With Joseph in Egypt (Part One)

[Rebbe]

a BRI International Internet Yeshiva Historical Exposition

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WITH JOSEPH IN EGYPT
by
Les Aron Gosling, Messianic Rebbe

When I completed my youthful schooling in 1960, I left knowing everything that I needed to know about life, or so I thought, and especially was this the case in relation to ancient Egypt -- my major subject in which I thrived being history. And the following abbreviated chronological outline concerning Egypt is what I understood:

PROTO-HISTORIC PERIOD. Dynasties 1 and 11.
Chronology: Approximately 3200-2780 BCE (according to some others c. 2950-c. 2660 BCE).
Capitol: Thinis.
Necropolis: Abydos.

OLD KINGDOM. Dynasties 111 to VI.
Chronology: Approx. 2780-2280 BCE (according to some others c. 2660-c. 2160 BCE).
Capitol: Memphis.
Necropolises: Saqqarah, Gizeh, Memphis.

Dynasty 111 (c. 2780-c. 2680 BCE. These are the earlier dates proposed by scholars).
Dynasty IV (c. 2680-c. 2560 BCE). Time of the great pyramid constructions. The Golden Age of Old Kingdom art.
Dynasty V (c. 2560-c. 2420 BCE). Golden Age of Old Kingdom art continues. Rise of Heliopolis Sun cult. Ra (Re) now the supreme deity of Egypt and the Pharaohs declare themselves to be his son.
Dynasty VI (c. 2420-c. 2280 BCE). Egyptian centralisation of government; officials display their power and control. The Old Kingdom is eclipsed amid political, social and natural calamities.

FIRST INTERREGNUM. Dynasties VII to X.
Chronology: Approx. 2280-2052 BCE (according to some others c. 2160-c. 2040 BCE).
Egypt breaks into regions dominated by war lords, and virtually no Pharaonic authority exists. Heracleopolis is the most important centre of both Lower and Upper Egypt.

MIDDLE KINGDOM. Dynasties X1 and X11.
Chronology: Approx. 2134-1778 BCE (according to some others c.1785 BCE). This period includes the reigns of the sovereigns of Thebes, prior to them emerging as lords of all Egypt.
Capitol: Thebes, subsequently Memphis.

Dynasty X1 (c. 2134-c. 1991 BCE).
Dynasty X11 (c. 1991-c. 1778 BCE) Mortuary temple of Mentuhotep at Deir el-Bahari; tombs of various monarchs.

SECOND INTERREGNUM. Dynasties X111 to XV11.
Chronology: Approx. 1778-1557 BCE. In this period we find the decay of the state and general breakdown of Egyptian civil unity. Cultural decadence appears.

Dynasty XV. The invasion of the Hyksos, a Semitic people. Egypt collapses.

NEW EMPIRE. Dynasties XV111 to XX.
Chronology: Approx. 1557-1185 BCE.
Capitol: Thebes. Under Dynasty X1X, Tanis.
Necropolises: Valley of the Kings, near Thebes. Ahmose. The Lord of Thebes drives out the Hyksos and reunites Egypt.

Dynasty XV111  (1557-1304 BCE)
Amenophis 1 (1532-1304 BCE)
Tuthmosis 1 and 11 (1511-1490 BCE)
Hatshepsut (c. 1490- c. 1470 BCE)
Tuthmosis 111 (1490-1437 BCE)
Amenophis 11 (1437-1410 BCE)
Amenophis 111 (1400-1362 BCE)
Amenophis 1V -- Ikhnaton (1362-1334 BCE)
Tutankhamen (1346-1334 BCE)
Heremheb (1334-1304 BCE)

Dynasty X1X 1304-1200 BCE. Ramessides era, and Seti 1 and 11.
Dynasty XX (c. 1200-c. 1185 BCE) Egypt reaches its zenith in artistic splendour and political power.

THIRD INTERREGNUM. Dynasties XX1 to XXV.
Chronology: 1185-655 BCE.

