There were no books (Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus) written in the mid to late Bronze Age, by a man named Moses.
According to 1 Kings 6:1, it stated that Moses left Rameses, Egypt, with his people, 480 years before Solomon started building temple, on the 4th year of his reign.
If my date of Solomon’s reign - c 970 - c 931 BCE - is correct, then when the start of temple construction would be 967 BCE.
This would mean Moses leaving Egypt would date to around 1447 BCE. This date would mean -
- Moses was born about 1527 BCE
- and Moses died about 1407 BCE.
Moses supposedly started his departure from Rameses:
Rameses the city (along with another city Pithom) was supposedly being built around the time of Moses’ birth about 80 years earlier.
The problem is that the Exodus have left no names to any Egyptian kings in the time of his birth (c 1527 BCE) and in the time of departure from Egypt (c 1447 BCE), so there are no ways to determine and verify what Exodus is saying to be true.
Unlike the Exodus, Egyptian records about the dynasty in that period (New Kingdom period, c 1549 - c 1077 BCE) were more through, from the annals, the king lists and other inscriptions were more plentiful.
1527 BCE would put this date to Ahmose I (reign c 1549 - 1524 BCE), the 1st king of the 18th dynasty (c 1549 - 1292 BCE). Ahmose was responsible for driving the Hyksos out of Egypt.
1447 BCE would put this date to Thutmose III (reign 1479 - 1425 BCE), and 1407 BCE (Moses’ death) would put the date to in the reign of Thutmose’s son and successor - Amenhotep II (reign 1427 - 1401 BCE).
Now, here are some of the problems with Moses being attributed as author.
(A)
There are no written Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and Genesis that be physically dated to this period.
First, there are no writings Hebrew alphabets dated in the 15th century BCE. There are no parchments, no scrolls made of papyri, no clay tablets, no stone tablets, no inscriptions on bronze, that exist with any book, chapter or verse from these 4 books date to the late Bronze Age.
So there are zero evidence that the books of Exodus or Genesis existing in the 15th century BCE. Not even fragments can be found and dated this time.
The oldest evidence of OT writing are tiny fragments of Numbers 6, contains passage of the Priestly Blessings, written on silver sheeting. Archaeologists named them the Silver Scrolls, and now kept in Israel Museum.
These objects were found in the cave at Ketef Hinnom, that served as burial chambers, and has been dated to between 540 and 590 BCE.
So the artefacts found at Ketef Hinnom cave could be as early as the reign of King Josiah of Judah or as late as near the time when Neo-Babylonian army razed Jerusalem as well as the temple.
To date, there are no earlier writing then these scrolls.
(B)
Ahmose I has never had Rameses built.
There was a city called Pi-Ramesses, which mean the “House Of Ramesses”, because it was named after the 3rd king of the 19th dynasty (1292 - 1187 BCE) - Ramesses II (reign 1279 - 1213 BCE).
Ramesses’ grandfather, Ramesses I, who had started the 19th dynasty, didn’t rule Egypt long, lasting only 2 to 3 years, certainly could not have built Pi-Ramesses.
As you can see, there are discrepancies in trying to match Exodus Rameses with historical Pi-Ramesses. Pi-Ramesses do exist, but not in the reign of Ahmose I.
(C)
There is another date, that doesn’t match up.
According to Joshua, after Moses’ death (supposedly after 1407 BCE), they crossed the Jordan (Joshua 3), attacked Jericho (Joshua 6), and left the city abandoned.
But according to archaeologists, like Kathleen Kenyon in the 1950s, have dated the city has been abandoned as early as 1550 BCE, and even more recent dating, put this layer (Jericho IV) was dated to 1573 BCE.
This date 1573 means that the destruction of Jericho was actually dated before Moses’ birth, not after his death, as (Book of) Joshua say.
Just as Moses didn’t write Exodus, Joshua didn’t write the book that was named after him. And nothing in Genesis, Exodus and Joshua are considered “history”.
