Bengt Sage Thinks Sumerian God Anu May Be Noah

Noah and Human Etymology

by

Bengt Sage

As traditions of the universal flood spread around the world with the post-Ararat migrations, the venerable name of Noah traveled with them.¹ This seems especially evident by way of the ancient Sanskrit language and the name Manu. The Sanskrit term may in turn have come from an equivalent word in the so-called "Proto-Indo-European" language.

Manu was the name of the flood hero in the traditions of India. He, like Noah, is said to have built an ark in which eight people were saved. It is highly probable that Noah and Manu were thus the same individual. "Ma" is an ancient word for "water," so that Manu could mean "Noah of the waters." In the Hebrew Old Testament, the words "water" and "waters" are both translations of mayim, with the syllable yim being the standard Hebrew plural ending.

The "ma" prefix could well be the original form of mar and mer (Spanish and French for, "sea," both from the Latin mare) and thus of such English words as "marine."

In Sanskrit, the name Manu appropriately came to mean "man" or "mankind" (since Manu, or Noah, was the father of all post-flood mankind). The word is related to the Germanic Mannus,² the founder of the West Germanic peoples. Mannus was mentioned by the Roman historian Tacitus in his book Germania.³ Mannus is also the name of the Lithuanian Noah.⁴ Another Sanskrit form, manusa is closely related to the Swedish manniska,⁵ both words meaning "human being."

The same name may even be reflected in the Egyptian Menes (founder of the first dynasty of Egypt) and Minos (founder and first king of Crete). Minos was also said in Greek mythology to be the son of Zeus and ruler of the sea.⁶

The English word "man" is thus also related to the Sanskrit manu, as well as its equivalents in other Germanic languages. Gothic, the oldest known Germanic language, used the form Manna, and also gaman ("fellow man").

The name Anu appears in Sumerian as the god of the firmament, and the rainbow was called "the great bow of Anu,"⁷ which seems a clear reference to Noah (note Genesis 9:13). In Egyptian mythology Nu was the god of waters who sent an inundation to destroy mankind.⁸ Nu and his consort Nut were deities of the firmament and the rain. Nu was identified with the primeval watery mass of heaven, his name also meaning "sky."⁹

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For complete article, see: http://www.icr.org/article/166/

The Two Josephs



For complete article, see: http://www.fatherpeffley.org/docs/twojosephs.pdf

By Rev. Francis J. Peffley

 

What's in a name?

 

Do people with the same name sometimes have much in common?

 

We can look at two famous men in the Bible, both named Joseph, and see their similarities.

 

Joseph of the Old Testament is the first Joseph. The Church refers to him as a type, or foreshadowing, of Christ.

 

But many saints hold that the first Joseph is also a prefigurement for St. Joseph.

 

Let us consider ten parallels between Joseph of the Old Testament and St. Joseph.

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Joseph, Son of David, Son of Abraham



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I. 2 -- Joseph, Son of David, Son of Abraham

Matthew 1 clearly asserts the virginal conception and divine origin of Jesus, "God with us," "of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 1:18,20,23). The principal concern, however, is to explain Jesus' human origin to both Jews and gentiles. The very first verse states the purpose of the two chapters: "The book of the origin of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Mt 1:1).

Jews are shown that the Son of God is the Messiah promised to the royal line of David. Chapter 1 demonstrates this through the genealogy of Joseph, his legal father. Chapter 2 confirms it by the geography of his birth in Bethlehem, the town of David, even though he was raised in Nazareth.

With respect to gentiles, not always fully accepted by the Jewish Christian community, there is the reminder that the Messiah is also "the son of Abraham," who inherited God's promises for all. "I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness" (Mt 8:11-12). Matthew 1 breaks protocol to include gentiles in the genealogy. In Matthew 2 the gentile magi search for the newborn king to adore him, while the religious leaders of Jerusalem show no interest in seeking him and actually become accomplices of Herod's plot to kill him.

The genealogy that follows the opening verse does not totally agree with that of Luke 3. In fact, even the name of Joseph's father differs in the two: Jacob (Mt 1:16) or Heli (Lk 3:23), although their fathers' names are similar, Matthan and Matthat respectively. There is clearly a certain artificiality in Matthew's presentation of the genealogy in three groups of fourteen: "So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations" (Mt 1:17). It was common practice at the time to allow certain inclusions or exclusions to better serve the purpose of the writings. This purpose would be somewhat different for the different audiences to which Matthew and Luke were writing. Since Matthew is so concerned to draw parallels between the New and Old Testament Josephs, it is not surprising that their fathers are both "Jacob," a name used only of the patriarch throughout the whole of Scripture. There is no discrepancy whatsoever regarding Jesus' Davidic descent, nor any room to doubt the historicity of Joseph, his legal father, who belongs to the substance of the tradition shared by the independent sources of Luke and John.

From the time of King David, who lived a millennium before Christ, God's covenant with his chosen people was made through the king of Israel, anointed by God as shepherd of Israel, heir of the promises made to Abraham, and unifier of all the tribes into one people. When David decided to build a temple, God promised him a descendent, a son of God, who would establish his reign forever (2 Sam 7:12-16). Not too long after David's reign, the kingdom was divided and eventually it crumbled, but the messianic hope in the promise of the promised new son of David did not leave the people. The New Testament teaches in many places that Jesus is the "Son of David" fulfilling that promise, and establishing his Church as the new Israel for all peoples of the earth. More than any other, Matthew's Gospel emphasizes the title "Son of David" (Mt 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30,31; 21:9,15; 22:41-45). His very first task, then, is to begin his Gospel by showing how Jesus is of the royal line of David in accord with the promise.

Matthew's genealogy thus revolves around David, whose name occurs in the first verse (Mt 1:1), ends the first and begins the second of the three divisions (Mt 1:6-7), and is repeated in the concluding summary (Mt 1:17). This summary verse makes a point of repeating that the number of generations in each of the three parts is fourteen, a number which results from taking the sum of the numerical position of the Hebrew alphabet of DWD (4+6+4), the consonants for "David." David is the only one given the title "the king" (Mt 1:6).

The genealogy almost tediously repeats the formula A begot B, and B begot C, down to the very end when the pattern is clearly interrupted. Joseph does not beget Jesus, but is the husband of Mary of whom Jesus "was begotten." Other irregularities, such as the inclusion of four women in the genealogy help prepare for this most significant, final irregularity. This interruption in the pattern is explained by the following verses 18-25, the story of Joseph's vocation, which is strictly connected to the genealogy. The introductory verses (Mt 1:1,18) to both the genealogy and this following section contain the same Greek noun génesis "origin." The connection has often been obscured, since this same noun has often been translated as "genealogy" or something similar in verse 1, and as "birth" in verse 18. In the passage on Joseph's vocation, the angel of the Lord addresses Joseph as the "son of David" (Mt 1:20) and clarifies the mysterious verse 16, by showing how one born of the Holy Spirit is also the Son of David through Joseph, and thereby qualifies to be the promised Messiah.

In Jewish practice, biological fatherhood was not the only way to pass on genealogical descent, since adoptive fatherhood was no less valid. Matthew presents Joseph as the legal father who transmits Davidic descent without being the biological father. Joseph's fatherhood is much more than "adoptive," however, since he was already betrothed to Mary in a juridically binding manner at the time of the miraculous conception. By taking Mary into his home before Jesus' birth, Joseph was merely continuing with the normal final phase of Jewish marriage. The child he accepted as his own at the angel's bidding was not born to any other human father. Conceived not by any adulterous affair, but by the Holy Spirit, Jesus is certainly the legitimate offspring of Joseph's legitimate wife. Joseph is his only possible human father, and he is legally so because he is Mary's husband: "Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ" (Mt 1:16). Joseph is called to name the child, since this is a natural consequence of continuing the marriage and forming a household with his pregnant wife. Jesus the Christ, the divinely conceived Savior, can be recognized as the promised Son of David because Joseph is son of David.

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Taken from: http://www.osjoseph.org/stjoseph/scripture/part1sec2.php

Constellations: legacy of the dispersion from Babel



Taken from: http://creation.com/constellations-a-legacy-of-babel

by Jonathan F. Henry

There are deep similarities among diverse cultures in their constellations. The similarities stem from an origin at least as remote as the dispersion from Babel, and vastly pre-date cross-cultural missionary outreaches of recent centuries. Cultural differences in constellations have resulted from distinct developments in various people groups since the dispersion from Babel. Constellations appear to contain memories (in corrupted form) of ancient historical events such as the Flood, but evidence does not support the claim that the constellations were a kind of primeval revelation, a ‘gospel in the stars’.

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Why do diverse cultures have similar constellations?

Wikipedia.org

Figure 1. Peoples dispersing from Babel carried with them memories of historical events embedded in the stories linked with constellations.

If the biblical story of the dispersion from Babel were true, peoples from Babel would carry common ideas which might survive today in the cultures they founded after the dispersion. From a biblical point of view, therefore, any common denominator among diverse modern cultures is a possible indication that all peoples really did once live at a single place identified in the Bible as Babel. A common denominator crossing many cultures past and present is the prevalence of legends about the creation, the Flood and the dispersion from Babel. Flood legends are especially pervasive:

‘It is commonly understood that something like the story of Noah and the flood is part of the mythology of cultures around the globe. It is less widely realized that the unity of the world’s myths goes far beyond such basic similarities. So elaborate and intertwined are the mythic traditions in places as disparate as Mayan Central America, Viking Scandinavia, and Pharaonic Egypt, that it has for some decades been widely accepted among specialists in the field that a single mythic tradition, what Joseph Campbell called the monomyth, underlies all the discrete mythic traditions.’¹

However, in today’s secular culture, nothing is supposed to point back to the true history of the Bible, especially to the creation, the Flood or the dispersion from Babel. Indications from science and history that the Bible might be accurate are vigorously denied, particularly for the events in Genesis chapters 1–11. Thus it is claimed that the development of constellation patterns is a kind of convergent cultural evolution that happened spontaneously in many cultures. Anthony F. Aveni, for example, ignores the cross-cultural links between constellations and restricts his focus to the Pleiades, which eases the way to supposing that in a kind of ‘convergent development’, the Pleiades pattern could have arisen spontaneously in many isolated cultures. He writes,

‘Among primitive societies, the Pleiades are often the only celestial group paid any attention. In Bali, the Pleiades and Orion’s Belt are the only stars people use to correct their lunar calendar. The Pleiades are also worshipped among aboriginal people who do not practice agriculture. This may be due to the coincidence of the first annual appearance of the group at the beginning of the rainy season. Developing civilizations could hardly fail to observe that wild fruits grew more plentifully and therefore that they would have more to eat after a heavy fall of rain than after a long drought. Hunters could learn of the migration of their prey as a function of the meteorological cycle. It would then be but a simple step to attribute the cause of certain terrestrial occurrences to these stars. Indeed, many of the aboriginal people of Australia regard the Pleiades not merely as a signal but instead as the cause of rain—an astrological rather than an astronomical function. They curse the Pleiades if their appearance in the sky is not immediately followed by a rainy period.’²

Aveni’s view is simplistic. Though no two cultures share constellations identical in every detail, nevertheless there are deep and basic similarities that have attracted the attention of secular researchers who give no credence to Genesis 1–11. Emphasizing the differences cannot erase the similarities, and these similarities are too wide-ranging to be due to coincidence alone. Therefore it is plausible to claim that ‘most cultures recognize more or less the same constellations.’³ The truth is that the constellations trace back to a time consistent with the chronology of Nimrod’s life, were arguably common knowledge at Babel, and have since been preserved among the world’s cultures.⁴

When did the constellations originate?

