Hi and welcome to Evidence 4 Faith! It's Michael
Lane your host, and thanks for joining me today. We're going to look at one of the most amazing
discoveries having to do with archaeology in particular having to do with the Exodus story
from the Bible. Oh yeah, I know a lot of people say the Exodus story didn't even take place - that
it's just a mythical thing, there was no Moses, there was no crossing the Red Sea, there were
definitely no plagues of Egypt and stuff. Oh really?! Because there's archaeological
evidence that supports this really did happen that's found in a document called
the Ipuwer Papyrus. The Ipuwer Papyrus, and it's just a small piece of papyrus that
has been located, and it's now in a museum. In Leiden, Netherlands is where it's located.
It's sometimes called the Papyrus Leiden 344. We usually give numbers to things like
this to help document them. But what it is it's an ancient document describing catastrophes,
dare I say plagues, that befell ancient Egypt. But what's amazing about it is how they are so
similar to what you see recorded in the book of Exodus with the whole story with Moses. It's an
amazing discovery! So let me take you through this this amazing little piece of papyrus and what's
written on here as we do this. Now first of all during the time of Moses, God, if you've
studied the book of Exodus or even if you've watched the movie Ten Commandments or Prince
of Egypt, God smote the Egyptians with plagues. Now scholars will sometimes disagree about when
this event took place in ancient history - when actually was the exodus that is, even if scholars
will agree, because sometimes they can't agree on this - but what time frame was the exodus is very
debatable according to many different scholars. But then again many archaeologists when they're
talking about the time frame of Egypt they can't even decide on the color of an orange. So it's
really hard to get an idea when this took place by from what we just have with Egypt but the bible
the holy scriptures themselves gives us a clue of when the Exodus took place, when this whole
story took place in world history. And of all the places where we find this amazing clue is in the
book of 1st Kings 6, no not the book of Exodus, not the book of Numbers, the book of 1st
Kings. It has to do when Solomon is building the temple and in verse 1 of chapter 6
1st Kings, and I'm going to be reading out of the English Standard Version (ESV) it
says: "In the 480th year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the
fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month,
he began to build the house of the Lord." That's the temple. Now did you catch the time
frame. 480 years after the Exodus, Solomon begins the temple construction. Now we know from
other sources roughly when Solomon's Temple would have been constructed. We're talking about 960,
give or take a few years, around 960 BC. So now if we're going to take 480 years before that, this
is like a negative numbers because we're in bc, you got to the number is going to get bigger, so
if you add that to that we're going to come up to be around 1440 BC. So 1440 according to the
book of 1st Kings 1440 would have been roughly, as i say give take a year or two, that's going to
be roughly the time of the Exodus taking place. So what does that mean well going back to
this papyrus that we have, the Ipuwer papyrus, we're not exactly sure when it was written.
Now some scholars have tested it with many different types of scientific tests and some say
it was something that was written around 1550 BC while others say no was written closer to
around 1290 BC. You can find scholars who will find about any date in between there
because you just as I say egyptology, the history of Egypt, here in ancient times
is really hard to pinpoint a specific date. So there's no conclusive evidence in the Ipuwer
papyrus about about when it was actually written because Ipuwer, the guy who wrote it, didn't write
like a homework assignment and put the date on it, and though his name appears on it, so that's how
we know who did it. We don't know much about him except that he wrote poetry and he is describing
this thing. And what it does tell us is that he - it appears in the way it's written - that
he is an eyewitness to these catastrophes that are befalling his own country. And there
are a number of scholars who believe from the style of the writing and through other
methods that they think that this was written somewhere around 1440-1450 BC, somewhere in that
range. Which fits the time frame from 1st Kings 6. So it's quite possible that here is scientific
evidence dealing with accuracy of the Bible which i just find so fascinating! Now some people will
dismiss this because they say "well who is the who is the pharaoh at this time around 1440 BC?"
Some will say that the pharaoh was a guy by the name of Ramses. If you've watched the movie Ten
Commandments with Charlton Heston or remakes and other ones like that, they always talk about
Ramses as being the pharaoh of the Exodus. Well Ramses, if you look at egyptology, he lived in the
1200 BC. That doesn't quite fit. Matter of fact most scholars and biblical scholars believe that
Ramses actually lived during the time of the book of Judges, well after the events here. So well who
was the pharaoh then that lived around 1440 BC, in the 1400s? Well the greatest pharaoh of all time
of Egypt, was Thutmose III. And he was one of the greatest pharaohs and he conquered land all
over both in Africa and in the Middle East. And there's a little statue of our little friend
here Thutmose III. His son Amenhotep II is believed to be the person who was the pharaoh
of the Exodus. Many scholars think that but not everyone agrees with that. Some still stay with
Ramses but that's on a whole another lesson which we'll get to sometime: who was the pharaoh of the
Exodus? We'll have a whole lot of fun with dealing with that question when we get to there. But let's
get back to this Ipuwer Papyrus. How does this fit with the Biblical account? What's on here? You can
see that there's writing on here. It's written in Egyptian hierarchic script, not hieroglyphics.
