The Start of the Written Hebrew Language

Joseph F. Dumond

Isa 6:9-12 And He said, Go, and tell this people, You hear indeed, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land laid waste, a desolation, and until Jehovah has moved men far away, and the desolation in the midst of the land is great.
Published: Jun 6, 2019

News Letter 5855-014
The 3rd Year of the 4th Sabbatical Cycle
The 24th year of the 120th Jubilee Cycle
The 3rd day of the 4th month 5855 years after the creation of Adam
The 4th Month in the Third year of the Fourth Sabbatical Cycle
The 4th Sabbatical Cycle after the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Third Year Tithe for the Widows and Orphans and Levites
The Sabbatical Cycle of Sword, Famines, and Pestilence

June 8, 2019

Shabbat Shalom to the Royal Family of Yehovah,

New Moon of the 4th month.

The Israeli New Moon Society sent me this notification from Tuesday’s attempted sighting of the moon.

Hello All
I received just one report so far from Roy Hoffman. Roy saw the moon, but with binoculars. from Maale Adumim at 20:02.
If you saw the moon please send more reports
Gadi.

And from Devorah’s Date tree I have the following.

At the time of this writing, we are not aware of any positive new moon sightings from Israel this evening (4 June 2019), even though the moon had an illumination of 2.11% and a lag of 69min. The photo at the top of this report was taken by myself from our observation point in Jerusalem this evening.

I will of course send out an update should any positive confirmations come in later. However, if no positive reports come in from tonight’s observation:

For those who began last month on May 6, 2019 in the evening, tonight is the end of the 29th day of the month and therefore tomorrow evening would be the beginning of the new month by default.

 

Dear Friends,

The new moon was sighted from Israel this evening, Wednesday, 5 June 2019!

* From Jerusalem by Devorah Gordon at 7:45pm, Karen Andrews, and Tina Jenkins.
* From Eilat by Lukas Michael Schneider, together with his sons Alon and Lior.

On behalf of all of us who rely on these observations, we wish to thank everyone in Israel who looked for the new moon this evening and sent in their observations in a timely manner.

If reliable first-hand New Moon and Aviv Reports from Israel are of value to you, please consider supporting our efforts. We could really use your support.

Chodesh Tov! Make it a great month!

Devorah Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

So Wednesday night and Thursday day are the 1st day of the 4th month for those of us who began the year in March. For those who started one month later this Sunday is Shavuot.

“In the Mail”

Dear Mr. Dumond,

After reading your most recent newsletter of how you placed $20 bills inside of DVDs for those who couldn’t afford them, and two years later you received your first “Thank You,” I wanted to laugh, but stopped myself. (I did smile, though.)

You may not remember us, but my husband Chris and I gave away 53 copies of your first DVD and several copies of your book Remembering the Sabbatical Years. Over the years, we have, also, given away dozens of copies of Samuele Bacchiocchi’s books on the Sabbath, and once even set up a website where we gave away numerous copies of Roth’s Aramaic English New Testament.

Throughout all of this, we never once asked for nor accepted any donations (Freely you have received, freely give. Mat. 10:8 is how we view such things for ourselves.) Nor have we ever asked for a “Thank You.” BUT, we asked of two specific things:

1) Please e-mail us to let us know you received the item undamaged

(AND)

2) Please let us know if the DVD or book has been of any help in your search for answers, so we will know if this is something we need to continue to give away.

Listen closely and you can hear the sound of crickets in the background. (Again, I have to smile.)

Over the years, we received two Thank You cards in the mail: one from a person in the United States and the other from a person in Canada. The vast majority we had to send e-mails asking if the requesting party ever received the item he or she requested.

Look, in the grand scheme of things, my husband and I are insignificant. Has anyone benefited or been brought closer to Master YHWH for the little we have done? Maybe. We pray this is so. I often remind myself (and Chris) when we get discouraged to remember Luke 17:11-19, when Yeshua healed 10 men with leprosy, yet only one (a Samaritan) returned to give Elohim praise. So, who are we (my husband and I) to complain? Exactly . . . insignificant.

A few years ago, we were told a story of a homeless man from Kansas City, who requested we send a copy of the Aramaic English New Testament to a shelter he frequented. One of the shelter workers wrote to us that this gentleman carried the AENT with him on his travels through the streets of Kansas City and was so excited, he frequently shared with those at the shelter what he had read that week. (That, brings a smile to my face and a tear to my eye.)

So, keep sending DVDs with $20 bills inside (a nice touch, by-the-way) . . . send people books they may never read, put on a shelf to collect dust, or use to prop up a table leg. One day, some homeless man might come across that DVD, that book, and it will make all of the difference in his life and his journey in search of YHWH.

Shalom,
Karen

I do remember Karen and I do remember her strange request at the time. And I sure do hope I did say thank you for the help you have done. I think I did but it has been many years now and I no longer have those emails.

I would like to now thank each and every one of you who have supported this work in whatever way you do. Through giving information away or prayers or donations or by other means I am not aware of. Thank you for helping me to share this message of these last days. May Yehovah lead you to do more with the little each of us has to do this work. May Yehovah open your minds to a newer and deeper understanding of Him and His ways.

“Patterns of Evidence”

From the Movie Patterns of Evidence by Timothy Mahoney, I have come to understand that there are many scholars who believe Hebrew did not exist at the time of Moses and therefore he could not have written the 5 books of the Torah. This statement caught me off guard as I had ASSUMED, and there is that dangerous word, but I had assumed that Hebrew was the original language form the time of Noah and before.

I have watched his video on the Patterns of Evidence and The Moses Controversy. Many years ago I  talked about the Chronology of the Jubilee cycles with Mr Mahoney and with David Rohl. They have not been convinced of its value and have gone with other chronologies. Although we spoke in person and I have written a number of times to explain even after watching the videos, he has not inquired further.

If you have not yet watched these two videos then I would urge you to watch them and learn the arguments put forward and how to refute them. These two videos are very good and very educational. It is just the chronology that they are off on and this then leads to many wrong conclusions.

He starts off showing you three leading Archaeologist scholars who do not believe the Exodus and Moses to be real and that King David and King Solomon are greatly exaggerated. They do not believe because the archaeology shows that in the time when the Exodus took place and the times of Joshua do not show any evidence of their existence. This is because they have placed them in the wrong time period. A difference of about 300 years.

Did Moses have the ability to write the first 5 books as an eyewitness account?

Most scholars believe the Exodus took place in the time of Rameses in 1250 BC. But the archaeologist cannot find any archaeology to support that theory. So they conclude the Exodus did not happen.

David Rohl and Tim Mahony believe the Exodus took place around 1450 BC rather than 1250 BC. It is David Rohl who moved the Egyptian chronology ahead by about 350 years to match that of the Bible and found that they were very close on many points.

We have proven to you the reader via the Jubilee cycles that the Exodus took place using the very chronology from the bible in the year 1379 BC. We have shown to you that Moses was born and taken into Pharaoh’s court in the year 1459 BC, and would have fled Egypt at the age of 40 in the year 1419 BC. He stayed there until he returned around 1383 BC to take the Children of Israel out of Egypt at the Exodus in the year 1379 BC.

The 480 Year Problem

We must address something right now in order for you to understand how Tim Mahoney and David Rohl have based their entire teachings. They are not the only ones to do this almost everyone else does the same and end up with the same mistake, so this is important for you to understand.

Many have fallen for and are stuck on the 1 Kings 6:1 scripture and as such they base everything they do chronologically upon this scripture. .

1 Kings 6:1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.

They take the 4th year of Solomon as 967 BC and then go back 480 years to arrive at the Exodus date of 1447 BC and then they round that off to 1450 BC for some reason. And it from this understanding that they then begin to do all their reasoning.

Here is what Clarke’s commentary has to say about this one verse.

In the four hundred and eightieth year – The Septuagint has the four hundred and fortieth year. It need scarcely be noticed, that among chronologists there is a great difference of opinion concerning this epocha. Glycas has 330 years; Melchior Canus, 590 years; Josephus, 592 years; Sulpicius Severus, 588; Clemens Alexandrinus, 570; Cedrenus, 672; Codomanus, 598; Vossius and Capellus, 580; Serarius, 680; Nicholas Abraham, 527; Maestlinus, 592; Petavius and Valtherus, 520. Here are more than a dozen different opinions; and after all, that in the common Hebrew text is as likely to be the true one as any of the others.

Because this verse is so all over the place and I have no two witnesses that agree, I have had to do something else.

Mahoney and Rohl also use Jephthah stating that the 300 years begins when they crossed the Jordan. So the time of Jephthah is 1107 BC. Read it and tell me if that is what it says.

Jdg 11:25 And now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them Jdg 11:26 when Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities which are along by the borders of Arnon, for three hundred years? Why then did you not deliver them in that time?

I have a hard time putting this in any slot in chronology. I have no anchor point upon which to base it.

Some try to use the 450 years that Paul is talking about in Acts 13:16

Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: “Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me! 17The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country; 18for about forty years he endured their conduct in the wilderness; 19and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance. 20All this took about 450 years.

But this is from the time of Abrahams Covenant until Joshua divided the land. 430 to the exodus plus 40 in the wilderness is 470 years before they entered the land yet Paul is saying 450 years. I think he made a mistake in his math.

So how do we reckon all of these numbers which cause so much confusion? The answer is simple. Do not use them and let’s find out what the truth is. This is exactly what we show you in our book Remembering the Sabbatical year of 2016. https://www.xlibris.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?Book=599396

Take the chronology from Adam all the way up until the Exodus. It is 2458 years after the creation of Adam. Back in High School, you had a simple equation. W + X + Y = Z

We know from Gen 6:3 that we have a total of 120 Jubilee Cycles to deal with and we also know that a Jubilee Cycle is 49 years + 1. 1 being the first year in the next count. Again we explain this in detail in our book Remembering the Sabbatical year of 2016. Get it.

So 120 X 49 = 5880 Year. That is Z, so we now have W + X + Y = 5880.

Having done the chronology we also know that the Exodus took place 2458 years from the creation of Adam. So we now have 2458 + X + Y = 5880.

In my interview with Nehemia Gordon, we mentioned the Assyrian Chronologies. He is not in favour of them. I am stating that without the Emmu and Limmu lists, which are the Assyrian chronologies we would not have any way of reckoning the Israelite Kings to any time in history. This is shown to us by Thiele in his book The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings of which Rohl also agrees and believes what Theile is showing us. But we do have two dates from the Assyrian Chronologies that mention Israel two times and from these two occasions we can now figure out the Israelite king lists and when they reigned. Again without the Assyrians lists, we would not know when any of the Kings of Isreal reigned.

Those two dates are the battle of Qarqar in 853 with Ahab and the other is 2 Kings 19:29 when Sennacherib comes against Jerusalem in 701 BC. David Rohl told me personally when I wrote to him to ask him about Thiele who wrote the Mysterious Numbers of Hebrew Kings, that he was indisputable in his chronologies. David said Thiele was every chronologists chronologer and that 701 BC was undisputed. David Rohl wrote and told me that himself.

So just with 701 BC you now have every Sabbatical year going forward and backward form 701 BC and every jubilee year from 700 BC.

Ptolemy was the one who settled the chronological problems of the Neo-Babylonian and Persian periods for many people from the second century onward — and that his beliefs have persisted to this very day as being the basis for all chronological recognition in the period. What he did was to catalog the occurrence of seven lunar eclipses within the historical records of the Babylonian and Persian kings from 747 to 330 B.C.

He said there were eclipses of the moon in the 1st and 2nd years of Merodach-baladin of Babylon (March 19, 720 B.C.; March 8, 719 and September 1, 719). He said another eclipse happened in the 5th year of Nabopolassar (April 22, 600 B.C.), another in the 7th of Cambyses (July 16, 522 B.C.), and two more in the 20th and 31st years of Darius Hystapses (November 19, 501 B.C. and April 25, 490).

These seven eclipses scattered throughout the 400 odd years from 747 to 330 B.C. all agree with the modern tables for lunar eclipses and are thus accepted by historians as proof positive that Ptolemy’s chronology of the Babylonian and Persian periods is correct — even infallible! It was through those astronomical events that we could then connect the Babylonian and Persian periods to the modern AD chronology down to our time as well as back to include the Assyrian Chronologies which overlapped the Babylonian chronologies.

Now you must realize that 5881 is the Jubilee year. So 5880 is the 49th year. Counting from 700 BC we come to the year 2045 as the next Jubilee year. Keep in mind there is no year zero. It goes from 3BC, 2BC 1 BC to 1 AD, 2 AD, 3 AD.

But how do we relate 2045 with 5881 if indeed they are related at all? How do we know?

