Who were the scribes

We have not read every article or book that alludes or talks about the scribes of the New Testament. But we feel we have read one of the best explanations for their being labelled as the Essenes.

The few articles, etc. we have seen rarely make this connection. Here is one from a God website but the authors’ of that web page do not make the connection:

In ancient times the Scribes were Jewish officers who performed duties which included various kinds of writing, but when the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity, the soferim, or Scribes, were organized by Ezra into a distinct body. These Scribes became the interpreters and copyists of God’s law. Among these duties, they copied the Pentateuch, the Phylacteries, and the Mezuzoth. (Deut. 6:9).

Once the Canon of Old Testament Scripture was complete, and inspiration of the prophetic period in Old Testament times had been accomplished, we need to trace the degeneration of these men known as “Scribes” and the position of power by which they assumed.

History reveals that foreign influences pervaded the land of Judea throughout the Inter-Testamental period, and onward to the Christian era. Greek culture and Hellenization threatened the very existence of Judaism and the chosen people, the Jewish religious leaders determined that the law needed to be preserved with the most jealous care.(https://www.bible-history.com/Scribes/THE_SCRIBESBackground.htm)

Here is another short blurb who call the scribes lawyers

In the 1st century, scribes and Pharisees were two largely distinct groups, though presumably some scribes were Pharisees. Scribes had knowledge of the law and could draft legal documents (contracts for marriage, divorce, loans, inheritance, mortgages, the sale of land, and the like). Every village had at least one scribe. Pharisees were members of a party that believed in resurrection and in following legal traditions that were ascribed not to the Bible but to “the traditions of the fathers.” Like the scribes, they were also well-known legal experts: hence the partial overlap of membership of the two groups. It appears from subsequent rabbinic traditions, however, that most Pharisees were small landowners and traders, not professional scribes. (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jesus/Scribes-and-Pharisees)

then a final example

However, these uses for scribe are mostly found in the Old Testament. The New Testament scribes are a special group among the Jewish religious leaders. Their primary duties were to study the law of Moses, teach it to the people, and even to help settle disputes involving the questions of the law. The New Testament scribes traced their origin back to Ezra who is variously called “a ready scribe in the law of Moses” (Ezra 7:6) ( http://www.learnthebible.org/what-is-a-scribe.html)

While there certainly were these types of scribes in Israel they may have also been part of the Essenes. That group’s reputation and religious practices would certainly qualify them in the group called scribes.

We can’t post the whole article here as it is 13 pages long. But it is one of the best explanations for the identity of the scribes Jesus was talking about and to. it was published in 1958 and remains a definitive work on the topic. A brief quote

The first question that must be answered is whether the Scribes were a party or a profession. In the Old Testament the Soferim were writers, keepers of the records, and in some cases evidently official recorders. The LXX translated this as Scribe grammateus. By the time the New Testament was written, writing must have been a more general skill, and the word ‘scribe’ had taken on other meanings. That some had become teachers and lawyers and doctors of the law is not to be denied. But, that the word did not have a single meaning is indicated by such terms as “Scribes of the Pharisees” (Mk. 2:13-17, Lk. 5:27-32) and “Scribes of the people” (Matt. 2:4). The inter-testament period may have worked a change in the use of the word.

You can find the rest of the article at this link: https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/bets/vol01/scrolls_dampier.pdf  it is worth the time to read and contemplate the author’s argument.

What is the Future of Biblical Archaeology

Its a good question

In his article Distinguished Lecture in Archaeology: Communication and the future of American Archaeology Jeremy A. Sabloff posed a similar question but framed it in the words ‘Will American archaeology survive in the twenty-first century?’

His answer to his own question was of course it will. He was not so sure about his second question will it continue to thrive…? (Sabloff, 2013). They are two very important questions Christians and Biblical archaeologists need to ask about biblical archaeology.

I ask the question not because biblical archaeology is being attacked by unbelievers on a constant basis nor for the fact that it is slow to produce the physical results many believers want to see in order to continue in their faith.

Due to the limitations of archaeology, both secular and biblical , as well as the lack of christian archaeologists, Biblical Archaeology can only uncover so much. There must be a lot of patience when one wants to get more facts and information about our past.

The question what is the future of biblical archaeology is a serious one for Bible believers because that field is not over flowing with Christians digging up evidence proving the Bible true.

Instead it is filled with a majority of professionals who do not believe in either God or Jesus. Their work is influenced by their unbelief and that can pose a danger to biblical archaeology and the discoveries it uncovers.

Why should anyone care about ancient Israel

An Archaeology Professor teaching a class in Near Eastern Archaeology was asked the question by one of her first year students the following question:

Why do we care about the origins of this small group of people anyway (Anderson, 2020)

That question works hand in hand with the question what is the future of Biblical Archaeology. It reveals a mindset that biblical archaeologists are going to have to overcome if they want to have their work make an impact in the lives of young church adults, the church itself and the unbelieving world around them.

A lot of people do not care about the history of modern day Israel, they do not care about the lives and practices of the ancient Israelites and the do not care about the Bible.

It is going to be a delicate and complicated task for biblical archaeologists to take on as their audience may be shrinking faster than they would like. Biblical archaeologists are going to have to stop assuming that people are going to be a willing audience if they cannot instill an attitude in their listeners that has them caring about the biblical past.

That student’s question goes hand in hand with a statement made 50 years ago by John Fritz and Fred Plog when they wrote, “We suggest that unless archaeologists find ways to make their research increasing relevant to the modern world, the modern world will find itself increasingly capable of getting along without archaeologists” (Sabloff, 2013).

While that pair of archaeologists may have been talking about archaeology in general, it aptly applies to biblical archaeology as well. Biblical archaeologists need to make sure that their research is relevant to the individuals in the church whereby the latter can see how the information actually applies to their lives.

Failure to do that means that many believers may ignore what the biblical archaeologists are doing and move on to something they feel is more relevant and worthwhile.

Some of the problems in Biblical Archaeology

It is these problems that are helping the biblical archaeologists’ audience in turning off of what the biblical archaeologist has to say. These problems have arisen throughout the years as attitudes in the field of Biblical Archaeology has changed.

In the old days sticking to discovering information about events, civilizations and people of the Bible led early biblical archaeologists to great discoveries. One example of this is the civilization of the Hittites. For over 1800 years historians and biblical scholars thought the biblical authors made up that civilization.

Yet with persistence and a lot of hard work, the Hittite civilization was finally proven to be a reality and in the ancient era the biblical authors had it in. The lack of physical evidence is not a problem that is undermining the work of biblical archaeologists.

