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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

HYKSOS*

Term used by Egyptian historian Manetho (c. 280 BC) to designate the foreign rulers of the 15th and 16th dynasties in Egypt (1730?–1570? BC). Once called the shepherd kings, that expression is now thought to have come from a misrendering of an Egyptian text.

The Hyksos were Semites, probably entering Egypt from Syria and Palestine, though their exact origin is unknown. They gradually infiltrated Egypt during the 18th century BC, and it is possible that some intermarriage took place. This infiltration was aided by a weakening of Egyptian power as a result of internal dynastic rivalries. Some of the Hyksos may have held Egyptian administrative posts before the actual Hyksos takeover, which was probably more of a swift political maneuver than a great military conquest.

The Hyksos capital was probably established at Qantir in the delta region of northeastern Egypt. From there they could maintain ties with their cultural base in Palestine and Syria. Qantir was close to Goshen, the Egyptian territory inhabited by the Israelites during their sojourn in Egypt.

The Hyksos introduced the war chariot into Egypt, a military device later used to drive the Hyksos aliens out of Egypt. Horse and chariot warfare became the norm in the following centuries. The Hyksos presence also forced the Egyptians to acknowledge the surrounding Middle Eastern world. Previously Egyptians generally had viewed other peoples as barbarians and themselves as the cultural center of the world. When the Hyksos were evicted by Ahmose in 1570(?) BC, Egypt embarked on a course of conquests initiating its empire period (16th–12th centuries BC). No monuments from the Hyksos era have been found, and whatever monuments did exist were probably destroyed when Egyptian rule was reestablished.

The relation of the Hyksos to Israel’s history is debated and depends on a correct interpretation of Exodus 1:8: “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” If Joseph died just before 1800 BC, and if the Hyksos takeover in Egypt was about 1730 BC, then the “new king” was a Hyksos ruler who did not know of Joseph, or perhaps had no reason to respect Joseph’s descendants even if he had known Joseph. The new rigor of servitude described in Exodus 1:9-14 would, according to that interpretation, have been introduced by the Hyksos. If so, it may be that the Hyksos were fewer in number than the Hebrews and feared some kind of uprising (v 9), or the Hyksos may have feared an alliance between the Hebrews and the Egyptians, which also might have led to the Hyksos being deposed (v 10). In this view, the pharaoh who ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill newborn Hebrew boys (v 15) ruled Egypt after the Hyksos had been overthrown. Thus there would be a gap of at least 150 years between verse 14 and 15.

The other interpretation places Joseph’s arrival in Egypt sometime during the Hyksos rule, not prior to it. Here it is assumed that a Semitic people such as the Hyksos would not be averse to having another Semite in their government, nor would they oppose the settlement of Jacob’s family in Egypt. Further, the location of Jacob’s family and descendants in Goshen fits with the known fact that the Hyksos had their center of control in that region. This view might also explain why Egyptian records do not mention Joseph—his name would have been offensive to later Egyptian national feeling, and therefore removed from any records. If this line of reasoning were accepted, then the king “who did not know Joseph” came to the throne after the Hyksos had been overthrown. With the Hyksos eliminated by the revived Egyptian dynasty, it follows that the Hebrews, another Semitic group, would be brought into subjection also.

In either case, it is clear that the Hyksos and the Hebrews were not in agreement on religious matters. The Hyksos worshiped the Canaanite gods, especially Baal, in their own lands, and they combined that worship with Egyptian sun-god worship when they ruled in Egypt.