Did You Know? Conclusion of What evidence exists outside the Bible that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt

There is additional evidence from southern Egypt. A papryus dated in the Middle Kingdom (c.2000-c. 1600 B.C.E.) contains names of slaves who worked in a household in southern Egypt. More than 40 of those names are Semitic.  These slaves, or servants, worked cooks, weavers, and laborers. Hoffmeier observes: "Since over forty Semitic were attached to this single estate in Thebaid [southern Egypt], the number across Egypt, especially in the Delta, was likely considerable." 

Archaeologist David Rohl writes that some of the names of the slaves on the list "leap straight out of the papers of the Bible."  For instance, the fragments contain names that are similar to such names as Issachar, Asher, and Shiphrah.  (Exodus 13:4, 15)  "This real evidence for the time when the  Israelites were in Egypt  as slaves," concludes Rohl. 

Dr. Bimson states: "The Biblical traditions of the bondage in Egypt and of the Exodus have a firm historical basis." 

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