It is an on going issue that has been dealt with because God said,’the just shall live by faith’ & ‘faith pleases God’ (loose quote). While we can, are and will dig up physical evidence for different events, people and so on, our belief in Jesus is built on faith not physical evidence.

Plus, God is not going to destroy what pleases him by overwhelming the world with physical evidence for everything recorded in the Bible. It is by faith that we are saved not physical evidence.

One of the first problems that is influencing the field of Biblical Archaeology is the influence of unbelievers. Recently, Hershel Shanks the editor and founder of Biblical Archaeology Review retired and turned the control of his magazine over to an avowed atheist.

The change of tone in that magazine is already seen by some of the recent articles it has published since that change. This does not bode well for believers or those who look to BAR to be  more independent in the ongoing archaeological debates and discussions between minimalists, maximalists, believers & unbelievers.

The next problem that is influencing the field of Biblical Archaeology the wrong way is the growing number of people who either do not have any faith in God or have lost their faith because the field has not produced what they had hoped to find.

Two of the more well known influences are Dr. William Dever and Dr. Bart Ehrman. Then, of course, their are a host of Jewish archaeologists who do not believe or accept the New testament and their archaeological views are influenced by what they do or do not accept (Calder, 2007)

The growing disbelief alters the theories and explanations the biblical archaeologist hear which in turn has some questioning the validity of the field of research as well as God and his authors.

The final problem that will be discussed here is the one where the Christian archaeologist begin to contradict what the Bible says or promote theories or discoveries that do not coincide with the Biblical text.

In other words, these archaeologists are saying one thing and God is saying another. This takes its toll on the Christian and the non-Christian audience as well. If the Christian archaeologist does not agree with the Bible or stretches their theories and discoveries to make it seem like they agree with do yet do not in reality, then the audience begins to turn away from God and his word (Collins, 2018).

These are only some of the problems that threaten the future of Biblical Archaeology. How long will the field survive and get the support of different nations and people if the very professionals who work in the field say something that God did not say?

These problems have to be overcome if those hard working and honest biblical archaeologists are going to have their voice heard and the field to remain relevant to a modern generation.

What is the future of Biblical Archaeology

For the field of Biblical Archaeology to mean something changes have to be made. We read in the book of Acts that the new believers were of one mind and one heart (Acts 4:32).

Unfortunately, that attitude has not made it successfully to the 21^st century. There are many believing archaeologists who do not work well with each other and the reasons for that are many.

God is not the author of confusion thus the biblical archaeologists must get on the same page so the field can avoid embarrassing moments like when the Ark of Noah was supposedly discovered in 2010 (Chaffey, 2016).

This one mind has to be centered around the truth. Sadly, so many Christian archaeologists have adopted the secular scientific rules and frame their work under the influence of the unbeliever instead of God’s word.

Jesus said, ‘ye shall; know the truth’ and that the Spirit of truth is to guide the believer to that truth (John8:32 & 14:32ff). Secular scientific rules and methods avoid the truth in favor of asking questions, making up hypothesis among other attributes.

Secular scientific guidance does not lead anyone to the truth because it does not have the Spirit of Truth guiding it. Instead it has the author of lies and deception as its leader. The believing scientist must avoid the influence of the secular scientific way or they are at risk of losing their faith as other scholars and biblical archaeologists have.

Also, biblical archaeologists have to be careful about what historical documents they accept. Reading into inscriptions and accepting only one sided arguments by a civilization’s enemies is not the way to get to the truth (White, 2020).

It has to be remembered that most of the surviving historical documents were not written by Christians or following God or his Spirit of Truth. Their words must be analyzed in a biblical context keeping in mind God’s instruction not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly (Psalm 1:1)

The words David wrote in that Psalm apply to the field of Archaeology in all of its settings, especially Biblical Archaeology. Verse 6 of that Psalm is just as compelling and does not have an escape clause allowing for believing archaeologists to ignore God’s instructions and walk in line with secular archaeological demands.

Archaeology does not provide the whole historical story and the secular influence hides even more of it. To answer the question the future of biblical archaeology is bleak unless those involved in the field do not start following God and make the right changes.

Is there a future for Biblical Archaeology

 Yes, there is. God wants his creation to know the truth and that desire leaves a wide opening for Christian Biblical Archaeologist to operate in. But they must do their archaeological work his way.

Christian archaeologists are often too worried about meeting the approval of the secular archaeologists. They want credibility and want their work published in the secular magazines and professional journals or status in their universities and so on.

Not all but too many and this desire interferes with their work and God using them to make an impact on the world. The secular world is not whom Christians archaeologists are to be pleasing or seeking any approval.

Their work should be seeking God’s approval, containing the truth about the past and leading people to the validity of the Bible. God does not lie and the Christian archaeologist cannot hide the truth from God’s creation.

There are too many people trying to hide the truth because they do not want to face the reality of the coming judgment and that their work was in vain. It is up to the Christian archaeologist to let their light shine in the Biblical Archaeology field.

This light is more than just sharing the gospel with their unbelieving counterparts, volunteers and students. It includes doing Biblical Archaeology God’s way and getting the whole story out.

That way God is not seen as a liar who makes things up to force people to believe in him. His word is also not seen as ‘book of fairy tales written by Bronze Age goat herders.’

Instead the Bible can be seen as what it really is. A very true book that has recorded actual history for all the world to come and know God.

Works cited

Anderson, R, (2020), Is Archaeology better off without religion”, Aeon Rock of Ages, 2020, https://aeon.co/essays/is-archaeology-better-off-without-religion

Calder, A., (2007), “Losing faith: how secular scholarship affects scholars”, Creation Ministries Intl., https://creation.com/losing-faith-how-secular-scholarship-affects-scholars

Chaffey, T., (2016), “Has the Ark Been Found?”, Answers in Genesis, https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/noahs-ark-found/has-ark-been-found/

Collins, S., (2018), “’Discovering the City of Sodom”, Tell El-Hamman Excavation Project, https://tallelhammam.com/reports-%26-publications

Sabloff, J.A. (2013), “Distinguished lecture in archaeology”, Annual Edtions Archaeology, 10^th edition, edited by MP Parker & E. Angeloni, pg. 23

White, A., (2020), “Ancient Child Sacrifice and Abortion” Associates for Biblical Research, https://biblearchaeology.org/research/contemporary-issues/4623-ancient-child-sacrifice-and-abortion

 

Archaeology is Blind to the Past

Without a time machine

Science cannot truly see into the past. The relics it relies upon to create a picture of the world’s history are mere artifacts that are vulnerable to modern human speculation (Williams & Hartnett, 2005)

This doesn’t only hold true for astronomy but for the other sciences as well, including archaeology. Most often the archaeologist is left only with a coin, a chair, or maybe a figurine to draw his or her conclusions from. Or all they have left are the eroding building foundations, blank walls and empty rooms to speculate about the past.

