Thursday, December 29, 2011

Attempt to Follow the Exodus Route

 



Reader Garry Matheny writes:



Dear Sir



There is a new book out THE QUEST FOR THE LOCATION OF THE RED SEA CROSSING, (Nov. 2009, Amazon.com, ISBN-13: 978-1597552455) it has a new route for the Exodus and a new crossing place of the Red Sea. It is based on the belief that Josephus was right and Israel left from the west side of the Nile. All the places names have been found; (1) Succoth = Sokar (Saqqara) (2) Etham = Atium. (3) Migdol = Great Pyramid. (4) Ball-zephon = Sphinx. (5) Pi-hahiroth = Pē hah·khē·roth (pronunciation of Strong’s) Kheraha, Pi-Khiroti, Al-Qāhira. (6) The Sea = Flooded Delta from the seventh plague.
Respectfully ....



Our Reply:



Dear Garry



Thanks for your information.

However, for one - as we have argued in articles and posts – the Bible does not say that the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, but yam suf, “Sea of Reeds”, which is not appropriate in the case of the Red Sea.
The Israelites are clearly the MBI (Middle Bronze I) people, this being – as we maintain – the very starting point for any biblically-based archaeology.
The best accounts of the MBI are to be found in the writings of Dr. Rudolph Cohen and Professor Emmanuel Anati, who, we believe, has provided the most expert and compelling route for the Exodus.

Best regards,
Damien Mackey.

Garry now has this You Tube video out on the sea crossing of the Exodus.

The Bible, Sphinx and Great Pyramid.wmv
 

Both the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid are in the Bible.
00:30:00
Added on 29/12/2011





Sunday, December 11, 2011

A Guide to those Perplexed About Biblical Archaeology


by

Damien F. Mackey


Bible believers who might lack a proper perspective with regard to how biblical characters and events sit in relation to archaeological levels and geographical locations can sometimes latch on to the report of a new archaeological discovery believed to confirm the Bible, when in fact it doesn’t have any bearing whatsoever on what it purports to uphold. That is exactly the case with a recent situation regarding SODOM as pointed out to me by a reader, who had suggested that the reported finding of the destroyed city of Sodom, Tell-el-Hammam, 14 km NE of the Dead Sea (http://www.thesacredpage.com/2011/12/sodom-and-gomorrah-excavated.html), might be worth our playing close attention to.

IT IS NOT! And that is precisely what I told the reader.

It was sufficient - for me to feel compelled to reject the site’s validity for Sodom - merely to read that this site showing destruction (and ‘a heat event’ has even been proposed as the cause of this destruction, thereby seeming to add more weight to the Sodom factor) was a Late Bronze Age site. The Late Bronze Era was way too late for Abram (as he was called at the time of the destruction of Sodom), who became Abraham; and this, despite the report’s claim that: “The sites fit the geographical and temporal context into which Sodom and Gomorrah are placed in the biblical texts”. They fit neither.

I now intend to provide readers with a simple biblical-archaeological correlation (as asked for by another reader), which will clearly show where Abram sits in relation to the Late Bronze Age. We are going to learn that he was nowhere near it.



For me, the fundamental starting point for any Old Testament-related archaeology is the identification of the nomadic Middle Bronze I people (before the Late Bronze Age, note) with the Israelites of the Exodus and the Joshuan Conquest. I was once asked by what was formerly Answers in Genesis [AIG] to assess an archaeologically-based biblical reconstruction article that had been submitted to AIG for publication. I was highly critical of it on this very basis, that it had missed out on the all-important correlation of the Middle Bronze I people with the Israelites. Apparently the article was not published by AIG – and I then felt sorry for the author who had put so much research and effort into writing it.

Plenty has now been written on this correlation of the Middle Bronze I with the nomadic Israelites, but the most authoritative piece, by far, is the famous article by Dr. Rudolph Cohen - known as “the King of the South” for his archaeological expertise in the southern desert regions of Israel: The Mysterious MBI People, Rudolph Cohen, BAR 9:04, Jul/Aug 1983.

Dr. Cohen had tentatively proposed in this article that the Middle Bronze I people were the Israelites of the Exodus. He had to be tentative, because his conclusion was right out of line with conventional archaeology, according to which the Middle Bronze Era approximated rather to the time of Abram (i.e., for those who believe in Abram), about half a millennium before Moses and Joshua. In fact many have proposed, based on the conventional system, that the migration of Abram might have been part of the movement of the nomadic Middle Bronze people.

