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Many barriers seemed to separate Egypt from the Promised Land. It was on a different continent, separated from Palestine by the rocky Sinai Peninsula and the marshes and lakes between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Egypt was rich in crops, livestock, and precious metals, while Palestine could offer few goods in exchange. The culture of Egypt was radically different from that of the Canaanites and Israelites, and its people came from a different race. Yet some unexpected turns of history brought the Egyptians and the Israelites together, and the Old Testament refers to Egypt more than 550 times. For centuries, Egypt ruled the coastland of Palestine: its culture and religion was dominant from Gaza to Suez.
I. The Egyptian People and Their Language
III. Religion and History
The Egyptian People and Their Language. We do not know the exact racial origin of the Egyptian people, but their statues and temple paintings give us a detailed picture of them during biblical times, and the embalmed bodies of Egyptian kings give us further evidence of how they looked.
Most Egyptians were fairly short, brown-skinned, with the stiff brown hair that was typical of people on the southern Mediterranean coasts. Negroes from the hinterlands of the Nile did not move down the river and mingle with the Egyptians until around 1500 B.C. (However, we do not know whether the "Ethiopian woman" that Moses married was a Negro - cf. Num. 12:1.)
By contrast, the Israelites originally came from the roving bands of shepherds who lived along the northern edges of the Arabian desert. So Abraham and his descendants were probably about the same height as the Egyptians, but they had a light olive-colored complexion and dark brown or black hair.
Egyptians referred to people of other lands according to their geographical location: "the Libyans", "the Nubians", and so on. But they simply called themselves "the people".
Their language came from a Hamito-Semitic background. In other words, it carried some traits of languages from Northern Africa ("Hamitic", supposedly from Ham's family - Gen. 10:6-20) and from southern Asia Minor ("Semitic", supposedly from Shem's family - Gen. 10:21-31). Although the basic structure of the Egyptian language (such as the construction of verb forms) resembled the Semitic languages such as Hebrew, it was much more like the Hamitic languages of Egypt's African neighbors along the Mediterranean coast.
Captain Bouchard of Napoleon Bonaparte's army discovered the Rosetta Stone in the western Nile Delta in 1799. It bore one inscription in three languages - Greek and two forms of Egyptian - honoring Ptolemy V Epiphanes, a Hellenistic ruler of Egypt who lived 200 years before Christ. An English physicist named Thomas Young and a French linguist named Jean Francios Champollion used the Greek portion of the stone to decipher the two Egyptian scripts.
Champollion and Young found that one of the Egyptian texts on the Rosetta Stone was written in a demotic script (from the Greek demotikos, "pertaining to the people"); this was a simple form of writing that Egyptians began using around 500 B.C. The other text was written in the classic Egyptian script called hieroglyphics (from the Greek hieroglyphikos, "sacred carvings"). Champollion and Young deciphered both of the Egyptian texts by 1822, and their work opened the way for further study of ancient Egyptian literature.
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II. Geography and Agriculture. Egypt's territory covered the northeast shoulder of Africa, bordered by the Sahara Desert to the west, the tropical forests of Nubia to the south, the Red Sea to the east, and the Mediterranean to the north. The Nile River was like the bloodstream of ancient Egypt. The waters of the Nile brought life to the parched plains that the Egyptian people cultivated in Bible times. Yet the Nile was unpredictable; in the flood season, it became a ferocious, destructive tyrant that flattened peasant homes and ruined vital crops. The river was both a blessing and a curse to the Egyptian farmers (fellahin).
The Nile River watered a green valley that varied from one to twenty miles in width. Egyptians called the rich soil of this valley "Black Land", and the surrounding desert the "Red Land".
