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10 Hope of Israel Ministries BIBLE Correspondence Course Lesson 42




YEARS OF MISERY. Though four hundred
men were in straits through it, I did not seize a
man's daughter, nor did I seize his field....”
(Ancient Egyptian Literature, pp.. 88-89).
A stela discovered in the necropolis of
Naqada, which lay within the Coptic nome (the
fifth nome of Upper Egypt -- 25 miles N.E. of
Thebes), refers to the SAME PROLONGED
FAMINE once again and is known as the stela of
the Steward Seneni of Coptus: "An offering
which the king gives (and) Anubis, who is upon
his mountain and in the place of embalming, the
lord of the necropolis: an offering for the Eldest
of the House Seneni, who says: I MEASURED
OUT UPPER EGYPTIAN BARLEY AS SUS-
TENANCE FOR THIS WHOLE TOWN IN
THE GATEWAY OF THE COUNT AND
CHIEF PRIEST DJEFI, IN THE PAINFUL
YEARS OF DISTRESS. Having acted in the
proper manner, I was praised for it by the whole
town. Never did I do what everybody hates. The
royal chamberlain Senen(i)" (ibid., pp.. 89-90).
These contemporary stelae from the First
Intermediate Period record the great SEVEN-
YEAR FAMINE in the time of Joseph.
The account of Genesis 41:29, 30 was This famine stela attributed to King Doser is
discovered during the nineteenth century in falsely assumed to discuss the seven-year fa-
southern Saudi Arabia. This inscription was mine of Joseph’s time. It is way too early time-
found on a marble tablet in a ruined fortress on wise.
the seashore of Hadramaut in present-day De-
mocratic Yemen. resting-places.
An examination of the writing suggests And twice the number of our camels
that it was written at a time that corresponds with were our sheep,
the biblical narrative about Jacob and his twelve In comeliness like white does, and also
sons. the slow moving kine.
This inscription was rendered in Arabic We dwelt in this castle seven years of
by Professor Schultens and was later translated good life -- how difficult for memory its
into English by Rev. Charles Forster. This is his description!
translation of this ancient inscription: Then came years barren and burnt
“We dwelt as ease in this castle a long up:
tract of time; When one evil year had passed away,
Nor had we a desire but for the Then came another to succeed it.
region-lord of the vineyard. And we became as though we had never
Hundreds of camels returned to us each seen a glimpse of good.
day at evening, They died and neither foot nor hoof
Their eyes pleasant to behold in their




Archaeology and the Bible
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