Fortress of Thutmose I Unearthed Along the “Way of Horus” Validates the Exodus Narrative

Jonathan Moore, D.P.M., Ph.D.

Inspiration of the BibleIn the News

The recent discovery of a 3,500-year-old Egyptian fortress in northern Sinai has provided remarkable confirmation of both Egypt’s early imperial ambitions and the biblical record of the Exodus. The fortress, unearthed at Tell el-Kharouba and dating to the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose I, not only illuminates Egypt’s military reach but also explains why God did not lead the Israelites northward “by the way of the land of the Philistines” (Exodus 13:17).

1. Pharaoh of Moses’ Birth

Thutmose I reigned from approximately 1526-1512 B.C., the very year that Exodus 2 situates the birth of Moses.1 His daughter, Hatshepsut, born early in his reign to the Great Royal Wife Ahmose, would later become Egypt’s first great female pharaoh.2 It was almost certainly this princess—royal daughter of Thutmose I—who found the infant Moses among the reeds of the Nile and raised him as her own son in the Egyptian court.3

This makes Thutmose I the pharaoh during the infancy of Moses and the father of the woman who would shape the young Hebrew prince’s life within the palatial education of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The implications are striking: the very dynasty that nurtured Moses also constructed the fortified barriers God would later guide Israel to avoid.

2. Discovery of the Fortress

In October 2025, Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the discovery of a vast New Kingdom fortress at Tell el-Kharouba, a site near the Mediterranean coast of northern Sinai. Excavations revealed a complex covering roughly 8,000 square meters (86,000 square feet), with a 106-meter-long (350 feet) southern wall and a zigzagging western wall designed to resist wind erosion. Eleven towers, storerooms, and ovens were found, along with fossilized dough—clear evidence of soldiers’ quarters.4

Most significant was a jar handle stamped with the royal cartouche of Thutmose I, found in the fortress’s foundational layer. This inscription anchors the structure firmly to his reign, identifying him as the pharaoh who commissioned this and other fortresses along the “Way of Horus,” a chain of garrisons stretching from the Nile Delta to Canaan.5 Archaeologists estimate the garrison held between 400 and 700 soldiers, averaging around 500 men—a formidable line of defense across Egypt’s northeastern frontier.6

3. The “Way of Horus” and the “Way of the Philistines”

This discovery directly correlates with the biblical geography of Exodus 13:17-18:

“Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, ‘Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.’ But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea.”

The “Way of the Philistines” described in Scripture is the same route Egyptians called the “Way of Horus.”7 It served as the main coastal highway between Egypt and Canaan, fortified by a dozen garrisons and supply stations. Professor James K. Hoffmeier—who excavated a similar fortress at Tell el-Borg—notes that Thutmose I “was the father of Egypt’s empire in Western Asia and likely a key player in the beginning of this defense system to which succeeding kings added more forts.”8

Thus, the very network that symbolized Egypt’s military might in Moses’ day also provides the historical backdrop for why the Israelites did not travel north. God’s decision to lead them through the wilderness and across the Red Sea was not only theological but tactical.

4. A Dynasty of Builders and Conquerors

The Eighteenth Dynasty, inaugurated by Ahmose I, was Egypt’s most powerful era. His successors—Amenhotep I, Thutmose I, Thutmose II, Hatshepsut, and Thutmose III—expanded Egypt’s reach from Nubia to the Euphrates River. Thutmose I’s own stela from Tombos in Nubia records that “His Majesty crossed the Euphrates, the first of the kings of Egypt to do so,” confirming his Asiatic campaigns.9

This period aligns precisely with the early life of Moses. Thutmose I’s daughter Hatshepsut (the “daughter of Pharaoh” of Exodus 2) would later co-rule with her half-brother and husband Thutmose II, and after his death, reign as sole pharaoh. Her reign (ca. 1483 B.C.) corresponds to Moses’ exile in Midian, while her stepson Thutmose III—the conqueror of Canaan—fits the profile of the pharaoh of the Exodus if one follows an early-date chronology (Exodus 1446 B.C.).10

The newly discovered fortress of Thutmose I, therefore, represents more than an Egyptian outpost—it is an archaeological witness to the world in which Moses was born, reared, and later led God’s people out of bondage.

5. Archaeology Illuminating Scripture

Every new discovery from Egypt’s New Kingdom adds clarity to the biblical world. The Tell el-Kharouba fortress confirms that Egypt’s northeastern frontier was heavily militarized centuries before Israel’s departure, consistent with the Bible’s description of the “way of the Philistines.”

As Kenneth A. Kitchen writes in On the Reliability of the Old Testament, “the military road from Egypt to Gaza was well-known from pharaonic times … clearly fortified and garrisoned, and not a route for untrained tribes escaping bondage.”11 Even liberal Egyptologists such as Thomas Eric Peet agree that “the writer [of Exodus] meant the great military highway that formed the chief route from Egypt to Syria.”12

For modern readers, the archaeology of the Sinai fortresses serves as a vivid reminder that Scripture’s geography and chronology align with the physical record of the ancient world.

6. Conclusion: Stones Cry Out

The fortress at Tell el-Kharouba stands as a silent monument to Egypt’s imperial might—and to God’s providential guidance. The same Pharaoh Thutmose I, who launched campaigns into Canaan and ordered fortresses along the Way of Horus, reigned when a Hebrew infant floated down the Nile into the arms of his daughter. That child would one day challenge the empire’s gods and lead his people to freedom.

Archaeology continues to affirm what faith has long held: the Bible’s history is anchored in reality. Every wall unearthed in Sinai, every seal inscribed with a royal name, and every fortress brick bears witness to the same truth—“the word of the LORD endures forever.”

[Dr. Jonathan Moore is a field archaeologist with the Shiloh Excavation in Israel, an adjunct faculty member at Freed-Hardeman University, and founder of Seeing His World, a missions-based educational nonprofit dedicated to providing academically grounded yet spiritually transformative guided experiences throughout the Bible lands (www.seeinghisworld.com).]

Endnotes

1 Kenneth A. Kitchen(2003), On the Reliability of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), pp. 308-309.

2 Joyce Tyldesley (1996), Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh (London: Penguin), pp. 44-45.

3 Exodus 2:1-10.

4 Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Press Release, October 2025; Sonja Anderson (2025), “Archaeologists Discover 3,500-Year-Old Egyptian Military Fortress in the Sinai Desert,” Smithsonian Magazine, October 21.

5 Micah van Halteren (2025), “3,500-Year-Old Egyptian Fortress Uncovered Along the ‘Way of the Land of the Philistines,’” Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology, November 10.

6 Hesham Hussein (2025), quoted in Live Science, October.

7 Thomas Eric Peet (1922), Egypt and the Old Testament (Liverpool: University Press), p. 69.

8 James K. Hoffmeier (1997), Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition (New York: Oxford University Press), pp. 116-118.

9 Tombos Stela in James H. Breasted (1906), Ancient Records of Egypt (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), 2:301-307.

10 Douglas Petrovich (2015), “Amenhotep II and the Historicity of the Exodus Pharaoh,” Bible and Spade, 28:35-43.

11 Kitchen, p. 262.

12 Thomas Eric Peet, Egypt and the Old Testament, p. 70.

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