Moses, Dudimose, and the Proposed Exodus Chronology
Introduction
The Egyptian pharaoh you were referring to is Dudimose (also called Dedumose), rather than Thutmose.
Dudimose is significant because a minority historical reconstruction, particularly David Rohl's “New Chronology,” proposes that Dudimose was the Egyptian pharaoh associated with the biblical Exodus. This reconstruction places the Exodus roughly 200–300 years before the reign of Ramesses II, rather than during the traditional “Ramesside” setting often proposed for the Exodus.
It is important to distinguish this reconstruction from the conventional chronology used by most Egyptologists. The Dudimose identification depends upon substantially revising Egyptian chronology.
1. Who was Dudimose?
Dudimose/Dedumose was an Egyptian king associated with the troubled period between the Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate Period.
His exact chronological position is disputed, and different chronological systems place him considerably differently.
The significance of Dudimose for the Exodus question comes from an attempt to connect him with Tutimaeus/Tutimaios, a king mentioned in the Egyptian historical tradition preserved by the later Egyptian priest Manetho.
David Rohl argues that this figure can be connected with Dudimose and that the political circumstances surrounding the end of his reign fit the biblical Exodus.
This identification is not accepted as established fact by mainstream Egyptology.
2. Moses and Sobekhotep IV
One of the most interesting parts of Rohl's reconstruction is the proposed identification of Khaneferre Sobekhotep IV with the Egyptian ruler during the early part of Moses' life.
The proposed sequence is:
Sobekhotep IV
↓
Moses is raised in Pharaoh's household
↓
Moses kills an Egyptian
↓
Moses flees Egypt
↓
Moses spends 40 years in Midian
↓
Dudimose becomes Pharaoh
↓
Moses returns to Egypt
↓
The Ten Plagues
↓
The Exodus
The biblical account states that Moses spent forty years in Midian before returning to Egypt.
Rohl uses that biblical period as an important chronological bridge between the proposed reign of Sobekhotep IV and the proposed reign of Dudimose.
3. Proposed chronology
Under Rohl's New Chronology, the approximate reconstruction is:
| Approx. date BCE | Person/Event | Proposed connection |
|---|
| ~1670 | Joseph | Joseph rises to power in Egypt |
| Later | Israelites multiply | Israel becomes a large population in Egypt |
| ~1568–1563 | Sobekhotep III | Proposed period of increasing oppression |
| ~1530–1508 | Sobekhotep IV | Proposed Pharaoh during Moses' early life |
| ~1508 | Moses flees Egypt | Beginning of the 40 years in Midian |
| ~1508–1468 | Moses in Midian | Biblical 40-year period |
| ~1450–1446 | Dudimose | Proposed Exodus Pharaoh |
| ~1447 | Exodus | Israel leaves Egypt |
These dates belong to Rohl's reconstruction rather than the conventional Egyptian chronology.
4. Joseph in the reconstruction
Rohl's reconstruction attempts to place Joseph much later than conventional Egyptian chronology normally does.
Joseph is placed around 1670 BCE.
The proposed sequence is:
Joseph arrives in Egypt
→
Joseph becomes a powerful administrator
→
Egypt experiences famine
→
Jacob's family settles in Egypt
→
Israel's population grows
→
A later Pharaoh no longer regards the Israelites favourably
→
Israel becomes enslaved
→
Moses is eventually born.
This is an attempt to connect the biblical narrative with Egyptian political history rather than treating the biblical chronology and Egyptian chronology as completely separate systems.
5. Moses' 40 years in Midian
The forty years are particularly important to the Dudimose theory.
The biblical narrative gives Moses three major periods of his life:
40 years in Egypt
↓
40 years in Midian
↓
40 years leading Israel
The first transition occurs when Moses flees Egypt.
According to the Rohl reconstruction, this flight occurs during the reign of Sobekhotep IV.
Moses then spends approximately forty years in Midian.
He subsequently returns to Egypt during the reign of Dudimose.
