A Little Light reading.
Egypt and the Bible

Egypt and the Bible
The timeless land of Egypt is the setting
for some of the most dramatic stories
in the Bible and is associated with
four leading Bible characters and their
experiences there: Abraham’s visit to
Egypt and his meeting with Pharaoh;
Joseph’s experiences in Egypt as a slave
and his rise to power there; Moses and
the Exodus; Jesus and His family’s visit
to Egypt to escape from Herod.
These stories and other references
make the country of Egypt one of the
most mentioned locations in the Bible.
Egypt is mentioned almost seven
hundred times in the Old Testament
EGYPT AND
THE BIBLE EGYPT AND THE BIBLE 3
and another twenty-five times in the
New Testament.
In Biblical times, Egypt was already an
ancient civilisation, and the pyramids
were thousands of years old. Egypt and
Israel shared a common border in Bible
times as they do today. As a result,
there was contact and interaction
between the peoples of the two lands.
The land of Egypt served both as a
refuge and as a threat to the people in
Israel during Old Testament and New
Testament times. From Abraham to
Jesus, the prophets, patriarchs, and the
people had a continuous connection with
the nation of Egypt. It was a destination
for people leaving Israel either on their
own or because they were forced to
seek asylum or refuge from oppression
and tough times.
Some of the well-known Bible
characters who travelled to Egypt
to escape hardship are Abraham
EGYPT AND
THE BIBLE 4 EGYPT AND THE BIBLE
and Sarah (Genesis 12:10-20), King
Jeroboam of Israel (I Kings 11:40), a
group of people fleeing the Babylonians
(II Kings 25:26), the prophet Jeremiah
(Jeremiah 43:5-7), and the baby Jesus
and His family (Matthew 2:13-15).
The relationship between Egypt and the
Israelites in the Bible is complicated.
Abraham visited Egypt but experienced
challenges in his relationship with
Pharaoh and had to leave. Joseph, son
of Jacob, ended up in Egypt when his
jealous brothers sold him to traders.
Joseph lived the life of a slave until,
after some amazing circumstances, he
became the second most powerful man
in Egypt.
The Israelites first came to Egypt to
escape a famine during the time when
Joseph was a leader in Egypt (Genesis
37–47). It was after this that the
Israelites spent about four hundred
years in slavery in Egypt (Genesis
15:13, Exodus 12:40-41, Acts 7:6). EGYPT AND THE BIBLE 5
This time in Egypt was their longest
period away from Israel, and Exodus
14 describes it coming to an end in
dramatic fashion when the ten plagues
fell on Egypt and the Israelites were
able to escape to freedom when the
Red Sea parted.
Moses, the first Bible writer and one
of the greatest prophets of the Old
Testament, was born in Egypt, and led
the Israelites out of captivity, through
the waters of the Red Sea and on to the
promised land.
The country of Egypt and its people
have played important roles in the story
of the Israelites.
Let’s find out some more about the
connection of Egypt and the Bible and
discover how some of the monuments
and hieroglyphics help us better
understand the Bible stories and the
interaction between Israel and Egypt. 6 EGYPT AND THE BIBLE
The Nile
The Wonders of Egypt have fascinated
many people. And the heart of Egypt
is the Nile. It is truly a gift to the
people of Egypt. Through the years,
the Nile has been their means of travel,
communication, commerce and food.
This important river has influenced
every aspect of life in Egypt. It is the
longest river in the world with a total
length of about 6,650 km from its
source in the region of Lake Victoria to
its mouth at the Mediterranean Sea.
Once every year the Nile overflowed its
banks, fertilizing and watering the soil.
Because the ancient peoples thought
the flooding was mysterious, the river
was sacred.
The rise of the river was regarded as a
good omen and celebrated by the River
Festival. This event is all described
in vivid detail on the walls of the
magnificent temple of Luxor at Thebes. EGYPT AND THE BIBLE 7
But until the 1800’s no-one could read
the ancient inscriptions.
The Nile valley varies from 20-40
kilometres in width. But the fertile
section of the valley is the part watered
by the Nile and is only about three to
four kilometres across. 99% of the
population of Egypt live on 3.3% of its
soil because beyond Egypt is a desert.
The people have invented ingenious
ways to harness and effectively use
every drop of available water. There’s
the shaduf, a long beam with a leather
bucket at one end and a counter-
balance at the other used to raise the
water from the river to the field. Another
water-raising device is the water wheel.
A blindfolded cow treads in a circle,
yoked to the forked wooden centre post
of the water wheel to lift the water out
of the ditch.