Again you are told there are 120 Jubilees for mankind. No more. From 700 BC until 2045 is a total of 56 Jubilees. From the Creation of Adam, we also know that there are 51 Jubilee cycles until they enter the land.

Lev 25:2 is telling you of the only other Jubilee mentioned besides 2 Kings 19:29. If we could line up the year when Joshua entered the land in a Jubilee year and have it line up with the Jubilee year of 2 Kings 19:29 then we could fill in that mysterious section of Judges that no one agrees with. And this is what I have done in the Jubilee charts that are free on my web site.

In the same way that Rohl and Mahoney have adjusted the Egyptian Chronology ahead to match the Biblical chronology, I have done that same thing with the Jubilee cycles.

From the 4th year of Solomon down to the 49th year in our time now, the year before 2045 as the next Jubilee year is 3011 years. Plug this into our equation.

2458 + X for the time of the judges + 3011 from Solomons 4th year to the 49th year-the year before the Jubilee in 2045 = 5880 years in total.

2458 + X + 3011 = 5880

X = 5880 – 2458 – 3011

X = 411 years from the Exodus until the 4th year of Solomon.

So this math works. I have now lined up the two Jubilee years of Lev 25:2 and 2 King 19:29. I have counted 7 years from the creation of Adam all the way to the year 5880 after the creation of Adam. I have the 2 Kings 19:29 year as the year 701 BC and I have the total amount of time for this period of mankind as Yehovah said in Gen 6:3 being 5880 or 120 Jubilee cycles.

I hope this helps you to be able to understand how simple math can show you exactly where we are in the timeline of Yehovah. Prove it for yourselves and know. Stop being doubting Thomas’s Stick your finger in and prove this and know time is almost up.

It is only by you yourselves doing this simple math equation and working it out that you can prove the 480 years of 1 Kings 6:3 to be wrong. When you use this 480 years you end up in the wrong place 100% of the time. It is a difference of 69 years.

If on the other hand, you insist the Bible can’t be wrong about the 480 years, then add those 69 years back into the equation. By doing that you will be saying that we are already into the 7th Millennium.

I am telling you we have just 25 years until the Millennium that starts after 2044. When you add in those extra 69 years insisting they have to be there then you are declaring that we are already in the 7th millennium by 44 years already. We know when the Jubilee years are. 2 Kings 19:29 shows you everyone going forward forever. If you do the math correctly the 480 years does not work. It is 411 years.

If you want to believe that the bible is 100% inerrant then using the 480 years in the same equation will have us right now in the 7th Millennium. We are not in the 7th Millennium now. The only number that is disputed is the 480 year period of time in 1 Kings 6:3 and we have resolved that dispute by simple math.

Now as you read the dates used by Mahoney and Rohl, know they are off by 69 years.

When Did the Alphabet begin?

So we are looking for evidence that Moses learned to write Hebrew during those years while being educated in Egypt from his birth year of 1459 BC until 1419 BC when he fled. We are looking for this evidence because the scholars say that Hebrew did not exist during this time period. The time period they are thinking of is 1250 BC. 209 year off the actual date. All known Torah Scrolls are written in this ancient language called Hebrew. Did it even exist at the time of Moses? This is the question being put forward to disprove the legitimacy of the Bible.

In order to answer our question ‘Did Moses have the ability to write the first 5 books as an eyewitness account?’ we have to prove some things first.

We must find a writing system that is clearly Hebrew that was in existence at the time of the Exodus. Again the proper date of the Exodus is 1379 BC.

This writing system must be found in the region of Egypt at this same time.

We also know from our Jubilee charts that Jacob and his sons came to Egypt in the 2nd year of the Famine during the time when Joseph was ruler over all of Egypt next to Pharaoh himself. That year was 1599 BC and Joseph was there from the year 1621 BC when he was sold into slavery by his brothers. He would later be accused and put in prison at some date and he not get out of prison until the year 1608 BC when he was 30 years old and he began to rule over Egypt.

From the time that Jacob came to Egypt until the Exodus is 220 for a total number of years, they were there. It was only near the end of that time that they were forced into slavery.

This writing system must also be like Hebrew or what is today called Paleo Hebrew.

This system must have the power of the Alphabet in which the masses can learn to use and create and communicate.

The oldest versions of the bible are the Dead Sea Scrolls. Since they were first discovered, more have been found and all we have every book of the Old Testament found in them all written in Hebrew. This dates them to around the year 200 BC. The Dead Sea Scroll confirm that the writings we have today are the exact same writing they had at least as far back as 200 BC word for word. There is nothing changed. The scribes did a very good job of copying each word faithfully.

There is a fragment in the Israel Museum that dates to the year 600 BC of the Aaronic Blessing in Hebrew and it is exactly as it is in our modern text today.

The reason we do not have a lasting text from the beginning is because the Israelite wrote on sheep and goat skins. Things that do perish over time. The Egyptians, however, wrote or carved their writings into stone and we still have them to this very day. The only possible writing on a stone that is Hebrew would be the Ten Commandments which is inside the ark of the covenant. And only Ron Wyatt claims to have seen that.

The Egyptians had a form of writing long before the Exodus as well as the Cuneiform writings from Ancient Mesopotamia. To be able to learn the Hieroglyphics of Egypt you would have to learn the equivalent of 40 of our Alphabets which contain 26 letters. There are about 1040 Hieroglyphs to learn in order to read the ancient writings of Egypt. There are also some hieroglyphs that stood for whole words and others that were not pronounced but were there to guide the reader.

The Hebrew alphabet consists of just 22 letters. To write the Exodus story in Hieroglyphs it is aid that would take up thousands of pages as compared to the few the Exodus account is written on.

Brian Rickett Principle Researcher Mikra Research Laboratory says that the Penetuach which was written by Moses is:

  • an extremely well written
  • complex document
  • it reflects a mastery of the language-linguistic mastery
  • a remarkable uniformity from beginning to end
  • sophistication
  • elegance
  • artistry
  • all the hallmarks of a world-class literature

Was there an alphabet available at the time of the Exodus? This is what we are searching out.

There had to be some sort to alphabet because we are told in

Exodus 17:14 And Jehovah said to Moses, Write this, a memorial in a book, and set it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heavens.

Moses knew how to write and he had an alphabet to do it with.
Again we see Yehovah telling Moses to write in

Exo 34:27  And Jehovah said to Moses, Write these words for yourself; for on the mouth of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread, nor drank water. And He wrote upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Moses wrote what Yehovah told him to write down.

Exodus 24:4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

Deuteronomy 31:9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel.

Yehshua even said of Moses in:

Joh 5:46  For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how shall you believe My Words?

One of the earliest witnesses that Israel was a nation is the Merneptah Stele—

Also known as the Israel Stele or the Victory Stele of Merneptah – an inscription by the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah (reign: 1213 to 1203 BC) discovered by Flinders Petrie in 1896 at Thebes, and now housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

The bulk of the inscription deals with Merneptah’s victory over the Libyans, but the last 3 of the 28 lines shift to Canaan:[12]

The princes are prostrate, saying, “Peace!”
Not one is raising his head among the Nine Bows.
Now that Tehenu (Libya) has come to ruin,
Hatti is pacified;
The Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe:
Ashkelon has been overcome;
Gezer has been captured;
Yano’am is made non-existent.
Israel is laid waste and his seed is not;
Hurru is become a widow because of Egypt.
The “nine bows” is a term the Egyptians used to refer to their enemies; the actual enemies varied according to time and circumstance

 

The Oldest Known Versions of Our Alphabet

Serabit el-Khadim (also transliterated Serabit al-Khadim, Serabit el-Khadem) is a locality in the southwest Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, where turquoise was mined extensively in antiquity, mainly by the ancient Egyptians. Archaeological excavation, initially by Sir Flinders Petrie, revealed ancient mining camps and a long-lived Temple of Hathor, the Egyptian goddess who was favoured as a protector in desert regions.

Thirty incised graffiti in a “Proto-Sinaitic script” shed light on the history of the alphabet.[1] The mines were worked by prisoners of war from southwest Asia who presumably spoke a Northwest Semitic language, such as the Canaanite that was ancestral to Phoenician and Hebrew. After a century of study and the initial publication by Sir Flinders Petrie, researchers agree on the decipherment of a single phrase, cracked in 1916 by Alan Gardiner:  l b?lt (to the Lady) [ba?lat (Lady) being a title of Hathor and the feminine of the title Ba?al (Lord) given to the Semitic god], although the word m’hb (loved) is frequently cited as a second word.

 

The script has graphic similarities with the Egyptian hieratic script, the less elaborate form of the hieroglyphs. In the 1950s and 1960s it was common to show the derivation of the Canaanite alphabet from hieratic, using William Albright’s interpretations of Proto-Sinaitic as the key. It was generally accepted that the language of the inscriptions was Semitic, that the script had a hieratic prototype and was ancestral to the Semitic alphabets, and that the script was itself acrophonic and alphabetic (more specifically, a consonantal alphabet or abjad). The word ba?lat (Lady) lends credence to the identification of the language as Semitic. However, the lack of further progress in decipherment casts doubt over the other suppositions, and the identification of the hieratic prototypes remains speculative.

Proto-Sinaitic, also referred to as Sinaitic, and Proto-Canaanite (when found in Canaan),[1] is a term for both a Middle Bronze Age (Middle Kingdom) script attested in a small corpus of inscriptions found at Serabit el-Khadim in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, and the reconstructed common ancestor of the Paleo-Hebrew,[2] Phoenician and South Arabian scripts (and, by extension, of most historical and modern alphabets).

The earliest “Proto-Sinaitic” inscriptions are mostly dated to between the mid-19th (early date) and the mid-16th (late date) century BC. “The principal debate is between an early date, around 1850 BC, and a late date, around 1550 BC. The choice of one or the other date decides whether it is proto-Sinaitic or proto-Canaanite, and by extension locates the invention of the alphabet in Egypt or Canaan respectively.”[3] However the discovery of the Wadi El-Hol inscriptions near the Nile River shows that the script originated in Egypt. The evolution of “Proto-Sinaitic” and the various “Proto-Canaanite” scripts during the Bronze Age is based on rather scant epigraphic evidence; it is only with the Bronze Age collapse and the rise of new Semitic kingdoms in the Levant that “Proto-Canaanite” is clearly attested (Byblos inscriptions 10th – 8th century BC, Khirbet Qeiyafa inscription c. 10th century BC).[4][5][6][7]

The “Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions” were discovered in the winter of 1904–1905 in Sinai by Hilda and Flinders Petrie. To this may be added a number of short “Proto-Canaanite” inscriptions found in Canaan and dated to between the 17th and 15th centuries BC, and more recently, the discovery in 1999 of the “Wadi El-Hol inscriptions”, found in Middle Egypt by John and Deborah Darnell. The Wadi El-Hol inscriptions strongly suggest a date of development of Proto-Sinaitic writing from the mid-19th to 18th centuries BC.[8][9]

Serabit inscriptions[edit]
The Sinai inscriptions are best known from carved graffiti and votive texts from a mountain in the Sinai called Serabit el-Khadim and its temple to the Egyptian goddess Hathor (?wt-?r). The mountain contained turquoise mines which were visited by repeated expeditions over 800 years. Many of the workers and officials were from the Nile Delta, and included large numbers of Canaanites (i.e. speakers of an early form of Northwest Semitic ancestral to the Canaanite languages of the Late Bronze Age) who had been allowed to settle the eastern Delta.[9]

Most of the forty or so inscriptions have been found among much more numerous hieratic and hieroglyphic inscriptions, scratched on rocks near and in the turquoise mines and along the roads leading to the temple.[10]

The date of the inscriptions is mostly placed in the 17th or 16th century BC.[11]

Four inscriptions have been found in the temple, on two small human statues and on either side of a small stone sphinx. They are crudely done, suggesting that the workers who made them were illiterate apart from this script.

In 1916, Alan Gardiner, using sound values derived from the alphabet hypothesis, translated a collection of signs as ????? lb?lt (to the Lady)[12]

Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions[edit]
Only a few inscriptions have been found in Canaan itself, dated to between the 17th and 15th centuries BC.[13] They are all very short, most consisting of only a couple of letters, and may have been written by Canaanite caravaners, soldiers from Egypt or early Israelites.[9] They sometimes go by the name Proto-Canaanite,[14] although the term “Proto-Canaanite” is also applied to early Phoenician or Hebrew inscriptions, respectively.[5][6]

Wadi el-Hol inscriptions[edit]

This article’s factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (March 2010)

Traces of the 16 and 12 characters of the two Wadi el-Hol inscriptions. (Photos here and here)
The Wadi el-Hol inscriptions (Arabic: ???? ?????? W?d? al-Hawl ‘Ravine of Terror’) were carved on the stone sides of an ancient high-desert military and trade road linking Thebes and Abydos, in the heart of literate Egypt. They are in a wadi in the Qena bend of the Nile, at approx. 25°57?N 32°25?E, among dozens of hieratic and hieroglyphic inscriptions.

