254 EECENT DISCOVERIES IN PALESTINE IN RELATION TO THE BIBLE. 



other invaders, especially other Canaanites, would not have dared 

 to do. 



The date of the letters from Jerusalem, Gezer, and Lachish is in 

 the reign of Amenophis IV., or about 1450 B.C., which is just that 

 of Joshua's invasion according to the ordinary Hebrew chronology, 

 making the exodus about 1490 B.C. The more recent date adopted 

 for the exodus in the reign of Mineptah has been utterly discredited 

 through the finding of a record of this king, in which he speaks of 

 invading Phoenicia and the land of Israel, and laying them both 

 waste at the same time, thus proving that the Israelites had long 

 been settled in Caanan, when he came to the throne. 



