August 3,  7 pm

New Archeological Evidence Before the Exodus:

   Part 4 of 5

Part 4:   Hebrew as the First Alphabet

 By  Dr. Douglas Petrovich,  PhD  Syro-Palestinian Archaeology

Parts 1 -5 topics: 
5/4      Tower of Babel (ca. 2650 BC) 
6/1      Joseph and Jacob in Egypt (ca. 1875–1859 BC)    
7/6     Ephraim and Manasseh in Egypt (ca. 1858–1800 BC) 
8/3      Hebrew as the first alphabet (ca. 1875–1446 BC) 
9/7      Israelites in Egypt before the exodus (ca. 1560–1446 BC)

In the previous lectures in this series we saw that when we work with a positive outlook there is an abundance of  archaeological evidence for the Biblical events surrounding Joseph, Jacob, Manasseh, and Ephraim. Joseph successfully led Egypt through seven years of preparation and 7 years of famine. During the famine the rich and powerful governors in Egypt slowly sold all they had to buy grain from the pharaoh. At the same time Manasseh and Ephraim became rich through wine trade with Canaan and through mining expeditions in the Sinai desert.  Ephraim received the principal blessing from Jacob so he got the cushy job of managing the trade and building an extensive mansion in Avaris. Manasseh with the secondary blessing got to lead the mining expeditions in the Sinai desert. 

In the fourth lecture on August 3 we will see the evidence that in this period  Ephraim and Manasseh developed a written language for the Hebrews.  It is amazing that this language is the first alphabetic language on Earth. An alphabet made writing and reading  far more simple than non alphabetic languages which necessarily use a very large number of symbols for various things and ideas. Hieroglyphics for example, used more than 800 different symbols which is very much more difficult to learn and use. The concept of an alphabet with  just twenty-something symbols was a major innovation and gift to mankind from God.

We will also see inscriptions in Hebrew in the Sinai mines we will see evidence of the mistreatment of the Hebrew and enslavement. There were also invaders of Egypt from the east who successfully took over much of the delta for in the Second Intermediary Period of Egypt when there were weak pharaohs. There is much more before the plagues and Exodus but we will have save that for the fifth presentation.

Plan on attending in person or online. Don’t miss Dr. Petrovich’s extensive body of evidence set forth with passion and expertise. 

For location see the sidebar to the right. See Registration link below.

 

 

 

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Introduction to the State of Biblical Archaeology

By Dr. Douglas Petrovich

            In the 1930s, an American archaeologist named William Albright permanently changed what the perceived relationship is between biblical history and archaeological evidence. Whereas before him people held strongly to how the archaeological evidence should defer to the constraints of biblical chronology and a careful study of the biblical text in the original languages, his methodology was to elevate the archaeological finds to a position over how the Bible is to be understood and interpreted on its own terms, with a willingness to remove these constraints.

Albright used evidence from the destructions of minimally important sites in the Holy Land at the end of the Late Bronze Age (about 1200 BC) and their subsequent reoccupation sometime later by Israelites of the Iron Age (after 1200 BC) to deny that the Israelite conquest of Canaan took place at the end of the 15th century BC, as biblical chronology requires (1 Kgs 6:1; Josh 5:6). Instead, he demanded that the conquest occurred in the 13th century BC, which established a position usually called the late exodus/conquest view.

Cecil B. DeMille popularized this new view in his film The Ten Commandments, as he referred to the exodus pharaoh as Ramesses, a line of Egyptian kings that began in 1290 BC. This new view subtly undermined the belief in the minds of many Christians that the Bible’s history should take precedence over the interpretation of artifacts and evidence extracted from archaeological excavations. In the 1950s, Kathleen Kenyon went even further, ignoring the evidence excavated at Jericho that lends to a destruction of the city at the end of the 15th century BC, a timeframe that biblical chronology demands, and interpreting other evidence at the site to justify a redating of its destruction to a time over 150 years earlier.

From then until now, the consensus view among archaeologists and critical biblical scholars is that the Bible is out of step with the evidence dug up from the ground. For example, the majority have become convinced that there is little evidence of the biblical narratives of King David, and even less regarding earlier periods in biblical history. Skeptics who have followed in the steps of Kenyon strongly have preferred the conclusion that the Bible is progressively more mythological at virtually any period earlier than the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Since then, a few trained archaeologists with a commitment to the accuracy of the Bible have recognized that the evidence related to sites in the Holy Land from the biblical period fits biblical history and chronology well. For example, Bryant Wood concluded in the early 1990s that much of what was found at Jericho matches the Bible, despite Kenyon’s misdating of the city’s destruction, and his presentation of the evidence has proven to be highly persuasive.

It was onto this scene that Dr. Petrovich made his entrance and soon started discovering a substantial body of evidence that affirms biblical history and chronology, such as the events surrounding the Tower of Babel and the Hebrew sojourn in Egypt before the exodus. The potential impact is huge, although too few people are currently aware of the new evidence. The ongoing progress of this work should prove to be of great interest to the Christian community in general.

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Join us on August 3 in person in the Reception Room of Houston’s First Baptist, The Loop, at 7401 Katy Frwy, Houston TX 77024. See the map in the right sidebar. 

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