The inscriptions are graphically very similar to the Serabit inscriptions, but show a greater hieroglyphic influence, such as a glyph for a man that was apparently not read alphabetically:[9] The first of these (h1) is a figure of celebration [Gardiner A28], whereas the second (h2) is either that of a child [Gardiner A17] or of dancing [Gardiner A32]. If the latter, h1 and h2 may be graphic variants (such as two hieroglyphs both used to write the Canaanite word hillul “jubilation”) rather than different consonants.

Hieroglyphs representing, reading left to right, celebration, a child, and dancing. The first appears to be the prototype for h1, while the latter two have been suggested as the prototype for h2.
[citation needed]

Some scholars (Darnell et al.) think that the ?? rb at the beginning of Inscription 1 is likely rebbe (chief; cognate with rabbi); and that the ?? ?l at the end of Inscription 2 is likely ?el “god”. Brian Colless has published a translation of the text, in which some of the signs are treated as logograms (representing a whole word, not just a single consonant) or rebuses [Antiguo Oriente 8 (2010) 91] [V] “Excellent (r[?š]) banquet (mšt) of the celebration (h[illul]) of ?Anat (?nt). ?El (?l) will provide (ygš) [H] plenty (rb) of wine (wn) and victuals (mn) for the celebration (h[illul]). We will sacrifice (ng?) to her (h) an ox (?) and (p) a prime (r[?š]) fatling (mX).” This interpretation fits into the pattern in some of the surrounding Egyptian inscriptions, with celebrations for the goddess Hathor involving inebriation.

Proto-Canaanite, also referred to as Proto-Canaan, Old Canaanite, or Canaanite,[1] is the name given to the Proto-Sinaitic script (c. 16th century BC), when found in Canaan.[15][16][17][13]

The term Proto-Canaanite is also used when referring to the ancestor of the Phoenician or Paleo-Hebrew script, respectively, before some cut-off date, typically 1050 BC, with an undefined affinity to Proto-Sinaitic.[18] While no extant inscription in the Phoenician alphabet is older than c. 1050 BC,[19] “Proto-Canaanite” is a term used for the early alphabets as used during the 13th and 12th centuries BC in Phoenicia.[20]However, the Phoenician, Hebrew, and other Canaanite dialects were largely indistinguishable before the 11th century BC.[7] A possible example of “Proto-Canaanite” was found in 2012, the Ophel inscription, when during the excavations of the south wall of the Temple Mount by the Israeli archaeologist Eilat Mazar in Jerusalem on a storage jar made of pottery. Inscribed on the pot are some big letters about an inch high of which only five are complete and traces of perhaps three additional letters written in Proto-Canaanite script.[16]

History[edit]
Attempts have repeatedly been made to derive the letters from Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, but with limited success. In the 19th century there were scholars who subscribed to the theory of the Egyptian origin, while other theories held that the Phoenician script developed from the Akkadian cuneiform, Cretan linear, Cypriote syllabic, and Hittite hieroglyphic scripts.[21]

The Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions were studied by Alan Gardiner who, based on a short bilingual inscription on a stone sphinx, identified the inscriptions as Semitic, reading m?hb?l as “the beloved of the Lady” (m?hb “beloved”, with the second b and the final t of b?lt “Lady” missing).

William Albright in the 1950s and 1960s published interpretations of Proto-Sinaitic as the key to show the derivation of the Canaanite alphabet from hieratic,[22] leading to the commonly accepted belief that the language of the inscriptions was Semitic and that the script had a hieratic prototype.

The Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions, along with the contemporary parallels found in Canaan and Wadi el-Hol, are thus hypothesized to show an intermediate step between Egyptian hieratic script and the Phoenician alphabet. Brian Colless (2014) notes that 18 of the 22 letters of the Phoenician alphabet have counterparts in the Byblos syllabary, and it seems that the proto-alphabet evolved as a simplification of the syllabary, moving from syllabic to consonantal writing, in the style of the Egyptian script (which did not normally indicate vowels); this goes against the Goldwasser hypothesis (2010) that the original alphabet was invented by ignorant miners in Sinai.

According to the “alphabet theory”, the early Semitic proto-alphabet reflected in the Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions would have given rise to both the South Arabian script and the Proto-Canaanite script by the time of the Bronze Age collapse (1200–1150 BCE).[20]

The theory centers on Albright’s hypothesis that only the graphic form of the Proto-Sinaitic characters derive from Egyptian hieroglyphs, and that they were given the sound value of the first consonant of the Semitic translation of the hieroglyph (many hieroglyphs had already been used acrophonically in Egyptian): For example, the hieroglyph for pr (“house”) (a rectangle partially open along one side, “O1” in Gardiner’s sign list) was adopted to write Semitic /b/, after the first consonant of bayit, the Semitic word for “house”.[9][23] According to the alphabet hypothesis, the shapes of the letters would have evolved from Proto-Sinaitic forms into Phoenician forms, but most of the names of the letters would have remained the same.

Synopsis[edit]
Below is a table synoptically showing selected Proto-Sinaitic signs and the proposed correspondences with Phoenician letters. Also shown are the sound values, names, and descendants of the Phoenician letters.[24]

 

 

 

The Other section shows the corresponding Archaic Greek, Modern Greek, Etruscan, and Latin letters.

 

The Middle Kingdom

The importance of the scripts found in Serabit el Khadim and the Wadi el Hol inscriptions is that they both are dated to the Middle Kingdom period of Egypt.

The Middle Kingdom of Egypt (also known as The Period of Reunification) is the period in the history of ancient Egypt following a period of political division known as the First Intermediate Period. The Middle Kingdom lasted from around 2050 BC to around 1710 BC, stretching from the reunification of Egypt under the reign of Mentuhotep II of the Eleventh Dynasty to the end of the Twelfth Dynasty. The Eleventh Dynasty ruled from Thebes and the Twelfth Dynasty ruled from el-Lisht. Some scholars also include the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt wholly into this period as well, in which case the Middle Kingdom would finish around 1650, while others only include it until Merneferre Ay around 1700 BC, last king of this dynasty to be attested in both Upper and Lower Egypt. During the Middle Kingdom period, Osiris became the most important deity in popular religion

This means that this script or form of writing existed at the time of Moses when he could have used it to write the Torah and that it came from Egypt. This script answers all of the questions that we began with. And it was not Egyptian Hieroglyphs. It was something very different.

In order to answer our question ‘Did Moses have the ability to write the first 5 books as an eyewitness account?’ we have to prove some things first.

We must find a writing system that is clearly Hebrew that was in existence at the time of the Exodus. Again the proper date of the Exodus is 1379 BC.

This writing system must be found in the region of Egypt at this same time.

We also know from our Jubilee charts that Jacob and his sons came to Egypt in the 2nd year of the Famine during the time when Joseph was ruler over all of Egypt next to Pharaoh himself. That year was 1599 BC and Joseph was there from the year 1621 BC when he was sold into slavery by his brothers. He would later be accused and put in prison at some date and he not get out of prison until the year 1608 BC when he was 30 years old and he began to rule over Egypt.

From the time that Jacob came to Egypt until the Exodus is 220 for a total number of years, they were there. It was only near the end of that time that they were forced into slavery.

This writing system must also be like Hebrew or what is today called Paleo Hebrew.

This system must have the power of the Alphabet in which the masses can learn to use and create and communicate.

This language is called Proto-Sinaitic and it is later called Proto-Canaanite as it later showed up there. But it was found in the Sinai. The words are Semitic. There is no debate about that and it was originated in the Middle Kingdom and was the earliest form of the alphabet. The Phoenicians later took this and standardized it. The Phoenicians were according to history dominated by the Hebrews. So this same language from the Sinai has come down to us now today.

David Rohl says that this Sinaitic language was developed by a genius during the Middle Kingdom time. Someone who used some of the Hieroglyphs to develop this first version of the alphabet.

The Proto Sinaitic Script looks like Hebrew and it is indeed readable as Hebrew. It is the earliest written form of Hebrew known to this day.

So, now let us look at history and make sure there were indeed Hebrews in Egypt during the Middle Kingdom period of time.

Dating the Egyptian Kingdoms

Once again I must step in here and explain something that many of you will assume to be fact.

David Rohl in his book Exodus Myth or History? which you can order when you order the DVDs from Patterns of Evidence show us how they know the list of Egyptian kings and for some of them they know the years. But for many of them, they do not know when they existed, except by assuming they had so many years of rulership and then they use those assumptions as a basis for further conclusions.

On page 77 of his book Exodus Myth or Mystery? he says the following in regards to the “Royal Cannon of Turin”,

We find that Neferhotep I is listed as the twenty-seventh ruler of the dynasty with a reign length of 11 years 1 month. Working backwards, most of the names of his twenty-six predecessors are fairly easily read (with the exception of six rulers lost in lacunae in the document from which the scribe was copying). Unfortunately, nearly all the reign lengths are lost in the damaged sections of the papyrus. However, scholars are aware that the reigns in this era were very short, few extending beyond three years. So we can assign roughly three-and-a-half years to each, giving us an approximate date for the start of the dynasty of 1626 BC and in that same year the end of the 12th dynasty.

Then when I go to Wikipedia and look up Neferhotep I, they say the dates of his reign are the following which are about 100 years earlier than Rohl.

1747—1736 BC,[4] 1742–1733 BC,[2]1741–1730 BC,[5] c. 1740 BC,[6]1740–1729 BC,[7] 1721–1710 BC,[8]1705–1694 BC,[9]

2 K.S.B. Ryholt: The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c.1800–1550 BC, Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications, vol. 20. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997, excerpts available online here.

4 Redford, Donald B., ed. (2001). “Egyptian King List”. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Volume 2. Oxford University Press. pp. 626–628. ISBN 978-0-19-510234-5.

5 Nicolas Grimal: A History of Ancient Egypt, Wiley-Blackwell 1994, ISBN 978-0-631-19396-8, p.184

6 Michael Rice: Who is who in Ancient Egypt, Routledge London & New York 1999, ISBN 0-203-44328-4, see p. 131

7 Gae Callender: The Middle Kingdom Renaissance (c. 2055–1650 BC) in Ian Shaw (editor): The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press (2004), ISBN 978-0-19-280458-7

8 Erik Hornung (editor), Rolf Krauss (editor), David A. Warburton (editor): Ancient Egyptian Chronology, Handbook of Oriental Studies, Brill 2012, ISBN 978-90-04-11385-5, available online copyright-free, see p. 176 & p. 492.

9 Thomas Schneider: Lexikon der Pharaonen, Patmos 2002, ISBN 978-3-491-96053-4

All of the Egyptian chronology is not anchored to any known chronology and for this reason, the years for the Kings move depending on the author. I am showing you this so that you understand how confusing this is and then to realize that the Sabbatical and Jubilee years actually are very credible and can be relied upon as accurate once you have proven them yourself.

We will continue with this most amazing teaching from PAtterns of Evidence. But know that Joseph was sold into slavery in the year 1621 BC 1608 BC Joseph is 30 and brought before Pharaoh to interpret the dreams. The 7 years of plenty are from 1607 BC until 1601 BC and the 7 years of famine are from 1600 BC until 1594 BC.

From the Patterns of Evidence The Thinker series.

NEW DISCOVERIES INDICATE HEBREW WAS WORLD’S OLDEST ALPHABET – PART 1

Sinai 375a, a stone slab from Egypt, with the name Ahisamach (Exodus 31:6) on the two horizontal lines. (Credit: Douglas Petrovich)

And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. – Exodus 24:4 (ESV)

Remarkable new evidence discovered by Dr. Douglas Petrovich may change how the world understands the origins of the alphabet and who first wrote the Bible. As to be expected, his controversial proposals have ignited contentious debate.

In this first of a three-part series, the background and importance of this issue will be explored before some of the specifics of the new finds and the pushback from other scholars is covered in part two.

A common teaching in schools for many decades has been that the Phoenicians developed the world’s first alphabet around 1050 BC. This alphabet was believed to have then spread to the Hebrews and other cultures in the Canaan area over the next centuries, eventually being picked up by the Greeks and Romans and passed down to the modern alphabets of today. However, many may have missed the implications of this view for the traditional understanding that Moses wrote the first books of the Bible.

While writing had long been in use by the Egyptians and the people of Mesopotamia, they used complicated writing systems (hieroglyphics and cuneiform) that were limited because they employed nearly a thousand symbols with many more variants representing not just sounds, but also syllables and whole words. The messages they conferred were fairly simple, while the Bible uses complex forms of language. The genius of the first alphabet was to boil everything down to about two-dozen letters that originally represented the sounds of consonants only. From these few letters, every word of a language can be easily represented.

