Thursday, October 10, 2013

Moses, Genesis and Scandinavian Mythology




For complete article, see: http://easterncivilisationamaic.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/scandinavian-legends-and-book-of.html

....

Oddly enough, the Greek and Roman historians who looked into the matter did not usually identify Odin with Zeus (Jupiter), but with Hermes (Mercury) as the god of wandering. This is not so strange as it may seem because the ultimate origin of the Greek mythological character Hermes was the Hebrew patriarch Moses (the serpent stick carrying messenger of god who freed the earthly wife of god (Io) from her captivity and lead her on her famous wanderings, see http://www.britam.org/salverda/io.html).
That is why the day of Hermes "Wednesday," as it is called in the Northern European languages, is named for Odin. The Norse myths about Odin, and indeed much of Norse mythology in general, is based upon the God of Moses and the writings of Moses.
Take for instance Norse mythology's debt to Genesis, the first book of Moses. At the foundation of the world of Norse Mythology is a very significant tree (called Ygdrasill). It grew at the center of a place called Midgard (Gen. 2:9), where Odin had formed and placed the first human pair Askr and Embla. He imbued them with life and gave them spirit with his breath (Gen. 2:7). Here also could be found the Norse archetype of evil, a serpent called the Midgard serpent (Gen. 3:1). Odin, foreseeing the trouble that the serpent posed, made it an outcast by throwing the serpent out of Midgard into the sea, where it grew and grew until it encompassed the entire world (Rev. 12:9). The first born son of Odin, Thor (Torah?) is destined, at the end of time, to destroy the Midgard serpent and sacrifice his own life in the act (Gen. 3:15). This is the outline of a very familiar story indeed, one that could easily be derived from the works of Moses.
At the base of the tree in the middle of Midgard is a spring that is divided into three heads (Gen. 2:9,10) one of which is called "the well of Ymir" it is the source of all knowledge (of good and evil?). Odin sacrificed one of his eyes in order to drink from it. Although the source of knowledge among the Norse was not the tree but a well, this Idea is not foreign to Israelite culture, consider the concept of "Miriam's well" as is outlined in Ginzberg were it is said that God made it on the second day of creation, and other Jewish Legends were it is said that the drinking of it inspired prophecies.
Furthermore, they had the motif of the fruits of the tree of eternal life. In the Prose Edda we read about a character named "Idun" (Eden?). Idun is described as a woman with a certain box within which she keeps the apples of eternal youth. The apples are eaten by the gods when they age to make them young again. The downfall of all creation is caused when access to the miraculous fruits are denied. The great flood is also a feature of Norse mythology. Odin killed the Giant Ymir. The blood from Ymir's wounds flooded the world (the blood of Ymir is explained in the myth as the seas.), and the Giants drowned. Only one, (a hero named "Begelmir"), was able to save himself and his wife, these were the ancestors of all later races. Also included is the symbolism of the rainbow. According to Norse mythology the rainbow (therein called "Bifrost") is the bridge between Heaven and Earth, as such it is the pathway between god and man, much like the Scriptural rainbow symbolizes the covenant between God and man (Gen. 9:11-17).
Just as it is in the Hebrew Scriptures, The Norse giants were not completely wiped out in the great flood of Norse myths. Nephilim, a Scriptural term, often translated as "giants" actually means something like "shades" or "ghosts," is very plausibly the origin of the Nordic term "Niffleheim " which is their name for the land of the dead. The usual term for the land of the human dead was "Hela" this was the Nordic equivalent to the Hebrew "Sheol," this was the repository for the bulk of mankind, the heroic dead went to Valhalla. However whenever a giant was dispatched it would go to Niffleheim (the world of the Nephilim?).
The racial features of the Amorites was depicted on the monuments of the Egyptians at Karnak. They were a tall people of blondes and brunettes with blue eyes. The Amorites were identified in the Scriptures as the descendants of the giants (the fallen angels). They had a sacred mountain that was the cultural focus of their nation, Mount Herman. It was the "Zion" (they called it "Sion" or "Senir") of the Amorites. According to Ginzberg's "Legends of the Jews" Mount Herman was the location where the Fallen angels had climbed down from Heaven to cohabitate with the daughters of men, ostensively the Amorite daughters. It was very probably the religion of the giants that is referred to in the Scriptures at Genesis 15:16 as "the iniquity of the Amorites," The religion of Moses stood in opposition to and superseded it (see http://www.britam.org/salverda/olympus.html).
In the Judeo-Christian continuum the giants began as the fallen angels who were bred into the Amorite nation. Later, when the Amorites were transplanted from the immediate vicinity, the giants devolved back into the fallen angels again, who would eventually reappear for a war against the good angels at the end of times. The Greeks, colonists from the Levant living far from the Amorites, portrayed the giants as leaders of a previous religious system that was defeated an exiled to the west by Zeus and the Olympians. When Olympianism took over the giants were pretty much out of the picture, a mere afterthought. However, for the Norse the "giants," as a national historical reality, continued to be an ongoing concern. The Norse had to live as neighbors with the remnants of the Amorites, the Germans (named for their original homeland in the shadow of mount "Herman"). Thus Norse mythology displays an enduring preoccupation with the giants unlike any other tradition. To them it was not the "spiritual" bad angels who had to be defeated, but the gods and the giants were at constant war, right up until the end of time, and there was no certainty of divine victory either.
Finally, as previously indicated, there is the notion of end times eschatology, not many religious systems include the idea that there will be an "end of times," an Armageddon as it were. This is a primarily Israelite notion, Christianity, an offshoot of the Judean religion, has it. Zoroastrianism (I would argue that it also is an offshoot of the Israelite religion, [see http://britam.org/zarathustra.html] has it. Muslims, another people of "the book" also have their version of it. That's about it, however, in keeping with the topic of this article, Norse Mythology has a very detailed end times eschatology, therein it is called "Ragnarok," the "twilight of the gods." At Ragnarok will occur the final battle of all creation, it is the culmination of the war between the gods and those giants from the days of old. At this time the rainbow bridge between Heaven and Earth, (the Norse symbol of the Covenant), will be broken to pieces. Also this is when the firstborn son of Odin is destined to finally destroy the Midgard serpent. This cannot help but remind one of the Judeo-Christian end times concept of war breaking out between the great leader of the host of Heaven and the fallen angels lead by the ancient serpent and its' destruction (Rev.12:7). From where did they get this notion? Well, I submit that they got it from the same source that all the others got it from, the Israelites, in this case it is a legacy of their Israelite heritage.
--

-John R. Salverda



New Series Also by John R. Salverda:


"Helleno-Yishurin. The Hebrew Origin of Greek Legends"

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

U.S. Creationists Load Up Again

 
 
From Robert Sungenis and Dr Hugh Owen


Damien,

Hugh's arguments are devastating to your position. I don't see how you can recover from them. I hope and pray that you will see the logic behind them.
 