Dr. Cohen was far less tentative, though, when speaking personally to the Australian antiquities enthusiast Dr. David Down of “Archaeological Diggings”, who reported that he had been told by Dr. Cohen straight out: “The Middle Bronze I people were the Israelites”. And I believe that Dr. Down has also written that other Israeli archaeologists in the south concur with this view. Whilst those in the north do not.

Anyway Dr. John Osgood, writing for the old Ex Nihilo journal (which became the AIG Technical Journal, and now is the Journal of Creation), has shown beyond any reasonable doubt, using maps, that the Middle Bronze I people - who carried with them Egyptian artefacts, incidentally - settled in the exact same regions (Kadesh-barnea; Paran desert; Transjordania; into Palestine) as those recorded in the Pentateuch, and the Books of Joshua and Judges, for the wandering Israelites. It is recommended that one consult the article itself, for the important maps: http://creation.com/the-times-of-the-judges-the-archaeology-exodus-to-conquest



I guess we could say as a very rough approximation that the Middle Bronze I period sits about halfway in the archaeological series, overlapping the Stone Ages. Abram comes well before it, and the Late Bronze Age comes after it. This shows up the ridiculousness of any attempt to locate the destroyed city of Sodom, at the time of Abram, at any Late Bronze Age site.

The accepted sequence - which is basically always linear with the textbook scholars, but not in reality - goes like this:



- Geological Ages (of no interest here)

- Stone Ages (Palaeolothic; Mesolithic; Neolithic; Chalcolithic)

- Archaeological Ages (Early Bronze Age; Middle Bronze Age; Late Bronze Age; Iron Age)



In actuality, the Stone Ages are not entirely linear, but can be shown to overlap amongst themselves. Also, Egypt’s sequence: Old Kingdom (Early Bronze); First Intermediate Period; Middle Kingdom (Middle Bronze); Second Intermediate Period; needs to be reduced to just the one kingdom followed by the one intermediate period (Dr. Donovan Courville showed this in The Exodus Problem and its Ramifications, Loma Linda, CA 1971), meaning that the Early and Middle Bronze phases must overlap. (And Hammurabi of Babylon does not work at all as a Middle Bronze Age ruler, where convention has placed him, but only as a Late Bronze Age ruler). This conventional arrangement has thrown completely out of whack the biblico-historical alignment.

{The Archaeological Ages and the dynastic kingdoms will ultimately need to be re-defined and re-named}.



Now here is the biblically-related sequence, the revised version, which I have discussed in detail in other articles:



Abram (c. 2000 BC). Late Chalcolithic to (early) Early Bronze Age I (= beginning of major cities, such as Jerusalem, Jericho);

Moses (c. 1500 BC). Early Bronze Age III to Middle Bronze I.

Israelites (c. 1500 BC). Middle Bronze I.

King David (c. 1000 BC). Late Bronze I.

King Solomon (c. 950 BC). Late Bronze I to II.

Shishak King of Egypt. Late Bronze II.

Divided Monarchy (c. 900 BC). Iron Age I.

Etc.



Dr. John Osgood, once again, has managed to anchor Abram and the time of the four invading Mesopotamian kings of Genesis 14 to the Late Chalcolithic period, in relation to En-geddi; this period corresponding approximately to Dynasty 0 (late pre-dynastic) in Egyptian history.

First published: Journal of Creation 2:77–87 April 1986 The Times of Abraham

By Dr A.J.M. Osgood. http://creation.com/the-times-of-abraham



One can see from the above simple outline that (a) Late Chalcolithic Abram was a very long way from the Late Bronze Age; and that (b) to locate Abram in the Late Bronze Age, as according to the Sodom article, would leave very little archaeology (mainly just the Iron Ages) for the long remaining biblical history of Israel after Abram.



12th December 2011

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Egypt’s Old and Middle Kingdoms Far Closer in Time than Conventionally Thought


The following samples are taken entirely from Nicolas Grimal’s
A History of Ancient Egypt,
Blackwell 1994.



P. 67:



“Like his Third Dynasty predecessors, Djoser and Nebka, Snofru soon became a legendary figure, and literature in later periods credited him with a genial personality. He was even deified in the Middle Kingdom, becoming the ideal king whom later Egyptian rulers such as Ammenemes I sought to emulate when they were attempting to legtimize their power”.