Using the spread of Western culture and missions to account for the cross-cultural similarity of constellations overlooks the existence of similarities in ancient constellations. As we will see, similarities in ancient constellations are a difficulty for conventional views of the past. On the other hand, having similarities among ancient constellations does not mean that ancient cultures had identical constellations. Biblical creationists have recognized these similarities as being connected with the dispersion from Babel.⁵
Even more, the existence of any similarity at all is damaging to the belief that isolated groups of primitive peoples evolved in different localities. In fact the constellations have no objective existence. The patterns that we call constellations are in the minds of the beholders, for the stars comprising them, with few exceptions, do not lie on the same plane in space. The stars that seem to be situated on the surface of the ‘celestial sphere’ are actually at various distances from us. This may be obvious to astronomers and other scientists, but laypeople are often unaware of the fact that

‘The stars of a constellation have no connection one with another apart from the fact that they happen to lie in approximately similar directions as seen from earth. A constellation is therefore an arbitrary or conventional grouping of stars. Indeed, the Chinese, for example, divided the sky up into groups different from those familiar to us.’⁶

Image from

Figure 2. An illustration from Camille Flammarion’s 1880 Astronomie Populaire.

With the thousands of stars visible to the naked eye, the probability of independently evolving cultures arriving at the same constellations by chance alone is remote. There is no evolutionary approach that explains how different cultures, supposedly developing in separate parts of the world, managed to imagine the same or similar star patterns in the sky. Conversely, the existence of even a few identical constellations suggests that all of mankind was once congregated at one point from which all ethnic groups dispersed.
Since the Bible describes such a dispersion scenario, at least some of the constellation similarities among ancient cultures represented shared ideas originating before mankind dispersed. While some post-dispersion borrowing may have occurred among adjacent cultures, borrowing cannot account for the existence of similarities between ancient Old and New World cultures now separated by the ocean. Even secular authorities place the origin of constellations at a time consistent with the biblical date for Babel. Astronomer and historian of science James Jeans wrote:

‘The earth wobbles as it rotates … so that the portion of the sky which can be seen from any portion of the earth’s surface is continually changing; that part in which the constellations bear ancient names is the part which could be seen from about latitude 40° N., in about the year 2750 BC, and this is thought to suggest that these constellations were grouped and named by the Babylonians of some such date. They are practically identical with our present-day constellations of the northern sky.’⁷

The biblical date for Babel is about 2300–2400 BC,⁸ comparable with the 2750 date that Jeans cited.
Jeans’ assessment was not new. In 1913, one writer noted that ‘[According to Maunder] there was a tradition that Taurus was the original leader in the zodiac; the equinox, therefore, was probably in Taurus when the constellations of the zodiac were formed, and this was the case between 4000 and 1700 BC’⁹ Maunder himself claimed that ‘the [celestial] sphere was mapped out in North latitude 40° and about 2800 years BC’¹⁰

This range of dates, especially the lower end, is consistent with a tight biblical chronology without ‘gaps’ which places the dispersion from Babel around 2300 BC.

Astronomer Michael Ovenden later confirmed a similar date of origin for the constellations. He ‘found the mean of the different dates from the various constellations to be 2800 BC ± 300 years … . There can … be no doubt that the constellations are, individually, oriented symmetrically with respect to the celestial poles of about 2800 BC’¹¹ More recently, astronomer William K. Hartmann concluded that the constellations as we know them date from sometime between 2600 ± 800 BC: ‘Many constellations may be Minoan … handed down to us from around 2600 BC, with still earlier elements incorporated into them. We should not assume that “it all started with the Greeks”.’¹²
Much of this range of dates, especially the lower end, is consistent with a tight biblical chronology without ‘gaps’ which places the dispersion from Babel around 2300 BC. Further, Hartmann is not saying that the constellations began with the Minoans, but that they continued the use of ‘earlier elements.’ This blending of ‘earlier elements’ into new cultural frameworks explains the modifications which became the differences now commonly taken as proof that the constellations were not shared among the early (post-Babel) cultures. Along this line, Evershed proposed that the Assyrians imposed major modifications on the original constellations:

‘Is it not possible that in the golden age of Assyrian astronomy, which began in the 8th century BC, many traditional forms were gathered together, and the whole sphere definitely mapped out; while at the same time, in the new calendar which was introduced under Nabonassar, the first month for the first time connected with the invisible group of Aries, in which the Sun was known to be, instead of with the group Taurus which appeared after his [the sun’s] setting in the west?’¹³

However, the Assyrians cannot be considered the originators of the constellations, even though this has been claimed. B.E. Schaefer, wrote,

‘I have found 172 useful constraints for Eudoxus’ lore [leading to the following conclusion]. … (1) All lore reported by Eudoxus were based on observations from the year 1130 ± 80 BC and at a latitude of 36.0 ± 0.9 degrees north. (2) My derived date and latitude correspond only to the peak of the Assyrian culture. (3) The typical accuracy of the lore is 4–8 degrees even though 1 degree accuracy is easy to be gotten by primitive methods. (4) About half the rise/set pairs [of recorded star positions] recorded in the Mesopotamian MUL.APIN tablets are also given in Eudoxus’ lore. (5) The

‘MUL.APIN tablets have been independently determined to be based on observations from roughly 1000 BC at a latitude of 36 degrees north … I conclude that both Eudoxus’ lore and MUL.APIN were derived from the same old Assyrian observations.’¹⁴

The low accuracy Schaefer perceives for the latitude of the lore also implies a low accuracy in the time inferred from the lore. Having focused on the MUL.APIN tablets as supplying the time frame for the lore, Schaefer inferred the latitude necessary from the lore to give him the time frame he expected, then concluded that the time frame matched the time of Assyria’s cultural dominance. His conclusion that the MUL.APIN tablets and Eudoxus derive from the same source is true, except that the ultimate source dates from c. 2800 BC (a date which should be revised downward by several centuries, as noted below), so could not have been Assyria. Nor could the Romans via Ptolemy have given us the constellations, for ‘Ptolemy’s catalogue bears witness to a constellation scheme that originated and had received its completion before his day.’¹⁵
Even the common belief that the constellations as we know them originated with the Greeks cannot be true.

‘[The Greek naturalist] Hipparchus was not the originator of the constellations. He had before him the description of the sky known as ‘The Sphere of Eudoxus’ (Eudoxus of Cnidos, c. 403–350 BC), and a poetic description of the sphere of Eudoxus given by Aratus (c. 315–250 BC) in the work known as the Phaenomenon. If [2800 BC for] the date of the constellations is correct, then Aratus and Hipparchus lie about half-way between us and the constellation-makers, and Hipparchus will be trying to fit what he sees with descriptions in the sphere of Eudoxus that are really appropriate to a situation 2500 years before his time.’¹⁶

Maunder likewise observed, ‘the correspondence between the Greek and Indian planispheres [sky maps] shows that one of them was copied from the other, or both from the same original model.’¹⁷

Constellation similarities are not coincidence

A number of historians have asserted that the very earliest cultures, those we would recognize as early post-dispersion peoples, did in fact employ the same constellations. Differences developed, but similarities remained. For example, historian Kenneth Brecher pointed out that

‘The Babylonians identify [Sirius] as part of a constellation which they describe as a bow and arrow. The Chinese independently described a bow and arrow in the sky, but they used different stars for their construction. For them, Sirius is part of the image at which the arrow is shooting; and curiously, the image at which that arrow is shooting is a dog. In Western tradition, Sirius is part of the constellation Canis Major, the Big Dog. It is remarkable that the same images—dogs, bows and arrows—occur in the cosmographies of different cultures; after all, if you look at the sky, you see only points of light on a dark field. … [This can be taken] as an indication that the astronomical myths of China and Mesopotamia derive from a common origin.’¹⁸

Historians Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend have also noted that the Orion motif is ‘common to the spheres of Mesopotamia, Egypt and China.’ Further, ‘there is strong circumstantial evidence of this bow and arrow in Mexico also: the bow of the Chichimeca, the Dog-people.’¹⁹ Orion with modifications was also recognized in ancient Iran and India,²⁰ but modification is what one would expect for diffusing legends. Orion was also familiar to the ancient Norwegians,²¹ and Old Norse rock art depicted Orion.²²
The Pleiades were another constellation known worldwide in ancient times, even among Australian aborigines: ‘In Aboriginal mythology there are many stories of the Pleiades: they are given female attributes and are known as seven sisters. In this there is a pronounced similarity to legends from all over the world.’²³ But the Pleiades’ renown is not due to their prominence in the heavens: ‘Those stars are apparently only six’, with the seventh so dim at times so as to be unseen,

‘ … yet all the world over, among civilized and savage races, in Europe, in India, China, Japan, America, and Africa, this diminutive group is not merely regarded as seven stars, but what is still more surprising, as “The Seven Stars,” though the far brighter seven stars of the Great Bear might seem to deserve the title.’²⁴

The Great Bear was also known worldwide in antiquity: ‘The star group in Ursa Major was seen as a bear in Europe, Asia, North America, and even ancient Egypt, where there are no bears … the bear identification may go all the way back to ice-age Euro-Asia, from where it spread.’²⁵ Significantly, ‘ice-age Euro-Asia’ would have been the location of Babel, and would have existed at the time indicated by biblical chronology for Babel.
As mentioned earlier, Maunder estimated that the latitude of the constellation makers was 40° north. A more recent investigation placed the latitude slightly farther south, at approximately 30° to 38° north.²⁶
The latitude of Babylon, 32½° north, is within this range.²⁷ A significant fact about the constellations is that the oldest ones fill only the northern sky and are absent in an empty zone surrounding the south celestial pole.^25,28 This is consistent with the existence of Babel in the northern hemisphere,¹³ together with the fact that dispersing cultures did not reach the extremities of the southern hemisphere until relatively recently. In contradiction, however, Ovenden asserted,

‘There are four main contenders for the title of constellation-makers. The credit is often given to the Babylonians, but their seafaring would have been in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, too far south for the latitude of the constellation makers [but Babel slightly south of Baghdad was at about 32° north, close to Ovenden’s estimated latitude range for these people]. The Egyptians sailed in the Mediterranean, but much of their seafaring also would have been in more southern waters. The Phoenicians were great traders, with a great centre at Byblus, latitude about 34° (consistent with our determined latitude). … But I would like to put forward the claims of the Minoans, based on Crete, who were out in the Mediterranean in strength by the beginning of the third millennium BC’²⁹

Hartmann’s reservation about naming the Minoans as the constellation-makers has been mentioned. Further, Ovenden’s proposals have a chronological problem. The chronologies of his four candidates—and of other ancient chronologies tied to conventional Egyptian chronology—are too long by as much as a millennium.³⁰ Once the chronologies are scaled down, as they ought to be, by shrinking the Egyptian chronology appropriately, and by subtracting out the years of the non-existent ‘dark ages’ from the Minoan and Greek chronologies, these cultures date not from c. 2500 BC, but from closer to 1500 BC, a date roughly a millennium too young to match the date of the constellation-makers.

The constellations: remembrance of Noah’s Flood?

