EGYPT – Every year, millions of tourists from around the world visit the sandy shores of the Red Sea to see where Moses passed as he led the Israeli people out of slavery in Egypt.
Although modern archaeologists insist that the Biblical accounts cannot be proven, a recent discovery may change that picture. After years of investigation, filmmaker Timothy Mahoney and his research team have revealed something that may confirm the events of the Book of Exodus, including a statue that may be that of Joseph.
In an interview with WND, Mahoney explains that he recorded the documentary: “The Evidence Patterns: The Exodus” and also published a book about his archaeological journey. “Twelve years ago, I began an adventure, a search for the path of Exodus,” recalls the filmmaker. «I wanted to show everything. But when I got to Egypt and talked to Egyptologists and scholars, I ended up hearing from one of them: Don’t you know that the Exodus never happened? There is no proof of it,” he recounts.
Even convinced that the Bible is true, Mahoney returned to the United States with a “seed of doubt” growing in his mind. In search of other scholars, he ended up hearing from an Egyptologist that modern archeology has searched for Moses in the wrong places and in the wrong time period.
According to Mahoney, most archaeologists insist that the Exodus occurred in the time of Pharaoh Ramses, because the biblical text states that the Israelites were part of the construction of the city of Ramses. “However, it is known that Ramses lived around 1250 BC, but there is no archaeological evidence of that story in that historical period,” she points out.
“My archaeologist friends told me to dig deeper,” he continued. “Below the city of Ramses, there was another city, much older, called Avaris. This city was full of Semitic townspeople. She was one of the largest cities of her time. There we believe, I think, the first Israelites. This is the pattern that corresponds to the story of the Bible. It was not in the time of Pharaoh Ramses, but it is in the place where Ramses built his city ».
Avaris had been excavated for decades by Professor Manfred Bietak, who found the remains of the two-meter statue in 1988. Bietak explains that the word “Avaris” means nothing in Egyptian. But the term “Hebrew” in the ancient Hebrew language is “Ivri”, while “man” is “Ish”. In other words, the word “Avaris” may be related to “Ivri Ish”, or the “Hebrew Man”, as Joseph was designated in Genesis 39:14.
Joseph statue
One of the biggest surprises revealed in the documentary “Patterns of Evidence: Exodus” is the discovery of a statue of a Semitic leader in Egypt, a man who could only be the Joseph of the Bible. She is in the archaeological site of Tell el-Daba and her date is approximately 1770 BC.
“Joseph’s story is about how an Israelite became a great leader, the second most powerful in Egypt,” recalls Mahoney. “In Avaris, archeology shows that there was a small group of Semitic people. There is that house that is typical of the region where they came from. On top of that house, a palace was built. They had tombs behind that palace. In this palace there was a statue. It was clearly the tomb of a Semitic leader,” she stressed.
“The interesting thing is this statue is next to a pyramid-shaped tomb, something that was only given to members of royalty. Why would a Semite have that? “Questions the filmmaker. “Well, that matches the story, this kind of prestige only José would have received,” he believes.
His team of researchers discovered another parallel to Scripture. “In the Biblical story, Joseph said that his bones had to be taken out of there when the people left Egypt. When archaeologists discovered this tomb (of the Semitic leader), they saw something very unusual: there were no bones in this tomb. The bones were removed. Grave robbers never take the bones; they only take the goods, the bones have no value,” says Mahoney. The face of the statue was torn off and there are marks that tried to tear it down. This may be an indication that his presence irritated the Egyptians, for obvious reasons.
The statue, the tomb and the castle ruins were extensively studied by experts. Bible Archeology magazine devotes a wide space and the conclusion is the same as Mahoney.
Importance of tests
The filmmaker says he didn’t want to make a Christian documentary, but something that would help people better understand the Bible. His production was considered by Normam Geisler and Joseph Holden – scholars who have already written many books on the Old Testament – as a “water divider”.
Even secular scholars, Mahoney notes, said the film was “one of the best they’ve ever seen” on this subject, “although they don’t necessarily agree with everything.”
The filmmaker says the film portrays his honest search for the truth and allows believers to deal with tough questions about their faith.
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