Dynasty XX1 (950-730 BCE). Libyan military dynasty; Priesthood of Ammon dominates Thebes; Divine Ammonite State.
Capitol: Bubastis.
Nubians invade Egypt (V111th century BCE). Assyrians invade Egypt; conquer Lower Egypt. Assurbanipal sacks Thebes.

LATE PERIOD. Dynasties XXV1 to XXX.
Chronology: 663-332 BCE.
Psammetichus, King of Sais, gains independence from Assyria. The Assyrians had supported him against the Nubians.

Dynasty XXV1. Saite dynasty 663-525 BCE.
525 BCE: Cambyses conquers Egypt.
525-504 BCE: Egypt is a Persian satrapy.
Dynasty XXX. 378-341 BCE. New flowering Egyptian civilisation under Nectanebo.
341 BCE: Artaxerxes 111 reconquers Egypt.
332 BCE: Alexander ousts the Persians. During this age the animal cult becomes highly developed.

PTOLEMAIC PERIOD.
Chronology: 323-30 BCE.
31 BCE. Battle of Actium.
Egypt becomes a Roman province.

This straightforward, albeit brief, chronological assessment is the conventional or consensus version of Egyptian history which is largely based on the detailed outline of the succession of Pharaohs and events given to us by Manetho, a priest under Ptolemy 11 Philadelphus around 280 BCE. Manetho, of course, did not leave us his original manuscripts -- we have to rely heavily on the documentation of later personalities who bequeathed them to us such as the two Roman writers, Africanus and Eusebius.

There exists yet another "traditional" view which in brief consists of the following:

Old Kingdom -- Dynasties 1-V1
First Interregnum -- Dynasties V11 - X1
Middle Kingdom -- Dynasty X11
Second Interregnum -- Dynasties X111-XV11
New Kingdom -- Dynasties XV111-XXX1

Be this as it may, along with the History of Egypt which Manetho bequeathed to us, we are appreciative of the preservation of records giving us king lists as located in the temple of Thutmosis 111 at Karnak, the fragmentary Papyrus of the Kings (stored in the Turin Egyptian Museum), the walls of the temple of Seti 1 at Abydos, and other fragmentary records such as the Palermo Stone and the Cairo fragment.

NOW! Dismiss all of this in its entirety. Free your mind from the shackles of this imposed historical melodrama. It's more than historical -- it's hysterical.

It's been only in recent years that a variety of historians from a rich diversity of backgrounds have begun to question the reliability of Manetho. There can be no doubt he totally ignored coexistent regencies in his calculations of reign lengths and his assignment of numbers (unless these were assigned by the Romans) to dynasties (Charles Taylor, Rewriting Bible History According to Scripture, 1983, 55). Indeed, "such a procedure might be [politically] attractive to someone wanting to impress the Greeks with the antiquity of Egypt, or even more so in the case of upstart Macedonians with very little 'civilisation'" (ibid).

In 1967/68 in the Public library of New South Wales in Sydney, my wife and I examined a large imposing copy of the Ipuwer Papyrus (Papyrus Leiden 1 344) translated in 1909 by the Egyptologist Sir Alan Gardiner. We spent almost every free weekend at the library for about three months with this copy of Gardiner's translation work. There was a great deal included in the text which seemed to correlate with the biblical events of the Exodus account. A short time later I purchased Immanuel Velikovsky's Ages in Chaos (Vol 1) and his catastrophic Earth in Upheaval and Worlds In Collision and came to the abrupt realisation that my education in Egyptian history was sadly lacking!

Since that time my persistent research into the ancient history of the world has broadened my outlook considerably, to the point of questioning every single thing I was ever taught. This is a considerable work in progress, an ongoing agony of the spirit. But I remain adamant in the pursuit of my personal philosophy that we are here to take any and every opportunity to expand the parameters of our ignorance. I remain convinced that this is not only the correct procedure we should all adopt and follow, but that that such a step is absolutely essential for an authentic change and growth and expansion in our consciousness to occur. When we stop learning we die crippled in our spirit.

