Torah Portions

The Stones Cry Out Part 1 & Part 2

Do you want to know how to prove the Zadok Calendar, the Enoch Calendar, and the Book of Jubilee Calendar false?

Do you want to know how the calendar issue became so confusing?

I go this awesome endorsement and I want to share it here now. with you.

In The Stones Cry Out, I walk you through the history of each change and why those changes came about, starting with the Maccabean days. Yes, it all began around 164 B.C. When Yehshua was here, he was dealing with two schools of thought. The Sadducees were all but wiped out when the Temple fell in 70 C.E. This left only the Pharisees, who began to be persecuted after the failure of the Bar Kochbah Revolt in 134 C.E.

The truth began to become out of focus around 160 C.E. when Rabbi Jose wrote the Seder Olam. This work originally was written to proof Simon Bar Kochbah was the Messiah. When that did not pan out the history was later revived and then redacted as the truth into the Mishneh Torah by Rabbi Judah ha Nasi in 180 C.E. After this the Jerusalem Talmud begins to debate these issues. It was then during this time as the Jerusalem Talmudist are forced to flee and the Babylonian Talmudist continue to grow until the 6th century that Hillel came up with a solution to help them keep the Holy Days at the proper time while they were out of the land of Israel. He did this in 358 C.E. This work was then modified and adjusted over the next 800 years with additions added and other rejected. Until it was finally redacted once again in 1177 by Rambam. And with that we now have the modern Hillel calendar which includes the errors passed on during each redaction. These errors included the time of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years.

Once the Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E., the Jews recorded time by counting from the time It was destroyed. This is why the 40 tombstones of Zoar, which record this information, are crucial to understand.

When you understand why the Postponement rules were first created so that the crescent moon would not be seen in another part of the world before it was seen in Israel then you can understand how they were still trying to follow the crescent moon to begin the month. The Tombstones show us this exact thing. The tombstones also show us when the Jews changed from a crescent moon to a Conjunction moon to begin the month. They also show us when the Jews changed the year from the month of Aviv to the Tishri to begin the year.

I really want you to understand these things so you know why you do what you do as far as following a calendar to keep Yehovah’s moedim.
Get your Free copies of The Stones Cry Out Part 1 and Part 2 here https://sightedmoon.com/the-stones-cry-out-lp/

And share this information with your FB friends and Bibles Study groups. If they don’t like it, it never cost them anything.

Get your copy today. If you want a paperback copy, I have them on Amazon for the least amount they would let me post them there. Order both of them and start to understand the history of how these changes affect those who follow Yehovah and keep His Feasts.

I would like to add this recent comment to encourage you all to get this book and learn these truths. And the Book is FREE. You have no reason not to get it.

Most people assume that Hillel created the calendar in 358 C.E. They then assume that because it was a Sanhedrin, they are not allowed to change in order to obey Yehovah. The Hillel calendar has been changed many times since 358 C.E. up until 1177 C.E. Few people talk about these changes but we do in our latest Book The Stones Cry Out Part 1 which is free on our website. The Hillel calendar was changed on many occasions and many sought to make other changes during this time. They never needed a Bet Din to approve those changes. They just did them. So this excuse that we do not have the right to obey Yehovah because the Bet Din has not approved it is a crock of crap.
You have the obligation to obey Yehovah. You have the duty to prove which calendar you are to go by. You must prove it beyond all doubt. Yehshua never followed the Hillel calendar. Nor did any of the Apostles.
The reason no man can know the day or the hour is because it refers to a crescent moon to begin the 7th month. That is the day He was born on and the day He comes to judge on. At a day and hour no one can know. Using the Hillel calendar predicts Yom Teruah years in advance so every one knows when to keep it. But even in the Hillel calendar they keep two days of Yom Teruah reckoning back to the sighted moon. Also in the postponement rules developed long after Hillel, they again state that if the conjunction is at a certain time then the day begins at such and such, in order that the moon will not be seen in another part of the world before it is seen in Israel. That was rule number 2.
Everyone has to choose. You have the right to be wrong. But if you choose to be wrong then you also must live with the consequences that come with sin. And that is the death penalty for not keeping the Holy Days, these Sabbath at the proper time. It is your choice.
Just because you write in to me to justify your position does mean it is right. It just means your sounding off.

Allow me to share this endorsement of our latest book again. If you have read our books, please share your thoughts about them with us in the comments below or email me.

And yes, many observe the Equinox.  There are many who are deceived, improperly educated.  And this is why Joe puts out a newsletter every week, why he writes books, why the SightedMoon Zoom Shabbat service started, why he travels to places like England and the Philippines to share this message and why were are going to the NRB in February.  The calendar is always a divisive issue in social circles because the details are many, that’s why there are so many books Joe has written.  I’m not looking to put Joe on a pedestal here.  This is not about Joe worship.  But Joe has tenaciously studied out the calendar from every angle, not to prove himself right, to to seek to find and share what Yehovah is telling us about His Calendar.

In The Stones Cry Out, Joe has shared the history of all the different groups within Israel, and the beliefs they had about the scriptures and the feast days and the calendar.  When you line it all up, you can see for yourself the how and why these misunderstandings and arguments about how and where and why  they came about.

This is my new favourite book and I’m only 60-70 pages in.  And I encourage you to read the footnotes in this one.  Sometimes there’s more footnote on the page than Joe’s words.

Sombra Wilson

When I wrote Stones Cry Out, I wanted it to be one of our FREE books so everyone would have it. It is more of an encyclopedia than a book to read. It will be your quick resource book; you will have access to every question about any calendar, how it got started, and who started it. You will also learn the history of how the Mishnah was assembled, when it was assembled and why. Then, you will learn how that information was transferred into both the Jerusalem and the Babylonian Talmud until it reached its final stage in the Mishneh Torah. Along with this progression, the calendar also progressed and changed long after 358 C.E. when Rabbi Hillel first published it. But…what was before the Hillel calendar? What does the Mishnah record about those things?