An example of cuneiform wedge shaped script that had hundreds of different symbols, some with 30 or more variants (from wikimedia commons)

For a work as sophisticated as the Bible, you need the flexibility of an alphabet. If the alphabet was not invented until around 1050 BC, then Moses could not have written the opening five books of the Bible four centuries earlier.

Now, new evidence that may change everything has been announced by Dr. Douglas Petrovich, an archaeologist, epigrapher and professor of ancient Egyptian studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada. Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions – making classifications and looking for the slightest distinctives between writing systems while defining their meanings and the cultural contexts in which they were written. After many years of careful study, Petrovich believes he has gathered sufficient evidence to establish the claim that not only was the alphabet in use centuries earlier than some believe, it was in the form of early Hebrew, something that almost no one has previously accepted.

           
PROF. WM. F.ALBRIGHT, REPLYING, AT CEREMONY OF CONFERMENT OF HONORARY DOCTORATES, BY HEBREW UNIVERSITY. 

Three Giants in the fields of Egyptology, linguistics and archaeology. Sir Flinders Petrie 1853-1942 (from wikimedia commons), Sir Alan Gardiner 1879-1963 (copyright Thinking Man films), and William Foxwell Albright 1891-1971 (from wikimedia commons)

The standard presentation of Phoenician being the first alphabet is curious, since scholars have long known of much older alphabetic inscriptions. In 1904–1905 Sir Flinders Petrie, the father of Egyptian archaeology, and his wife Hilda discovered several rudimentary alphabetic inscriptions in the copper and turquoise mines that were controlled by the ancient Egyptians on the Sinai Peninsula. Sir Alan Gardiner, the premier linguist of his day, deciphered some of the writings and proclaimed that they were a form of primitive alphabet and that they used a Semitic language. The script became known as “Proto-Sinaitic” and was dated to the late Middle Bronze Age in the 1600s or early 1500s BC. W. F. Albright, the American known as the father of biblical archaeology, popularized the idea that these were Semitic writings and many took up the idea that Israelite slaves were responsible for these inscriptions.

Hebrew, as the world’s oldest alphabet, was first claimed in the 1920’s by German scholar Hubert Grimme. “Although Grimme identified some of the Egyptian inscriptions as Hebrew, he was unable to identify all of the alphabet correctly,” explained Roni Segal, academic adviser for The Israel Institute of Biblical Studies, an online language academy specializing in Biblical Hebrew, who spoke to Breaking Israel News.

As modern skepticism about the biblical account of the Exodus period took hold late in the 20th century, scholars have generally retreated from the idea that the Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions were the product of Israelite mine workers. Additionally, the discovery of many other alphabetic inscriptions in the Canaan area dated to the period from 1200-1050 BC prompted the need for a new category. These, and a few earlier fragments from that area that were all similar to the Proto-Sinaitic constructions, were labeled as “Proto-Canaanite.”

A comparison between the Hebrew block letters that came into use after the Babylonian captivity (that commenced about 586 BC), the proposed original alphabet of “Proto-Hebrew” and the Egyptian Hieroglyphs that may have been the basis for many of the letters. (from Douglas Petrovich)

The system for all these forms appeared to have been developed from Egyptian Hieroglyphics, which was used as a basis for creating 22 alphabetic letters representing consonantal sounds expressing the Semitic language of the writings. The first writings accepted by scholars as using “Hebrew” script are all from after 1000 BC and classified as using the “Paleo-Hebrew” alphabet.

The ironic thing is that these Paleo-Hebrew writings are often impossible to distinguish from the Phoenician ones and were just as much a natural development from the earliest Proto-Sinaitic and Proto-Canaanite examples. Yet most sources continue to communicate the standard paradigm. In their article on the Phoenician alphabet, Wikipedia states, “The Phoenician alphabet, called by convention the Proto-Canaanite alphabet for inscriptions older than around 1050 BC, is the oldest verified alphabet.” This view is maintained despite the fact that the oldest examples don’t come from Phoenicia and predate the existence of Phoenician culture. Might this practice be conveniently retained by those who don’t want Moses to be considered as a possible author of the Torah?

Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left. – Joshua 23:6 (ESV)

So did the Hebrew alphabet develop from Phoenician or was it the other way around? Could the earliest forms of the alphabet (Proto-Sinaitic and Proto-Canaanite) just as easily be considered as “Proto-Hebrew,” and was it this early form of Hebrew that was the world’s first true alphabet? This earliest form of Hebrew could have spread throughout the region and developed into what is now called Phoenician and Paleo-hebrew. The mainstream of scholarship has not gone in that direction, insisting that the most precise we can be with these alphabetic scripts is to say that they are Semitic, and Hebrew is only one variety of many Semitic languages from that time.

Things got more interesting when John and Deborah Darnell made a 1999 discovery in Middle Egypt of alphabetic inscriptions at a place called Wadi el-Hol. These appeared to be a hybrid between hieroglyphic symbols and alphabetic symbols that once again fit the scenario of hieroglyphs-to-Semitic-script scheme. The surprising thing was that they were dated to the 12th Dynasty, which in conventional terms equated to around 1850 BC.

A line drawing of some of the world’s oldest alphabetic inscriptions from Wadi el-Hol in Egypt’s Middle Kingdom (18th Dynasty) around the time of Joseph. – BRUCE ZUCKERMAN IN COLLABORATION WITH LYNN SWARTZ DODD Pots and Alphabets: Refractions of Reflections on Typological Method (MAARAV, A Journal for the Study of the Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures, Vol. 10, p. 89) (from wikimedia commons)

These realities prompted more scholars to return to the possibility that these early scripts were connected to the Israelites’ stay in Egypt. Egyptologist David Rohl theorized that the initial breakthrough may have come from Joseph during his time in power in Egypt, and that this system was later developed by Moses in time for him to begin writing what would become the first books of the Bible at Mount Sinai. Rohl wrote the following:

“…it took the multilingual skills of an educated Hebrew prince of Egypt to turn these simple first scratchings into a functional script, capable of transmitting complex ideas and a flowing narrative. The Ten Commandments and the Laws of Moses were written in Proto-Sinaitic. The prophet of Yahweh – master of both the Egyptian and Mesopotamian epic literature – was not only the founding father of Judaism, Christianity and, through the Koranic traditions, Islam, but also the progenitor of the Hebrew, Canaanite, Phoenician, Greek and therefore modern western alphabetic scripts.” David Rohl (2002), The Lost Testament, Page 221.

However, these assertions have not shifted the position of most scholars. There just wasn’t enough specific evidence to move these early alphabetic writings from the category of “Semitic” to that of “Hebrew.” Enter Douglas Petrovich and his claims of new and multiple examples of just such specific evidence. Exactly what he has found and what some of the initial reaction has been will be the subject of Part 2 of this article in next week’s Thinker Update.

From the Patterns of Evidence The Thinker series.

 

Sinai 361, part of a stone slab from Egypt, which Dr. Douglas Petrovich proposes contains the name Moses.

And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. – Exodus 24:4 (ESV)

In second of a three-part series, we will be looking at the controversial claims and startling new evidence from Dr. Douglas Petrovich that suggest the world’s oldest alphabet was actually an early form of Hebrew.

I remember well the buzz around the halls and meeting places at the Evangelical Theological Society’s meeting held in the fall of 2015 in Atlanta. Patterns of Evidence was there to promote their new film and book. The annual meeting featured hundreds of breakout sessions where leading Christian scholars from around the world presented their latest findings and proposals in their areas of specialization to several thousand attendees. With dozens of speakers to choose from during any given hour, deciding which session to attend was difficult. But the title of one presentation was the source of particular interest and excitement: “The World’s Oldest Alphabet – Hebrew Texts of the 19th Century BC.”

Groups I engaged with had already been talking about this presentation and as I negotiated the crowded hallways between presentations I overheard “I can’t miss that one,” from several hurried conversations. I knew I would need to get there early to secure a seat. It was the date in the title of the presentation that had captured the imaginations of so many. Hebrew texts that early in history were just so far beyond the normal scope of thinking (by about 1000 years) that they just had to see what was behind these fantastic claims.

Professor Douglas N. Petrovich.

The presentation given to that overflowing room did not disappoint. Numerous examples of inscriptions were shown that not only pointed to Hebrew as the first alphabet, but also validated the biblical account of the Israelites in Egypt. Professor Petrovich had been studying the inscriptions on a series of 9-foot-tall stone slab markers called stele, which recorded the annual expeditions of a high official from Egypt down to the southwestern Sinai turquoise mines called Serâbît el-Khâdim. This is just west of the traditional Mount Sinai location. The official had recorded images of himself at the bottom of the stele where he was depicted on a donkey in the middle, with an Egyptian attendant walking behind him and a boy walking in front. Each year’s inscription would show this boy growing taller. What caught his attention was that one stela did not use Egyptian hieroglyphics, but rather a rudimentary form of the alphabet in a Semitic language. If Petrovich’s interpretation is correct it speaks of Joseph’s son Manasseh and his son Shechem (Joshua 17:2).

The Manasseh inscription. (Credit: Douglas Petrovich)

The inscription included the date of Year 18 of Amenemhat III, the 12th Dynasty ruler around the time of Joseph in both the view of a Middle Bronze Age/Middle Kingdom Exodus around 1450 BC (represented in the film Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus by David Rohl and John Bimson) and in the view of a Late Bronze Age/New Kingdom Exodus at 1446 BC while retaining the conventional dating for Egypt (represented in the film Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus by Bryant Wood, Charles Aling and Clyde Billington and also held by Douglas Petrovich). This is because there are two main views for the length of the time the Israelites spent in Egypt – perhaps more on that debate in a future Thinker Update. Regardless, this date is more evidence that the Ramesses Exodus Theory held by the majority of scholars, may be causing them to miss evidence for the Exodus that actually exists centuries earlier than where they are looking.

If his interpretation is correct, it would also establish Hebrew as the world’s first alphabet. According to Petrovich, the inscription says that this expedition included a group with significant connections to the early Israelites. He reads the inscription as, “Six Levantines, Hebrews of Bethel the beloved.” The Levant is the area of Canaan and its surroundings. In the biblical account, Bethel was one of the headquarters of Jacob and his family before they moved to Egypt – it was their home town.

God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau… And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him,” – Genesis 35:1,6 (ESV)

Professor Petrovich said that the second of his forthcoming books will show clear proofs that the featured character can be none other than Manasseh the son of Joseph. This along with his other findings were again presented last November at the annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), this time drawing the attention (and criticism) of a wider audience.

In Part 1 of the series it was shown that most academic outlets have long portrayed Phoenician as the world’s first alphabet, which developed after the time of the Exodus and became the basis of all modern alphabets. This thinking has been propagated despite the fact that there has been clear evidence that the oldest examples of the alphabet don’t come from Phoenicia and predate the existence of Phoenician culture. Leaders in the field would be careful not to ascribe the name of “Phoenician” to the first alphabet, but that message has not been getting out to the myriad of classroom and media outlets that continue to teach that.

This issue is critical for understanding the roots of the Bible, since the sophistication of the biblical narrative required an alphabet to be in place for it to be written. If the alphabet was first developed by Phoenicians in 1050 BC (or even around 1200 BC) that would mean Moses could not have been the author of writings that ended up becoming the first books of the Bible as tradition and the Bible itself claim. However, if the alphabet developed centuries earlier, in the very area where the Israelites are said to have been active in the years before and during the Exodus, then this would fit nicely with the claims of the Bible.

Many experts in the area of ancient languages have recognized that the earliest alphabetic scripts developed from Egyptian hieroglyphs and were in a Semitic language (the broad cultural group that the Israelites were a part of), but few have entertained the idea that this language may have been the more specific category of “Hebrew,” the language of the Israelites.

As seen in an hour-long interview on Israel News Live, it started several years ago when Petrovich (an archaeologist and epigrapher at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada) was studying Egyptian inscriptions and “accidentally” ran into the inscription mentioning Manasseh. According to Petrovich this led to finding “one gold mine after another” in additional inscriptions. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would bump into three significant biblical figures on three different inscriptions that all date to the middle of the 15th century or so BC,” said Petrovich.

It was only after defining every one of the 22 disputed letters of this early alphabetic script, and which Hebrew letter each early sign corresponded to, that Petrovich was able to interpret the Semitic inscriptions. This led him to eventually propose that the Israelites were the ones who transformed Egyptian hieroglyphics into the world’s first alphabet. These texts mainly originated in the locations of Serâbît el-Khâdim and Wadi el-Hôl in Egypt.