Archaeologists are not fortunate enough to have contemporary ancient manuscripts uncover that detail the purpose, use or the reason for it being left where it was of anything they discover.

The archaeologist must make up their own ideas about these things and more often than not, the theories they construct cannot be verified or even proven to be close to being true.

Leaving out the modern world

There are basically two approaches to looking at the ancient world from the modern perspective. There are those archaeologists who use the modern world, its thinking and human behavior to help them understand the past and those who don’t.

For the latter group the reasoning is that the ancient world did not have science helping them and were ignorant of many things. Supposedly, the ancients led a rather savage life and were not capable of thinking in modern terms (Mal, 2019)

This thinking flies in the face of the existence of men like Archimedes who was and is considered to be one of the greatest scientists of all time (F.S., 2020), As it does to the Babylonian and other ancient astronomers who have been known to complicated astronomical calculations, observations and adjustments (P.M, 2019).

The archaeologists who follow the idea that the ancient world is separate from the modern world and the latter and do not use the modern world to help them understand the past also feel that God created two different kinds of people if they accept the fact that God created anything at all.

They leave God out of the picture and ignore the Biblical references which show that the ancient world was filled with the same type of people that power the modern civilizations.

The ancients had their God given talents and intelligence. They also had emotions, desires and did not just eat, work and pray as some archaeologists would have the modern public believe.

They also invented, committed crimes, had laws as well as more modern aspects that govern modern life.

It is safe to say that the modern world does help us define and understand the past. Those that take the opposite position willingly blind themselves to the reasons behind the ancients acted as they did.

One reason to say that is that the modern world has societies all over the earth that still live like savages.

Archaeology makes some wonderful discoveries

This it does very well. Archaeologists are known to uncover large buildings, ancient inscriptions and a host of personal artifacts that only give a peek into the lives of those who populated the ancient civilizations.

One great discovery showed that the ancient Babylonians had a social security system as well as time capsules. The people of that once great empire wanted future civilizations to know who they were, what they believed and what they saw as important (Pellegrino. 1995).

It is only discoveries like these that give us , as Paul said in Corinthians 13:12, an imperfect view of the past. We get little snippets that do not show us exactly how ancient life was conducted.

All the artifacts and ancient structures only show a very tiny view of what the ancient world was like and if we are brave enough we can put those views together and see that the ancient world wasn’t too much different from the modern one.

Part of the reason for that is that sin, evil and God are never changing and always present. Ancient men and women fall to lust, David and Bathsheba, make mistakes, Moses and willing the Egyptian, and so many other non biblical examples give us a very unclear yet clear view that mankind has not changed in thousands of years.

The ancient inscriptions help clear up some of the mystery of the past by telling us how people though in different  situations. Whether those inscriptions are accepted, rejected or badly interpreted by modern scholars and archaeologists is not the point.

The point is these inscriptions help provide a clearer view of what existed in ancient times. Tell Dan Stele is but one of those inscriptions which gives us evidence that the people of Israel and King David existed as the Bible says (BAS Staff, 2019).

We do not get much about ancient Israel or other ancient civilizations because of the way these inscriptions are treated by modern scholars and archaeologists. The Behistun Inscription is another example of how ancient words are not totally accepted by modern scholars (Mark, 2019).

The unwillingness to accept these inscriptions and other writings as they should be accepted help keep the past in the dark about ancient civilizations and people. The fact that many modern archaeologists do not accept the idea that the ancient world was literate helps to keep archaeology from seeing anything true about the past (Dever, 2009).

Its a temple, no its a goddess

This is a common cry by archaeologists. Far too many ancient building remains have been identified as temples  even though there are no ancient manuscripts confirming the modern identification. The layout of the remains often lead archaeologists to make that identification even though there is no real reason for doing so.

For example, the Egyptian temple at Karnak was expanding from its original size from about its original size built over 4,000 years ago. It is said that Pharaohs for over 2,000 years added their own sections to the building and modern Egyptologists and archaeologists call it a temple.

Yet, the ancient world did not all believe in the ancient gods or participate din any religious activities. Plus, they needed other buildings to house criminals, their records, codexes, food supplies and so on. Even merchants needed a place to store their wares and sell them to the passing public.

In other words what is declared a temple may not have been a temple and served some other useful purpose. Karnak may be one of the earliest examples of a museum not a temple. The description of the contents fit a description of a museum and not a temple (Jarus, 2012)

The same mentally influences the discovery of many ancient figurines. Far too many of these are interpreted to be depictions of ancient goddesses and it doesn’t matter where in the world they are uncovered. The interpretation is basically the same even though other plausible reasons exist to explain so many figurines existing in the ancient world (Cowie, 2019).

Women have not changed over the centuries and it is highly possible, if not probable, that they had these figurines as knick knacks that decorated their walls, pieces of furniture and so on.

Not all would be goddesses, if any. Or the amount of figurines could easily be the product or pottery class where many people were learning to make people as art. They were just not fortunate to have their best work survive to the modern age.

If there are manuscripts linking these ancient figurines they are few and far between. Even the great Mayan ceramic workshop discovered in 2018 does not come with manuscripts talking about the factory. It may have just been a warehouse and not related to any gods at all (Cowie, 2019).

At best, archaeology does not know what these buildings and figurines were used for. Much of their modern descriptions on these ancient items are heavily influenced by their point of view and how low they view the ancient people.

There are many churches, temples and knick knacks in the modern world yet very few people would say that the modern populations were religious or had artifacts of gods and goddesses in their home.

The loss of information

The modern uninformed public may think that archaeological excavations are digging up vast amounts of information about the past. If one were to go by the overflowing museum storage rooms they may have that view verified.

Yet, the reality is that very little of the ancient past is uncovered. Kenneth Kitchen described this loss of of information in the first chapter of his book, ‘The Bible In Its World’ and the picture he painted was bleak not encouraging.

He said that most sites are eroding at a fast rate and that archaeologists, even after years of excavating at a site,only uncover between 2 and 5% of what was actually there (Kitchen, 2004).

That means that over the years since an archaeological site stopped being a real living village or city 95 to 98% of the past has been lost to the passing of time. Archaeology doe snot get a full picture of the past and much of the void is filled in with speculation, conjecture, assumption and leaps to conclusions.

Unfortunately, no matter how deep the archaeologist digs, that information is lost forever. Archaeology cannot bring it back or reconstruct what actually took place.

Archaeology is not to be relied on

This is more for the believer who may think that this one aspect or scientific research is going to uncover all the physical evidence they need to base their faith upon.