There is a view that God mapped out the constellations as a kind of primeval revelation before man had the Bible.³¹ An even older view of the constellations is that they were a device of Nimrod at Babel to lead mankind away from God, or at least they reflect the corrupted mythologies that mankind fell into at Babel and afterward.³² In between these extreme views is a middle view that constellations are corrupted memories of significant events happening early in history. The most traumatic such event was the global Flood of Noah, and—as Glasglow University astrophysicist and historian of science Michael Ovenden observed—one of the most expansive constellations is

‘ … the large constellation of Arago the Ship, often shown in early representations [of the constellations] as though atop a mountain. Coming from the ship is the Centaur, a man-animal, sacrificing a Beast upon the Altar. We see, too, the Water-snake (Hydra) with a Raven (Corvus) eating its flesh. There can be no doubt that here we have, in imagination pictured in the sky, a version of the story of Noah and the Flood. The picture is complete with the Milky Way seeming to rise as smoke from the Altar.

‘Consider the following quotation, with which we are all familiar: “And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings at the altar. … And God said, ‘This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you for perpetual generations. I do set my bow in a cloud, and it shall be a token of a covenant between me and the Earth’.” The bow of Sagittarius is fixed pointing to one of the most obvious rifts, or clouds, in the Milky Way. Of course, this association of the Southern constellations with the flood story that occurs in Genesis, and in the Babylonian Book of Gilgamesh, is no new insight, for when the stars left vacant by changing the course of Eridanus [due to precession] were later given a name, Columba the Dove was chosen [i.e. the “Dove” motif was preserved even as the star patterns in the heavens changed over the centuries because of precession]. …

‘Did the constellations inspire the myth [of the Flood] or did the myth inspire the constellations? I am sure that the latter was the case. Indeed, what better aid to memory of the pattern of the stars by uneducated sailors could there be than to associate the star-patterns with the stories known to the sailors from their childhood, as a pictorial mnemonic.’³³

It appears that Ovenden’s assessment has support from other quarters, for Arago is not the only stellar reminder of the Flood. ‘from the Lake Eyre region [Australia] there is a myth that links [the Pleiades, known as the Seven Sisters] with a flood’.³⁴ In this myth, ‘the ancestor figure who tried to capture one of them was prevented by a great flood.’³⁵ By association with the Flood, the Pleiades became associated with the giving of rain, even though the aborigines were not farmers and therefore had no practical reason to monitor rainfall.

‘[Primitive peoples] have commonly timed the various operations of the agricultural year by observation of [the Pleiades’] heliacal rising or setting. … great attention has been paid to the Pleiades by savages in the southern hemisphere who do not till the ground. … Now amongst the rudest of savages known to us are the Australian aborigines, none of whom in their native state ever practised agriculture. [Yet they] sing and dance to gain the favour of the Pleiades … the constellation worshipped … as the giver of rain.’³⁶

There is also a Jewish legend that links the Pleiades with the Flood: ‘The upper waters rushed through the space left when God removed two stars out of the constellation Pleiades.’³⁷ How the Pleiades became connected with the Flood is not known. Nevertheless, the Pleiades are another component of legends worldwide that testify to the reality of Noah’s Flood.

Is the Gospel in the stars?

Table 1. Constellations and asterisms in the Bible.

The gospel-in-the-stars concept is the idea that God originally defined the constellations as a primeval revelation preceding the giving of the written Word. The constellations were intended to tell the Gospel story, but eventually the meaning of the constellations was corrupted into astrology; now we have God’s revelation in His Word, a ‘more sure word of prophecy’ (2 Peter 1:19).
Though God made the stars (Genesis 1:16), and though the Bible mentions various constellations and groups of stars called ‘asterisms’, e.g. the Pleiades (see table 1³⁸), the Bible nowhere claims that God designed the constellations for a revelatory purpose. Biblical references to constellations merely assert that God, not pagan deities, controls the stars in the constellations. Biblical references to constellations are therefore a rebuttal of ancient and modern astrology, not proof of a ‘gospel in the stars’.
In fact God has a name for each star: ‘He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names’ (Psalm 147:4). Isaiah 40:26 links God’s ability to create and name each star with His ability to control them: ‘Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names of the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.’ Isaiah 40:26 is a strong assertion that God controls the heavens, which means that God, not the heavens, controls our lives. This assertion remains relevant today, for astrology was and still is a common belief. In antiquity,

‘ … astrology was based on the doctrine that the outer spheres of the universe influenced the inner. … This conception coloured all departments of thought and embedded itself deeply in speech. “The scheme was conceived under an evil star”, “His fortune is in the ascendant”, “The seventh heaven of delight”, “He has gone to a higher sphere”, “The British sphere of influence”, “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades” (Job XXXViii. 31), “He has the influenza” are such cases.’³⁹

Figure 3. Title page of Rolleston’s Mazzaroth, the origin of the modern ‘gospel-in-the-stars’ concept.

Modern belief in the constellations as Gospel revelation began with the publication of Mazzaroth: or, the Constellations by Frances Rolleston (figure 3).⁴⁰ Rolleston cited ‘proof texts’ without context but in so doing made an argument which became popular. Rolleston’s assertion was that ‘the signs [in the zodiac] were intended to symbolize prophecy, as recorded in the Holy Scriptures.’⁴¹
Subsequent books teaching a Gospel in the stars trace back to Rolleston’s Mazzaroth. For example, Joseph R. Seiss in The Gospel in the Starsacknowledged: that ‘from [Rolleston’s] tables and references the writer of these Lectures was helped to some of his best information.’⁴² E.W. Bullinger in The Witness of the Stars likewise described his debt to Rolleston: ‘Some years ago it was my privilege to enjoy the acquaintance of Miss Frances Rolleston, of Keswick, and to carry on a correspondence with her with respect to her work, Mazzaroth: or, the Constellations. She was the first to create an interest in this important subject.’⁴³ Kenneth C. Fleming in God’s Voice in the Stars cited Rolleston, Seiss, and Bullinger in a conceptual lineage spanning more than a century,⁴⁴ as did Henry M. Morris⁴⁵ and Ruth Beechick.⁴⁶
Christians gravitated to Rolleston’s argument because it seemed to lend historical veracity to the early chapters of Genesis. But similarities among the constellations provide intriguing evidence of biblical history without the need of resorting to Rolleston’s ‘gospel in the stars’ idea. Indeed, Rolleston and Seiss advanced the claim of this present paper, that constellations of diverse cultures show basic similarities, implying that humanity once lived at a single site. Rolleston, for example, noted that ‘the Egyptian and Chaldean signs were the same as everywhere else, but differently named.’⁴⁷
Seiss maintained that he came to the gospel-in-the-stars concept by encountering sceptical polemical works attempting ‘to throw contempt on Christianity as a mere accommodation of certain old mythic ideas common to all primitive peoples’, but rather than doubting Christianity, Seiss began noticing the ‘striking correspondence between [the ancient myths] and the subsequent Scriptural story of Christ and salvation.’⁴⁸
The skeptics had exploited the cultural similarities among the constellations as evidence that Christian beliefs were merely primitive archetypes. With input from Rolleston, Seiss in turn interpreted these archetypes as evidence that the stars carried an ancient Gospel message visible to all. However, the remembrance, in legendary form, of historical events such as the Flood also accounts for these so-called ‘archetypes’. Images of these ‘archetypes’ were indeed imposed on star patterns. That is the claim of this paper. Thus the similarities in constellations reflect the reality of historical events affecting all mankind rather than a supposed prophecy in the stars.
Was there ever a need for a Gospel in the stars? A careful reading of the Bible suggests not, for even among the ante-diluvians Enoch (Genesis 5:21–24) ‘prophesied … saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints’ (Jude 14–15). And long before this, Genesis 3:15—the so-called ‘proto-evangelium’—records that God, speaking to Adam and Eve, had prophesied the coming of His Son to Earth. Gospel-in-the-stars advocates associates constellations with the biblical statement in Genesis 1:14–18 that God created stars for ‘signs’, but these verses mention only stars, not constellations. Seeing constellations in Genesis 1:14–18 is a kind of eisegesis, the reading in of a concept not mentioned in the passage but present in the mind of the reader.

Table 2. Names of the 24 brightest stars according to Fleming.⁴⁴
References for Table 2. (1) Fleming,⁴⁴ pp. 21–22. (2) Pages cited in Allen.²¹ (3) In Fleming⁴⁴ (p. 21), Rigil Kentaurus is Toliman. (4) Vega and Capella are actually 5th and 6th; Arcturus is 4th.⁵⁰ (5) Altair is actually 12th, after Betelgeuse and Hadar.⁵⁰ (6) In Fleming (p. 21), Hadar is Agena. (7) A-crux is actually 24th.⁵⁰ (8) Aldebaran, 14th, is actually preceded by HD 213468,⁵⁰ not listed in Fleming.⁴⁴ (9) Pollux, Spica and Anteres are actually 17th, 15th and 16th, respectively.⁵⁰ (10) Regulus is actually 21st and Mimosa is 20th.⁵⁰ (11) In Fleming⁴⁴ (p. 22), Mimosa is B-crux. (12) Castor is actually 25th, Alioth 33rd, and Bellatrix 28th.⁵⁰

Gospel-in-the-stars advocates also infer from star names that the stars individually must have been primeval revelation. Some of the brightest stars, for example, have names reminiscent of biblical themes⁴⁹ (see table 2). However, the Bible nowhere reveals the name that God has given to each star, so there is no guarantee that the traditional star names preserve elements of divine nomenclature. Mankind’s ancient awareness of special revelation as mentioned in Genesis 3:15 and Jude 14–15, along with mankind’s memories of ancient historical ‘archetypes’, however, explains the similarity between star names and biblical themes.
Further, the primeval meaning of many star names is uncertain at best; ‘“etymology has full play with a word which has not traveled beyond astronomical language”—a statement … applicable to very many … star names.’²¹ By stretching uncertain meanings, the appearance of agreement can be produced between the supposed ancient meanings and biblical themes. In addition, the errors in Fleming’s list of star brightness order, noted at the bottom of table 2, do not add credibility to the supposed ‘revelatory’ significance he attributed to each star name.

Conclusions

The cultures of today emanated from a single point which the Bible identifies as Babel. Constellation similarities are an evidence of this fact.

The cultures of today emanated from a single point which the Bible identifies as Babel. Constellation similarities are an evidence of this fact. The question has been asked, ‘is there not a good deal of evidence to show that the constellations grew up gradually in Babylonia, and approximated more and more nearly to those we know as time approached the age of Greek astronomy?’¹³ The answer appears to be yes.
This conclusion falsifies the claim that the constellations were a kind of primeval Gospel revelation. It strengthens the realization that God has always given special revelation to mankind though His chosen prophets and His written Word, this last being the exclusive source of special revelation since the close of the apostolic age.

Acknowledgments

The crucial assistance of Mr Michael Clater, head librarian at Clearwater Christian College, in locating original versions of the old documents cited herein is gratefully acknowledged.

