Moses, Hebrews leaving Egypt, etc. - backed up by other histories?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

 I'm fairly certain I've refuted all of the babble of your latest post before, so I'll only touch some of the highpoints.

Jericho's destruction around 1400 BC is the key event/date. 

The Jericho destruction layer shows scorched grain pots full.  This shows that the conquest of Jericho was fast and shows that attacking conquers burned the city without hording it's food/grain.  That is amazing (to  me) in itself -- an army  needs food to fight.

Or maybe it means that the city was destroyed by an accidental fire, as has happened to countless other cities and towns over the centuries? There's also the problem that all reputable archaeologists date the destruction of Jericho to around 1550 BC and not 1400 BC.  Wood's self-serving misinterpretation of radiometric dating techniques only finds favor with desperate creationists who insist on shaping facts to meet their interpretation of the Biblical text.

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As I've pointed out to you before El is a fairly generic term to use for a god in Semitic cultures.  And why talk about Akhenaten?

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Perhaps a group of priests trying to make their neighbors believe that they used to all be monotheistic worshipers of YHWH, and that their temple was the only one they should bring offerings to?  That would be an intelligent yet cynical reason to do so.  However, one should never underestimate the capabilities of stupidity. A fact I knew even before I began posting on this forum.

More pointedly, your argument displays the most common weakness of creationist arguments in general in that it is based upon the assumption that if you can't think of a good reason why something happened, then no one else possibly could, and therefore it can't have happened.  The logical absurdity of that argument should be obvious and if it isn't obvious to you, I doubt I can make you see it, tho perhaps someone else can.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Also, Wood is essentially alone in identifying Khirbet el-Maqatir as Ai, something which he was forced to do since archaeology has conclusively shown that the traditional site of Ai wasn't at all occupied during the 2nd millenium BC. So far, the only reason he has given for supporting Khirbet el-Maqatir as the site of Ai is that it was occupied at the time he needed a city to be there.

[color1]

Amenhotep III (c.1391 - c.1354 BC) reigned close to 1400 BC and knew about YAHWEH.  Thus the change from EL to YAHWEH happened recently before or during his reign.  This further supports the Biblical account and the 1400ish timeframe for the conquest by the Israelites -- the people of YAHWEH.

  The 1550ish date for the destruction of Jericho (based on Katherine Kennyon??) is incorrect.  It may be the predominant view,  but I believe incorrect.   It's similar to the what was until recently the predominant view that David did not exist (regardless of the Bible) to oh okay David was a just a chieftan to okay just a small insignificant monarchy.   The growing evidence is that the Biblical account is correct for David and Solomon.


There is no evidence for the rewriting of the Old Testament.  Babylonian texts authors and different styles is unconvincing to me. 

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The 1550 BC date is also backed up radiometric dating that was unknown to Kenyon and also to Wood when he made his original claim. The only reason to believe Wood is if your faith is so fragile you need to believe that the Book of Joshua is literal his to believe in God. Even if Wood's dating were correct, there would still be the problem that archaeological Jericho was destroyed in the Middle Bronze Age and the Book of Joshua indicates that the Israelites faced an Iron Age foe. There's also the further problem that Egypt exercised suzerainity in Canaan up until at least the Battle of Qadesh which happened under Ramses II, a full dynasty later than you're claiming the Exodus happened. If the Exodus is at all historical, it had to happen after Qadesh.

[color1]

Let's set aside the exact dating issue for the moment.  There is nothing new in what follows::

What the pottery "dating" shows is that the destruction of Jericho, Ai (Wood picked this as Ai because it fit a dozen or so descriptions dictated  by the Bible), and lower Hazor happened at the "same" time -- the Joshua conquest.

The houses of the invaders (later self identified as Israelites/Hebrews) built the same style houses as those Semitics from Avaris of Goshen/Egypt. These were distinctly different than those existing already in Canaan.  We can date these people of YAHWEH by the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III (reigned 1390–53 BCE).  The Israelites - the people of YAHWEH -- the ones who built home in the style of Avaris, were already out of Egypt by the time of this Pharaoh's reign.  This is the Exodus from Egypt into Canaan.

     There is the genetic evidence for the family of Aaron - the Jewish Kohanim haplogroup J-M267.  These Jewish Priests have the historical tradition of the Torah and the levitical laws dating from the Exodus.

