There are no specific events recorded for today in the gospels and we shall continue looking at various historical & archaeological articles giving insight into the Bible and its background.
WHAT IS JESUS DOING?
John the Immerser (Baptist) has has been arrested by Herod Antipas. People in the area in which Jesus is continuing His ministry – the region around Jerusalem – are unaware of John’s arrest as yet.
TIMNA TENTED / HATHOR SHRINE
Archaeologists have suggested this shrine was originally covered by a tent similar in nature to the Hebrew Wilderness Tabernacle. In its Holiest Place a Brazen Serpent was found. This stage of the shrine was built by Midianites. Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, was a Priest of Middian.
The Egyptian Copper mines at Timna were worked by Midianites, who built a tented shrine. In its Holiest Place a Brazen Serpent was found, presumably similar to the one Moses was instructed to make. (Numbers 21:8) Moses’ Father-in-law was a “Priest of Midian”.
There are no specific events recorded for today in the gospels and we shall continue looking at various historical & archaeological articles giving insight into the Bible and its background.
WHAT IS JESUS DOING?
John the Immerser (Baptist) has has been arrested by Herod Antipas. People in the area in which Jesus is continuing His ministry – the region around Jerusalem – are unaware of John’s arrest as yet.
ASWAN, ELEPHANTINE ISLAND & the BIBLE
Many do not realise that Israel did not just build one temple to their God, YHWH. We know of at least two others: the one at Tel Arad in the northern fringe of the Negev; the other was built by Jewish mercenaries here on the island we now know of as Elephantine. The Greek name for this island was “Elephantine”. This island is located just before the First Cataract of the Nile, at modern Aswan. The location of the First Cataract here makes a natural border point for shipping and was considered the border between Egypt proper and Nubia.
The famous Greek geographer, Strabo (died 24CE), sailed up the Nile. He enumerates the towns of Upper Egypt, ascending from Thebes. He tells us, “Now follow Syene and Elephantine, the former on the borders of Ethipoia (i.e. Nubia) and a city of Egypt, the latter an island lying half a stadium in front of Syene with a temple of Khnouphis (i.e. Khnum) and a Nilometer as in Memphis.” The Egyptian name for this island was Yeb. In a collection of Aramaic papyri found on Elephantine the old Egyptain name “Yeb” is used, whilst Syene is called “Sewen”. “Sewen” has survived in the modern name of “Assuan” or “Aswan”.
The above picture shows the approximate site of what has been described as the 5th century temple of YHWH described in these Aramaic papyri. It was built by Jewish mercenaries stationed on this island. In the papyri we find these mercenaries asking permission to build this temple and find they are granted permission to do so, as long as they do not perform any blood-sacrifices in it.
Another fact that most visitors to Aswan today do not realise is that it is mentioned at least once in Scripture. In Ezekiel 29:10 & 30:6 we find Egypt described as, “from Migdol to S’veneh (or ‘Syene’), even to the border of Ethiopia (i.e.Nubia)” – “Migdol” probably refers to Pelusion in the north of Egypt. Thus Ezekiel is describing Egypt from its northernmost point to it southernmost border with Nubia. It is also possible that Isaiah 49:10 also refers to Syene when it speaks of Jewish exiles returning to Zion from “Sinim” or, as the Dead Sea Scrolls describes them, “Siniyites”.
There are no specific events recorded for today in the gospels and we shall continue looking at various historical & archaeological articles giving insight into the Bible and its background.
WHAT IS JESUS DOING?
John the Immerser (Baptist) has has been arrested by Herod Antipas. Unaware of this, Jesus is continuing His ministry of baptism in region around Jerusalem.
LARGE GRANARY, EDFU TEMPLE
Joseph is attributed in Bible with saving Egypt through nationalising grain storage. Large silos have been found throughout Egypt. By the New Kingdom such large-scale storage was associated with the Temples, as in our picture, here at Edfu.
Before leaving Egypt for a while let’s review: There is little to no direct evidence of Israelites in Egypt. However, there is a large amount of evidence showing the Bible account of various periods in Egypt & Caanan as being accurate in the smallest of details.
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