The Stones Cry Out was originally going to be one book explaining all the various proofs we have discovered, demonstrating when the Sabbatical and Jubilee years are throughout history.

You can know; it is not a mystery.

As I began to write The Stones Cry Out, I quickly found myself going back, time and time again, to explain how the calendar is behind the confusion of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years. The Rabbis, as they began to write the Mishnah, incorporated wrong understandings, and those errors were written into what became known as the Talmud and then the Mishneh Torah. The expulsion from the land and subsequent persecutions in trying to send out messengers to report the barley being found or the crescent moon being seen, proved to be more and more dangerous over time. All of these things took place over 14 centuries.

Then as I was working on The Stones Cry Out, I discovered that many people were now accepting the Zadok calendar as factual. This is when we pivoted to include all the details of the various calendars that have crept back into public knowledge today and are being used to mislead new people who are just starting to learn about the calendar. All of this was directly connected to the period starting with the Hasmonaeans, up to the destruction of the Temple. Then, with the compiling of the Mishnah, the studies that led into the writing of the Jerusalem Talmud, then the Babylonian Talmud and finally the Mishneh Torah, each error that was added is compounded over time.

The Stones Cry Out, Part 1 explains the history of how each compilation of the Oral Torah incorporated errors, leading the followers thereof away from the actual Torah. In understanding these facts, it is then possible to understand more readily how the Sabbatical and Jubilee years were then mixed and later changed. By explaining all this history, I will be able to help you the reader understand the tombstones when most authorities do not. They have assumed, to their error, the Hillel calendar to have always been in use since Mount Sinai. Not understanding the history of the calendars is why most authorities dismiss the tombstones as too confusing to use. Once you understand The Stones Cry Out Part 1, Part 2 will be very easy to grasp.

Daniel 7:25 tells us he will change the appointed seasons and commandments. Many assume Constantine did this when he made Sunday the Sabbath. Few have considered the calendar’s many changes and how they relate to us today. Hidden in this proverbial swamp of confusion is the truth about the Sabbatical and Jubilee years. The Sabbatical and Jubilee years reveal the truths about the calendar that have been hidden for almost 2000 years.

We are in the very last days and Yehshua warned us that during this time:

Mat 24:10 And then many will be offended, and will betray one another, and will hate one another.

Mat 24:11 And many false prophets will rise and deceive many.

Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will become cold.

Mat 24:13 But he who endures to the end, the same shall be kept safe.

Paul also warned Timothy about these last days, warning that some would leave the truth and begin to follow demonic teachers:

1Ti 4:1 But the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons,

Paul again warned the Thessalonians that the Great Falling away would take place in the last days. How can you fall away if you have never come to know the truth? So who is Paul talking to? Those who are called and answer that calling begin to walk this road of restoration back to Yehovah, and then at some point along that walk, they change and leave this walk following the teachings of demons to false calendar.

2Th 2:1 Now we beseech you, my brothers, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him,

2Th 2:2 that you should not be soon shaken in mind or troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word or letter, as through us, as if the Day of Christ is at hand.

2Th 2:3 Let not anyone deceive you by any means. For that Day shall not come unless there first comes a falling away, and the man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition,

2Th 2:4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself forth, that he is God.

We must endure until the end. We must not let ourselves become offended by personalities and leave the faith once given.

I want you all to have access to and the ability to read this book and use it as a reference. https://sightedmoon.com/the-stones-cry-out-lp/ Click on the link fill in the form and you will have access to the FREE PDF anywhere in the world. If you want a copy you can hold in your hands we have published it at Amazon for the lowest price they would allow us. Order you copy after Shabbat and begin to read it today.

7 Witnesses all State the Barley is Aviv on March 17, 2025!

Those who read our newsletter from week to week all know that last month, at the end of January and the start of February, 4 other people and I went to inspect the barley in Israel. Five of us witnessed the barley down in the Nova festival area, which was indeed Aviv then. We also reported and witnessed to the fact that the barley in the Jordan Valley at what is known as Check Point Charlie was just beginning to flower and coming out of the heads.

So we declared an Adar Bet or a 13th month at that time with the full expectation that Passover would be on March 16 (celebrated the night before on March 15), last week, and Wave Sheaf Day would be on March 16, 2025 as well.

Devorah, two years ago, went on her own, keeping Passover two months after we did. This kept her in line with the Hillel calendar. She believes that the barley must be Aviv across all of Israel so that everyone can make the wave offering. Many of the Karaites disagreed with her adding an Adar Bet at two years ago. Last year, many of them sided with Devorah and added their own Adar Bet. They were now once again keeping Passover according to her time, which was two months away from when we kept it.

Last year, Becca stood next to Randy and me on the Thursday before Wave Sheaf Day and stated this barley would be Aviv in 4 days’ time. She had already declared an Adar Bet because she believes it must be Aviv by the 10th day of the month.

Both Becca and Devorah have no need to be out checking the fields until the end of the month, around March 30. But for some Yehovah-inspired reason, they are both out on the 17th day of this month, which I am telling you is the month of Aviv, and they are both reporting the barley where they are looking is in FACT AVIV! It’s amazing how both of them, the very day after Wave Sheaf Day, are out in the fields, confirming what we are telling you; that the Barley was Aviv on Wave Sheaf Day when the very first fruits are to be offered.

Becca even said that the barley at Check Point Charlie was shattering!!!