    So exact dating aside, we can anchor the Israelite  Exodus and invasion of Canaan to before or during the reign of Akhenaten's father's reign -- Amenhotep III (1390-1353 BC).

    We can use the Bible as a historical descriptor for the Exodus and Conquest as an ancient text written by those involved in the events.

 [[although a different issue: I think there is growing evidence that Joseph and his immediate descendants simplified the Egyptian hieroglyphs for the new immigrants (Jacob's family) into a phonetic shorthand -- a phonetic alphabet.]]

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Placing the Exodus in the reign of Anenhotep III means that the Bible cannot be accepted as historically accurate or textually inerrant. If it happened at that time, then the Israelites would have diverted away from the Mediterranean coast road to avoid Philistines who were not yet in Philistia. They would have faced Iron Age foes in Canaan at a time Canaan was still in the Bronze Age. They would have then ended up being resubjugated by the Egyptians under Seti I shortly after supposedly taking the promised land from the Canaanites.

In fact, there is no way to reconcile Biblical inerrancy and the archeological or historical record, no matter when you try to date any of the pre-Kingdom material from the first seven books.

[color1]

Jericho destruction & carbon dating:

 ""Another C-14 sample from this same destruction layer at Jericho gave results of 3300 +/- 7 BP, which calibrates to approximately 1618-1530 BC (Bruins, HJ and van der Plicht, J. “Tell es-Sultan (Jericho): Radiocarbon results of short-lived cereal and multiyear charcoal samples from the end of the Middle Bronze Age.” Radiocarbon Vol. 37 (1995), 213–220). This sample gave results surrounding the date of destruction advocated by Kathleen Kenyon (ca. 1550 BC), but was only one of many samples taken from the Jericho destruction. In 2000, the current Italian excavation team under Lorenzo Nigro tested two samples that were excavated from a building appearing to contain debris from the final destruction of the Bronze Age city that had washed down to the bottom of the tell. The dates given from the two samples were 1347 BC +/-85 and 1597 BC +/-91, giving an overall range for these two C-14 dates as 1688-1262 BC (Marchetti , Nicolo and Nigro, Lorenzo, eds. Quaderni di Gerico 2, 2000, 206-207, 330, 332). The first of these dates fits roughly around the proposed 1400 BC destruction, while the other is closer to the proposed 1550 BC destruction. Yet, again these dates are so broad that they are useless in contributing to solving the problem for the date of destruction. Overall, the C-14 dates from the destruction of the Bronze Age city of Jericho range from as high as 1883 BC to as low as 1262 BC—a range of over 600 years. The archaeological dispute is only divided by about 150 years. It is known that there are serious problems in relating C-14 dates in ancient Israel to the established ceramic, epigraphic, and historical chronologies (Levy, T.E and Higham, T.F.G, eds.""

   In regards to Jericho, the pottery dating is more reliable and the 3 sites (Jericho, Ai, lower Hazor) all point to a 1400ish date for the destruction.  The carbon 14 dating doesn't rule out this date -- 1883 BC to 1262 BC.

     It's established that Israel (people of YAHWEH) was already in Canaan by late 1300's BC.  So the actual Exodus could have happened earlier -- and as early as 1450 BC.  We can surmise with Achenaten's actions that something shook Egypt's religious establishment to it's core -- that could have been the Exodus and the 10 plagues and the Red Sea disaster (70 years earlier?) and later the conquest of Palestine/Canaan by the Hebrews/Apirus.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

So you're saying that the Bible is in error in Exodus 13:17 when it gives the presence of Philistines as the reason why God didn't lead the Exodus by the shortest path out of Egypt? You're placing the Exodus during the 18th Dynasty yet the Philistines didn't arrive in the area until the mid-19th Dynasty.

[color1]

This could be similar to identifying Avaris as Pi-Rameses in Goshen.   The "readers" knew where Pi-Rameses was but not Avaris (long gone).   Similarly, the "readers" knew where the Philistines currently resided -- geographic location.

  The Exodus passage was referring to a geographic area.