P. 71:



“… texts that describe the Fourth Dynasty kings …. It was … quite logical for the Egyptians of the Middle Kingdom and later to link those past rulers represented primarily by their buildings with the greatest tendencies towards immoderation, thus distorting the real situation (Posener 1969a: 13). However, it is difficult to accommodate within this theory the fact that Snofru’s reputation remained untarnished when he built more pyramids than any of his successors”.



P. 73



“A Twelfth Dynasty graffito found in the Wadi Hammamat includes Djedefhor and his half-brother Baefre in the succession of Cheops after Chephren”.



P. 79



“The attribution of the Maxims to Ptahhotep does not necessarily mean that he was the actual author: the oldest versions date to the Middle Kingdom, and there is no proof that they were originally composed in the Old Kingdom, or, more specifically, at the end of the Fifth Dynasty. The question, moreover, is of no great importance”.



Pp. 80-81



{Teti, I have tentatively proposed as being the same pharaoh as Amenemes/Ammenemes I, based on (a) being a founder of a dynasty; (b) having same Horus name; (c) being assassinated. Now, Pepi I and Chephren were married to an Ankhesenmerire/ Meresankh – I have taken Chephren to have been the foster father-in-law of Moses, with his wife Meresankh being Moses’ Egyptian ‘mother’, traditionally, Merris. Both Pepi I and Chephren had substantial reigns}.



Grimal notes the likenesses:



“[Teti’s] adoption of the Horus name Sehetep-tawy (‘He who pacifies the Two Lands’) was an indication of the political programme upon which he embarked. … this Horus name was to reappear in titulatures throughout subsequent Egyptian history, always in connection with such kings as Ammenemes I … [etc.]”.



“Manetho says that Teti was assassinated, and it is this claim that has led to the idea of growing civil disorder, a second similarity with the reign of Ammenemes I”.



P. 84:



“[Pepy I] … an unmistakable return to ancient values: Pepy I changed his coronation name from Neferdjahor to Merire (‘The devotee of Ra’)”.



P. 146:



“The words of Khety III are in fact simply the transposal into the king’s mouth of the Old Kingdom Maxims”.



P. 159:



[Ammenemes I]. Like his predecessors in the Fifth Dynasty, the new ruler used literature to publicize the proofs of his legitimacy. He turned to the genre of prophecy: a premonitory recital placed in the mouth of Neferti, a Heliopolitan sage who bears certain similarities to the magician Djedi in Papyrus Westcar. Like Djedi, Neferti is summoned to the court of King Snofru, in whose reign the story is supposed to have taken place”.



P. 164:



“[Sesostris I]. Having revived the Heliopolitan tradition of taking Neferkare as his coronation name …”.



P. 165:



“There is even evidence of a Twelfth Dynasty cult of Snofru in the region of modern Ankara”.



P. 171:



“Ammenemes IV reigned for a little less than ten years and by the time he died the country was once more moving into a decline. The reasons were similar to those that conspired to end the Old Kingdom”.



P. 173:



“… Mentuhotpe II ordered the construction of a funerary complex modelled on the Old Kingdom royal tombs, with its valley temple, causeway and mortuary temple”.



P. 177:



“… Mentuhotpe II’[s] … successors … returned to the Memphite system for their funerary complexes. They chose sites to the south of Saqqara and the plans of their funerary installations drew on the architectural forms of the end of the Sixth Dynasty”.



…. The mortuary temple was built during the Ammenemes I’s ‘co-regency’ with Sesostris I. The ramp and the surrounding complex were an enlarged version of Pepy II’s”.



P. 178:



“The rest of [Sesostris I’s el-Lisht] complex was again modelled on that of Pepy II”.



Pp. 178-179:



“[Ammenemes III’s ‘black pyramid’ and mortuary structure at Dahshur]. The complex infrastructure contained a granite sarcophagus which was decorated with a replica of the enclosure wall of the Step Pyramid complex of Djoser at Saqqara (Edwards 1985: 211-12)”.



“[Ammenemes III’s pyramid and mortuary temple at Harawa]. This was clearly a sed festival installation, comparable to the jubilee complex of Djoser at Saqqara, with which Ammenemes’ structure has several similarities”.



