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According to the Bible, the Israelites went into Kemet under their patriarch Joseph to escape a famine plaguing the land of Canaan. The famine subsequently passed, Joseph died at the age of 110 while the Israelites remained in Kemet. They multiplied exponentially, eventually outnumbering the Kemites, and a new King enslaved the Israelites out of fear that they would join with outsiders to oppress his people. They are ultimately liberated by Moses after God subjects the Kemites to several plagues including, turning the Nile into blood, calling forth infestations of frogs, lice, swarms of flies, hail, locusts, three days of complete darkness and the death of all of Kemet’s first-born sons. The Israelites leave the land but are pursued by Kemet’s army who are destroyed when they attempt to follow the Hebrews through the Red Sea which was parted by God for their safe passage and then closed on their pursuers. The Hebrews then travel for forty years in the land of Sinai where they also receive the ten commandments from God. (Note: 9 of the 10 commandments are also found within the 42 affirmations of Ma'at)
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The reality which should be considered is the numerous plagues attacking Kemet would have affected other nations in the Nile Valley because they were so close in proximity, interacting with the Kemites regularly. The Nile is the longest river in the world, stretching 4,132 miles into the interior of Africa, comprised of the White Nile which originates in Rwanda, and the Blue Nile originating in Ethiopia. It flows from south to north through nine countries ending at the Mediterranean Sea in Lower Kemet. If this river was turned to blood, people from all these other nations would have been affected and as a result recorded it, either in their written documents or oral traditions. Exodus 7:20-25 explains that the Nile changed into blood for seven days, killing all fish in the river. The length of such damage would have been enough time for other nations to witness and take note of this event. In addition, all water tributaries on the planet are connected beneath the earth, so if the Nile changed to blood it can be argued that possibly, all water on the planet was changed to blood.
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Exodus 12:37-38 states that six hundred thousand men marched out of Kemet on foot with all their belongings. If the women and children are counted in this movement, an estimated 2 million people would be the final figure. At this time the population of Kemet would have been between 3.5 million to 4 million people. Such a mass migration would have created a huge chasm in the political, economical and social structure of the nation! The empire would have ultimately collapsed!
Exodus 14:5-9 states the following, “And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him: And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them. And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand. But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.” Based on this information the question must be asked, realistically, if such a large population left the country after it was subject to so much devastation at the hands of the Hebrew God, how on earth can a force of 600 plus soldiers subdue and recapture 2 million people? It must also ask be asked, how can the Israelites have passed through such cities Pi-Hahiroth and Baal-Zephon when they were not in existence during the New Kingdom period of Kemetic history. Even if the Kemites had superior training and weaponry, such odds are just too great for such a small unite to overcome.
In this event the king and army of the most powerful nation in the world at that time drowned in the Red Sea. However, it is a historical fact that Ramesses ruled Kemet for 67 years and lived until 92 years old, fathering over 100 children and building numerous monuments during his reign. His mummy is currently on display in the Cairo museum for all visitors to see. In ancient times the Red Sea was an important trade route and the Sinai area was apart of the Kemetic kingdom. Since ancient times they excavated stones for the building of their temples and precious minerals for the making of their Jewelry. One such stone is turquoise which was used in the design of King Tutankhamen's gold funeral mask. The Kemites even built several temples dedicated to the Neter (diety) Hathor who was personified as a holy cow. With such facts presented, the Israelite destruction of Kemet and its army and migration to Sinai is equivalent to a group of people destroying the U.S. army and going to hide in Puerto Rico. It is just outside of rationale reasoning.
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Furthermore, there is no record of any people being enslaved in Kemet for 400 plus years. The institution of slavery is foreign to the social and political construct of quintessential African civilizations which shared a cultural unity with Kemet. In “Introduction to African Civilizations” John G. Jackson addresses the subject of slavery in Kemet by quoting European scholar W. M. Flinders Petrie who states the following in his “Social Life in Ancient Egypt,” “Slavery never attained the serious and infamous proportions that it had in Greece, or in Italy. The serfage, which probably continued throughout the history, prevented the requirements of slave labor on large estates. It was a mild and comparatively harmless obligation, which did not prevent ability from rising, and it saved the land from the ruin which slavery brings.”
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The encyclopedia Britannica corroborates Peter Clayton’s assertion in an entry discussing the life of Moses in a segment dedicated to the Exodus. It states, “The Egyptian army cornered them at the Sea of Reeds (papyrus), which barred their exit to the east. Later Jewish tradition understood the body of water to be the Red Sea, and this erroneous interpretation persists today, even in some of the most recent English translations of the Bible. Scholars disagree as to the precise location of the Reed Sea, but, since papyrus grows only in freshwater, it was most probably a shallow lake in the far northeastern corner of Egypt.”