    Also we will know more once excavations to the lowest (oldest) burials are done in the recently (2015?) discovered cemetery and DNA analysis is done for ancestral origins. Perhaps the Philistines settled in the area earlier than currently thought.  But I think, the passage was referring to a location.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

That doesn't change the fact that during the Eighteenth Dynasty, Philistia and Canaan were firmly under Egyptian suzerainity as is confirmed not only by the written historical records of the Egyptians, but also their neighboring empires. Besides more than adequately explaining any Egyptian influences upon architechture, it also makes the whole narrative of the Exodus redundant as the Israelites would not have been moving out of Egypt but to one of its border marches.

[color1]

I think there is some question of Egyptian hegemony over Canaan during the mid 18th Dynasty. The Egyptian empire instead of conquering Nittany made an alliance treaty over Canaan.  Subsequently the Nittany were battered by the Hitites without Egypt coming to their aid. 

So Joshua and the Israelites encountered the Hittites in Canaan -- who they could not conquer.
         Something happened to Egyptian military might.  Otherwise the Nittany would not have been so easily defeated by the Hittites -- who poured into Canaan.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The "Hittites" never poured into Canaan. While there was some understandable confusion back in the late 19th century, pretty much every reputable Biblical archeologist today agrees that there were two similarly named groups, not unlike today's Austrians and Australians. (Or for that matter the Nittany of Penn State and the Mitanni of Upper Mesopotamia which you confused just now.)  The Hittites of Genesis have nothing to do with the "Hittites" who had their capital in Hattusa in Asia Minor beyond having similar names. To be fair, it does appear that the 7th century BC writer(s) of Joshua also confused the names.

As for what happened to the Mitanni, that's also amply documented in the archaeological record. The Mitanni state originated our of the collapse of the Old Assyrian Empire and as the Middle Assyrian Empire arose it reabsorbed the area controlled by Mitanni returning it to Assyrian rule, save for some outer parts that the Hittites took before their empire collapsed.

Egypt never tried to go past Canaan for reasons of logistics. The Mitanni alliance was one of convenience and the battle of Qadesh pretty much showed where the limit of Egyptian logistics was. Despite managing to pull out a tactical victory over the Hittites, the Egyptians weren't able to follow up on it because they couldn't sustain an army there. Once the Mitanni were being squeezed between the Hittites and a resurgent Assyria, the theater of action was beyond where the Egyptians could have helped them, even if they had wanted to.

[catographer]

Bible Historicity Score Sheet:
- Creation Myth: Never happened
- Noah's Ark/Flood: Never happened
- Exodus: Never happened
- Moses: Never existed
- Abraham: Never existed

y'all got anything else?

Probably Not Historical:
- Supernatural events/actions
- Virgin birth/Nativity story

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Actually, the archaeological record supports at minimum that there was migration of various Aramaic peoples into the Levant from Mesopotamia at the time the Bible has Abraham moving his household. While I think it is heavily infused with myth, the story of Abram and his descendants does have a kernel of historical truth.

[color1]

megameow, I going to repeat myself:

Bible Historicity Score Sheet:
- Creation Myth: Never happened
     Science currently believes that the universe had a creation event - the Big Bang.
      Genesis 1:1-2, says God create time, space - the universe.  What's interesting is that the Bible makes a big deal about God expanding the universe -- this is something that cosmologists only thought happened a couple decades ago (but the Bible said God did it, written over 2600 years ago).
The current belief is that hyper-infation expanded the universe.
      Genesis says God separated the light from the darkness.  Current belief is the universe initially was filled with fields and these separated to allow for "matter" -- allowing for shadows (darkness).

