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Lesson 42 Hope of Israel Ministries BIBLE Correspondence Course 11

remained. he resisted the attempt of Potiphar’s wife to de-
Thus fares it with him who renders not stroy his virtue. The tragic history of famines
thanks to God: often recorded the bartering of the most precious
His footsteps fail not to be blotted out of metals and luxuries in trade for the smallest
from his dwelling.” amount of food available.
This ancient poem records the devas- Compare them with Genesis 41:29-32
tation of the years of famine and barrenness that and 47:13-27. Here is the plain record. Scoffers
followed the seven years of plenty. This account cannot deny it, so they get around the proof of
from ancient Arabia provides independent evi- biblical inspiration by twisting the chronology --
dence confirming the accuracy of the biblical the time of these contemporary rulers!
account in the Middle East that occurred during Genesis also preserves the story of Ja-
the rule of Joseph as prime minister of Egypt. cob’s entrance into Goshen in Egypt, and of
Another Yememite Inscription about this Israel growing into a nation of 2 ½ million men,
famine actually mentions the name of Joseph: women and children in a little over two cen-
“In thy name O God, the God of Hamyar, turies. Where is the RECORD that Jacob and the
I Tajah, the daughter of Dzu Shefer, sent Israelites actually lived in Egypt for this time?
my steward to Joseph,
And he delayed to return to me, I sent my A seal of Jacob, first published in 1930 and now
hand maid in Berlin, has its hieroglyphs enclosed by a
With a measure of silver, to bring me cartouche, an oval indicating a royal name in
back a measure of flour: Egypt. The author concludes that the Berlin
And not being able to procure it, I sent scarab was made in the 18th century B.C. by a
her with a measure of gold: Canaanite craftsman.
And not being able to procure it, I sent
her with a measure of pearls:
And not being able to procure it, I
commanded them to be ground:
And finding no profit in them, I am shut
up here.
Whosoever may hear it, let him
commiserate me;
And should any woman adorn herself
with an ornament
From my ornaments, may she die with no
other than my death.”
(Reported in Niebuhr’s Voyage en
Arabie, PL. LIX, translation by Rev. Charles
Forster).
This ancient inscription reveals that a
Yemenite Arab noble woman’s sincere com-
plaint that she could not purchase Egypt’s grain
with her gold. It also reveals Joseph’s deter-
mination to resist any appeal from a stranger
offering gold in return for Egypt’s precious grain
reserves. This determination reminds us of
Joseph’s similar resolve earlier in his life when

Archaeology and the Bible