Far too many believing archaeologists have stumbled and lost their faith when archaeological work has failed to provide that physical evidence they wanted to see. When applying archaeology and its finds to their faith and the Bible they see only a partial but very blind picture and make the wrong decision that the Bible is wrong.

These archaeologists and other believers fail to apply the realities of archaeology, that it is a very limited field of study and always end up deciding that science is right and God is wrong.

They do not factor in that the archaeologist may have dug in the wrong spot, left information buried in the dirt or that the physical evidence just didn’t survive time and its destructive forces. They also didn’t factor in what God said about his belief system.

With their mindset, influences by evil and other factors, they decide to leave God, Jesus and their faith because science did not confirm what they believe. Instead of following God’s words that the just live by faith and faith pleases him among other instructions, they follow the assumptions, etc., of unbelieving archaeologists and scholars and change to an unbeliever.

Archaeology will turn up some physical evidence to support the scriptures verifying accounts, civilizations, people and more but God will not let archaeology uncover so much that it destroys what pleases him.

The Christian must follow God’s words over those of archaeology and the hypothesis as well as the faulty conclusions archaeologists construct. Jesus told us about building on the sand and building upon the rock.

Basing one’s beliefs on what archaeology and archaeologists claim took pl;ace would be building on the sand and that foundation is very weak. Believers need to use archaeology and the limited evidence it uncovers to help them build on the rock.

They need to see that God’s word is true and that building on Jesus and God’s word is building on the rock and that despite what any scientific field throws at them, their foundation and faith is solid because they believe God over man

 

Works cited

BAS Staff, (2019), “The Tel Dan Inscription: The First Historical Evidence of King David from the Bible”, Biblical Archaeology Society, https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/the-tel-dan-inscription-the-first-historical-evidence-of-the-king-david-bible-story/

Cowiw, A., (2019), “Largest Ever Maya Figurine Workshop Discovered Accidentally in Unexplored Mound”, Ancient Origins, https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/maya-figurine-workshop-0011782

Dever, WG, (2009), “How Archaeology Illuminates the Bible”, Biblical Archaeology Society, Lectures on 2 CDs

F.S. (2020) “Archimedes”, Famous Scientists: The Art of Genius, https://www.famousscientists.org/archimedes/

Jarus, O. (2012), “Karnak: Temple Complex of Ancient Egypt”, Live Science, https://www.livescience.com/25184-karnak-temple.html

Kitchen, K./, (2004), “The Bible In Its World”. Wipf & Stock,

Mal. S., (2019), “Paragraph on Ancient Age and Modern Age”, Bangla Cyber, https://www.banglacyber.com/paragraph-on-ancient-age-and-modern-age/

Mark, JJ, (2019), “Behistun Inscription”, Ancient History Encyclopedia, https://www.ancient.eu/Behistun_Inscription/

Pellegrino, CR, (1995), “Return to Sodom and Gomorrah”, William Morrow Paperbacks,

P.M., (2019), “A Brief History of Babylonian Astronomy”, PsyMinds, https://psy-minds.com/babylonian-astronomy/

Williams, A., & Hartnett, J., (2005), “Dismantling the Big Bang”, Master Books green Forest AR.,

 

Archaeology terms, definitions & comments 2

There are numerous terms that archaeologists use and some of them get overused too much. In today’s article we will look at a couple of those terms and then the definition of the term archaeologist

 

#1. temple- a building used for the worship of a god or gods in some religions (Cambridge dict.)

This is one of those overused terms. it seems that the way archaeologists use this term and one other that the ancient people had no homes, no businesses, no police or law enforcement offices and so on. It is a miracle that almost every archaeologist is able to find a temple in no matter how big or how small the excavation site.

Just recently a small discovery took place and at least halfway through the article only the buildings of the elites and religious temples were mentioned. it is amazing at how astute almost all archaeologists are as they somehow managed to only find these buildings.

But homes of the elite and temples were not the only buildings in the ancient world. We know that prisons existed  with the first ones mentioned around 1,000 BC and have been known to exist since around 3,000 BC. Yet rarely do we hear of these discoveries.

In doing a little research on this topic of prisons most articles mentioned only a few with those articles mentioning the same ones. The most famous of course was the Roman Mamertine and a different website said this was the only Roman prison. But that is not true as there was at least one other called The Carcer Tullianum (Tullianum Prison in Latin) and it is said to have pre-dated the establishment of Rome.

How and why these prisons were used is not the point although we may disagree with the conclusions given about them. The point is and as Ecc. 1 tells us, there is nothing new under the sun. Which means that every building described by archaeologists to be a temple may not have been one in its era.

With nothing new under the sun, the ancients would have government civil offices, warehouses, schools, businesses, market buildings and more. There were possibly repair shops, furniture building shops and other service structures including clinics and hospitals. If you do some research you will find that some ancient surgeries were on par if not better than modern day surgeries completed by world class surgeons.

They were not limited to temples and elite housing or palaces. The over identification of these ancient buildings by archaeologists distorts the reality of life in the past

#2. palace- a large house that is the official home of a king, queen, or other person of high social rank (Cambridge)

This is another term that is overused by archaeologists and it competes with the term temple in its discoveries and identifications. The same arguments given for the temple applies here and while there may have been palaces and large estates in the ancient world, not every large building was a palace.

Just last year one real palace may have been discovered in Egypt but in our view this building may only have been a museum, a government office housing many government services and ministries and so on. In reading that article some Egyptologists are calling it a temple not a palace.

That is the thing with archaeology and archaeologists- one will say potatoe and another will say patawto using the same evidence. It is stipulated that there were palaces and temples in the ancient world but not as many as archaeologists would have everyone think.

Here is a link to another discovery of a supposed palace. Archaeologist, for both palaces and temples, are not deriving their conclusions from ancient contemporary manuscripts describing the purpose and function of each building they uncover.

Instead they come to their conclusions through muted pieces of evidence and their own thinking. They usually come from a modern perspective and how temples, palaces and other buildings are supposed to look like not from the ancient perspective and how the buildings actually looked like.

The building in Iran may have been a resort, apartment complex, or some other structure. With no ancient corroboration it is impossible to tell what the building was used for. Archaeologists are basically guessing.

#3. goddess- a female deity (Oxford dictionary)

We are sure we have mentioned this term before yet it is overused as often as temple is as archaeologists look at ancient figurines and give those old artifacts status they may not be entitled to. We say this because archaeologists will pick up an old figurine no matter how ugly it is and label it a goddess. Again they do this with no ancient manuscript corroborating their identification.

There may have been a temple of Diana, Horus, Osirus and so on but that does not mean the figurines discovered were representatives of those ancient gods and goddesses. For all we know those figurines could have been the failed attempts by pottery students to complete their assignment or joke figurines we see today or just collectibles.