Robert Sungenis

and
Dear Damien,
Pax Christi!
Thank you for sending me the latest issue of your magazine. The article on Pope Pius XI was especially interesting.
I am sorry that it has taken me so long to reply to your last email. It was hard to know where to begin in replying to your last article on the Flood.
Perhaps the most disheartening thing about the article was its apparent lack of piety. It was hard to imagine that a Catholic man of your intelligence and dedication could write an article so lacking in reverence for the Word of God as it has been understood in the Church from the time of the Apostles.
The Magisterial teaching on Biblical exegesis is quite clear. The Catholic commentator on the Bible is to accept the literal and obvious sense of Scripture, except where reason dictates or necessity requires (Providentissimus Deus).
We are also to revere the Fathers of the Church as the foremost commentators on the Word of God, especially when they all agree in any interpretation of Scripture that pertains to a doctrine of faith or morals (Council of Trent, Vatican I).
The Fathers agree that Genesis is, in the words of the Roman Catechism, a “sacred history.” It follows that the burden of proof is on the exegete who would question the literal historical truth of the Flood account and the plain sense of 2 Peter 3, where St. Peter teaches that the Noachic Flood was a global flood that destroyed the “world that then was.”
As Robert Sungenis pointed out to you in a previous email, St. Peter’s argument in 2 Peter 3 makes no sense if the Noachic Flood was a local flood. He mentions three global events: The creation of the whole world by God’s Word; the destruction of that whole world by the Flood; and the future re-creation of the whole world—the “new heavens and the new earth” through fire:
Scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own passions and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.” They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago, and an earth formed out of water and by means of water, through which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and the earth that now exist have been stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men (2 Peter 3:3-7) (emphasis added).
In this remarkable prophecy, St. Peter predicted that “in the latter days”—a future time—“scoffers” would arise who would deny God’s supernatural creative action “in the beginning of creation” and at the time of the Noachic Flood, thus casting doubt on His sovereign intervention in the future at the Second Coming of Christ. Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, St. Peter foresaw that the scoffers would predicate their denials on the stability of the natural order—on the grounds that “all things have continued as they were” “since the fathers fell asleep.”
In modern times this principle has, of course, became known as “uniformitarianism,” or “the present is the key to the past.”Just as St. Peter had foretold, “uniformitarianism” became the guiding principle of Charles Lyell, Charles Darwin, and other naturalistic evolutionists who argued that natural scientists could extrapolate from present-day processes in the order of providence all the way back to the beginning of creation. St. Peter foresaw that to champion their evolutionary theory they would have to “deliberately ignore” the fact of the Flood, and, indeed, Darwin wrote in an unpublished manuscript of 1873: “Lyell is most firmly convinced that he has shaken the faith in the Deluge far more efficiently [in his writings on geology] by never having said a word against the Bible than if he had acted otherwise.”[1]It is truly heart-breaking to see you fall into the same error as the compromising theologians of the nineteenth century by evaluating God’s inspired account of the Noachic Flood by the naturalistic standards of unbelieving natural scientists like Lyell, Darwin and Plimer.
It would seem that by “common sense” explanations you mean “naturalistically sensible explanations.” But why should we expect to find explanations for the effects of the Deluge that make sense in terms of present-day natural processes when the Flood was a divinely-orchestrated, unique, never-to-be-repeated event?
Do we see animals of all kinds migrating on their own to a central location from every part of the earth today?
Do we see Virgin Births today?
Does that mean that these events didn’t happen?
In reality, even if one uses an inappropriate naturalistic standard for evaluating the literal historical truth of the Genesis account of the Flood, it still makes much more sense than your local flood hypothesis.
To understand why I say this, please just try to answer the following questions:
 
[AMAIC has numbered these questions to facilitate answering them further on]
 
If the Flood was a local flood, why did Noah spend 100 years building the Ark in the first place? Why didn’t God just tell him to move away, as He told Lot to get out of Sodom? [1]
Why did God send all of the animals to the Ark for safety? Why didn’t He just direct them to safe places elsewhere? [2]
Why was the Ark made big enough to hold all of the different KINDS—not breeds and species—of land vertebrate animals, when a local flood would have made this completely unnecessary? [3]
Why did God tell Noah to take birds on board when they could obviously have flown away from a local flood and survived? [4]
How could the waters have risen to over 20 feet above the “all the high mountains” without covering the earth? [5]
Other questions to ponder in the realm of geology are the following:
If Noah’s Flood was a local flood, why is there evidence of continent-wide deposition of sediment all over the earth? [6]
Why do we find the same sedimentary layers on multiplecontinents, such as massive chalk, sandstone, and limestone deposits that extend from one continent to another? [7]
Why does C-14 dating of material from every part of the geological column indicate that it was all laid down at the same time? [8]
Why do we find soft tissue and intact DNA which must be of recent deposition in many fossils that are alleged to be tens or hundreds of millions of years old according to mainstream geology? [9]
How do you realistically model an Ice Age without a prior global Flood? [10]
Why would an all-wise, all-loving God allow His Church to teach a completely false account of the early history of the world, based on a literal historical interpretation of His Word, only to allow the same Church to be “enlightened” by men like T.H. Huxley who hated the Catholic Church? [11]
I hope and pray that you will use your great talents to build up the faith of your readers and stop sowing unjustified doubts in their minds about God's revelation as it has been understood in and by the Church since the time of the Apostles.
 
Your brother in Christ through the Immaculata,
Hugh Owen

* * *

Dear Hugh

I’m glad that you at least found the article on Pope Pius XI “especially interesting”.
On the next page (and others) [in AMAIC Newsletter] you may read more on that same subject, with the issue of ‘Creation Science’ to be addressed by me, yet again, beginning on p. 12.
 
Yours in Jesus and Mary
Damien.



There’s a Hole in the Ark
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
… is the global version of the biblical Flood, as espoused by Hugh and Bob, properly watertight, having no gaping hole in its‘roof’ which might let in a deluge of problems?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------


Og of Bashan was a fearsome giant in the era of Moses (Deuteronomy 3:3), but he also turns up in Jewish legends, anachronistically (about one and a half millennia earlier), at the time of Noah’s Flood.
Though Noah tries to bar Og from the Ark, the cunning giant either manages to ride a unicorn alongside the Ark, taking for himself the food that Noah parcels out to the unicorn, or, Noah actually passes food to Og himself through a hole in the Ark’s roof – the giant having been given a special dispensation by Noah to perch atop the Ark. This, even during the Flood. (With a friend like this ‘Noah’ who need enemies!).


The real biblical Og also had a massive bed:


“His iron bed is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites, nine cubits long and four cubits wide,
measured by a man’s forearm” (Deuteronomy 3:11).


{Some commentators say that ‘bed’ here should actually be translated as‘sarcophagus’.
Was King Og the original Procrustes the inn keeper, who made all travellers fit his bed by chopping them or stretching them to size? Probably not. For there is another Jewish legend that it was actually the cruel people of Sodom who had such a‘Procrustean’ bed – this being perhaps just another case (alongside the many examples given in this MATRIX and Supplement) of Greek appropriation of the Near East, since Sodom well pre-dated any Procrustes of Attica}.
Now, is the global (‘Creation Science’) version of the biblical Flood, as espoused by Hugh and Bob, properly watertight, having no gaping hole in its ‘roof’ which might let in a deluge of problems?
Is it accurate, or is it anachronistic, like the Og legend above?
Is it properly biblical, or just an entertaining story like that of Og and the unicorn?
Is it compatible with the original (biblical) account, or yet a further case of western Procrusteanisation of an ancient Near Eastern set of documents (the Flood account having been written by (i) Noah, and by (ii) his three sons: Cf. Genesis 6:9; 10:1)?
Is it realistic, or as fanciful as Og’s unicorn?
Does Hugh’s and Bob’s version float, or should it be, like Og, sealed in an iron sarcophagus and laid permanently to rest?
Since, as the reader noted on p. 8 [of our Newsletter]: “That email from Hugh [Owen] didn’t seem to contain anything you wouldn’t have heard of already …”, and since I have already in previous issues covered most of his queries in detail, I do not want to dwell overmuch on them again.


The ‘Creation Science’ version of the Flood
is neither biblical, realistic or accurate


It is neither biblical nor grounded in reality.


