I have no idea whether they forced their Hebrew slaves to worship their gods. That wasn't even an issue as far as I know. They did have Habiru/Apiru slaves though. We have papyri that even lists the names of some of them and they are Hebrew names found in the Bible like Shiphrah, Asher, Issachar, Menachem ....
Extra-biblical Egyptian references giving credence to the Exodus story:
1. Slaves building monuments in Egypt - Papyrus, Leiden #348, "Distribute grain to the Habirus (or Apiru - Hebrews) who carry stones to the great pylon of Rameses," Mural paintings indicate starving men with prominent spavined ribs.)
2. An Austrian dig of dwellings and tombs at Tel-ed-Daba, Egypt, in 1989, discovered ancient cities near Goshen. Data from 800 drill cores gave evidence of a large number of Asian, non-Egyptian slaves; eleven levels at the site indicate many generations during the 12th and 13th Egyptian dynasties {compatible in duration and time period to the Biblical history of the Hebrew sojourn as slaves in Egypt}:
3. The Brooklyn Papyrus 35.1446, tells of the reign of Pharaoh Sobekhotep, containing over 95 names of slaves, more than half are Semitic, seven being Biblical names {including the name of one of the two midwives named in the Bible, "Shiphrah"},{Also Asher, Issachar, and Menachem}
4. In direct conformity with the Bible {the killing of male Hebrew babies - infant Moses is saved by Egyptian princess} was the discovery of unusual demographic burial data at Tel-ed-Daba - 65% of the graves were of babies less than 18 months old, compared to a normal percentage of 20-30%. In addition there were far more graves of adult females than of males (conforming to male infants being killed at birth.);
5. Historians of the 300 BC era, Eusebies and Artapanus, with ancient records from the library at Alexandria, tell of Mouses {Moses}, an Egyptian prince who led a military campaign against Ethiopia. The Roman historian, Josephus and a stela fragment in the British Museum, indicate such an event occurred during the reign of Pharaoh Khenepres-Sobekhotep. Also supporting the story of the military campaign by Moses was a statue of Sobekhotep {Moses' stepfather} found on the island of Argo, proving that Egyptian conquest and authority extended to 200 kilometers from Egypt. Egyptian historians wrote that Mouses' fame caused Sobekhotep to target him {causing him to flee from Egypt to Midian - as in the Bible story, however, the Bible and the Jewish Haggadah say the cause was Moses killing an Egyptian slave-driver who was beating a Hebrew};
6. The Pharaoh of the Exodus is identified as King Dudimose, 36th ruler of the 13th Dynasty. {The Bible describes him as, "Pharaoh who knew not Joseph"}.
7. M. Bietek, in his dig at Tel ed-Baba, which he dated to the middle of the 14th Dynasty, found shallow mass graves all over the city of Avaris - clear evidence of some type of sudden major and widespread catastrophe {not unlike what would result from a biblical "Tenth Plague", death of all first-born}. In addition, site-archaeology suggests that the remaining population had abandoned their homes quickly and en masse;
8. Information from the extra-biblical source of Josephus, a Roman historian born a Jew - who aided Titus in his conquest of Jerusalem in 67 AD, and was then, as a reward, given the Temple Scrolls - quotes Monetho, an Egyptian priest, circa 300 BC, regarding the "easy" conquest of mighty Egypt by the Hyksos. {Bible - Egypt's loss of its entire army of 600 chariots and charioteers at the Red Sea seems a reasonable explanation}.
9. A highly important extra-biblical source of corroborative detail to many of the narratives of the ten-plagues and the Exodus events of both Bible and Hebrew-Passover-Haggadah, is the Ipuwer Papyrus Scroll - Leiden 344. Found in Egypt in the early 19th century, it was taken to the Leiden Museum in Holland where it remains. Described in many books about ancient Egypt, it is a papyrus scroll over twelve feet in length, called "Admonitions of Ipuwer". It was written during the 19th dynasty (the Middle Kingdom period) by a scribe/historian named Ipuwer, and interpreted in 1909 by A. H. Gardiner. The scroll describes violent events in Egypt which seem to parallel the Biblical ten plagues and the Exodus story - it seems a description of a society in total crisis, providing, in essence, an eyewitness account of extreme and unusual occurrences. |