• Astronomy And The Bible
• Astronomy and Astrophysics Questions and Answers
• Noah’s Flood and the Gilgamesh Epic

Further Reading

• Astronomy And The Bible
• Astronomy and Astrophysics Questions and Answers
• Noah’s Flood and the Gilgamesh Epic

References

1. Murray, C., Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 BC to 1950, HarperCollins, New York, pp. 21–22, 2003. Return to text.
2. Aveni, A.F., Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico, University of Texas, Austin, TX, pp. 30–31, 1989. Return to text.
3. Henry, J.F., The Astronomy Book, Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 1999, pp. 24–25. Return to text.
4. There has long been the idea that God defined the constellations as a pre-biblical revelation, a so-called ‘gospel in the stars’. See in the text the section, ‘Is the Gospel in the stars?’ Return to text.
5. Morris, H.M., The Genesis Record, Institute for Creation Research, San Diego, CA, p. 278, 1976. Return to text.
6. Ovenden, M.W., The origin of constellations, The Philosophical Journal 3:1–18, July 1966; p. 1. An exception is the three stars in Orion’s belt (Levy, D.H. and Betelgeuse, J.P., Astronomy15(4):7–13, April 1987. Orion’s belt has the three bright stars zeta Orionis (Alnitak), epsilon Orionis (Alnilam), and delta Orionis (Mintaka). These three stars are at the same distance from earth (1,500 light-years), so they lie in the very plane in which they appear to be situated. Perhaps that is why, in Job 38:31, God asks Job, ‘Canst thou … loose the bands of Orion?’ in an apparent allusion to His ability to maintain the placement of the Pleiades’ stars in space. These three stars are also remarkably similar in other ways (the same size, about 20 times larger than the sun; and similar surface temperatures, about 50,000 ºC or somewhat higher). Return to text.
7. Jeans, J., The Story of Physical Science, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, p. 8, 1951. Return to text.
8. Morris, ref. 5, p. 675. Return to text.
9. Evershed, M.A., The origin of the constellations, Observatory36:179–181, April 1913; p. 179. Return to text.
10. Maunder, E.W., The zodiac explained, Observatory21:441, December 1898. Return to text.
11. Ovenden, ref. 6, p. 6. Return to text.
12. Hartmann, W.K., Astronomy, Wadsworth, Belmont, CA, p. 15, 1991. Return to text.
13. Evershed, ref. 9, p. 181. Return to text.
14. Schaefer, B.E., The latitude and epoch for the origin of the astronomical lore of Eudoxus, American Astronomical Society Meeting203, #35.01, December 2003; , 8 July 2004. Return to text.
15. Maunder, E.W., The origin of the constellations, Observatory36:330, April 1913. Return to text.
16. Ovenden, ref. 6, p. 8. Return to text.
17. Maunder, ref 10, p. 439. Return to text.
18. Brecher, K., Sirius Enigmas; in: Brecher, K. and Feirtag, M. (Eds.), Astronomy of the Ancients, MIT, Cambridge, MA, p. 91, 1979. Return to text.
19. de Santillana, G. and von Dechend, H., Hamlet’s Mill, Gambit, Boston, MA, p. 216, 1969. Return to text.
20. de Santillana and von Dechend, re. 19, p. 358. Return to text.
21. Allen, R.H., Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Dover, New York, p. 313, 1963; originally published as Star-Names and Their Meanings, G.E. Stechert, New York, 1899. Return to text.
22. Schoemfeld, M., Prehistoric astronomy: a zodiac from bohusian province, Norway, Scientific American 3:301–303, 1921. Return to text.
23. Aitchison, J.E., The Pleiades in Aboriginal Mythology, SIS Workshop 5, September 1983; in: Tresman, I. (Ed.), Catastrophism!: Man, Myth and Mayhem in Ancient History and the Sciences, CD–ROM version 1.41, (33 Reginald Street, Derby DE23 8FR, UK, Knowledge Computing, May 2004). The Nazca Indians of Peru recognized the Pleiades. Hadingham, E., Lines to the Mountain Gods, University of Oklahoma, Norman, p. 104, 1988. Return to text.
24. Haliburton, R.G., Primitive traditions as to the Pleiades, Nature 25:100–101, 1 December 1881; p. 100. Return to text.
25. Hartmann, ref. 12, p. 14. Return to text.
26. ‘… if we take the date to be 2800 BC ± 300 years, the observers’ latitude becomes 34° ± 4° … [On the other hand, a statistical analysis of star positions inferred from various statements in Aratus yields an estimate for the date and latitude of] 2600 BC ± 800 years, 36°N ± 1½°’ (Ovenden, ref. 6, pp. 11, 12). Return to text.
27. Pannekoek, A., A History of Astronomy, Allen and Unwin, London, 1961, p. 74; reprinted Dover, Mineola, New York, 1989. Return to text.
28. Gingerich, O., On the origin of the zodiac, Sky & Telescope 67:218–220, March 1984; p. 218. Return to text.
29. Ovenden, ref. 6, p. 15. Return to text.
30. Henry, J.F., Fallacies of radiometric dating, Appendix A, The Sothic Cycle and Egyptian chronology, 2007, , accessed 30 August 2008. Return to text.
31. See the section, ‘Is the Gospel in the stars?’ Return to text.
32. Hislop, A., The Two Babylons: or the Papal Worship Proved to Be the Worship of Nimrod and His Wife, Loizeaux Brothers, Neptune, NJ, p. 13, 1959. Hislop began this work in 1853 in the form of a pamphlet; it was first published as a book in 1919. See ‘The Two Babylons’ (, April 24, 2007). Ralph Woodrow, in Babylon Mystery Religion (Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Association, Palm Springs, CA, 1966), once advocated Hislop’s ideas. But in The Babylonian Connection? (Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Association, Palm Springs, CA, 1997), pp. 23–28, Woodrow claimed some of Hislop’s conclusions to be undocumented speculation. However, one should not swing from Hislop’s assertion that nearly all cultural practices began at Babel to the opposite claim that virtually nothing began at Babel (Woodrow, 1997, p. 24). In fact, History Begins at Sumer is the title of a book by historian Samuel Noah Kramer (Doubleday Anchor, Garden City, NY, 1959). Sumer was the biblical Shinar (Genesis 11:1), the location of Babel, and the centre of the first civilization after the Flood. Kramer asserted that many cultural practices and patterns did in fact first appear in the Sumer of 2800 BC (p. 29). Return to text.
33. Ovenden, ref. 6, pp. 16–17. Return to text.
34. Aitchison, ref. 23. Return to text.
35. Isaacs, J. (Ed.), Australian Dreaming, Aboriginal Arts Board and Lansdowne Press, Sydney, Australia, p. 152, 1980. Return to text.
36. Frazier, J.G., The Golden Bough, Part 5, Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild vol. 1, Macmillan, London, p. 313, 1920. Return to text.
37. Ginzberg, L., Szold, H. (tr.), Legends of the Jews vol. 1, Jewish Publication Society of America, Phildelphia, PA, p. 162, 1968; reprint of 1909 edition. Return to text.
38. Allen, ref. 21, p. 554. Return to text.
39. Singer, C., A Short History of Scientific Ideas to 1900, Oxford University, New York, p. 215, 1959. Return to text.
40. Rolleston, F., Mazzoroth, or, the Constellations, Rivingtons, London, 1862, ), reprinted 1882. Return to text.
41. Rolleston, ref. 40, part 1, p. 7. Return to text.
42. Seiss, J.R., The Gospel in the Stars, E. Claxton, Philadelphia, p. 6, 1882; reprinted Kregel, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1972. Return to text.
43. Bullinger, E.W., The Witness of the Stars, Lamp Press, London, p. iii, 1954. Return to text.
44. Fleming, K.C., God’s Voice in the Stars, Loizeaux Brothers, Neptune, NJ, p. 143, 1981. Return to text.
45. Morris, H.M, Many Infallible Proofs, Creation-Life, San Diego, CA, p. 343, 1974. Return to text.
46. Beechick, R., Adam and His Kin, Arrow Press, Pollock Pines, CA, pp. 50–53, 172, 175, 1990. Return to text.
47. Rolleston, ref. 40, part 2, p. 7. Return to text.
48. Seiss, ref. 42, p. 6. Return to text.
49. Fleming, ref. 44, pp. 21–22. Return to text.
50. Kornberg, C., The Brightest Stars, 9 November 1998, . Return to text.

Nephilim Giants In Norse Mythology



Taken from: http://www.britam.org/AesirSalverda.html

Scandinavian Legends and the Hebrew Bible

The Aesir Legends from Norse Mythology

by

John R. Salverda

The ancient religion of the Northern Europeans was originally divided into two groups of gods called the Aesir and the Vanir. After a bit of confrontation, these two groups seem to have realized their relationship to one another and joined forces to oppose their common enemy, the giants. The Vanir gods, such as Freyr, were fertility gods who were associated with ships and pigs. I suppose that the Vanir stories represent those who arrived in Europe via the sea in ships (those of Danish descent, the Swedes, the Frisians, and the Jutes or Anglos for example). The Aesir on the other hand were wanderers, they arrived over land (the Saxons and the Scythians or Goths). The Aesir group is the division of Norse mythology that this article mainly concerns itself (The Vanir group, which also has many correspondences with the ancient Israelites, although much more Canaanite in nature, can be dealt with separately.).Although the Norse had the notion of an over all god of everything, whom they referred to as "Alfadur" (Odin is sometimes referred to as Alfadur meaning "All-father," but this name is also used in a way that shows that the Norse had an idea of a deity superior to Odin, uncreated and eternal.), he was a mystery and they had virtually no mythology about him (after the end of time he is destined to step up and provide a new, perfected, Heaven and Earth). For all intents and purposes they called their supreme god "Odin." The name "Odin" is to be compared to the name "Adon," the very name that the Israelites used for God at the time of their Assyrian exile. To the Israelites "Adon" means "Lord" and the they used it because the Almighty's actual name was considered by them to be ineffable.

Oddly enough, the Greek and Roman historians who looked into the matter did not usually identify Odin with Zeus (Jupiter), but with Hermes (Mercury) as the god of wandering. This is not so strange as it may seem because the ultimate origin of the Greek mythological character Hermes was the Hebrew patriarch Moses (the serpent stick carrying messenger of god who freed the earthly wife of god (Io) from her captivity and lead her on her famous wanderings, see http://www.britam.org/salverda/io.html).

That is why the day of Hermes "Wednesday," as it is called in the Northern European languages, is named for Odin. The Norse myths about Odin, and indeed much of Norse mythology in general, is based upon the God of Moses and the writings of Moses.

Take for instance Norse mythology's debt to Genesis, the first book of Moses. At the foundation of the world of Norse Mythology is a very significant tree (called Ygdrasill). It grew at the center of a place called Midgard (Gen. 2:9), where Odin had formed and placed the first human pair Askr and Embla. He imbued them with life and gave them spirit with his breath (Gen. 2:7). Here also could be found the Norse archetype of evil, a serpent called the Midgard serpent (Gen. 3:1). Odin, foreseeing the trouble that the serpent posed, made it an outcast by throwing the serpent out of Midgard into the sea, where it grew and grew until it encompassed the entire world (Rev. 12:9). The first born son of Odin, Thor (Torah?) is destined, at the end of time, to destroy the Midgard serpent and sacrifice his own life in the act (Gen. 3:15). This is the outline of a very familiar story indeed, one that could easily be derived from the works of Moses.

At the base of the tree in the middle of Midgard is a spring that is divided into three heads (Gen. 2:9,10) one of which is called "the well of Ymir" it is the source of all knowledge (of good and evil?). Odin sacrificed one of his eyes in order to drink from it. Although the source of knowledge among the Norse was not the tree but a well, this Idea is not foreign to Israelite culture, consider the concept of "Miriam's well" as is outlined in Ginzberg were it is said that God made it on the second day of creation, and other Jewish Legends were it is said that the drinking of it inspired prophecies.

Furthermore, they had the motif of the fruits of the tree of eternal life. In the Prose Edda we read about a character named "Idun" (Eden?). Idun is described as a woman with a certain box within which she keeps the apples of eternal youth. The apples are eaten by the gods when they age to make them young again. The downfall of all creation is caused when access to the miraculous fruits are denied. The great flood is also a feature of Norse mythology. Odin killed the Giant Ymir. The blood from Ymir's wounds flooded the world (the blood of Ymir is explained in the myth as the seas.), and the Giants drowned. Only one, (a hero named "Begelmir"), was able to save himself and his wife, these were the ancestors of all later races. Also included is the symbolism of the rainbow. According to Norse mythology the rainbow (therein called "Bifrost") is the bridge between Heaven and Earth, as such it is the pathway between god and man, much like the Scriptural rainbow symbolizes the covenant between God and man (Gen. 9:11-17).