Every June, the rains of central Africa and the melting snows of Abyssinia raised the river waters more than fifteen feet over their banks. The flood reached Syene (modern Aswan) in the middle of June, and the river remained at flood stage for more than a week. Normally, the fellahin were glad to see the Nile cover their land with its sluggish waters, for they knew it would leave behind a deep layer of silt that would give them an abundant harvest that fall. If the Nile did not rise as much as usual, they would have a "lean year" (cf. Gen 41:30 ff.). But if the river rose too swiftly, it destroyed everything in its path. So the peasants and herdsmen were at the mercy of the river.
At the city of Heliopolis, the Nile River split into the Rosettan and Damietta Branches, then broke into the many arteries of the Nile Delta. The small branches of the river crisscrossed the Delta, irrigating the land even during the dry winter months. For this reason, the Delta became the "bread basket" of Egypt.
The Nile was Egypt's most important trade route. Because the prevailing winds blew south, boats could sail upstream n the Nile. The waters were smooth for about six hundred miles from the Mediterranean coast to Syene. There caravans from the Upper Nile unloaded their cargo for shipment to the outside world. (Egyptians called the land upstream [south] from Syene "Upper Egypt", while the land downstream [north] was "Lower Egypt". Just above Syene was the first of seven cataracts - rapids and waterfalls that blocked navigation. So the port city naturally became an important landmark for the Egyptians.)
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The Nile. "Egypt is the gift of the Nile," said a forgotten Greek historian. The river which gave Egypt life brought both blessing and curse. So strong was its influence that the Egyptians deified it as the god Hapi, and in many ways the river was the center for Egyptian culture. Deserts surround the Nile Valley, but the fertile river lowlands are green and bountiful. Cooperation among the area's people in constructing and operating dams and irrigation systems unified the country politically. Efforts to predict the river's cycles led to Egyptian discoveries in astronomy, which in turn led to the creation of a calendar. As Egyptian scribes recorded annual changes of the river, they developed the Egyptian system of writing.
"...From prehistoric times on, the Egyptians were a river-faring people, and by [3000 B.C.] they had taken their boats out into the open sea...On the Red Sea the Egyptian vessel was dominant in the trade southward to the land of incense, myrrh, gums, and ivory..." J. A. Wilson, "Egypt", p. 42
As Egypt expanded her trade and became a prosperous nation, she had to develop better agricultural methods. Food crops and textile fibers were the mainstays of her economy, so the farmers had to devise more efficient methods for irrigating their fields, making the most of their narrow strip of soil along the Nile. They built dikes to protect their crops from the river in years of severe flood; they drained the marshes of the Delta region; they installed crude wooden irrigation devices to lift water from the river; and they abandoned the hand-held hoe in favor of ox-drawn wooden plows.
Compared to the lush river valley of the Nile, the eastern coastal region was bleak and hostile. "Along the coast there appear to have always been a number of lagoons, separated from the sea by low bars of sand, and used as salt-pans. In Greek and Roman times the largest of these was known as the Servonian [Sirbonian] Bog or Marsh. It had a very evil repute. The dry sand blowing across gave it the appearance of solid ground, which was sufficient to bear those who ventured on it, only until they were beyond flight or rescue, and it swallowed up more than one unfortunate army".
The Delta and coastal regions had high temperatures and high humidity in the summer and heavy rain in the winter. A hot, scorching wind known as the Khamsin blew across the Delta between March and May, leaving the people fatigued and irritable. The Sobaa wind generated blinding storms that could bury a merchant caravan in minutes.
This variable climate brought many diseases to the Egyptian people. In fact, Moses warned the Israelites that if they were not faithful to GOD, He would afflict them with "the diseases of Egypt" (Deut. 7:15; 28:60). Men of Napoleon's army suffered from boils and fever when they camped in Lower Egypt; even modern visitors find it difficult to adapt to the climate there.
Yet the climate of Egypt benefitted her people in other ways. The warm Mediterranean breezes gave Egypt a year-round growing season, which the fellahin exploited to the limits of their technical abilities. At the same time, the dryness of arid wastelands along the edge of the Nile Valley preserved the pharaohs' embalmed bodies (mummies) and other relics. And the desolate lands surrounding Egypt made natural borders that were fairly easy to defend.