“The tradition of the Old Kingdom continued to influence Middle Kingdom royal statuary …”.



P. 180:



“The diversity of styles was accompanied by a general return to the royal tradition, which was expressed in the form of a variety of statues representing kings from past times, such as those of Sahure, Neuserre, Inyotef and Djoser created during the reign of Sesostris II”.



P. 181:



“A comparable set of statures represents Ammenemes III (Cairo, Egyptian Museum CG 385 from Hawara) … showing the king kneeling to present wine vessels, a type previously encountered at the end of the Old Kingdom (Cairo, Egyptian Museum CG 42013 …) …".

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Possible Evidence for the Great Sphinx Being a Middle Kingdom Product?


We (AMAIC) have, in our revision of Egyptian history in its relationship to the Bible, argued (following Donovan Courville) that the Old and Middle kingdoms of Egypt were basically synchronous.


Following article taken from: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/10/the_sphinx_decoded.html

October 2, 2011

The Sphinx Decoded?

By Matt Patterson

"The first time I went to Egypt and saw the Sphinx with my own eyes, I was deeply shocked," writes Robert Temple, Ph.D in his recent book (with Olivia Temple), The Sphinx Mystery, for "the Sphinx did not look at all like a lion."

Everyone knows that the Great Sphinx, ensconced for millennia on the Giza plateau near modern-day Cairo, is a lion with a man's head; specifically the head of the Pharaoh Chephren, thought by archaeologists to have built the Sphinx during Egypt's Old Kingdom, roughly the mid-third millennium B.C.



But Robert Temple, try as he might, could see no lion: For one thing, the back of the monument, the spine (as it were) of the animal, is flat. It neither rises nor falls along its length, in striking contrast to the many representations of lions from Ancient Egyptian art which commonly portrayed the animal with a mane, broad shoulders, and muscular, sloping back.



Nevertheless, the notion that the Sphinx is a lion is a very old one, dating even to Egypt of the New Kingdom (circa 1400 B.C.), when the Pharaoh Thutmosis IV excavated and restored the already-ancient monument. Later restorations made during the Roman and modern eras cemented this notion, when the badly damaged paws of the beast were reconstructed in the image of a lion's. (Few modern tourists, or even knowledgeable amateur Egyptologists, are aware that the leonine forepaws are not original with the monument; in fact, we have no idea what the paws looked like when the Sphinx was first carved.)



So if not a lion, then, what is the Sphinx? Robert Temple has hit upon an ingenious theory that seems at once both shocking and obvious: The Great Sphinx of Giza was originally carved in the shape of a gigantic Jackal.



The god Anubis, often represented as a jackal or wild dog (the precise breed is unknown and may be extinct), was guardian of the dead in Ancient Egyptian cosmography, with special provenance over cemeteries and necropoleis. Temple recollects: "As I looked at the Sphinx that first time, noting the straight back of the creature...I was struck by the fact that I appeared to be staring at a dog."



The more he thought about it, the more sense it made - Anubis, guardian of the dead, looming over this most famous and ancient of cemeteries. But Temple doesn't stop with this suggestion alone, as radical as it is; he is also sure that he has discovered the true identity of the king whose visage graces the Sphinx. As it turns out, not only does Temple not see a lion in the Great Sphinx, he doesn't see the face of Chephren either.



Whose Face?



It has long been noted that the head of the Sphinx is diminutive in relation to the gargantuan, recumbent body, leading some rogue researchers -- to the consternation of the Egyptological establishment -- to speculate that the head was originally a lion's, and that the Pharaoh Chephren, rather than constructing the monument himself, instead merely re-carved the head in his own image (such usurpations of already-existing monuments was quite common in Ancient Egypt).



Temple agrees that the head was originally an animal, though of course he thinks it was a jackal and not a lion. But he suspects that the re-carving of the Sphinx's head came long after Chephren's time. For one, the iconography of the sphinx as a human-headed beast was a comparatively late one in Egyptian art. Temple writes:



"The human-headed sphinx as a motif in Egyptian art is really something that became popular in the Middle Kingdom only after about 2,000 B.C. and was not a motif of the Old Kingdom...."



Temple therefore reasons that the head of the very-old, Anubis monument was re-carved in the Middle Kingdom to represent a Middle Kingdom Pharaoh. But by whom? Temple found a clue in an article published in an obscure journal in 1897 by the German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt, an article which Temple has translated and made available as an appendix in his book.



