The Faking of Moses

The author and the inventor of the biblical Moses, studied in Egypt well and was well acquainted with a lot of its famous literature and some of its true historical events. however he lacked historical back round, since he mentions few things that did not exist in the time of the exodus, for example; the fact that the Egyptians did not use burnt bricks to built the city of Pi Ramses, not even Mud bricks were used, but stones to built his new capital. The burnt bricks were used in roman times for city construction.

Also the use of camels, Egyptians did not have camels until 40 A. D when it introduced as a way of transport by the Romans.

The astronomical Figures of masses of people are so exaggerated, but it was acceptable in the Christine age to add few zeros, and spice up stories to make more dramatic and grandiose,

The Amount of parallel data can not be ignored, for it concern almost every aspect of the bible with Egyptian Data that proves the originality of the historic events and literature in Ancient Egypt.

The Authors also never thought ahead in time, thinking that no one will discover one day through Archaeology and Science the truth. The Roman empire was desperate, in its need to control the vast empire they conquered, loosing battles against the northern barbarians, and having revolts in the middle east, led them to the idea of unifying a new religion and creating division among the middle eastern neighbours, and thus the beginning of forging and changing, religious and historic facts, one of these famous characters was Josephus Flavius ,

Josephus Flavius also thought to be a true Roman , alleged Jew, and considered traitor by the Jews, in Roman sources (???) who fought with the Romans in Massada against his fellow Judeans, and wrote the History of the Jews, but has falsified the history, and the Romans, used men such as Aralias Pasco , the Governor of Syria under General (later Emperor) Vespasian and the inventor of Christianity, and by mass murder and destruction, got ride of most Jewish priest and learned men, and enslaved the nation, and forced their own teachings and their own propaganda of total mass control. They Began with the destruction of the universities and schools in Egypt and in Judea and other nations, they destroyed what was on the surface in Egypt, but not what was hidden in the ground, by the time of Christianity, these people could no longer read the Ancient Egyptian Language but relied on the Greek texts and other stories of the time.

The Egyptian Religion was so powerful all over the ancient world, that Rome had to contain it or even better replaced it with something that they could control the masses and enslave the rest of the Middle East.

However the evidence is simply coming from two famous historical episodes in Ancient Egypt, that were written by the Famous Egyptian Historian Menatho.

" Manetho was a Graeco-Egyptian priest in the Temple of Heliopolis. He was born in Sebennytos (in the Delta) during the Third Centuary A.D. His "Egyptian History" divided the rulers into dynasties, or ruling houses and formed the basis of the modern system of dating Ancient Egypt. He had access to many sources which no longer exist (such as temple records), but also included legends and fanciful stories. As a result, you have to take some of his stories with a pinch of salt.

No full copies of Manetho's text remain, we only have short sections of text and a few references in the writings of Josephus Flavius (first century A.D), Sextus Julius Africanus (third century B.C), Eusebius of Cesarea (third/fourth century B.C) and George Syncellos (a Byzantine historian from the eighth century A.D). As a result, our knowledge of the original text is limited, and coloured by the opinions of the authors who referred to him."

The First historic event of Two Brothers KA MOSE AND AH MOSE, the Theban princes and the struggle against the Hyksos with the final expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt.

The Second the Historic Episode of king Akhenaten and His Time, which archaeological evidence proves an exodus from his city of Akhetaten.

v The name Moses is an Egyptian name which means the legitimate heir or son of.

v Why the Bible failed to mention the name of the pharaoh? or most of the Kings of Egypt.

v No Basket read can survive in the Nile, many tried that experiment and it utterly failed, all baskets with baby dolls drowned in the basket, however there is the famous story of the Holy Isis when she hid her Son Holy Horus from his evil uncle Seth, the Brother of Holy Osiris, in a reed basket in the marshes., again a story that was copied by the inventors of the bible.

v Why would a princess of Egypt, unmarried adopt a a foreign child in the first place, but let us assume that her kind human heart was to save the poor child from the Nile, but then how did moses's sister ? Miriam " an Egyptian name from "Meryamen " gain access to the palace or the princess, may be its fate and the will of god.

v The Old Testament mentioned that slaves burned bricks to build the new Store City, a practice that was introduced during Roman period. In Egypt they used dried mud bricks not burn them. And the city of Pi Ramses was built by Stones not even mud bricks.

v Why would a prince of Egypt run away for killing an Egyptian Forman, surely his adoptive mother the princess, daughter of pharaoh, would protect him, if not the pharaoh himself, unless as in a democratic country no one was above the law and murder was not acceptable in a civilized society such as Ancient Egypt who had laws far more advanced than the so called ten commandments?

