Thanks, everyone! Let's begin.
Even now the land of Israel is despoiled and its seed lain waste [1], and many of its countrymen have gone into the servitude of the same Egypt which our forefathers once ruled, from where the prophet Moses led them after the kings of Thebes conquered them and put them into cruel bondage, and now they return to the same city in which they once ruled to toil and serve as slaves in the city the Egyptians now call Raameses. [2]
In the times where Jacob won the favour of the Apachnas [Khyan] the king of Egypt, and brought his family of seventy with himself to Egypt [3], the sons of Jacob multiplied and grew numerous in the land of Goshen, which the pharaoh gave unto them to rule, along with the city of or Sharuhen, for the Egyptians called them Shasu, or shepherds [4]. And even in the times after the death of Joseph and his whole generation they were fruitful and multiplied, and waxed exceedingly, and soon the land was filled with these descendants of Jacob.
After ruling for thirty-six years and seven months, Apachnas died. He was succeeded by Apophis [Apephis], who was king for sixty-one years, who then died. He was succeeded by Janins [Khamudi] [5], who was the last of the kings of Egypt to come from the east.
For there arose a new king in the south, who knew not Joseph. He said unto his subjects, "Look at these people who we have called kings before, and their shepherds, and their descendants who are more and mightier than we are, and who have ever waged war with us and wished to destroy us to our very roots. Let us drive them out of this land." [6]
And so the men of Thebes and the other parts of Egypt rose up against the kings of the Shasu, and besieged them at length in their city of Avaris, where the king Tethmosis [Ahmose I] fought them upon the water and took their gold of valour [7]. And those descendants of Jacob who did not thereafter escape into Syria or the lands beyond, shut themselves up in their city of Shahuren, which fell to the Egyptians after three years of siege. [8]
Shahuren was despoiled and its men were brought as slaves to the mines in the shadow of Avaris, their former city which the Egyptians later rebuilt as Ramesses, and the Egyptians set upon them taskmasters to afflict them with burdens. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew, and Tethmosis sent another army into Syria to punish them [9], and set upon these descendants of Jacob yet more labours in their bondage, in brick and in mortar, in the fields with rigour. [10]
And then Pharaoh died, and his son Amenhopis [Amenhotep I] became king of Egypt. And in these times there was a priest of Osiris called Userseth [11], and he was elected as king by those who had been sent to work in the mines. And he gave unto them a law that they should not worship the gods of Egypt, nor abstain from the animals which they held in esteem, but instead slay them and eat their flesh. And this priest of Osiris sent messengers to the shepherds of Jerusalem, desiring them to come to his assistance in his rebellion against Egypt.
Amenhopis was amazed at their defiance, but first went into the land of Kush [12] to gather unto him his allies and joined battle with the shepherds led by this priest, and conquered them and killed a great many of them, and pursued the remainder to Kedmi and the borders of the Midianites, and thereafter Egypt found no opposition in Syria. Although God had heard the misery of His children, he blazed with fury at them for following this false prophet. God had not revealed Himself to this priest, who had instead misled them with wonders and used them as his tools of rebellion against Egypt, and so God delivered them all unto the hands of their enemies [13].
And Pharaoh then told the midwives of those remaining descendants of Jacob which had not followed this false priest, "Let us deal wisely with these people, lest they multiply, for if it comes to war they shall surely join with our enemies, and fight against us. When you do the office of midwife to these shepherds, and see their children upon a stool, slay the sons but let the daughters live." [14]
But these midwives, fearing God, did not carry out the orders of Pharaoh and let the sons live, and God dealt well with them, and shielded them from the wrath of Pharaoh. And Amenhopis charged all his people, saying every son that is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall let live.
[0] The literary device is, much like Arturius Aurelianus, an exile writing of the history of his people. Jotham is mentioned in Judges 9 in the way I've described and is famous for the first parable in the Old Testament, where he curses his brother for his unworthiness as king.
