is nothing in the Egyptian record to support the story of Joseph becoming the Pharaoh's vizier, nor of the Egyptians becoming totally dependent on foreign slaves. There is certainly no evidence that the population of approximately three and a half million people included some two and a half million Israelites (600,000 fighting men).
• There is no evidence of the great military loss said to have occurred when the Egyptian army was anihilated when the divided waters closed on them.
• Whether we regard the Exodus as occurring around 1440 BCE or 1250 BCE, the Egyptians were masters of the Palestinian region. Yet the Old Testament makes no mention of encountering Egyptians in their wanderings or while conquering the lands of Canaan. In fact, one would have to assume that the Egyptians were unconcerned that their slaves, who had stolen treasures from Egyptian families and had miraculously inflicted a great defeat on their army, were now wandering free in their northern territories.
• The Egyptian record provides no evidence of the lives of David and Solomon, if they ever really lived.

It is only from the time of the Divided Kingdoms of the first millennium BCE, that the Egyptian records begin to support some of the Old Testament account.

Answer 3

Yes, Israel is mentioned in the Merneptah Stele, and the Plagues are described in the Ipuwer Papyrus ("Pestilence is throughout the land....the river is blood") (Professor John van Seters, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology no. 50).

After the Israelites left, Egypt was in turmoil for decades. Though Israel was later harassed (Judges ch.3,6 and 10) by its smaller neighbors (Ammon, Moab, Midian), not a peep was heard from Egypt for four hundred years.

The plagues were also described by ancient historians, including Herodotus and Diodorus. The Exodus is mentioned by Strabo, Berosus, Artapanus, Numenius, Justin, and Tacitus.

See also:

Archaeology and the Hebrew Bible

Debunking Bible-criticism