v Moses story when he escaped to the Midianite tribes can be found in the classical story in Egypt from the Middle Kingdom in the famous story of Sinuhy

" He set me at the head of his children. He married me to his eldest daughter. He let me choose for myself of his land, of the best that was his, on his border with another land. It was a good land called Yaa. Figs were in it and grapes. It had more wine than water. Abundant was its honey, plentiful its oil. All kinds of fruit were on its trees. Barley was there and emmer, and no end of cattle of all kinds. Much also came to me because of the love of me; for he had made me chief of a tribe in the best part of his land. Loaves were made for me daily, and wine as daily fare, cooked meat, roast fowl, as well as desert game. For they snared for me and laid it before me, in addition to the catch of my hounds. Many sweets were made for me, and milk dishes of all kinds."

please also that other parts of the very same story was later copied for the story of David and the Goliath in the same manner, which is more prove that they copied these stories from famous Egyptian stories and classical tales.

"There came a hero of Retenu,
To challenge me in my tent.
A champion was he without peer,
He had subdued it all.
He said he would fight with me,
He planned to plunder me,
He meant to seize my cattle
At the behest of his tribe.

The ruler conferred with me and I said: "I do not know him; I am not his ally, that I could walk about in his camp. Have I ever opened his back rooms or climbed over his fence? It is envy, because he sees me doing your commissions. I am indeed like a stray bull in a strange herd, whom the bull of the herd charges, whom the longhorn attacks. Is an inferior beloved when he becomes a superior? No Asiatic makes friends with a Delta-man. And what would make papyrus cleave to the mountain? If a bull loves combat, should a champion bull retreat for fear of being equalled? If he wishes to fight, let him declare his wish. Is there a god who does not know what he has ordained, and a man who knows how it will be?"

At night I strung my bow, sorted my arrows, practiced with my dagger, polished my weapons. When it dawned Retenu came. It had assembled its tribes; it had gathered its neighbouring peoples; it was intent on this combat.

He came toward me while I waited, having placed myself near him. Every heart burned for me; the women jabbered. All hearts ached for me thinking: "Is there another champion who could fight him?" He raised his battle-axe and shields while his armful of missiles fell toward me. When I had made his weapons attack me, I let his arrows pass me by without effect, one following the other. Then, when he charged me, I shot him, my arrow sticking in his neck. He screamed; he fell on his nose; I slew him with his axe. I raised my war cry over his back, while every Asiatic shouted. I gave praise to Mont, while his people mourned him. The ruler Ammunenshi took me in his arms."

v Why on earth would impoverished slaves have a festival for seventy days of wine, dine, and dance? Their Egyptian masters must have been too kind to let them have such a feast and not work.

v Moses the prince of Egypt why did he need his brother to translate from Egyptian into a Semitic language to explain to people who lived in Egypt for more than 400 years and all spoke Egyptian and had Egyptian names? Perhaps their Egyptian language was washed away while crossing the red sea, or it was forgotten while being lost in the Sinai by Moses & his followers for forty years.

v Exodus 3:21-22 and 12:36 that god gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians and that every women will asks her neighbour for silver and gold for their sojourn from Egypt, the Egyptian must have been too kind to their neighbour slaves who were in a such a hurry to leave Egypt.

v The Ten Plagues can be read in Egyptian fairy tales such as the story of Si Osiris and the Sealed letter, when a battle of magic between the famous Egyptian ten year old boy named Si Osiris son of the famous magician and prince of Egypt, son of King Ramses II, Prince Stena Khaemose against the giant Ethiopian magician.

v More strange, they went up armed out of the land of Egypt, six hundred thousand armed men with their families only to be chased by the pharaoh himself and a mere six hundred chariots (exodus 14) manned by two charioteers gives us a total of only 1200 men, charioteers and bowmen, against a formidable armed force of 600 000 men, of which at least they would have had a minimum of one hundred thousand capable fighting men. Wow!!!! The Egyptians must have also lost their mind to chase after them or may be the Egyptian army was armed with formidable weapons that are unheard of till today. However we know that the population in Egypt during this period could not have been in the hundred of millions, Egypt population at Ramses time must have been just over two million, so the Israelites left Egypt and wandered in the desert, why bother, they could have taken it by force. The Egyptian army of Ramses II numbered maximum in one big war, as in the battle of Kadesh just twenty thousands, not even one hundred thousand, the Egyptian would have been outnumber sixty to one.

