Indisputable evidence for a famine in the time of Joseph may never be found,and should not be expected by defenders or critics.There were possibly several famines that could be placed in the 13^th dynasty which covered about 150 years.Archaeoogists have discovered that the collapse of the 13^th dynasty was caused by devastation due to a famine.It is commonly agreed that the 14^th dynasty began around 1650 bce,and the date Joseph would have been taken to Egypt would have been around the end of the 18^th century bce.According to Bible chronology the Israelites entered Egypt around 1673 bce,about 23 years before the 13^th dynasty collapsed.Joseph was taken to Egypt at a time when the delta was ruled by a Semitic people archaeologists have named the Hyksos.And yes,Mr. critic,the Hyksos were real.The Bible doesn't name the Hyksos,which was a Greek translation of the Egyptian Hykau Kysut.The Bible does give us a hint that at least one palace official was Egyptian,as if the king wasn't.
Genesis 39:
1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar,
an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard,an Egyptian,
bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites,
which had brought him down thither
Potiphar was apparently different than the other court officials and probably the pharaoh as well.The name Ptahwer was also common during that period as an inscription from Amenemhet III(1841-1796) tells us.
" I was one sent to bring plentiful [ ]from the land of
[ ],ready in his reports to his lord,
delivering Asia to him who is in the palace,
bringing Sinai at his heels,
traversing inaccessible valleys,
bringing unknown extremities,the master of the double cabinet,
chief of the treasury,Ptahwer,triumphant,born of Yata"
    Amenemhet's Ptahwer was also an official of the court,but using Ptahwer as evidence of Joseph being in Egypt would be a mistake It is possible that Joseph would have been there during the reign of Amenemhet,but the evidence is not beyond a doubt,as Biblical chronology would have Him being taken to Egypt sometime around 1712 bce.It does,however,show that the authors of the manuscript were familiar with the name,which does not show up in Egyptian records at the time of the divided kingdom or the Babylonian exile.
According to Josephus:
"And pharaoh called Joseph's name Prognathous'-pa-a-neath,and he gave him a wife,Arsenate
the daughter of peripheral the priest of On,and Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.
"Said Thoth to the [Kenned]: "It is correct a million times."
The Hebrew writers were apparently either familiar with the nomes of Egypt,or at least one of them was an eye witnessed Hebrew On was named for the god Sophronia,thought to be another name for Osiris,and located in the western part of the delta:
"Thereupon Isis let out a loud [sari]eek rejoicing exec[exceedingly, and
she came be]fore the Universal [Lord] and said: "North wind, (go) to
the impartation the good news to Sophronia, l.p.h."
   The text is from the The Contendings of Horus and Seth,in which Seth,the only Egyptian god worshiped by the Hyksos,was deposed and the throne of the "two lands" given to Horus.Ahmose,wrote on his inscriptions a date he referred to as "Regnal year 3 of Horus:"
"Horus-of-Gold, who pacifies the Two Lands, King of Upper and Lower Egypt [Wadj]-Kheper-[re, son of Re]
Kamose, given life, beloved of Amenre lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands, like Re forever and ever!"
The place names given in the inscriptions are in the form of god names and were in the Nile delta,including Pre-Harakhti,which has been interpreted as being the Biblical Pi-ha-hi roth,although that is still under debate.Some historians say that On and Heliopolis are the same place and Ra Harmakhis,in the El-Arish inscriptions is the same as Pre-Harakhti,which is also mentioned in the El-Arish inscriptions as Pekharti. El-Arish also mentions At Nebes being the mighty walls of Egypt,which is probably the wall of the Ruler.The place of the sycamore is known to be a sanctuary in Goshen.It is also called the land of Henna and the more modern name is Saft el henna.They were all in the area near Baal-Zephon and Migdol,which was mentioned in the Amarna Tablets.Migdol is thought to be the Hebrew word for tower,indicating a fortress,but the letters tell us there was also a city by that name.Since the Egyptians adopted many Semitic words,it's difficult to say that the Israelites were not referring to a real place.The same can be said for AI,which critics tell us is Hebrew for ruin.If it's Hebrew there's a real
possibility it's roots are in a much older Semitic language.There is also the possibility of the name Ai becoming synonymous with heap following the destruction by Joshua,rather than the Bible calling Ai a heap.
   During the rule of the Hyksos Amenemhet was on the throne in southern Egypt,and the Hyksos left very few texts or inscriptions Archeology discovered their existence only through ancient history,written centuries after the Hyksos period.Egyptians,however,did leave records of the Hyksos being in the delta.
