Narration: The conflict in Egypt against the Hebrews: 3
Series: My trips back
By Ruben Vernal
When one is an outsider in these
parts are not readily apparent political changes that occur internally. As we
were only a short time in Memphis recently when we arrived at Thebes, we find
that it already happened Memphis as capital, having been for over a thousand
years, the capital of ancient Egypt, pharaoh’s residence, sacred city and home
of the high priests of his god Amun. Thebes, the ancient city Uaset called
"the city of the scepter", and was the magnificence of the city of
Thebes which was sung by Homer, who called it "the city of a hundred
doors" in the 'Iliad', his great poem epic, "by numerous open in its
walls.
I was beginning to realize that in Egypt there was a sort of struggle between
several major cities as the capital of the kingdom. I think the country's
bureaucracy motivated this movement. Also note that many pharaohs history
tended to appoint capital to the places where they were born and developed
militarily or politically.
We were in Thebes after 15 hours' sailing on the Nile But that name is known to
two different cities: one that is Greek and the other Egyptian.
Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron mountain
range that separates Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the
Boeotian plain. It was located 48 kilometers northwest of Athens. And it is the
largest city in that region. But the city's name is Uaset.
Its geographical location contributed greatly to the historical
importance of the city to be located on both sides of the river Nile near Nubia
and the eastern desert.
Be absorbed in the beauty of this great city, and that is why I would love to
meet .
But also motivated me a lot to know
that the cities of Memphis and Thebes were named on the Bible, which for me I
consider as my important historical source. Then later I will make you know that's what she says
about these two cities.
The city of Thebes is developed along flat ground about two kilometers long
that connects the temples of Karnak, north of the city, south of Luxor.
The fame of the city is such that it attended by people from all places in
search of trade and goods come from the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea through
the path Koptos in Africa, following the course of the Nile; routes and desert
and oasis, caravans from the Sahara. Homer said that it had accumulated a great
wealth exceeded only by the sands of their surroundings. Thebes is a dynamic
city with artisan neighborhoods, an active river port and a market to supply
the population daily. On the east bank of the Nile, where the sun rises, the
pharaohs built their temples of life and funerary monuments, on the western
side, where it gets. While exploring the city we strolled witness the
celebration of the Feast of Opet, where the whole town comes out to see the
procession carrying their gods Amun, Mut and Khonsu alongside in their boats
from the sacred temple of Karnak to the Luxor. But I realized that the people
played a very minor role in the cult. They could not see straight to the
statues of the gods and could only enjoy his presence in processions and
parties.
Even is the religious center of ancient Egypt, but the mandated
transition Ramses years ago is already in operation. As I said before most of
the Egyptian population were peasants and lived in small villages near the banks
of the Nile The houses were very simple and were built first with reeds and mud
and later with sun-dried adobe. The houses had only one floor and the roof was
flat. The furniture was sparse. Large cities were scarce and its main function
was to be the place of residence of the king and the nobles as the case of
Memphis and Thebes. Pharaoh's palace stood out from all the buildings and was
distributed around the homes of the rich the powerful. These buildings in the
city of Thebes are much stronger because it uses wooden structures with stone
walls and foundations also polished stone houses were decorated according to
social status. But preferences were built with the same tone or color of stone
with wood and stone. Inside the furniture is very fiend brought from elsewhere
in Asia. The city streets were relatively wide, with the great view of the Nile
across town, with beautiful palm trees and other varieties located along the
riverbed. Facing the city you can see a row of small hills that surround it. If
you walk through its streets you appreciate certain pharaohs statues, houses of
worship as well as stone sinks species gardens were watered using irrigation
canals that brought water from the Nile
The sphinxes were a sculptural representations of the Egyptians. With lion body
and human head, were a symbol of royalty and his head used to be the reigning
Pharaoh, but also representing the gods, in this case with animal heads. Were
placed in various places, but mostly flanking the avenues to the temples.
Overall the city seemed to be set in an
oasis, because everything was green for the variety of vegetation. The market
town located in the city center offering a variety of foods. But the port was
not far removed in one part of the Nile where it had all the facilities for the
transportation of cargo and passengers.
Note that as the pharaoh whole empire belonged, was very well organized the
collection of taxes that all residents should pay for using public services
were also a species of medical centers, where people could go for medical help.
As the Egyptians had specialized in the process of mummifying their dead, had
some knowledge for the preservation of human tissue, so they knew some basic
principles of medicine and also the use of medicinal herbs.