We know of at least one figurine manufacturer and that one can tell us that there must have been plenty more around the ancient world. While the archaeologists involved with this discovery said they were used for economical and political reasons (with no ancient corroboration), there are far too many discoveries that label the pottery pieces as goddesses. That is just one example.

Again while the ancient people may have had religious figurines, not everyone did and not everyone uncovered is a depiction of a goddess from any age they are taken.

#4. archaeologist- a person who studies human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains (Oxford)

That is a pretty good description of  what an archaeologist does. They do try to study the past but they are handicapped by several hindrances. Those hindrances include totally destroyed information, artifacts and buildings, partial discoveries of same, bad dating and even bad identification.

Again what one archaeologist says is a palace another might say it is a temple. In a similar vein, Eilat Mazar went through this when she announced she discovered walls from the time of Solomon. She wrote a book about it. And other archaeologists take an opposing view not only of her discovery but of others that prove that Kings David & Solomon ruled when the Bible states.

That is another argument for another day. What is the point of this section is what the definition for the term archaeologist does not say. Archaeologists are skilled at digging in the dirt and uncovering some great pieces of ancient history but there are several things they are not and have no idea about.

For one thing, they are not building or construction experts. Their opinions about ancient construction are not based on expert knowledge if any real construction knowledge. Their views of royalty and past governments are not based on government expertise held by the archaeologist as the majority of them do not have any idea on how politics and governments work.

The archaeologist is creating theories, conclusions and make declarations about the past with little knowledge of what actually took place and very little inside information that would qualify them as an expert on those individual aspects of ancient life.

Another example would be ancient medical practices. Archaeologists may discover quotes from ancient people whop called on their gods to heal their ailing relatives or loved ones. Seeing those few quotes the archaeologist extrapolates those ideas to the whole of the different ancient societies.

They do this despite the fact we have more than enough medical discoveries for surgery, dental work, prescriptions and more showing the modern archaeologists that the ancients practiced medicine like skilled modern practitioners. Literacy is another example as archaeologists declare the ancient world illiterate in spite of the fact we have more writings than we can count from the ancient world.

It is also impossible to declare people illiterate when archaeologists  are working with less than 5% of the ancient world contents. Most people today are literate yet you wouldn’t know it as their writings would never survive the test of time.

While archaeologists do a good job in uncovering buildings, artifacts and manuscripts from the past, they are not experts on the aspects of life they pontificate at length. They do not have any more knowledge about the past than what the different discoveries reveal and they cannot speak for long dead people or read their minds.

Sadly, the pubic is left with what the archaeologist tells them and books, articles and research papers contradicting those theories are often suppressed (and we are not talking about the alien theorists who think aliens influenced the ancient world. Those groups seem to have found their voice and avenues of spreading their message to the public).

One example of this is the information in Chapter 11 of Dr. Charles Hapgood’s book Path to the Poles. We tried searching for the information he recorded and the locations he mentioned they were in, but to this day we have had no luck and cannot verify what he said was discovered.

The past is not as many archaeologists declare it to be.

 

 

Archaeology terms, definitions & comments

We have been publishing archaeological articles for years on this website yet it is doubtful that we have put up a glossary of terms. We are going to do so today and add a few comments under some of the terms for a better perspective on their use.

There is no particular order to these terms and we will only be able to cover a few of them. We will post links to web pages that have more terms for you to look at and learn. We are also going to copy and paste those definitions to ease our work load

Archaeology– the scientific study of the past human cultures through their material remains.

{keep in mind that science is the gathering of knowledge through experiments and observations. Some times you will see the words truth and facts as part of a scientific definition but those facts and truths are highly subjective and rarely objective in nature}

Absolute Dating– a dating method that is used to determine an object’s approximate age in calendar years

{funny thing is that absolute and approx. are not synonyms. And these absolute dates can change depending on more information or recalibration efforts on the part of scientists. There is nothing absolute about them}

BP– means before present and the year used as the marker for the present is 1950.

{Unfortunately for archaeologists, etc., 1950 no longer remains the present and its events are discussed as history. It is a very inaccurate marker and does not take into consideration the 70 years that have come and gone since that year. AD & BC are better markers but that calendar is off by a few years as well. Jesus was born during the time of Herod about 6 to 10 years prior to year 0}

Excavation unit– A square hole of predetermined uniform size that is excavated from an archaeological site

{this is also known as the Wheeler-Kenyon method of excavating an archaeological site. The weakness of this system is that valuable artifacts, manuscripts and other data are left buried for future generations. This method allows holes in the information discovered from a given archaeological site and there is no guarantee that the information left buried will not disappear before those future generations dig it up}

In Situ– Refers to an artifact that has been found in its original context

{This may be the original place the archaeologist found the artifact or scroll but it may not be the original place the artifact was left in. Due to many different factors the artifact could have been moved from its original place by grave robbers, or other people. Earthquakes and other natural disasters could have a hand in moving the artifact. Also, there are no ancient manuscripts dug up with the artifacts to provide any information as to why the item was made, who made it and who used it. For all the archaeologist knows the item could have been a treasured family heirloom passed down for man y generations The archaeologist has a lot of freedom to read into what they discover because of this void}

Prehistoric– the period of time before written records; the absolute date for the prehistoric period varies from place to place

{This is a convenient tool in the archaeologist’s toolbox. It helps them shape the past the way they want it to be and not the way it was. No one knows when writing first was invented and with this label they get to manipulate the facts as they see fit. Just because an archaeologist doe snot find MSS. At his excavation does not mean the society was illiterate and did not possess the knowledge to read and write. There are too many factors why the archaeologist did not find any written material- they looked in the wrong place or the material did not pass the test of time are just 2 of those factors}

BCE – Before Common Era. & C.E.- Common Era

{Replacements by unbelieving people who do not want to us AD or BC as their calendar marker}

Provenance – The origin, or history of ownership of an archaeological or historical object.

{many archaeological magazines, journals and other publications refuse to publish articles on unprovenanced artifacts. The reason for this is that they do not know the history of the artifact or where it was found and consider them forgeries. To give them a little credit that is the case for some discoveries but unfortunately that attitude nor conclusion should apply to all the items that comes to the attention of an archaeologist. If it was then the Nag Hammadi library would have been discarded and lost forever As would many amateur finds would}

Pictogram – A picture or symbol that represents a word or group of words

{Sometimes these items are not languages and may simply just be pictures drawn, carved or painted. Again without any contemporary corroboration it is hard to determine if it is a language, a group of symbols with their own set of meanings or just pictures called in today’s world artists’ conception}

—————————————-

The sources for these archaeological terms come from 3 different websites. #1. Glossary of Archaeological Terms; #2. Archaeology Section; and #3. Archaeological Institute of America

The Ipuwer Papyrus & the Christian

Many people do not care

When it comes to history and archaeology there is a lack of caring about what the ancients did and when they wrote their masterful works. These people have a lot more on their minds than what ancient people put down on ‘paper’.