Just as it is in the Hebrew Scriptures, The Norse giants were not completely wiped out in the great flood of Norse myths. Nephilim, a Scriptural term, often translated as "giants" actually means something like "shades" or "ghosts," is very plausibly the origin of the Nordic term "Niffleheim " which is their name for the land of the dead. The usual term for the land of the human dead was "Hela" this was the Nordic equivalent to the Hebrew "Sheol," this was the repository for the bulk of mankind, the heroic dead went to Valhalla. However whenever a giant was dispatched it would go to Niffleheim (the world of the Nephilim?).

The racial features of the Amorites was depicted on the monuments of the Egyptians at Karnak. They were a tall people of blondes and brunettes with blue eyes. The Amorites were identified in the Scriptures as the descendants of the giants (the fallen angels). They had a sacred mountain that was the cultural focus of their nation, Mount Herman. It was the "Zion" (they called it "Sion" or "Senir") of the Amorites. According to Ginzberg's "Legends of the Jews" Mount Herman was the location where the Fallen angels had climbed down from Heaven to cohabitate with the daughters of men, ostensively the Amorite daughters. It was very probably the religion of the giants that is referred to in the Scriptures at Genesis 15:16 as "the iniquity of the Amorites," The religion of Moses stood in opposition to and superseded it (see http://www.britam.org/salverda/olympus.html).

In the Judeo-Christian continuum the giants began as the fallen angels who were bred into the Amorite nation. Later, when the Amorites were transplanted from the immediate vicinity, the giants devolved back into the fallen angels again, who would eventually reappear for a war against the good angels at the end of times. The Greeks, colonists from the Levant living far from the Amorites, portrayed the giants as leaders of a previous religious system that was defeated an exiled to the west by Zeus and the Olympians. When Olympianism took over the giants were pretty much out of the picture, a mere afterthought. However, for the Norse the "giants," as a national historical reality, continued to be an ongoing concern. The Norse had to live as neighbors with the remnants of the Amorites, the Germans (named for their original homeland in the shadow of mount "Herman"). Thus Norse mythology displays an enduring preoccupation with the giants unlike any other tradition. To them it was not the "spiritual" bad angels who had to be defeated, but the gods and the giants were at constant war, right up until the end of time, and there was no certainty of divine victory either.

Finally, as previously indicated, there is the notion of end times eschatology, not many religious systems include the idea that there will be an "end of times," an Armageddon as it were. This is a primarily Israelite notion, Christianity, an offshoot of the Judean religion, has it. Zoroastrianism (I would argue that it also is an offshoot of the Israelite religion, [see http://britam.org/zarathustra.html] has it. Muslims, another people of "the book" also have their version of it. That's about it, however, in keeping with the topic of this article, Norse Mythology has a very detailed end times eschatology, therein it is called "Ragnarok," the "twilight of the gods." At Ragnarok will occur the final battle of all creation, it is the culmination of the war between the gods and those giants from the days of old. At this time the rainbow bridge between Heaven and Earth, (the Norse symbol of the Covenant), will be broken to pieces. Also this is when the firstborn son of Odin is destined to finally destroy the Midgard serpent. This cannot help but remind one of the Judeo-Christian end times concept of war breaking out between the great leader of the host of Heaven and the fallen angels lead by the ancient serpent and its' destruction (Rev.12:7). From where did they get this notion? Well, I submit that they got it from the same source that all the others got it from, the Israelites, in this case it is a legacy of their Israelite heritage.

--

-John R. Salverda



New Series Also by John R. Salverda:


"Helleno-Yishurin. The Hebrew Origin of Greek Legends"

Joseph, son of Jacob (Israel), was Imhotep, of Egyptian History



Taken from: http://theegyptianidentityofjoseph.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/joseph-son-of-jacob-israel-was-imhotep-of-egyptian-history/

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February 20, 2012 · Barriers to equating Joseph with Imhotep, The Egyptian Identity of Joseph son of Jacob, Who was Imhotep

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• Nigel HawkinsWebsite: http://theegyptianid…Medical Doctor Married Three Children Born Again Christian

Joseph, son of Jacob (Israel), was Imhotep, of Egyptian History

Egyptian History is consistent with the Bible

Joseph was the 11th son of Jacob, the Patriarch of Israel. Joseph was 30 years old when he became the sage or visier to Pharaoh and lead Egypt through seven years of famine. The Pharaohs became wealthy and powerful because of Joseph. Joseph brought up all the land of Egypt (except for that of the priest’s) and reduced the Egyptian people to servitude. He married the daughter of the High Priest in Heliopolis (Capital city ‘On’). He lived to the age of 110 and ensured the survival of the Israelites.

Egyptian history records a visier to Pharaoh Djoser of the third dynasty by the name of Imhotep who lived for 110 years and saved Egypt from a seven year famine and made Egypt very wealthy. He is said to have designed the first pyramid, been the first to used columns in architecture, performed operations and established the practice of embalming. He wrote many literary works and was the first to use papyrus.
Could Joseph and Imhotep have been the same person?

Joseph and Imhotep were the same person

Introduction

This article looks at the person of Joseph, son of Jacob, in the Bible, and whether or not there is any non-Biblical Egyptian historical or archeological evidence of his existence.

Joseph is responsible for saving Egypt from a seven year famine and may have built the massive underground silos that can be found in many cities of Egypt. [1] [2] [3] In particular, he may have built the silos associated with the first pyramid built in Egypt (The Step Pyramid which is part of the Djoser Pyramid complex at Saqqara, designed by Imhotep). [4] [5] [6] [7]

There are many similarities between the profile of Joseph and Imhotep. [8] [9] [10] [5] Imhotep is also credited with saving Egypt from a seven year famine after hearing of the Pharaoh’s dream. Imhotep, like Joseph, was a commoner with some divine connection and was placed second in charge of Egypt by the King (Netjerikhet). [8]

Joseph brought up all the land for Pharaoh by selling the grain he stored during the seven years that preceded the famine [11] ; a feat that could only have been performed once, early in Egypt’s history, and explains how the Pharaohs became so powerful and able to built the pyramids.

Given that Joseph was one of the Patriarchs of Israel, and figures very early in the Biblical record, less than 1000 years after the flood of Noah, it is quite possible that he may have figured in the early parts of Egyptian history, namely the Third Dynasty of Pharaoh Djoser. [9] [12] [13]

Until recently, the most compelling argument against Joseph and Imhotep being the same person, has been the discrepancy between the estimated times during which they lived. [4] [14]

In the last 50 years, evidence has accumulated to suggest that Egyptian dynasties may overlap and may not date back as far as was once thought. [15] [16] [17] [18] Egyptian records are not chronological. [12] Furthermore, the pyramids were probably constructed much later that many historians have estimated. [19]

If this “modern alignment” of the Egyptian dynasties is correct, it is highly likely that Joseph and Imhotep were the same person [20] [21] [22] [23] [18] and Egyptian History would be consistent with the Bible.

If it can be generally accepted that Joseph and Imhotep were the same person, this would give historians an anchor in history in order to further correlate the history of Egypt, Israel and Mesopotamia.

Biblical References to Joseph

References to Joseph can be found in the Book of Genesis in the Holy Bible, the Torah and The Koran.
These are the Holy scriptures of the Christian faith, Judaism and Islam respectively.
The story of Jospeh is told in Genesis Chapters 37-50.
Genesis is the first book of the Bible and no Biblical scholars would dispute the historical nature of this part of the Book.

Any suggestion that Joseph was a symbolic, mythical or a fictional character would be deeply offensive to these religions.

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  Biblical Genealogy

After the Flood [24] and the dispersion of Babel [25] , people spread out over all the Earth.

Terah set out from Ur of the Chaldeans with his Son Abraham to go to Canaan but stopped at Haran. [26]
This is where Abraham was called by God. God promised to make him into a great nation and to bless all nations through him. [27]
God made a covenant with Abraham and promised him the land of Canaan which his descendants would take possession of after serving as slaves in a foreign land (Egypt) for 400 years (4 generations). [28]
Abraham was to become the father of many nations centered around the middle east as we know it today.
He had Ishmael (Ishmaelites) to Hagar, his wife’s maid servant. [29] Ishmael became the Patriach of the Islamic religion.
Then at the age of 100 Abraham had Issac to his wife Sarai. [30]
It was to be thru Issac that God would fulfill his promise to Abraham and so Ishmael was sent away. [31]
Issac married Rebeka who bore Esau (the Edomites) and Jacob (the Israelites). Abraham had a third wife Keturah who bore many children who were sent to the middle east and became fathers of nations there too. [32]

Jacob eventually bore 12 sons and a daughter. The eleventh son was Joseph. Joseph was the first son of Rachael (Jacob’s second wife). [33] Jacob had an encounter with God one night and was renamed Israel. [34] His descendants (the Jews) became the Nation of Israel (from which comes Judaism) out of which came Christ (Christianity) with whom God would fulfill his promise to Abraham. [35]

Genealogy of Noah (according to the Bible)

Genealogy of Abraham (according to the Bible)

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  Biblical History

In the Biblical account, (Genesis 37-50) Joseph was the first born Son of Rachael (Jacob’s second wife). Jacob (Israel) favored Joseph over his other children. Joseph had a dream that one day he would rule over his brothers. His brothers became jealous of him and so sold him to slave traders who took him to Egypt. [36] He was subsequently sold to Potiphar in Egypt as a slave and was subsequently wrongfuly imprisoned.
It was in prison where he came to the attention of Pharaoh through his cupbearer who informed Pharaoh of Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams by the power of God. Pharaoh needed counsel about his own dreams and was not able to find anybody from his own kingdom to help.

Joseph was able to tell Pharaoh the meaning of his dreams which fortold of a coming famine lasting seven years but preceded by seven years of abundance. Pharaoh made Joseph second in charge over his all his kingdom. During the seven years of abundance, Joseph was able to build silos in every city and store enough grain to feed the Nation during the seven years of famine that followed. [37]

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  Joseph’s achievements in Egypt

When Joseph was 30 yrs old, Pharaoh put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. Pharaoh gave Joseph his signet ring, dressed him in fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. He was given a chariot to ride around Egypt as second in command. Joseph’s name was changed to Zapheneth Paneah and he was given a wife Asenath (Daughter of Potiphera, priest of On). [1]
During the seven years of abundance, Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain in each city from the fields surrounding them. [2]
He had two sons to Asenath, Mannaseh & Ephraim. [38]
Joseph saved Egypt and Caanan by selling the people grain during the 7 year famine. When the people had run out of money, Joseph brought their livestock. When they had run out of livestock he brought the land titles. [3]
Joseph brought up all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The priests did not have to sell their land as Pharaoh gave them a supply of food. [11]
Joseph’s family were saved. [39] Jacob (Israel) and his eleven other sons along with their wives and servants were invited by Pharaoh to come and live in Egypt. [40] They settled in Rameses and became numerous in number. [41]
Jacob died and was afforded an Egyptian burial [42] after blessing his children and those of Joseph. [43] [44] Joseph reassures his brothers after Jacobs death. [45] Eventually Joseph dies at the age of 110 and is given an Egyptian style burial aswell. [46]
After 430 years passed, the Israelites numbered over 2 million. They were eventually lead out of Egypt by Moses through the Red Sea (the exodus). [47]

Is Joseph likely to have figured in Egyptian records?