If you notice in the script on this thing it is not hieroglyphics it is a different type of
writing and it is describing what appears to be plagues or catastrophes that have hit his country.
And as I said it seems from the style that's being written that he's an eyewitness to these
plagues taking place in his country. And in this, on this papyrus he actually mentions ten specific
disasters- ten specific disasters. Doesn't it sound familiar to the Bible stories? I just love
this! This is so fascinating! Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to take each one of these ten
that he is listing here, and I'm going to give it to you in an english translation. But then after a
few comments about it i'm going to read you a part from the Bible, from in most cases the book
of Exodus, that seem to be paralleling what Ipuwer just wrote, That we read right in the
Bible. So for example the first one let's just get right to that. The first plague or catastrophe
that Ipuwer mentions in in his papyrus is this, quote: "There's blood everywhere...Lo the
river is blood." Unquote. Okay the river turning to blood. Sound familiar? Having to do -
I mean it was even in the Charlton Heston movie! And if you look at Exodus 7:20-21 look what it
reads: "Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of pharaoh and the sight of his
servants he lifted up his staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the nile
turned into blood. And the fish in the Nile died, the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not
drink from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt." Here we have it sounds
just like what Ipuwer is describing. That there's blood everywhere. The river has turned to blood.
I mean you can see the correlation here is like it just parallels. So I just find that fascinating!
But there's more that's just the first one. Second it says on the Ipuwer Papyrus, it reads,
quote: "One thirsts for water." Unquote. Well if the Nile has turned to blood as we
just read about, you're going to be pretty thirsty. Because that was what was supplying the
people with water. Well in Exodus 7:24 we read: "And all the Egyptians dug along the nile
for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile." Thus the people are
thirsty just like Ipuwer says, just like what the Bible says. Let's go to the third part. It
says in this one, quote: "Lo, trees are felled, branches stripped." Unquote. Now this is one that
a lot of people don't quite catch when they talk about the plagues of Egypt. There was a hail storm
that took place as one of the plagues and as it many times hail storms do, if you go through a
major hail storm and you had a garden or anything in your yard, you know that the hail can destroy
it. And what it can do is it can strip, actually if it's big enough in the worst type of storm, it
can strip the leaves, break branches etc etc... and apparently that's what Ipuwer is
talking about. He is saying the trees are felled, the branches are stripped. Well let's
take a look. Exodus 9:24 reads: "The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the
land of Egypt, both man and beast." Now get this: "The hail struck down every plant of the
field and broke every tree of the field." Sound familiar? This sounds exactly like
what Ipuwer is describing. The same event. Let's go further, quote: "Lo, grain
is lacking on all sides." Unquote. Well if you've had a hail storm when you have
your crops, if you've had a garden like this you probably know what i'm talking about. The hail
can destroy everything and apparently it did this in Egypt. And Ipuwer is talking about the grain is
now lacking; the storm or the plague or whatever just happened, the catastrophe just wiped
out our food! Well in Exodus 9:31 it says: "The flax and the barley were struck down, for
the barley was in ear and the flax was in bud." So it's talking about their grain is now gone.
That's what Exodus 9 is saying and that is exactly what we see Ipuwer talking about: "We don't have
grain anymore. It's been wiped out by a plague, a catastrophe!" The fifth part Ipuwer describes
is this: "Birds find neither fruit nor herbs." Unquote. We'll go back again. When you have
a major hail storm, trees have been fallen, the leaves are stripped off, the grain has been
destroyed, birds are going to have a hard time finding fruit and plant material to eat. Well
that's just makes common sense. And the thing is it's described in the book of Exodus. Exodus
10:15 it says: "The locusts", in this case now, "The locusts came upon all the land of Egypt
and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts that had never been
seen before, nor will ever be again. They covered the whole face of the land, so that the land was
darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had
left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field throughout all the land
of Egypt." I mean this is paralleling again, Ipuwer is paralleling exactly what we see in the
book of Exodus. That it talks about there's not a green thing. The birds can't find things to eat.
The trees have been stripped. There's no fruit. This is all being described. The sixth thing that
is talked about on this papyrus is this. It says, quote: "Groaning is throughout the land, mingled
with laments." Unquote. Well this has to do with the Passover itself. When the Egyptians first
born were smote and and killed and it says in the Bible that everybody was in tears and sorrow
because there was not a place where somebody wasn't dead. Well you get to Exodus 12:30
guess what we read: "And pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the
Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not
someone dead." Again as Ipuwer writes, groaning, lamenting throughout the whole land.
