Rodger W. Dalman
In the last few decades, concern over global warming has led to an ongoing discussion about climate change. Part of this discussion has explored archaeological and textual evidence for famines that struck Egypt and the Levant during the last 4, 000 years. It may be of value to ask if this evidence may shed light on events recorded in the Biblical account.
Abraham’s Famine
The first famine for which there is extra-Biblical evidence has received quite a bit of academic attention in recent years. It began in 2300 BC and lasted for three centuries! This drought was a global even that may have been felt as far away as Australia (Lamb 1982:131). In Egypt, it produced the First Intermediate Period, when the land descended into political, social, and economic disruption. In western Mesopotamia, many sites were abandoned across the Habur river valley and the Assyrian plains (Gibbons 1993:985, Weiss et al. 1993:999). In the Levant, drought nearly brought an end to the Early Bronze Age culture. William Dever has argued that the years between 2300 and 2000 BC constituted a “non-urban interlude” between the Early Bronze Age and Middle Bronze Age. Dever notes that cities like Megiddo were reduced to villages and the highlands of Palestine were almost unpopulated. He suggests that the Early Bronze Age culture continued only on the fringe of the semi-arid land (Dever 1980:35–64).
The significance of this famine for Israel’s history depends on the dates that are defended for Israel’s patriarchal age. Traditional patriarchal age dates have been calculated by adding the 480 years of 1 Kings 6:1 and the 430 years of Exodus 12:40 to 966 BC. This approach was taken by Merrill, who suggested that Abraham entered Canaan in 2091 BC and that Joseph was brought to Egypt in 1899 BC (Merrill 1980:241–43). Similar chronologies have been popular in the evangelical community, but have not been universally accepted.1 For example, Hoerth recently argued for an 18th Dynasty Exodus and a patriarchal age during Egypt’s Second Intermediate Period.2 This would move Joseph forward to the Hyksos era (Hoerth 1998:142–47, 179).
If the traditional dates for Israel’s patriarchal age are accepted, Abraham entered the Levant in the latter part of this famine. Palestine was occupied only by semi-nomadic people, who farmed small fields in the summer and moved to warmer areas in the winter. If Abraham entered Palestine at this time, it should not be surprising that Abraham also led a mobile life style in Palestine. Genesis 12:10 may have referred to this famine. This passage notes that Abraham passed through Palestine and entered Egypt because the famine in Palestine was still servere.3
In this scenario, Abraham entered Egypt near the end of the First Intermediate Period. Famine conditions in Egypt had begun to case after 2135 BC as Nile annual flood levels rose once more. As Abraham entered Egypt, he would have encountered a civil war. Improving climate conditions at this time had led to a struggle for power between the southern ruler at Thebes and the northern ruler at Herakleopolis. The ruler of Herakleopolis may have wanted Abraham’s assistance in his struggle with Thebes. After Sara was removed from his house. The Egyptian king gave Abraham gifts of servants and livestock. MacDonald has argued that such gifts were often given to chiefs in the Levant to gain their alliance with Egypt (MacDonald 1972:85).
If Israel had left Egypt during the 19th Dynasty, as has so often been claimed, Abraham would have entered Palestine later, sometime between 19258 BC and 1875 BC. By this time, the famine was over and cities were beginning to reappear in the Levant (Auld and Steiner 1996:24). Passing peacefully through the land would have been more difficult.4
The effect of a famine in antiquity. This wall relief from Saqqara, Egypt, depicts men, women and children emaciated from a famine that occurred ca. 2400 BC.
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The step pyramid of king Djoser at Saqqara, Egypt. Built in the 27th century BC, it is the oldest freestanding stone structure in the world, and was hundreds of years old when Abraham entered Egypt. Abraham no doubt passed this pyramid as he made his way to and from Herakleopolis, 88 km (55 mi) to the south.