If Joseph was placed second in charge of Egypt by Pharaoh, there should be some note of this in Egyptian records. [1]
Joseph helped to save Egypt and the surrounding nations from a famine lasting seven years. [2]
Joseph would have had to construct massive grain silos for storing grain in many Egyptian cities and indeed, massive silos can be found in many historical significant Egyptian cities today (eg Saqqara).
Joseph married the daugher of one of the High Priests in Egypt. [1] He saved his country from a seven year famine and brought up all the land of Egypt except for that of the priests who did not need to sell their land because Pharaoh supplied them with food. The people became loyal subjects of Pharaoh because of what Joseph had done. [3]
Joseph was, therefore, responsible for making the Pharaoh’s wealthy and powerful. [11]
Joseph served the Pharaohs from the age of thirty. [1] He died at the age of 110 years of age and was given a Royal Egyptian burial. [46] It is quite possible that he may have been involved with the design of the first and maybe the second pyramid.
His family, the descendants of Jacob (Israel), produced mud bricks and became numerous in number in the 430 years that they lived in Egypt. There were over 600 thousand adult males (not counting women and children) who were lead out of Egypt by Moses during a time of great disaster in Egypt. [47]
With a list of accomplishments like this, it would be hard to conceive that Joseph would not be mentioned in Egyptian heiroglyphics or memorialized some other way.

Where does Joseph fit into Egyptian History?

Estimates of dates have long been the common denominator used by archaeologists and historians alike when trying to piece together ancient history.
Various teams of archaeologist have used a number of different dating methods to estimate how old a particular artifact is. For example, the type of pottery that is predominant in a layer can be used to date the layer.
Assumptions behind various dating techniques are not alway right. This can sometimes lead to artifacts being incorrectly dated by as much as 1000 to 2000 years.
If history is pieced together based only upon the estimated dates of particular dynasties, the results can be quite erroneous and it will be little wonder why Egyptian and Hebrew history does not fit together and why no Egyptian equivalent of Joseph has been found using the dates traditionally ascribed to various Egyptian dynasties.
An increasing number of historians are now calling into question the dates of Egyptian dynasties. In particular, Sweeney [15] [21] [19] [48] , Velikovski [49] [50] [51] , Fry [52] [12] [53] [16] [54] [55] [56] [57] [58] [59] [20] , Reilly [13] [17] [60] [22] Ashton & Down [18] .
Using their revised dating system, the historical records of Israel and Egypt fit together much better and it is possible to identify likely correlates and contemporaries of important Biblical Characters.
Conventional wisdom which has been very reliant on dating methods has been unable to find any evidence that the Patriarchs of Israel lived in Egypt and have not found any possible candidates for Joseph because they are looking for evidence of him in the Hyksos dynasty which is estimated to have been around 1700BC according to conventional chronology. As a result, conventional wisdom states that Joseph and other Biblical figures were minor figures in Egypt that were not note worthy enough to have been memorialized in the heiroglyphic records and other monuments that have been uncovered.
Modern thinking using the revised chronology results in much clearer picture with the history Israel and Egypt lining up and matching archaeological records. Abraham is considered to be a contemporary of Menes. Imhotep is considered to be the Joseph of the Bible and Djoser is considered to be the Pharaoh that he served [13] [17] [21] [15] [52] [54] .
This would fit with the theory that Amenemhet III was the Pharaoh of Moses who oppressed the Israelites making them make mud bricks [18] . Also of note is that the pyramid of Amenemhet III was made of mud bricks containing straw. [18] Amenemhet III was the 6th Pharaoh of the 12th dynasty and lived 450 to 500 years after Pharaoh Djoser in the 3rd dynasty. [18] He had only daughters who had a son (Amenemhet IV) who disappeared before he could become King. It has been suggested that Amenemhet IV was Moses. [18]
The Exodus took place during the Reign of Neferhotep I during the 13th dynasty in 1445BC. He was the only Pharaoh of that dynasty [18]
The Hyksos (15th & 16th dynasties) which were contemporary with Joshua and the Judges, came to an end when King Saul destroyed the Amalekites (Hyksos) [18] [61]
Dynasty 17 was contemporary with dynasty 16. [18]
Amenhotep I and Thutmosis I of the 18th dynasty were contemporaries of David. [18] Hatshepsut was the Queen of Sheba who visited Solomon. [62] [63] Thutmosis III came to power during the reign of Jereboam and became the greatest Pharaoh of Egypt. [18]
‘Modern’ Chronology (Ashton & Down 2006) [18]

Date	Dynasty	Egypt	Contemporary_in_Israel
2080BC	1st	Menes	Abraham
1900BC	3rd	Djoser_+_Imhotep	Joseph
1531BC	12th	Amenemhet_III (6th_Pharaoh)	Moses
1445BC	13th	Neferhotep I	The Exodus (Moses)
1405 -1021BC	15th_&_16th	Hyksos	Joshua to Saul
1018BC	18th	Amenhotep I & Thutmosis I	King David
950BC	18th	Hatshepsut [Queen of Sheba]	Solomon
929BC	18th	Thutmosis III	Jereboam

Why is it so hard to piece together Egyptian records?

The Egyptians suffered great losses at the time of the Exodus and may not have wanted to remember what Joseph and his family had achieved during their 400 year stay in Egypt. This may be one reason why it is very difficult to find historical information about the exploits of the Israelites in Egypt.
This may also been the reason that the second pyramid designed by Imhotep was not completed.
Another reason why it is difficult to find historical information is because much of it was lost or destroyed by various seiges, conquests, natural distasters and even erosion over the centuries.
Egyptian records are written as qlyphs (pictures) in stone. They have a number of limitations – you need to know ‘the code’ ie what they mean. Pronunciation is not indicated as with Greek and English and there is no time stamp. The art of interpreting them (heiroglyphics)has been somewhat lost.

Similarities between Joseph and Imhotep

Imhotep – Egyptian records	Joseph – Bible
Imhotep is appointed Administrator by Pharaoh Djoser during the periods of seven years famine and seven years of bountiful harvests [8]	Joseph is appointed Administrator to Pharaoh for the seven years of plenty then of famine
Minister to the King of Lower Egypt [8]	Pharaoh .. made him ruler over all the land of Egypt
Administrator of the Great Palace [8]	Thou shalt be over my house
Not of royal blood; attained position by ability [8]	From another nation and religion, not of royal blood, attained position by ability
Not appointed by Pharaoh Djoser until he had reigned for some time [8]	Appointed well after Pharaoh ruled Egypt
Given the status of “son” to Pharaoh [8]	Granted the status of “son” to Pharaoh
High Priest in Heliopolis [8]	Married to Asenath, daughter of Poti-Pherah, High Priest in Heliopolis – by custom, would succeed father-in-law
Builder and architect [8]	Builder of grain storehouses such as at Sakkara step-pyramid
Exalted by Pharaoh Djoser as of godly character [8]	And Pharaoh said, ‘a man in whom the spirit of God is!’
“I need advice from God” [8]	Noted as saying, “It is not in me; God shall give Pharaoh an answer”
Had great medical skill – was compared to the Greek God of Healing [8]	Had doctors under his authority – worked by miracles, dreams and signs from God
Decided the tax rate during the seven years of famine; also not to apply to priests [8]	Decided the tax rate during the seven years of famine; also not to apply to priests
Realizes when he is dying – dies at age 110 [8]	Realizes when he is dying – dies at age 110

Who was Imhotep?

Imhotep was a most interesting figure in the Egyptian culture, his name means “the one who comes in peace”. He served Djoser, the third dynasty king, he was the vizier to the pharaoh and they say that he was the high priest to the sun god Ra. [64]
Imhotep is attributed with being the first person in history to be an acting physician, he was also the first architect, he was a poet and also a philosopher. After his death he was given the status of a deity, he was only one of a very few commoners to ever be given that kind of an honor.

[64]

He is thought to be the architect of the first Pyramid; the step pyramid at Saqqara. [64]
He is also credited with the use of columns in architecture. [64]
He is known as the founder of Egyptian medicine, and he is famous for not incorporating magic into his medical treatments, he diagnosed and treated over two hundred diseases, he extracted medicine from plants and he is also known to have performed operations and dentist work. He knew the circulation of the blood system and he knew where each vital organ was placed and what its uses were. [64]
He became the god of medicine and healing, when the Greeks invaded Egypt they worshiped him and built him temples because they saw in him their own god of healing named Asclepius. [64]
Imhotep was also the first person known to use the papyrus scroll. He may have actually invented it! [64]
Among other things Imhotep is also attributed to the prediction and prevention of a seven year famine that came upon the land, he predicted the famine from a dream the pharaoh Djoser had, in this dream the god of the Nile spoke to the pharaoh, and Imhotep was the only one that could interpret the dream. [64]

Could Joseph and Imhotep have been the same person?

The Roman-Jewish historian, Josephus, quotes the writings of Manetho, Egyptian historian: “During [the] reign of .. Pharaoh Djoser, 3rd Egyptian dynasty, lived Imhotep .. [with a] reputation among Egyptians like the Greek God of medicine – [Manetho even wondered] whether Imhotep could have been an actual person .. [because he had] “so many outstanding qualities and talents .. a very special person [who] appears in the history of Egypt.” On the foundations of the Step Pyramid in Sakkara was carved the name of Pharaoh Djoser and “.. Imhotep, Chancellor of the King of Lower Egypt, Chief under the King, Administrator of the Great Palace, Hereditary Lord, High Priest of Heliopolis, Imhotep the Builder..”. [8] [65]
Joseph arrived in Egypt as a young man and married Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, the priest of On. [1]
This information precludes the theory that Joseph lived during Hyksos rule in Egypt. On or An was the ancient capital of Heliopolis (As-t Tem). Some claim that Egyptians also believed in One Great God who was never represented in their art work. Only his attributes, functions as Creator, Teacher and Healer were known as the neter or neteru. The symbolism surrounding Egyptian deities then is different from this One Great God, in whose image man was made, in that it scales our world and the universe to our dimensions so man can grasp it. The Egyptian name for this `One Great God’ is neter, probably an echo or more distant memory of the biblical Creator God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. [66]
Both Imhotep and Joseph imposed a 20% (one fifth) tax on the people with the exemption of the priests. [54]
Moeller refers to an inscription on the island of Sihiel, near the first cataract of the Nile, which actually links Imhotep to the key biblical element of the Joseph story – telling of Pharaoh Djoser in the 18th year of his reign. The inscription states “seven meagre years and seven rich years”. Commenting on the inscription, Moeller writes, “Pharaoh Djoser asks Imhotep to help him with the coming seven years of famine. All the biblical components of the story are there, and there is a similar inscription on the island of Philae in the Nile.” (This is exactly as in the Bible with Joseph, except for listing the “meagre” years before the years of plenty. Note: The famine years were, of course, the event of significance, saving everyone from starvation and bringing in much wealth to Egypt – it is noted that the manuscript was written a thousand years after the occurrences.) [67] [8]
Pharaoh renamed Joseph ‘Zapeneth Peneah’ [1] which means “master of the school of learning” [66] or “Man to whom secrets are revealed” [54] .
It is also interesting to note that circumcision was widely practiced among Egyptians from the third dynasty onward. Although Abraham did visit Egypt, it seems more likely that this practice was introduced by Joseph-Imhotep in the third dynasty. [54]
Egyptian records show that before Imhotep, the bodies of Egyptian royalty were not embalmed. Instead, they were entombed in early Egyptian structures called mastabas, (or mastabahs), oblong structures with flat roofs and sloping sides built over the opening of a mummy chamber or burial pit . [54]
Djoser appears to be the first king to have be embalmed, [54] Jacob (Israel) was embalmed by Joseph and buried in a coffin and Joesph himself was embalmed and given a royal Egyptian burial. [46] [42] The Biblical account suggests that only Joseph’s bones were preserved as was the practice in the early dynasties of the Old Kingdom. Preservation of the whole body was not practiced until the Era of King Tut (New Kingdom). [54]
Extremely noteworthy regarding Imhotep-Joseph is that the mummified bodies of neither have ever been found. The known facts regarding the burials of Imhotep and Joseph also strongly support the thesis that they were the same person: [8]
Both died at age 110. [8] [46]
Imhotep’s coffin in Sakkara – with innumeral Ibis birds mummified in the adjoining galleries (Imhotep was called “Ibis” because of his reputation for healing – a large number of Ibis birds were sacrificed to him at his funeral in Sakkara); many clay vessels bearing the seal of Pharaoh Djoser were near the coffin; and the coffin is oriented to the North, not East, and is empty. [8]
Joseph would have been buried at Sakkara, his coffin orientated to the North – indicating he did not believe in the gods of the Egyptians (who were buried facing East, the rising sun); the coffin would also be empty as Joseph’s bones would have been taken by Moses with the Hebrews during the Exodus. [8] [46]

Could Pharaoh Djoser (King Netjerikhet) be the Pharaoh of Joseph?