This now begs the question: in 30 days, when they both will be keeping Passover next month, on April 14, and Wave Sheaf Day on April 20, 2025, how much barley will be left to make the first fruits wave offering? Becca stated it was already shattering, and if you look at the Zadok charts that means the barley is at the end of its life cycle. You can dismiss the Zadok scale if you want. It is a guide. But you cannot dismiss the testimony of both Becca and Devorah in the first field she checked, that the barley was Aviv on March 17. Both of them stated as much and Becca said it was shattering already.

You are to bring the FIRST FRUITS. Not the seconds or the common fruit. Not the tithe. No…. you are to bring the very first fruits on behalf of the nation to be waved before Yehovah. One Omer, or about a large salad bowls worth. One Omer is waved, not each tithe from every farm. One Omer on behalf of the nation.

Becca is showing you barley in the 91-99-day range. Devorah was showing you barley all the way from the 61-89-day range. Now add 42 days on the 17th of March because that is when Wave Sheaf Day is in April for them. 42 days from March 17, 2025, the very first fruits of barley will be shattered. Becca even said so. Now there will be second fruits or the common larger harvest to choose from, but the very first fruits will be gone.

Now that you understand this, please go and watch Becca’s report at this link.

And here is Devorah’s report made on the very same day, March 17, 2025. The day after we kept our Wave Sheaf Day. Notice how many times she says the barley is Aviv in the first fields. She also gives you a better understanding of the various stages the barley is in even now. Some Aviv and other fields are still just flowering or coming out of the boot, and others are still inside the boot.

Now I know some of you were undecided and not sure if you should keep Passover when we did. Some of you listened to one witness and dismissed the other five who told you the barley was Aviv. But now, from those same five and now these two themselves, they are testifying that the barley is indeed Aviv on March 16, 2025, when we kept Wave Sheaf Day. You can hear it from their own mouths.

Becca then goes on to say that it would not surprise her that the wheat will be shattering by the time they, both Deovarh and Becca, keep Shavuot on June 8, 2025. We at SightedMoon.com will be keeping Shavuot on May 4, 2025.

If keeping the Holy Days of Yehovah at the proper time does not matter; if being at the appointed Times Yehovah declared is not important to you, then none of what I have just shared matters. Keep the feast days at any old time. You can do them at Christmas and Easter because it does not matter. BUT….if it is important to Yehovah that we meet Him when He said to MEET with Him, then we must sit down and figure this out NOW! We must stop following the crowd and a personality. We must follow the facts.

You have five witnesses testifying the barley was Aviv on March 16, 2025, which is Wave Sheaf Day. You now have two more testifying the barley is Aviv the day after on the 17th. Seven people. 

Yoel Halevi went out to check the fields in the western Galilee area on March 20, 2024 https://www.facebook.com/HaleviTeacher and he has not reported finding anything Aviv.

This is why it is crucial that you understand and figure this out. Those who do not flee with the woman into the wilderness are those who keep the commandments. They just do so at the wrong time. Which of the calendars that teach you about the Holy Days are you going to keep?

Rev 12:7 And there was war in Heaven. Michael and his angels warring against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels warred,

Rev 12:8 but did not prevail. Nor was place found for them in Heaven any more.

Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, the old serpent called Devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Rev 12:10 And I heard a great voice saying in Heaven, Now has come the salvation and power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers is cast down, who accused them before our God day and night.

Rev 12:11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony. And they did not love their soul until death.

Rev 12:12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and those tabernacling in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and in the sea! For the Devil came down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a little time.

Rev 12:13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who bore the man child .

Rev 12:14 And two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman, so that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the serpent’s face.

Rev 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water like a flood after the woman, so that he might cause her to be carried away by the river.

Rev 12:16 And the earth helped the woman. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

Rev 12:17 And the dragon was enraged over the woman, and went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

I’m not here to argue and fight with you about who is right or wrong or to condemn anyone. You have to look at the evidence each one has presented, and you must judge. You are going to judge angels, so stop listening to them explain about the weather, rain, snow and their takanot and ma’asim and look at the Aviv Barley they are showing you. JUST LOOK. Turn off the sound. Just look at the evidence and know the date they did the searches. Devorah and Becca did their searches on March 17, 2025, the day after we kept Wave Sheaf Day on March 16, 2025. Yoel on March 20, 2025.

1Co 6:2 Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

1Co 6:3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels, not to mention the things of this life?

Yehovah is showing you these things before that awful day when Satan will attack and destroy those who keep the commandments but do so at the wrong time. There will be no more barley wars when the woman flees into the wilderness for times time and a half a time. Where will you be at Passover in 2030 when this event takes place? One group is going to flee at Passover into the wilderness. The others will come later expecting Passover 30 days or even 60 days later. These are those who keep the commandments whom Satan is going to attack.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, it is time for you to deliberate on the evidence now before 2030. Not what he or she says and their takanot, but the actual evidence before your eyes. Once you do, I am sure you will be forgiven if you want to repent and begin to keep Yehovah’s Holy Days according to that evidence.

It was during the time of Constantine that the Jews switched the date of Passover because they thought it was early. When they later got better evidence they all switched to the be keeping the Holy Days according to the new information they had. They just did it. What will you do?

At the same time, if you want to join me in Israel next year, Passover potentially will be about March 5, and Wave Shead Day will be about March 8, 2026. We will be there to check for Aviv barley during that time, Yehovah willing. Plan on coming, and let us show you where and how to look for the Aviv barley throughout Israel. It will cost your flight, an Airbnb, a car or a bus rental, and food. So depending on the numbers, it could as low as $2000 US plus airfare.

Write me if you are serious about going. And I will add you to a list of searchers for next year.