The Nile boatmen pioneered in the
development of river craft. They had 8 EGYPT AND THE BIBLE
smaller reed rafts and built mighty
60-metre barges for hauling obelisks
and other monuments. These barges
would frequently be used to haul the
world-famous, rich, red granite of
Aswan down the river.
Papyrus
In ancient times the banks of the Nile
as well as the Nile delta were covered
with tall reeds called papyrus. The
papyrus was also the symbol for Lower
Egypt and the Delta. It can be seen in
ancient Egyptian art and is depicted on
the columns in their temples.
During Bible times, as told in Exodus
2, there is the story of the baby Moses
being placed in a little basket boat
made of bulrushes from the river Nile
and hidden amongst the bulrushes by
his mother Jochebed, and watched over
by his sister, Miriam, before being found
by the princess of Egypt.
The early Egyptians also developed an EGYPT AND THE BIBLE 9
excellent type of paper from the papyri.
In fact, it was the most convenient
writing material available to the ancient
world for many centuries. The Egyptians
exported this paper, maintaining a
lucrative monopoly on this important
product.
But Isaiah, the prophet, predicted that
the bulrushes would dry up and be no
more. It’s found in Isaiah 19:6, where
it says, ‘The reeds and rushes will rot
away, … and will be no more.’ The Bible
prediction is true, as today in Egypt
there are no reeds or bulrushes growing
along the Nile River.
The ancient Egyptians also used the
reeds to make boats. In the Bible, Isaiah
18:2 says, ‘Egypt sends messengers
up the Nile on ships made of reeds.’
Historians confirm that the papyrus
reeds were bound into bundles and
used to construct many of the vessels
that sailed the waters of the ancient
Mediterranean. 10 EGYPT AND THE BIBLE
Beni Hasan
Egypt is one long archaeological
museum and is full of many amazing
structures, monuments, and tombs.
About 170kms south of Cairo are the
tombs of Beni Hasan. These thirty-nine
tombs are cut into the limestone cliffs.
These tombs belonged to nobles who
ruled this Egyptian province almost four
thousand years ago and date back to
the days of the patriarchs, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob.
The walls of these tombs are covered with
magnificent paintings and hieroglyph
inscriptions. Of special interest is the
beautiful tomb of Khnumhotep. He was
the province’s most important official,
the governor of the eastern desert.
One of the paintings in the tombs has
become particularly famous for its
colourful picture describing the arrival
of thirty-seven Semites from Canaan
bringing the products of their country EGYPT AND THE BIBLE 11
to barter for the grain stored in Egypt
during times of famine. The painting
shows the clothes they wore, the kind
of footwear they had, and the musical
instruments they played.
Currently, it was common for groups
of people from neighbouring countries
to travel to Egypt to barter for grain.
There is a story of the sons of Jacob
coming to Egypt to buy grain found in
the Bible in Genesis 42:1-3 This painting
demonstrates that life in ancient Egypt
was very much like the Bible records.
‘When Jacob saw that there was grain
in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Indeed I
have heard that there is grain in Egypt:
go down to that place and buy for us
there, that we may live and not die.” So
Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy
grain in Egypt.’
As archaeologists study the hieroglyphs
and uncover the past in Egypt, they are
discovering monuments, inscriptions, 12 EGYPT AND THE BIBLE
people, and places that demonstrate
the accuracy and reliability of the Bible.
Tell el-Armarna
A short distance south of the tombs of
Beni Hasan stand the ruins of Tell el-
Amarna. In 1887 an Egyptian peasant
woman was looking among the remains
of the deserted site and came across
several baked clay tablets with writing
on them. Thinking they might be
worth something, she put them into
some gunny sacks and sold them to
a neighbouring villager for a small
amount. He in turn loaded the sacks
on donkeys and took them to Cairo.
There the antique dealer showed little
interest for the writing was cuneiform
rather than the familiar hieroglyphics.
Consequently, they were suspected to
be forgeries. So unable to sell them,
the man put them back on the donkeys
and jostled his way the 671 kilometres
south to Luxor. EGYPT AND THE BIBLE 13
Eventually a scholar in Luxor recognized
their value and gradually the tablets
found their way into the great museums
of the world. They proved to be an
immense find, and include hundreds
of letters written from Palestine,
Syria, Babylon and other countries to
Amenhotep III and Akhenaton during
the days of the important eighteenth
dynasty.