"God is not the author of confusion" Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 14.33. Yet when we open the pages of Egyptian history we are confronted by a very definite confusion. Historians are slowly coming to generally accept (and not without a formidable resistance) that the Pharaonic dynasties are not successive as previously thought. Eradicating the consensus view of successive reigns and dynasties, and the confusion about ancient Egypt begins to settle. Rather, there were concurrent reigns of kings as well as distinct regions of rule in various parts of the country. The Hebrew Bible confirms this assessment.

For one thing the prophet Isaiah (eighth century BCE) speaks of kingdoms existing side by side in Egypt at the time he wrote. "And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom" (Isa 19.2).

Isaiah is not describing internal civil war, as such, but sovereign Egyptian kingdoms warring against other sovereign Egyptian kingdoms.

Much earlier, at the time of the Israelite exodus from Egyptian slavery, the Psalmist noted that Egypt "brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of [Egypt's] kings"  (Ps 105.30). Kindly note the plural "kings." Also during the Axial Age, Jeremiah stated: "The Lord of legions, the God of Israel, says; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings [again note the plural]; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him" (Jer 46.25).

Dr Ernest L. Martin, and synchronous to him Dr Herman L. Hoeh, both of Ambassador College (an Armstrongite organisation), suggested that segments of the third to fifth Egyptian dynasties co-existed in different geographical areas of Upper and Lower Egypt. While many researchers have finally fallen on their swords by agreeing with the assessment of these two pioneers of a restored biblical chronology, there was a very early astute acknowledgement (and in whom we ought to have believed) arguing for co-existent, contemporaneous regencies in ancient Egypt rather than simply accepting the Manetho argument for successive dynasties, and that evidence comes from no one less than the Constantinian librarian of Caesarea in Palestine, Eusebius: "Perhaps," he suggested, "several Egyptian kings ruled at one and the same time." For those who would proffer that I have misread Eusebius in this matter please note the context as I repeat verbatim his rendering of Egyptian history as understood by Manetho.

"From the Egyptian records of Manetho, who composed in three books commentaries about the gods, demi-gods, spirits, and the mortal kings who ruled over the Egyptians up until the time of Dareius [sic] the king of the Persians.

"The first man amongst the Egyptians was Hephaestus who discovered fire for them; he was the father of Sol [the Sun]. After him came [(?)Agathodaemon; then] Cronus; then Osiris; then Typhon the brother of Osiris; and then Horus the son of Osiris and Isis. These were the first rulers of the Egyptians. After them, one king succeeded another until the time of Bidis, for a total of 13,900 years - calculated by lunar years, which lasted for 30 days. That is the period which we now call a month, but the men of that time called it a year.

"After the gods, a race of demi-gods ruled for 1,255 years. After them, other kings ruled [Egypt] for 1,817 years. After them, 30 kings from Memphis [ruled] for 1,790 years; and then another ten kings from Thinis ruled for 350 years. And then the shades and demi-gods were kings, for 5,813 years. The total for all of these is 11,000 years - which are lunar years, or months.

"The total time, which the Egyptians assign to the gods and demi-gods and spirits is 24,900 lunar years - which is the equivalent of 2,206 solar years. If you compare this figure with the chronology of the Hebrews, you will find almost the same number of years. For Aegyptus is called Mizraim by the Hebrews; and he was born many years after the time of the flood. It was after the time of the flood that Ham the son of Noah became the father of Mizraim, who was also called Aegyptus; and when the nations were scattered around the earth, Mizraim set off for Egypt to live there. According to the Hebrews, there were 2,242 years in all from Adam until the flood.
 