Counting of the Omer

When counting the Omer, someone is surely going to ask you or say it publicly: where are we commanded to count the Omer?

When you are asked this then you will take them to Lev 23:15

“You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord.

The English word sheaf is the Hebrew word Omer.

H6016   (Brown-Driver-Briggs) עמר ‛ômer

BDB Definition:

1) omer

1a) a dry measure of 1/10 ephah (about 2 litres)

2) sheaf

Here, you are told that there are two different methods of counting the 50 days. The first was to count 7 full weeks and the second was to count out the full 50 days.

Again, in Deut 16:9, you are told to COUNT. It is a commandment to count the days and/or weeks. You start from the time the sickle is first put to the Barley grain, which was done after sunset, after the weekly Saturday Sabbath. This counting began with Wave Sheaf Day. It is because of Deut 16:9 that you can not harvest before as some claim until Wave Sheaf Day or Saturday evening after sunset.

“You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain.

According to some the commandment ‘and you shall count for yourselves fifty days’ means to simply observe the 50th day as Shavuot while others actually declare out loud the number on each of the fifty days. A medieval Karaite Jewish practice combines two different methods of declaring the daily count. The first method is the counting of seven weeks. Each day, the number of the week and the number of the day in the week are declared. So for example, the first day is ‘first day of the first week’. The second counting method used is an overall number for each day. In this method Day one is ‘the first day’ and Day 25 is ‘the twenty-fifth day’. These two methods are used to satisfy the commandment to count seven weeks (Deuteronomy 16:9) as well as the commandment to count fifty days (Leviticus 23:16).

During each one of these days of Counting the Omer to Pentecost, Jewish tradition has developed around reading the Psalms on certain days. I find this to be very beneficial. It is customary that following the “Counting of the Omer,” one recites Psalm 67, for according to tradition, that Psalm has forty-nine words, which corresponds perfectly to the forty-nine days of the “Counting of the Omer.”

And as you meditate on and do these readings, which includes the Counting of the Omer command, keep in mind what this symbolizes. It is the counting of the Sabbatical and Jubilee Years and where we are in that cycle. We are in the thirtieth year in 2025, which corresponds to the thirtieth day of the “Counting of the Omer.”

Wave Sheaf day is so exciting to understand and amazing to believe because it forebodes when we will be changed and raised. If you want to call this the Rapture then I can except that if you are obeying Yehovah. If you’re not obeying Yehovah and you think the laws are done away with, then you will not be in this resurrection or raptured. You will be told to be gone you workers of lawlessness, I never knew you.

We will speak more about this as Pentecost draws closer. It is the Feast of Oaths, the 8th day of the Jubilee year.

When you count from the Wave offering of the barley to Pentecost, it is called the counting of the Omer. You are to count each day up to the 50th day. This Sunday, March 16, 2025, is day one. We are to count the Omer.

As I said, this is the most special time of year for me and in years past I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why, other than it had something to do with Yehshua’s resurrection and waiting in anticipation for Shavuot. While I cannot put into words how my understanding of this has grown, all I can say is that “it clicked!” and “now I get it!”, at least more than before. Understanding follows obedience. So OBEY and learn. You learn by doing as we are told in James.

James 2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

All 50 days and each of the Psalms can be found at the back of our book, Remembering the Sabbatical year of 2016

The 7th Day of Unleavened Bread

Why do we keep the 7th Day of Unleavened Bread? What does it signify?

We read in Numbers

Number 33:3 They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the day after the Passover, the people of Israel went out triumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians, while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them. On their gods also the Lord executed judgments.

The Passover meal was eaten on the 15th at sunset.

Exodus 12:1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
“This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

The lambs were killed at the going down of the sun, on the 14th day. And then roasted and prepared to be eaten after sunset of the 15th day. The first day of Unleavened Bread. You are to eat Unleavened Bread for 7 days, not 8 days. And you are to eat the Passover with unleavened bread.

That same night of the 15th the Death Angel passed over those with the blood on the door. And that same night Pharaoh told Israel to leave, and they left on the 15th day. The same day the firstborn had been slain.

So, I went to Google Maps and clicked on the place of about where Avaris was where they lived in Goshen and then I clicked on about where Sukkot was where they gathered on the 15th day.

Numbers 33:5 So the people of Israel set out from Rameses and camped at Succoth. And they set out from Succoth and camped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness. And they set out from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which is east of Baal-zephon, and they camped before Migdol. And they set out from before Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness,

When I look at Torah Calendar and check the year of the exodus in 1379 BC.

On the Sunday, which was also the 1st day of Unleavened Bread and was the morning after the Passover, Israel left and gathered at Succoth, where they camped that first night. A distance of about 119 kilometers, or a 24-hour walk, according to Google. I do not have exact locations for Google Maps, so I am approximating. From there they then walked to Etham, which is west of Eilat Israel today. A distance of about 297 kilometers, or 60 hours of walking. 2 and a half days journey.

They did walk day and night at this time.

Exodus 13:20 And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

This now brings us to about Wednesday, when they camped at Etham. And from Etham they turned and went to Pi-hahiroth, which is east of Baal-zephon, and they camped before Migdol. Today this is called Nuweiba. This shows you that the Red Sea Crossing took place on the 7th day of Unleavened Bread.

Exodus 14:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

One of the greatest miracles that Yehovah did for Israel was the parting of the Red Sea so they could escape. We have been told to eat the Passover meal with our coats and shoes on ready to flee and to eat the meal in haste.

Exodus 12:11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.

It is a rehearsal of what we can expect in the Greater Exodus to come. We read of it in Revelation.

Rev 12:13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.