v the crossing of the sea of reed and the opening of the sea of reeds in two halves can be read in an old fairytale from Ancient Egypt called the Lotus Flower and The Magic Book of Princess Ahura

v Why would Moses carry the royal sceptre only held by a king or a co regent and keeps it with himself and show it to the people, was he a king or perhaps a co regent? but no prince can have access to this kingly sceptre.

v Where did two million people wandering in Sinai (Exodus 13), who were armed and reasonable too rich for impoverished slaves come from? (Were they the 60 000 inhabitants who lived and later exiled from the city of Akhetaten to the city of the lepers by order of the new military generals in Egypt during the end of the Akhenaten period under the new appointed boy king Tut Ankh Amun

v Moses the astronomer why was he lost in Sinai for forty years, with his extreme knowledge and the expertise and education in Egypt and of those who where with him?

v The Tempest Stele of King Ahmose I, Found in the Karnak Temple in Thebes, King Ahmose I who liberated the north of Egypt from the rule of the Hyksos and finally expelled them from Egypt, has few things in common with the story of the bible

... now then ... the gods declared their discontent. The gods [caused] the sky to come in a tempest of rain, with darkness in the western region and the sky being unleashed without [cessation, louder than] the cries of the masses, more powerful than [...], [while the rain raged] on the mountains louder than the noise of the cataract which is at Elephantine.

Then his Majesty began ... to provide them with silver, with gold, with copper, with oil, and of every bolt [of cloth] that could be desired. Then his majesty made himself comfortable inside the palace.

In the Bible, an exact equivalent of the description above is to be found.

This is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, silver, and brass [copper]. And cloth of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen ... oil for the light, spices for anointing oil and for sweet incense ... and let them make a [palace] sanctuary that I may dwell among them.

Josephus Falvius Histories of the Jews Reads:

v The Ark of the Covenant, a holy vehicle housing the two tablets, why was it of an Egyptian design adorned with Egyptian images and Egyptian godly designs, Egyptian Goddess with the wings around the box ?

v The Tabernacle was nothing but the mobile Egyptian Temple used by the Pharaoh while leaving Egypt for war or visits abroad or during military campaigns and while laying siege to cities, as king Ahmose I surly did outside the gates of Avaris the capital city of the Hyksos.

v The ten commandments, what language was it written in? Aramaic, Hebrew, Canaanite, or perhaps Egyptian, since the mass of the exodus only spoke & wrote Egyptian? Hebrew was not yet invented nor known, not until the year six hundred B. C anyway new evidence in Egypt is emerging of the development of the hebrew written words, from Hyksos period.

v The ten commandments, why two out of ten are adultery (women & neighbour) ? Ancient Egypt had the Forty Two Holy Commandment of Maat, which Rape is the second highest sin after murder, something the the Bible, Torah and Quran does not mention, does their god perhaps does not recognise Rape as sin?

1. I have not committed murder, neither have I bid any one to slay on my behalf;

2. I have not committed rape, neither have I forced any one to commit fornication;

v Why was slavery & Rape were not considered as a sin in the bible? Especially slavery, other wise what was the point of the Exodus, and the freeing of slavery, and what was that god trying to proof by freeing the slaves out of Egypt? for what purpose does it serve, especially that they have committed the very same act of enslavement and genocide to other tribes.

v Out of Two million people who left Egypt, not one was able to write about these spectacular events nor have any written documents, yet we are told of the scribes and priest among them, and they just carried their stories and bible through the oral tradition, even when the mythical Solomon ( now identified as king Amenhotep III) was busy building these great mythical buildings that have not been found nor exists and not one shred of evidence what so ever.

v Why did Moses (An Egyptian Prince) needed his brother Aaron, who was not ordered to be killed by the King of Egypt as the brother Moses, for unknown reasons, as a speaker before Pharaoh to ask for the freedom of his people? What language does he actually speaks, if not Semitic, Hebrew, or Egyptian. Yet he spoke fluent Egyptian since he was raised all his life in Egypt as a prince? may be he spoke LATIN???

v Where is the evidence for two million people who allegedly escaped from Egypt lived and wandered in the Sinai for forty years, some evidence, graves, water, wells, food supplies, animal stock, faeces, may be some broken chariots, wheels, objects or settlements were these people kept on moving around. Ect… (Anything)? no nothing has been found in the dry desert in Sinai yet or never, as it was excavated very well.

v Why Moses’ brother Aaron the new high priest changed his mind and made the golden Calf Goddess Hathor’ for the Israelites to worship and dance after Moses left them for forty days to have a meeting with god on top of a mountain in order to receive the two engraved tablets of the ten commandments? Did they all loose their faith and went back to their own (Egyptian worship of the old gods). When Moses came back he was so furious he broke the holy two stone tablets and destroyed the statue of Hathor and murdered and slayed 3000 of his own people but not his brother, (he forgave him) and afterwards disappeared for another forty days to ask for a duplicates of the two stone tablets from god? why god took too long to make these tablets, it is known that an Egyptian scribe can carve and polish two tablets within four days.