It reminds me a bit of what I read about some pious Jews who have so exalted a view of Mount Sinai, for instance, that they would never conceive of actually going and searching for it as a real concrete mountain in a particular location. For them Mount Sinai is way too lofty for that sort of profane attitude. It is semi-mythical.
It is probably something of this kind of mentality that led Byzantine Christians to opt for the impressive mountain, Jebel Musa (in Sinai Peninsula), for Mount Sinai, despite its being a totally unrealistic choice - the Procrustean imposition of a pre-conceived model! The experienced archaeologist, Professor Emmanuel Anati, instead, realistically weighed up all sorts of logistical factors, availability of wells for drinking water, biblical tribes named in association with the Hebrews, relevant archaeology, and so on, to locate a Mount Sinai (viz., Har Karkom) that entirely fitted the biblical data.
Though God is infinite, the Absolute being, the Incarnation is very much rooted in our concrete reality. Much of what Pope John Paul II wrote about as the erroneous approach to the Scriptures by Fundamentalism is therefore relevant to our case:
In his address to the Pontifical Biblical Commission, Pope John Paul II said:
“(The task of Biblical Studies) starts from the concern to understand the meaning of the texts with all the accuracy and precision possible and, thus, in their historical, cultural context. A false idea of God and the incarnation presses a certain number of Christians to take the opposite approach. They tend to believe that, since God is the absolute Being, each of his words has an absolute value, independent of all the conditions of human language. Thus, according to them, there is no room for studying these conditions in order to make distinctions that would relativize the significance of the words. However, that is where the illusion occurs and the mysteries of scriptural inspiration and the incarnation are really rejected, by clinging to a false notion of the Absolute.
The God of the Bible is not an absolute Being who, crushing everything he touches, would suppress all differences and all nuances. On the contrary, he is God the Creator, who created the astonishing variety of beings ‘each according to its kind,’ as the Genesis account says repeatedly (Gn 1). Far from destroying differences, God respects them and makes use of them (cf 1 Cor 12:18, 24, 28). Although he expresses himself in human language, he does not give each expression a uniform value, but uses its possible nuances with extreme flexibility and likewise accepts its limitations. That is what makes the task of exegetes (Biblical scholars) so complex, so necessary and so fascinating!” (page 18)


Hence, Hugh’s accusation is to be expected:


…. Perhaps the most disheartening thing about the article was its apparent lack of piety. It was hard to imagine that a Catholic man … could write an article so lacking in reverence for the Word of God as it has been understood in the Church from the time of the Apostles.
The Magisterial teaching on Biblical exegesis is quite clear. The Catholic commentator on the Bible is to accept the literal and obvious sense of Scripture, except where reason dictates or necessity requires (Providentissimus Deus). ….


And Hugh again raises the matter of the sediment, his question [6], thought by ‘Creationists’ to have been deposited by the Noachic Flood, but with six miles of it located beneath the riverine world of Adam in Genesis 2. That is “the literal and obvious sense of Scripture”, since the Bible tells us that that was the nature and scope of the ancient world. And Moses later makes editorial notes to specify that those rivers know to Adam and his contemporaries still constituted the riverine system of Moses’ own world.
So apparently it was still the world of Noah, since his era came between Adam and Moses, St Peter’s “world that then was” (2 Peter 3).
This is apparently, then, the world that one has to deal with in terms of interpreting the biblical Flood. Not Bob’s and Hugh’s global world that now is.
In fact, it was still the extent of the world as known at the time of Jesus Christ and the Apostles, as attested by the Pentecost event, with people from ‘all the nations under heaven’, which, when itemised, are still of the approximate ancient riverine world, geographically, of Adam, Noah and Moses. Thus Jesus can say of the tiny step, on a global map, of the Queen of the South, as her having come ‘from the ends of the earth’ to visit Solomon. We would not say that!
And, at the time of Og, King Balak of Moab spoke of the Israelites encamped in the plains of Moab as “cover[ing] the face of the earth” (Numbers 22:5).
We definitely would not say that!
But Hugh and Bob anachronistically read globality into the Semitic mind and the Church Fathers (see Hugh’s [2]-[5]): All the animals; all different kinds; the birds; all the mountains; all the earth. That is not ‘logical’!
How Long to Build the Ark?


[1] 120 years to build Ark, says Hugh.


Answer: According to one of Hugh’s favourite authorities, though, Answers in Genesis:


We would end up with a tentative range of about 55 to 75 years for a reasonable maximum time to build the Ark. Of course, it could be less than this depending on the age that Noah’s sons took wives.


Moreover, both Jewish and Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich tradition seem to concur that Noah left off building for long periods of time. Thus Anne Catherine (Life of Jesus Christ):


It was long before the ark was completed, for Noe often discontinued it for years at a time. Three times did God warn him to proceed with it. Each time Noe would engage workmen, recommence and again dis­continue in the hope that God would relent. ….
The Ice Age?
[10] How do you realistically model an Ice Age without a prior global Flood?, asks Hugh.


Answer: Ever tried growing grapes in an Ice Age (not to mention lying around naked) (Genesis 9:20-21)?
Read also:

An Ice Age after the Flood ??
As proposed by some creation scientists !



Reference: ICR Impact #361 "Are Polar Ice Sheets Only 4500 Years Old?", June 2003
(
http://www.icr.org/newsletters/impact/impactjuly03.html)


"And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply
bring forth abundantly in the earth,and multiply therein.

(Genesis 9:7)


So while the LORD is instructing Noah and his offspring to be fruitful, the scientists at the Institute for Creation Research are saying that He make their life very difficult after the flood by putting them through an Ice Age!
While the LORD in Genesis 8:21-22 says:
"I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake: ...
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, ... shall not cease"
"And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:"
Genesis 9:20


Apparently while still living amongst the "mountains of Ararat"
since the migration of his offspring to
"a plain in the land of Shinar" does not come until Genesis 11:2.
Note that three glaciers (black areas) are shown in the Black/Caspian Sea region on the map below of Eurasia during the ice age maximum (LGM), which is not really a detailed map. Therefore, the task of growing a vineyard amongst the mountains of Ararat in the middle of an ice age would be comparable to growing one now in the valleys amongst the glaciers in Alaska! (P.S. Vineyards are not grown in Alaska)(1)
The following figure [go to original article] shows the climatic condition of Eurasia during the ice age maximum, with the brown area being cold and desert or semi-desert, including the mountainous areas between the Black and Caspian Seas, with glaciers in the higher altitudes (black areas). The green and yellow show areas favorable for human habitation in wet and dry periods, respectively. (Red shows the extended land area due to low sea levels) ….
....


Perhaps a more realistic sequence regarding the Ice Age in relation to the Flood would be that as proposed by Pitman and Ryan in their Noah’s Flood:
….
The story of Noah and the great flood is one that so permeates our culture that generations of geologists have devoted their lives to looking for evidence of a prehistoric worldwide flood. But it was not until the 1990's that geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman gathered clues pointing to an actual ancient flood in the Middle East about 7,500 years ago. Sediment core-samples the scientists took from the bottom of the Black Sea revealed sections of once-dry, sun-baked land.
Geologists Walter Pitman and William Ryan were the first to gather evidence that the Black Sea flooded 7500 years ago
These sediments were then covered by sections of uniform mud, strongly suggesting that these plains underwent a long-ago influx of saltwater. Though not worldwide, this cataclysmic event occurred at what could have been a locus of human activity at the time.
In their 1998 book,Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries about the Event that Changed History, Ryan and Pitman suggest the Black Sea was once a much smaller, land-locked freshwater lake, fed by ancient rivers, and surrounded by fertile plains. Neolithic people, Ryan and Pitman suppose, would have flocked to farm these Eden-like plains to farm them while supplementing their diets with the lake's abundant shellfish.
At this time - about 7,500 [sic] years ago - the global climate was still rapidly warming following the last Ice Age, causing the seas to rise.
Ryan and Pitman hypothesize that, when sea levels rose beyond a critical point, the Mediterranean Sea overflowed, deluging the Black Sea basin with salty water and destroying the fertile plains around the once-shallow freshwater lake.
….

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Joseph, son of Jacob (Israel), was Imhotep, of Egyptian History



Taken from: http://theegyptianidentityofjoseph.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/joseph-son-of-jacob-israel-was-imhotep-of-egyptian-history/

....

