Chronology.
Timelines. Just when long ago did things happen? Reading books on
ancient history, the authors are often forthcoming enough to admit they
haven't a clue, such as with the Indus River and Chico Norte
civilizations simply because there are no written languages and little
if any contact acknowledged with a known historical timeline. For
hundreds of years, one of the few guides for organizing an ancient
historical guideline was the Bible simply because it was fairly precise
in its descriptions of how long the patriarchs and kings lived and how
old they were when their heirs were born, how long a judge ruled and how
long it was between judges. It was enough to give a ballpark figure
that was fairly helpful. Then, in 1822, Jean Francois Champollion used
the Rosetta Stone found by Napoleon Bonaparte during his Egyptian
campaign to translate hieroglyphics. One thing the Egyptians did a lot
was to write and they wrote a lot in stone which is long-lasting. Once
archaeologists and historians began translating those many inscriptions,
they learned a lot about Egyptian history. They would then use that
history to cross reference with other civilizations' histories to figure
out when things happened in those nations. For instance, if an Egyptian
inscription mentioned an Assyrian king, they could look at Assyrian
hieroglyphics to find his name and establish that, at the very least,
that level of the Assyrian ruin was not earlier than the accepted
date of the Egyptian inscription. History has been overturned because
of a single name found inscribed in someone else's historical records.
What
made the Egyptian timeline or "traditional chronology", as it is
called, become the foundation of all ancient history were the writings
of Manetho. In 332 BC, Alexander the Great and his Greek armies occupied
Egypt. When he died childless shortly thereafter, his four main
generals divided his vast empire among themselves, Ptolemy getting
Egypt, and from then on there were no more Egyptian dynasties. However,
Ptolemy wanted to make the most of this great ancient kingdom he had
been given and hired a priest named Manetho to give him a history of
Egypt. Why Manetho? Because he could read hieroglyphics. Using
inscriptions, oral histories, and king lists, he wrote a history of
Egypt [Unwrapping the Pharaohs, p. 73]. Since it was literally
written in stone, the historians of the 19th century, jumping on the
bandwagon of the new field of archaeology, considered that the Egyptian
chronology based on Manetho's writings was a firmer foundation for the
history of the ancient world than the Old Testament, which was only on
paper. Reasonable logic, I suppose. Except for the fact that Manetho's
writings don't actually exist anymore! All we know of them are quotes
from other historians from after the time of Christ over a span of eight
hundred years. Those records are not complete, either, and they often
don't agree! [Archaeology p. 15]. In addition, in establishing
the length of time the Egyptian empire has been in existence, modern
historians have simply lined up the reigns of the kings they are aware
of and ignore the information given by Bishop Eusebius in the fourth
century AD that several Egyptian kings ruled a the same time. [Unwrapping the Pharoahs, p. 73]. That stretches the evolutionary timeline out.
When
we compare the Egyptian timeline which reputable archaeologists the
world over admit is riddled with mistakes, to the Bible which not only
is precise in the ages it gives, and has been confirmed by historical
records and findings throughout history, but is also God's perfect Word,
why would the Egyptians chronology be used over the Bible by secular
archaeologists and historians? Preference [Archaeology, p. 16].
By relegating the Bible to mythology, religion, or oral tradition, the
truth of its word including the deity of Christ, his salvation of
sinners, and his resurrection become a fairy tale, and man's sinful
nature beginning in the Garden of Eden also becomes a fairy tale,
meaning that individuals do not have to deal with it. Are there
inaccuracies in the Bible? Yes. Particularly in the Septuagint, the
Greek translation of the Old Testament, there are multiple arithmetic
errors in counting and ages [Unwrapping the Pharaohs, p. 199].
However, this results in discrepancies of a few decades, not a few
centuries, which is the problem with the Egyptian chronology.
If
we compare only the Egyptian history of Manetho and the Bible, and give
preference to the Egyptian (as secular historians are wont to do), it
would look as though, for example, that there was no evidence of slaves
living in Egypt at the time of Moses and the Exodus. That throws doubt
on the historical basis of the Passover and thus on the historical basis
of both the Jewish and Christian religions. The video series Patterns of Evidence
addresses many archaeological discoveries to establish that the
Egyptian chronology should be condensed by about six hundred years! How
do we figure that out?