Whether they admit to it or not, the Ipuwer Papyrus and a large majority of history impacts their faith, if they have one, in Jesus. If left to the unbelieving world, much of the Old Testament and foundation for the New is lost, replaced by ideas heavily influenced by unbelief.

That cannot take place as the truth cannot be hid even if the truth offends many unbelievers and keeps them from converting and taking Jesus as their Savior. The story about the Ipuwer Papyrus cannot remain in the hands of the unbeliever.

What is the Ipuwer Papyrus

One of the most interesting aspects of the Ipuwer Papyrus is that it is recorded on the Papyrus Leiden 344 and it contains information that resembles the different plagues that God sent to afflict the Egyptian people (Barry, et al, 2016).

This is what causes the controversy as there is so little physical evidence to support the biblical era that records the Hebrew sojourn in Egypt. Having this piece of ancient physical evidence would go along ways to proving the Bible true.

One of the problems that keep this piece of ancient Egyptian literature from being accepted as an account of the pre-Exodus trouble is that most scholars do not date the contents to the time of the Exodus even though the papyrus it was written on dates to about the 13^th century BC. The contents are dated to between 2000 & 1700 BC (Barry, et al, 2016).

Why is there controversy

One of the main reasons why there is any controversy at all about the contents of this document is that the majority of scholars do not believe there was an actual Exodus from Egypt by the Hebrew people. That disbelief naturally influences their view on the Ipuwer Papyrus (Habermehl, A. 2018)

This attitude is an important one as unbelief tends to blind the eyes of scholars to the truth. This means that their dating of the document even though it is written on Exodus era, give or take 100 years, parchment is suspect.

But there have been scholars over the decades that have disagreed with such an early date of the contents. Most do not like being mentioned in the same sentence as Immanuel Velikovsky and have omitted his name from some of their works when those contents agree with the controversial historian. He stated that the Ipuwer Papyrus was written by someone who experienced the plagues and saw the Exodus take place (MP, 2020).

It does not read like someone was creating a scary bed time tale or a fairy tale in the likes of Hans Christian Anderson or Aseop. The Papyrus has the feel of an actual event thus it must be treated as a true story based on an actual event. Which is what Velikovsky also determined as did Von Seter (MP, 2020).

Why the early dating

This is hard to explain as there is no real reason for why the contents were pushed back between 400 and 300 years. The papyrus itself comes from the New Kingdom era, 1550 to 1070 BC, but for some reasons the contents are given a Middle Kingdom date, approx., 1885 to 1773 BC (Sutherland, 2017)

This is close to what other scholars have concluded as the correct time of the writing of the contents. One scholar has stated that the contents should be placed in the First Intermediate Era which dates to about 2123 to 2040 BC. (Murnane, 2001)

The only problem with these early dates is that there is no real historical record depicting  such a similar calamity to befall Egypt. If there was the many scholars who talk about the early dating of the contents could produce the historical record, the manuscript detailing such an invasion and so on. None have and none exist.

Yet that doesn’t stop scholars pointing to the large gap between the events described in the Papyrus and the book of Exodus. They go as far as stating that the two records are not depicting actual historical events (Kennedy, 2016).

This random categorizing of historical events is what is to be expected from those who do not accept the Bible as true. If they do not believe the Exodus is true why would they believe that any evidence for it exists or is even true?

This is what messes up people’s faith when they listen to these unbelieving scholars and accept their opinion of God’s word.

Who was Ipuwer

This is another point against the early dating of the papyrus bearing his name. It is not like he did not exist. What is not known is which Ipuwer is the author. His name or title is found in the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms. In fact, his name appears in a 19^th Dynasty tomb. These are not the only pieces of physical evidence that remain for this or some other Ipuwer (Habermehl, A. 2018).

It should be pointed out that since this 13^th century papyrus is the only copy available it cannot be determined to be a copy of an earlier document. There is no reason that a copy should be made. What purpose would it serve?

At least with Manetho we know he was commissioned to write his histories of Egypt but no such information is found for Ipuwer. It is possible that he recorded it for posterity so that everyone would know that the Egyptians endured a terrible storm of plagues, etc.

With the ancient Egyptian reputation of altering their history, it is no wonder corroboration is not found in official ancient government records. Nothing stops ordinary Egyptian citizens from recording what took place so their family would know the truth about their history (Habermehl, A. 2018)

The criteria used to determine the actual date

One of the main criteria that is used to determine the date of any manuscript is the writing style or the genre often applied by modern scholars according to modern definitions. Yet these different writing styles are not exclusive to the dynasty to which they are credited (Bledsoe, 2016)

People, even ancient Egyptians, are free to write in any style they want no matter what era, Kingdom or decade they happen to reside. This literary criteria is more of a straw man argument than actual fact. Many manuscripts have probably been misdated because of the accepted methods of classification.

Modern scholars do this with the Pauline Epistles trying to down grade his words to fake rather than genuine writing. It is no wonder that they would do it to the Ipuwer Papyrus as the unbeliever does not want to give credibility to the biblical record.

There is nothing else to help date the contents to a previous Kingdom or back up to 400 years in history. The fact that it is considered a  poem does not render the contents to an earlier date nor to the realms of fiction. Even poems can relate the truth and record actual events of a cataclysm (Graves, 2014).

What the existence of this Papyrus does prove is twofold. One, as Kenneth Kitchen has said, the Exodus account and the Ipuwer Papyrus speak about the same topic. Two, the Exodus remained in the minds of the Egyptians for centuries after the fact (Graves, 2014).

In other words, the writer of the document considered the events real and wanted them recorded for whatever reason he may have had. It is possible that the author recorded those events because he was in opposition to the ancient Egyptian habit of altering their history.

What is the truth

One of the problems with dating an ancient document is that the date given to those documents are based on what the scholar believes, not what is true. Given the close relationship to the Biblical Exodus the bias against the Bible is a powerful influence that leads scholars to misdate important physical evidence like the Ipuwer Papyrus.

There is no reason to date it earlier than the Exodus. Because there is no historical event prior to the plagues and the Exodus that would inspire someone to record those traumatic events.

Scholars have tried to place the writing to the accepted Hyksos invasion of Egypt in the 1700 BC and onward but without success (B.A., 2001). The Hyksos probably arrived after the Exodus when Egypt was at its weakest point ever in its history save for when its people arrived in the area after the Babel Diaspora. They were not the cause of the Exodus or the plagues but the end result after the cataclysm finished its work on the Egyptian people.

