Straw in the Bricks

Recently I was reading the text of Exodus 5 which tells of Pharaoh’s initial reaction to Moses’ request that Israel be permitted to journey into the wilderness to worship Yahweh:

That same day Pharaoh commanded the slave masters and foremen who were over the people: 7 “You must no longer give straw to the people for making bricks as before. Let them go and collect straw for themselves. 8 But you must require of them the same quota of bricks that they were making before. Do not reduce it, for they are slackers. That is why they are crying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Make the work harder for the men so they will keep at it and pay no attention to lying words!” (Ex. 5:6-9). 

That put me in mind of some bricks I saw in Egypt at Luxor. In these mud bricks you could clearly see light-colored bits of straw.

Bricks made of mud mixed with straw in Luxor, Egypt. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

W. C. Kaiser writes, “Chopped straw was mixed in with the clay to make the bricks more pliable and stronger by first binding the clay together and then by decaying and releasing a humic acid similar to glutamic or gallotanic acid” (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 2, p. 337).

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“We Remember the Fish” (in good ole Egypt)

Memory is an amazing thing. I view it as a gift from God. One of the saddest events imaginable is for one to lose his memory, his ability to remember and recall life’s experiences, what one has learned, etc.

The ability to learn God’s word and apply it to life’s circumstances is a blessing. For that reason I encourage especially young people to spend much time in memorization of God’s word.

If one does not incline his heart Godward, memory can be amazingly quirky. When the nation of Israel was yet in Egypt, all they could think about was their harsh treatment meted out by cruel taskmasters. In their affliction they cried out to God.

God brought them out of Egypt after a mighty display of His power with the 10 plagues, referenced by God Himself as judgments against the gods of Egypt (Exodus 6:6; 12:12). They crossed the Red Sea, and made their way to Sinai, where they encamped for 11 months. During this time they received the Ten Commandments (along with its other laws), built the tabernacle, and consecrated the Aaronic priesthood (Ex. 19-Num. 10).

God was mindful of His covenant with Abraham; at that point it was time to grant Israel possession of the promised land of Canaan. At His command and direction Israel began to march (Num. 10:11ff). But immediately they lost sight of God’s lofty purpose with them and began to murmur (Num. 11:1).

One such instance of murmuring is related:

Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat? 5 “We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 “but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”

Talk about selective memory! Talk about rewriting history! The New Testament identified the problem as a lack of faith (Heb. 3-4). Stephen showed that the heart of the problem was a problem of the heart: “in their hearts they turned back to Egypt” (Acts 7:39).

Fish in Alexandria, Egypt. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

I photographed these fresh fish at a local restaurant in Alexandria. My daughter and I dined there.

Israel remembered the fish, but forgot God’s purpose for them. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

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Court of Amenhotep III at Thebes

In the oracle against Egypt, God said, “I will make Pathros desolate, Set a fire in Zoan and execute judgments on Thebes” (Ezekiel 30:14). “The phenomenal city [Thebes]was the center of Upper Egypt, and the seat of government during most of the time of Egyptian world power” (Bible and Spade, Vol. 7, p. 33).

This shot of the Luxor temple at Thebes shows the court of Amenhotep III (reigned 1390-1352 BC), with its double rows of massive columns.

Court of Amenhotep III, at Luxor, biblical Thebes. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

An article in Biblical Archaeological Review entitled “Egyptian Finds Uncovered in Jaffa,” by Judith Sudilovsky contained an interesting reference to Amenhotep III. The mention of Jaffa (biblical Joppa) in this excavation report illustrates the fact that Egyptian rule/influence often included the land of Canaan (and far beyond):

. . . The team also found a 3.5-inch Egyptian scarab, dating to the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep III (1390–1352 B.C.). The eight lines, engraved in hieroglyphs, enumerate the pharaoh’s achievements, proclaiming his prowess as a hunter and declaring that he had killed 102 lions during the first ten years of his reign. According to the team’s Egyptologist, Deborah Sweeney, such seals were typically sent to the edges of the Egyptian kingdom to praise and glorify the king (BAR 26:02 March/April 2000).

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Colossi of Memnon

Jesuit Claude Sicard (1677-1726) was commissioned by the French regent Philippe d’Orléans to investigate and identify ancient monuments in Egypt. Sicard visited Upper Egypt four times and was the first in modern times to identify the site of Thebes as well as the colossi of Memnon and the Valley of the Kings.

The Memnon Colossi mark the site of the temple of Pharaoh Amenophis III (reigned 1391-1353 BC, Baines & Malek, p. 36). These two massive stone statues depict the Pharaoh, and are positioned in the Theban necropolis, on the west side of the Nile across from Luxor.

