(hik' ssohss) Racial name from the
Greek form of an Egyptian word meaning “rulers of foreign lands” given
to kings of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Dynasties of Egypt. The word,
which does not appear in the Bible, was later misinterpreted by
Josephus as meaning “shepherd kings.”
With the decline of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (about 2000-1786 B.C.)
large numbers of Asiatics, mostly Semites like the Hebrew patriarchs,
migrated into the Nile Delta of northern Egypt from Canaan. These
probably came initially for reasons of economic distress, such as
famine, as did Abraham (Genesis 12:10). Unlike Abraham, many groups
stayed in Egypt as permanent settlers. Under the weak Thirteenth
Dynasty, some Asiatics established local independent chiefdoms in the
eastern Delta region. Eventually, one of these local rulers managed to
consolidate the rule of northern Egypt as pharaoh, thus beginning the
Fifteenth Dynasty. The Sixteenth Dynasty, perhaps contemporary with
the Fifteenth, consisted of minor Asiatic kings. As these dynasties of
pharaohs were not ethnic Egyptians, they were remembered by the native
population as “Hyksos.”
While the Hyksos pharaohs ruled northern Egypt from Avaris in the
eastern Delta, the native Egyptian Seventeenth Dynasty ruled southern
Egypt from Thebes. This period is known as the Second Intermediate or
Hyksos Period (about 1786-1540 B.C.). The status quo was maintained
until war erupted between the Hyksos and the last two pharaohs of the
Seventeenth Dynasty. About 1540 B.C., Ahmose I sacked Avaris and
expelled the Hyksos. As the first pharaoh of a reunited Egypt, Ahmose
I established the Eighteenth Dynasty and inaugurated the Egyptian New
Kingdom or Empire.
Joseph's rise to power (Genesis 41:39-45) as pharaoh's
second-in-command would have been far more likely under a Hyksos king.
Joseph was related ethnically to the Semitic Hyksos rulers, while the
native Egyptians regarded Semites with contempt. Ahmose I is very
likely the pharaoh “who did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:8 NRSV). If
Joseph served a Hyksos pharaoh, an Egyptian king would not have
“known” of him in a political or historical sense, nor would he have
regarded him as significant in an ethnic sense.Daniel
C. Browning, Jr
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Copyright Statement
These dictionary topics are from the Holman Bible Dictionary,
published by Broadman & Holman, 1991. All rights reserved. Used by
permission of Broadman & Holman.
Bibliography Information
Butler, Trent C. Editor.. "Entry for 'HYKSOS'". "Holman Bible
Dictionary".
<http://www.studylight.org/dic/hbd/view.cgi?number=T2935>. 1991. |