Biblical Chronology - Egypt Without a Pharaoh for 300 Years
Biblical Chronology - Egypt Without a Pharaoh for 300 Years

In two previous articles, I mentioned that I moved the Egyptian dynasty along the timeline from 1 to 12 161 years ago and the Egyptian dynasty from 13 to 20 124 years ago. These shifts are in the same direction (forward) along the time axis and differ by only 37 years (161 vs. 124 years). This shift difference is relatively insignificant and can be explained by the uncertainty of the reign from the 13th to the 17th dynasty (historians date the 13th to 17th dynasties). So I basically only mean that the entire timeline of these dynasties should be shifted to an earlier time in the range of 124 to 161 years. It agrees with conventional Egyptian chronology dating from the dynasty to the 20th dynasty.
Dynasty 21 to 26 is another matter. I moved these dynasties 181 years later, and the 13-20 dynasties at least 124 years earlier, so there is a gap in the Egyptian timeline of some 305 years between the reigns of Ramesses III and Shishak. No doubt! This is a remarkable result. No one in the academic community has even suggested that there may have been a discontinuity in the Egyptian dynasty. Egypt was always believed to be powerful enough to rule itself and its neighbors, but from the end of the 20th Dynasty to the beginning of the 21st Dynasty, Egypt was at the mercy of some 300 other invaders. Very likely. .
So what happened in Egypt for 300 years?
The question "what happened to 300 years" cannot be properly answered until one considers Egypt's position as a state after the reign of Ramesses III. The exodus of the Israelites occurred during his reign, so if you believe the biblical account (I certainly do), Egypt must have been devastated. The plague poisoned the Nile River (Nile blood), depleted food supplies (locusts), brought plague and disease across the country, and killed many Egyptians (Passover angel of death). Now consider the economic impact if over 2,000,000 Israeli slave labor left their lands (see Israeli population figures at the time). Presumably, Egypt's population during this period was much smaller than it is today, so Israeli influence over the economy would be much greater.
The Bible also states that the Israelites were able to "plunder" the Egyptians because the Egyptian citizens sympathized with their plight and gave them a "bequest" of gold and jewels. Besides, as mentioned earlier, the Egyptian army was practically destroyed when it drowned in the Red Sea. In summary, Egypt was devastated by water shortages, disease and plague, and much of the population died. Its economy is severely weakened by a greatly reduced labor force. No army. Who can believe that this country survived such conditions? I don't think Egypt will survive either.