This discovery led the famous
archaeologist, Sir Flinders Petrie, to
commence excavations at Tell el-
Amarna resulting in the uncovering of
the lavish capitol of Pharaoh Akhenaton,
the famous sun king. The city, dating
back to the fourteenth century B.C.,
was spread over a crescent-shaped
plain about twelve kilometres long and
five kilometres wide.
Akhenaton was first given the name of
his father, Amenhotep, meaning ‘Amon
is satisfied.’ Amon being the name
of one of their gods. For six years he 14 EGYPT AND THE BIBLE
reigned peacefully with his father. But
upon his father’s death, he rebelled
against the whole traditional worship
system of Amon at Thebes, moving the
capitol to this new area.
His name was changed to Akhenaton,
incorporating the name Aton – the Sun,
and the city was called the city of the
Radiance of Aton, instead of the City
of Amon. So, Akhenaton is best known
as the heretic king. He did away with
all the old cults, dispossessed priests,
terminated official worship of the gods
throughout the land, smashed their
images, erased their names from the
monuments, and abolished the plural
form of the word ‘god’.
Akhenaton introduced a new system
of worship where there would be only
one unique universal god, the sun.
Under the name of Aton and the symbol
of a sun disk, this radical monotheist
challenged the old order with its many
gods and deities. EGYPT AND THE BIBLE 15
Before transferring the capital from
Thebes to present day Tell el-Amarna,
the new king erected at Thebes a huge
sun temple. Later Ikhnaton moved his
capital to Amarna and set up fourteen
boundary stelae to mark the limits of
his holy city. Hieroglyphic inscriptions
describe how Ikhnaton dedicated the
capitol to his god and swore never to
leave the place for the rest of his days.
His holy city contained a vast complex
of buildings including temples, a
royal estate, barracks, mansions,
administrative buildings, and a
workmen’s village. The royal palace was
perhaps the largest secular building in
the ancient world. Its western frontage
was 800 metres in length and faced the
river. There were state apartments, a
great coronation hall, two harems with
hundreds of rooms and colonnades
leading to sunken gardens and
ornamental pools.
Later pharaohs destroyed the site 16 EGYPT AND THE BIBLE
but fortunately many records remain
depicting life in the sun capital. Many
of the records and pictures are of
Akhenaton’s famous wife, Nefertiti, and
his six daughters, one of whom became
the wife of King Tutankhamen, who
succeeded Akhenaton to the throne.
Tutankhamen’s wife was Akhenaton’s
second daughter and Tutankhamen was
only nine years old when he was chosen
to be co-ruler and future successor of
Akhenaton.
The famous young Pharaoh,
Tutankhamen, ruled briefly at the sun
capitol, then forsook it and returned
to Thebes where the former gods were
reinstated, and he began restoring the
desecrated temples. The influence of
the sun worship of his father-in-law
though, was retained. This is seen in the
treasures found in King Tutankhamen’s
tomb. One of the most famous is the
beautiful relief on his throne chair EGYPT AND THE BIBLE 17
depicting the orb of the sun with its
characteristic rays.
Unfortunately, the boy king died at the
age of eighteen and was buried in a
small tomb in the Valley of the Kings
opposite Thebes. The story of the
discovery of his tomb with its immense
treasure is one of the most thrilling of
all archaeological epics.
Luxor
In ancient Egypt, Luxor was known
as Thebes. It was during the reign of
Amenhotep III that Egypt reached one
of its periods of greatest splendour.
Amenhotep III is sometimes referred
to as Amenhotep the Magnificent. The
name of the chief god of Thebes was
Amon. This name is incorporated into
the name of the king, Amenhotep.
The Great Temple of Amun, or Amon, is
the central temple of the huge Temples
of Karnak in present-day Luxor. At
the front of the temple is the pylon of 18 EGYPT AND THE BIBLE
Ramses II, one of the best known of
the pharaohs, who came to the throne
about 1299 B.C. and reigned for 67
years.
Inside is the forecourt of Ramses II
which is surrounded by seventy-four
large granite columns. The walls and
pylons are lined with statues of Ramses
II and adorned with scenes of his
victories over his enemies. He placed
his inscriptions everywhere, waged war
as far away as Syria, built temples all
over the country, and erected giant
monuments to himself and his beautiful
Queen Nefertari.
Hittites
As archaeologists studied these great
temples and monuments with their
hieroglyph inscriptions built by Ramses
II, they made an amazing discovery
that confirmed Bible history. It involved
the mysterious Hittites. EGYPT AND THE BIBLE 19
Now, the problem with the ancient
Hittites might well be called the riddle
of the ages. Because you see, 48 times
the Bible mentions the Hittite race – its
dealings with Abraham, with Solomon,
with David, with Egypt.