Ephraim had contacted an Egyptian scribe named Nefertiti, who was of Jewish
origin and was also named Nahum. The interest was to learn that I know came
from Rhodes only for cultural reasons in order to make known in Greece the
magnificence of this great empire. He invited us to visit one of the temples of
the city due to the close friendship he had with the priest of the temple
caretaker. We invite you first to the temple and then went to dinner at his
house. Ephraim took us to the temple where we expected Nefertiti at the front
door.
The gods lived in temples that the pharaohs had built for them. The priests
were responsible for their care and only the pharaohs had access to them.
Inside was acceded to an open courtyard surrounded by sphinxes carved colored stones
and then to a richly furnished room. Finally we came to the shrine, where, in
an atmosphere of gloom, they stored the statue of the god. The people could
only enter the courtyard, officials and nobles to the room and only the pharaoh
and the priests, to the sanctuary.
Currently worships the god Ptah who appears in the form of an ox, and Ra, the
sun god
after being oratory to see both mysticism, paganism class, we went to his house
where we gave a splendid dinner. After having had an interesting conversation
as desktops, Nefifirriti, who is a person could consider cone well educated,
told us one last story, as a dessert and farewell
He started well: Then something unexpected happened here. As a gale irrum East
¬ chirp foreign peoples, came from a region of Asia, were warriors armed with
bows and arrows, rode horses and came with chariots, and with their families
and household utensils. They took by surprise the two frontier forts and
invasions ¬ Egyptians gave the country. Men were bold and swift as lightning.
They killed men, raped women, burned temples and palaces, robbed and plundered,
flooded throughout Egypt, and became rulers of the ancient kingdom of the Nile
were the Hyksos, the "lords of foreign lands."
While their dominance began with a terrible slaughter, brought the country a
valuable gift: the horse, unknown in Egypt until now. Work animals, saddle and
load were the donkey and camel. The horse quickly conquered the hearts of
people of Asia Minor. The noble stallion is proud to today's Arab and Saudi
never used the horse as a work animal.
The Hyksos used them to move their tanks, metal trim; they often determined the
outcome of the war.
The Hyksos usurped the throne of the Pharaohs and ruled from there not only to
Egypt, but also part of Canaan to Mesopotamia and thus provided another service
to Egypt. During a period spanning almost 1500 years, the Egyptians lived in
proud isolation, in a kind of splendid isolation, as if they were behind an
iron curtain. This curtain was broken, and the country was opened and began an
active cultural exchange with other civilized countries of the Euphrates and
the Tigris.
After 150 long years ended the rule of the Hyksos. A territorial prince in
Upper Egypt expelled from the country and returned Egypt to the Egyptians. From
that moment began a new period of flowering, which culminated under Ramses I
who died so suddenly rose to power our current king Ramses II.
Egypt, which had been a state of staff, gradually became a military state that
went to war, realized gains and extended its domain to the east. Strangely,
with the power of the warriors simultaneously increased the power of the
priests. The military state became a state of priests: Pharaoh Smedes, a former
priest of the sun god Ra.
After the splendid meeting Nefertiti accompanied us to the door to say goodbye
and I reiterate my promise to let know everything heard on my return home.
Then we organized our visit to the temples of Luxor and Karmak on the east bank
of the Nile Luxor Temple, located in the heart of ancient Thebes, was built
under essentially the eighteenth and nineteenth Egyptian dynasties. It was
dedicated to the god Amon under his two aspects of Amun-Ra. The temple was
neglected, even abused during the reign of Pharaoh "heretic"
Akhenaten. Work recommenced under Tutankhamun and Ay, who finished decorating
the walls of the column processional, adding scenes especially the registration
of the Feast of Opet. Highlight the great column Amenofisis III
Ramses II, the other major builder in Thebes, added the pylon, whose square was
adorned with six colossi of Ramses II himself, four standing and two sitting,
all with his name, and two obelisks, and a second courtyard with porticoes.
The Temple of Luxor is the complement of the great southern temple of Amun at
Karnak, to the extent that was dedicated to the Theban religious chiatry but,
above all, the progenitor of the dynastic god Ka represented under the aspect
of Amun-Min.
Located just over a mile from each other, the two temples were united by a dromos
seven hundred lined ram-headed sphinxes and stations or chapels where they
stopped the boats of the Theban triad on the great Feast of Opet was ceremonial
sphinxes adorned with human face (androesfinges) side of Luxor temple. The
dromos was the main link that crossed the city from north to south, dividing it
into a western suburb bordering the Nile where was the port, the neighborhoods
and the artisans, and probably eastern residential neighborhood that lay
between the great temples and shrines contained numerous scattered along the
cobbled streets to draw squares the big city.
