Seti I

Life

Seti I is generally identified as the son of Ramesses I, the first king of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt's New Kingdom. He succeeded his father as the dynasty's second king. Dates in ancient Egyptian history vary according to the chronological system scholars use; today his reign is widely placed at 1294–1279 BC or 1290–1279 BC. Older chronologies sometimes placed it in the late fourteenth century BC. Estimates of the length of his reign likewise differ, with some proposing eleven years and others fifteen. His year of birth is uncertain. After his death, his son Ramesses II succeeded him on the throne.

The name "Seti" is interpreted as meaning "one who belongs to Set," a god of Egyptian mythology. In Greek he is called Sethos I.

Achievements

Before Seti I came to the throne, Egypt was just emerging from the turmoil that followed the religious reforms of Akhenaten of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Seti I is credited with stabilizing the country internally and, through military campaigns that reached as far as the region of Kadesh in Syria, recovering much of the territory Egypt had lost.

He also left architectural monuments. On the walls of the temple he built at Abydos is the "Abydos King List," which records the names of successive kings from the first pharaoh down to Seti I and Ramesses II; it serves as an important source for the study of ancient Egyptian history. His tomb is located in the Valley of the Kings at Luxor. In 2010 Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities announced that it had fully excavated a tunnel about 174 meters (roughly 570 feet) long running from inside the tomb.

Connection with the Korean Church

Seti I is not named in the Bible. The Book of Exodus refers to the Egyptian king who oppressed the people of Israel only as Pharaoh, without giving his name. For this reason, Seti I is mentioned as a candidate in discussions of when the Exodus took place and who the pharaoh of that time was.

These discussions fall broadly into two views:

• Early date view: Taking the "four hundred and eightieth year" of 1 Kings 6:1 literally, this view places the Exodus around the fifteenth century BC. On this view, Seti I has no connection with the Exodus.
• Late date view: Giving weight to the record in Exodus 1:11 that the Israelites built the treasure cities Pithom and Raamses, as well as to archaeological evidence, this view places the Exodus around the thirteenth century BC. Within this view, some have reportedly identified Seti I or his son Ramesses II as the pharaoh who oppressed Israel or as the pharaoh of the Exodus.

Bible study materials, commentaries, and Bible atlases used in the Korean church often present both views together when explaining the date of the Exodus. Which view is favored, however, tends to depend less on denomination than on individual scholars and interpreters.

Assessment

Seti I is regarded as a capable king who restored order to the New Kingdom after a period of turmoil and recovered lost territory, but he is less well known, overshadowed by his famous son Ramesses II. In biblical studies, he is mentioned in the course of correlating biblical chronology with ancient Egyptian history. Because the Bible does not name the pharaoh, however, and because Egyptian chronological systems differ among scholars, it has not been established whether Seti I was a pharaoh connected with the Exodus.