Moses was brought up as Egyptian Royalty for the first 40 years of his life. After that, he fled to Midian and stayed there for 40 years. When he was 80 years old, he returned to Egypt to confront a different Pharaoh with the message that God had given him.
Amenemhet IV co-reigned with Amenemhet III for 9 years and then suddenly disappeared. Sobeknefru, the sister or daughter of Amenemhet III, was childless and seems to have adopted Amenemhet IV (Moses). As he disappeared, Sobeknefru had to become the Queen (Pharaoh) when her brother or father, Amenemhet III died. She reigned for almost 4 years and then she died. She had no heir to inherit the throne and so the 12th dynasty ended. Egypt became destabilized and a number of pharaohs followed in quick succession until Neferhotep of the 13th dynasty. Neferhotep was the Pharaoh when Moses returned to Egypt at the age of 80. Neferhotep and his army, with over 600 chariots, chased the Israelites when they did not return form a gathering in the desert to worship their God. When they got to the Nuweiba, the Israelites were able to cross the Red Sea but when Pharaoh and his army tried to follow, they all drowned. Neferhotep’s brother had to take over the throne. He did not last long as he was easy pickings for the Hyksos without the Egyptian army and their chariots to help him.
Many scholars now realize that Moses was born during the 12th dynasty when Amenemhet III was pharaoh and the Exodus occurred around 1445bc during the 13th dynasty when Neferhotep was Pharaoh.
There is much archaeological evidence to support this revelation, however, it means that the traditional dates of the 12th and 13th dynasties need to be revised.
When it comes to locating Joseph in the history of Egypt, there are two schools of thought.
The Bible says that the Israelites sojourned in Egypt for 430 years. Exodus 12:40 says “the length of time that the Israelites live in Egypt was 430 years.”
The New Testament also refers to this 430 years. Galations 3:17 says ” The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. “
Because of this many scholars believe that the 430yrs commenced with the promise being given to Abraham 215yrs before Jacob and his family moved to Egypt.
The result of this is that some scholars believe that Joseph came only 215 years before Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
Other scholars believe that the Joseph was 430 years before the Exodus.
Joseph went to Egypt some 9-10 yrs before Jacob did.
When Jacob and his family went to Egypt, the Israelites numbered about 70. When they left Egypt they numbered around 2 million. They needed time time multipy to this number. Not withstanding this, it is obviously very important to know whether the Isralites were in Egypt for 430 years or 215 years so that we know in which dynasty to look for Joseph.
It is also important to know how the Egyptian dynasties are ordered.
People who believe in a 215 yr sojourn in Egypt look for Joseph earlier in the 12th dynasty and have nominated Mentuhotep as a possibility.
People who believe in a 430yr sojourn in Egypt look for Joseph in an earlier dynasty and given the similarities between Joseph and Imhotep, have tended to place Joseph in the 3rd dynasty.
Placing Joseph in the 3rd dynasty would require an even greater revision of Egyptian history and a complete revision of the Chronology to allow for parallel dynasties running concurrently in the North and the South and also for the common practice of coregency.
This would bring Egyptian history into complete agreement with the Bible.
One of the problems of placing Joseph in the 12th dynasty means that the flood of Noah would most likely have occurred during during one of the earlier dynasties (2450bc) and this is not only out of keeping with the Bible but there is no archaeological evidence of a worldwide flood during any Egyptian dynasty.
The Bible records that Noah had a grandson named Mizraim who seems to be one of the Patriarchs of Egypt. The flood would, therefore, have preceded even the predynastic periods of Egyptian History.
Even Manetho, whom most archaeologist regard as the most authoritative source of information on the chronology of Egyptian history, believed that Mizraim and Menes (the first Pharaoh) were the same person.
Placing Joseph in the 3rd dynasty and Moses in the 12th dynasties not only fits very well with the archaeological evidence, it fits very well with the Biblical account. What we know about these people from the Historical records can then be used to fill in the gaps in the Biblical record revealing how miraculous, amazing and glorious the Hand of God has been in dealing with mankind.
Moses was born in the 12th dynasty of Egypt. The Israelites were forced to make mud bricks by the pharaohs of this dynasty. Pyramids of the 12th dynasty had an inner core made of mudbricks with a limestone veneer. As limestone was becoming scarce, the Pharaohs were forced to use mudbricks to construct the core of the pyramids of the 12th dynasty and limestone was used only for the outer surface. A large labour force was required to make mud bricks. The Jews had grown to number over 2 million by the 12th dynasty. They were housed in Kahun – a semetic workers village close to Lahun, Dashur and Hawara where the 12th dynasty mud brick pyramids can be found. Petri excavated Kahun in 1889 and found evidence that it was occupied from the early 12th dynasty to the 13th dynasty by foreign Semetic slaves. Scarabs with the names of pharaohs that were found in the town indicate that it was built during the time of Sesostris II and occupied up until the 13th dynasty. Amenemhet III, the son of Sesostris III is most likely the Pharaoh who ordered that the Hebrew children be killed at birth by the midwives. Sobeknefru, his daughter appears to have adopted Moses after finding him amongst the reeds of the Nile in a basket. Moses would have become the next Pharaoh (Amenemhet IV). Moses may have even co-reigned with Amenemhet III for 9 years before he had to flee to Midian after killing an Egptian. Sobekneferu became the Pharaoh when Amenemhet died. Sobeknefru reigned almost 4 yrs before she died and so ended the 12th dynasty. A number of pharaohs followed in quick succession until Neferhotep in the 13th dynasty. Neferhotep was the Pharaoh who Moses confronted when he returned to Egypt 40 yrs after fleeing to Midian. Moses then lead the Israelites (numbering around 2 million) out of Egypt, thru the Red Sea into Arabia where they received the Law at Mt Sinai (Jabel Laws).