| Joseph- and the Hebrews to Egypt | | | | shows starving people (ribs prominently outlined), also |
| Morality lessons can be found in every episode of | | | | shows sacks of grain being carried up steps (as in |
| biblical Joseph's life: sold into slavery by brothers, | | | | the "silo" vaults at Sakkara), also food being |
| angry and jealous of his braggadocio and their | | | | distributed. In summary, Moeller says, "It should be |
| father's favoritism; overcomes false charges and | | | | noted that there is no other period of famine of |
| prison by his ability to interpret dreams; rises to great | | | | seven plus seven years in the history of Egypt - |
| personal power and authority by his administrative | | | | except for the one for which Imhotep was |
| ability; saves Egypt, all neighboring peoples and his | | | | responsible." In Egyptian records, only one person is |
| own family from starvation during a prolonged | | | | described as having the administrative authority to |
| famine. In the process he makes Egypt extremely | | | | organize Egypt's survival during the long famine - |
| wealthy (during the seven lean years, when only | | | | Imhotep. The parallel to biblical Joseph is precise and |
| Egypt had store-house-cities full of grain from seven | | | | compelling. Moeller cites the large number of |
| prior bountiful years). The biblical story of Joseph is | | | | similarities in the lives, the accomplishments, |
| easily justifiable as fiction, however, there is a statue | | | | responsibilities and characteristics of Imhotep of |
| on an island in the Nile of a white-faced, non-Egyptian | | | | Egypt and Joseph of the Bible. Noting the dove-tailing |
| vizier, who saved Egypt from a devastating famine, | | | | of their individual stories from separate Egyptian and |
| and wall-murals depict caravans of starving desert | | | | biblical accounts, Moeller's conclusion is that the two - |
| tribesmen (from named Hebrew cities) being sold | | | | most probably - were the same person, the two |
| grain, both fitting perfectly with the Bible. After | | | | stories told from different viewpoints. He includes 27 |
| Joseph becomes Egypt's Vizier, with many years of | | | | comparisons of Imhotep and Joseph, many are listed |
| famine remaining, per the Bible, he brings his father, | | | | below. |
| his brothers and their entire families to Egypt. That | | | | (Imhotep - Egyptian records); {Joseph - Bible}: |
| sets the stage, centuries later, for the well-known | | | | - (Imhotep is appointed Administrator by Pharaoh |
| Passover stories, with extra-biblical corroboration: | | | | Djoser during the periods of seven years famine and |
| Hebrew slavery; Moses (at birth) being saved from | | | | seven years of bountiful harvests); {Joseph is |
| the drowning fate of male Hebrew babies; his flight | | | | appointed Administrator to Pharaoh for the seven |
| from Egypt; and finally, the Exodus story, including | | | | years of plenty then of famine}; |
| mass deaths of Egyptians from the plagues. (Note: | | | | - (Minister to the King of Lower Egypt); {Pharaoh .. |
| Other related Ezine articles: "Miracles 3500 Years Ago, | | | | made him ruler over all the land of Egypt}; |
| Biblical Exodus - The Only Logical Explanation For 21st | | | | - (Administrator of the GreatPalace); {Thou shalt be |
| Century Artifacts!"; "Mystery Solved - Boy-King Tut's | | | | over my house}; |
| Magnificent Tomb - Exodus Miracles Affirmed!"; | | | | - (Not of royal blood; attained position by ability); |
| "Hebrews in Egypt - Slaves and Plagues - Extra-Biblical | | | | {From another nation and religion, not of royal blood, |
| Proof!") | | | | attained position by ability}; |
| Beginning with Joseph being brought to Egypt and | | | | - (Not appointed by Pharaoh Djoser until he had |
| sold as a slave, Egyptian records correlate exactly | | | | reigned for some time); {Appointed well after |
| with the Biblical episodes of Joseph's story: | | | | Pharaoh ruled Egypt}; |
| - Attempted seduction of a young man by a high | | | | - (Given the status of "son" to Pharaoh); {Granted |
| official's wife, his rejection of her, her false charges | | | | the status of "son" to Pharaoh}; |
| and his subsequent imprisonment, then release - told | | | | - (High Priest in Heliopolis); {Married to Asenath, |
| in an Egyptian papyrus, dated 1225 BC. (Identical to | | | | daughter of Poti-Pherah, High Priest in Heliopolis - by |
| the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife). | | | | custom, would succeed father-in-law}; |
| - Joseph, Vizier/Savior of Egypt. Archaeological digs | | | | - (Builder and architect); {Builder of grain storehouses |
| along the Nile, provide an obvious and remarkable | | | | such as at Sakkara step-pyramid}; |
| corroboration of the biblical story of Joseph. An | | | | - (Exalted by Pharaoh Djoser as of godly character.); |
| unusual life-sized statue was found at Avaris, | | | | {"And Pharaoh said, 'a man in whom the spirit of God |