These Bible references picture the
Hittites as one of the most powerful of
ancient empires. Yet in all the records
of antiquity, aside from the Bible, not a
trace of them – not a word – remained.
Only the Bible mentioned the Hittites.
So, scholarly critics of the Bible said
that it would be impossible for such
an empire to disappear from history
without leaving a single trace behind.
Therefore, a lack of evidence was
interpreted as evidence that the Hittites
never existed – and were nothing more
than an ancient legend, a Bible myth.
People said the Bible was wrong. 20 EGYPT AND THE BIBLE
Rosetta Stone
Then came the Rosetta Stone. It is one
of the most important objects in the
British Museum today as it holds the key
to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs
– a script made up of small pictures that
was used originally in ancient Egypt.
The Rosetta Stone was found at a fort
in the town of Rosetta, near Alexandria,
by one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s officers
in 1799 during his Egyptian campaign.
The French soldier discovered a black
basalt slab inscribed with ancient
writing. The irregularly shaped stone
contained fragments of passages
written in three different scripts: Greek,
Egyptian hieroglyphics and Egyptian
demotic.
The ancient Greek inscription on the
Rosetta Stone informed archaeologists
that it was inscribed by priests honouring
the king of Egypt, Ptolemy V, in the
second century B.C. More startlingly, EGYPT AND THE BIBLE 21
the Greek passage announced that
the three scripts were all of identical
meaning. The Rosetta Stone thus
held the key to solving the riddle of
hieroglyphics, a written language that
had been “dead” or not used for nearly
2,000 years.
Unfortunately, no one could read the
Egyptian Hieroglyphs until a French
linguist and Egyptologist named Jean-
Francois Champollion finally managed
to decipher it. He taught himself
ancient languages and cracked the
code and deciphered the hieroglyphics
using his knowledge of Greek as a
guide. Hieroglyphics used pictures to
represent objects, sounds and groups
of sounds.
Once the Rosetta Stone inscriptions
were translated, the language and
culture of ancient Egypt was suddenly
open to scientists as never before.
Now the Egyptian hieroglyph reliefs 22 EGYPT AND THE BIBLE
and inscriptions could be read. And the
stories told on the great pillars, pylons
and monuments of Karnak Temple could
be read.
And here, on these massive walls, is
an amazing story of when Ramses II
went to war with the king of the Hittites
in one of the great, decisive battles of
history. A battle in which the power of
Egypt was tested to the limit.
In fact, the battle was so important, and
the Hittites so powerful, that Ramses
carved the story of his epic battle
with them on all the major temples of
Egypt. He is seen in his chariot shooting
arrows at the Hittites, and holding ropes
binding rows of Hittite prisoners.
Finally, Ramses is shown dedicating the
prisoners and booty to the Egyptian
gods and there’s a long poem that
describes this tremendous battle with
the Hittites and its outcome. EGYPT AND THE BIBLE 23
Ramses II claimed a great victory and
his personal heroism is depicted on the
temple walls. But despite these claims,
it is now known that Ramses II was
almost killed in the battle and ended up
signing a peace treaty with the Hittite
king and sealed it by his marriage to
one of the king’s daughters. This is
the earliest international peace treaty
known in history.
From these inscriptions and other
archaeological discoveries, we now
know that the Hittites were indeed
a mighty empire, one of the most
powerful in the ancient world. They
were based in present-day Turkey and
their rule stretched from the Black Sea
to Damascus.
The hieroglyphic inscriptions at Karnak
show that the Hittites of Bible fame
were no myth after all. And the Bible
is vindicated again. This has happened
at one ancient site after another here
in Egypt. 24 EGYPT AND THE BIBLE
Shishak
Another significant relief found on
the Karnak Temple walls is the story
of Shishak. The inscriptions on the
temple wall tell the story of how after
the death of King Solomon, Shishak,
Pharaoh of Egypt invaded Palestine and
entered Jerusalem and took all the gold
and riches from Solomon’s Temple or
sometimes known as the First Temple.
The Bible records the invasion in I Kings
14:25,26:
It happened in the fifth year of King
Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt
came up against Jerusalem. And he
took away the treasures of the house
of the Lord and the treasures of the
king’s house; he took away everything.
He also took away all the gold shields
which Solomon had made.
One of the reliefs on a wall of the Karnak
temple depicts Shishak dedicating his
spoils from Solomon’s Temple to the EGYPT AND THE BIBLE 25
Egyptian god, Amon. Each captured
city is represented by the figure of a
Hebrew on whose body is inscribed the
name of a conquered city. On the part
of the relief still visible, there are over
100 of such cities listed.