v Exodus 12 mention of Egyptian priest that left with Moses, where they Atonist priest? Their names in the bible were - Mery Re Levi, Penhasy, Mary, Maya, Bint Aneth, korah, Datham, Abiram and On son of Peleth. very Egyptian names. The Second Exodus during the time of King Akhenaten

v It was Pharaoh Horemhab and his Generals who destroyed the Akhnaton Royal Family and erased all their names, cities, statues, tombs and the names of the four Pharaohs from Akhnaton, Semenkhare, Tutankhamun and Ay and it was forbidden to even utter their name of Akhnaton or the name of Aton, it was punishable by death. That is why in the Jewish worship they don’t mention Adonie, but Jehovah. Adonie, means my lord, ATON is the same name in the bible, yet not allowed to be pronounced by the readers of the bible, instead they read it as yehova. Because it became forbidden to mention the name of ATON or Akhnaton after the return to the old reforms of Egypt. Also Adonai means in Hebrew my lord, ai = my and Adon means Aton (lord).

please note the if a man called Tutu in Egypt, his name will e pronounced Dudu in Canaan or Syria, the T becomes a D.

v Menatho, the Egyptian historian 300 BC, wrote of two expulsions from Egypt

v Why did Moses turn against his Midianite tribe and had them killed and had the rest enslaved? After all the help and hospitality they gave him, and married one of their daughter, and the prince of Egypt became a simple shepherd (a job held by the women in most Bedouin tribes). In number 31 in the bible tells the evil tale that twelve thousand armed men sent by Moses (they slew all the males, the five leaders, and all male children, and all the women who were not virgins and distributed all the rest of goods and distributed the captured virgins Midianites and wealth among the twelve tribes), what a vengeance on the tribe of one’s wife, from a prophet sent by god to free people from oppression and slavery. its a holocaust and genocide acts as some famous leaders (Hitler) did in modern history. that makes Moses the first war criminal in history of the world according to the bible, if the bible is true, than Moses must stand trial as a war criminal, and be charged for the following crimes:

v Only two known survivors made it to the Promised Land with a new generation after forty years of wandering. Moses was killed in a final battle with his Bedouin allies by the Egyptian army in Sinai.

v Analyzing the story, one can see clear evidence that a group of students lived and studied in Egypt, and were well acquainted with the above tales and literature of ancient Egypt, and the mystery system of Egypt, but were very bitter, angry, and envious of Egypt and Egyptians in general, as some religious fundamentalist feel today when they live or study in the USA or Europe, and they rebel against the social system and the advanced host nation, and refuses to adopt or change, usually due to racism and discrimination by the advanced culture, as the Egyptians were, since they were famous for their arrogance and had no respect for no one who was not Egyptian, they referred to foreigners in their language in the vocabulary as barbarians, examples given to us by the harsh treatment that was given to Pythagoras when he was granted permission to learn in Egypt by king Amasis.

v These biblical scholars or students had a need to create a kind of confusing history for the enslaved people, based on Egyptian tales, literature and historic events, and that is the only reasons behind the ambiguity of most of their biblical stories that had no logic or any kind of reality, or any historic or archaeological proof, just simple fantastic fairy tales as some modern stories like the lord of the ring or Hollywood style of movies, in order to influence the ignorant and the simple minded, the more the fantastic the story is, the more they gained power and the built up of national religious feeling over their own people. (Hollywood would have made a better script.) Tales to be told to desert nomadic tribes who lived in the desert or primitive tribal community as also the tales of one thousand and one nights in the middle east is still is a great fascination among children as well as adults

it is evident that the inventors of the story of Moses were not well informed in dates and true facts of the time other wise they would have written a better convincing story.

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Was RAMSES II The Pharaoh of the Exodus? since it was he who built a city after his name, as Akhnaton did in his new capital named the City of Akhetaten

Many Bible scholars recognized the conflict between Bible date of the Exodus and the Egyptian dates of the 18th dynasty. Thus many of these Bible scholars shifted from the 18th dynasty to the 19th dynasty as the time of the Exodus, identifying Ramses II as the Pharaoh of the Exodus.