Colossi of Memnon. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

This statue is 55 feet tall, on a base of about 5 feet in height. See people on ground for scale. Nebuchadnezzar’s image (Daniel 3) towered 30 feet higher than this!

Colossi of Memnon. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

In his commentary on Daniel, Albert Barnes makes an interesting point regarding the great image Nebuchadnezzar made (Daniel 3) and the possible relation of that to the colossi of Memnon:

It is not impossible that Nebuchadnezzar was led, as the editor of Calmet’s Dictionary has remarked (Taylor, vol. iii. p. 194), to the construction of this image by what he had seen in Egypt. He had conquered and ravaged Egypt but a few years before this, and had doubtless been struck with the wonders of art which he had seen there. Colossal statues in honour of the gods abounded, and nothing would be more natural than that Nebuchadnezzar should wish to make his capital rival everything which he had seen in Thebes. Nor is it improbable that, while he sought to make his image more magnificent and costly than even those in Egypt were, the views of sculpture would be about the same, and the figure of the statue might be borrowed from what had been seen in Egypt.

It is not impossible that Nebuchadnezzar was led, as the editor of Calmet’s Dictionary has remarked (Taylor, vol. iii. p. 194), to the construction of this image by what he had seen in Egypt. He had conquered and ravaged Egypt but a few years before this, and had doubtless been struck with the wonders of art which he had seen there. Colossal statues in honour of the gods abounded, and nothing would be more natural than that Nebuchadnezzar should wish to make his capital rival everything which he had seen in Thebes. Nor is it improbable that, while he sought to make his image more magnificent and costly than even those in Egypt were, the views of sculpture would be about the same, and the figure of the statue might be borrowed from what had been seen in Egypt. An illustration of the subject before us is furnished by the preceding engraving, from a photograph, of the two celebrated colossal figures of Amunoph III. standing in the plains of Goorneh, Thebes, one of which is known as the Vocal Memnon. (Barnes, A.,  Notes on the Old Testament: Daniel, Volume 1, p.204).

Regarding the meaning of the word Memnon,

Memnon was a hero of the Trojan War, a King of Ethiopia who led his armies from Africa into Asia Minor to help defend the beleaguered city but was ultimately slain by Achilles. The name Memnon means “Ruler of the Dawn”, and was probably applied to the colossi because of the reported cry at dawn of one of the statues. Eventually, the entire Theban Necropolis became generally referred to as the Memnonium (Wikipedia).

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Sacred Lake at Karnak

Biblical Thebes (Ezekiel 30:14-16) is identified with Luxor, Egypt. Karnak was a vast temple complex dedicated primarily to the god Amun.

Our photo shows the sacred lake of the Karnak Temple.

Sacred Lake at Karnak Temple. Photo ©Leon Mauldin.

Todd Bolen writes:

Every Egyptian temple had a sacred lake, and the one at Karnak Temple was the largest. Used daily by the priests for purification, the sacred lake was also used in festivals during which images of the gods would travel across the lake in boats. The lake measures 130 x 77 meters and was surrounded by storerooms and homes of the priests.

Our view here of the sacred lake is to the southwest.

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Gods of Egypt: Imhotep

In previous posts we have noted that the plagues of Egypt in Exodus were judgments against the gods of Egypt (Exodus 6:6; 12:12). See here and here.

In the plagues God was showing that the false gods were impotent and that Yahweh alone was the true and living God.

In some of the plagues it is possible that more than one Egyptian god may have been targeted. Some scholars believe that Imhotep, the god of medicine, was shown to be powerless with such plagues as the boils.

Imhotep, god of medicine. Brooklyn Museum. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

Imhotep, the polymath and architect of genius employed by Djoser, was deified soon after his death. Imhotep and Amenophis-sa-Hapu, who was Amenophis III’s architect, became a popular pair of gods for the everyday cares of the man in the street, especially in the field of medicine. In common with Thoth, Imhotep became the special tutelary god of scribes and learned men. The Greeks equated him with Asclepius (Egypt, Phaidon, 403-404).

Tomorrow morning I am to begin a 6-Day meeting at Kimberly, north of Birmingham, AL.

Saqqara, The Step Pyramid

In our local congregation we are currently engaged in a study of Exodus. The emphasis of the book is that of God’s covenant faithfulness. ‘El Shaddai, God Almighty, who promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that He would make of them a great nation, and give unto them the land of Canaan, now more fully reveals Himself as YHVH, Yahweh, Jehovah. He would redeem His covenant people. This He did “with outstretched hand,” demonstrating to all the Egyptians, as well as to Israel that He was indeed the LORD.