Each Holy Day pictures a great event Yehovah is going to do something with Israel. You all know that on Shavuot, Pentecost Sunday, Yehovah made the covenant with Israel and spoke with them face to face. Two million people or more heard the voice of Yehovah speaking to them. They all saw the fire and the cloud on the Mountain. In the book of Acts, Yehovah gave the Apostles the Holy Spirit again on Shavuot. Yehshua was killed on the 14th day just as the lambs were killed on the 14th before Passover began. He rose from the grave and ascended to heaven with the Saints on Wave Sheaf Day or what some now call ascension Sunday. There are many more events connected to each of the days and events in Leviticus 23 that I could talk about. But the question I have for you is, what is the purpose of the 7th day of Unleavened Bread.

How does it figure into those events around the second greater exodus which you are going to be a part of?

In the same fashion as Pharaoh going after the Israelites and then being destroyed in the Red Sea, Satan is again going to be pursuing the remnant of Israel at the end of this age, and this time the earth will open up and swallow them all. That will take place on the 7th day of Unleavened Bread at the Dead Sea. Will you be there to take part in it or will you still be arguing about Passover being the next month? Each year we are to remember these things and eat the meal as if ready to flee.

But the 7th day also pictures the 7th millennium when Satan will be set loose at the end of it to attack Israel one final time. This time he will be thrown into the lake of fire as revelation tells us. This is the picture of the 7th day of Unleavened Bread and there are more events that will be shown to us on this day that we do not yet know about or understand, but we must watch.

The Thousand Years

Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from Heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.

Rev 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.

Rev 20:3 And he cast him into the abyss and shut him up and set a seal on him, that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years should be fulfilled. And after that he must be loosed a little time.

Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast nor his image, nor had received his mark on their foreheads, nor in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. The second death has no authority over these, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him a thousand years.

The Defeat of Satan

Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be loosed out of his prison.

Rev 20:8 And he will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle. The number of them is as the sand of the sea.

Rev 20:9 And they went up over the breadth of the earth and circled around the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them.

Rev 20:10 And the Devil who deceived them was cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet were . And he will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Judgment Before the Great White Throne

Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and Him sitting on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And a place was not found for them.

Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, the small and the great, stand before God. And books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead in it. And death and hell delivered up the dead in them. And each one of them was judged according to their works.

Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.

Rev 20:15 And if anyone was not found having been written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the Lake of Fire.

The seventh day of Unleavened Bread represents judgment. It was the day Pharoah and Egypt was judged and destroyed. It represents the time when Satan will be judged and destroyed. And if we look carefully, it will have something to do with these final 10 Days of Awe which are also times of judgment just as they were for Noah and the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the end of the seven years of famine in Joseph’s day. I think the connection is by understanding the gods of Egypt being destroyed then as they are today.

Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Tutankhamun

Nefertiti and Akhenaten: Now You know the rest of the story

Recently I have been blessed to have Yehovah reveal the Sabbatical and Jubilee Years throughout history. This can be read in our Charts Archives, or purchased in the Online Store

Once this was understood I was able to learn that the exodus took place during Passover in 1379 B.C. It was only in 2010  that I was doing some research on who the Pharaoh was at this time of the Exodus.

I found that Akhenaten (1379-1362 BC) became the Pharaoh in 1379 BC and found this to be a most fortunate coincidence. Akhenaten is sometimes credited with the invention of monotheism — that is, the belief in one god above all others. Why would this one Pharaoh become a follower of just one god when the whole history shows that the Egyptians have always followed many gods.

Read more at Suite101: Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten: The World’s First Monotheist? http://egyptian-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_pharaoh_akhenaten#ixzz0eRJtEyk8

I found it a great coincidence that the year of the Exodus, according to my Jubilee cycles, matches the year that the New Pharaoh of Egypt begins his reign and is also known as being a Monotheist. I guess the Elohim of Moses had a great effect on the next Pharaoh after the army was destroyed in the spring of 1379 BC.

What I found most amazing about this connection was the following statement at
http://www.umm.edu/news/releases/akhenaten_deformities.htm

Akhenaten, a pharaoh during Egypt’s 18th Dynasty – best known for transforming Egypt’s religious system from worship of multiple gods to the worship of one god – may have had two medical abnormalities that could explain his portrayal in sculpture and carvings with an exaggerated female appearance and elongated head. Questions about Akhenaten abound. Were his artisans following his orders to employ an artistic style for some religious purpose? Or did he really look this bizarre, and if so, why?

While the bodies of many pharaohs and members of their families have been preserved as mummies, no mummy of Akhenaten has been found. But statuary and carvings from the time show Akhenaten alone as well as in affectionate family settings that included his main consort, Nefertiti, and their children. Such settings were never employed in artwork of pharaohs before or after Akhenaten.

I cannot help but wonder if Nefertiti and Akhenaten are not the same person. That is she dressed as a Pharaoh when she had to appear before the people, so that the world would think that Egypt still had a ruler and would not be invaded by others once they found out she had no army. This is just my speculations of this. I have no way to know. However, this Pharaoh was the only one who promoted the family. That is something a woman would do. In the picture above of Akhenaten you can see the shape of a woman.

We read about Nefertiti From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nefertiti She was made famous by her bust, now in Berlin’s Neues Museum, shown below. The bust is one of the most copied works of ancient Egypt. It was attributed to the sculptor Thutmose, and it was found in his workshop. The bust itself is notable for exemplifying the understanding Ancient Egyptians had regarding realistic facial proportions. Some scholars believe that Nefertiti ruled briefly after her husband’s death and before the accession of Tutankhamun as Smenkhkare, although this identification is a matter of ongoing debate.