There is nothing to support any conclusion other than the fact that this document records the plagues prior to the Exodus. The Ipuwer Papyrus is extra biblical support for that biblical event and shows that they Bible is true.

Some Final Words

Secular scholars may and will lie but God does not. It is time to take his word seriously and use it in daily life correctly

Works Cited

 (2001). Biblical Archaeologist 1-4, 36(electronic ed.).

Bledsoe, S. (2016). Egyptian Literature. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Graves, D.E., (2014), “Bonus 29 – Ipuwer Papyrus”, Biblical Archaeology, https://biblicalarchaeologygraves.blogspot.com/2014/12/bonus-29-ipuwer-papyrus.html

 Habermehl, A. 2018. The Ipuwer Papyrus and the Exodus. In Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism, ed.J.H. Whitmore, pp. 1–6. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Creation Science Fellowship https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4b1d/4f6874ab5e24509d2d307cc7185aac9651e6.pdf

Kennedy, T. M. (2016). Egypt, Plagues of. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Major Contributors and Editors. (2016). Ipuwer, Admonitions of. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

MP, (2020), “THE PAPYRUS IPUWER”, Mikamar Publishing, http://www.mikamar.biz/Pensee%20III/3-13-papyrus-ipuwer.htm

Murnane William J. (2001). Review of First Civilizations: Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt by Robert Chadwick. Biblical Archaeologist: Volume 60 1-4, (electronic ed.), 187.

Sutherland, A., (2017), “Is Ipuwer Papyrus A Report Of An Ancient Catastrophe?”, Ancient Pages, http://www.ancientpages.com/2017/08/07/ipuwer-papyrus-report-ancient-catastrophe/

The Hyksos Period

There are always mysteries

 Archaeology may solve some problems the Christian world needs answered about the Bible but due to its limited nature that field of research cannot answer them all. One of those mysteries concerns the the identity of the Hyksos.

According to most Egyptologists and other archaeologists, the Hyksos were invaders of Egypt somewhere between the 12^th and the 16^th Dynasties. Their appearance has been held to that time as there are few ancient manuscripts whose contents refer to that group of people . They are also scattered, lacking in detail and so on (Redmount, 2001).

This paper is not going to deal with the location of their capital or call into question the work of Dr. Manfred Bietak who has dug at the Hyksos capital of Avaris for over 40 years. Instead it is going to call into question the timeline, which Dr. David Rohl has already done with his new chronology (Wood, 2016).

The Egyptian Pharaoh Timeline

When one reads the book Egyptian Art published by Phaidon they get a very detailed analysis of Egyptian life and the artwork surrounding the different pharaohs that reigned over Egypt.

In the back of the book there is a rather detailed chronology listing all of the different pharaohs except for a couple of dynasties. There are many names missing from the 13^th to 17^th dynasty as those names may be lost to history.

But what is striking are the words at the top of the page. Those words read- “all dates before the seventh century BC should be regarded as approximate. The margin of error varies from some one hundred years…” (Malek, 2011)

It may not be the scholar’s fault for this discrepancy, it could be that Egyptian records do not follow legitimate chronological rules or historical requirements. This is something about the ancient Egyptians.

They were known to alter their history to make future generations more patriotic, to make those early generations look good, powerful and wise. Even the records recorded in stone cannot be trusted as there is no way to know if they were not edited after their initial inscribing (Harrison, 2005).

With the lack of documents referring to the Hyksos it is also impossible to fully verify what has been said about them and their place in Egyptian history. Since very little is known of this people it is possible that their place in the Egyptian chronology is erroneous and may be applied to a later date.

The Many King’s list

 The problem isn’t just with the lack of manuscripts discussing the Hyksos, there are problems with the many different king’s lists that Egyptologists have used to determine the order of Pharaohs and when they reigned.

Probably the best King’s list is the Royal Canon of Turin. When discovered it contained almost all or part of 222different names of Pharaohs who ruled. The problem with this list is that since its discovery, over 2/3 of the document has disintegrated, no good photos were taken and no real scientific examination has been done on the papyrus (Lundstrom, 2020).

With so much information lost it is hard to construct a proper order for all of the kings who ruled Egypt. Part of the solution came from the Abydos, The Saqqara and the Karnak king’s list. There are issues with those lists as well as as the two former lists were not designed to be a chronological compilation. Like Karnak, Saqqara did not list all the kings and Karnak listed names of Pharaohs that appeared on no other list (Lundstrom, 2020).

There are other problems with these lists and those issues tend to make determining the correct order or rulers, including the Hyksos, very difficult. There is no document tying those king’s list together or showing how they are connected. They each may have a different purpose, like the Saqqra list which was supposed to be made honoring ancestors. The lack of connection makes discovering the different rules very difficult (Lundstrom, 2020).

There is always Manetho

Manetho lived during the 30tth Dynasty and wrote his history for the Greek rulers who came to power after Alexander the Great conquered the land. His three volume history of Egypt, called the Aegyptiaca, has not survived except by quotations in other ancient author’s works. It was this work that helped divide the ancient pharaohs into 30 dynasties (Kinnaer, 2018).

But as stated, there is so little known about Manetho. And what makes matters worse is that his 3 volume history does not survive except through different quotations

“we can know his writings only from fragmentary and often distorted quotations preserved chiefly by Josephus and by the Christian chronographers, Africanus and Eusebius, with isolated passages in Plutarch, Theophilus, Aelian, Porphyrius, Diogenes Laertius, Theodoretus, Lydus, Malalas, the Scholia to Plato, and the Etymologicum Magnum.” (Manetho, 1964).

The important passage about the Hyksos is found in Josephus and to quote from his work

“In his reign, for what cause I know not, a blast of God smote us; and unexpectedly, from the regions of the East, invaders of obscure race marched in confidence of victory against our land. By main force they easily seized it without striking a blow;4 and having overpowered the rulers of the land, they then burned our cities ruthlessly, razed to the ground the temples of the gods, and treated all the natives with a cruel hostility, massacring some and leading into slavery the wives and children of others.” (Manetho, 1964)

The only real time that this could have taken place was after the Pharaoh and his army were destroyed during the Exodus. While it is quite possible that the Hyksos could have come to power through non military means, like Joseph had, that does not seem probable as they would have had to have complete control over the Egyptian military and other high offices to make the coup work and it is hard to consider the Egyptian army rebelling against their own people in favor of foreigners. Among other obstacles.

Since the Hyksos presence in Northern Egypt has been referred to as an invasion, there really is not record of any invasion of Egypt during the 13^th or 14^th dynasties that would explain their entering the land (ABR, 2005).