The ceremony was led by Pharaoh, who also chaired the eternal renewal cycle
symbolized by the arrival of the swollen Nile Dromos name, is also a name given
to a street procession, usually lined with sphinxes, extending toward the
outside the axis of a temple ritual to link to another temple or a pier of the
Nile
Also highlighted the obelisks which is a stone monument shaped pillar, square
sections, with four trapezoidal faces alike, slightly convergent, finished top
in a small pyramid called big pyramid Usually erected on a stone base prismatic.
Ancient obelisks were carved from a single block of stone (monoliths). The
first of which the news was dating at the time of Userkaf, Pharaoh of Dynasty V
of Egypt (c. 2500 BC. C.). It is unknown how these great monuments were
erected, as there is no documentation describing the method used Egyptian.
We returned to the city of Thebes with my travel companions prepare to return
to the Nile in the direction of that city.
It was a few hours to reach our destination, and on my desk in my cabin check
my travel notes saying that during the nineteenth dynasty of Egypt, Avaris
regained its past glory when Pharaoh Ramses II founded his new capital in the
old place. The city was called Pi-Ramesses Aa-najtu which means "House /
Domain of Ramses, Great in victories."
The government decision to transfer his residence from Thebes and the north end
may have been motivated by geopolitical reasons. The eastern vassal states of
Egypt are located much closer to the border and with the hostile Empire
Palestine. Diplomats and information more quickly reach the pharaoh. The main
body of the army was also stationed in the city and could be mobilized quickly.
The city was built on the ruins of a village which had been taken by the
Hyksos. After this capture, the Hyksos adequately fortified city and ruled the
country using technology never before seen by the ancient Egyptians, namely:
the compound bow, scale armor, daggers and swords bronze curves, the use of the
horse and chariots at the end of his reign. The settlement covered an area of about two square kilometers.
Ahmose founder of the eighteenth dynasty captured Avaris just before the Hyksos
were finally expelled from Egypt. During his reign erected a palace, built
partly of brick citadel of the Hyksos, who seem to have been used as a royal
residence. The palace area was used until the reign of Amenhotep III and
possibly to the time of Ramses II. The town seems that was abandoned after the
expulsion of the Hyksos, although it may have been repopulated during the
nineteenth dynasty and, at the time, should have taken the name of Pi-Ramses.
She thrived for a century and wrote poems about splendor, saying that once had 300,000
inhabitants. The city of Rameses is mentioned five times in the Bible.
I repeat that the Bible as a historical document is also extremely important
and helps us to better elucidate the mysteries of the past. Thus, the
information provided from 1 Samuel to 2 Chronicles tells the story of Israel
covering nearly five centuries of the history of that time. I assume you also
like history as key subject knowledge. I only intend to tell on my trips back,
all the events that took place in these places. So if the Bible somehow the
names, I will not let either do so because it is a historical source that has
never been refuted. Many may doubt their faith and spiritual message, which is
another matter which no development in these narratives.
So keep in mind that it was the Greeks who invented history.
Indeed, the Greek genius, he was able to create the Philosophy, was also the
creator of something so useful and at the same time as exciting as history.
But, why the Greeks called the story "History"? Simply because this
word was what came closest to this new reality had just created. Indeed, the
Greek term meaning Cartoon witness and can also be translated as the seer was
used to define this new reality called history.
Herodotus of Halicarnassus, which Cicero described as the father of history,
believed that history should be understood as "inquiry, and searching "
about past events. In short, history is named after the concept used by the
Greeks to refer to the person who sees something, the witness. Thus, history
came to be for the ancient Greeks the witness of the ancient human events. And
that's why I like to read what the Bible says about the activities of men,
because they are written by people as eyewitnesses. As I said before, I think
now need to make you know what the end historic cities of Memphis and Thebes,
in order to have a knowledge of their initiation, grandeur and decay, which
accompanies every civilization.
The God of the Bible used his prophets to to pass on his will on his people's
future, and this is the case of the prophet Ezekiel. There seems to be few more
charming and fascinating countries like Ancient Egypt. Ezekiel prophesied about
many cities in this country, but I will limit myself only to Memphis and Thebes
I have visited and of whom the prophet declared by años592 AC-570 the following:
Thus saith the Lord also destroy the pictures, and destroy the idols of
Memphis, and there will be no more a prince of the land of Egypt and in the
land of Egypt I will fear.