It is rather convenient if Nefertiti is in fact impersonating Akhenaten because he was killed in the Red Sea. Nefertiti sone would have been one of the first born to die as well. So she would have lost her he whole family that week as well as the entire Egyptian army. Stationg that Nefertiti took over as Pharaoh is only speculating on who on my part after the Pharaoh who went after Moses and died in the Red Sea.

Nefertiti meant “the beautiful (or perfect) woman has come”

The famous bust of Nefertiti has lead to her being described as ‘The Most Beautiful Woman in the World.’ Nefertiti was the Chief Wife of Akhenaten and the mother-in-law and stepmother of Tutankhamun, a beautiful woman forever captured in her portrait bust found at Tell el-Amarna.

Armana is the place where the Tribes of Israel worked as slaves. Nefertiti only had daughters. King Tut was born from another wife of the then Pharaoh. His first born son. Nefertiti was trying to arrange the marriage of one her daughters to Tut when he died.

King Tut was found to have one of the richest Tombs of Gold ever found. Yet he was just a young man. All of this sounds a great deal like the story of the Exodus. With the tomb of Nefertiti’s husband not being found. Causes you to scratch your head……

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipuwer_papyrus
The Ipuwer Papyrus is a single surviving papyrus holding an ancient Egyptian poem, called The Admonitions of Ipuwer[1] or The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All.[2] Its official designation is Papyrus Leiden I 344 recto[3]. It is housed in the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Netherlands, after being purchased from Giovanni Anastasi, the Swedish consul to Egypt, in 1828.

The sole surviving manuscript dates to the later 13th century BCE (no earlier than the 19th dynasty in the New Kingdom). Egyptologist Dr Halpern believed that the papyrus was a copy of an earlier Middle Kingdom copy. The dating of the original composition of the poem is disputed, but several scholars have suggested a date between the late 6th dynasty and the Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1850 BCE – 1600 BCE).[4] The theme of this work has previously been taken either as a lament inspired by the supposed chaos of the First Intermediate Period, or as historical fiction depicting the fall of the Old Kingdom several centuries earlier, or possibly a combination of these.

Ipuwer describes Egypt as afflicted by natural disasters and in a state of chaos, a topsy-turvy world where the poor have become rich, and the rich poor, and warfare, famine and death are everywhere. One symptom of this collapse of order is the lament that servants are leaving their servitude and acting rebelliously. Because of this, and such statements as “the River is blood”, some have interpreted the document as an Egyptian account of the Plagues of Egypt and the Exodus in the Old Testament of the Bible, and it is often cited as proof for the Biblical account by various religious organizations[5][6].

David Rohl recently proposed a revised chronology, dating the Exodus to the Second Intermediate Period, in which case Ipuwer might refer to that event. However, Rohl’s chronology has been rejected by Kenneth Kitchen.[7]. Moreover, the association of Ipuwer with the Exodus is generally rejected by Egyptologists.

In a recent post on David Rohl’s yahoo group David said the following which in light of all that is said here is just an additional bit of information to the type of man Pharaoh was. We are cutting into a discussion on the DNA of king Tut.

I’m no expert when it comes to DNA, but I did say that the parents of Tut were likely to be Amenhotep III and Sitamun (his daughter), NOT Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye. In which case Tut would get a 23 from A III and a 23 from A III’s daughter Sitamun = KV35 Younger Lady. Your argument, as far as I can see, depends on Tiye not having 23, but I do not claim her to be Tut’s mother. Sitamun gets her 23 from her father A III, she then becomes A III’s Great Royal Wife and gives birth to Tut who in turn inherits A III’s 23 from his father and Sitamun’s (KV35YL’s) 23 from his mother.

With the Pharaoh of Egypt now dead and not one survivor of the entire Army, the citizens of Armana and Karnak and indeed much of Egypt began to wonder what happened.

Pharaoh’s most beautiful Queen Nefertiti orders some of the older men to go and look for the army of her husband. What has happened to them? Surely they should have been able to wipe out a ragtag bunch of slaves.

After some time the men report back that they followed the tracks of the army and that they went into the Red Sea. There is not a trace of them after that.

Nefertiti waits another couple of days then again another and sends out scouts to look again for the army. Her Husband’s son by another wife is still not buried. Tutankhamun lies in wait for his father to return. But the days turn into weeks and not a single word about the army.

Then traders from Midian come to Egypt telling a story about the Hebrew Slaves from Egypt crossing the Red Sea and how the entire Egyptian Army and Pharaoh were drowned in that very sea.

Nefertiti orders the traders to be killed and then to close the borders and let no one in or leave. She then consults with her advisors. If the rest of the world knows we have no Pharaoh and no army they will invade us and we will be carried away as slaves and concubines.

So she dresses up as Pharaoh and presents herself to the people as Akhenaten. The statutes of Pharaoh are strange, for they now look like a man but with the feminine qualities of a woman. It is hard to dress the most beautiful woman in Egypt in men’s clothing so that she looks like a man. You simply can’t hide beauty.

Nefertiti sends word to the Hitites to send a suitable Prince to marry into the line of Pharaoh. But the Hitites suspect a trap. Nefertiti carries on the charade for years pretending to be both Pharaoh and queen. But Egypt will not recover from such calamities as was brought on by the God of the Israelites for a very long time.

As to who was the Pharaoh of Egypt that died in the Red Sea, the debate continues. But now you have some more interesting information to share when you sit around the table on Passover and eat your lamb.

But some of you may not know what happened to the Egyptian army. If you want to learn more about this event which Nefertiti never completely understood, go to Exodus Another Study of the Facts to read how it all happened. Just as this article may have surprised you the next one will also give you a great deal to think about.

Have an inspiring Passover.