Another inscription, this one catalogued as Sinai 376 from the 13th Dynasty, Petrovich interprets as saying, “The house of the vineyard of Asenath and its innermost room were engraved, they have come to life.” This sentence has three words (house, innermost room, engraved) in common with 1 Kings chapter 8 where it talks about King Solomon’s construction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Asenath was the wife of Joseph and certainly one of the most famous women in Egypt at the time.

…And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On… – Genesis 41:45 (ESV)

And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera the priest of On, bore to him.– Genesis 46:20 (ESV)

Two inscriptions from the time of the Exodus add fuel to the argument. In Sinai 375a (the photo of which can be seen at the top of last week’s Part 1 of this blog) Petrovich reads the name “Ahisamach” and his title, “overseer of minerals.” Petrovich knows of no other instance of this name in any other Semitic language than Hebrew. In the Bible, Ahisamach was the father of Oholiab, who along with Bezalel was one of the chief craftsmen appointed for constructing the Tabernacle and its furnishings.

Sinai 375a with the etchings highlighted in black and the proposed Hebrew equivalents added in green containing the name “Ahisamach, overseer of minerals.” (credit: Douglas Petrovich)

and with him was Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and designer and embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. – Exodus 38:23 (ESV)

The second of the Exodus-era inscriptions is the most specific reference to the Exodus event. Naturally, it is also the most controversial of all. But that inscription, along with the debate that ensued, will have to wait for the final installment of our 3-part series on the world’s oldest alphabet.

 

Sinai 361 (also photo below), with etchings highlighted in black and the proposed Hebrew equivalents added in green, which contain the name “Moses” in the lower right corner. (credit: Douglas Petrovich)

Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?” So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. And he said to them, “Go, serve the LORD your God… ” – Exodus 10:7-8

In this third of a three-part series, we will look at perhaps the most profound and controversial interpretation proposed by Dr. Douglas Petrovich, and the debate that followed his announcements. As seen in Parts 1 and 2, Petrovich has proposed that there is now sufficient evidence to establish Hebrew as the world’s oldest alphabet. If verified, this would push the first instance of Hebrew script nearly a thousand years earlier than previously thought, allowing the possibility that Moses actually was the author of the earliest writings in the Bible in the eyes of academia. This series of Egyptian inscriptions may also validate much of the history recorded in the Bible for the period of the Exodus.

Of the controversial texts that originated from Serâbît el-Khâdim, the turquoise mines controlled by the Egyptians just west of the traditional Mount Sinai, one in particular raises the temperature of this debate. Sinai 361 (hand drawing above and photo below) may contain the name “Moses” and actually refer to the year in which the plagues and devastation were visited on Egypt. The inscription is laid out in vertical columns from right to left with Moses (actually, the Hebrew “Moshe”) being mentioned at the bottom of the first column on the right. Petrovich reads this inscription as follows:

“Our bound servitude had lingered, Moses then provoked astonishment, it is the year of astonishment, because of the lady.”

The “astonishment” could pertain to the Judgment step seen in the film Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus when Egypt was devastated. The present tense used in the inscription could mean that the message was even written as the plagues were in the process of playing out.

But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. – Exodus 7:3-4 (ESV)

The references to bondage, a year of astonishment, and that this was provoked by “Moses,” all remarkably fit the Exodus account of the plagues and exodus out of slavery in Egypt as described in the Bible. Petrovich believes “the Lady” spoken of refers to the Egyptian goddess Hathor, who was often depicted as a horned cow. The Bible records the Israelites’ tendency to revere the gods of Egypt as seen in the golden calf incident at Mount Sinai. A reference to this rebellion and what may be the year of astonishment occurs in Psalm 78.

How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!

They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,

when he performed his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.

He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams.

He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.

He gave their crops to the destroying locust and the fruit of their labor to the locust.

He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamores with frost.

He gave over their cattle to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts.

He let loose on them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.

He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague.

He struck down every firstborn in Egypt, the first fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.

Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. – Psalm 78:40-52 (ESV)

Photo of Sinai 361, part of a stone slab from Egypt, which Dr. Douglas Petrovich proposes contains the name Moses.

This inscription (along with the Sinai 375a inscription naming Ahisamach) includes no date, but Professor Petrovich assigns a date in the 18th Dynasty around 1446 BC, based on pottery remains from that period found in the caves. David Rohl, who favors the Exodus occurring at the end of the 13th Dynasty, counters that pottery can only be used to date items found in the same layer as the pottery when dealing with stratified remains in the ground. So a separate inscription on a rock wall or Stela found above ground cannot be linked to any pottery finds, especially at sites in an area known to have a long history like this one.

Petrovich replied that the principle to which Rohl was referring does not apply to a carved mine, but only to sites where architecture experienced various phases of construction/reconstruction with new floor levels that cleared out old material regularly. In contrast, Petrovich noted that these mining shafts were only used by a band of males who visited this remote site no more than once per year for seasonal/annual mining activity. There would not have been maids, cleaning services, or renovating within the mine shafts. If the mines that yielded New Kingdom inscriptions had been used in earlier periods, there would be visible evidence of it preserved in these shafts. Yet none exists.

While Professor Petrovich admits that the datable pottery evidence is no guarantee of the first use of the mines, he believes there is enough evidence along various lines to ensure that these particular mines were not used during the Middle Kingdom. And so the debate goes on. Petrovich believes his reconstruction of the development of the earliest Hebrew script also strongly supports his view that these later inscriptions are from the New Kingdom. Once again, whether late 13th Dynasty or early 18th Dynasty, these inscriptions appear to pre-date a Ramesses Exodus by centuries.

In an article in Breaking Israel News Petrovich points to other “Bible-esque” statements that he has deciphered. A statement reading, “Wine is more abundant than the daylight, than the baker, than a freeman,” was found in an inscription from late in the 12th Dynasty.

Another inscription (this one from Sinai 375a, and nearer the time of the Exodus) reads, “The one having been elevated is weary to forget.” This is from the inscription bearing the name Ahisamach and is in a form normally used for autobiographical messages. While Professor Petrovich has not asserted this link, I find the wording uncannily similar to the account of Joseph being raised to second in command after being cast out by his brothers. This action caused him to be enslaved in Egypt and then thrown into prison for several years before being elevated. So the question is, could this message be alluding to or identifying with the Joseph account – or merely a coincidental use of similar words? Either way, it appears to be more support that the inscription is Hebrew.

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” – Genesis 41:39-41 (ESV)

Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.” – Genesis 41:51 (ESV) [Manasseh sounds like the Hebrew phrase for making to forget]

Petrovich explains that other Semitic languages do not result in sensible renderings for these inscriptions, which is why they have never been interpreted before. And few have thought the Israelites were this early, so Hebrew was not considered an option. This earliest version of Hebrew could be thought of as “Hebrew 1.0,” and according to Petrovich it alone works at translating the Egyptian inscriptions. “There were many ‘A-ha!’ moments along the way,” he stated, “because I was stumbling across Biblical figures never attested before in the epigraphical record, or seeing connections that I had not understood before.”

Professor Douglas N. Petrovich teaches at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada.

Petrovich continued, “My discoveries are so controversial because if correct, they will rewrite the history books and undermine much of the assumptions and misconceptions about the ancient Hebrew people and the Bible that have become commonly accepted in the scholarly world and taught as factual in the world’s leading universities.”

As expected, criticism swiftly followed Petrovich’s presentation at ASOR. The primary critique thus far has come from Dr. Christopher Rollston of George Washington University, one of the leading American scholars in the field of epigraphy and ancient inscriptions from the area of the Levant. On December 10, 2016, he wrote an article on his website titled: The Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions 2.0: Canaanite Language and Canaanite Script, Not Hebrew. In it he stated the following:

“As for the script of these inscriptions from Serabit el-Khadem and Wadi el-Hol, the best terms are “Early Alphabetic,” or “Canaanite.” Some prefer the term “Proto-Sinaitic Script.” Any of these terms is acceptable. But it is absolutely and empirically wrong to suggest that the script of the inscriptions from Serabit el-Khadem and Wadi el-Hol is the Hebrew script, or the Phoenician script, or the Aramaic script, or the Moabite script, or the Ammonite script, or the Edomite script. The script of these inscriptions … is not one of the distinctive national scripts (such as Phoenician or Hebrew or Aramaic, etc.), but rather it is the early ancestor of all of these scripts and we term that early ancestor: Early Alphabetic.”

Professor Rollston is arguing that these inscriptions can’t be called Hebrew because they are clearly “Early Alphabetic” or “Canaanite” (what many call Proto-Canaanite or Proto-Sinaitic), and Canaanite can’t be said to be in any particular language, therefore it can’t be Hebrew. But Petrovich is arguing against the very premise and the conventional thinking that the Early Alphabetic script can’t be thought of as being in one particular national language. Obviously, some group of Semites who spoke some particular language developed it – and why not the Hebrews? The developers of the Early Alphabetic script had to be either the Hebrews or the Phoenicians or the Arameans or the Moabites or the Ammonites or the Edomites or the Midianites etc. One of them had to have been the first. And it just so happens that the Hebrews were in Egypt at just the time that this Semitic script developed from hieroglyphs into alphabetic symbols, and these earliest inscriptions just happen to feature the unique names of characters from the biblical story of the Israelites in Egypt and later during the Exodus.

It is true that there is a script called “Hebrew” (or Paleo-Hebrew) that can be seen in inscriptions from around 1000 or 900 BC, and this “Hebrew” script is different than the earliest alphabetic script. But no one is disputing that point. The question is whether there is a precursor to that script – an earlier form of Hebrew (what Petrovich likes to call “Proto-consonantal Hebrew”) – which was the world’s first alphabet and has been called Early Alphabetic (or Proto-Canaanite) up until now. This script would then have developed into various branches used by the different groups in the region, including a gradual development into later forms of Hebrew like the one called Paleo-Hebrew today. The new book by Petrovich discusses this process extensively. He points to evidence showing that the Hebrew letters continuously evolved, becoming less pictographic over time, until eventually being converted into block letters.

The development of Proto-consonantal Hebrew as proposed by Douglas Petrovich

 

Rollston focuses the majority of his critique on Petrovich’s interpretation of some words as “Hebrew” when they, in fact, appear in other Semitic languages and can have several possible meanings. But a large part of Petrovich’s argument relies on the context of these inscriptions using uniquely biblical names in the correct time periods when those figures were active. Additionally his case rests on the claim that some of these inscriptions can only make sense when the Hebrew terms are supplied rather than the other options. To assess the strength of that argument, scholars will need to read the full proposal set out in Petrovich’s new book, something no one has been able to do yet. Petrovich will lay out his findings in full in the first of his forthcoming volumes; The World’s Oldest Alphabet available now through Carta out of Jerusalem.

In an exchange on Facebook, David Rohl said it was valid for Rallston to classify these early writings as Semitic. But Rohl pointed out that Rollston’s reasons for not considering “Hebrew” as the type of Semitic involved, were dependant on his view that Israelites only existed in the centuries immediately preceding Ramesses II, and not as early as these inscriptions. If Rohl’s (or Petrovich’s) view was correct, the Israelites were around in the 12th Dynasty and Hebrew should be considered as a legitimate candidate for these earliest alphabetic inscriptions. Rollston responded, “Oh, David, you are so utterly mistaken about so much. It will serve no purpose for me to try to point such things out to you again…it would serve no useful purpose. So sorry. My analysis is based on actual inscriptions, diagnostic elements of language and script. Bless your heart. Be well and prosper. Sincerely, Chris”

The lack of willingness to engage in this important aspect of the debate caused Rohl to throw up his hands and say there is no way to force scholars to question their long-held traditions – academic inertia is hard to overcome. We look forward to continuing the debate in our upcoming Patterns of Evidence film series, hopefully with Douglas Petrovich and Christopher Rollston participating.

Professor Petrovich summed up, “Truth is un–killable, so if I am correct, my findings will outlast scholarly scrutiny. I have no doubt whatsoever that Hebrew is the world’s oldest alphabet.”

Cecrops Credited with the Invention of Writing

While I was preparing this News Letter I came across this series of teachings by Jeff Benner which are also very good at revealing more information about the beginning of this alphabet. But I want to draw your attention to the 7th in his series. This video and the entire series are below. But before you watch them I have to quote you part of our book The 2300 Days of Hell in which we are showing you the history of the Israelites in order for you to understand to whom Daniel 9 is talking about.

In this section, I want to show you who the Greeks are and where they came from and why as well as when and then once you understand this then you can understand the Alphabet video and the timing of the language as it went to Greece.

If you have the book you can start to read on page 130. I am only going to quote part of this section starting at page 157 and ending on page 167.

