vThere are three periods in Egyptian history when central state control was lessened - we call them "Intermediate Periods".
The second of these, from the middle of the thirteenth dynasty until the reunification of Egypt under Ahmose I of dyn XVIII, is the one we're on about.
The last king to have even a tenuous rule over the whole land was Neferhotep I of the mid dyn XIII, and by that time his power, though acknowledged, was greatly weakened.
We know a lot more than we used to about it - for example, the Hyksos controlled Delta was not ruled by one king, though there may have been an 'overking' ruling separate small settlements.
Middle Egypt - from what is now Cairo to Luxor - split apart, and several 'kings' all calling themselves 'Lord of the Two 'lands' ruled at any one time.
Two years ago, we found proof of an unknown dynasty ruling from Abydos at this time.
In other words, there were no 'good times'; no surplus of grain - and no high official of a king of a united Egypt, be he Egyptian or Hebrew.
Whenever the Joseph story took place, it had to be much earlier than the thirteenth dynasty - which would, of course, wreck the figures laid down in Exodus - showing - again - that those who edited it had no access to
Egyptian source material, and whatever 'history' is in the Pentateuch simply cannot tally with what we know of the period through painstaking research.
The Second Intermediate Period - like the third - has always fascinated me; possibly because it was so obscure; no gold or sensational gems to gasp at - but there is abundant archeaology, and more is being found each year relating to it - and creating a far more complex story than we once thought existed.