· Barriers to equating Joseph with Imhotep, The Egyptian Identity of Joseph son of Jacob, Who was Imhotep


Authors

Joseph, son of Jacob (Israel), was Imhotep, of Egyptian History


Egyptian History is consistent with the Bible

Joseph was the 11th son of Jacob, the Patriarch of Israel. Joseph was 30 years old when he became the sage or visier to Pharaoh and lead Egypt through seven years of famine. The Pharaohs became wealthy and powerful because of Joseph. Joseph brought up all the land of Egypt (except for that of the priest’s) and reduced the Egyptian people to servitude. He married the daughter of the High Priest in Heliopolis (Capital city ‘On’). He lived to the age of 110 and ensured the survival of the Israelites.

Egyptian history records a visier to Pharaoh Djoser of the third dynasty by the name of Imhotep who lived for 110 years and saved Egypt from a seven year famine and made Egypt very wealthy. He is said to have designed the first pyramid, been the first to used columns in architecture, performed operations and established the practice of embalming. He wrote many literary works and was the first to use papyrus.
Could Joseph and Imhotep have been the same person?

Joseph and Imhotep were the same person


Introduction

This article looks at the person of Joseph, son of Jacob, in the Bible, and whether or not there is any non-Biblical Egyptian historical or archeological evidence of his existence.
Joseph is responsible for saving Egypt from a seven year famine and may have built the massive underground silos that can be found in many cities of Egypt. [1] [2] [3] In particular, he may have built the silos associated with the first pyramid built in Egypt (The Step Pyramid which is part of the Djoser Pyramid complex at Saqqara, designed by Imhotep). [4] [5] [6] [7]
There are many similarities between the profile of Joseph and Imhotep. [8] [9] [10] [5] Imhotep is also credited with saving Egypt from a seven year famine after hearing of the Pharaoh’s dream. Imhotep, like Joseph, was a commoner with some divine connection and was placed second in charge of Egypt by the King (Netjerikhet). [8]
Joseph brought up all the land for Pharaoh by selling the grain he stored during the seven years that preceded the famine [11] ; a feat that could only have been performed once, early in Egypt’s history, and explains how the Pharaohs became so powerful and able to built the pyramids.
Given that Joseph was one of the Patriarchs of Israel, and figures very early in the Biblical record, less than 1000 years after the flood of Noah, it is quite possible that he may have figured in the early parts of Egyptian history, namely the Third Dynasty of Pharaoh Djoser. [9] [12] [13]
Until recently, the most compelling argument against Joseph and Imhotep being the same person, has been the discrepancy between the estimated times during which they lived. [4] [14]
In the last 50 years, evidence has accumulated to suggest that Egyptian dynasties may overlap and may not date back as far as was once thought. [15] [16] [17] [18] Egyptian records are not chronological. [12] Furthermore, the pyramids were probably constructed much later that many historians have estimated. [19]
If this “modern alignment” of the Egyptian dynasties is correct, it is highly likely that Joseph and Imhotep were the same person [20] [21] [22] [23] [18] and Egyptian History would be consistent with the Bible.
If it can be generally accepted that Joseph and Imhotep were the same person, this would give historians an anchor in history in order to further correlate the history of Egypt, Israel and Mesopotamia.

Biblical References to Joseph

References to Joseph can be found in the Book of Genesis in the Holy Bible, the Torah and The Koran.
These are the Holy scriptures of the Christian faith, Judaism and Islam respectively.
The story of Jospeh is told in Genesis Chapters 37-50.
Genesis is the first book of the Bible and no Biblical scholars would dispute the historical nature of this part of the Book.
Any suggestion that Joseph was a symbolic, mythical or a fictional character would be deeply offensive to these religions.

  • Biblical Genealogy

After the Flood [24] and the dispersion of Babel [25] , people spread out over all the Earth.
Terah set out from Ur of the Chaldeans with his Son Abraham to go to Canaan but stopped at Haran. [26]
This is where Abraham was called by God. God promised to make him into a great nation and to bless all nations through him. [27]
God made a covenant with Abraham and promised him the land of Canaan which his descendants would take possession of after serving as slaves in a foreign land (Egypt) for 400 years (4 generations). [28]
Abraham was to become the father of many nations centered around the middle east as we know it today.
He had Ishmael (Ishmaelites) to Hagar, his wife’s maid servant. [29] Ishmael became the Patriach of the Islamic religion.
Then at the age of 100 Abraham had Issac to his wife Sarai. [30]
It was to be thru Issac that God would fulfill his promise to Abraham and so Ishmael was sent away. [31]
Issac married Rebeka who bore Esau (the Edomites) and Jacob (the Israelites). Abraham had a third wife Keturah who bore many children who were sent to the middle east and became fathers of nations there too. [32]
Jacob eventually bore 12 sons and a daughter. The eleventh son was Joseph. Joseph was the first son of Rachael (Jacob’s second wife). [33] Jacob had an encounter with God one night and was renamed Israel. [34] His descendants (the Jews) became the Nation of Israel (from which comes Judaism) out of which came Christ (Christianity) with whom God would fulfill his promise to Abraham. [35]
Genealogy of Noah (according to the Bible)

Genealogy of Noah (according to the Bible)

Genealogy of Abraham (according to the Bible)

Genealogy of Abraham (according to the Bible)


  • Biblical History

In the Biblical account, (Genesis 37-50) Joseph was the first born Son of Rachael (Jacob’s second wife). Jacob (Israel) favored Joseph over his other children. Joseph had a dream that one day he would rule over his brothers. His brothers became jealous of him and so sold him to slave traders who took him to Egypt. [36] He was subsequently sold to Potiphar in Egypt as a slave and was subsequently wrongfuly imprisoned.
It was in prison where he came to the attention of Pharaoh through his cupbearer who informed Pharaoh of Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams by the power of God. Pharaoh needed counsel about his own dreams and was not able to find anybody from his own kingdom to help.
Joseph was able to tell Pharaoh the meaning of his dreams which fortold of a coming famine lasting seven years but preceded by seven years of abundance. Pharaoh made Joseph second in charge over his all his kingdom. During the seven years of abundance, Joseph was able to build silos in every city and store enough grain to feed the Nation during the seven years of famine that followed. [37]

  • Joseph’s achievements in Egypt

When Joseph was 30 yrs old, Pharaoh put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. Pharaoh gave Joseph his signet ring, dressed him in fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. He was given a chariot to ride around Egypt as second in command. Joseph’s name was changed to Zapheneth Paneah and he was given a wife Asenath (Daughter of Potiphera, priest of On). [1]
During the seven years of abundance, Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain in each city from the fields surrounding them. [2]
He had two sons to Asenath, Mannaseh & Ephraim. [38]
Joseph saved Egypt and Caanan by selling the people grain during the 7 year famine. When the people had run out of money, Joseph brought their livestock. When they had run out of livestock he brought the land titles. [3]
Joseph brought up all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The priests did not have to sell their land as Pharaoh gave them a supply of food. [11]
Joseph’s family were saved. [39] Jacob (Israel) and his eleven other sons along with their wives and servants were invited by Pharaoh to come and live in Egypt. [40] They settled in Rameses and became numerous in number. [41]
Jacob died and was afforded an Egyptian burial [42] after blessing his children and those of Joseph. [43] [44] Joseph reassures his brothers after Jacobs death. [45] Eventually Joseph dies at the age of 110 and is given an Egyptian style burial aswell. [46]
After 430 years passed, the Israelites numbered over 2 million. They were eventually lead out of Egypt by Moses through the Red Sea (the exodus). [47]

Is Joseph likely to have figured in Egyptian records?

