Bebi’s Famine, like Joseph’s, was of ‘many years’ duration

by Damien F. Mackey “Now since famines succeeding one another on account of deficiency of water in the overflowing of the Nile are of the very greatest rarity . . . since Beba [Bebi] … lived … about the same time in which Joseph exercised the office … there remains for a satisfactory conclusion but one fair inference; that the 'many years of famine' in the days of Beba must exactly correspond to the seven years of famine under Joseph's pharaoh”. Henry Brugsch-Bey Patricia Halsey Maxwell has made a valiant attempt, following Dr. Donovan Courville, to identify in ancient Egypt the biblical Joseph and the protracted Famine of his time: https://adventistdigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/adl:359637/datastream/PDF/view THE BIOGRAPHY of Joseph is one of the most beautiful stories in the Bible. But did it really happen? Was Joseph a real person? Or just a fictional character? Were there really seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine? Is there perhaps some truth in what the Bible says, but is the rest simply exaggeration—or pure imagination? Is the Bible historically accurate? Here is another example in which lovers of the Bible—myself included —had thought it would be a relatively easy matter to prove the Bible true. Just dig around among the pyramids a bit … they thought, and they'd come up with sure and certain proof that there truly was such a famine ... just as the Bible says, Unfortunately. things haven't turned out that way. And skeptics and people who aren't very friendly to the Bible have made the most of the fact. I told you three months ago (Signs, July 19771 about my research into the evidence for Joshua's attack on Jericho. I am convinced, as I wrote in that article, that the traditional dates are inaccurate. If we adjust the dates, we can find the Jericho event in the archaeological record with details that are astonishingly similar to the biblical record of Joshua 3-7. Now let me tell you what I have found regarding Joseph's famine. If we did not have the story of Joseph's life and the famine that is such an important part of it, there would be no historical explanation for the presence of the Israelites in Egypt. And it is impossible to separate Joseph's famine from the slavery of the Israelites in Egypt and their escape at the Exodus. That the Israelites did spend time in Egypt cannot be denied. No scholar worthy of the name even tries to do so. The problems in the conflict of opinions rise rather from the disbelief on the part of many scholars in the dependability of the details of the accounts. The critical details which reflect the participation of a Supreme Being in the affairs of men are denied as being only legendary inventions of later writers. Favorite Son, Jealous Brothers As the story has been recorded in the Bible, Joseph was the next youngest of 12 sons of Jacob, and he was his father’s favorite. The older brothers, consumed with jealousy, sold him to some passing Ishmaelites who took him to Egypt and sold him as a slave to Potiphar, an officer of the pharaoh (king) of Egypt. Genesis 37:23-28; 39:1. Because of his faithfulness as a servant, he was made overseer of the officer's house to the point where Potiphar ''knew not ought he had save for the bread which he did eat." Verses 2-6. After a service of ten years, he was falsely accused by his master's wife of attempting to seduce her, and was imprisoned. Verses 7-20. In prison, he found favor with the prison keeper who put him in charge of all the other prisoners, Verses 21-23. In the course of time, the pharaoh's butler and baker were imprisoned on suspicion of misdeeds. One night both had dreams that troubled them deeply. Genesis 40. Next morning Joseph asked them why they looked so sad. and they told him their dreams, Joseph interpreted the dreams as meaning that the butler would soon be reinstated to his position while the baker would pay for his misdeeds with his life. Joseph's predictions were fulfilled. Now, Joseph had asked the butler to remember him to the pharaoh and get him out of prison, but the butler promptly forgot him. Two years went by—and the pharaoh also had dreams that troubled him deeply, Genesis 41. The king's astrologers could not interpret these dreams. Suddenly the butler remembered his experience in prison and told the pharaoh about Joseph. The pharaoh called Joseph from prison. and Joseph interpreted the dreams. They meant, he said, that there would be seven years of great plenty followed by seven years of very severe famine. Joseph advised the pharaoh to select someone to take charge of preparing for the famine by storing the excess food during the years of plenty for distribution during the years of famine. The pharaoh was impressed by Joseph's ability and assigned this responsibility to him. He elevated Joseph to a position of authority second only to himself. Genesis 41:41-45. This position is known in Eastern countries as vizier, although the term is not used in the Bible. During the seven years of plenty, Joseph built storehouses throughout Egypt, Then, during the seven years of famine, the people were provided grain, First, they had to pay with money. When this was used up, they paid with their cattle. Finally, they paid with their lands. Genesis 45:1420. At the end of the famine … all the real property of Egypt belonged to the king. The lands were leased back to their former owners, who were required to return to the king one fifth of their produce year by year. Verses 23-26. According to the Bible, the famine extended into the land of Canaan (Genesis 41:57) where Jacob still lived with his other sons. When he heard that food was available in Egypt, he sent ten of the remaining eleven sons down there to buy "corn" (an old English term for grain). See Genesis 4221. Joseph, in charge of distribution. recognized the brothers who had sold him into slavery, but they did not recognize him. Verse 8. He wondered whether his brothers had experienced any regrets for their action against himself and designed a plan to test them. As a result he was convinced that they had indeed experienced a change of heart. and he revealed his identity to them. Genesis 45. Then he extended them an invitation to come and live in Egypt. Verses 9, 10. Soon his father and all his brothers and their families moved down to Egypt. Genesis 46:1-7. Joseph provided them with food at no cost during the remaining years of the