This creates a chronological relationship:
Sobekhotep IV → 40 years → Dudimose
That is one of the principal reasons Rohl's reconstruction is attractive to people looking for a specific Pharaoh associated with Moses.
6. Dudimose as the Exodus Pharaoh
The proposed identification is:
Dudimose = Exodus Pharaoh
The argument is not based on an inscription saying that Dudimose was Moses' Pharaoh. No such inscription is known.
Instead, the argument is based on chronology and correlations between different historical traditions.
The proposed reasoning is roughly:
Moses lived in Egypt.
Moses was associated with Pharaoh's household.
Moses fled Egypt.
He spent forty years away.
He returned to Egypt.
Egypt subsequently experienced the events described in Exodus.
Dudimose's reign occurs at approximately the proposed date.
The end of this period is associated with major political changes in Egypt.
Manetho preserves a tradition involving a ruler called Tutimaeus/Tutimaios and a period of foreign domination/expulsion.
Rohl proposes that this tradition can be connected with Dudimose and the Exodus.
The identification is therefore a historical reconstruction, rather than something directly demonstrated by an Egyptian inscription.
7. Manetho and Tutimaeus
The Egyptian priest Manetho, writing many centuries after the events traditionally attributed to Moses, produced a history of Egypt.
His work survives mainly through quotations by later writers, particularly Josephus and other ancient authors.
Manetho's account contains a king called Tutimaeus/Tutimaios in connection with the Hyksos period and the loss of Egyptian control.
Rohl proposes that this name can be connected with Dudimose.
If that identification were correct, it could potentially provide an Egyptian historical tradition corresponding to the political upheaval described in Exodus.
However, there are significant uncertainties:
Manetho wrote much later than the supposed Exodus.
His original work has not survived intact.
His chronology is complicated.
The identification of Tutimaeus with Dudimose is disputed.
The connection between Manetho's account and the biblical Exodus is an interpretation rather than an established historical fact.
8. The Hyksos
The Hyksos are another important part of the discussion.
They were foreign rulers who controlled significant parts of northern Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period.
The conventional Egyptian chronology places the Hyksos period considerably earlier than the proposed date of the Exodus in Rohl's reconstruction.
Rohl's New Chronology moves parts of Egyptian history relative to conventional chronology.
This allows him to create a different sequence in which the biblical Exodus and Egyptian political upheaval can be brought closer together.
The relationship between:
Israelites → Exodus → Canaan → Hyksos
is therefore one of the major chronological questions in the debate.
9. Why Ramesses II is often proposed instead
A more familiar Exodus theory places the event in the 13th century BCE, during or around the reign of Ramesses II.
One reason is that Exodus 1:11 refers to the Israelites building the store cities Pithom and Raamses.
Because the name “Raamses” resembles Ramesses, some interpreters associate the Exodus with the Ramesside period.
That produces a substantially later chronology than the Dudimose theory.
The two broad models can therefore be represented as:
Earlier Exodus model
~15th century BCE
Sobekhotep IV
↓
Moses flees
↓
40 years
↓
Dudimose
↓
Exodus
Later Exodus model
~13th century BCE
Ramesside Egypt
↓
Israelite oppression
↓
Moses
↓
Exodus
The existence of the place-name “Raamses” is one reason the later model has traditionally received considerable attention.
However, place names can have complicated histories, and the presence of “Raamses” in the biblical text does not by itself establish the identity of the Exodus Pharaoh.
10. The major chronological problem
The biggest issue with the Dudimose theory is that mainstream Egyptian chronology does not place these rulers in the sequence proposed by Rohl.
Rohl's New Chronology substantially revises the conventional dates of Egyptian history.
Consequently, accepting:
Sobekhotep IV → Moses → Dudimose → Exodus
requires accepting a much broader chronological reconstruction.
This is why the question cannot simply be answered:
“Dudimose ruled around 1450 BCE, therefore he was Moses' Pharaoh.”
That statement would present a dispute
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