- Noah's Ark/Flood: Never happened
     A major flood event in early human history is very likely.  There is evidence of a major flood event that happened in North America that spanned a thousand miles (a flash flood when a major ice age dam broke).  That fact that water gushed out from the earth and there was continuous rain for days could (pure speculation here) that a small asteroid hit the earth causing the release of water from the mantel and causing huge upheavals to the atmosphere.  There is recent evidence for an ocean of fresh water stored under huge pressures in earth's mantel.  The Bible says that in Noah's time knowledge was exploding (similar to today).  So it seems to me plausible that Noah and family stored sperm and eggs of animals in the Ark before the flood event.  It's something that could be done today -- if someone wanted to -- to save species that are disappearing at an alarming rate.
- Exodus: Never happened
    There is evidence in Egypt of an Asiatic people living in Avaris/Ramese in the Nile delta.  Avaris was abandoned during the reign of Thutmoses III/Amenhotep II.  There is evidence (pottery dating) that a conquest happened around 1400ish where Jericho, Ai, Hazor was destroye by fire.   The people of Yahweh was known to King Tut's father.   Yahweh was the name that God was told to Moses to reveal to Pharaoh and the Israelites in Avaris/Egypt.  Before this the Israelites only know the God of Abraham/Isaac/Jacob as El.
- Moses: Never existed
   We have genetic evidence for Aaron, Moses brother, who is the father of the priestly class soon after the Exodus and the laws/Leviticus were given.
    Recently (controversial), an inscription mentioning Moses was deciphered in Egyptian lands.  It's supposed to say: Moses caused astonishment.
- Abraham: Never existed
    There is genetic evidence/indication that a common male ancestor exists for both the Arabs (Ishmael) and the Jews (Jacob/Israel).

y'all got anything else?

   The Bible is supernatural.  Scientifically it is amazingly accurate.  In our times we have seen the fulfillment of one the major prophecies: 1) Jews who worshiped idols would be conquered and cast out from their land/Israel, 2) they would be dispersed throughout the world and hated/cursed, 3) but God in mercy would retrieve them from throughout the world and bring them back to the promised land, create the Jewish state, make Jerusalem the capital again, have Hebrew spoken again, and make waste lands into fertile farms.  This after 1800 years has happened in our life times.  But this was foretold in the Bible/Old Testament -- written over 2600 years ago.


Here is somethingelse on Philistines:

https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/MAGAZINE-ancient-records-indicate-philistines-weren-t-aegean-pirates-1.5433265

Meanwhile, the discovery at Tel Tayinat, in southeastern Turkey, of several inscriptions referring to the kingdom of Palastin or Palasatini also suggests the Philistines may have started as a neo-Hittite power in the northern Levant and later migrated south as the Egyptians lost control of Canaan in the mid 12th century.

That does not mean that the Aegean hypothesis has completely lost steam. Archeologists who last year uncovered the first Philistine cemetery ever found, in ancient Ashkelon, have described the burials there as typically Aegean.


One of the skeletons discovered in the Philistine burial site in Ashkelon National Park, June 28, 2016. Gil Cohen-Magen
It is likely that the Philistine culture that emerged in southern Canaan was the result of various influences and migratory waves from different locations across the Mediterranean, says Aren Maeir, a professor of archaeology at Bar-Ilan University who heads the excavation at Tell es-Safi, the site of ancient Gath.

In the material culture of the early Philistines we see something from Greece, from Cyprus, from Crete, from western Anatolia, Maeir told Haaretz in a telephone interview.

::So if the Philistines were "locals" from Syrian-region and eventually settled in the Gaza region, then the Biblical references to them could be accurate.   We will know more after DNA analysis of the earliest Philistines buried in the recently discovered cemetery.

========= added 4/7/2018========

Bob Cornuke has a YouTube video about Mt Sinai in Midian where Moses received Ten Commandments.  I think the split rock showing water erosion shows that the writers of Exodus were there actually at the location and the video is convincing that this is the location of Mt Sinai.

(start vid around 8:55 and split rock 35:40,  the split rock is where Moses struck the rock and it split and water gushes out; the Israelites were thirsty: Exodus 17, Exodus 19 - Desert of Sin/Zin, Rephidim; Ps 78:13-16,20 - split rock, water flow like river)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWQkhq-ufRY

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

color1, I won't bother debunking your expanded assertions and misinterpretations of data outside of your favored topic of misinformation: the Exodus.

Avaris was sacked by Ahmose I at the start of the 18th Dynasty and was largely abandoned until Ramesses II reused the site to expand Pi-Ramesses in the 19th Century.   There's certainly no sign of many people living there at the time you like to date the Exodus to.

As for Moses' name showing up in Egypt, it's hardly controversial.  It's a fairly common Egyptian name element of the era.

[RFayette]

color1, I won't bother debunking your expanded assertions and misinterpretations of data outside of your favored topic of misinformation: the Exodus.

Avaris was sacked by Ahmose I at the start of the 18th Dynasty and was largely abandoned until Ramesses II reused the site to expand Pi-Ramesses in the 19th Century.   There's certainly no sign of many people living there at the time you like to date the Exodus to.