"So let the Egyptians boast of their antiquity, in the ancient times which preceded the flood. They say that they had some gods, demi-gods and shades. If the years which are recorded by the Hebrews are converted to months, the total is over 20,000 lunar years, so that there are about the same number of months as are contained in the years recorded by the Hebrews, when we count the years from the first-born man up until Mizraim. Mizraim was the patriarch of the Egyptians, and the first dynasty of the Egyptians was descended from him.

"But if, even so, the number of years is found to be too large, then we must investigate the reason for this. PERHAPS IT HAPPENED THAT THERE WERE MANY KINGS IN EGYPT AT THE SAME TIME. They say that some of them were kings of Thinis, some of Memphis, some of Sais, and some of Ethiopia; and THERE WERE YET OTHERS IN OTHER PLACES. And as it seems that these dynasties ruled each in its own nome [district or region] it is very unlikely that they ruled in succession to each other. Rather, SOME OF THEM RULED IN ONE PLACE, AND OTHERS IN ANOTHER PLACE. Therefore the increase in the number of years can be explained in that way. But we will leave this matter, and proceed to the details of the chronology of the Egyptians...." (Eusebius, Chronicle. [c.325 CE.] Translation based on a Latin translation of the Armenian translation of the Greek original, in the Schoene-Petermann edition).

Certainly, when one reads Manetho, the impression is that all the dynasties were successive to one another. But some major historians have disputed this, saying that some parts or even whole dynasties ruled at the same time with each other, though in different geographical areas of Egypt. So, confusion reigns supreme when it comes to Egypt of the past. There are added issues and problems for the student of Egyptian history. For one thing, some Pharaohs of one dynasty built tombs for themselves, only to later rule in another district of Egypt and under another dynasty and to proceed to build yet another tomb. On the other hand, Pharaohs had more than one name and title. This has caused some Egyptologists over the decades to really get confused believing there were several Pharaohs reigning over numerous districts when in fact it was only one Pharaoh who was known by several different designations. In fact there were seven official designations which Pharaohs regularly used.

(a) The Horus designation (the sign of the hawk, linking North and Southern Egypt)
(b) The "Nebti" designation (sign of the vulture, for the city of Nekhebit)
(c) The "Golden Horus" designation
(d) The "Suten Bat" designation (the sign of sheaf and hornet, linking South with North)
(e) The Son of Ra designation, or Son of the Sun designation.
(f) A Greek designation
(g) A personal name

There is also evidence that the Pharaoh who reigned over Dynasty V also ruled over Dynasty 11 at the time of a takeover of Dynasty IV, and for the period of 25 years Egypt appeared to be ruled over by one Pharaoh (c. 1750 BCE). The problems presented by our consensus view of Egyptian history, and Egyptian chronological history especially, will take a mammoth miracle to solve to the satisfaction of all concerned. In my lecture, Ancient Records Reconsidered (Part One), I mention the following:

"Unconventional Professor Immanuel Velikovsky challenged contemporary views of history and theories of chronology producing a fundamental reinterpretation of the history of the Middle East between the fifteenth and the fourth centuries BCE. In his own words, 'Many wondrous things happen when historical perspective is distorted. In order to understand the scope of displacements in the history of the ancient world, one must try to conceive of the chaos which would result if a survey of Europe and America were written in which the history of the British Isles were some six hundred years out of line, so that in Europe and America the year would be 1941 while in Britain it would be 1341. As Columbus discovered America in 1492, the Churchill of 1341 could not have visited this country [America] but must have visited some other land - the scholars would be divided in their opinion as to the whereabouts of that land - and met its chief. Ancient history is distorted in this very manner."

This is the fundamental reason why scholars cannot locate the historical Moses where they say he should exist in a so-called parallel chronology in Egyptian history. Even a number of influential modern Jewish scholars believe he was nothing more than a myth created out of necessity. Yet in the Bible Moses emerges within the context of Egyptian history as not only a mighty leader and extremely prominent figure who is second in command under Pharaoh, but who continues thousands of years later to receive adulation and reverential recognition by Jews, Christians and Moslems alike.