14 to Pathros desolate, and will set fire to Zoan, and will execute judgments
on Thebes.
15 And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the strength of Egypt, and cut off the
multitude of Thebes.
16 And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great pain, and will be
destroyed Thebes and Memphis will have distresses daily. Ezekiel 30:13-16
It is known that Memphis was founded by Menes and that there were established
the first rules for the worship of the gods and the temple service and it is
true that a city was regarded with deep veneration. We can see the high value
was given to idols and images from the early history of Memphis. She as the
capital of Middle Egypt of his time was a stronghold of the idols. And although
there is no record that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had destroyed, we know from
Herodotus that Cambyses took to Pelusium, the key input to Egypt, standing in
front of his army dogs, cats and all that was held sacred in Egypt; so that the
Egyptians did not use their weapons against them. Destroyed the sacred ox Apis,
and burned other idols of Egypt. He fixed Urquhart scholar invasion in 525 BC,
after the prophecy had been uttered.
This of your occupation and subsequent destruction is nothing strange in the
context of biblical prophecies, because Jehovah (another name for God) drastically
opposed to idolatry. In considering the proximity to Memphis in the time of
Christ and consider the prophecies against them, they appeared to be impossible
to accomplish. The l historian Strabo saw Memphis as the second city after
Alexandria in terms of size. But with the founding of Cairo, near, Memphis
began to decline around the seventh century AD. Parts of Memphis began to be
removed and transplanted, even when it seemed that the city never completely
disappears. A traveler of the thirteenth century, called Abdul-Latiff, declare
that a considerable portion of Memphis still remained to be seen because they
were still standing a collection of wonderful works. But surprisingly it is so
little of a city that was so majestic. And much of what remains, hardly worth
looking at, being what it is so little that can be easily made a list of
everything.
Hard to believe that there has ever flourished a great city of antiquity.
The history of Thebes was different, because judgments against Thebes were so
strong that historians inadvertently submitted fulfillments of prophecies given
against him. Two large "hammer" Thebes had to smash the ground, none
of which occurred before the prediction. Ezekiel lived during the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar, and 113 years after the king was gone and the Persians were the
dominant empire, Cambieses (525 BC) invaded Egypt and Thebes beating the
helpless so that caused much damage as he could someone who hated to do too
much.
Burned the temples and sought to destroy the colossal statues. Thebes quickly
recovered from this tragedy, but a very bad wound that will never be freed.
But then came the fall of the second shot in
the century before Christ but still she remained among major cities in the area
as far as finances are concerned.
However, around the year 89 B.C. the city was besieged for three long years and
after that Thebes finally fell into an eternal oblivion because after the site
was completely destroyed, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Ezekiel 30:13-16
His multitude of inhabitants was virtually destroyed and never recovered.
Diodorus Siculo around 50 BC Thebes who was ruined and I admire because of the
religious significance even in this state; saw the grandeur and grace of it:
Its circumference was 2,800 kilometers of walls 7 feet thick by 20 meters tall
and riches were the product of the art manufacturing many previous monarchies.
There are records that Strabo visited the city in 25 BC who declared that the
city was divided into multiple townships, which remains way in modern times, divided
and disunited.
It looks amazing and phenomenal observe that prophecy even stipulate the
condition in which he had to remain forever.
To contrast the two cities must remember: Thebes would be divided and people
exterminated. Memphis would see their idols destroyed, which means also
virtually exterminated.
Now if we compare Memphis to Thebes, where idols are still in great quantity,
and where the images are still on the walls of the temples, the wonder of
fulfilled prophecy is even more surprising.
How did it happen that the prophecies concerning the two cities were not
changed?
How it happened that among the ruined cities in Egypt, Memphis was selected for
the peculiar fate that their idols were destroyed?
The prophecy concerning the absence of a native prince of Egypt has been
completely fulfilled. Obviously, the prediction is not intended to be anarchy
forever, but the government would be led by foreigners. The Persians took to
Egypt the year 525 BC remain in this country as a renegade province for 170
years.
In 350 BC Ochus finally crushed Egypt, and from then on have been foreigners
who have controlled the government. The rulers have succeeded each other, but
the leader never been native.
My travel plans had changed because he had stopped visiting other provinces in
Egypt because I could not wait to get to this key city of my story and to
witness the great confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh Ramses that my
companions and all captive Jews in Egypt did not expect this would happen. I'll tell you late at
the final chapter.
