The Pharaoh of the Exodus: Fairy tale or real history?

Book excerpt: For Egyptologists as well as archaeologists, and even now Bible scholars, the answer to the question: Who was the pharaoh of the Exodus, the answer is obvious: there was nobo because the biblical story was a myth (Dever: 2003, 233). Consequently, who to believe: Moses or Egyptologists? Several scholars (Finkelstein, Dever and others) posit that the Exodus narrative may have developed from collective memories of the Hyksos expulsions of Semitic Canaanites from Egypt, possibly elaborated on to encourage resistance to the 7th century domination of Judah by Egypt. For these scholars the liberation from Egypt after the "10 plagues", as it is written in the Book of Exodus, is quite different from the historical "war of liberation against the Hyksos". What are the Egyptian documents underlying this hypothesis: none, and what is the chronology of this mysterious war: nobody knows! Consequently, who to believe: Moses or Egyptologists? This study will give the answer.