The Line of Calcol

I would like to stop at this point and go back 811 years to the Exodus and earlier. We have now followed the line of Phares and the promises made to David of that line down to this point in time—to the point where Zedekiah’s sons are all killed and there are no other heirs except the King’s daughters in Jeremiah’s care. But this is not the conclusion.

As you will recall, Tamar had twin sons—one who put forth his hand and drew it back into the womb named Zerah, while the other one, Phares, came out first. Phares has now had his day in the sun, in a manner of speaking, and Zerah is about to shine forth. Actually, Zerah was also leaving his mark on the world scene but is not well known by us today in this modern world in which we now live.

Let me first share with you what little the Bible does say about Zerah and his descendants.

6 And sons of Zerah: Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara; all of them five. (1 Chronicles 2:6 | NKJV)

6 And the sons of Zerah?: Zimri, and E?ythan, and He?man, and Kalkol, and Dara, five of them in all. (1 Chronicles 2:6)

30 And Shelomoh’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Mitsrayim. 31 For he was wiser than all men, than E?ythan the Ezrahite, and He?man, and Kalkol, and Darda, the sons of Mah?ol. And his name was in all the nations round about. (1 Kings 4:30-31)

Judah was born in 1642 B.C. and was twenty-one years of age when Joseph was sold to the Midians at age seventeen, which was the year 1621 B.C. Immediately after Joseph was sold, we read in Genesis 38 about Judah going into Tamar. Time must pass in order for Judah to have three sons and for them to grow and for the first one to marry Tamar and then die.

It was also twenty-two years after Joseph was sold that he then revealed himself to his brothers in the year 1599 B.C., the second year of the famine. With this being said, then we must conclude that the birth of Phares and Zerah was very close to this time of the famine, as Judah met Tamar while still in Palestine. That took place around1601 B.C.

I am showing you this because, by the time of the Exodus, about 221 years would have had to have passed from the approximate birth of Phares and Zerah.

Joseph is recorded as dying in the year 1528 B.C. at the age of 110. This then means that there were 149 years until the Exodus. And it was during this time that the

sons of Zerah would have reached their fame amongst the Israelites.

These five are here stated to be the sons of Zerah, that is, of Ezra, whence they were called Ezrahites (1 Kings 4:31). In that passage they are called “the sons of Mahol,” which, however, is to be taken not as a proper name, but appellatively for “sons of music, dancing,” etc. The traditional fame of their great sagacity and acquirements had descended to the time of Solomon and formed a standard of comparison for showing the superior wisdom of that monarch. Jewish writers say that they were looked up to as prophets by their countrymen during the abode in Egypt.112

His descendants were called Zarhites, Ezrahites and Izrahites. (Numbers 26:20; 1 Kings 4:31; 1 Chronicles 27:8, 11)

It was also during these 149 years that we are told in Exodus of another Pharaoh who knew not Joseph.

8 Then a new sovereign arose over Mitsrayim, who did not know Yose?ph, 9 and he said to his people, “See, the people of the children of Yisra’e?l are more and stronger than we, 10 come, let us act wisely towards them, lest they increase, and it shall be when fighting befalls us, that they shall join our enemies and fight against us, and shall go up out of the land.” (Exodus 1:8-10)

This would have been the beginning of the affliction upon the Israelites increasing over the years all the way up to the Exodus in 1379 B.C. There are a number of things that took place before the Exodus that most people are unaware of.

Rambam113 comments on Ephraim before the Exodus.

The tribe of Ephraim believed that the 400 years of time that they would be in Egypt was started with the time when Yahweh made the covenant with Abraham. Based on this understanding they set out for the land of Canaan 30 years before the Exodus by the northern route. The Egyptians slaughtered them. It is partly for this reason that 30 years later when Moses left with them they took the southern route away from the Garrisons along the northern highway.

Rab said: 10They were the Ephraimites, who counted (the years) to the end (of the Egyptian bondage), but erred therein, 11 as it is written, And the sons of Ephraim; Shuthelah, and Bared his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah his son, and Tahath his son. And Zabad his son, and

112 Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary On the Whole Bible http://www.amazon.com/Jamieson-Fausset-Browns-Commentary-Whole/dp/0310265703 113 The Chumash concerning the 430 years of the Exodus 12:40, p. 359

Shuthelah his son, and Ezzer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that were born in that land slew.12 And it is written, ‘And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him.’13 (Sanhedrin 92b: 10-13)

1. They counted the four hundred years foretold by God to Abraham (Genesis 15:13) as commencing from the covenant, whereas, in reality, they should have started from Isaac’s birth,114 which according to tradition took place thirty years later. As a result, they left Egypt thirty years before the rest of Israel.

2. 20 And the sons of Ephrayim: Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah his son, amd Tahath his son, 21 and Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and El’ad. But the men of Gath who were born in that land slew them because they came down to take their livestock. 22 And Ephrayim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him. 23 And when he went in to his wife, she conceived and bore a son. And he called his name Beri’ah, because evil had come upon his house. (I Chronicles 7:20-23)

3. Ibid. 22. One of the most tragic disappointments experienced by the Israelites in Egypt, the premature emigration of the Tribe of Ephraim, actually preceded the Exodus.

According to our sages, members of the Tribe of Ephraim attempted to calculate the end of the Egyptian Exile and erroneously fixed the date 30 years early. So certain were they of their conclusion and so eager for redemption that 200,000 armed tribesman of Ephraim left Egypt by force 30 years before the Exodus, only to be slaughtered by the Philistines at Gat, where their corpses were left to rot.115

One can well imagine the skepticism aroused by the memory of that catastrophe when the true redemption got underway with the miracles of Moses, which may account for the Hebrews’ recurrent suspicion that Moses had taken them out of Egypt only to have them die in the desert. In fact, the sages inform us that Yehovah did not lead the Hebrews on the direct route from Egypt to Israel, which passed through the Land of the Philistines, precisely to avoid arousing their deep-seated fears by exposing them to the traumatic sight of the bleached bones of the Ephraimites along the way.

Imagine this for yourself. Thirty years prior, a great disaster takes place and many of those from your area are killed. And then this man that few if any know tells you to follow him out of Egypt. You see the great miracles but you’re not sure what you’re seeing or if it is just nature or your mind playing tricks on you.

114 Actually the 400 years start when Isaac would have been ten as we show you our book “Remembering the Sabbatical Year of 2016”
115 Shemot 13:17 by Mechilta and Targum Yehonatan, Sanhedrin 92b

It is in hindsight that we see the greatness of the events that Yehovah did through Moses. At the actual time you and everyone else are in doubt about what to do next.

Years before Moses came on the scene, the people of Israel could see the evil coming; much in the same way one could see the evil coming in Europe before WWII actually began and the holocaust. Many of the Jewish people saw what was coming and left. Others denied it and stayed, only to be caught up in it when it did come.

One of those who left Egypt early was the son of Zerah, the son of Judah. His name was Calchol, who became known as Cecrops.

6 And the sons of Zerah?: Zimri, and E?ythan, and He?man, and Kalkol, and Dara, five of them in all. (1 Chronicles 2:6)

The migrations out of Egypt led by the Ephraimites and also, the Exodus, led by Moses, are not the only ones recorded in ancient history. Another important GRECIAN COLONY was founded by CECROPS who became the FIRST “LEGENDARY” KING OF ATTICA. Cecrops, as we shall see, was an Israelite! Author E. Raymond Capt notes:

According to “The Harmsworth Encyclopedia,” CECROPS (“CALCOL” of I Chronicles 2:6 and “CHACOL” of I Kings 4:31—and BROTHER OF DARDA) was the ‘mythical’ founder of ATHENS and its FIRST KING. He was thought to have been the LEADER OF A BAND OF HEBREW COLONISTS FROM EGYPT.116

CALCOL, or CECROPS, as the Greeks called him, evidently left Egypt BEFORE the Exodus of the Bible. Hermon L. Hoeh, states that “ATHENIAN history commences with the founding of the city by Cecrops in 1556 (B.C.).”117

The Encyclopedia Britannica states that Cecrops was “traditionally the FIRST KING OF ATTICA (Pausanias ix. 33). He was said to have divided the inhabitants into 12 COMMUNITIES, to have instituted the LAWS OF MARRIAGE and PROPERTY and a NEW FORM OF WORSHIP. The introduction of BLOODLESS SACRIFICE, the BURIAL OF THE DEAD and the invention of WRITING were also attributed to him.”118

One of the reasons noted as to why Cecrops would have left Egypt and his countrymen so early was that, after the death of Joseph in 1528 B.C., the children of Joseph may have sought revenge for what his brothers had done to him. If in fact this

116 Missing Links Discovered In Assyrian Tablets by E. Raymond Capt, Artisan Sales, Thousand Oaks, CA. 1985, p. 65
117 Compendium of World History by Herman L. Hoeh, Vol. I, p. 390
118 The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1943 edition. Vol. 5, p. 85

rumor was going around the camp, this could explain why Cecrops left twenty-eight years before the death of Joseph. It also explains why Joseph is recorded as saying to his brothers to ‘fear not.’ This was after Jacob died in the year 1582 B.C. So the founding of Athens by Cecrops in 1556 B.C. fits perfectly with what was going on in Egypt at this time—fear and distrust.

14 And after he had buried his father, Yose?ph returned to Mitsrayim, he and his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father. 15 And when Yose?ph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Yose?ph hates us, and pays us back all the evil which we did to him?” 16 And they sent word to Yose?ph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, 17 This is what you are to say to Yose?ph, ‘I beg you, please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you. And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the Elohim of your father.’ And Yose?ph wept when they spoke to him. 18 And his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “See, we are your servants.” 19 And Yose?ph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of Elohim. 20 And you, you intended evil against me, but Elohim intended it for good, in order to do it as it is this day, to keep a great many people alive. 21 And now, do not fear, I provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. 22 And Yose?ph dwelt in Mitsrayim, he and his father’s household. And Yose?ph lived one hundred and ten years. (Genesis 50:14-22)

Although Calcol died in Greece in the year 1506 B.C., he directed his son GATHELUS to plant the royal line of Judah (through Zarah) in distant lands to the west!119 Raymond Capt also says that:

The Danaan were not the first Hebrews into Ireland. CALCOL (1 Chronicles 2:6—Chalcol of 1 Kings 4:31) FOUNDER OF THE ANCIENT IRISH LINE OF KINGS (through his son Gathelus) planted a royal Dynasty in ULSTER (as well as other royal dynasties in Europe). He and his brother DARDA (DARDANUS) the founder of TROY had both migrated from Egypt BEFORE the Exodus. They are SONS OF ZARAH, one of the twin sons of Judah. The Hebrew name “Zarah” signifies “to scatter,” and the subsequent history of Zarah and his descendants fully justifies the claim that he was named with prophetic intention, even as was Jacob, the supplanter.120

The movements of Gathelus are noted by Capt:
Historical records tell of the WESTWARD MIGRATION of the

119 http://www.hope-of-israel.org/moreexodus.html
120 Missing Links Discovered In Assyrian Tablets by E. Raymond Capt. Artisan Sales, Thousand Oaks, CA. 1985, p. 64

descendants of CALCOL along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, establishing “IBERIAN” (HEBREW) trading settlements. One settlement, now called “SARAGOSSA,”121 in the EBRO valley in Spain, was originally known as “ZARAH-GASSA,” meaning the “STRONGHOLD OF ZARAH.” From Spain they continued westward as far as Ireland. The Iberians gave their name to Ireland, calling the island “Iberne” which was later abbreviated to “Erne,” and subsequently Latinized to “Hibernia,” a name that still adheres to Ireland.122

For, as the old chronicles reveal, there was a Greek, called GATHELUS, SON OF CECROPS (CALCOL) OF ATHENS, otherwise of Argus, King of the Argives, who…left his native country of Greece and CAME TO EGYPT with a strong company of goodly young men…. At this time there reigned in Egypt Pharaoh, THE SCOURGE OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL: whose SON, following in his father’s iniquities, was DROWNED IN THE RED SEA, with all his army…The King Pharaoh received Gathelus openly because he (Gathelus) appeared to support the Pharaoh against the Ethiopians and the people of Midian…. The Pharaoh, with the support of Gathelus, won a fierce battle against the Ethiopians, and brought them so close to defeat that Gathelus took their principal city called MEROE. Gathelus, after this great victory, returned to Egypt; and…was made general lieutenant over all of the Pharaoh’s army. Soon after, because he was…of the ROYAL BLOOD LINE OF GREECE…King Pharaoh gave him his DAUGHTER, CALLED SCOTA, in marriage….123

Another version of the story goes like this:

One of the most memorable chapters in the history of the Celtic race deals with Niul, youngest son of Fenius Farsa, King of Scythia. Niul was reputed to have mastered all of the languages of the then-known world. The fame of his learning and wisdom spread worldwide, and King Forond (probably a corruption of Pharaoh), the first-styled ‘Pharaoh Cingris’ of Egypt, invited him to Egypt to instruct Egyptian youth in the sciences. The King gave Niul a large fiefdom on the Red Sea, and gave him, also, his daughter, Scota, in marriage.124

This story of Scota in Irish folklore often gets mixed in with Jeremiah, which is about 900 years later.