III. Religion and History. When the Egyptian priest Manetho (ca. 305-285 B.C.) wrote a history of Egyptian in Greek, he divided the history of the kings into 30 (later expanded to 31) periods known as "dynasties". The dynasties were then grouped into kingdoms: the Old Kingdom (ca. 2800-2250 B.C. dynasties 3-6), the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2000-1786 B.C.; dynasties 11-12), and the New Kingdom (1575-1085 B.C.; dynasties 18-20). Manetho labeled the time of the last pharaohs the Late Period (ca. 663-332 B.C.; dynasties 26-31). The first two dynasties belonged to the Early Dynastic Period (3100=2800 B.C.). Between the Old and the Middle Kingdom and between the Middle and the New Kingdom were tumultuous times, known respectively as the First and the Second Intermediate Period. The period between the New Kingdom and the Late Period was known as the Third Intermediate Period (1085-661 B.C.).
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Palette of Narmer. This palette (an inscribed plaque of slate) from 3000 B.C. is the first great historical record. It depicts the conquest of Lower Egypt by King Narmer, who wears the white crown of Upper Egypt and strikes a kneeling prisoner with a mace. Narmer claimed Lower Egypt but was unable to subdue it. His successor, Menes, was the first Egyptian leader since prehistoric times to conquer the delta lands and reunite them with Upper Egypt. (Some scholars believe Narmer and Menes are identical.)
The conquest of Alexander the Great introduced a new period in Egypt's history, known as the Ptolemaic Period (332-30 B.C.). With the victory over Cleopatra VII, Augustus incorporated Egypt into a Roman province (30 B.C. - 395 A.D.).
The development of Egyptian religion is reviewed in the section entitled "Pagan Religions and Cultures", but here we should note the allegiance of different pharaohs to different Egyptian gods. A pharaoh's religious beliefs often revealed something of his personal charcter and political ambitions.
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The Sphinx. This massive figure with the body of a lion and the head of King Khaf-Re represents the god Horus guarding the city of the dead at Giza. Built during the Old Kingdom period of Egypt (2800-2250 B.C.), the Sphinx has come to symbolize the mystery of the past.
A. Early Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom. Before Menes united Egypt (ca. 3200 B.C.), the land was divided into two kingdoms that roughly corresponded to Upper and Lower Egypt. Seth, the patron god of the city Ombos, had become the god of Lower Egypt while Horus, the patron god of the city Behdet, had become the god of Upper Egypt. When Menes of Thinis united the two Egypts (Ca. 3200 B.C.), he made the sky god, Horus, the national god and claimed that he was the incarnation of Horus. Most pharaohs of the Old Kingdom (2800-2250 B.C.) did the same, and the Egyptians built up a large collection of myths about Horus.
B. First Intermediate Period. The First Intermediate Period followed the Old Kingdom. This time of social upheaval saw the total collapse of the central government. Local princes and barons gained power during the sixth dynasty; at last they became completely independent. Rulers of Thebes restored order to the troubled nation during the eleventh dynasty, but they were not able to reunite Egypt. During this time Abraham came to Egypt for relief from the famine in Palestine (GEn. 12:12-20). The "pharaoh" that Abraham tried to deceive may have been a king of Thebes, but most likely he was a ruler of the region of Upper Egypt.
C. The Middle Kingdom. The Middle Kingdom began around 2000 B.C. when Amenemhet I of Thebes forced the princes of the land to give their grudging allegiance to him. Amenemhet made Amun, the god of Thebes, the national god of his new Middle Kingdom. By setting up Amun as the spiritual symbol of his new dynasty, Amenemhet tested the political allegiance of his subjects. Loyal Egyptians worshiped Amun in obedience to their new pharaoh, much as in later days the patriots of the country would rally around its flag. For more than two hundred years (2000-1780 B.C.) the Amenemhet and Senwosret pharaohs used Thebes as their central seat of power and worshiped Amun as the "king of the gods".