Most Egyptologists and Archaeologists date Ramses II's reign from 1279 to 1213 B.C. However 1 Kings 6:1 says that 480 years separated Solomon's fourth year (966 B.C.) from the Exodus in 1446 B.C. Scholars who identify Ramses II as the Pharaoh of the Exodus consider the 480 years of 1 Kings 6:1 to only 284 years in order to date the Exodus, 1250 B.C. in the middle of Ramses II's long reign of 67 years.

a) Ramses was a store city in Moses' day, not a capital city. The Pharaoh of Moses birth built Ramses and Pithom as "store cities" (Ex.1:11), Ramses II built Pi-Ramses as his CAPITAL city, not a store city.

b) Zoan, not Pi-Ramses is the capital of Egypt in Moses' day. Numbers 13:22 and Psalm 78:12,43 imply that Zoan (Tanis) was the capital of Egypt when the plagues fell on Egypt.

c) In Moses' day the store city of Ramses was built out of burnt bricks (Ex.1:11 5:6-9) but Pi-Ramses, the capital of Ramses II was built out of stone.

d) The Hebrews and the tribe of Asher, lived in Canaan hundreds of years, some 350 years before Ramses II reigned. (Asher was one of the 12 tribes of Israel.)

e) Ramses II reigned too long to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Pharaoh of Exodus must have reigned less than 10 years, Ramses II reigned 67 years.

f) Merenptah, the thirteenth son of Ramses II, reported in his 5th year, the Merenptah Victory Stele that Israel among other nations, was desolated in Canaan however the Bible says Israel conquered Canaan 40 years after the Exodus and remained at peace for another 40 years. these numbers and dates are truly unbelievable

g) The Conquest occurred in the archaeological age called Middle Bronze II, not the Late Bronze Age.

h) The First born Son of Ramses II, prince Amenherpekeshef died from a sever head wound, not from the plague, and he was well over thirty years of age not a child as the bible say. so it can not be him, he was either killed in battle or accident as his mummy shows a head wound.

i) There were no Philistine Cities along the coast to Canaan during this period, as the bible mention, not for another four hundred years, so why did moses want to avoid cities that did not exist yet? and with an army of six hundred thousand men, who did they fear, for the one thousand two hundred men of the chariots of Pharaoh all drowned against them in the sea of reeds. Why would these huge numbers of six hundred thousand armed men fear such a small army chariots, may be they had super natural weapons unknown to us today, and god had to intervene quickly to save the two million people.

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In the 480th year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt, in the 4th year of Solomon's reign , in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple.

In the spring of 966 B.C. is established as Solomon's 4th year. This date of 966 B.C. is determined by ten astronomically calculated dates that connect the reigns of Biblical kings to eight different Assyrian and Babylonian kings.

v It also very astonishing that the biggest Icons prophets and the bible all had few things in common, EGYPT and always Egypt.

a) Joseph_ lived in Egypt most of his life, educated, worked at the house of Potiphara an Egyptian Army general, and later at the royal court. Spoke fluent Egyptian and was buried like an Egyptian and married to the daughter of the high priest of Heliopolis also named Potiphara. May be all Egyptians were called Potiphara.

b) Moses; born, raised & educated in royal court and in the district of On (Helipolis) in Egypt and was a prince at the royal court. Spoke only Egyptian. however we have no clue what language he actual spoke in the story of the bible, it seems that only god and Aaron knew.

c) Jesus_ was raised and lived and was educated in Egypt since the age of one till thirty years of age, speaks fluent Egyptian, Greek and Latin, who lived under the protection of Sanctuary of the temple of Thoth in Hermopolis, and was taught the hermetic teachings. Yet no mention in the bible of what happened after Mary escapade to Egypt with her baby (Jesus) and headed south till they were given sanctuary in the temple of Tehuti in Hermopolis. They also visited the city of Memphis, but there was no mention of the city of Alexandria, which was the most civilized city in the world and a centre for all philosophical and spiritual schools. also in the bible it clearly state that God said "and I will bring my son out of Egypt"

d) Other prophets usually ran into the arms of Egypt for protection or when they needed food or sanctuary.

e) They also voluntary sold themselves into slavery when situations were harsh, Deuteronomy 28:68 _ God will bring you back to Egypt… and you will offer yourselves for sale as slaves and bondswomen there, but there will be no buyer. It was very costly thing to have and keep a slave in those days. Same as having a maid or housekeeper in Europe today.

f) Solomon, who is no other than( King Amenhotep III) used everything of Egypt in order to build his palaces, schools, administration and religious structures in Jerusalem, and he died just before the sack of Jerusalem by pharaoh Shishak, the first time in biblical history a name of a king of Egypt was named.

The Name Sholomen (Solomon) is very unique, if translated into Egyptian it follow as thus:

Thus King Amenhotep III was known as King Sholomen, as it was in his time that Egypt was and imperial power and very peaceful time as well it was he who had more than 1000 wives in harem and the description of his palace is as described in the bible.