| honoring the famed Vizier who - by Egyptian records | | | | is!'"} ; |
| - saved the Egyptian people from a terrible famine. | | | | - ("I need advice from God."); {Noted as saying, "It is |
| The statue is of a white-faced, clean-shaven Asiatic | | | | not in me; God shall give Pharaoh an answer."}; |
| man with unusually-shaped and red hair, (and since | | | | - (Had great medical skill - was compared to the |
| legend is frequently based on fact) adjacent Egyptian | | | | Greek God of Healing); |
| wall murals depict Asian caravans of the time with | | | | - {Had doctors under his authority - worked by |
| similarly-featured non-Egyptian men wearing "coats of | | | | miracles, dreams and signs from God}; |
| many colors"! | | | | - (Decided the tax rate during the seven years of |
| - Described in Papyrus #1116A in the Leningrad | | | | famine; also not to apply to priests); {Decided the |
| Museum is a mural of starving desert tribesmen | | | | tax rate during the seven years of famine; also not |
| seeking food from Egypt during a period of drought, | | | | to apply to priests}; |
| "Pharaoh giving wheat to a tribe from Ashkelon, | | | | - (Realizes when he is dying - dies at age 110.); |
| Hazor and Megiddo" (undoubtedly Hebrews from | | | | {Realizes when he is dying - dies at age 110.}. |
| well-known cities in Israel); | | | | The Roman-Jewish historian, Josephus, quotes the |
| - Roman historian, Josephus, in his book, "Josephus | | | | writings of Manetho, Egyptian historian: "During [the] |
| Against Apion", quotes two Egyptian priest-scholars, | | | | reign of .. Pharaoh Djoser, 3rd Egyptian dynasty, lived |
| Manetho and Cheremon, who, in their own histories | | | | Imhotep .. [with a] reputation among Egyptians like |
| of Egypt, specifically name Joseph and Moses as | | | | the Greek God of medicine - [Manetho even |
| leaders of the Hebrews, that they "rejected Egypt's | | | | wondered] whether Imhotep could have been an |
| customs and gods .. practiced animal sacrifices | | | | actual person .. [because he had] "so many |
| (witnessed on the first Passover)" .. These historians | | | | outstanding qualities and talents .. a very special |
| confirm that the Jews migrated to "southern Syria" | | | | person [who] appears in the history of Egypt." On |
| (the Egyptian name for Palestine) and that the | | | | the foundations of the Step Pyramid in Sakkara was |
| exodus occurred during the reign of Amenophis .. | | | | carved the name of Pharaoh Djoser and ".. Imhotep, |
| during the close of the 18th dynasty, 1500 to 1400 | | | | Chancellor of the King of Lower Egypt, Chief under |
| BC. | | | | the King, Administrator of the Great Palace, |
| Reading between the lines and extrapolating the text | | | | Hereditary Lord, High Priest of Heliopolis, Imhotep the |
| in both the Old Testament and Egyptian artifacts, | | | | Builder..". |
| there is much that can be derived. | | | | The Bible tells of Pharaoh honoring Joseph with much |
| | | | the same offices as given to Imhotep "It is probable |
| 1. Pharaoh, whether or not normally religious, truly | | | | that Joseph was the only person to gain Pharaoh's |
| feared the interpretations of his dreams - seven fat | | | | confidence to this degree. Joseph received every |
| sheaves and cows, followed by seven shriveled | | | | authority apart from Pharaoh himself .. [though] not |
| sheaves and lean cows. Probably the dreams were | | | | of royal blood and .. [of] another nationality." (As |
| of a nightmarish quality - Pharaoh being unable to get | | | | detailed above, the same also applies to Imhotep.) In |
| relief from them, for he then instituted a remarkable | | | | both cases there is much reference to the pharaohic |
| fourteen year national program for survival of his | | | | announcements - "second only to Pharaoh"; the Bible |
| country and people. The gigantic storage facility at | | | | also tells of Joseph being given Pharaoh's signet ring |
| Sakkara, with similar granary storehouse all over | | | | (with the royal seal), an outstanding act and |
| Egypt, indicates the scale and scope of the | | | | undoubtedly, a national event. |
| undertaking, storing excesses from the bountiful | | | | A startling point is Moeller's statement about what |
| harvest during the first seven years. | | | | Joseph/Imhotep achieved for Egypt, "It was during |
| 2. Because of the importance of the program, the | | | | the reign of Djoser that Egypt became a great |
| person selected by Pharaoh as Vizier had to be truly | | | | power .. great riches were accumulated during the |
| second to Pharaoh in administrative authority (as | | | | seven years of famine .. when grain was sold to all |
| both the Bible, re Joseph, and Egyptian artifacts, re | | | | the countries around Egypt. The complex of buildings |
| Imhotep, attest) . An aspect of human nature - that | | | | at Sakkara is remarkably unique, nothing like it has |
| during many years of bounty (seven - a long time), | | | | been seen anywhere .. built of white limestone from |