The ‘correct alignment’ of Israel’s and Egypt’s history will allow contemporary fragments of information to be linked together to build up a clear picture of ancient history. Combining the records of Egypt, Israel and Mesopotamia will help to fill in the gaps in each nations’ record.
Evidence is now accumulating to suggest that Egyptian dynasties may overlap and may not date back as far as was once thought. [15] [16] [17] [18] [66]
Dynasty 2 is considered contemporary with dynasty 3. [18] There was no first intermediate period. The dark ages of the first intermediate period have been confused with the dark ages of the second intermediate period. [18]
Dynasties 7-10 have been identified with 15-16 and Dynasty 17 was contemporary with dynasty 16. [18]
Egyptian history, therefore, does not date back as far as was once thought (3000BC – 5000BC) as per the Conventional Chronology. [18] [50] [51] [49] [21] [13] [17] [52] [12] [53] [16] [54] [66]
The first Egyptian dynasty is now considered to have started around 2100BC and the Great Flood is considered to have been around 2300-2400BC. [18]
The Exodus occured just after the end of the 12th dynasty in 1445BC. [66] [18]
Any Egyptian dates before the 12th dynasty are considered quite speculative and are only approximations [18]
This ‘Modern Alignment’ of the Dynasties fits the Biblical account and also the records of Mesopotamia.
The ‘Modern Alignment’ of the Dynasties provides the answers to the major objection to Joseph and Imhotep being the same person (namely the mismatching dates) and by the same token makes it highly likely that Pharaoh Djoser was the Pharaoh of Joseph.
While Sweeney points out that Abraham was a contemporary of Menes who were patriarchs of their respective civilizations some time after a catestrophic destruction [21] , he has probably over corrected the dates which are far too short even for Biblical events.
If it is agreed that Joseph was Imhotep and he served Pharaoh Djoser (Zozer) of the Third dynasty, it does not follow that the identity of Moses and the Pharaoh’s he was contemporary with will be agreed as there is not universal agreement about which dynasties to identify and which dynasties ran in parallel. [58] [66] [19] [18] [17]
‘Conventional’ Chronology [21]

Date	Egypt	Israel
3000BC	Menes (First dynasty displays strong mesopotamian influence)Djoser and Imhotep (Famine crisis solved when Imhotep interprets Djoser’s dream)
2000BC	First Intermediate period(Age of disturbance in nature and general lawlessness)	Abraham (migrates from mesopotamia and introduces some of the basic civiliation to Egypt)Joseph (Famine crisis in Egypt solved when Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream)
1000BC		Moses leads the Israelites to freedom amidst violent upheavals of nature

‘Revised’ Chronology (Sweeney 1997) [21]

Date	Egypt	Israel	Mesopotamia
1300+BC	Early_Badarian		‘Ubaid
1300BC	Catestrophic_Destruction	Catestrophic_Destruction	Catestrophic_Destruction
1200BC	Late_Bedarian_and_Gerzean	Khirbet_Kerak	Jamdat_Nasr(Early_Literacy)
1100- 1000BC	Destruction episode	Destruction episode	Destruction episode
1000BC	Menes (Early Dynastic Age)	Abraham	(Early Dynastic Age)
900BC	Djoser and Imhotep	Joseph
800BC	Destruction episode	Destruction episode	Destruction episode
800BC	Pyramid Age	Age of the Judges	Akkadian Age
700BC	Hyksos epoch	Saul	Sargon I

‘Modern’ Chronology (Ashton & Down 2006) [18]

Date	Dynasty	Egyptian_Pharaoh	Contemporary_in_Israel
2080BC	1st	Menes	Abraham
1900BC	3rd	Djoser_+_Imhotep	Joseph
1531BC	12th	Amenemhet_III (6th_Pharaoh)	Moses
1445BC	13th	Neferhotep I	The Exodus (Moses)
1405 -1021BC	15th_&_16th	Hyksos	Joshua to Saul
1018BC	18th	Amenhotep I & Thutmosis I	King David
950BC	18th	Hatshepsut [Queen of Sheba]	Solomon
929BC	18th	Thutmosis III	Jereboam

What implications does this have for Egyptian History?

If the ‘modern alignment’ of the Egyptian Dynasties is correct, Joseph can be identified with Imhotep and Egyptian history will be consistent with the Bible.
Pharaoh recognised Joseph’s divine inspiration and appointed him to be in charge of Egypt. Joseph built silos to store grain and so saved Egypt from a seven year famine. He acquired all the land of Egypt (other than the priest’s) for Pharaoh by selling grain. The Pharaohs became wealthy and powerful and the people of Egypt became his subjects. Joseph’s family was invited to live in Egypt (Rameses). [3] [11]
Joseph, therefore, saved his family and protected the Israelites as they grew to become a nation in Egypt. [45]
Djoser was the second Pharaoh of the 3rd dynasty of Egypt and came about three or four generations after Menes who was the Pharaoh of the 1st dynasty of Egypt and a contemporary of Abraham. [18] [21] [15]
Joseph came three generations after Abraham and was contemporary with Djoser (1900BC) . After his death he was deified because of his achievements. As King Netjeriket of the third Egyptian dynasty was also known by the name ‘Pharaoh Djoser’, it is possible that this name means ‘Pharaoh of Joseph’.
The Israelites stayed in Egypt 430 years. This takes us to the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th dynasty which is when the Exodus occurred. (1445BC) [18]
It is unlikely that Joseph was some inconspicuous person in the 18th dynasty of Hyksos as is commonly held by people who adhere to the ‘conventional alignment’ of Egyptian dynasties.
What’s more, if the ‘modern alignment’ is correct, the Hebrew influence of Egyptian culture will be re-established. The first pyramid would have been designed by a Hebrew. The Hebrew God can be credited for saving Egypt from a seven year famine and giving the Pharaoh’s their power, wealth and the means to build the other pyramids. The designer of the first pyramid will, once again, be seen to be a servant of the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, even though the pyramids later became objects of pagan worship and Imhotep was deified long after his death by the Greeks.
When the Israelites left Egypt, Joseph’s association with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was forgotten and the pyramids became symbols of pagan gods.
With the aid of hind sight it can be seen how the designer of the first pyramid, the savior of the Egyptian people and the man responsible for the Pharaoh’s power, known as Imhotep, would be deified some 1400 years after his death once his connection with the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob had been lost and forgotten.
The first pyramids, which were made of cut limestone, were built by the Egyptian people who had sold their land to Pharaoh and become his subjects.
After Joseph’s death, the Israelites were given the task of making mud bricks. [68] [69] Interestingly, the core of the Pyramid of Amenemhet III is made of mud bricks containing straw. [18] Amenemhet III was the 6th Pharaoh of the 12th Egyptian dynasty which preceeded the Exodus in 1445BC. [18]
Moses was forced to flee Egypt and go to Midian after killing an Israelite official. During that period, the Pharaoh died. [70] When he returned to Egypt, there was a new Pharaoh in power (possibly Neferhotep I of the 13th Dynasty). [18]
The Hyksos dynasties (14th & 15th dynasties) started after the Exodus, spanned the period of the Judges and was finally ended by Saul when he defeated the Amelekites. [18] [61]

What implications does this have for Israel and Christianity?

If Joseph was Imhotep, then Bible History is consistent with Egyptian history.
This will mean that there is archaeological evidence that the Patriarchs of Israel lived in Egypt.
Archaeological evidence for Israel in Arabia ⁄ Midian (Jabel el Lawz) in combination with the above would corroborate the Biblical account of the Exodus.
Joseph saved his family and protected the Israelites and allowed them to multiply in numbers so that they could fulfill what God had planned; namely to return to the land of Canaan and to take possession of it after spending 430 years in Egypt and 40 years in the Wilderness. [28]

What implications does this have for Literature, Medicine and Architecture?

If Joseph was Imhotep, this would make Joseph the father of medicine, the first architect to build with stone and use columns and the inventor of the papyrice and the first to use it (to write medical and non-medical literary works). [71] [72] [73] [74] [6] [75]
He probably served more than one pharaoh and appears to have designed at least two pyramids and several buildings that utilize columns. He was given the name Pathotep by a later pharaoh that he served. [54]
Imhotep may have invented the embalming techniques used to preserve the bodies of Egyptian Pharaohs. He became the first pathologist. He was known as the ‘Son of Ptah’ (or son of Path). [54] Hundreds of years after his death, he became deified and was known as the god Path. [54]
Not only was Pathotep’s name derived from that of the god Path, but our modern word, ‘Pathology’, was also derived from and bears his name. [54]

Summary: Joseph and Imhotep are the same person

There is such a strong match between the profile of Joseph and Imhotep that many historians, theologians and archaeologists have suggested that they are one in the same person.

There were only so many non royal, second in charge visiers who saved Egypt from a 7 year famine by interpreting Pharaohs dreams (with the power of God), imposed a 20% tax, brought up all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh (except for that of the priests), lived to the age of 110 and were embalmed when they died. – Imhotep & Joseph

Imhotep was also the High Priest of Heliopolis. Jospeh married the daughter of the high priest of On (the capital of Heliopolis) !

Until recently, the main case for not believing Joseph and Imhotep to be the same person, has been the considerable discrepancy between the estimated dates of their existance by as much as 1000 years!

Egyptian records are far from complete. They are not chronological and the exact way that fragments fit together is by no means certain.

In the Last 50 years, historians have realized that several Egyptian dynasties have been counted twice and some ran in parallel. The result is that Egyptian history can be substantially contracted, therefore eliminating the discrepancy in the estimated dates of Joseph and Imhotep.
This modern understanding of the Egyptian dynasties means that Joseph almost certainly was Imhotep and Egyptian History is consistent with the Bible.
If it can be generally accepted that Joseph and Imhotep were the same person, this would give historians an anchor in history in order to further correlate the history of Egypt, Israel and Mesopotamia.