Isaac and a Famine in Palestine
Genesis 26 mentions a new famine that struck Palestine during Isaac’s life. Genesis 26:1 records that Isaac sought refuge in Gerar with Abimelech during the famine. Isaac dug wells to grow crops and support his flocks. The population of Gerar eventually resisted his use of their groundwater during the drought. They filled his wells with dirt and drove him from the region. Genesis 26 gives little information that could be used to date this famine. It happened at some point between the birth of Jacob in Genesis 25 and Jacob’s theft of Esau’s blessing in Genesis 27. Merrill had argued that Jacob was born in 2006 BC (Merrill 1980:242). If that date is approximately correct, there is an Egyptian text that may mention the famine. Barbara Bell argues that unusually low Nile flood levels brought distress to Egypt for a few years during the reign of Sesostris I, although the wealth of “nomarch” tombs during his reign testify to the general prosperity of the age. Bell notes that Ameny’s tomb text records such a famine. Ameny was the “nomarch,” or local ruler, of the Beni-Hasan “nome” at the this time.5 Ameny claims:
When years of famine came, I plowed all the fields of the Oryz Nome, as far as its southern and northern boundaries, preserving its people alive, and furnishing its food so that there was none hungry therein….Then came great Niles, producers of grain and of all things, (but) I did not collect the arrears of the field (taxes) (Bell 1975:225).
This famine struck Egypt somewhere between 1971 and 1911 BC, depending on how the Middle Kingdom chronology is understood.
Joseph and the Famine Years
If traditional dates for Israel’s patriarchal age are assumed, Joseph was brought to Egypt around 1899 BC. This would have been during the Middle Kingdom, when Egypt was a dominant power in the region. Merrill argues that Joseph’s years of abundance and famine in Genesis 41:46–49 are dated between 1886 BC and 1872 BC (Merrill 1980:247). Even if these dates are accepted, it is difficult to identify the pharaoh that Joseph served. Callender notes that “high,” “middle,” and “low” chronologies continue to be defended for the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. Possible coregencies remain a source of debate, and the chronology of the period remains in flux (Callender 2000:148–49). Joseph could have been a vizier for Amenemhet II, Sesostris II, Sesostris III, or Amenemhet III, depending on how the Biblical and Egyptian chronologies are understood.
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Model of an Egyptian granary of the type Joseph would have used to store grain during the years of plenty. Found in the Tomb of Khentekhtay in Sedment, ca. 2100 BC, it shows workers emptying sacks of grain into the top of the granary while scribes tally the amount. On either side of the scribes are overseers. The model is on display at the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
The historical evidence for Joseph’s famine remains problematic. Barbara Bell uses textual and archaeological evidence to suggest that Amenemhet III could have been Joseph’s sovereign. She notes evidence for unusual abundance followed by economic difficulty during the reign of Amenemhet III. Agricultural abundance in Egypt was almost entirely tied to the annual Nile flood levels, High floods produced abundance because a larger land area could be cultivated. Low floods brought hardship and famine. Bell notes that flood inscriptions have been found written on the valley walls beside Semna and Kumma near the second Nile cataract. These texts record very high Nile flood levels during the reign of Amenemhet III. His inscription at Semna describes Nile floods that were between 8 and 11 m (26–36 ft) higher than normal flood levels.
Bell asserts that the flood texts at Semna and Kumma are supported by physical evidence. Bell notes that a line can be seen on the rock cliffs around the valley near the second cataract. Below that line, the rocks are clearly worn by water; while above the line they are not water warn. This line appears 8.73 m (28.7 ft) above the level of the 1931 high flood line and it appears at the same level everywhere in the valley. Bell also found a pocket of water laid flood deposit in a rock level 6.23 m (20.4 ft) above the 1931 high flood line. A piece of pottery found in this flood deposit could not be dated by pottery style, but it did demonstrate that the high flood levels had occurred at some point after pottery came into use in the valley.
The high flood levels of Amenemhet III could fit Joseph’s seven years of abundance. Bell notes that the highest recorded flood level occurred during Amenemhet III’s 30th year. After that, Nile flood levels retreated to their normal height. Bell suggests that these lower levels might have caused economic difficultly for a nation that had grown accustomed to unusually high flood levels. Bell further suggests that this may have been the setting for Joseph’s famine years (Bell 1975:261). That suggestion would seem difficult to accept. A retreat to normal flood levels would not have caused a devastating famine in the Levant.