| unless one is truly fearful of a deity and the | | | | neighboring hills." Describing the immense storage |
| prediction of seven years of famine, there is a | | | | vaults at Sakkara, Moeller writes, "40,000 cubic |
| natural tendency to "slack off". Joseph, son of | | | | metres storage .. remnants of grain have been found |
| Patriarch Jacob, would have complete faith in God's | | | | at the bottom." Egypt built a vast nation-wide |
| prediction, however, Egyptian power resided in | | | | system of granary-storehouses as at Sakkara, |
| Pharaoh, thus he primarily, had to believe completely | | | | evidence of a nationwide major program to store an |
| and fearfully in the forthcoming years of famine - to | | | | enormous amount of grain for an anticipated famine. |
| put his country through such an ordeal of self-denial | | | | While the Bible 's story of Joseph focuses on the |
| and discipline during years of plenty. Such a national | | | | greater story of the Hebrew people: his father |
| program had to have been the most important in the | | | | Patriarch Jacob, the brothers, the beginning of the |
| country, and for fourteen years duration: during the | | | | Hebrew sojourn in Egypt, leading to their slavery, |
| years of plenty, hoarding all excess grain, building | | | | then Moses and Aaron and the miracles of the |
| storage cities, then transporting and maintaining the | | | | plagues and the Exodus, it is the Egyptian artifacts |
| surplus grain; then during the years of famine, selling | | | | that tell the details of how remarkable a man was |
| off the grain and safeguarding Egypt's accumulating | | | | Imhotep/Joseph. Not only an exceptional |
| wealth. An enormous administrative task, clearly, the | | | | administrator who built the storage cities and |
| designation of Joseph/Imhotep as "Vizier, second in | | | | maintained the discipline of storing rather than |
| power to Pharaoh in all of Egypt", has to be | | | | dissipating the excess grain during the seven years of |
| recognized as extremely meaningful. | | | | bounty, Imhotep was also memorialized in Egyptian |
| Digging Deeper - Joseph and Imhotep | | | | history for his medical abilities - his sarcophagus was |
| The "deeper digging" is by Dr. Lennart Moeller in his | | | | decorated with the Ibis, Egyptian symbol of medicine, |
| book, "The Exodus Case". Dr. Moeller, a medical | | | | and in US medical schools today there is the Imhotep |
| doctor at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, is also an | | | | Medical Society. |
| archaeologist, explorer, marine biologist, scuba diver, | | | | Final "Clincher" - that Egyptian Imhotep was the |
| and a scholar of both Egyptian history and the Bible. | | | | Biblical Joseph. |
| It was Dr. Mueller who directed the diving expedition | | | | Extremely noteworthy regarding Imhotep-Joseph is |
| which discovered coral-covered clumps of chariot | | | | that the mummified bodies of neither have ever |
| wreckage from Egypt's 18th dynasty in the Gulf of | | | | been found. The known facts regarding the burials of |
| Aqaba (see listed Ezine articles). | | | | Imhotep and Joseph also strongly support the thesis |
| Moeller refers to an inscription on the island of Sihiel, | | | | that they were the same person: |
| near the first cataract of the Nile, which actually links | | | | - Both died at age 108. |
| Imhotep to the key biblical element of the Joseph | | | | - Imhotep's coffin in Sakkara - with innumeral Ibis |
| story - telling of Pharaoh Djoser in the 18th year of | | | | birds mummified in the adjoining galleries (Imhotep |
| his reign. The inscription states "seven meagre years | | | | was called "Ibis" because of his reputation for healing |
| and seven rich years". Commenting on the inscription, | | | | - a large number of Ibis birds were sacrificed to him |
| Moeller writes, "Pharaoh Djoser asks Imhotep to help | | | | at his funeral in Sakkara); many clay vessels bearing |
| him with the coming seven years of famine. All the | | | | the seal of Pharaoh Djoser were near the coffin; and |
| biblical components of the story are there, and there | | | | the coffin is oriented to the North, not East, and is |
| is a similar inscription on the island of Philae in the Nile." | | | | empty. |
| (This is exactly as in the Bible with Joseph, except | | | | - Joseph would have been buried at Sakkara, his |
| for listing the "meagre" years before the years of | | | | coffin orientated to the North - indicating he did not |
| plenty. Note: The famine years were, of course, the | | | | believe in the gods of the Egyptians (who were |
| event of significance, saving everyone from | | | | buried facing East, the rising sun); the coffin would |
| starvation and bringing in much wealth to Egypt - it is | | | | also be empty as Joseph's bones would have been |
| noted that the manuscript was written a thousand | | | | taken by Moses with the Hebrews during the Exodus. |
| years after the occurrences.) A carving in Sakkara | | | | |