They are seeking Moses "in the wrong period of Egyptian history, under the wrong choice of Pharaohs, in the wrong dynasties, in the wrong millennium" (ARR, Part 1).

There is also the problem of a lack of sound education among Christians (and others) who ascribe a certain Pharaoh to the Exodus period solely on the basis that a specific Pharaonic mummy is missing! Listen! There is a large list of missing Pharaoh mummies -- dozens in fact!

A forthcoming major overhaul of Egyptian history has already begun with innovative scholars who are presently reviewing Egyptian chronology in the light of the biblical revelation. This well-overdue reconstruction may well be one of the most important breakthroughs prophesied to take place in the EndTime Axial Age (apocatastasis) of rediscovery (Acts 3.21). We are on the very brink of a new Axial Age in which there will be a major knowledge explosion! As a direct consequence a new Golden Age will be forthcoming which will have the entire world in a spin.

But the title of this lecture is With Joseph in Egypt. We are not interested at this time with Moses, Hatshepsut, Rameses or Apop. We are interested only in Joseph. To begin with it is my belief, held since circa 1964, that Joseph in ancient Egypt was none other than Imhotep (Imhetep/Greek: Imouthes) -- "the one who comes in peace" -- the celebrated Vizier of Pharaoh Djoser 1 (Netjerikhet). Imhotep was a physician, living two millennia prior to Hippocrates the western Father of Medicine. He is believed to have penned a medical manuscript -- known today as the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus -- in which we locate a detailed description of 48 injuries and 90 anatomical terms. He was also a poet, astrologer, priest, scribe and brilliant architect. His great achievement is the Step Pyramid at Saqqara with its elaborate surrounding funerary complex. The Greeks of the Roman period heaped upon Imouthes enormous honours. As far as heaped honours are concerned, he held a variety of positions under Djoser. In fact, on one of Djoser's statues we find the following inscriptions relating to Imhotep:

(1) Chancellor of the king of Lower [northern] Egypt
(2) First one under the king
(3) Hereditary Noble
(4) Administrator of the Great Mansion
(5) High priest of Heliopolis
(6) Chief sculptor
(7) Chief carpenter

In the 70's I toyed with the thought that Imhotep and Ptah-hotep (who lived later in the so-called Fifth Dynasty) may well have been one and the same person. I readily admit that I may very well be in error in my present belief that Imhotep the Vizier (Prime Minister) of Egypt and High Priest of Ptah is to be identified with the Vizier Ptah-hotep the sage who served under another Pharaoh altogether.

However, the similarities between the two Viziers and the same (or very similar) contributions made by each of them to Egyptian society, customs and manners (including wisdom-sayings) makes it difficult to assess them as distinct personalities.

The key to uniting these two apparently different Viziers is to appreciate that Ptah-hotep lived for a grand total of 110 years of age and therefore would have experienced life under the shadow of more than one Pharaoh! Ptah-hotep lived for 110 years precisely as did Joseph the Hebrew second-in-command of Egypt under his Pharaoh (Gen 50.22). Whoever Imhotep and Ptah-hotep really were, they left behind memories of righteous rule and personal righteous behaviour which set the stage for numerous kings of Egypt to desire to be blessed to live to that same elderly age.

"More than thirty references are known from Egyptian texts in which a 110-year life span is mentioned. It was a symbolic figure for a distinguished sagely man. One such example is Ptahhotep, who left to posterity a wisdom text from c. 2320 BC...  Often references to 110 years appear in prayers or wishes such as, May I reach 110 years on earth such as every righteous man, -- and "May he [the Egyptian god Amun] give me the 110 years as to every living righteous man" -- writes highly accredited scholar J. Karl Hoffmeier. He then adds a personal thought, "Could it be that Joseph's age at death reflects the use of this Egyptian honorific number that represented the ideal life?" (James Karl Hoffmeier, The Archaeology of the Bible, 2008, 48).