I have just found this article which I would like to share with you and I will add my own comments as we read it.

Akhenaten: Egyptian Pharaoh, Nefertiti’s Husband, Tut’s Father

By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | August 30, 2013 04:56pm ET

Akhenaten was a pharaoh of Egypt who reigned over the country for about 17 years between roughly 1353 B.C. and 1335 B.C.

A religious reformer he made the Aten, the sun disc, the center of Egypt’s religious life and carried out an iconoclasm that saw the names of Amun, a pre-eminent Egyptian god, and his consort Mut, be erased from monuments and documents throughout Egypt’s empire.

When he ascended the throne his name was Amenhotep IV, but in his sixth year of rule he changed it to “Akhenaten” a name that the late Egyptologist Dominic Montserrat translated roughly as the “Benevolent one of (or for) the Aten.”

In honor of the Aten, he constructed an entirely new capital at an uninhabited place, which we now call Amarna, out in the desert. Its location was chosen so that its sunrise conveyed a symbolic meaning. “East of Amarna the sun rises in a break in the surrounding cliffs. In this landscape the sunrise could be literally ‘read’ as if it were the hieroglyph spelling Akhet-aten or ‘Horizon of the Aten’ — the name of the new city,” wrote Montserrat in his book “Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt” (Routledge, 2000).

He notes that this capital would quickly grow to become about 4.6 square miles (roughly 12 square kilometers) in size. After his death, the pharaoh’s religious reforms quickly collapsed, his new capital became abandoned and his successors denounced him.

Akhenaten, either before or shortly after he became pharaoh, would marry Nefertiti, who in some works of art is shown standing equal next to her husband. Some have even speculated that she may have become a co-, or even sole, ruler of Egypt.

I am suggesting that Nefertiti impersonated Akhenaten as Pharoah after his death.

Heir to an empire
Akhenaten was the son of Amenhotep III and his wife Queen Tiye. During their rule, Egypt ruled an empire that stretched from Syria, in west Asia, to the fourth cataract of the Nile River in modern-day Sudan.

At the site of Akhenaten’s new capital about 350 tablets known as the “Amarna letters” were uncovered in 1887, showing the diplomatic correspondence between Akhenaten, his fellow kings in west Asia, as well as those of vassals who owed the Egyptian king allegiance.

The letters indicate that an empire called the Hittites, based in modern-day Turkey, became increasingly assertive during Akhenaten’s rule, going to war against the Mitanni, a people who had been an Egyptian ally. “In addition to their conflicts with the Mitanni, the Hittites were also stirring up instability in the vassal states of Syria, and a nomadic group, the Apiru, was creating unrest in Syro-Palestine,” writes Egyptologists David Silverman, Josef Wegner and Jennifer House Wegner write in their book “Akhenaten and Tutankhamun: Revolution and Restoration” (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2006).

They note that while previous Egyptian kings would likely have launched a military expedition into west Asia as a result of these acts, Akhenaten appears to have done nothing. “Some modern scholars criticize Akhenaten, noting that he focused all of his efforts on his religious ideas and thereby allowed Egypt’s international prestige to deteriorate.”

I would suggest that Akhenaten did nothing because he and the entire Egyptian Army were destroyed. They were destroyed on top of all the 1st born that died before them. Egypt was in no way possible able to take on any other nation at this time.

Turning to the Aten
While the Aten, the sun-disc, was nothing new in Egyptian religion, Akhenaten’s decision to make it the focus of religious life, to the point where he desecrated the names of Amun and Mut, was something entirely new.

Montserrat notes that at Karnak, a temple complex near Luxor that was devoted to Amun-Ra, the king would have a series of Aten temples built, their construction beginning perhaps in his very first year of rule.

Even at this early stage, he appeared to have a dim view of the god Amun, whom Karnak was dedicated to. Montserrat notes that the axis of the new Aten complex was built facing to the east, toward the rising sun, whereas the rest of Karnak is oriented towards the west, where ancient Egyptians believed the underworld to be. “So Akhenaten’s first major building project turns its back on the temple of Amun, perhaps anticipating the events later in his reign,” Montserrat wrote.

Egyptologist James Allen notes in his book “Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphics” (Cambridge University Press, 2010) that sometime between the ninth and 11th years of Akhenaten’s reign, he changed the long form of the god’s name so that, in essence, the Aten became “not just the supreme god but the only god.”

I would suggest this is not Akhenaten that is doing this but it is, in fact, Nefertiti acting as Akhenaten, who is desecrating the gods Aten and Mut and changing the worship to reflect the victory of the One True God Yehovah who had just wiped out the entire Egyptian army.

With this date of the 9th or the 11th year when this took place I can also say that this change came about after the Exodus in 1379 B.C. Therefore Akhenaten came to power in 1388 BC. or 1390 BC.

This coincided with the start of a campaign aimed at desecrating the names of the gods Amun and Mut, among other deities. “Akhenaten’s minions began to erase the names of Amun and his consort, Mut, and to change the plural… ‘gods’ to the singular ‘god.’ To judge from later inscriptions, the temples of the older gods may have been closed as well, and their priesthoods disbanded,” Allen writes.

This extraordinary event occurred throughout Egypt’s empire. “Care was taken to erase the name of Amun even from the letters in the diplomatic archive, commemorative scarabs, and the tips of obelisks and pyramids; the distant regions of Nubia were also affected, as far as Gebel Barkal at the Fourth Cataract of the Nile,” writes Egyptologist Erik Hornung in his book “Akhenaten and the Religion of Light” (Cornell University Press, 1999).

“In some instances Akhenaten even had his own original personal name [Amenhotep, the name when he first assumed power] mutilated in his effort to do harm to the hated Amun.”