   As a way to insure the Asiatics didn't have the opportunity to seize control of the delta as the Hyksos had,Ahmose turned Avaris into a slave camp.The Israelites had been in Egypt around 140 years before they were enslaved,following the Hyksos retreat,the population of Avaris rose suddenly.Archaeology accounts that to the Asiatic slaves being moved into the city,although some still hold to a date in the reign of Ramesses II.which would not be in harmony with the Bible,or modern interpretation of evidence.The Bible tells of the Israelites building Pi-Ramesses and Pithom,but there's no evidence and no reason for placing it during the reign of Ramesses II.His god name is identical with that of Ahmose,which could just as easily have been inscribed as Re-Ahmose or Re-Amesses.Meses and Moses are only variations of the same name.As Egyptologist Geoffrey Martin put it:
" Inscriptions can be essential,but may also be misleading.Many pharaohs had a predilection for having their stonemasons whack their names into previously existing monuments and temples, thereby expropriating some of the grandeur and prestige.One pharaoh who was famous for that was none other than Rameses II himself, and Suruzian has helped prove that several huge statues from Memphis previously considered to be Rameses II in fact represented Senusert I, a Middle Kingdom pharaoh who reigned 700 years previously. Rameses II's antics caused quite a stir a few years back, relates Martin. "They had a fabulous exhibition of Rameses II in Memphis, Tennessee. The people of Memphis, Tennessee paid for a gigantic statue from Memphis, Egypt to be restored. It went there as Rameses II but it turned out that it was only Rameses II because he put his name on it."
   Historians also tell us that Ramesses I chose the throne name of Re-Ahmoses. In reality the Ramessid dynasty did not begin with Ramesses I,but with Ahmose.Archaeology now knows Him as Amesses,Ahmoses and Re-Ahmose.His building projects would have been rightly referred to as Pi-ReAhmeses.
Flavious Josephus wrote in His antiquities that the Israelites also built pyramids:
"And having, in length of time, forgotten the benefits they had received from Joseph, particularly the crown being now come into another family, they became very abusive to the Israelites, and contrived many ways of afflicting them; for they enjoined them to cut a great number of channels for the river, and to build walls for their cities and ramparts, that they might restrain the river, and hinder its waters from stagnating, upon its running over its own banks: they set them also to build pyramids, and by all this wore them out; and forced them to learn all sorts of mechanical arts, and to accustom themselves to hard labor".
    Ramesses the Great never built any pyramids,but Ahmose did.His pyramid at Abydos was the last such royal complex built in Egypt,evidence that the Israelites could not have built a pyramid in the reign of Ramases II.Slaves were not normally used to build pyramids,which probably reflects the abundance of slaves during the reign of Ahmose.One of the more interesting things about the pyramid of Ahmose is the depiction of horses and chariots.It was the Hyksos that introduced the chariot to Egypt,and Ahmose not only used them against the Hyksos,He painted the battle scenes in His pyramid.Ahmose also built a mortuary temple and the town of the workers who built and later managed the facilities.There were also four circular granaries along the back wall. South of the pyramid and mortuary complex also lies a shrine that was dedicated to Tetisheri,who was Ahmose I's grandmother.This structure is a massive mudbrick building with a shape not unlike that of a mastaba.A corridor leads through the center of the building to a remarkable stela inscribed by Ahmose at the rear.It includes two depictions of Tetisheri,and hieroglyphic text of the kings intentions to build a pyramid in memory of his grandmother.Since history and the Bible are in agreement as to the time the Israelites would have been in Egypt,it is very possible that they were among those that were resettled in the old Hyksos capital of Avaris.Ahmose also noted that the strongholds were called by his name.Although Avaris was a very ancient city by the reign of Ahmose,He did rebuild it and added on to it,to accommodate the number of Asiatics that were moved into the city,although it must have been a very large city during the rule of the Hyksos.Flavious Josephus on quoting Manetho wrote that there were 240,000 military men there.
   If Ahmose settled tens of thousands more Asiatics in Avaris,it would have been a very large city 200 years prior to the reign of Ramesses II.It would have required a lot of rebuilding,and possibly new structures if the commander Ahmose son of Abana is correct:
"When the town of Avaris was besieged,
I fought bravely on foot in his majesty's presence.
Thereupon I was appointed to the ship khaemmennefer ("Rising in Memphis").
Then there was fighting on the water in "P'a-djedku" of Avaris.
Then Avaris was despoiled, and I brought spoil from there:
one man,three women; total, four persons."
   The Bible tells us that it wasn't until after the death of Joseph that the Israelites were enslaved.Josephus also states that not only was there a new King,but "particularly the crown being now come into another family,".That family was,of course,the first Egyptians to rule the North in several hundred years.

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