Joseph was brought to Egypt as a slave around 1876 B.C. (cf. Gen 37:5-28). Several years later he became the vizier (an officer second only to the pharaoh) in a united, powerful Egypt (cf. Gen 41:38-46). During this Middle Kingdom period Egypt was awakening to the world. It traded commercial gods with Crete, Palestine, Syria, and other lands. Art and literature blossomed and peaceful conditions generally prevailed. When Jacob and his family migrated to Egypt, they no doubt felt secure from attack and persecution.
 For a thousand years, the pharaohs of Egypt were buried in the desolate area known as the Valley of the Kings. Located along the Nile near the city of Thebes, it became the resting place of 30 or more kings, among them Egypt's greatest. The Egyptian culture took great care in preparing the dead, to insure their security in the afterlife. It was believed that one must place in his tomb everything needed to make the afterlife happy. So the kings filled their tombs with great wealth and then marked the site of the tomb with a huge stone monument (pyramid). Many workers were used to build the elaborate tombs, and they knew that within them lay treasures of all descriptions. In order to protect these treasures, the king of the reigning dynasty hired guards to patrol the valley. In spite of these precautions, grave robbers began to plunder the tombs, stripping them clean. Thus, many of the kings were moved to secret burial sites to protect and preserve their bodies and coffins. King Thutmose, greatly disturbed by this looting, decided to keep secret the location of his tomb. He hired a trusted friend, Ineni, to oversee its construction. It is believed that Ineni hired prisoners to do the actual work and then slaughtered them when it was completed, in order to guard the royal secret. Even this plan failed, for thieves continued to plunder the riches that lay within the tombs. When King Thutmose's tomb was discovered in 1899, little remained in it but the massive stone sarcophagus. No area has ever been surrounded with such mystery as the Valley of the Kings. The riches that lay there evoked wickedness in the hearts of men who sought to strip it bare. As late as the 1800s, men continued to seek its wealth. However, the valley was eventually saved by the efforts of archaeologists who unearthed the greatest find to date, the tomb of King Tutankhamen. |
D. Second Intermediate Period. Shortly before 1700 B.C., the Hyksos ("foreign rulers") seized control of Egypt and made Heliopolis their new capital. They adopted the local god of Heliopolis, Re, as the national god of their new kingdom. Re was another sun god; artists portrayed him as a falcon-man with a solar disk over his head. The Hyksos used Re to emphasize that heliopolis dominated all of Egypt. Actually, the Hyksos controlled only Lower Egypt, while the kings of the Upper Nile Valley stood firm in their own local domains. The Egypt of the Hyksos was not as well organized as under the Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom. But its literature and culture far surpassed anything in Palestine at that time, which was also in political and economic chaos.
Some scholars believe the Exodus took place during the time of the Hyksos; but others contradict this. Unfortunately, Scripture and archaeological evidence do not obviously enforce one another at this point. The most probable date of the Exodus (1446 B.C.) is discussed under "Bible Chronology". A Hyksos ruler was probably "the pharaoh who did not know Joseph" (Exod. 1:8). The Semitic Hyksos probably felt a rivalry with the Hebrews and wanted to supress them as much as possible. Even after the Hyksos were overthrown, the rulers of Egypt oppressed the Hebrews.
After about a century, King Kamose of Thebes broke the power of the Hyksos in Egypt and united the nation under the city of Thebes once again. Kamose, his younger brother Ahmose, and their successors reformed the religion of Egypt once again. These alterations in religion were a political tactic. The priests who controlled the various shrines and towns fought to gain political power over the pharaoh. They revived the worship of Amun, combined it with the religion of Re, and named the new national god Amun-Re. This prepared the way for a new epoch in Egyptian politics, called the New Kingdom (1575-1085 B.C.). Ahmose married his sister, Princess Ahmose-Nofretari, and claimed that she was the wife of Amun. This gave both of them spiritual prestige.
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