Ideal life? Perhaps. Ptah-hotep expressed his elderly years somewhat differently to that described by Professor Hoffmeier. In his "Teaching" Ptah-hotep notes...

"The teaching of the Overseer of the City and Vizier Ptahhotep
before the power of the dual king Isesi living for ever and eternity.
The Overseer of the City and Vizier Ptahhotep declares:
O my sovereign,
Old age has struck, age has descended,
Feebleness has arrived, weakness is here again.
Sleep is upon him in discomfort all day.
Eyes are grown small, ears deaf,
Mouth silent, unable to speak,
Heart emptied, unable to recall yesterday.
Bones ache his whole length.
Goodness has turned to evil,
All taste is gone.
What old age does to people is evil in every way.
Nose is blocked, unable to breathe,
how old (it feels) standing or sitting.
Let a staff of old age be decreed to be made for this humble servant.
Let him be told the speech of those who assess,
the advice of the ancestors once heard by the gods.
Then the same may be done for you,
strife may be removed from the populace,
and the Two Shores may toil for you" (Papyrus Prisse, column 4, line 1 to column 5, line 4).

He concludes his proverb-like teachings with the following conclusion.

"Do as your master has said for you.
How good is one instructed by his father
when he emerged from him out of his body,
and he told him, while he was in the body, entirely,
May what he has done be greater than what he was told.
See, a good son, by the gift of the god,
surpassing what he was told before his lord.
He does what is right.
His heart has acted according to his set steps.
As you reach me, your body intact,
the king content with everything,
take years of life.
What I have done on earth is not little.
I took 110 years of life
by the grant of the king to me,
favour ahead of the ancestors,
from doing what is right for the king until the stage of revered status.
This is its completion, from beginning to end as found in writing" (Papyrus Prisse column 19, lines 3-9).

Another translation of the last section makes the Egyptian text a little clearer to the modern mind.

"The keeping of these laws have gained for me upon earth 110 years of life, with the gift of the favour of the King, among the first of those whose works have made them noble, doing the pleasure of the King in an honoured position. Thus is my instruction finished from the start of my document to its conclusion in script form."

Before progressing further, there are some things that need to be understood by any Christian exploring Egyptian phraseology and delving into the chaotic Egyptian chronological ocean. I say "chaotic" because there are a number of issues extant in Egyptian history which standard consensus Egyptologists would like to ignore (to the detriment of truth). More on this problem later. Certainly, there are objections which are raised by Bible believing Christians in relation to the identity of Imhotep or Ptah-hotep as Joseph. They object to Joseph ever carrying Egyptian religious and/or governmental titles linked to rank paganism. There is also the objection of identity due to Ptah-hotep (in particular) leaving a supposed account of his Egyptian father. Joseph was not Egyptian, he was a Hebrew. So, let's consider these questions/assumptions.

Firstly, "Ptah-hotep" is a title, and not a proper name. It literally means, "the god Ptah is satisfied." Ptah was the name which the Egyptians gave to the original Creator of the known universe of which Egypt was a dominant part.

Secondly, in his Teachings Ptah-hotep refers to his Pharaoh as his "father." All scholars of Egyptology realise this is not a matter of biology but rather is a typical Egyptian coinage to utilise such a phrase to show absolute respect for the king as well as trust to the point of union or unity in an intimate manner. For instance,

"How good is one instructed by his father
when he emerged from him out of his body,
and he told him, while he was in the body, entirely,
May what he has done be greater than what he was told.
See, a good son, by the gift of the god,
surpassing what he was told before his lord."

This quote is immediately prefaced with the following: "Do as your master has said for you."

Such an expression of fondness can be found in numerous texts and all of them in "family" reference to the reigning Pharaoh.