Suggested Reading

1. J. Ashton & D. Down, Unwrapping the pharaohs. how Egyptian archaeology confirms the Biblical timeline, New Leaf Publishing Group (Master books), 2006. ISBN 978-0-89051-468-9 ISBN 0-89051-468-2 http://masterbooks.net
2. H. Bible, “Jacob bore 12 sons,” Genesis chapter 29-32,

3. H. Bible—”Keturah’s children sent away to Middle East,” Genesis 25:1-4,

4. H. Bible—”Abrahams children to be reckoned through Isaac,” Genesis 21:12,

5. H. Bible—”Ishmael sent away – Isaac the child of promise,” Genesis 21:8-13,

6. H. Bible—”Isaac born to Sarai,” Genesis Chapter 21,

7. H. Bible—”Ishmael born to Hagar,” Genesis Chapter 16,

8. H. Bible—”God’s covenant with Abraham,” Genesis Chapters 15 & 17,

9. H. Bible—”Call of Abraham,” Genesis Chapter 12,

10. H. Bible—”Terah sets out from Ur,” Genesis 11:27-32,

11. H. Bible—”The dispersion after Babel,” Genesis Chapter 11,

12. H. Bible—”The Flood,” Genesis Chapter 6,

13. H. Bible—”The Biblical account of Jospeh,” Genesis chapter 37-50,

14. H. Bible—”Jacob renamed Israel,” Genesis 32:22-32,

15. H. Bible—”Jacob favours Joseph,” Genesis chapter 37,

16. H. Bible—”Joseph sold into slavery and taken to Egypt,” Genesis 37:12-36,

17. H. Bible—”Joseph falsely accused and imprisoned in Egypt,” Genesis 39:1-23,

18. H. Bible—”Joseph able to interpret dreams,” Genesis 40:1-23,

19. H. Bible—”Joseph recognised by Pharaoh,” Genesis 41:1-40,

20. H. Bible—”The Exodus,” Exodus 12:31-42,

21. H. Bible—”Joseph reassures his brothers afer Jacob’s death,” Genesis 50:15-21,

22. H. Bible—”Jacob dies,” Genesis 49:29 -50:14,

23. H. Bible—”Jacob blesses his sons,” Genesis chapter 49,

24. H. Bible—”Jacob blesses Joseph’s children,” Genesis chapter 48,

25. H. Bible—”Pharaoh gives Jacob the land of Goshen,” Genesis Chapter 45,

26. H. Bible—”Joseph’s brothers go to Egypt to buy grain,” Genesis Chapters 42-44,

27. H. Bible—”Death of Joseph,” Genesis 50:22-26,

28. H. Bible—”Jacob moves to Egypt and settles in Rameses,” Genesis Chapter 46:1-47:12,

29. H. Bible—”Joseph buys up all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh,” Genesis 47:18-22,

30. H. Bible—”Joseph saves Egypt by selling grain,” Genesis 47:13-17,

31. H. Bible—”Joseph has two sons; Ephraim and Mannaseh,” Genesis 41:50-52,

32. H. Bible—”Joseph stores up huge quantities of grain in Egyptian cities,” Genesis 41:47-49,

33. H. Bible—”Pharaoh puts joseph in charge of all Egypt,” Genesis chapter 41:41-46,

34. H. Bible—”The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon,” 1Chron 9:1-12,

35. H. Bible—”The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon,” 1Kings 10:1-13,

36. H. Bible—”Saul destroys the Amalekites,” 1Samuel 15:2-9,

37. H. Bible__”Moses flees to Midian and Pharaoh eventually dies” Exodus 2:11-25,

38. H. Bible, “The Israelites oppressed,” Exodus 1:1-22,
39. H. Bible—”Pharaoh makes Israelites find own straw to make mud bricks,” Exodus 5:1-21,
40. “The Wall Chart of World History – From earliest times to the present” 1998 Bracken Books ISBN 1-86256-306-3

References:

1. H. Bible, “Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge of all Egypt,” Genesis chapter 41:41-46,

2. H. Bible—”Joseph stores up huge quantities of grain in Egyptian cities,” Genesis 41:47-49,

3. H. Bible—”Joseph saves Egypt by selling grain,” Genesis 47:13-17,

4. NationMaster.com, “Statemaster – Encyclopedia: Imhotep,” , statemaster.com, 2009.

5. M. Wyatt, “Joseph in ancient Egyptian history,” , http://wyattmuseum.com, 1994.

6. M. Millmore, “The Step Pyramid at Saqqara,” , http://www.eyelid.co.uk, 2008.

7. N. G. Society, “The Step Pyramid of Djoser. Egypt’s first pyramid.,”

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pyramids, 2009.

8. A. Kolom, “Is biblical Joseph the Imhotep of Egypt (famine-savior)? (Extra-biblical proof!),” , 2009.

9. E. Sweeney, “Were Joseph and Imhotep of Egypt The same man?,” THE GENESIS OF ISRAEL AND EGYPT, B. E. Sweeny (Editor), 2001.

10. B. Rhodes, “Joseph and Imhotep,” , http://the-red-thread.net/, 2009.

11. H. Bible, “Joseph buys up all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh,” Genesis 47:18-22,

12. D. Fry, “Hebrew sages of ancient Egypt – time calibrators,” Hebrew Sages of Ancient Egypt II, 2004.

13. J. Reilly, “Displaced dynasties,” Dysplaced Dynasties, 2009.

14. G. Byers, “Israel in Egypt,” , http://www.biblearchaeology.org, 2008.

15. E. Sweeney, The Genesis of Israel and Egypt (ages in alignment), vol. 1, Algora Pub, 2008. ISBN 0-87586-624-7 http://www.algora.com/238/book/details.html

16. D. Fry, “Hebrew sages of ancient Egypt -E gypt’s first dynasty,” 2009.

17. J. Reilly, “The exodus and beyond chapter 3: Joseph & Moses,” The Exodus and Beyond, 2009.

18. J. Ashton & D. Down, Unwrapping the pharaohs. how Egyptian archaeology confirms the Biblical timeline, New Leaf Publishing Group (Master books), 2006. http://masterbooks.net ISBN 978-0-89051-468-9 ISBN 0-89051-468-2

19. E. Sweeney, The pyramid age, ages in alignment series, Algora Publishing, 2007.

20. D. Fry, “Hebrew sages of ancient Egypt – needed changes in modern records,” 2009.

21. E. Sweeney, The Genesis of Israel and Egypt, Janus Publishing Company Limited, 1997. ISBN 978-1857563504

22. J. Reilly, “The Exodus and beyond chapter 1: The Berlin chronology of the second millennium bc – limitations of the Berlin chronology,” The Exodus and Beyond, 2009.

23. R. Wyatt, “Joseph was Imhotep of Egypt,” , Wyatt Archaelogical Research, 1994.

24. H. Bible, “The Flood,” Genesis Chapter 6,

25. H. Bible—”The dispersion after Babel,” Genesis Chapter 11,

26. H. Bible—”Terah sets out from Ur,” Genesis 11:27-32,

27. H. Bible—”Call of Abraham,” Genesis Chapter 12,

28. H. Bible—”God’s covenant with Abraham,” Genesis Chapters 15 & 17,

29. H. Bible—”Ishmael born to Hagar,” Genesis Chapter 16,

30. H. Bible—”Isaac born to Sarai,” Genesis Chapter 21,

31. H. Bible—”Ishmael sent away – Isaac the child of promise,” Genesis 21:8-13,

32. H. Bible—”Keturah’s children sent away to Middle East,” Genesis 25:1-4,

33. H. Bible—”Jacob bore 12 sons,” Genesis chapter 29-32,

34. H. Bible—”Jacob renamed Israel,” Genesis 32:22-32,

35. H. Bible—”Abrahams children to be reckoned through Isaac,” Genesis 21:12,

36. H. Bible—”Jacob favours Joseph,” Genesis chapter 37,

37. H. Bible—”The Biblical account of Jospeh,” Genesis chapter 37-50,

38. H. Bible—”Joseph has two sons; Ephraim and Mannaseh,” Genesis 41:50-52,

39. H. Bible—”Joseph’s brothers go to Egypt to buy grain,” Genesis Chapters 42-44,

40. H. Bible—”Jacob moves to Egypt and settles in Rameses,” Genesis Chapter 46:1-47:12,

41. H. Bible—”Pharaoh gives Jacob the land of Goshen,” Genesis Chapter 45,

42. H. Bible—”Jacob dies,” Genesis 49:29 -50:14,

43. H. Bible—”Jacob blesses Joseph’s children,” Genesis chapter 48,

44. H. Bible—”Jacob blesses his sons,” Genesis chapter 49,

45. H. Bible—”Joseph reassures his brothers afer Jacob’s death,” Genesis 50:15-21,

46. H. Bible—”Death of Joseph,” Genesis 50:22-26,

47. H. Bible—”The Exodus,” Exodus 12:31-42, .

48. Empire of Thebes or Ages In chaos revisited (ages in alignment), Algora Publishing, 2006.

49. I. Velikovski, Worlds in collision, London and New York, 1950.

50. I. Velikovski—Ages in chaos, London and New York, 1953.

51. I. Velikovski—Earth in upheaval, 1956.

52. D. Fry, “Hebrew sages of ancient Egypt II,” 2009.

53. D. Fry—”Hebrew sages of ancient Egypt II The birth of Egypt,” Hebrew Sages of Ancient Egypt II, 2004.

54. D. Fry—”Hebrew sages of ancient Egypt Joseph found in Egyptian records,” 2004.

55. D. Fry—”Hebrew sages of ancient Egypt the pyramid age Joseph’s inspiration,” 2009.

56. D. Fry—”Hebrew sages of ancient Egypt – The great pyramid,” 2009.

57. D. Fry—”Hebrew sages of ancient Egypt – Egypts weather changes,” Hebrew Sages of Ancient Egypt, 2009.

58. D. Fry—”Hebrew sages of ancient Egypt – Moses found in Egyptian records,” 2009.

59. D. Fry—”Hebrew sages of ancient Egypt -the Exodus disaster in Egyptian records. The search.,” 2009.

60. J. Reilly—”The Exodus and beyond chapter 2: The Patriarchal Age,” The Exodus and Beyond, 2009.

61. H. Bible, “Saul destroys the Amalekites,” 1Samuel 15:2-9,

62. H. Bible, “The queen of Sheba visits Solomon,” 1Kings 10:1-13,

63. H. Bible—”The queen of Sheba visits Solomon,” 1Chron 9:1-12,

64. C. Miclaus, “Imhotep – one of the greatest personalities of Egypt,” , 2007.

65. W. Whiston, The works of Josephus complete and unabridged, New Updated Edition, Hendrikson Publishers, 1987. ISBN 0-913573-86-8 ISBN 1-56563-167-6

66. “From the start of the 12th dynasty to the 18th” , 2009.

67. L. Moeller, The case for the Exodus, .

68. H. Bible, “The Israelites oppressed,” Exodus 1:1-22,

69. H. Bible—”Pharaoh makes Israelites find own straw to make mud bricks,” Exodus 5:1-21,

70. H. Bible, “Moses flees to Midian and Pharaoh eventually dies,” Exodus 2:11-25,

71. J. Dunn, “Imhotep, doctor, architect, high priest, scribe and vizier to king Djoser ,” , http://www.touregypt.net, 1999.

72. Britannica, “Imhotep,” , http://www.britannica.com, 2009.

73. R. Strachan, “Imhotep,” , http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/, 2005.

74. K. Matthews, “Imhotep,” , http://www.greatbuildings.com, 2008.

75. Wikipedia, “Imhotep,” , http://en.wikipedia.org, 2009.