It may also be difficult to make this suggestion work chronologically.6 This famine would have struck Egypt after Merrill’s suggested dates for Joseph’s famine, but earlier than Hoerth’s suggestion of Hyksos era dates. So Bell’s work demonstrates the instability of Nile flood levels at the end of the Middle Kingdom and the possibility of Joseph’s years of abundance, but it is not conclusive. Bell’s suggested association of Joseph with Amenemhet III may not be correct. If Amenemhet III’s abundance is not associated with Joseph, could evidence for Joseph’s famine be found earlier in the Middle Kingdom? No direct evidence has survived for a famine during the reigns of Amenemhet II or Sesostris II, although the Egyptians may simply not have preserved a record of economic difficulties during their reigns. The possibility of a famine during the reign of Sesostris III, however, is rather intriguing. At first sight, Joseph’s famine would seem to be historically unlikely at this time. Sesostris III was a very strong ruler, and the records of his reign give little indication of economic difficulty. Sesostris III was reputed to be one of the strongest rulers that Egypt ever knew, Herodotus claimed that he “traversed the whole continent of Asia, whence he passed on into Europe, and made himself master of Scythia and of Thrace” (Komroff 1928:114). While not historically accurate, Herodotus’ claims exemplify the renown gained by Sesostris III among succeeding generations.
The strongest evidence for Sesostris III’s power was that he regained control of Egypt’s delta nomes from the nomarchs. During the First Intermediate Period, these nomarchs had become independent. Earlier Middle Kingdom Pharaohs had been unable to control them, and several of the nomarchs had built very expensive tombs for themselves. The nomarchs’ title was “Great Overlord.” This title went out of use during the reign of Sesostris III (Callender 2000:167–75). The nomarchs also stopped decorating their own tombs in an expensive way during his reign. This has been interpreted as evidence for the great political and military strength of Sesostris III. If he could control the nomarch’s power, he must have been a strong ruler indeed.
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This suggests a hypothesis that would fit the Biblical account. Genesis 47:13–25 notes that all the money and land in Egypt came into Pharaoh’s hands except the lands owned by the priests. So Joseph’s famine would have given Pharaoh complete control of every nome in Egypt. Even the nomarchs themselves would have become his slaves to buy grain during the famine. The nomarchs would have been unable to build new tombs for themselves because they simply would not have had the resources to do so. This interpretation would be consistent with Paul Ray’s suggestion that Joseph’s land reforms may have been connected with Sesostris III’s ability to break the nomarchs’ power (Ray 1986:242). Genesis 47:26 notes that Pharaoh continued to collect his 20 percent for property ownership all the way down to Moses’ day. That remained true even through the Hyksos era.
Pharaoh Sesostris III who ruled ca. 1878–1843 BC, the time of Joseph according to Biblical chronology. Prior to his reign the power of Egypt was decentralized and in the hands of “nomarchs,” During the reign of Sesostris III, however, power became centralized under the Pharaoh, possibly as a result of Joseph’s famine policy described in Genesis 47:13–26.
Evidence for unusually high Nile flood levels during the reign of Sesosotris III can be found in an inscription at the Dal cataract. This text notes that the Nile river water level in the winter of that year equaled the high water line usually reached at the height of the annual Nile flood (Bell 1975:238). If the river water was this high in the winter, how high was the annual flood that year?
Unusually high Nile flood levels may also be suggested by the location of forts that were built by Sesostris III near the second Nile cataract. The fort at Semna was 83 km (52 mi) north of the Dal cataract. Amenemhet I and Sesostris I had built forts near the second Nile cataract at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. Pharaohs Amenemhet II and Sesostris II reused these forts. However, Sesostris III did not use these older forts. He rebuilt the fort at Semna 15m (49 ft) above the high flood line. The bottom level of the older fort had been croded by floodwater, even though the fort was almost 8m (26 ft) above the normal high flood line. It would be tempting to suggest that the very high flood levels had already appeared during the reign of Sesostris III, so he had rebuilt the second cataract forts above the new high flood level.
During his eighth year, Sesostris III reopened an old canal around the second Nile cataract. It was dug at a low enough level that it could be reopened in the 18th Dynasty by Thutmose I and Thutmose II. The level of this canal suggested that Egypt saw normal flood levels in the eighth year of Sesostris III. The Nile flood levels may have risen by the tenth year of his reign. Flood levels may then have fallen below normal levels by the 19th year of his reign, because in that year Sesostris III noted that he could only pass the second Nile cataract with great difficulty. The water level was too low for him to pass even in the canal that he had opened in his eighth year. This may suggest a water level so low that it could have caused famine conditions in Egypt. So Joseph’s years of abundance and famine could have, in fact, occurred during the reign of Sesostris III, even though his reputation would not seem to be consistent with such a famine.