Still Akhenaten appears not to have been able to convince all Egyptians to put their sole spiritual hopes in the Aten. Archaeologist Barry Kemp, who leads modern-day excavations at the site of Amarna, notes in his book “The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti” (Thames and Hudson, 2012) that researchers have found figures depicting other deities, such as Bes and Thoth, at Amarna.

He also notes that few Egyptians appear to have added the word “Aten” to their name in honor of the god. In fact the sculptor Thutmose, who created an iconic bust of Nefertiti that’s now in a museum in Berlin, left his name in such a form that it honored the god Thoth.

Grotesque art
In addition to his radical religious changes, Akhenaten also unleashed a revolution in the way art was drawn. Before his time Egyptian art, especially those portraying royalty, tended to show a stiff, structured, formal style.

This changed radically in Akhenaten’s time, with people being drawn with cone shaped heads and thin spindly limbs. The royal family was even drawn in a way that conveyed intimate moments. One depiction, reproduced in Hornung’s book, shows Akhenaten and Nefertiti riding a horse-drawn chariot, the two appear to be kissing each other with the rays of the Aten shining down on them.

And I would suggest that this new art form is a result of Nefertiti influence and longing for her husband and son Tutankhamun who was also dead on Passover night. Her desire and her continual portrayal that her husband was in charge although being dead now since 1379 BC.

This radical departure in art, particularly the distorted body shapes, has long left Egyptologists mystified. Hornung writes that in 1931 the German Egyptologist Heinrich Schäfer commented, “anyone who steps in front of certain of these representations for the first time recoils from this epitome of physical repulsiveness. His [Akhenaten’s] head seems to float atop his long, thin neck. His chest is sunken, yet there is something feminine about its form. Below his bloated paunch and his fat thighs, his skinny calves are a match for his spindly arms …” observed Schäfer.

This is not a man, but it is that of Nefertiti acting as Pharoah.

Why Akhenaten chose to depict himself and others this way is a mystery. It’s been hypothesized that he suffered from a severe physical deformity that made him change the Egyptian style of art. However recent study of a mummy found in KV 55, in the Valley of the Kings, which some believe is Akhenaten, show no signs of serious physical deformities.

Kemp writes in his book that if it is true Akhenaten was not deformed then we have to look into the psyche of the man to find the answers to this mystery. “The images are a wake-up call that here is someone not in the mainstream of humanity. He is one of a kind, on the edge. He wants you to feel uncomfortable and yet – as conveyed through the relaxed poses and overt affection for his family (as found in some of the art) to love him at the same time.”

The dark side of Amarna
Regardless of whether or not Akhenaten wanted people to love him, recent research shows that the people who built his new city, out in the desert, paid a steep price.

Recent research published in the journal Antiquity shows that the common people at Amarna suffered from nutritional deficiencies and a high juvenile mortality rate, even by the standards of the time.

The children had stunted growth, and many of the bones were porous due to nutritional deficiency, probably because the commoners lived on a diet of mostly bread and beer, archaeologist Anna Stevens told Live Science in an interview at the time the research was published.

Researchers also found that more than three-quarters of the adults had degenerative joint disease, likely from hauling heavy loads, and about two-thirds of these adults had at least one broken bone as reported in the Live Science story.

Akhenaten’s death
Akhenaten’s final years are shrouded in mystery. Until recently, Egyptologists had noted that Nefertiti’s name appears to disappear around year 12 of his reign, the time the last of his major monuments were built.

If Akhenaten dies in the Red Sea during the Exodus and his son Tutankhamun died on the Passover evening, along with the first born of Egypt and the entire army then I would suspect that all major projects would grind to halt, and Nefertiti would also need to disappear and now become the feminized Akhenaten.

It has been speculated that she may have fallen out of favor with Akhenaten, or that her name was changed so that she became a co-ruler of Egypt. However, a recent discovery challenges all of this. In December of last year, Egyptologists with the Dayr-al-Barsha project announced that they had found an inscription, dated to year 16 of Akhenaten’s reign (shortly before his death), that mentions Nefertiti and shows that she was still Akhenaten’s “chief wife” (in the researchers words).

Whatever happened in Akhenaten’s final years his religious changes, and new capital, would not survive his death. Within a few years of his death (which occurred around 1335 B.C.) a new king named Tutankhamun, whom many researchers now believe to have been Akhenaten’s son, ascended the throne.

A boy king, he had originally been named Tutankhaten, in honor of the Aten, but his name was changed to honor Amun, the god whom his father had tried to have wiped out. During Tut’s reign, Egypt would return to its original religious beliefs, Amun and Mut assuming their places on top of the Egyptian pantheon of gods.

Tutankhamun was named after these gods by his father and died when his father still ruled. He did not change things back at all. And he never did get to rule. Tutankhamun was placed in his fathers tomb because the body of Akhenaten was never to be found or recovered from the Red Sea.

The capital that Akhenaten built would become abandoned within a few decades of his death, and the “heretic king” would fall into disgrace, not even being included on some king lists of Egypt.

Furthermore, Tutankhamun would condemn Akhenaten’s actions in a stela found at Karnak. Part of it reads “the temples and the cities of the gods and the goddesses, starting from Elephantine [as far] as the Delta marshes… were fallen into decay and their shrines were fallen into ruin, having become mere mounds overgrown with grass… The gods were ignoring this land…”

[From “The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti,” by Barry Kemp]

The message was clear, Akhenaten, through his radical religious changes, had turned his back on the gods and so offended them. Tutankhamun and his successors would restore things to how they had been before.

Tutankhamun was dead but the successors of Egypt would restore things to the way they once were.