If Joseph was placed second in charge of Egypt by Pharaoh, there should be some note of this in Egyptian records. [1]
Joseph helped to save Egypt and the surrounding nations from a famine lasting seven years. [2]
Joseph would have had to construct massive grain silos for storing grain in many Egyptian cities and indeed, massive silos can be found in many historical significant Egyptian cities today (eg Saqqara).
Joseph married the daugher of one of the High Priests in Egypt. [1] He saved his country from a seven year famine and brought up all the land of Egypt except for that of the priests who did not need to sell their land because Pharaoh supplied them with food. The people became loyal subjects of Pharaoh because of what Joseph had done. [3]
Joseph was, therefore, responsible for making the Pharaoh’s wealthy and powerful. [11]
Joseph served the Pharaohs from the age of thirty. [1] He died at the age of 110 years of age and was given a Royal Egyptian burial. [46] It is quite possible that he may have been involved with the design of the first and maybe the second pyramid.
His family, the descendants of Jacob (Israel), produced mud bricks and became numerous in number in the 430 years that they lived in Egypt. There were over 600 thousand adult males (not counting women and children) who were lead out of Egypt by Moses during a time of great disaster in Egypt. [47]
With a list of accomplishments like this, it would be hard to conceive that Joseph would not be mentioned in Egyptian heiroglyphics or memorialized some other way.

Where does Joseph fit into Egyptian History?

Estimates of dates have long been the common denominator used by archaeologists and historians alike when trying to piece together ancient history.
Various teams of archaeologist have used a number of different dating methods to estimate how old a particular artifact is. For example, the type of pottery that is predominant in a layer can be used to date the layer.
Assumptions behind various dating techniques are not alway right. This can sometimes lead to artifacts being incorrectly dated by as much as 1000 to 2000 years.
If history is pieced together based only upon the estimated dates of particular dynasties, the results can be quite erroneous and it will be little wonder why Egyptian and Hebrew history does not fit together and why no Egyptian equivalent of Joseph has been found using the dates traditionally ascribed to various Egyptian dynasties.
An increasing number of historians are now calling into question the dates of Egyptian dynasties. In particular, Sweeney [15] [21] [19] [48] , Velikovski [49] [50] [51] , Fry [52] [12] [53] [16] [54] [55] [56] [57] [58] [59] [20] , Reilly [13] [17] [60] [22] Ashton & Down [18] .
Using their revised dating system, the historical records of Israel and Egypt fit together much better and it is possible to identify likely correlates and contemporaries of important Biblical Characters.
Conventional wisdom which has been very reliant on dating methods has been unable to find any evidence that the Patriarchs of Israel lived in Egypt and have not found any possible candidates for Joseph because they are looking for evidence of him in the Hyksos dynasty which is estimated to have been around 1700BC according to conventional chronology. As a result, conventional wisdom states that Joseph and other Biblical figures were minor figures in Egypt that were not note worthy enough to have been memorialized in the heiroglyphic records and other monuments that have been uncovered.
Modern thinking using the revised chronology results in much clearer picture with the history Israel and Egypt lining up and matching archaeological records. Abraham is considered to be a contemporary of Menes. Imhotep is considered to be the Joseph of the Bible and Djoser is considered to be the Pharaoh that he served [13] [17] [21] [15] [52] [54] .
This would fit with the theory that Amenemhet III was the Pharaoh of Moses who oppressed the Israelites making them make mud bricks [18] . Also of note is that the pyramid of Amenemhet III was made of mud bricks containing straw. [18] Amenemhet III was the 6th Pharaoh of the 12th dynasty and lived 450 to 500 years after Pharaoh Djoser in the 3rd dynasty. [18] He had only daughters who had a son (Amenemhet IV) who disappeared before he could become King. It has been suggested that Amenemhet IV was Moses. [18]
The Exodus took place during the Reign of Neferhotep I during the 13th dynasty in 1445BC. He was the only Pharaoh of that dynasty [18]
The Hyksos (15th & 16th dynasties) which were contemporary with Joshua and the Judges, came to an end when King Saul destroyed the Amalekites (Hyksos) [18] [61]
Dynasty 17 was contemporary with dynasty 16. [18]
Amenhotep I and Thutmosis I of the 18th dynasty were contemporaries of David. [18] Hatshepsut was the Queen of Sheba who visited Solomon. [62] [63] Thutmosis III came to power during the reign of Jereboam and became the greatest Pharaoh of Egypt. [18]
Modern’ Chronology (Ashton & Down 2006) [18]
DateDynastyEgyptContemporary_in_Israel
2080BC1stMenesAbraham
1900BC3rdDjoser_+_ImhotepJoseph
1531BC12thAmenemhet_III (6th_Pharaoh)Moses
1445BC13thNeferhotep IThe Exodus (Moses)
1405 -1021BC15th_&_16thHyksosJoshua to Saul
1018BC18thAmenhotep I & Thutmosis IKing David
950BC18thHatshepsut [Queen of Sheba]Solomon
929BC18thThutmosis IIIJereboam

Why is it so hard to piece together Egyptian records?

The Egyptians suffered great losses at the time of the Exodus and may not have wanted to remember what Joseph and his family had achieved during their 400 year stay in Egypt. This may be one reason why it is very difficult to find historical information about the exploits of the Israelites in Egypt.
This may also been the reason that the second pyramid designed by Imhotep was not completed.
Another reason why it is difficult to find historical information is because much of it was lost or destroyed by various seiges, conquests, natural distasters and even erosion over the centuries.
Egyptian records are written as qlyphs (pictures) in stone. They have a number of limitations – you need to know ‘the code’ ie what they mean. Pronunciation is not indicated as with Greek and English and there is no time stamp. The art of interpreting them (heiroglyphics)has been somewhat lost.

Similarities between Joseph and Imhotep

Imhotep – Egyptian records
Joseph – Bible
  • Imhotep is appointed Administrator by Pharaoh Djoser during the periods of seven years famine and seven years of bountiful harvests [8]
  • Joseph is appointed Administrator to Pharaoh for the seven years of plenty then of famine
  • Minister to the King of Lower Egypt [8]
  • Pharaoh .. made him ruler over all the land of Egypt
  • Administrator of the Great Palace [8]
  • Thou shalt be over my house
  • Not of royal blood; attained position by ability [8]
  • From another nation and religion, not of royal blood, attained position by ability
  • Not appointed by Pharaoh Djoser until he had reigned for some time [8]
  • Appointed well after Pharaoh ruled Egypt
  • Given the status of “son” to Pharaoh [8]
  • Granted the status of “son” to Pharaoh
  • High Priest in Heliopolis [8]
  • Married to Asenath, daughter of Poti-Pherah, High Priest in Heliopolis – by custom, would succeed father-in-law
  • Builder and architect [8]
  • Builder of grain storehouses such as at Sakkara step-pyramid
  • Exalted by Pharaoh Djoser as of godly character [8]
  • And Pharaoh said, ‘a man in whom the spirit of God is!’
  • “I need advice from God” [8]
  • Noted as saying, “It is not in me; God shall give Pharaoh an answer”
  • Had great medical skill – was compared to the Greek God of Healing [8]
  • Had doctors under his authority – worked by miracles, dreams and signs from God
  • Decided the tax rate during the seven years of famine; also not to apply to priests [8]
  • Decided the tax rate during the seven years of famine; also not to apply to priests
  • Realizes when he is dying – dies at age 110 [8]
  • Realizes when he is dying – dies at age 110

Who was Imhotep?

Imhotep was a most interesting figure in the Egyptian culture, his name means “the one who comes in peace”. He served Djoser, the third dynasty king, he was the vizier to the pharaoh and they say that he was the high priest to the sun god Ra. [64]
Imhotep is attributed with being the first person in history to be an acting physician, he was also the first architect, he was a poet and also a philosopher. After his death he was given the status of a deity, he was only one of a very few commoners to ever be given that kind of an honor.
[64]
He is thought to be the architect of the first Pyramid; the step pyramid at Saqqara. [64]
He is also credited with the use of columns in architecture. [64]
He is known as the founder of Egyptian medicine, and he is famous for not incorporating magic into his medical treatments, he diagnosed and treated over two hundred diseases, he extracted medicine from plants and he is also known to have performed operations and dentist work. He knew the circulation of the blood system and he knew where each vital organ was placed and what its uses were. [64]
He became the god of medicine and healing, when the Greeks invaded Egypt they worshiped him and built him temples because they saw in him their own god of healing named Asclepius. [64]
Imhotep was also the first person known to use the papyrus scroll. He may have actually invented it! [64]
Among other things Imhotep is also attributed to the prediction and prevention of a seven year famine that came upon the land, he predicted the famine from a dream the pharaoh Djoser had, in this dream the god of the Nile spoke to the pharaoh, and Imhotep was the only one that could interpret the dream. [64]

Could Joseph and Imhotep have been the same person?