Borchardt conducted a careful analysis of the paint stripes emanating from the back of the eyes of the Sphinx and the pleating patterns visible on its headdress, or nemes. Egyptian eye makeup and royal headwear were, like all such trappings, subject to fashionable trends. Borchardt asked: In which dynasty were the accoutrements seen on the Sphinx in pharaonic fashion? (Borchardt was fortunate in that, in his day, the Sphinx was still buried up to the neck in sand, allowing for a closer scrutiny of the head than is possible now that the Sphinx stands a full seven stories from the floor of the cleared Sphinx pit.)



After a careful examination of the stripe pattern running down the sides of the Sphinx nemes, Borchardt concluded:



"The grouped stripes on the King's bonnet are only found during the 12th Dynasty, perhaps only under [Pharaoh] Amenemhet III, because those pieces which are precisely dated and which have such an arrangement of stripes are all from his time."



Robert Temple is a great admirer of Borchardt and his calm, reasoned analysis, and credits the German with the identification of the correct dynasty in which the Sphinx had its jackal head carved down into the likeness of a pharaoh. Temple, however, parts with Borchardt as to the exact identity of the pharaoh responsible.



To be sure, Amenemhet III was an inveterate builder whose many and massive construction projects -- many of which still survive -- were renowned in antiquity. And this particular 12th Dynasty pharaoh certainly had an affinity for sphinxes -- many such statues survive bearing his unmistakable countenance. Nevertheless, Temple is convinced that an earlier king of the 12th Dynasty, Amenemhet II, is responsible for the face we see on the Great Sphinx today.



Amenemhet II, who reigned circa 1876-1842 B.C., was the third pharaoh of the 12th Dynasty, and was likely Amenemhet III's great-grandfather. This Amenemhet, like his later namesake, was fond of sphinxes; in fact, an exquisite sphinx statue bearing the face of Amenemhet II can be found in the Louvre in Paris.



During the course of his research, Temple came across an analysis of this large Louvre statue by one Dr. Biri Fay titled The Louvre Sphinx and Royal Sculpture from the Reign of Amenemhet II. Dr. Fay's book contains many photos of the statue which show quite clearly that the distinctive striped nemes pattern visible on the Great Sphinx at Giza, and which Borchardt had shown conclusively were in fashion during Amenemhet III's reign, were also in use earlier in the 12th Dynasty. In fact, the Louvre statue of Amenemhet II bears both the identical headdress and eye makeup of the larger, and supposedly earlier, Giza monument.



Curiously, Fay herself noticed the astonishing similarities between the two sculptures, right down to facial structure. She writes:



"Although a stylistic comparison of the Giza and Louvre sphinxes must be restricted to their heads, similarities are profound. Both faces are broad and full...each nemes is wide across the wings, set low on the forehead....and shallow at the crown....The pleating pattern found on the nemes of the Louvre sphinx - a fine triple-stripe executed in rounded, raised relief, with a wide stripe and a narrow stripe on each side - is rare in the Old Kingdom [when the Great Sphinx is supposed tom have been carved], but the treatment is similar on the Giza Sphinx...The eyes of both sphinxes are strikingly similar, with horizontal lower-eye rims and semi-circular upper rims...."



Fay's explanation for the unmistakable correlation between the two statues? "Amenemhet II used the Giza sphinx as a model for his own sphinx."



Temple applauds Fay's analysis, but is stunned by the ultimate failure of her imagination. He thinks it ludicrous to imagine that a Pharaoh -- among the most egomaniacal species of man ever to have existed -- would have gone out of the way to immortalize someone else's face on his own statue. Much more likely, Temple concludes, was that Amenemhet II commissioned both works (just the head, of course, in the case of the Great Sphinx), and both in his own image.



How Old?



If Temple makes a convincing case for the date of the current head of the Sphinx, what about the body? Whether originally conceived as a lion or Anubis, who first carved this glorious colossus, and when?



Egyptologists say Chephren, for whom the case is strong, though circumstantial. Chephren, the fourth king of the 4th Dynasty, is thought to have been the son or brother of Cheops, whom antiquity has credited as the architect of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Chephren is also thought have constructed a pyramid, which like his predecessor's still stands on the Giza plateau. A long limestone causeway shoots down the plateau from this pyramid, culminating in a cluster of megaliths which includes the Sphinx and two strange temples, at least one of which - the temple situated directly in front of the Sphinx - was apparently constructed from giant limestone blocks quarried out of the Sphinx enclosure itself, leading archaeologists to believe the two monuments were constructed in tandem.