famine. Genesis 47:12, They were given choice land in the Delta region, and here they lived and multiplied and prospered greatly. Verse 27. We cannot predict famines today. But two Egyptian inscriptions talk about famines that were anticipated and prepared for. Archaeologists say they were different famines, in addition to Joseph's famine. So So much for the Bible account. What about the archaeological record? Boasting in the Tombs It might be supposed that even a severe famine could not be detected archaeologically. And this might be true—if archaeology concerned itself only with old stones and bricks. However, archaeology includes inscriptions, and these play a highly significant part in the interpretation of physical evidence. In fact, without the inscriptions, it would be virtually impossible to correlate the physical evidence—the bricks and pottery and other relics—with history. The inscriptions of Egypt frequently mention famine or famine conditions.1 Unfortunately, in most cases there are not enough details to associate—or dissociate—the inscriptions with the account of Joseph's famine. There are, however, two inscriptions that match the unique details of the Joseph account, and I think they match the details in a most striking manner. Both refer to a famine lasting many years; both indicate that preparation was made in advance to meet the famine: and in both cases the food that was gathered before the famine was distributed during the famine. The only discordant factor is that the dates assigned to the two inscriptions by the traditional chronology of Egypt are separated by many centuries. In other words, there appear to have been two predicted famines, and neither appears to have happened while Joseph was in Egypt. Aside from the ultra-unique detail of advanced preparation, the very occurrence of extended famine in the Nile valley is itself unique. Philip Smith has commented: *'Great famines in Egypt are extremely rare, because they require a succession of very low inundations. …. It should then be evident that a famine inscription which provides data that agrees with all these unique details must surely refer to the famine of Joseph's time. If the dating of any of these inscriptions, as demanded by the traditional chronology does not allow this identification, we should recognize that there is an error in the chronology. …. One of the two inscriptions that refer to severe famine was found in the tomb of a man named Bebi (also spelled Beba). He wrote: "I collected corn as a friend of the harvest god; I was watchful at the time of sowing. and when the famine came lasting many years, I distributed the corn to the city each year of famine." The second inscription was found in the tomb of a man named Ameni who dated his service to the reign of Sesostris I, second king of Dynasty XII. Damien Mackey’s comment: Since Sesostris I of Egypt’s Twelfth Dynasty belonged to the time of Moses, and not Joseph: Moses and Egypt’s Twelfth Dynasty (8) Moses and Egypt’s Twelfth Dynasty | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu then Ameni’s situation will need to be seriously reconsidered. …. No archaeologist says that either Bebi or Ameni is to be identified with Joseph. These men were local officers of cities (nomes), and it was their responsibility to collect and distribute food in their areas. Some scholars have discussed whether these inscriptions refer to Joseph's famine. But they have run into difficulty over the dates. Ameni served during the reign of Sesostris I. But Bebi has been dated some 300 years later. Because of this, scholars felt obliged to insist that one or the other of the inscriptions could not refer to Joseph's famine—in spite of the fact that both meet the unique details provided in the Joseph story. The way Henry Brugsch-Bey handled the problem helps us understand how errors of interpretation are sometimes introduced. Arguing that Ameni's famine could not be the same as Joseph's, Brugsch wrote: 'The concluding words of this inscription in which Ameni sings his own praises, have given rise to the idea that they contain an allusion to the sojourn of the patriarch Joseph in Egypt and to the seven years of famine under his administration. But two reasons especially tell against this supposition, which would recognize in Usertasen I [Sesostris I] the pharaoh of Joseph. First is the difference in time, which cannot be made to agree with the era of Joseph, and next, still more … the indisputable fact that, in other inscriptions years of famine are mentioned which thoroughly correspond as to the facts and time with the biblical account.' …. Brugsch's reference to "other inscriptions" is to Bebi's inscription, which he said definitely could be dated to the time of Joseph. He wrote: "Now since famines succeeding one another on account of deficiency of water in the overflowing of the Nile are of the very greatest rarity . . . there remains for a satisfactory conclusion but one fair inference; that the 'many years of famine' in the days of Beba must exactly correspond to the seven years of famine under Joseph's pharaoh." …. Unfortunately, subsequent developments have negated the validity of Brugsch's arguments. A further examination of Beba's tomb has indicated that dating the tomb to the era of the seventeenth dynasty was a mistake. The tomb belonged to a "much more ancient" time. Jacques Vandier wrote: "At El Kab. the most ancient tombs are located high on the slope to the north. This is the case with that of Sebek-Nekht and that of Beba with which we are here concerned and which I believe can be dated impartially in the XIIIth Dynasty. ... Taylor, in his introduction to the tomb of Sebek-Nekht, spoke incidentally of the tomb of Beba and stated that the two tombs are very much more ancient than all the others. " …. But if Bebi's tomb belongs to an era "much more ancient" than the era of . did the ancient Egyptians predict THREE famines —or were all three one and the same? Damien Mackey’s comment: I would agree with the “much more ancient” time conclusion for Bebi, but not the Thirteenth Dynasty, which, again, belongs to the time of Moses (and the Exodus) …. In view of the extreme rarity of extended famines in the Nile Valley, identifying Bebi's famine with the famine of Joseph's time is unavoidable. …. [End of article] Damien Mackey’s comment: Obviously we are going to need to know more about this Bebi [Beba] and to ascertain the precise time in ancient Egyptian history which he lived.