Part 5: Common Misconceptions About the Bible Story That Need to be Corrected Before ANY Examination of the Realistic Possibilities of the Exodus Actually Happening

Commonly held beliefs among many people including Christians, are that the large pyramids of the Old Kingdom pyramids were constructed by slave labor and that this slave labor was the ancient Israelites. This is problematic and blatantly false on numerous levels and for numerous reasons. Among them:

  1. The largest pyramids were built during the Old Kingdom period and predate even the EARLIEST POSSIBLE date of Joseph by more than 700 years and the even later the Exodus by more than 1100 years. They were already ancient by the time Joseph would have ever been born. The Great Pyramid was finished by 2560 BCE and as we have determined that Joseph’s earliest entry into Egypt could not have been earlier than 1860 BCE…a difference of 700 years. They were as ancient to Joseph as the Black Death and the Mongol Conquest of large portions of Asia, Europe, and the Middle East are to us in 2016 CE.  
  2. Slavery was not practiced during the Old Kingdom of Egypt (when the Great Pyramid and all of the largest pyramids were constructed).
  3. Not until the Middle Kingdom did slavery become common and the pyramids constructed during that period were MUCH smaller than the Old Kingdom pyramids. The TALLEST of the Middle Kingdom pyramids was barely 270 feet, while the Great pyramid is 455 feet without its casing stones and cap (481 as originally built more than 210 feet taller). The LARGEST Middle Kingdom pyramid by area was only 341 square feet at the base compared to the Great Pyramid at 756 square feet…more than double the size of the largest Middle Kingdom pyramid).
  4. Pyramids were not generally constructed during the New Kingdom Period. Other royal tomb styles were popular by this period in addition to a stronger focus on monumental temples as the monument of choice. Therefore, the common misconception of Israelite slaves (or slaves of any ethnicity) building pyramids is completely and utterly false.
  5. Professional laborers and skilled tradespeople were REQUIRED for the kind of specialized labor the pyramids took to construct. Slave labor does not suffice for labor of that type.
  6. There are well known documents and carvings that describe the life of the skilled laborers who worked on the pyramids of the old kingdom. All of them describe the life of a free Egyptian citizen rather than slaves.
  7. The workers’ cemeteries near the pyramids have been shown conclusively to be the graveyards of the laborers who worked on the pyramids. These cemeteries show purposeful and respectful burials by and of Egyptian “middle class” people. Slaves were not given burials of this type. 

Now that we have discussed the possibilities of Joseph’s slavery in Egypt and the subsequent time the Israelites spent in Egypt, and have addressed and debunked the numerous Hollywood-perpetuated and widely held mistaken beliefs that Israelite slaves built the Pyramids let’s explore the Exodus story itself.