Aswan and Elephant Island
Aswan has long been known for the
building of the Aswan Dam in 1960. But
there is a place that is lesser known
that has some amazing archaeological
discoveries. Elephant Island is in the
centre of the Nile River at Aswan. This
island is said to have gained its name
from the shape of its huge rocks that
resemble elephants. In ancient times
it was a commercial, religious, and
military centre for the district.
It was on this island that some extremely
important papyri, or ancient writings,
were discovered. These writings,
known as the Elephantine Papyri, give
support to the Old Testament books of 26 EGYPT AND THE BIBLE
Ezra and Nehemiah. Historians tell us
that a Mr Wilbour purchased the papyri
in 1893. He became ill on his way back
to America and his trunk containing
the precious documents was stored in
a warehouse in New York City where it
lay unopened for 50 years until it came
into the possession of the Brooklyn
Museum.
The ancient writings were first read by
Dr Siegfried H. Horn, archaeologist,
and professor of Old Testament studies
at Andrews University. Other ancient
writings were also found on the island.
These documents were written by a
colony of Jews stationed on the island
as mercenary soldiers serving in the
Egyptian army.
These documents confirm the accuracy
of the Bible books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Some scholars questioned the historic
accuracy of these books and the
existence of the people mentioned in
them. But in these documents, you can EGYPT AND THE BIBLE 27
read about Sanballat, the old enemy
of Nehemiah, and of Johanan, the high
priest of Jerusalem frequently referred
to in Nehemiah.
The papyri also established that the
Jewish civil calendar began in the
autumn of the year and confirmed
457 BC as the date for the decree of
Artaxerxes authorizing the rebuilding of
Jerusalem as recorded in Ezra 7.
Abu Simbel
When the Aswan High Dam was built
on the Nile, Lake Nassar was formed.
Many temples were completely covered
and destroyed by the waters of the new
lake. But one temple was saved and
relocated, the great temple of Ramses
II, Abu Simbel.
For 3,200 years, the huge, sculptured
sentinels guarded the southern entrance
to Egypt. It is believed that 25,000 men
worked for twenty years to erect this
colossal monument to the sun and the 28 EGYPT AND THE BIBLE
god-king, Ramses II.
But when the Nile was dammed, the
rising waters threatened to submerge
these structures. In a mad rush against
time, the two temples were cut into
1,050 blocks, some of them weighing
33 tonnes, and transported to the
new site on higher ground, nearly 300
kilometres to the south. It was an
amazing and complex feat – to move
15,000 tonnes of monument - and took
over four years before it was completed
in 1967.
At Abu Simbel today, the structures
include two temples, one for Pharaoh
Ramses II and one for his beautiful wife,
Nefertari. The great temple celebrates
the sun god and Ramses himself as
a living god. The smaller temple was
erected to honour Hathor, goddess of
love, and Ramses’ favourite wife, Queen
Nefertari. EGYPT AND THE BIBLE 29
The temples are a colossal size. At the
great temple, the seated colossus of
Ramses towers upward some twenty-
three metres. The face measures over
four metres across from ear to ear.
Ramses wanted everyone to know that
he was the Pharaoh and the dominant
leader of the nation. He even lords it
over his wife at Abu Simbel as Queen
Nefertari was only granted two statues
fronting the façade of her temple and
although standing, they are a mere
eleven metres high and each one is
flanked by two statues of Ramses.
The great temple is orientated toward
the east so that the first rays of the
morning sun would pierce the interior
illuminating the ten metre statues in
the great hall. Twice each year, about
the 20th October, the date of Ramses’
accession to power, and again about
mid-February, the sun’s rays penetrate
nearly seventy metres back into the
inner-most sanctuary, there to bless the 32 EGYPT AND THE BIBLE
statue of the god king dwelling in the
company of the other gods. Ramses, of
course, considered himself one of the
gods and sits between the sun god, Re-
Harakhti and Amon, god of Thebes.
The temple includes twelve separate
chambers, and the walls are covered
with some of the largest reliefs of
battle scenes, hunting expeditions and
religious life to be found anywhere in
the world.
Conclusion
As archaeologists and linguists read
the hieroglyphs on the temples, tombs,
and monuments of ancient Egypt, they
discovered that it all fits together with
the Bible record. They bring a message
from the past to our generation and to
you and me. It’s a message that echoes
across the centuries stating loud and
clear, ‘You can trust the Bible.’