[1] Quote from the Merneptah Stele, the first recorded use of the term "Israel" (hence why the insistence on "descendants of Jacob" for the time being - we'll get to "Hebrews" later), dating this account to about 1208 BCE, which is entirely consistent with my chronology for Judges.
[2] Pi-Ramesses, theorised to have been built over Avaris, wasn't constructed before the reign of Ramesses II, so it obviously would already be standing by Merneptah's reign.
[3] Genesis 45 -47, and I'm equating Jacob with Yaqub-Har, a Semitic vassal king of the Hyksos.
[4] This is taking a cue from the use of "Shasu" to refer cattle-driving nomadic peoples and Josephus' identification of the Hyksos (wrongly) with shepherds. Note that the Israelites are only ever referred to as Shasu and shepherds by Egyptians in this account.
[5] Manetho quoted by Josephus
[6] A gloss from Manetho and Exodus 1:9-10 , which is also quoted later.
[7] A term used by Ahmose, son of Abana, who gives a contemporary account of the sieges of Avaris and Shahuren
[8] A gloss from Manetho and Ahmose, son of Abana
[9] This campaign is recorded in an ostrakon found in the tomb of Ahmose I's wife.
[10] Exodus 1:13-14
[11] The entire saga of Osarseph (which isn't a real Egyptian name, hence my "pre-corruption" account of "Osar" with the semi-realistic User-seth "Set is powerful") is allegedly recorded in Manetho, and identified by Josephus with Moses, although the two accounts are similar but not identical.
[12] The only campaigns of Amenhotep I recorded are in Nubia, but it's important to note that Thutmose I met no resistance in his Syrian campaign, implying Egypt pacified the area before his reign. Inscriptions do mention Qedmi, somewhere in the Levant, and Mitanni/Midianites.
[13] False prophets are specifically warned against in Deuteronomy 13:1-5 .
[14] Exodus 1:10 and 1:16
The Book of Jotham
1 The Fall of the Shepherd-Kings
These are the words of Jotham the son of Gideon, written in exile for fear of the wrath of his cruel brother Abimelech, who has brought the curse of destruction upon Israel by killing his seventy brothers [0].1 The Fall of the Shepherd-Kings
Even now the land of Israel is despoiled and its seed lain waste [1], and many of its countrymen have gone into the servitude of the same Egypt which our forefathers once ruled, from where the prophet Moses led them after the kings of Thebes conquered them and put them into cruel bondage, and now they return to the same city in which they once ruled to toil and serve as slaves in the city the Egyptians now call Raameses. [2]
In the times where Jacob won the favour of the Apachnas [Khyan] the king of Egypt, and brought his family of seventy with himself to Egypt [3], the sons of Jacob multiplied and grew numerous in the land of Goshen, which the pharaoh gave unto them to rule, along with the city of or Sharuhen, for the Egyptians called them Shasu, or shepherds [4]. And even in the times after the death of Joseph and his whole generation they were fruitful and multiplied, and waxed exceedingly, and soon the land was filled with these descendants of Jacob.
After ruling for thirty-six years and seven months, Apachnas died. He was succeeded by Apophis [Apephis], who was king for sixty-one years, who then died. He was succeeded by Janins [Khamudi] [5], who was the last of the kings of Egypt to come from the east.