Egypt was the country to be in, if you wanted to become learned and wise, then go to Egypt, it was the most civilized country of its time. We have also many other examples of very famous people who learned and were educated in the temples of Egypt. Such as Pythagoras, Aristotle, and the whole philosophy ideals, Democritus, and many others. It properly all started in Egypt during the reign of king Amasis due to his open policy of diplomacy and mutual help to educate the foreign nationals at the famous Egyptian universities, in return for military alliances, the world saw Egypt as the great civilisation of the world, and these universities at their time were the equivalent, of oxford or Cambridge in England, or Harvard in the USA.

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The Population at the Exodus

In Question Ninety-Five I answer the so-called problem of the population of
Israel at the Exodus that has given people so much trouble over the
centuries. To keep my answer short for the question itself, I did not
present some of the problems that scholars have had to face if one takes the
men of the two censuses to be living men who accompanied Moses with the rest
of the Israelites out of Egypt. We get into imponderable difficulties if we
do so. The answer I give in Question Ninety-Five presents the most
reasonable explanation of this matter. But let us look at some of the
problems that Question Ninety-Five attempts to answer.

In the first place, when Israel left Egypt they had 603,550 armed men for
war if all of those men were living at the time (Numbers 1:46). This number
included all able bodied men from the age of twenty (Numbers 1:45) to the
age of retirement at year fifty (Number 4:3;John 8:57) or sometimes sixty
(Leviticus 27:7). But if all the women, children and older people over fifty
(or sixty) are included, the number of Israelites who left Egypt must have
numbered about two and a half million. This is a vast amount of people going
into a desolate desert area east of Egypt. Let us assume for a moment that
all the men of the census were indeed living at the time and were not a part
of the pedigree records that were mentioned by Moses which also included
(the dead and the living). Let us look at the difficulties if we reckon all
the men as then living.

Moses took the Israelites along the regular roads of communication. They
went by "the way [highway] of the wilderness of the Red Sea" (Exodus 13:18);
"the way [highway] of Mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea" (Deuteronomy 1:2); "and
the king's highway" (Numbers 21:22). These roads in the latter part of their
journey connected various settlements with water wells, springs and mountain
passes. They were usually constructed by governments for military and
commercial purposes. The ancient roads were similar to ones today in their
routings but they had no asphalt coverings for high speed transport. They
were normally graded roadbeds which wagons or caravans could use. Israel
used the well-traveled roads in their journeys from Egypt to Palestine. And
herein comes the first difficulty.

When our American west was being settled, wagon trains followed the various
trails. A typical wagon train could have had some 250 people in it and was a
quarter of a mile or so in length. Thus, if a wagon train were extended to a
mile in length, there could theoretically be nearly 1000 people in it
(though in practical terms there would no doubt be less). But Israel
supposedly numbered two and a half million people if all the people of the
censuses were then living. But Moses promised the king of Edom that "we will
not pass through the fields, or vineyard. . .we will not turn to the right
hand nor to the left" (Numbers 20:17). In other words, Moses said that
Israel would stay directly on the narrow road through the country of Edom.
If one mile of road could hold about 1000 Israelites with wagons, etc.
(which is very reasonable), then the length of the Israelite march would be
at least 2,500 miles long. Such a length of people would stretch from Egypt
to the border of China. This, of course, is hardly possible. Even if the
wagons went ten abreast, the train would still be 250 miles long. If they
journeyed a hundred wagon abreast, such a massive wagon train of Israelites
would still be 25 miles long. As anyone can see, Israel would never have
been able to stay on the roads with such a mass of people. Yet Moses told
the king of Edom that Israel would never step off a single road through his
territory.

A Further Difficulty
After traveling some six weeks into a desolate wilderness, the Israelites
came in contact with the Amalekite army (Exodus 17:8). Israel had in their
army no less than 600,000 men (that is, if the men were all living
men) --more than all the combined armed forces of Great Britain today. And
yet, the armies of Amalek were able to defeat Israel while the hands of
Moses remained unlifted (Exodus 17:11). Israel finally prevailed and
conquered the Amalekites. But herein lies a problem. For any army to defeat
another in normal combat, the winning army usually has a superior force.
Were there also some 600,000 Amalekite soldiers out in the middle of the
Sinai desert as well? While Israel had miraculous water and food to sustain
them alive in such a desolate environment, did the heathen Amalekites also
have the miraculous food and water supplies? How could such a vast heathen
army provide for itself in such hostile conditions?

