The various dates hereunder are based on the Bible's list of the kings of Judah, working back from the known date of the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar ( 587 BC). The calculations of Edwin R Thiele in "The Mysterious numbers of the Hebrew kings" have been of great assistance, but I believe he may have produced an error of 6 years when arriving at the commencement of the building of the temple by Solomon. When dealing with ancient dates, it must be remembered that the current (Gregorian) calendar did not become accepted world wide until 1792 AD and that prior to Julius Caesar enforcing the Julien calendar in 40 BC, many countries/empires used their own system. Therefore it is often, but not always, impossible to assign an ancient event to a Gregorian equivalent accurately. When using lapsed time between such ancient events, there might be an accumulation of such errors in the final calculation. E.G. In the case of the Exodus, there is a possible margin of. 6 years. (See the comments on the Exodus below).
The Bible's details of Israel's sojourn in Egypt, starting with 30 years being a time of blessing and great benefit but deteriorating into a 400 year period of captivity and slavery, is one of the most hotly disputed passages in the Bible. Opponents of the Bible claim there is no record of the event in Egyptian records and no circumstances complying with the events recorded in the Bible at the time stated in the bible. However, I believe that there are fully recorded circumstances in Egyptian history, precisely at the appropriate time and that this has been missed for a number of reasons.
From the Bible, we can determine that Joseph was taken to Egypt in 1840 BC when Amenemhat III was Pharaoh and was joined by his family in 1831 BC where they remained for 430 years. Egyptian records show that a new Vizier (Kheti) was appointed in approximately 1831 BC and Egypt experienced a very prosperous period.. That concurs with the Bible record of Joseph's experience. (Joseph being Kheti).
Exo 12:40 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.
Exo 12:41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.
Joseph found great favour with Amenemhat III who appointed him over all his other officials, i.e. "Vizier".
Gen_41:44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.
In 1831 BC Joseph brought all of his family to join him in Egypt. which, if you count the progeny of Jacob and thrir wives, numbers 70, including one daughter and one grand-daughter, (see Gen 46), Being their intention to become a large nation they could well have had a child every year and could have numbered 500,000 in the 30 years of tolerance by the Egyptians, It appears from Scripture that the initial tendency of Jacob's progeny was to produce 97 % male children, obtaining wives for them from the surrounding population, which would result in disproportionate expansion of the tribes of Israel.
Exo 1:5 And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.
In 1802 BC the last Pharaoh of the 12 th Dynasty died and the new dynasty had no allegiance to Joseph
Exo 1:8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
Exo 1:9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:
Exo 1:10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.
Exo 1:11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
Public opinion has been influenced by the Hollywood epic, The Ten Commandments which, although being accurate in many respects, totally failed to investigate the timing involved. Also, there is one important Bible verse which pinpoints the date of the Exodus but was altered when the Torah (essentially the Jewish equivalent of the first five books of the Old Testament) was re-compiled by the Masoretes, around the 9th century AD. That verse is
1Ki 6:1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the LORD.
The oldest record of the Old Testament available is called The Septuagint, which was a Greek translation made from the Hebrew by several Greek speaking Jewish scholars around the 3rd century BC and many New Testament quotations from the Old Testament agree with the Septuagint rather than the Masoretic. The Septuagint reads
1Ki 6:0 And it came to pass in the four hundred and fortieth year after the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt, in the fourth year and second month of the reign of king Solomon over Israel,
1Ki 6:1 In the fourth year he laid the foundation of the house of the Lord, in the month Ziu, even in the second month.
Using this period of 440 years from the commencement of the Temple by Solomon, we come to 1401 BC.. In 1401 BC Pharaoh Amenhotep II died, having been predeceased by his first son and if that was also the date of the Exodus then that fully agrees with the Bible's statements, as follows:
As Moses was 80 years old on the Exodus, he was born in 1481 BC. At that time, an Egyptian princess, Hatshepsut had become infertile after the birth of her only child, a daughter, which must haved been well before 1479 BC when her husband (Thutmose II died). Hatshepsut was a very ambitious women and fitted the profile of the Egyptian princess who, in the Bible text adopted Moses. Hatshepsut went on to become Egypt's most powerful and successful female Pharaoh. However, within a few years after her death in 1458 BC (Moses, whose Israeli identity was not a secret as portrayed by Hollywwod) was later forced to flee Egypt in 1441 BC) her successor, Thutmose III, tried to remove all record of Hatshepsut (his stepmother) and no reason ever emerged. However, that would fit in perfectly as she had been responsible for introducing the disgraced Moses into the royal hierarchy and grooming him to become a Pharaoh in place of Thutmose III. Also, the Bible states Moses fled Egypt for fear of his killing of an Egyptian taskmaster but that would have been no danger for a high official in Moses' position, except that Thutmose III would jumped at any excuse to remove his obvious competitor.
Several commentators say we cannot be absolutely certain that the Pharaoh of the Exodus actually perished in the Red Sea but I believe The Bible makes it quite clear. The relative Bible passages are in Exodus 14/15 Summarised by
Exo 14:8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand. note "he" pursued.
Exo 15:19 For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea. Note the Hebrew word for "Horse" is "sus". The word for "Horsemen" is "parash", so this verse clearly refers to Pharaoh on his horse.
Psa 136:15 But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Therefore, the Exodus must have commenced in 1401 BC, the year Amenhotep II died. Thedrfefore, he was the pharaoh involved with Moses and th plagues resulting in the Exodus.