For there arose a new king in the south, who knew not Joseph. He said unto his subjects, "Look at these people who we have called kings before, and their shepherds, and their descendants who are more and mightier than we are, and who have ever waged war with us and wished to destroy us to our very roots. Let us drive them out of this land." [6]
And so the men of Thebes and the other parts of Egypt rose up against the kings of the Shasu, and besieged them at length in their city of Avaris, where the king Tethmosis [Ahmose I] fought them upon the water and took their gold of valour [7]. And those descendants of Jacob who did not thereafter escape into Syria or the lands beyond, shut themselves up in their city of Shahuren, which fell to the Egyptians after three years of siege. [8]
Shahuren was despoiled and its men were brought as slaves to the mines in the shadow of Avaris, their former city which the Egyptians later rebuilt as Ramesses, and the Egyptians set upon them taskmasters to afflict them with burdens. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew, and Tethmosis sent another army into Syria to punish them [9], and set upon these descendants of Jacob yet more labours in their bondage, in brick and in mortar, in the fields with rigour. [10]
And then Pharaoh died, and his son Amenhopis [Amenhotep I] became king of Egypt. And in these times there was a priest of Osiris called Userseth [11], and he was elected as king by those who had been sent to work in the mines. And he gave unto them a law that they should not worship the gods of Egypt, nor abstain from the animals which they held in esteem, but instead slay them and eat their flesh. And this priest of Osiris sent messengers to the shepherds of Jerusalem, desiring them to come to his assistance in his rebellion against Egypt.
Amenhopis was amazed at their defiance, but first went into the land of Kush [12] to gather unto him his allies and joined battle with the shepherds led by this priest, and conquered them and killed a great many of them, and pursued the remainder to Kedmi and the borders of the Midianites, and thereafter Egypt found no opposition in Syria. Although God had heard the misery of His children, he blazed with fury at them for following this false prophet. God had not revealed Himself to this priest, who had instead misled them with wonders and used them as his tools of rebellion against Egypt, and so God delivered them all unto the hands of their enemies [13].
And Pharaoh then told the midwives of those remaining descendants of Jacob which had not followed this false priest, "Let us deal wisely with these people, lest they multiply, for if it comes to war they shall surely join with our enemies, and fight against us. When you do the office of midwife to these shepherds, and see their children upon a stool, slay the sons but let the daughters live." [14]
But these midwives, fearing God, did not carry out the orders of Pharaoh and let the sons live, and God dealt well with them, and shielded them from the wrath of Pharaoh. And Amenhopis charged all his people, saying every son that is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall let live.
[0] The literary device is, much like Arturius Aurelianus, an exile writing of the history of his people. Jotham is mentioned in Judges 9 in the way I've described and is famous for the first parable in the Old Testament, where he curses his brother for his unworthiness as king.
[1] Quote from the Merneptah Stele, the first recorded use of the term "Israel" (hence why the insistence on "descendants of Jacob" for the time being - we'll get to "Hebrews" later), dating this account to about 1208 BCE, which is entirely consistent with my chronology for Judges.
[2] Pi-Ramesses, theorised to have been built over Avaris, wasn't constructed before the reign of Ramesses II, so it obviously would already be standing by Merneptah's reign.
[3] Genesis 45 -47, and I'm equating Jacob with Yaqub-Har, a Semitic vassal king of the Hyksos.
[4] This is taking a cue from the use of "Shasu" to refer cattle-driving nomadic peoples and Josephus' identification of the Hyksos (wrongly) with shepherds. Note that the Israelites are only ever referred to as Shasu and shepherds by Egyptians in this account.
[5] Manetho quoted by Josephus
[6] A gloss from Manetho and Exodus 1:9-10 , which is also quoted later.
[7] A term used by Ahmose, son of Abana, who gives a contemporary account of the sieges of Avaris and Shahuren
[8] A gloss from Manetho and Ahmose, son of Abana
[9] This campaign is recorded in an ostrakon found in the tomb of Ahmose I's wife.
[10] Exodus 1:13-14
[11] The entire saga of Osarseph (which isn't a real Egyptian name, hence my "pre-corruption" account of "Osar" with the semi-realistic User-seth "Set is powerful") is allegedly recorded in Manetho, and identified by Josephus with Moses, although the two accounts are similar but not identical.
[12] The only campaigns of Amenhotep I recorded are in Nubia, but it's important to note that Thutmose I met no resistance in his Syrian campaign, implying Egypt pacified the area before his reign. Inscriptions do mention Qedmi, somewhere in the Levant, and Mitanni/Midianites.
[13] False prophets are specifically warned against in Deuteronomy 13:1-5 .
[14] Exodus 1:10 and 1:16