Israel was a numerous people when the book of Exodus opens, and through His great power God brought them to Mt. Sinai, where they would be for about eleven months. During that time God gave the 10 Commandments as well as the accompanying laws and ordinances, the tabernacle was built, and the Aaronic priesthood was consecrated.

The events of Scripture do not happen in a vacuum; we always do well to consider the historical and geographical setting.  The setting for Exodus 1-13 is Egypt.

When you think of Egypt, you likely think of the pyramids. Sometimes people erroneously believe that the Israelites were used as forced labor to construct the pyramids. Actually the pyramids were built before Abraham! The Israelites built storage cities (Ex. 1:11, NASB).

Step Pyramid at Saqqara, Egypt. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

Our photo shows the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, built during the 3rd Dynasty by Pharaoh Djoser. This pyramid is actually a mastaba (Arabic for “bench”),  meaning a structure in the “form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with outward sloping sides.” The Step Pyramid consists of six distinct steps. This is the oldest of the pyramids.

The burial chambers were underground. Excavation was done by Jean-Phillipe Lauer.

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Egypt: Plague upon the Cattle

Exodus 9:1-7 says:

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, “Release my people that they may serve me! 2 For if you refuse to release them and continue holding them, 3 then the hand of the LORD will surely bring a very terrible plague on your livestock in the field, on the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. 4 But the Lord will distinguish between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and nothing will die of all that the Israelites have.”‘” 5 The LORD set an appointed time, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD will do this in the land.” 6 And the LORD did this on the next day; all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but of the Israelites’ livestock not one died. 7 Pharaoh sent representatives to investigate, and indeed, not even one of the livestock of Israel had died. But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, and he did not release the people (NET).

In our previous post we showed how the plagues were said to be judgments against the gods of Egypt. Regarding the plague upon the cattle, Dr. David Livingston said:

This judgment was against the bull god (revered as early as the Archaic Period (35), and the sacred cattle of Hathor, the cow-headed love goddess. It was a special reproach to pharaoh who worshipped Hathor. Hathor, whose name means “house of Horus,” was sacred as early as the Old Kingdom (41, 58). Other gods associated with cattle were Ptah and Amon.
Great cemeteries of embalmed cattle have been excavated. The symbol of the bull was the symbol of pharaoh himself (Bible and Spade, Vol. 4, Num. 1, p. 10).

The museum at Alexandria, Egypt, has a display of a sacred bull.

Sacred Bull at Alexandria, Egypt. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

The cow-goddess Hathor was widely worship in Egypt. This image is from Hatshepsut’s three-tiered funerary palace at Deir el-Bahari.

Goddess Hathor at Hatshepsut's funerary temple. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

The best evidence is that these events transpired during Egypt’s Eighteen’s Dynasty, when the nation was at the peak of its power.

Egypt: the Nile Turned to Blood

God referred to 10 plagues as “great acts of judgment” (Exodus 6:6). Prior to the 10th plague, the death of the firstborn, God warned, “For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments– I am the LORD” (Ex. 12:12). In reality, all of the plagues showed that YHWH (the LORD) was the true God; all of the plagues were judgments against the gods of Egypt.

The first plague turned the water of the Nile into blood.

Nile River. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

In an article entitled, “The Plagues and the Exodus,” David Livingston wrote:

This plague was against the god Hapi, spirit of the Nile in flood and “giver of life to all men.” The annual innundation was called “the arrival of Hapi” (57). He was especially worshipped at Gebel Silsileh and Elephantine. The Nile water was the transformed life-blood of Osiris. The fact that the Nile turned to blood, which was abominable to Egyptians, was a direct affront to one of their chief gods. Although the fish-goddess was Hatmeyt, all the fish in the Nile River died! (Bible and Spade Vol. 4, No. 1, P. 4).

Osiris was believed to be the goddess of the afterlife.

The Goddess Osiris. Brooklyn Museum. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

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Thutmose III, Name and Titles

Today’s post features a relief with name and titles of Pharaoh Thutmose III.

Relief of Thutmose III, name and titles. Photo by Leon Mauldin. Boston Museum.

The accompanying informational sign at the Boston Museum explains,

The full titulary of an Egyptian pharaoh contained five separate names. Two of the five names were enclosed in cartouches, or oval rings. The first was the prenomen, or accession name of the king, and the second was the nomen, or personal name. The prenomen (Men-kheper-Re) and nomen (Djehuty-mes, or Thutmose) of Thutmose III are carved on the painted relief above. It once formed the lintel of a doorway in the Dynasty 18 temple of Osiris at Abydos.

See diagram in photo below.

Diagram of Thutmose III name and title. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

Remember that this powerful Pharaoh would have been contemporary with Moses.

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