The problem is that there is no evidence that this temple was actually built by Chephren, as it contains no identifying inscriptions or artifacts of any kind. The second temple, however, directly to the south of the Sphinx and known as the Valley Temple, was found to contain a magnificent diorite statue of Chephren, and fragments of what may have been hundreds of others. In addition, the roof of this Valley Temple opens up onto the causeway that proceeds up the plateau to the pyramid attributed to Chephren.



It is the Sphinx's place among this mortuary complex of Chephren that has led archaeologists to assume that it, too, was built by the Old Kingdom Pharaoh. Another tantalizing clue was found on the so-called "Dream Stella", a commemoration of the New Kingdom restoration of the Sphinx placed between the paws of the Sphinx by Thutmosis IV himself. This stella, when originally excavated, was found to contain the hieroglyphs representing the syllables 'kf' and 'ra'.



Unfortunately, those hieroglyphs, along with much of the original inscription on the stella, have since flaked off, leading to a fierce debate among scholars - did they actually represent the name of Chephren? If so, in what context? As builder, or only restorer? No one knows for sure.



Complicating matters still further, some scientists have in recent decades presented evidence that the body of the Sphinx is far older than the conventionally accepted date for Chephren's reign. Thousands of years older, in fact. These notions are vigorously disputed by archaeologists, who cling to the (circumstantial) case for Chephren with a curious fervor. Egyptologist Peter A. Clayton in Chronicle of the Pharaohs sums up the prevailing view of such heresies:



"Some recent nonsensical theories have suggested that the Sphinx is many thousands of years older than the pyramids, but there is no foundation for such fantasies."



Prime among these "nonsensical theories" are those proposed by geologist Robert M. Schoch of Boston University. Schoch, who earned his Ph.D in geology and geophysics at Yale, has personally conducted a number of extensive geologic surveys of the Sphinx and its enclosure. To the consternation of Egyptologists, Schoch claims there is evidence of heavy precipitation over prolonged periods of time on the Sphinx. The problem, as Schoch maintains, is that the Giza plateau has not been subject to these kinds of rains since pre-Dynastic times, a time when the inhabitants of the Nile Valley are thought to thought to have lived the primitive existence of stone age hunter-gatherers.



Robert Temple agrees that the Sphinx displays signs of water erosion, but disputes the notion that this proves an extreme antiquity for the monument. Temple writes in The Sphinx Mystery:



"I was never convinced by this [ancient rain] argument from the very beginning for the simple reason that there is just no archaeological record at all for any important civilization during approximately seven thousand years of the time of the time postulated between the 'ancient rain' and the apparent beginnings of high civilization in Egypt."



Rather, Temple is convinced that the pit in which the Sphinx rests "was once a moat filled with water," and that the Sphinx-Anubis statue itself "was once an island."



On its face, this theory seems nearly as far-fetched as Schoch's ancient rain hypothesis, given the arid conditions of the Giza plateau and its distance from the two nearest large bodies of water, the Mediterranean (some 116 miles) and the Nile (about five miles). But it has long been known that the course of the Nile has moved eastward over the millennia, and that in ancient times the river once ran much closer to the Giza plateau. In fact, there is documentary evidence that during its annual inundation the Nile came to within 660 feet of the Sphinx as late as the 18th century. Temple is convinced that in Old Kingdom times the river waters at least occasionally came to lap the foot of the Sphinx precinct, allowing the Egyptians to flood the pit via simple water raising devices. During his extensive on-site examination of the monument,Temple found evidence of what he believes were once sluice-gates to aid in the flooding of the pit, which he has photographed and made available in his book.



Temple believes the upkeep of such a moat could explain the signs of severe water erosion appearing as vertical fissures scoured into the walls of the Sphinx enclosure, writing:



"Let us think about the problems of maintaining a sphinx moat. There you are with your huge moat on the edge of the desert, and what are your problems going to be?....Sand! ...So what do you have to do, over and over again? You have to dredge the moat? And to do that, you are continually dredging at the sides, hauling up the sand from the bottom of the moat and letting all the excess water pour back into the moat in powerful torrents."