Egypt was not a weak nation until the Exodus took place making it possible for an invading force to take the land without, as Manetho describes, striking a blow. Their army was gone as was their Pharaoh and reeling from all the plagues including the loss of the first born, the people of Egypt were not in the frame of mind or position to defend their land.

Ahmose I may have expelled the Hyksos as the Rhind papyrus has mentioned but it is possible that it was after his stated rule of 1550 to 1525 BC. (Dunn, 2020). Because of the sparsity of records it is hard to say and theories do abound.

One must be cautious when using Manetho because he was commissioned by Ptolemy II to write the histories and given Egyptian mentality, Manetho could have changed Egyptian history to make the country seem better than it was (Kinnaer, 2018). Without copies of his original work it can never be certain what was written in his books.

Who were the Hyksos

This is a very good question and no one really knows who exactly they were. It has been said that they were a Semitic people who had found their way to Egypt and got as far as Avaris (Mark, 2017).

Others have said that the Hyksos were a near eastern people or from Asia but the existing documentation does not really go into detail as to their exact origin (Youngblood, 1995).

There is even trouble trying to find the meaning behind the name Hyksos. Some people call it an incorrect translation as they disagree with the shepherd kings definition and prefer the one that accompanies the words hikau khausut which means rulers of foreign lands (Dunn, 2020).

There may some confusion at work as Manetho was writing centuries after the fact> he may have got his data mixed up either by accident or on purpose. This confusion has had scholars attaching the name Hyksos to the Hebrews who were in the land with the ones who were said to have ruled the land between the 13^th and 17^th dynasties. The key to remember is that Hyksos came to Egypt from mysterious origins and left the country to a mysterious fate.

Which leaves the opening that the Hyksos could have been the Amalekites who were a people who were described as one of the first nations rendering their origin unknown and who died out from history a few centuries later without any records about their civilization left extant.

This destruction of any knowledge falls in line with what God said he would do to the Amalekites after their attack on Israel in Exodus 17. In verse 14 God told Moses- “14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven” (NASB).

If this is the case, the Amalekites could easily gone to Egypt after their battle with the Hebrews and took over the land as far as Avaris without striking a blow. There was no one left to stop them from doing that.

The Pharaoh who did not know Joseph

Since the Bible does not mention the name of the Pharaoh who took over after Joseph died many theories abound. One respected archaeologist has said that the only time the Hebrews could have been in Egypt and built Pithom was during the claimed Hyksos time (Wood, 2008).

The reasoning behind that identification was that the new Hyksos king would have no real knowledge of Egyptian history and would not have been told about Joseph and his achievements (Wood, 2008).

That is hard to ascertain as it does not fit in with what the Pharaoh had said when he declared that the Hebrews were to be made slave. Another theory also pins the enslavement on the Hyksos as the person creating this theory stated that this was something the Egyptians would not say and it was something that the Hyksos would say (EU, 2020).

That explanation makes no sense as the Hyksos were trying to rule a large group of people already. Most likely the Egyptians outnumbered the Hyksos and with the latter not conquering the whole land, there were far too many free Egyptians to worry about than the Hebrews.

The Egyptians on the other hand had something to fear from the growing number of Hebrews as they had, like every other ancient civilizations, reason to believe that the Hebrews would join forces with their enemies and conquer the land.

If the Hebrews were under Hyksos control, then they could have easily escaped to the free part of Egypt and joined forces with the Egyptians and drive out the invaders. With the Egyptians as the ones who enslaved the Hebrews, that hope and possibility disappears as the Hebrews had no place to escape to.

To find the Pharaoh of the Exodus, it it may be left to a search of one who was not a first born child unless the Pharaoh was spared from being killed in the last plague. The Pharaoh who took over for the one killed at the Red Sea could not be a first born child.

As the Bible tells us- “4 Moses said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, 5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well.” (Exodus 11 NASB).

It is also possible that the Pharaoh who enslaved the Hebrews was not the same as the pharaoh of the Exodus for this reason- “ 19 Now the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” (Exodus 4 NASB).

It is hard to say but that seems to be the indication. In finding the identity we have the clues just as we have the clues as to when the Hyksos ruled in Egypt and who the Hyksos were.

The Egyptian timeline cannot be left up to unbelieving Egyptologists to figure out. They are not in search of the truth and may still be carrying out the ancient Egyptian tradition of creating a history that makes their people look better than they were. They also do not have God helping them.

Works Cited

ABR, (2005). Bible and Spade, 18(1), 9.

Dunn, J., (2020), “ Who were the Hyksos”, Tour Egypt, http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/hyksos.htm

EU, (2020), “Date of the Exodus”, Evidence Unseen, http://www.evidenceunseen.com/date-of-the-exodus/

Harrison, R.K., (2005), “Old Testament Times”, Baker Books

Kinnaer, J., (2018), “ Manetho”, The Egyptian Site, http://ancient-egypt.org/who-is-who/m/manetho.html

Lundstrom, P., (2020), “the Royal Code of Turin”, Pharaoh.se, https://pharaoh.se/royal-canon-of-turin

Malik, J., (2011), “Egyptian Art”, Phaidon, Pg. 430

Manetho. (1964). History of Egypt and Other Works. (T. E. Page, E. Capps, L. A. Post, W. H. D. Rouse, & E. H. Warmington, Eds., W. G. Waddell, Trans.) (p. vii). Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann Ltd.

Mark, J., (2017), “Hyksos”, Ancient History Encyclopedia, https://www.ancient.eu/Hyksos/

Redmount, C. A. (2001). Ethnicity, Pottery, and the Hyksos at Tell El-Maskhuta in the Egyptian Delta. Biblical Archaeologist: Volume 58 1-4, (electronic ed.), 183.

Wood, B., (2016), ‘DAVID ROHL’S REVISED EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGY: A VIEW FROM PALESTINE”, Biblia.work, https://www.biblia.work/sermons/davidrohls-revised-egyptian-chronology-a-view-from-palestine/

________, (2008), “From Ramesses to Shiloh: Archaeological Discoveries Bearing on the Exodus-Judges Period”, Associates for Biblical Research, https://biblearchaeology.org/research/conquest-of-canaan/2403-from-ramesses-to-shiloh-archaeological-discoveries-bearing-on-the-exodusjudges-period?highlight=WyJoeWtzb3MiLCInaHlrc29zJyIsIidoeWtzb3MnLXRoZSJd

Youngblood, R. F., Bruce, F. F., & Harrison, R. K., Thomas Nelson Publishers (Eds.). (1995). In Nelson’s new illustrated Bible dictionary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.