As for Moses' name showing up in Egypt, it's hardly controversial.  It's a fairly common Egyptian name element of the era.

I am curious what your take is regarding the studies of Jews in the Aaronic priesthood vs. those not in it cited by color1.  How strong of evidence do you think that is for a historical Aaron (and consequently a historical Moses)?  Since this is a time of history with pretty limited documentation, do you think it tips the evidentiary scales in favor of a more traditional picture of the Exodus, albeit perhaps exaggerated in details and with legendary embellishments?

This is an issue I haven't really studied in depth, so I'm not sure what to make of it.

[color1]

As Israel celebrates 70 years as a nation.  Just think of the ridicule, scorn, and laughter for this Biblical prophecy of Israel becoming a nation again in the promise land.
 Yes almost 1900 years of ridicule and scorn for this prophecy NOT being fulfilled - year after year after year after year.  The Muslims and  Arabs who controlled the land would make sure that this Biblical prophecy would never be fulfilled.

   The ridicule and scorn and loud claims that lack of fulfillment of THIS PROPHECY proves the Bible and the God of the Bible is all just a man made myth have been silenced for 70 years.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It's only a fulfillment of prophecy if one engages in the sort of cherry-picking you typically do. We certainly don't have peace in the area. There's also the issue of trying to apply prophecies dealing with the first exile to the unexpected second exile.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Surprised the "Joseph was Imhotep" theory hasn't been mentioned here.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Surprised the "Joseph was Imhotep" theory hasn't been mentioned here.

Since the main proponent of a fully historical Exodus in this thread favors a XIXth Dynasty Exodus, that isn't surprising. In my opinion, the main problem with the altered chronology needed for the Joseph was Imhotep theory to have even a chance of working isn't the extra millennium conjured out of nowhere, but that it totally neglects Abraham. The traditional chronology has Abraham as part of the archaeologically attested proto-Aramean migration from Mesopotamia into the Levant. Adding an extra millennium for Joseph makes Abraham no longer part of archaeology.

[American2020]

I don't think exodus was held during Egyptian New Kingdom. Egypt was powerful and dominated Near East and Nubia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Kingdom_of_Egypt

I consider Exodus was held during the Second Intermediate Period. The Hyksos came from the Far East and was a semitic tribe. They ruled North of Egypt and were ousted by Theban kingdom from the south.
Ahmosis should be considered as the Pharaoh of Exodus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Intermediate_Period_of_Egypt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyksos

[color1]

American2020, 1400ish BC, based on pottery dating there are intense fire destroyed layers at Jericho, Ai, and Hazor.  This corresponds to Joshua's conquest of Canaan as described in the Bible.  Interestingly the upper walls of Jericho did come tumbling down and made a "ramp" over the lower walls so that an invading army could have walked up into the city.

We have the Armana Letters asking  Akhenaten for help against the Apriru peoples who are invading.  The Bible says God didn't allow Joshua to conquer everyone in Canaan (ie in Joshua's lifetime) so that He could test Israel's next generation and their loyalty to God.  So the Israelites continued to try to conquer their alloted lands long after Joshua was gone.

We have the first known reference to the people of YAHWEH by an Egyptian Pharaoh -- Akenaten's father, Amenhotep III (Greek: Amenophis III) indicating that these people were living in Canaan.

We also have the evidence that something/major event/upheaval could/must have happened to cause  Pharoah Ahkenaten of Egypt (still dominant power) to turn from the plethora of gods of Egypt to one god (Sun god).  There is evidence that the names of the other gods where erased from monuments/etc.  Something earthshaking must have occurred for the Pharaoh to abandon the other gods.  The gods must of failed Egypt somehow.  The Bible says the 10 plagues humbled Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt.