But, according to the account related by Keating, Miledh, again

121 Zaragosa in Spanish. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaragoza
122 Missing Links Discovered In Assyrian Tablets by E. Raymond Capt. Artisan Sales, Thousand Oaks, CA. 1985, p. 65
123 The Chronicles of Scotland by Hector Boece translated into Scottish by John Bellenden in 1531 C.E. 124 The MacGeoghegan Family Society Newsletter, May 3rd, 1990

seemingly the same as Gathelus befriended Moses and the Israelites. Pharaoh Intur (supposed son of Nectonibus) and the Egyptians, in time, remembered their old grudge to the descendants of Niul and the family of Gaedal (Gathelus), namely their resentment for the friendship the latter had formed with the children of Israel. They, then, made war upon the Gaels, who were thereby compelled to exile themselves from Egypt.

The Chronicles of Scotland next relate the return of Moses:

A few years after this, the Pharaoh died, and his son Bochoris Pharaoh received the crown of Egypt, and he oppressed the people of Israel with a worse slavery than did his father. Therefore, no hope of liberty appeared to the people of Israel, until MOSES returned from Midian, where he was banished, to show the commands of God to this Bochoris Pharaoh, in order to deliver the Israelites out of bondage. Following this, Egypt was punished with strange plagues, because they held the prophecy of Moses in contempt…. Gathelus…concerned by the present plague that was the terrible response of God, resolved TO LEAVE EGYPT FOR ANOTHER ABODE…. A short time afterwards he provisioned a ship and SAILED OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THE RIVER NILE with his wife, friends and servants—Greeks and Egyptians—for fear of the plagues of God…. After a dangerous voyage ON THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA, Gathelus…LANDED IN A PART OF SPAIN CALLED LUSITANIA, which was afterwards called PORTUGAL, that is, THE PORT OF GATHELE (GATHELUS).125

This Port of Gathelus would later become known as Port of Gael and then Port-u- gal to what it is now called the country of Portugal.

According to an Irish and Scottish medieval tradition, Goi?del Glas (Latinized as Gathelus) is the creator of the Goidelic languages and the eponymous ancestor of the Gaels.126

It may surprise some of you to know that the Gaelic language and the Hebrew language have many very similar words.127

 

From Whom Did Calcol learn to write before 1556 BC.?

I had not noticed this gem in my book before now. I am amazed that it was there and lying dormant all this time. Read it again and take note of the bold writings.

The migrations out of Egypt led by the Ephraimites and also, the Exodus, led by Moses, are not the only ones recorded in ancient history. Another important GRECIAN COLONY was founded by CECROPS who became the FIRST “LEGENDARY” KING OF ATTICA. Cecrops, as we shall see, was an Israelite! Author E. Raymond Capt notes:

According to “The Harmsworth Encyclopedia,” CECROPS (“CALCOL” of I Chronicles 2:6 and “CHACOL” of I Kings 4:31—and BROTHER OF DARDA) was the ‘mythical’ founder of ATHENS and its FIRST KING. He was thought to have been the LEADER OF A BAND OF HEBREW COLONISTS FROM EGYPT.116

CALCOL, or CECROPS, as the Greeks called him, evidently left Egypt BEFORE the Exodus of the Bible. Hermon L. Hoeh, states that “ATHENIAN history commences with the founding of the city by Cecrops in 1556 (B.C.).”117

The Encyclopedia Britannica states that Cecrops was “traditionally the FIRST KING OF ATTICA (Pausanias ix. 33). He was said to have divided the inhabitants into 12 COMMUNITIES, to have instituted the LAWS OF MARRIAGE and PROPERTY and a NEW FORM OF WORSHIP. The introduction of BLOODLESS SACRIFICE, the BURIAL OF THE DEAD and the invention of WRITING were also attributed to him.”118

One of the reasons noted as to why Cecrops would have left Egypt and his countrymen so early was that, after the death of Joseph in 1528 B.C., the children of Joseph may have sought revenge for what his brothers had done to him. If in fact this rumor was going around the camp, this could explain why Cecrops left twenty-eight years before the death of Joseph. It also explains why Joseph is recorded as saying to his brothers to ‘fear not.’ This was after Jacob died in the year 1582 B.C. So the founding of Athens by Cecrops in 1556 B.C. fits perfectly with what was going on in Egypt at this time—fear and distrust.

Calchol left Egypt for Athens sometime during the 27 years after Jacob died. I believe they first came to Crete before moving on to Athens.

14 And after he had buried his father, Yoseph returned to Mitsrayim, he and his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father. 15 And when Yoseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Yoseph hates us, and pays us back all the evil which we did to him?” 16 And they sent word to Yoseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, 17 This is what you are to say to Yoseph, ‘I beg you, please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you. And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the Elohim of your father.’ And Yoseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 And his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “See, we are your servants.” 19 And Yoseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of Elohim. 20 And you, you intended evil against me, but Elohim intended it for good, in order to do it as it is this day, to keep a great many people alive. 21 And now, do not fear, I provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. 22 And Yoseph dwelt in Mitsrayim, he and his father’s household. And Yoseph lived one hundred and ten years. (Genesis 50:14-22)

Calcol died in Greece in the year 1506 B.C.,

116 Missing Links Discovered In Assyrian Tablets by E. Raymond Capt, Artisan Sales, Thousand Oaks, CA. 1985, p. 65
117 Compendium of World History by Herman L. Hoeh, Vol. I, p. 390
118 The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1943 edition. Vol. 5, p. 85

Cachol was the son of Zerah the son of Judah who sold his brother Joseph into slavery in the year 1621 BC.

We can read in Genesis 41:39

(CEV)  The king told Joseph, “God is the one who has shown you these things. No one else is as wise as you are or knows as much as you do.

As the head over all of Egypt Joseph was responsible to make sure everything was prepared for the coming famine and that would require him to be able to read and write Egyptian Hieroglyphics.

Professor Douglas N. Petrovich has a picture of both Egyptian Hieroglyphs and this ancient Hebrew writing on the same stone wall done at the same time. And the HIeroglyphic part has a date on it stating this was the 20th year of Amenemhat III, also spelt Amenemhet III,  who was a pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He also has another one with the date of the 26th year of Amenemhat III.

The question we now have is to properly date when Amenemhat III reigned.

But there is more.

Flinders Petrie also found potsherds with both the Semitic writing and the Egyptian Hieroglyphs on it but this one potsherd also had they ear 29. And we know that during the Middle Kingdom period, there are only two Pharaohs that had a reign longer than 29 years. Amenemhat III and his father Senuseret III.

The five oldest Semitic writings can all be traced to the Middle Kingdom period. In fact to a narrow 11-year window during the Amenemhat III’s reign.

Joseph the son of Jacob knew both the Hebrew language and could also read the Egyptian Hieroglyphic writings. He was very discerning and wise as Genesis has stated. Calchol left Egypt just before Joseph died in the year 1528 BC. Calchol is credited with starting the Athens in the year 1556 BC, 28 years before Joseph dies and Calchol is credited with inventing writing. The Greek alphabet is the same as the Hebrew only backwards.

This type of writing using Hebrew and Egytpian hieroglyphs disappears about the time of the Exodus from Egypt and then shows up after this same time in the land of Canaan and spreads from there where it is known as the Proto Canaanite. It is found in Israel proper before showing up in the area known as Phoenicia. And then it only shows up in Phoenicia after the 10th century. The oldest known form is found on the lid of a sarcophagus that belonged to a King names Ahiram.

We can read about him in 1 Kings 5:1.

1Ki 5:1  And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, for he had heard that they had anointed him king instead of his father. For Hiram was always a lover of David.  And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying,  You know how David my father could not build a house to the name of Jehovah his God because of the wars which were around him on every side, until Jehovah put them under the soles of his feet.  But now Jehovah my God has given me rest all around. There is no foe nor evil happening.  And behold, I purpose to build a house to the name of Jehovah my God, as Jehovah spoke to David my father, saying, Your son whom I will set on your throne in your place; he shall build a house to My name.  And now command that they cut me cedar trees out of Lebanon, and my servants shall be with your servants. And I will give you hire for your servants according to all that you shall say. For you know that not a man among us can cut timber like the Sidonians.  And it happened when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, Blessed be Jehovah this day, who has given David a wise son over this great people.  And Hiram sent to Solomon saying, I have heard that for which you sent to me. I will do all your desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir.  My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. And I will bring them by sea in floats to the place that you shall name. And I will cause them to be left there, and you shall receive them. And you shall fulfill my desire in giving food for my household.  And Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees, all his desire.  And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food for his household, and twenty measures of pure oil. So Solomon gave to Hiram year by year.  And Jehovah gave Solomon wisdom, as He promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon. And the two of them made a treaty together.  And King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel. And the labor force was thirty thousand men. And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month, by courses. They were a month in Lebanon, and two months at home. And Adoniram was over the labor force.  And Solomon had seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand woodcutters in the mountains,  besides the chief of Solomon’s overseers who were over the work, thirty-three hundred, who ruled over the people who labored in the work. And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, cut stones, to lay the foundation of the house.  And Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Giblites cut out and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.

It was the Israelites who manned the ships of Tyre and sailed around the world collecting things for the construction of the Temple. This is how the Phoenician Alphabet spread, It was the Semitic language which began in Egypt during the time of Joseph and now spreading through Solomon via the Phoenician trading routes.

In 2 Timothy 3:16 the claim is made that God inspired the Bible. All Scripture is inspired by Yehovah. “This means that Yehovah is the author of the Bible. The writers produced a product, which, while it was their own, was also the Word of the Living God” IN order for all those writers to write the various chapters they needed to have an alphabet which was also inspired by Yehovah and we believe this was done during the time of Joseph while he ruled over Egypt between the years 1608 BC when the 7 years of plenty began and his death in the year 1528 BC.

The Alphabet was a gift from Yehovah so that we could then record the Torah from Mount Sinai 229 years after Joseph was made ruler over Egypt. And so Yehovah could give us the Ten Commandments in stone that is still in the ark of the covenant to this day.

Linear B Script preceding the Ancient Greek

During the Mycenaean period, from around the sixteenth century to the twelfth century BC, Linear B was used to write the earliest attested form of the Greek language, known as Mycenaean Greek. This writing system, unrelated to the Greek alphabet, last appeared in the thirteenth century BC. In the late ninth century BC or early eighth century BC, the Greek alphabet emerged.[2] The period between the use of the two writing systems, during which no Greek texts are attested, is known as the Greek Dark Ages. The Greeks adopted the alphabet from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, one of the closely related scripts used for the West Semitic languages, calling it ‘Phoenician letters’

Linear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of Greek. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries. The oldest Mycenaean writing dates to about 1450 BC.[1] It is descended from the older Linear A, an undeciphered earlier script used for writing the Minoan language, as is the later Cypriot syllabary, which also recorded Greek. Linear B, found mainly in the palace archives at Knossos, Cydonia,[2] Pylos, Thebes and Mycenae,[3] disappeared with the fall of Mycenaean civilization during the Late Bronze Age collapse. The succeeding period, known as the Greek Dark Ages, provides no evidence of the use of writing. It is also the only one of the Bronze Age Aegean scripts to have been deciphered, by English architect and self-taught linguist Michael Ventris.[4]

When the Israelites left Egypt under Cachol they first settled in Crete where the Minoan Linear A language was found and is to this day not decipherable. From Crete, they settled around the whole of what is today the Greek Islands and Western Turkey. And it was here that they began with the Linear B language. It would not be until later on when they began to mingle with the Phoenicians that they developed the Greek alphabet that we can recognize today.

It took the Phoenician Alphabet to arrive in Greece about 1000 BC before they could develop what we now know as the Alpha and Omega. And the Phoenicians had to wait for the Israelites to work with them under Hiram and Solomon before the Proto Canaanite which is the same alphabet that was developed by Joseph in Egypt in the late 1600s and early 1500’s BC.

I do not know about you, but I have found this the most amazing study I have done and I thank Tim Mahoney and David Rohl for instigating it with me through the Patterns of Evidence and The Moses Controversy videos. And I thank Yehovah for giving us this alphabet so we can have His Torah always before us in written form.

The Name of Joseph Found in Egypt

I was all set to let that last section end this week’s New Letter. I have been sick all week and going to bed very early to get better. While I am there I have continued to read David Rohl’s newest book, Exodus Myth or History?