Of course, with the explanation that I have given in Question Ninety-Five,
this is not a problem of importance.

Another Dilemma
If all those 600,000 men were living men, then we have other difficulties.
Soon after the defeat of the Amalekite army, Jethro, the father-in-law of
Moses, met him not far from Mt. Sinai (Exodus 18). Jethro was amazed that
Moses had yet to establish a chain of command in judging Israel. He hastened
him to initiate a rulership of men over thousands, hundreds, fifties and
tens (Exodus 18:21) so that Moses would not be worn out by trying to settle
all the judicial affairs of 2 1/2 million people. But this information
represents a major problem. Israel had already been on their journey some
six weeks and they numbered about the size of the city of Los Angeles on the
move (that is, as I have been pointing out, if the men were all living men).
Would it not be impossible to muster such a prodigious quantity of people
into some kind of orderly march without various chains of command already
established? This is a major difficulty as anyone would admit who looks
closely at the matter.

Another Perplexity
After wondering forty years in the wilderness, Israel invaded the land of
Canaan under the leadership of Joshua. Though all the first men of war died
in the wilderness, a new generation of Israelite men numbering 601,730 were
armed for war (Numbers 26). This means there were still about two and a half
million people who crossed the River Jordan and were responsible for
capturing the city of Jericho (again, if all the men were living men). But
this does not square with the facts. Look at this.

The ruins of Jericho (the city that Joshua conquered) are still to be seen
today. There can be no doubt of the identification of the site. When I have
taken people to Israel and show the ruins of ancient Jericho, they express
amazement at its smallness. It's an area of about ten acres. Professor
Kenyon, who excavated the site from 1952 to 1956, says that the greatest
population that Jericho could possibly have had was 3,000 souls. The area of
Jericho was a little under two square city blocks. If we allow that Jericho
had a population of 3,000 people, then the Israelites would have outnumbered
those Canaanite residents over 800 to one if all the men were living. Some
have wondered why God had to cause the walls to tumble down when Israel had
such an extraordinary advantage.

Let's put it another way. On New Year's Day in Pasadena, California there is
the annual Rose Bowl football game. About 106,000 people can sit in the
stadium bleachers. Suppose the ancient city of Jericho were placed in the
center of the Rose Bowl stadium, one would have to have 24 times the New
Year's spectators to equal the amount of Israelites who conquered little
Jericho. No miracle would have been necessary to subdue Jericho.

The former Prime Minister of modern Israel, David Ben-Gurion, saw the
problem of having so many men as recorded in the censuses. He thought his
ancient forefathers of the Exodus did not number 600,000 armed men for the
war, but only 600. If that were so, the logistical problems associated with
the above examples could be better dealt with. However, with only 600
Israelite soldiers leaving Egypt (or some 2,500 people when the women,
children, and older people are included), the Egyptian Pharaoh could hardly
have said "Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and
mightier than we" (Exodus 1:9). BenGurion's suggestion would also be counter
to Bible information which says Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, told Moses to
divide up judicial responsibility among the Israelites into thousands,
hundreds, fifties, and tens (Exodus 18:21). The thousands that Jethro had
reference to certainly represent more than 600.

And there are further problems. Some scholars have shown that since Jethro
did not suggest that Moses place rulers over "a hundred thousand," over
"fifty thousand," or even over "ten thousand," Jethro may have been aware
that Moses' army of men were less than ten thousand in number. This is
because Jethro's suggestion started out only with thousands (and then
downward). However, we are told that 40,000 (not 600,000) did in fact cross
the Jordan River (Joshua 4:13).

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Ancient Egypt and Judaism
Sunday May 16, 2010
What is the relationship between Egyptian religion and ancient Judaism?
There was a time when the links were being explored by scholars, with many
thinking that Egypt was at one point a strong influence on the Hebrews.
Today the connections seem to be dismissed or ignored, but that really needs
to change. It's implausible that the large, powerful kingdoms of Egypt would
have had no influence on a smaller trading partner and buffer against great
powers in the east.
Ahram reports:

Borrowing by one culture from another is a natural part of intellectual
growth, and the fact that the process works both ways only serves to
emphasise its fundamental truth. Egyptian words and metaphors translated
into Hebrew can be paralleled by influences operating in reverse -- Hebrew
words and names which have passed into the Ancient Egyptian language.
However, by far the largest and most persuasive mass of evidence clearly
indicates the primacy of the longer and more enduring civilisation of Egypt.