The Roman-Jewish historian, Josephus, quotes the writings of Manetho, Egyptian historian: “During [the] reign of .. Pharaoh Djoser, 3rd Egyptian dynasty, lived Imhotep .. [with a] reputation among Egyptians like the Greek God of medicine – [Manetho even wondered] whether Imhotep could have been an actual person .. [because he had] “so many outstanding qualities and talents .. a very special person [who] appears in the history of Egypt.” On the foundations of the Step Pyramid in Sakkara was carved the name of Pharaoh Djoser and “.. Imhotep, Chancellor of the King of Lower Egypt, Chief under the King, Administrator of the Great Palace, Hereditary Lord, High Priest of Heliopolis, Imhotep the Builder..”. [8] [65]
Joseph arrived in Egypt as a young man and married Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, the priest of On. [1]
This information precludes the theory that Joseph lived during Hyksos rule in Egypt. On or An was the ancient capital of Heliopolis (As-t Tem). Some claim that Egyptians also believed in One Great God who was never represented in their art work. Only his attributes, functions as Creator, Teacher and Healer were known as the neter or neteru. The symbolism surrounding Egyptian deities then is different from this One Great God, in whose image man was made, in that it scales our world and the universe to our dimensions so man can grasp it. The Egyptian name for this `One Great God’ is neter, probably an echo or more distant memory of the biblical Creator God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. [66]
Both Imhotep and Joseph imposed a 20% (one fifth) tax on the people with the exemption of the priests. [54]
Moeller refers to an inscription on the island of Sihiel, near the first cataract of the Nile, which actually links Imhotep to the key biblical element of the Joseph story – telling of Pharaoh Djoser in the 18th year of his reign. The inscription states “seven meagre years and seven rich years”. Commenting on the inscription, Moeller writes, “Pharaoh Djoser asks Imhotep to help him with the coming seven years of famine. All the biblical components of the story are there, and there is a similar inscription on the island of Philae in the Nile.” (This is exactly as in the Bible with Joseph, except for listing the “meagre” years before the years of plenty. Note: The famine years were, of course, the event of significance, saving everyone from starvation and bringing in much wealth to Egypt – it is noted that the manuscript was written a thousand years after the occurrences.) [67] [8]
Pharaoh renamed Joseph ‘Zapeneth Peneah’ [1] which means “master of the school of learning” [66] or “Man to whom secrets are revealed” [54] .
It is also interesting to note that circumcision was widely practiced among Egyptians from the third dynasty onward. Although Abraham did visit Egypt, it seems more likely that this practice was introduced by Joseph-Imhotep in the third dynasty. [54]
Egyptian records show that before Imhotep, the bodies of Egyptian royalty were not embalmed. Instead, they were entombed in early Egyptian structures called mastabas, (or mastabahs), oblong structures with flat roofs and sloping sides built over the opening of a mummy chamber or burial pit . [54]
Djoser appears to be the first king to have be embalmed, [54] Jacob (Israel) was embalmed by Joseph and buried in a coffin and Joesph himself was embalmed and given a royal Egyptian burial. [46] [42] The Biblical account suggests that only Joseph’s bones were preserved as was the practice in the early dynasties of the Old Kingdom. Preservation of the whole body was not practiced until the Era of King Tut (New Kingdom). [54]
Extremely noteworthy regarding Imhotep-Joseph is that the mummified bodies of neither have ever been found. The known facts regarding the burials of Imhotep and Joseph also strongly support the thesis that they were the same person: [8]
Both died at age 110. [8] [46]
Imhotep’s coffin in Sakkara – with innumeral Ibis birds mummified in the adjoining galleries (Imhotep was called “Ibis” because of his reputation for healing – a large number of Ibis birds were sacrificed to him at his funeral in Sakkara); many clay vessels bearing the seal of Pharaoh Djoser were near the coffin; and the coffin is oriented to the North, not East, and is empty. [8]
Joseph would have been buried at Sakkara, his coffin orientated to the North – indicating he did not believe in the gods of the Egyptians (who were buried facing East, the rising sun); the coffin would also be empty as Joseph’s bones would have been taken by Moses with the Hebrews during the Exodus. [8] [46]

Could Pharaoh Djoser (King Netjerikhet) be the Pharaoh of Joseph?

The ‘correct alignment’ of Israel’s and Egypt’s history will allow contemporary fragments of information to be linked together to build up a clear picture of ancient history. Combining the records of Egypt, Israel and Mesopotamia will help to fill in the gaps in each nations’ record.
Evidence is now accumulating to suggest that Egyptian dynasties may overlap and may not date back as far as was once thought. [15] [16] [17] [18] [66]
Dynasty 2 is considered contemporary with dynasty 3. [18] There was no first intermediate period. The dark ages of the first intermediate period have been confused with the dark ages of the second intermediate period. [18]
Dynasties 7-10 have been identified with 15-16 and Dynasty 17 was contemporary with dynasty 16. [18]
Egyptian history, therefore, does not date back as far as was once thought (3000BC – 5000BC) as per the Conventional Chronology. [18] [50] [51] [49] [21] [13] [17] [52] [12] [53] [16] [54] [66]
The first Egyptian dynasty is now considered to have started around 2100BC and the Great Flood is considered to have been around 2300-2400BC. [18]
The Exodus occured just after the end of the 12th dynasty in 1445BC. [66] [18]
Any Egyptian dates before the 12th dynasty are considered quite speculative and are only approximations [18]
This ‘Modern Alignment’ of the Dynasties fits the Biblical account and also the records of Mesopotamia.
The ‘Modern Alignment’ of the Dynasties provides the answers to the major objection to Joseph and Imhotep being the same person (namely the mismatching dates) and by the same token makes it highly likely that Pharaoh Djoser was the Pharaoh of Joseph.
While Sweeney points out that Abraham was a contemporary of Menes who were patriarchs of their respective civilizations some time after a catestrophic destruction [21] , he has probably over corrected the dates which are far too short even for Biblical events.
If it is agreed that Joseph was Imhotep and he served Pharaoh Djoser (Zozer) of the Third dynasty, it does not follow that the identity of Moses and the Pharaoh’s he was contemporary with will be agreed as there is not universal agreement about which dynasties to identify and which dynasties ran in parallel. [58] [66] [19] [18] [17]
Conventional’ Chronology [21]
DateEgyptIsrael
3000BCMenes (First dynasty displays strong mesopotamian influence)Djoser and Imhotep (Famine crisis solved when Imhotep interprets Djoser’s dream)
2000BCFirst Intermediate period(Age of disturbance in nature and general lawlessness)Abraham (migrates from mesopotamia and introduces some of the basic civiliation to Egypt)Joseph (Famine crisis in Egypt solved when Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream)
1000BCMoses leads the Israelites to freedom amidst violent upheavals of nature
Revised’ Chronology (Sweeney 1997) [21]
DateEgyptIsraelMesopotamia
1300+BCEarly_Badarian‘Ubaid
1300BCCatestrophic_DestructionCatestrophic_DestructionCatestrophic_Destruction
1200BCLate_Bedarian_and_GerzeanKhirbet_KerakJamdat_Nasr(Early_Literacy)
1100-
1000BC
Destruction episodeDestruction episodeDestruction episode
1000BCMenes (Early Dynastic Age)Abraham(Early Dynastic Age)
900BCDjoser and ImhotepJoseph
800BCDestruction episodeDestruction episodeDestruction episode
800BCPyramid AgeAge of the JudgesAkkadian Age
700BCHyksos epochSaulSargon I
‘Modern’ Chronology (Ashton & Down 2006) [18]
Date Dynasty Egyptian_PharaohContemporary_in_Israel
2080BC1stMenesAbraham
1900BC3rdDjoser_+_ImhotepJoseph
1531BC12thAmenemhet_III (6th_Pharaoh)Moses
1445BC13thNeferhotep IThe Exodus (Moses)
1405 -1021BC15th_&_16thHyksosJoshua to Saul
1018BC18thAmenhotep I & Thutmosis IKing David
950BC18thHatshepsut [Queen of Sheba]Solomon
929BC18thThutmosis IIIJereboam

What implications does this have for Egyptian History?