I have over the years read I think all of Davids books. An awesome discovery of history. It was this same David that told me personally that Theile is a most reliable source for the Hebrew Kings Chronology. And David Rohl was to be our guest speaker one year when we planned a tour of Egypt and the Red Sea Crossing and then Jerusalem. This was in partnership with Avi ben Mordechai. But we did not get enough to join us.

ANyway. David has written in his book the identification of Joseph the Son of Jacob.

Gen 41:45 (KJV)  And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.

Before we read what David has found let me share with you another version or interpretation of this verse.

Gen 41:45 (DRB)  And he turned his name, and called him in the Egyptian tongue the saviour of the world. And he gave him to wife Aseneth, the daughter of Putiphare, priest of Heliopolis. Then Joseph went out to the land of Egypt.

Just keep this in mind as you continue to read.

As was the practice in ancient Egypt, Asiatic slaves were given Egyptian names alongside their Semitic names.

We have papyri which list slaves with both their Asiatic and Egyptian using the formula ‘(Semitic name), he who is called (Egyptian name)’. The phrase ‘he who is called’ or ‘she who is called’ is djedu en ef (for males) or djedu en es (for females). This is important to know as we now attempt to decipher the Egyptian name of Joseph given in the Bible.

There are two steps in this process. First, we need to deal with the initial part of the name – Zaphenath – which Kenneth Kitchen, I believe rightly, interprets as a garbled version of djedu en ef. Once again we have to look at the true pronunciation for ‘he who is called’. Remember that the Es in djedu en ef (as Egyptologists vocalize it) are simply vowel marker – they do not represent the true sounds of the vowels or even their correct positions in the words. They are simply there to aid the pronunciation in this hybrid Egypto-speak we all use to communicate with each other. The opening consonant Dj in djedu is, in reality, a Z. In modern Egyptology books, you will read the name of the builder of the Step Pyramid at Sakkara as the King Djose, whereas older books (in my view more correctly) refer to him as Zoser. So djedu en ef was most likely pronounced something like Zatenaf.

Kitchen argues that the biblical version of – Zaphenath or more correctly Zafenat –  has suffered from metathesis. This is not some strange physical disorder but rather a muddling of the order of syllables, which sometimes happens when people incorporate foreign words into their vocabulary or where they are unable to pronounce a word in the language they have adopted.

Kitchen proposes that this is precisely what has happened with Zafenat which, through metathesis has reversed the letters T and F. The original he believes was Zatenaf- that is the Egyptian phrase ‘he who is called”. So the first part of Joseph’s Egyptian name simply follows the standard Egyptian formula ‘Joseph he who is called Pa’aneah“.

Now to deal with the second element of the name – Pa’aneah or perhaps correctly pa-Aneah. This is quite straightforward, though it once again involves unpicking the Egypto-speak. We all refer to the Egyptian sign of life as “ankh” but the true ancient vocalization was ‘aneah’. So here we simply have the definite article ‘Pa” (“the”) followed by the symbol of life, which together translates as ‘the one who lives”.

When Josephs brothers discovered that the young brother they had sold into slavery was still alive and, indeed, had become the most powerful man in Egypt after Pharaoh, they went back to Canaan to tell their father Jocab that his beloved son was not dead but alive. What more appropriate name could Pharaoh have given to a former slave and now his Asiatic vizier than ‘Joseph – he who is called “the one who lives“? Where all this becomes really exciting is when we look for a vizier from the time of the late 12th and early 13th Dynasties with a name that might match our Egyptian name for Joseph.

And I will leave that with you to go and search this out, but Rohls provides papyri with this very name written on it doing the things the bible says he did.

6 Comments

  1. Ross

    Shabbat Shalom from Cambodia.
    I had to stop reading this week’s newsletter following the emails. I have to say something that I think may be interesting and perhaps even useful.
    My grandfather came from Lebanon and migrated to North America in the early twentieth century. He walked and worked his way from Virginia in the south to the East Coast of Canada. This was some time after the Spanish flue epidemic which took many souls around the world, including his first wife and son in Lebanon. He finally arrived in a small, but growing town where he decided to settle. He had 60 cents in his pocket.
    He went to the local market and bought a few small items, needles and thread I think, that he then peddled door to door. For some time he slept in a barn which someone had offered him. He shared the space with a horse. But, after a while he bought the horse and used it to take his peddling business on the road. Eventually, he bought a wagon for the horse and sold a variety of things that people would need in the country side.
    His business grew and later he bought the barn and house where he opened a clothing store. People in the area knew my grandfather as Honest Tom. He did a good business.
    At some point along the way, he had returned to Lebanon and remarried bringing his new wife back to Canada. They raised two daughters. One of whom was my mother.
    She was grown up when her father got very sick. Her suitor, my dad was a fourth or fifth generation Irish Canadian, fresh out of the army. He offered to help with running the store while my grandfather was in hospital. Now this is where it gets interesting, I think.
    Sometime before that, zut suits had been a popular fashon for men, but had gone out of style. So, there were two of them in the store window on sale for $10 each when the man who was to become my father stepped in to help. They hadn’t sold despite being cheap, so while my grandfather was away, my clever Dad removed one of the suits from the display window. He put a $15 price tag on the other. Surprise! Sutprise! It sold immediately. So, he did the same thing with the other suit. When my grandfather came home from the hospital, they were both gone.
    It seems that the worth of things is NOT THEIR INTRINSIC VALUE but is ACCORDING TO WHAT PEOPLE HAVE TO PAY FOR THEM! It’s human nature.
    I have had some experience with this over the years. In my work as a natural health care practioner, I can attest to the efficacy of setting a high price on anything of genuine value. Make it cheap or free, and people think it’s worthless! The irony is that they want both health care and spiritual education to be free. Go figure! Free DVDs and books get tossed in the trash. I know they do! But, what if the price were high and availability low?
    Now I have to tell you the rest of the story.
    When my grandfather saw that these out-of-style suits were gone, he asked what had happened. My father told him how he had sold them for $15 each. My grandfather was upset. (I think my mother said he was furious.) He asked who had bought the suits. When he discovered who, he went to the homes of these two customers and refunded $5 to each of them.
    I have always been impressed by my grandfather’s honesty and integrity. Proud, in fact! It set a standard that I have tried to emulate. At the same time, I was impressed by my father’s understanding of human nature. I believe they each had something to learn from the other.
    Now back to the newsletter.
    Shalom
    Ross

    Reply
  2. Jayson

    I was surprised that a lengthy in-depth article on the topic of the “The Start of the Written Hebrew Language” did not have one mention of Dr. Miles Jones, who has a Ph.D in historical linguistics. Miles is the person that interpreted Jim and Penny Caldwell’s pictures of the “footprint inscriptions” taken at Jabal al Lawz. Miles is also working closely with Nehemia Gordon on the recently discovered original Gospels in Hebrew. Also in his possession is Acts, James, Jude, and the Book of the Revelation. I have personally held copies of these in my hands.
    Dr. Jones authored The Writings of God which deals with the topic of your latest article. Several months back, he was featured on Shabbat Night Live as he did a series with Michael Rood. Dr. Jones claims that the Hebrew alphabet started at Mt. Sinai when Yehovah wrote the 10 Words. Its not that the Hebrew language didn’t exist before that but, the alphabet did not. Prior to Mt. Sinai, every word had a representative pictograph character associated with it. In a system like this, only the elite educated could communicate in writing because it was very complex and involved. Once a 22 letter alef bet was created (by Yehovah Himself), a literate language was greatly simplified so that the average person could easily read and write. These 22 letters could be used repeatedly to sound out 1000’s of words! For example, we all have witnessed a 5 year old child read words on a passing billboard simply because they have learned to sound out individual letters. Incredible! The timing that Yehovah used to present a simplified literate language is also incredible (at Mt. Sinai during the giving of the 10 Words)!
    Readers can find Dr. Miles Jones book, The Writings of God, on Amazon. They can also go back and watch the “Beyond Mt. Sinai” series on YouTube which was originally aired on Shabbat Night Live. Here’s a link to the 1st of 4 episodes.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfwldQaglr4

    Reply
  3. Ross

    Shalom Joseph,
    This is a most fascinating study. I am still struggling with the chronology that others believe, but the study of the origins of Hebrew writing is amazing. And the Jeff Benner History of the Hebrews blew me out of the water! I was moved by the fact that the Hebrews and Phonecians were so closely linked. My Lebanese mother said that she was descended from the Phonecians. So, that had special meaning for me.
    As you know I’m relatively new to the Truth of the Bible. And I have a problem trying to debate with people about our different beliefs. So, I prefer to write what I see to be true and if anyone finds it useful in their learning, then fine. If they don’t agree then I don’t feel that I need to defend myself. I’m not good at it, for one thing, but more importantly, I don’t believe it does say good. Maybe I’m wrong about that and if I am I would like to know. Do people who hold different beliefs change their minds after having lost an argument? I have never experienced that? I’d like to know what others say. That’s not too say that I won’t do my best to explain things I’ve learned to people who really want to know!
    I have come to the conclusion after many discussions with people who dispute my online posts, that some people would rather be RIGHT than TRUE! They have practiced their argument and seek out others to engage with so they can prove that they are RIGHT and that someone else is WRONG. So, I have to say that they have stopped seeking because they already KNOW! Or think they do. It’s a dangerous thing to only THINK you know.
    On the other hand, when you don’t know what’s true,- and know that you don’t know, you are teachable. And that’s how I was when I first came to your site. I had no previously held opinions to prevent me from seeing and accepting new information. I had read other people’s opinions and at first some seemed sensible. But, no one I had found could tie all biblical events together and give me a chronology that didn’t seem to rely on guess work, assumptions or unproven traditional beliefs.
    Without doubt, the first truly new and almost mind altering thing I learned at SightedMoon was your chronology. 853 and 701 BC synchronize the Bible with secular history. Wow! That was amazing to me!
    From that you established the Jubilee years and counted the cycles from Adam to the present and it made perfect sense. There are no assumptions necessary when using these cycles to establish the creation calendar. And as far as I can tell, it FITS with history AND prophecy. Andd world events, both current and past are witnesses! That’s enough for me.
    You mention in this week’s newsletter some of the different chronology theories and why people accept them. You show that Clarke’s Commentary on 1 Kings 1:6 throws the 480 year theory out the window. Using that scripture is obviously unreliable. It simply can’t be used to establish anything.
    Judges 11:26 offers no help either, as you point out. 300 years from when until when?
    As for using Paul, it too simply does not offer clarity. Is he saying 450 years from the covenant with Abraham? Or is it from when Yehovah started to prosper the people? After all, he never mentions Abraham, only the ancestors of the Jews. And if that’s not enough to make it vague, Paul says that Yehovah endured them for “ABOUT 40 years” and “this all took ABOUT 450”. You suggest Paul was off on his math. I think that he wasn’t even trying to do math, but was simply mentioning the salient events and persons leading up to what he really wanted to talk about, Yeshua the Messiah. In any case, using Acts 13:16 to establish chronology is grasping at straws. It’s unreliable.
    Then you speak about Ptolemy. If I understand you correctly, he accurately described seven lunar eclipses that can be linked to known events and because we now know when these eclipses occured, we can use them to establish a chronology. Is that it?
    You seen to dismiss that approach, but you don’t actually say why. Or maybe I’ve got it wrong and these eclipses do fit into the Jubilee calendar. You don’t say that either. What I need to understand is what, if anything, is intrinsically wrong with that approach? Or is the issue that they contradict the Jubilee chronology?
    I’m a “nuts and bolts” kind of guy. I like to see the pieces and how they fit together. It seems to me that you have done that with the Jubilee cycles. I may never be able to understand the theories that others hold and refute them but, who knows? Nevertheless, as I continue to learn I am always grateful for your hard work. And I share your excitement about the history of the Hebrew aleph-beit. Great newsletter!
    Shalom
    Ross

    Reply
    • Joseph F. Dumond

      Ptolemy used Astronomical events to mark certain dates in history. He did this for the Babylonian and Persian dates. The Babylonian dates overlapped with the Assyrian Dates. Today by checking those same Astronomical dates we can establish the reliability of Ptolemy and know his chronology is correct thereby confirming the Assyrian chronology and with the Assyrian chronology now confirmed we have two dates connecting the Israelite chronology. 853 and 701. So no I am not dismissing Ptolemy, I am endorsing him.

      Reply
      • Ross

        Thank you for making that clear. It’s is what I hoped you would say. Though I should have remembered that from your book.

        Reply
  4. Jan

    Joe, I just read through this newsletter recently. It is absolutely wonderful to see this all brought together. It still amazes me how you find the time to do such extensive research. I enjoyed all the comments mentioned above as well. Thanks for your dedication.

    Reply

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