There were contacts between Egypt and the Syria-Palestine region as early
as the Middle Kingdom, around 2000 BC, when Egypt exercised economic, if not
political, domination over the Levant. It is in this period that the
migration of the Hebrew patriarchs to and from Egypt belong (Gen. 12:10ff).
Contacts increased during the New Kingdom, especially following the
conquests of Thutmose III, the creator of a vast Egyptian empire. Thutmose
went to war regularly every summer and returned to Egypt around the end of
September. The "Annals of Thutmose III" which are inscribed on the outer
wall of the sanctuary at Karnak give details of the cities and tribes
subdued in the course of his military campaigns.

Contacts between Egypt and the Hebrew people increased during the
so-called Period of Decline that followed the New Kingdom. David, a member
of the Edomite royal house, fled to Egypt and was given political asylum by
an unnamed Pharaoh (1 Kings 11: 14-22). Solomon married an Egyptian princess
(1 Kings 3:1) and the palace he constructed for her was of Egyptian design;
he also patterned his scribal schools on those of Egypt. No wonder that such
a large number of Egyptian loan words, phrases and intellectual ideas should
be preserved in the Old Testament, along with a large number of idiomatic
expressions, and two Egyptian units of measure.
We can trace the influence of Babylonian beliefs in Judaism, like the
introduction of angles after the Babylonian Captivity. So what about Egypt?
For example, might the development of Jewish monotheism been helped along by
the early, though short, attempt to introduce monotheism in Egypt?
Unfortunately, the farther back we go the sparser the records are and
therefore the harder it is to chart the course of any beliefs within a
culture, never mind how outside cultures might have exerted an influence.

Yet, can there be any doubt that it was Pharaoh Akhenaten's Hymn to the
Aten, written in the 14th century BC, that inspired Psalms 104:24 in the Old
Testament?

"How manifold are all thy works! They are hidden from before us, O thou
sole god, whose powers no other possesseth. Though didst create the earth
according to thy desire [...] all cattle large and small; all that are upon
the earth" (Akhenaten's hymn)

"O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom has thou made them all; The
earth is full of thy creatures" (Psalm 104)

Breasted pointed out the marked similarity in thought and sequence between
these two passages. He observed that the Egyptian Pharaoh "grasped the idea
of a world-dominator, as the creator of nature, in which the king saw
revealed the creator's purpose for all his creatures, even the meanest... He
based the universal sway of God upon his fatherly care of all men alike,
irrespective of race or nationality, and to the proud and exclusive Egyptian
he pointed to an all-embracing bounty of the common father of humanity, even
placing Syria and Nubia before Egypt in his enumeration."

Other similar examples abound. "Yahweh [Jehovah] weigheth the hearts," it
is written in Proverbs 21:2. The only previous instance of a god who makes a
practice of weighing up human hearts is in Egyptian mortuary literature,
where this method of judgement is exercised at the court of Osiris in the
underworld.

We could also cite the biblical description of men being fashioned out of
clay by Yahweh: "The potter of the same clay he maketh both the vessels that
serve for clean uses, and likewise also all such as serve to the contrary"
(Book of Wisdom, 15:7). This image is essentially identical with the Ancient
Egyptian image of men being fashioned on a potter's wheel out of the clay of
the river Nile by the ram-headed god Khnum, one of the great gods of Egypt.
In this connection, it is worthy of note that a Jewish temple was built on
Elephantine Island in the sixth century BC, immediately behind the great
Temple of Khnum: indeed, archaeologists have shown that the two places of
worship were at different strata.

Chapter Six of the Book of Proverbs deals with the issue of justice. The
commandment, "Do not move the boundary-stone nor shift the surveyor's rope,
do not tamper with the widow's land-bounds", clearly reflects precepts to be
found in Egyptian "instruction literature", as do passages in Chapter 11 on
coveting: "Covet not the poor farmer's property nor hunger after his bread:
the peasant's morsel will gag in the throat and revolt in the gullet".

Such striking similarities between the Instruction Literature of an
Egyptian sage called Amenemope and the Book of Proverbs cannot easily be
dismissed. In Proverbs Chapter 13 on morals and neighbourly love, we read:
"It is better to be praised for neighbourly love than have riches in the
storeroom; better to enjoy your bread with a good conscience than to have
wealth weighed down by reproaches." This does little more than repeat almost
word for word a verse in Amenemope's Instruction Literature, as does Chapter
27 on consideration towards the afflicted: "Mock not the blind nor deride
the dwarf, nor block a cripple's path".
The question is not "did Egypt influence the Hebrews over the course of
centuries and millennia," because of course such influences must have
existed. Egypt was one of the most powerful cultures in the region and
exercised widespread influence. The real question would seem to be just how
extensive the influence was and how much of what is currently regarded as
"Jewish" may have roots in ancient Egypt.

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