In Exodus 12 we have the same thing. Let's go to the seventh part. Ipuwer writes:
"Lo, many dead are buried in the river, the stream is the grave, the tomb became a
stream, and he who puts his brother in the ground is everywhere." Unquote. This is talking about the
Egyptians having to bury a lot of people. Well, after the passover took place it says that there
were dead Egyptians everywhere and they had to go out and bury them. So in Numbers, it's book of
Numbers 33:4 it reads: "The Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down
among them." Again we see the Bible describing these massive burials that are taking place all
over. Again Ipuwer and the Bible seem to be on the same page. Get to the eighth one. I love this one.
Ipuwer writes, quote: "All is ruin!" Unquote. Wow. The Egyptians have really been
going through a lot. And they are getting so frustrated with pharaoh who keeps
holding the Israelites from going out into the wilderness, won't let them go, and it says
that in the Bible that even the Egyptian staff under pharaoh was saying "Hey let these people
go!" Well guess what the key thing here is: "All is in ruin!" that's what Ipuwer writes. In Exodus
10:7 it says: "Then Pharaoh's servant said to him, 'How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the
men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not understand that Egypt is in ruin?"
You see the same words taking place: ruin! Egypt has been smote like this. And by
the way if you've never caught this, in the Bible, all of these plagues that are
happening are directly against a major god or gods of the Egyptians. When the Lord God was smiting
these Egyptians He was attacking not just the Egyptians, He was attacking each one of their gods
and showing that they are nothing. He was wiping out not just the people, He was wiping out their
belief system, and showing that they're just, they're false gods. I just love that. Take some
time to study the different plagues and see that each one of these things - the Nile
itself was worshiped - and all all these different catastrophes that are happening are
directly against one of the gods of Egypt. Ipuwer has a ninth point and he says, quote:
"The land is without light." Unquote. Now this goes against one of the Egyptian gods also: god
Ra of the Egyptians was a god of light. He was the sun god and so he was a god of light. Well he
got smote too with this one. Because in Exodus 10 we have this being stated in verses 22 and 23:
"So Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of
Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three
days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived." That's a remarkable story
yet Ipuwer writes the land is without light. Now some people have tried to suggest
that what Ipuwer is describing here is nothing more than a solar eclipse. Well this
is a catastrophe. He is listing catastrophes. A solar eclipse doesn't really qualify too much
as being a catastrophe. It was things that happen periodically. That's not seeming like what he's
talking about. An eclipse by the way only happens for about eight minutes when you have
the darkness. It's not a long effect. He seems to be describing a long period of
time. He's talking about the land is without light. So it seems to be more than just a solar
eclipse. So that's how some people pass it off. But what happened in Exodus 10 is no way a solar
eclipse. Because it talks about three days. Three days I could see Ipuwer writing down:
"Yep there's no light anywhere around here," makes sense. Then we get to the last one,
which is my favorite. I love how he saved the best for last. This one's so cool, quote:
"Gold and lapis lazuli, silver and malachite, carnelian and bronze... are fastened
on the neck of female slaves." Unquote. I love this! For one, it acknowledges a couple
of things. First of all Egyptians had slaves. That pertains also and is found in the Bible.
Second the Egyptians have these slaves yes, but slaves are seldom ever adorned with precious
semi-stones, and you know, precious metals and stuff. This actually mentions silver and
gold and it talks about different precious stones being adorned. And Egyptians definitely had
this kind of stuff, but being placed on females? On slaves? You don't dress up slaves that way.
And these slaves are wearing these things. You just don't dress up your slaves like
this. So something definitely is going on that Ipuwer is talking about. Something strange has
happened here because he's saying the wealth of Egypt is now in the hands basically of the
slaves. Well guess what in Exodus 12:35-36 after the passover is taking place and the
Israelites are getting ready to leave, we read this: "The people of Israel had also done as
Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And
the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. So they let them have what
they asked. And they plundered the Egyptians." It sounds like Ipuwer is describing this exact
incident. Because now all of a sudden we have slaves that are adorned with all the wealth that
you find of Egypt. That it's being given to slaves they're wearing it! It's on their necks. This is
just absolutely amazing that we find this actually taking place like this. Again though it shouldn't
surprise us because I believe like in most cases that you find with archaeological discoveries
pertaining to the Bible, they just keep adding to the fact that the Bible is real. That these
things are true. It's not made up bedtime stories, these are actual events. And we have a guy,
some poet we know nothing about him really, but he lived back at the time all this took place.
He writes down a poem about it and it supports what we read in the Bible. Isn't this amazing!
I love archaeology! And I love this papyrus because it shows evidence that the Word of
God is true. If the Word of God is true, you can trust it. Bet your life on it. Well
that's about it for today. Thank you so much for joining us at Evidence 4 Faith today. And
I hope you come back and listen to another lesson as we keep posting these. I really love
having you with us. God bless and take care.