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Famine And The Sea People
The famine that may have had the greatest impact on Israel’s history was not recorded in the OT itself. It occurred around 1200 BC, and it marked the end of the Late Bronze Age in the Levant. The famine broke out during the reign of pharaoh Merenptah. The Hittites in Anatolia asked Merenptah to honor Ramesses II’s treaty with them by sending them grain for famine relief. When Merenptah described his battle against the Libyans west of the Nile delta, he mentioned the famine in Anatolia and economic difficulties in North Africa that had led to the Libyan war, Merenptah wrote:
They spend their time going about the land, fighting, to fill their bodies daily. They come to the land of Egypt, to seek the necessities of their mouths; their desire is…my bringing them like netted fish on their bellies. Their chief is like a dog, a man of boasting, without courage; he does not abide….bringing to an end the Pedetishew (Pd.ty-s̄ w), whom I caused to take grain in ships, to keep alive that land of Kheta (Breasted 1962:244).
Relief of Pharaoh Merenptah (ca. 1212–1202 BC) smiting his enemies. From his palace in Memphis, now on display at the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
A letter was also found at Ugarit that mentions the famine in Anatolia. The Hittite King commands Ammurapi of Ugarit to provide a ship to transport 2,000 measures of grain from Mukish to Cilicia (Barnett 1975:369; Leonard 1989:30). The Hittite king stresses repeatedly that the supply of grain is a matter of life and death, Ammurapi also sent grain to Cyprus to ease the famine there (Astour 1965:255). Ugarit may soon have suffered from the same famine. Schaeffer argues that the final occupation layer at Ugarit was covered by two meters of pale yellow, powdery dust. Schaeffer interprets this soil as irrefutable evidence that Ugarit’s last days saw a prolonged drought (1983:74–75). A generation after that drought, Arnuwandas III of Boghaz Kōy wrote about the hunger that had struck western Anatolia during his father’s reign (Wainwright 1960:25). Redford has argued that this famine may also have been mentioned centuries later by Herodotus and Diodorus (1992:244).7
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Ruins of Ras Shamra, ancient Ugarit, on the Mediterranean coast of Syria. Several thousand clay tablets written in various languages and dating to the 14th and 13th centuries BC were found here (see Livingston 1997).
This famine greatly affected the Aegean Sea area and Asia Minor. Mendenhall notes that almost every site excavated in Greece was destroyed somewhere between 1250 and 1150 BC (1973:148). Rhys Carpenter argues that the famine affected Crete, the southern Peloponnesus, Boeotia, Euboca, Pholia, and the Argoid, but not western Europe (Bryson, et al. 1974:46). As these cities were destroyed, ethnic groups around the Aegean Sea left their homes in search of habitable land. While the specific causes of this immigration have been debated at length,8 the famine at least contributed to their decision to immigrate. The Egyptians called this collection of ethnic groups the “Sea People.” The Sea People moved by land and sea across southern Asia Minor and south along the coast of Syria and Palestine. They destroyed cities and cultures as they overflowed the Levant and poured inexorably toward Egypt. Ramesses III described the Sea People aggression and the destruction that they brought to the region. He wrote:
The foreign countries made a conspiracy in their islands. All at once the lands were removed the scattered in the fray. No land could stand before their arms, from Hatti, Kode, Carchemish, Arzawa, and Alashiya on, being cut off at [one time]. A camp [was set up] in one place in Amor. They desolated its people, and its land was like that which has never come into being. They were coming forward toward Egypt, while the flame was prepared before them. Their confederation was the Philistines, Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denye(n), and Weshesh, lands united. They laid their hands upon the lands as far as the circuit of the earth, their hearts confident and trusting: “Our plans will succeed!” (Wilson 1969:262)
When the Sea People were finally defeated, Ramesses III allowed them to settle in the Philistine Pentapolis as Egyptian vassals.9 Cities like Beth Shean that had been Egyptian strongholds and administrative centers were now inhabited by Egyptians, Canaanites, and Sea People. The arrival of the Sea People brought the Iron Age to Palestine.