Enter the Assyrians. In the mid-1800s,
Turkey was being excavated for the remains of Assyria. Assyria used a
style of cuneiform writing adapted to their language from the original
Sumerian/Babylonian cuneiform and once it was translated, gave the world
a wealth of history that allowed historians to chronologically
triangulate among the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Bible. The
interesting thing is that the odd man out is usually--Egypt. Sometimes,
Egypt lines up exactly, such as Pharaoh Terhaka from the 25th dynasty [Archaeology,
p. 19]. He is dated by the traditional chronology as ascending the
throne in 690 BC. We know that Hezekiah was king of Judah from 729 to
686 BC. The Assyrian king Sennacherib referenced in II Kings 19:16 ruled
according the the Assyrian chronology from 705-681 BC. The chronology
of all three match up back to the 25th dynasty of Egypt. The Bible has a
great deal to say in II Kings about the Assyrians and, as closely as we
can figure, lines up with what the Assyrians said about their own
history. There is also a mention in Egyptian inscriptions about Israel
being conquered by Assyria--which it was! The problem is that the
Pharaoh who authorized this inscription in 722 BC--Merneptah, the son of
Rameses the Great, who is usually considered to to be the Pharaoh of
the Exodus, is, by the Egyptian chronology of Manetho, supposed to have
lived around 1236 BC [Archaeology, p. 19]. That is a discrepancy of almost six hundred years!
The
beginning of Egyptian history according to evolutionary historians and
archaeologists, goes back to cavemen who evolved into modern man at the
end of the "last" ice age. [Note: There is no evidence of more than one
ice age and more than sixty secular theories as to what caused it.
Michael Oard's An Ice Age Caused By the Genesis Flood gives an
ice age model that combines the effects of volcanic and seismic
activity causing warm oceans with global cooling caused by tremendous
amounts of volcanic dust blocking out sunlight. As the volcanism
diminished, more sunlight would enter the atmosphere, warming the earth
back up. According to the Bible, the Flood occurred around 2350 BC. The
dispersion from Babel occurred around 2250 BC. Oard estimates an ice age
of about five hundred years. Each new civilization would establish
itself in a new area first as hunter/gatherer/pastoral people then
rapidly advancing, probably in the first generation, to Neolithic
technology which they brought along from Babel. That would mean that
2200 BC is about when all the ancient civilizations were breaking out of
Neolithic (stone age) technology and advancing to copper and bronze
material culture. According to evolutionary historians, however, Egypt
was settled around 7000 BC. The time until 3000 BC is labeled
"Pre-Dynastic". However, reports by Bruce Williams of the Oriental
Institute in Chicago are quoted in Unwrapping the Pharaohs: "Both
articles are part of an expanding body of evidence that links the
period known as "predynastic" so firmly to the ages of the pyramids and
later, that the the term should be abandoned" [p. 201]. Alexiou, curator
of the Heraklion Musem in Crete as far back as 1969, wrote that since
the Cretan chronology was dependent on the Egyptian chronology and there
are many "pre-dynastic" Egyptian artifacts found among Neolithic finds
in Crete, "lately, a tendency can by noticed towards lowering of these
chronologies [bringing them closer to the present] compared with the
significantly earlier dates accepted in Evans' [discoverer of Minoan
civilization] day" [Minoan Civilization, p. 8-9]. Even the
traditional chronology is extremely fuzzy, as Alexiou pointed out, all
the way up till the 12th dynasty. That means we have no way of
establishing a firm timeline for any of the pyramids [Unwrapping the Pharaohs, p. 205]. With the Dispersion from Babel dated at 2250 BC compared to the tradition date of the 1st dynasty at 2920 BC [Unwrapping the Pharoahs,
p. 8], we need to take seven hundred years of the top of Egyptian
history. With the additional six hundred years lost by overlapping
dynasties 18-23 and the dismissal of the Pre-Dynastic period, [Archaeology, p. 19], (starting in 3000 BC) we have removed around two thousand four hundred years from the Egyptian chronology!
Why
is all this significant? Ancient Egyptian history is to history what
dinosaurs are to paleontology: scientists look to them as proof that the
Bible is incorrect and therefore wrong. What we actually find, however,
is that the Bible is more accurate, more studied, and more verifiable
than any other book, and when it seems to conflict with the science--the
science just has to catch up!
Ashton, John & Down, David; Unwrapping the Pharaohs; Master Books; c. 2006.
Down, David; The Archaeology Book; Master Books; c. 2010.
Austin, Steven A., ed.; Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe; Institute for Creation Research; c. 1994.
Oard, Michael J.; An Ice Age Caused By the Genesis Flood; Institute for Creation Research; c. 1990.
Alexiou, Stylianos; Minoan Civilization; Spyros Alexious Sons; C. 1969.