Also there is an expulsion from Egypt account:
https://www.jewishlinkbwc.com/index.php/features/9719-non-biblical-evidence-of-the-exodus

""Not so the second account. Here are excerpts (using W.G. Waddell’s translation, with my highlighting):

[The Pharaoh] Amenophis [was told by his seer/adviser that the gods wanted him to] cleanse the whole land of lepers and other polluted persons. The king … assembled all those in Egypt whose bodies were wasted by disease … . These he cast into the stone-quarries to the east of the Nile, there to work segregated from the rest of the Egyptians. Then this wise seer Amenophis was filled with dread of divine wrath against himself and the king, [so upon his advice, Amenophis agreed to release these slaves] and assign to them as a dwelling-place and a refuge the deserted city of the Shepherds [i.e., the Hyksos], Avaris. … They appointed as their leader one of the priests of Heliopolis called Osarsiph [who] changed his name and was called Moses. ""

These all point to Moses, the Exodus, and the Conquest of Canaan happening 1450ish to 1400ish BC or during the New Kingdom in Egypt,

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

First off, Moses was an Egyptian name.  So there's zero support for the idea that someone named Moses must be the Moses of the Bible.  There's also zero support for the idea that everything mentioned in the Bible is a uniquely Israeli custom.

I won't bother repeating the multiple reasons I've already given that show that if the Exodus is historical rather than a myth flavored by a few historical allusions, it's impossible for it to have happened during the New Kingdom era of Egypt.

By the way, you'd think that if the plagues of Exodus were the reason for Akhenaten to have promoted Aten worship that it would have had sufficient public support to have lasted past his reign.

[color1]

==>Interesting points in this translation of Egyptian text :
  1) it mentions Avaris as abandoned (land of Goshen)
  2) seems to imply a plague (dust caused boils on Egyptians)
  3) acknowledges fear of divine judgment
  4) expulsion of a people associated with Avaris to east of Nile (or the desert)
  5) leader of these polluted people/slaves was Moses
   This fits (from an Egyptian perspective) the Biblical story of Moses, the Hebrew slaves, the plagues, and the Exodus.
<==
 
https://www.jewishlinkbwc.com/index.php/features/9719-non-biblical-evidence-of-the-exodus

""Not so the second account. Here are excerpts (using W.G. Waddell’s translation, with my highlighting):

[The Pharaoh] Amenophis [was told by his seer/adviser that the gods wanted him to] cleanse the whole land of lepers and other polluted persons. The king … assembled all those in Egypt whose bodies were wasted by disease … . These he cast into the stone-quarries to the east of the Nile, there to work segregated from the rest of the Egyptians. Then this wise seer Amenophis was filled with dread of divine wrath against himself and the king, [so upon his advice, Amenophis agreed to release these slaves] and assign to them as a dwelling-place and a refuge the deserted city of the Shepherds [i.e., the Hyksos], Avaris. … They appointed as their leader one of the priests of Heliopolis called Osarsiph [who] changed his name and was called Moses. ""


By the time of Akhenaten's father, Amenhotep III/Amenophis III (reigned 1390–53 BC) the people of YAHWEH were already established in Canaan.  These were the Israelites/Hebrews.  So far, it is the earliest reference to them in Canaan in Amenhotep's stela.  The text implies they were not a kingdom, but controlled territory in Canaan.  We have the Armana Letters asking  Akhenaten for help against the Apiru peoples who are invading.  Some scholars believe that "apiru" is the basis for the term "Hebrews".

==> I think Exodus happened between 1460 - 1420 BC or during co-reign of Thutmose III (1479–26 BC) and Amenhotep II (1427–1401 BC).  50 years from say 1430 would put us into the reign of Amenhotep III (1390–53 BC).  According to the Bible, Joshua's conquest of Canaan by the Israelites would have been in full swing by then. We have Amenhotep III acknowledging their existence in Canaan.  The conquest lasted well past Joshua's death and into Akhenaten's reign resulting in the Armana letters by Canaan's city states subject to Egypt.
<==

The pottery dating confirms that Jericho, Ai (Khirbet el-Maqatir site), Hazor were indeed destroyed by fire around 1400 BC.  The Bible says Joshua destroyed these cities totally by fire.  There is even evidence that the upper walls of Jericho collapsed down into the lower walls providing a "ramp" for an army to walk up into the city as described by the Bible.

We see evidence of "new" house architecture that the invading Israelites used as they conquered territories in Canaan.  This architecture for homes is found in Avaris (Goshen).  I might mention that in Avaris there is a palace whose cemetery area includes 12 distinguished leaders and one small pyramid tomb that is empty of the bones of the dead person. (Moses carried Joseph's bones with them out of Egypt).