Thirdly, the Teaching of Ptah-hotep makes a reference to Osiris. Some have taken issue with this notification and claim that in no way would Joseph show any manner of idolatry, especially in relation to Osiris (some connect this god or early ruler of Egypt to Kush and/or Nimrod). This really is a nonsense. Consider what was written by Joseph in this matter at the time he served as Prime Minister under Zoser (Djozer). What he wrote was the following: "Great is the Truth, enduring in its effectiveness, for it has not been disturbed since the Time of Osiris" - Precept V (Papyrus British Museum 10371/10435 tr. R. Parkinson, Voices From Ancient Egypt. An Anthology of Middle Kingdom Writings, 1991, 65).

Egyptians spoke of "Truth" as pertaining to administrative "Law." There is therefore no cause for panic in his notation. Osiris, as far as Joseph was concerned, was a real personage, an historical figure in ancient Egyptian history, and he made a reference to him. That is all! To insinuate more than this is to transplant onto the words of the Vizier something he did not have in mind. Diodorus Siculus noted the historicity of Osiris and his link to immortality in mythology in his Bibliotheca Historica 1.13:

"There are other gods... who were terrestrial, having once been mortals, but who, by reason of their sagacity and the good services which they rendered to all men, attained immortality, some of them having even been kings in Egypt. Their names, when translated, are in some cases the same as those of the celestial gods, while others have a distinct appellation, such as Helius, Cronus, and Rhea, and also the Zeus who is called Ammon by some, and besides these Hera and Hephaestus, also Hestia, and, finally, Hermes... Then Cronus became the ruler, and upon marrying his sister Rhea he begat Osiris and Isis, according to some writers of mythology, but, according to the majority, Zeus and Hera, whose high achievements gave them dominion over the entire universe. From these last were sprung five gods, one born on each of the five days which the Egyptians intercalates: the names of these children were Osiris and Isis, and also Typhon, Apollo, and Aphrodite; and Osiris when translated is Dionysus, and Isis is more similar to Demeter than to any other goddess..." (a modern translation in preference to that of John Skelton's translation which sits proudly in the BRI library and who rendered Diodorus in early English, c.1487, that a reader would find awkward and clumsy and difficult of comprehension).

Fourthly, and linked to the immediate point above, is that Ptah-hotep was a disciple of Horus due to the mention in Precept XLII of the following:

"A son who hears is a follower of Horus
It is good for him after he hears.
In his old age he achieves revered status.
He can tell the same to his children,
renewing the teaching of his father.
Every man teaches by his deeds.
He tells on to the children,
and they can tell their children.
Show character, do not pass on your weaknesses.
Securing what is right, is the life of your children
As for the principal who arrives with wrongdoing,
people say what they see
'that is exactly how that man is'
to say to those who will hear
'that is exactly how that man is' too.
Their everyone sees, and the multitude is pacified.
There is no profit in riches without them.
Do not remove a word, do not add it.
Do not put one in place of another.
Fight against opening up the bonds on you.
Guard against a man of experience saying
'listen up, if you wish to be secure
in the mouth of those who hear;
speak up when you have penetrated the case of the craftsman'.
You speak at the case of closure,
and all your plans will fall into place" 45 (Papyrus Prisse column 17, line 10 to column 18, line 12).

As any encyclopaedia on Egypt will confirm, all the Pharaoh's of Egypt were given a "Horus" name, appellation or title. It is the oldest form of a Pharaonic title originating in predynastic Egypt and in the British Museum (and in other European museums) one can locate a number of serekh's -- rectangular enclosures representing palace facades -- with the inscribed form or image of the falcon god Horus located either next to or above the hieroglyphic inscription of a particular Pharaoh. There are people in power in our western governments that make claims to Christianity but who are also associated with insignia which is rooted in the occult. Does this fact alone cancel out their identification with "Christianity"?

Some Christians would be shocked to learn that the biblical revelation itself informs us that Joseph, while reigning in Egypt, was involved in occult practices. This in no way diminishes his authenticity as a faithful servant of the God of Israel. I shall endeavour to share these facts with our students in the following lecture.

[Part two follows shortly.]