Before the Sea People entered Palestine, Israel’s highlands had been occupied by a thinly scattered agricultural population. The identity of this population has been debated at length. Those who claim that Israel first appeared in Palestine after 1200 BC often deny that the highlands were inhabited by Israelites at this time. For example, Mazar argues that many small ethnic groups populated the highlands instead of the Israelites (1986:38). But if Israel left Egypt during the 18th Dynasty, the highlands would have been inhabited by Israelite tribes who were following a lifestyle closer to their Habiru roots than the tribes who lived among the Canaanites on the coastal plains. Merenptah’s stela could be interpreted as a description of such a culture, perhaps three decades before the Sea People settled into the Philistine Pentapolis.
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When the Sea People settled in the Pentapolis, many inhabitants of the region fled before them. Canaanites generally fled north into Syria while Israelites on the coastal plain fled east into the highlands. Archaeological evidence suggests that a great wave of immigrants entered the hill country from the coastal plains at this time. Around 300 new settlement sites have been identified from this time period. Bimson notes that the new Iron Age settlements in the highland included 68 settlements in Gilead, 96 in Manasseh, 122 in Ephraim, 12 in Benjamin, and 10 in Judah (1991:4). These Iron I settlements were definitely Israelite sites, because several of them continued into the Iron Age II period as Israelite sites.
Israelites who fled to the highlands would have brought along elements of the city state culture. The highlands certainly saw a dramatic cultural shift at this time. After the beginning of the Iron Age I period, Israelites in the highlands began to dig cisterns instead of relying on collar-rim jars for water storage. These cisterns made it possible for Israel to occupy semi-arid regions that could not have seen permanent occupation without them.
Elijah And Ethbaal
In 1 Kings 17:1, Ahab marries Jezebel. She was the daughter of Ethbaal, the priest of Astarte and the king of Tyre, Jezebel tried to destroy the worship of Yahweh and force Israel to worship the storm god Baal. In response, Elijah prayed that it would not rain in Israel without his word. For three years, it did not rain in Israel. Ethbaal recorded this drought in his own annals but interpreted it in a different way. While Ethbaal’s history has not been preserved, it was summarized by Menander. Her records Ethbaal’s words as,
There was a drought in his reign, which lasted from the month Hyperberetaios until the month of Hyperberetaios in the following year. But he made supplication (to the gods), whereupon a heavy thunderstorm broke out (Menander, Ant. VIII: 324, as quoted in Katzenstein 1973:153).
Vignette from Papyrus Harris I, a 40.5 m (133 ft) long scroll summarizing events in the reign of Ramesses III (ca. 1184–1153 BC), including his defeat of the Sea People, Ramesses III, right, appears before the Egyptian gods, right to left, Amon-Re, Mut and Khonsu. The accompanying inscription reads “I tell the prayers, praises, adorations, mighty deeds and benefactions which I did for three, in thy presence, O lord of gods.”
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During the drought, Elijah had been able to find refuge in Zarephath of Sidon when the brook Cherith dried up. This may suggest that the drought was not as severe or long lasting on Israel’s northwest frontier, Ethbaal’s history would seem to support this interpretation of the evidence.
Conclusion
Several kinds of evidence shed light on Old Testament history. While archaeological and textual evidence will always remain the most important data for the study of the Old Testament historical background, climatology may also begin to play a significant subsidiary role as an arena of academic discussion. Climatological studies can demonstrate the general accuracy of the Biblical text, and they can suggest ways that God may have accomplished His will in Isreal’s history.
The Menenptah Stela, telling of Pharaoh Merenptah’s campaign to Canaan in 1210 BC. Among those he claims to have defeated were the Israelites. This is the earliest mention of Israel in a text outside the Bible, and the only direct mention of Israel is an Egyptian text. Significantly, the determinative used for the name Israel is that of a non-urban people. This agrees with the description of the Israelites as living in tents in the early Judges period. The first mention of Israelites living in a village following the Conquest is in the story of Gideon (Jgs 6:28), which can be dated to approximately the early 12th century BC.
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The Canaanite storm god Baal, from ancient Ugarit, now in the Louvre Museum in Paris. “Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshipped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the Lord to anger (Jgs 2:11–12).
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