If the ‘modern alignment’ of the Egyptian Dynasties is correct, Joseph can be identified with Imhotep and Egyptian history will be consistent with the Bible.
Pharaoh recognised Joseph’s divine inspiration and appointed him to be in charge of Egypt. Joseph built silos to store grain and so saved Egypt from a seven year famine. He acquired all the land of Egypt (other than the priest’s) for Pharaoh by selling grain. The Pharaohs became wealthy and powerful and the people of Egypt became his subjects. Joseph’s family was invited to live in Egypt (Rameses). [3] [11]
Joseph, therefore, saved his family and protected the Israelites as they grew to become a nation in Egypt. [45]
Djoser was the second Pharaoh of the 3rd dynasty of Egypt and came about three or four generations after Menes who was the Pharaoh of the 1st dynasty of Egypt and a contemporary of Abraham. [18] [21] [15]
Joseph came three generations after Abraham and was contemporary with Djoser (1900BC) . After his death he was deified because of his achievements. As King Netjeriket of the third Egyptian dynasty was also known by the name ‘Pharaoh Djoser’, it is possible that this name means ‘Pharaoh of Joseph’.
The Israelites stayed in Egypt 430 years. This takes us to the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th dynasty which is when the Exodus occurred. (1445BC) [18]
It is unlikely that Joseph was some inconspicuous person in the 18th dynasty of Hyksos as is commonly held by people who adhere to the ‘conventional alignment’ of Egyptian dynasties.
What’s more, if the ‘modern alignment’ is correct, the Hebrew influence of Egyptian culture will be re-established. The first pyramid would have been designed by a Hebrew. The Hebrew God can be credited for saving Egypt from a seven year famine and giving the Pharaoh’s their power, wealth and the means to build the other pyramids. The designer of the first pyramid will, once again, be seen to be a servant of the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, even though the pyramids later became objects of pagan worship and Imhotep was deified long after his death by the Greeks.
When the Israelites left Egypt, Joseph’s association with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was forgotten and the pyramids became symbols of pagan gods.
With the aid of hind sight it can be seen how the designer of the first pyramid, the savior of the Egyptian people and the man responsible for the Pharaoh’s power, known as Imhotep, would be deified some 1400 years after his death once his connection with the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob had been lost and forgotten.
The first pyramids, which were made of cut limestone, were built by the Egyptian people who had sold their land to Pharaoh and become his subjects.
After Joseph’s death, the Israelites were given the task of making mud bricks. [68] [69] Interestingly, the core of the Pyramid of Amenemhet III is made of mud bricks containing straw. [18] Amenemhet III was the 6th Pharaoh of the 12th Egyptian dynasty which preceeded the Exodus in 1445BC. [18]
Moses was forced to flee Egypt and go to Midian after killing an Israelite official. During that period, the Pharaoh died. [70] When he returned to Egypt, there was a new Pharaoh in power (possibly Neferhotep I of the 13th Dynasty). [18]
The Hyksos dynasties (14th & 15th dynasties) started after the Exodus, spanned the period of the Judges and was finally ended by Saul when he defeated the Amelekites. [18] [61]

What implications does this have for Israel and Christianity?

If Joseph was Imhotep, then Bible History is consistent with Egyptian history.
This will mean that there is archaeological evidence that the Patriarchs of Israel lived in Egypt.
Archaeological evidence for Israel in Arabia ⁄ Midian (Jabel el Lawz) in combination with the above would corroborate the Biblical account of the Exodus.
Joseph saved his family and protected the Israelites and allowed them to multiply in numbers so that they could fulfill what God had planned; namely to return to the land of Canaan and to take possession of it after spending 430 years in Egypt and 40 years in the Wilderness. [28]

What implications does this have for Literature, Medicine and Architecture?

If Joseph was Imhotep, this would make Joseph the father of medicine, the first architect to build with stone and use columns and the inventor of the papyrice and the first to use it (to write medical and non-medical literary works). [71] [72] [73] [74] [6] [75]
He probably served more than one pharaoh and appears to have designed at least two pyramids and several buildings that utilize columns. He was given the name Pathotep by a later pharaoh that he served. [54]
Imhotep may have invented the embalming techniques used to preserve the bodies of Egyptian Pharaohs. He became the first pathologist. He was known as the ‘Son of Ptah’ (or son of Path). [54] Hundreds of years after his death, he became deified and was known as the god Path. [54]
Not only was Pathotep’s name derived from that of the god Path, but our modern word, ‘Pathology’, was also derived from and bears his name. [54]

Summary: Joseph and Imhotep are the same person

There is such a strong match between the profile of Joseph and Imhotep that many historians, theologians and archaeologists have suggested that they are one in the same person.
There were only so many non royal, second in charge visiers who saved Egypt from a 7 year famine by interpreting Pharaohs dreams (with the power of God), imposed a 20% tax, brought up all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh (except for that of the priests), lived to the age of 110 and were embalmed when they died. – Imhotep & Joseph
Imhotep was also the High Priest of Heliopolis. Jospeh married the daughter of the high priest of On (the capital of Heliopolis) !
Until recently, the main case for not believing Joseph and Imhotep to be the same person, has been the considerable discrepancy between the estimated dates of their existance by as much as 1000 years!
Egyptian records are far from complete. They are not chronological and the exact way that fragments fit together is by no means certain.
In the Last 50 years, historians have realized that several Egyptian dynasties have been counted twice and some ran in parallel. The result is that Egyptian history can be substantially contracted, therefore eliminating the discrepancy in the estimated dates of Joseph and Imhotep.
This modern understanding of the Egyptian dynasties means that Joseph almost certainly was Imhotep and Egyptian History is consistent with the Bible.
If it can be generally accepted that Joseph and Imhotep were the same person, this would give historians an anchor in history in order to further correlate the history of Egypt, Israel and Mesopotamia.