Not only does the moat theory explain the vertical fissures on the walls of the enclosure, but Temple also feels it explains the horizontal erosion marks on the body of the Sphinx itself, "..as one would expect on a giant statue sitting in the middle of a moat," the level of which was constantly changing (not surprisingly, Schoch vigorously disputes Temple's moat theory on his website).



Why would the Egyptians have gone to the considerable trouble of flooding the Sphinx pit and turning the statue into an island? Temple surmises that the waters of such a moat could have been used for ceremonial purposes, perhaps to ritually bathe the organs of a dead Pharaoh in preparation for his mummification, or perhaps for use in a celebration of the Nile's annual inundation.



The Battle Over the Past



Robert Temple's book occupies a unique niche in Sphinx literature: based on his own extensive surveys of the monument (the Egyptian authorities granted him access to parts of the Giza necropolis off-limits to tourists and even other scholars for decades), The Sphinx Mystery presents a holistic study of the monument that breaks new theoretical ground without resorting to fanciful explanations regarding aliens, Atlantis, or ancient rain.



Nevertheless, many of Temple's conclusions are at considerable odds with established Egyptological thought. Conventional Egyptologists are convinced that they know who built the monument (Chephren) and when (4th Dynasty), and they regard any alternative views as absolute heresy. It is probably why I found Temple 's book in the New Age section at my local bookstore, even though there is absolutely nothing "New Age-y" about it.



During a telephone interview from his home in England, I asked Temple why I found his book in the New Age section, while other tomes detailing outlandish notions that aliens built the pyramids can be found in the "History" section. He laughed at first, but then let out a long sigh. "That's publishing these days, I suppose," he said.



It is a terrible shame, because Temple has produced a work of analysis both bold and careful, buttressed by extensive field work and what must have been hundreds of hours of textual examination. From locating a copy of Borchardt's extremely obscure article from an antique book dealer in Germany, to translating the arcane German text himself, to putting Borchardt's clues together with Fay's highly specialized account of a little-known statue of a little-known king in a French museum, Temple's narrative is one of meticulous scholarship of a kind that is becoming rarer and rarer these days. The narrative is thrilling, old-fashioned detective work; the complete theory is carefully argued and eminently plausible.



The picture of the Sphinx we were taught is one that had a single origin for a single purpose by a single maker. The picture that emerges from Temple's work is quite different - a monument that was refined over millennia, fashioned for different purposes at different times, but whose ultimate origins are lost in the mists of deep antiquity. It is a picture that is both more interesting and, dare we say, more believable.


Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/10/the_sphinx_decoded.html#ixzz1eaZS1oUZ

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Professor John Walton's Interesting Take on Genesis One







It is my belief that when we read Genesis 1 as the ancient piece of literature that it is, we will find new understanding of the passage that will result in a clearer understanding of how the initial audience would have heard it. In the process, we will also find that many of the perceived conflicts with modern science will be able to be resolved. I have explored this in a recent book titled The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate (IVP) and the technical aspects of ancient Near Eastern literature and the Hebrew text will be explored in greater depth in a forthcoming monograph, Genesis One As Ancient Cosmology (Eisenbrauns).



By John H. Walton
Professor of Old Testament
Wheaton College
March 2010






Genesis 1 is Ancient Cosmology
The Bible was written for everyone, but specifically to Israel. As a result we have to read all biblical texts, including (and maybe especially) Genesis 1 in its cultural context—as a text that is likely to have a lot more in common with ancient literature than with modern science. This does not result in claims of borrowing or suggestions that Genesis should also be read as “mythology” (however defined), but that ancient perspectives on the world and its origins need to be understood.


Ancient Cosmology is Function-oriented
In the ancient world and in the Bible, something existed not when it had physical properties, but when it had been separated from other things, given a name and a role within an ordered system. This is a functional ontology rather than a material ontology. In this view, when something does not exist, it is lacking role, not lacking matter. Consequently, to create something (cause it to exist) means to give it a function, not material properties.

“Create” (Hebrew Bara’ ) Concerns Functions
The Hebrew word translated “create” should be understood within a functional ontology—i.e., it means to assign a role or function. This is evident through a word study of the usage of the biblical term itself where the direct object of the verb is always a functional entity not a material object. Theologians of the past have concluded that since materials were never mentioned that it must mean manufacture of objects out of nothing. Alternatively, and preferably, it does not mention materials because it does not refer to manufacturing. Bara’ deals with functional origins, not material origins.