The online Jewish encyclopedia validates both of the above arguments in an article discussing the Red Sea. It states, “References to the Red Sea under that name are not found earlier than the Apocrypha (Judith v. 12; Wisdom x. 18, xix. 7; I Macc. iv. 9). The name refers to the body of water, termed "Yam Suf" in all other passages, crossed by the Israelites in their exodus from Egypt (Ex. xiii. 18; xv. 4, 22; Num. xxxiii. 10 et seq.; Deut. xi. 4; Josh. ii. 10; et al.). It denotes, therefore, the present Gulf of Suez, which at that time extended considerably farther north, reaching, according to Greek and Latin authors, as far as the city of Hero (= Pithom), in the Wadi Tumilat. The meaning of the word "suf" in the name is uncertain, although it appears from Ex. ii. 3, 5 and Isa. xix. 6 that it meant "reed." According to Ermann and others it is an Egyptian word borrowed by the Hebrews, although the Egyptians never applied that name to the gulf. While it is true that no reeds now grow on the salty coast of the gulf, different conditions may have prevailed along the northern end in ancient times, where fresh-water streams discharged into it. Other authorities translate "suf" as "sea-grass" or "seaweed," which is supposed to have been reddish and to have given that body of water the name "Red Sea." Seaweed of that color, however, is seldom found there.”
This revelation that it was in fact the Sea of Reeds and not the Red Sea which was crossed by the Israelites gives us a better understanding of the original text. However, since this body of water is in the north of Kemet, it is still questionable how the Hebrews could have taken that route without being spotted by the Kemetic army? All along the northern border stretching through Sinai to Western Asia, were garrisons set up for the protection of the nation. The temple of Karnak in Kemet has reliefs indicating the existence of these garrisons. In their flight the Israelites would have most likely been spotted by soldiers at one of these locations.
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Now, many cold, hard, painful and shocking facts were just shared and individuals will find them difficult to manage if they subscribe to Christian theology. This revelation shakes the foundation of the core beliefs of such teaching. However, it is important to learn to live in historical reality. As stated in the beginning of this article, anything asserted to be true must be put to the test. If something that is believed to be true is proven otherwise, it must be discarded or subject to its proper interpretation if possible. As Dr. Leonard Jeffries states, “we must learn to follow the truth wherever the truth may lead us.”
Even though we can no longer believe that the Biblical Exodus is an historical event, and thus falls into the category of a myth, the story can still be interpreted to teach a positive lesson from which many can learn. To do so, one must understand that the ancients dealt with the esoteric, and told stories from a metaphorical point of view. While myths are not historically true, they convey a universal truth that can transcend time. To understand many of the ancient myths and the purpose they served requires a certain level of spiritual maturity. When this is achieved the individual will be better prepared to deal with reality. The Kemites recognized this importance and it was infused into all aspects of their culture. For them, all of humanity was an extension of the creator and thus served a higher purpose, but to achieve that purpose individuals had to be able to understand and deal with all aspects of the reality in which they lived. And according to the late Dr. Ishakamusa Barashango, “Whether that reality is pleasant or unpleasant, we must be able to deal with reality in order to be rational and sane and to reach that place for which we are being called to go.” Thank you for reading.
SOURCES:
Holy Bible: King James Version
Clayton, Peter A., “Chronicle of the Pharaohs,” Thames & Hudson, 1994
Van Sertima, Ivan, “Egypt Revisted,” Journal of African Civilizations, 1989
Jackson, John G., “Introduction to African Civilizations,” Citadel Press, 1970
Diop, Cheik Anta, “The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality,” Lawrence Hill Books, 1974
Beegle, Dewey M. “Moses,” Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/393555/Moses
Hirsch, Emil G., Benzinger ,Immanuel, “Red Sea” Jewish Encyclopedia http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=158&letter=R&search=red%20sea#ixzz18b6t828S
How the Nile River Works by Alia Hoyt: http://history.howstuffworks.com/african-history/nile-river.htm/printable
McArthur ,Tom, "Alphabet,” Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language 1998: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/alphabet.aspx#1-1O29:ALPHABET-full
"Red Sea." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 17 Dec. 2010: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Erythraean_Sea.aspx#1-1E1:RedSea-full
Bible: History or Hoax II – Moses & "Exodus" From Egypt – 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrrzzHOhr8Y
Bible: History or Hoax II – Moses & "Exodus" From Egypt – 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1eO5Dd6WgY&feature=related
1 comment:
This was a great write on the subject matter. Another work worth visiting is Gary Greenberg's The Moses Mystery: The African Origins of the Jewish People. Some of his most basic assertsion is that jewish/hebrew/isrealite history doesn't acually begin until after the exodus, that they were a mixed group of ethnicities who still subscribed to 'religious' reformations ushered in by akhenaton during his reign, and that after intense civil war after his death were forced into exhile as part of a peace agreement. The author also posits that jewish/hebrew/isrealite history prior to the exodus may very well have been redacted kemetic history; citing strong correlations between kings lists and the list of patriarchs.
what there were a diverse. it would also go a long way to in explaining a lot of the parallels in cosmology/mythology/motifs as well as linguistic borrowings.
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