Suggested Reading

1. J. Ashton & D. Down, Unwrapping the pharaohs. how Egyptian archaeology confirms the Biblical timeline, New Leaf Publishing Group (Master books), 2006. ISBN 978-0-89051-468-9 ISBN 0-89051-468-2 http://masterbooks.net
2. H. Bible, “Jacob bore 12 sons,” Genesis chapter 29-32,
3. H. Bible—”Keturah’s children sent away to Middle East,” Genesis 25:1-4,
4. H. Bible—”Abrahams children to be reckoned through Isaac,” Genesis 21:12,
5. H. Bible—”Ishmael sent away – Isaac the child of promise,” Genesis 21:8-13,
6. H. Bible—”Isaac born to Sarai,” Genesis Chapter 21,
7. H. Bible—”Ishmael born to Hagar,” Genesis Chapter 16,
8. H. Bible—”God’s covenant with Abraham,” Genesis Chapters 15 & 17,
9. H. Bible—”Call of Abraham,” Genesis Chapter 12,
10. H. Bible—”Terah sets out from Ur,” Genesis 11:27-32,
11. H. Bible—”The dispersion after Babel,” Genesis Chapter 11,
12. H. Bible—”The Flood,” Genesis Chapter 6,
13. H. Bible—”The Biblical account of Jospeh,” Genesis chapter 37-50,
14. H. Bible—”Jacob renamed Israel,” Genesis 32:22-32,
15. H. Bible—”Jacob favours Joseph,” Genesis chapter 37,
16. H. Bible—”Joseph sold into slavery and taken to Egypt,” Genesis 37:12-36,
17. H. Bible—”Joseph falsely accused and imprisoned in Egypt,” Genesis 39:1-23,
18. H. Bible—”Joseph able to interpret dreams,” Genesis 40:1-23,
19. H. Bible—”Joseph recognised by Pharaoh,” Genesis 41:1-40,
20. H. Bible—”The Exodus,” Exodus 12:31-42,
21. H. Bible—”Joseph reassures his brothers afer Jacob’s death,” Genesis 50:15-21,
22. H. Bible—”Jacob dies,” Genesis 49:29 -50:14,
23. H. Bible—”Jacob blesses his sons,” Genesis chapter 49,
24. H. Bible—”Jacob blesses Joseph’s children,” Genesis chapter 48,
25. H. Bible—”Pharaoh gives Jacob the land of Goshen,” Genesis Chapter 45,
26. H. Bible—”Joseph’s brothers go to Egypt to buy grain,” Genesis Chapters 42-44,
27. H. Bible—”Death of Joseph,” Genesis 50:22-26,
28. H. Bible—”Jacob moves to Egypt and settles in Rameses,” Genesis Chapter 46:1-47:12,
29. H. Bible—”Joseph buys up all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh,” Genesis 47:18-22,
30. H. Bible—”Joseph saves Egypt by selling grain,” Genesis 47:13-17,
31. H. Bible—”Joseph has two sons; Ephraim and Mannaseh,” Genesis 41:50-52,
32. H. Bible—”Joseph stores up huge quantities of grain in Egyptian cities,” Genesis 41:47-49,
33. H. Bible—”Pharaoh puts joseph in charge of all Egypt,” Genesis chapter 41:41-46,
34. H. Bible—”The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon,” 1Chron 9:1-12,
35. H. Bible—”The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon,” 1Kings 10:1-13,
36. H. Bible—”Saul destroys the Amalekites,” 1Samuel 15:2-9,
37. H. Bible__”Moses flees to Midian and Pharaoh eventually dies” Exodus 2:11-25,
38. H. Bible, “The Israelites oppressed,” Exodus 1:1-22,
39. H. Bible—”Pharaoh makes Israelites find own straw to make mud bricks,” Exodus 5:1-21,
40. “The Wall Chart of World History – From earliest times to the present” 1998 Bracken Books ISBN 1-86256-306-3

References:

1. H. Bible, “Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge of all Egypt,” Genesis chapter 41:41-46,
2. H. Bible—”Joseph stores up huge quantities of grain in Egyptian cities,” Genesis 41:47-49,
3. H. Bible—”Joseph saves Egypt by selling grain,” Genesis 47:13-17,
4. NationMaster.com, “Statemaster – Encyclopedia: Imhotep,” , statemaster.com, 2009.
6. M. Millmore, “The Step Pyramid at Saqqara,” , http://www.eyelid.co.uk, 2008.
9. E. Sweeney, “Were Joseph and Imhotep of Egypt The same man?,” THE GENESIS OF ISRAEL AND EGYPT, B. E. Sweeny (Editor), 2001.
10. B. Rhodes, “Joseph and Imhotep,” , http://the-red-thread.net/, 2009.
11. H. Bible, “Joseph buys up all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh,” Genesis 47:18-22,
12. D. Fry, “Hebrew sages of ancient Egypt – time calibrators,” Hebrew Sages of Ancient Egypt II, 2004.
13. J. Reilly, “Displaced dynasties,” Dysplaced Dynasties, 2009.
14. G. Byers, “Israel in Egypt,” , http://www.biblearchaeology.org, 2008.
17. J. Reilly, “The exodus and beyond chapter 3: Joseph & Moses,” The Exodus and Beyond, 2009.
19. E. Sweeney, The pyramid age, ages in alignment series, Algora Publishing, 2007.
21. E. Sweeney, The Genesis of Israel and Egypt, Janus Publishing Company Limited, 1997. ISBN 978-1857563504
23. R. Wyatt, “Joseph was Imhotep of Egypt,” , Wyatt Archaelogical Research, 1994.
24. H. Bible, “The Flood,” Genesis Chapter 6,
25. H. Bible—”The dispersion after Babel,” Genesis Chapter 11,
26. H. Bible—”Terah sets out from Ur,” Genesis 11:27-32,
27. H. Bible—”Call of Abraham,” Genesis Chapter 12,
28. H. Bible—”God’s covenant with Abraham,” Genesis Chapters 15 & 17,
29. H. Bible—”Ishmael born to Hagar,” Genesis Chapter 16,
30. H. Bible—”Isaac born to Sarai,” Genesis Chapter 21,
31. H. Bible—”Ishmael sent away – Isaac the child of promise,” Genesis 21:8-13,
32. H. Bible—”Keturah’s children sent away to Middle East,” Genesis 25:1-4,
33. H. Bible—”Jacob bore 12 sons,” Genesis chapter 29-32,
34. H. Bible—”Jacob renamed Israel,” Genesis 32:22-32,
35. H. Bible—”Abrahams children to be reckoned through Isaac,” Genesis 21:12,
36. H. Bible—”Jacob favours Joseph,” Genesis chapter 37,
37. H. Bible—”The Biblical account of Jospeh,” Genesis chapter 37-50,
38. H. Bible—”Joseph has two sons; Ephraim and Mannaseh,” Genesis 41:50-52,
39. H. Bible—”Joseph’s brothers go to Egypt to buy grain,” Genesis Chapters 42-44,
40. H. Bible—”Jacob moves to Egypt and settles in Rameses,” Genesis Chapter 46:1-47:12,
41. H. Bible—”Pharaoh gives Jacob the land of Goshen,” Genesis Chapter 45,
42. H. Bible—”Jacob dies,” Genesis 49:29 -50:14,
43. H. Bible—”Jacob blesses Joseph’s children,” Genesis chapter 48,
44. H. Bible—”Jacob blesses his sons,” Genesis chapter 49,
45. H. Bible—”Joseph reassures his brothers afer Jacob’s death,” Genesis 50:15-21,
46. H. Bible—”Death of Joseph,” Genesis 50:22-26,
47. H. Bible—”The Exodus,” Exodus 12:31-42, .
48. Empire of Thebes or Ages In chaos revisited (ages in alignment), Algora Publishing, 2006.
49. I. Velikovski, Worlds in collision, London and New York, 1950.
50. I. Velikovski—Ages in chaos, London and New York, 1953.
51. I. Velikovski—Earth in upheaval, 1956.
52. D. Fry, “Hebrew sages of ancient Egypt II,” 2009.
53. D. Fry—”Hebrew sages of ancient Egypt II The birth of Egypt,” Hebrew Sages of Ancient Egypt II, 2004.
57. D. Fry—”Hebrew sages of ancient Egypt – Egypts weather changes,” Hebrew Sages of Ancient Egypt, 2009.
60. J. Reilly—”The Exodus and beyond chapter 2: The Patriarchal Age,” The Exodus and Beyond, 2009.
61. H. Bible, “Saul destroys the Amalekites,” 1Samuel 15:2-9,
62. H. Bible, “The queen of Sheba visits Solomon,” 1Kings 10:1-13,
63. H. Bible—”The queen of Sheba visits Solomon,” 1Chron 9:1-12,
65. W. Whiston, The works of Josephus complete and unabridged, New Updated Edition, Hendrikson Publishers, 1987. ISBN 0-913573-86-8 ISBN 1-56563-167-6
67. L. Moeller, The case for the Exodus, .
68. H. Bible, “The Israelites oppressed,” Exodus 1:1-22,
70. H. Bible, “Moses flees to Midian and Pharaoh eventually dies,” Exodus 2:11-25,
72. Britannica, “Imhotep,” , http://www.britannica.com, 2009.
73. R. Strachan, “Imhotep,” , http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/, 2005.
74. K. Matthews, “Imhotep,” , http://www.greatbuildings.com, 2008.
75. Wikipedia, “Imhotep,” , http://en.wikipedia.org, 2009.