Beginning State in Genesis 1 is Non-functional
In Genesis 1:2 the “before” picture, as throughout the ancient Near East, is portrayed in non-functional, non-productive terms (tohu andbohu) in which matter already exists. If this were an account of material origins, it would start with no matter. As an account of functional origins, it starts with no functions.

Days 1-3 in Genesis 1 Establish Functions
In the ancient world, light was not an object, and day 1 does not recount the manufacture of an object. Verses 4-5 do not make sense unless we understand “light” as referring to “a period of light.” If that is what it means in vv. 4-5, then it logically must mean the same in v.3. Thus on day 1 God created a period of light to alternate with a period of darkness, i.e., God created time—a function. On day two, God created weather (described in accordance with their cosmic geography) and on day three he created fecundity/fertility/agriculture. These three functions are referred to again in Gen. 8:22 and are the principle functions that figure in ancient Near Eastern cosmological texts.

Days 4-6 in Genesis 1 Install Functionaries
Days 4-6 involve installing the functionaries that will operate within the spheres of the three functions described in days 1-3. The description continues to be functional (notice on day 4: signs, festivals, days and years—all functional in relation to people). This incidentally solves the age old problem regarding how “light” can be created on day 1 and the sun not until day four. The contradiction only exists if this is an account of material origins. In a functional perspective, time is much more significant than the sun; the former is a function, the latter simply a functionary. Everything is designated “good” indicating that it functions properly in the system (notice later, it is NOT good for man to be alone: functional). The description of people is also in functional terms from the image of God through the blessing. And God created (bara’ ) them MALE AND FEMALE—functional categories.

Divine Rest is in a Temple
In the ancient world, as soon as “rest” is mentioned everyone would have known exactly what sort of text this was: gods rest in temples and temples are built so that gods can rest in them. Rest is not a term of disengagement but a term of engagement, i.e., everything is in place now so the deity can take up his place at the helm in the control room of the cosmos and begin operations. Rest throughout the Bible indicates that everything is stable and secure and life and the cosmos may proceed as they were intended.


The Cosmos Is a Temple
In the ancient world and in the Bible, the cosmos was understood to be a gigantic temple (Isa. 66:1), and temples were designed to be a micro-cosmos (see description of the Garden of Eden and the Temple vision of Ezekiel; there is symbolism in the tabernacle/temple furniture and décor). Genesis 1 is portraying cosmic origins in terms that would be recognized as a temple building account.

The Seven Days of Genesis 1 Relate to the Cosmic Temple Inauguration
If cosmic origins are described here in functional terms and follow the pattern of temple building texts, then the point is made that the cosmic temple is here being made functional. When a temple was built, it became functional not when all of the physical work had been done (building, furniture, priests’ garments) but in an inauguration ceremony that in a variety of texts throughout the ancient world lasted seven days. During those seven days, the functions of the temple were identified, the functionaries installed, the priests commissioned and most importantly that which represented the deity was brought into the center of the sacred space where he took up his rest. Then the temple was functional—it existed. If this is the paradigm in Genesis 1, then the seven days can easily be understood as regular days and the account can be understood as an inauguration of the cosmic temple that initiates the functions by which it operates.

The Seven Days of Genesis 1 Do Not Concern Material Origins
If the seven days refer to the seven days of cosmic temple inauguration, days that concern origins of functions not material, then the seven days and Genesis 1 as a whole have nothing to contribute to the discussion of the age of the earth. This is not to say that God was uninvolved in material origins—it only contends that Genesis 1 is not the story of material origins.

“Functional Cosmic Temple” Offers Face Value Exegesis
The hermeneutical commitment to read the text at face value elevates this interpretation since it makes an attempt to understand the text as the author and audience would have understood it. It does not reduce the text to a symbolic, figurative, theological or literary reading, as is often done in the attempt to correlate the text to modern science. Concordism applies scientific meanings to words and phrases in the text that are modern—that the ancient readers would never have had. Day-age seeks to make room for an old earth. Both of these approaches struggle because they are still trying to get Genesis to operate as an account of material origins for an audience that has a material ontology and cannot think in any other way.

....
Taken from: http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/genesis1357910.shtml