A torah scroll.
Bible

Understanding Genealogies in the Bible (part 1)

About 15 years ago I led a small Bible study group.  We would take a book of the Bible and study it one chapter at a time.  When I came to the end of the book, I would ask the group, “Which book do we study next?”  And of course, nobody wanted to decide what the next book would be.

So, I would say “If nobody can decide what book we are going to study next, I get to pick.  And my choice would be the book of Numbers with all those lovely genealogies.”  No sooner would I say that, and someone would propose a book (a different book) to study.

The typical Bible reader has an aversion to genealogies.  Modern readers often see genealogies as the “boring bits” that one needs to buzz past to get to the interesting stuff.  I think that this outlook is unfortunate because genealogies were the literary device of choice that ancient writers used to give us the really juicy info.

 

The Purpose of Genealogies

In the ancient Hebrew, genealogical lists are called toledot.  An important consideration is that toledot are not quite the same as what we call a “genealogy” in the West today.  Knowing the technical difference between a toledot and a genealogy can help us navigate the Hebrew Scriptures.

In the West, genealogies normally trace the ancestors of a person going as far back as possible.  Hebrew toledot sort of do the opposite.  Toledot start with a well-known person and attempt to trace that person’s descendants.  The purpose of a toledot is not to establish pedigree as much as it is to show the person’s posterity.  So, in effect, the ancient Israelites believed that the actions of a person would have outcomes that would manifest generations down the line.

Ancient writers used these toledot for didactic purposes.  Often the toledot sets up the historical context, but the writer could also use it to convey a moral lesson.  Most western genealogies lack this didactic component.

 

The Genesis 5 Toledot

One example of a toledot comes from Genesis 5 where we find the posterity of Adam (of the Garden of Eden infamy).  We see in Genesis 5 the following structure:

And <Person 1> lived <Number A> years and became father of <Person 2>,  And <Person 1> lived <Number B> years after he was father to <Person 2>, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of <Person 1> were <Number A+B> years and he died.

The writer repeats this structure from Adam to Jared six times.   Then on the seventh generation, Enoch doesn’t die but it taken away instead [Gen 5:24].  This disruption of the normal (intentionally monotonous) pattern using antithesis shows what this toledot is really about.  The subject is that mankind is now beset with death without relief.

Adam sinned and fell from grace largely causing the mess on what we call planet Earth.   God created Adam in a perfect world that had no death.  The toledot in Genesis 5 is to show the reader Adam’s posterity–his actions which caused death to rule unchecked.

 

Who’s Who

The other thing that genealogies can do is establish why something happened.  In 2 Samuel 6, Uzzah was struck dead by God after touching the Ark of the Covenant [2 Sam 6:7].  The difficulty here is that touching the Ark was not in and of itself an offense.  Priests had handled the Ark several times in its history with impunity.  So what gives?

The first thing is that the reader may notice is that the Ark was placed on an ox-cart [2 Sam 6:3], which was forbidden since it was to be carried only by its poles [Exod 25:14].  But this alone probably would not have resulted in condign action.

The other thing we are told is the genealogy of Uzzah in verse 4.  He was the son of Abinadab.  Abinadab was the son of Jesse and brother of King David [1 Sam 17:13, 1 Chr 2:13], which makes Uzzah the nephew of the king.  Moreover, this makes Uzzah from the tribe of Judah.  Only Israelites from the tribe of Levi and of those only descendants of Kohath were permitted to carry the Ark [Num 4:15].  Although one offense may have been overlooked, two impious actions were seen as irreverence [2 Sam 6:7].

Toledot can give the modern Bible reader fascinating information if we take the time to try to understand them.

 

 

An ancient Egyptian stone quarry at Hatnub. These quarries were sometimes used as jails.
Bible

Crime and Punishment in Ancient Egypt

Egyptian society generally had no laws.  Instead, the Egyptians governed their society by an ethical concept called Maat, “order.”  This concept led to a pretty permissive society.  If an act did not disrupt the community and was not an act against the king, it was generally permitted.

 

Punishment for Crimes

We have to remember that Egyptian ruled by a brutal military dictatorship.  So magistrates maintained order by force and corporal punishment.  Acts against the king were usually met with the death penalty.  But for lesser offenses beatings were commonplace.

However, magistrates did not only use beatings to punish crime but also as an interrogation method.  The way the Egyptians used beatings was that they would beat you first before asking any questions, ask their questions, then beat you again if they felt like you needed it.   Interrogators only believed that they got honest answers when an interrogation first started with a beating.

 

Egyptian Jails

If the magistrate or king could not decide what to do with you, they would send you to jail.  In Genesis 39, we read about Potipher’s wife falsely accusing Joseph of rape.  As a slave, this crime would earn more than a beating.  But if the accuser was less than reputable, it would not necessarily warrant the death penalty.  Perhaps, Potipher understood the character of his wife.  So Joseph was sent to Egyptian jail [Gen 39:20].

Now, the Egyptian concept of jail might not be what you expect.  The Egyptians used their rock quarries as jails.   Quarries existed that were the operated by skilled professional stone cutters [see featured image].  However, quarries were also used as prisons.

Egyptian jails had no doors, bars, or walls.  Succinctly put, these jails needed no restraints.  Quarries typically were found in remote locations with very little water.  If anyone tried to escape, they would be subject to the heat of the desert and die of dehydration in short order.  This was strong incentive to stay and do one’s time.

 

A Sennacherib Historical Prisms that documented the siege of Jerusalem.
Bible

The Bible and its Reliability

The question of the Bible and its reliability is a loaded question.  Is the Bible reliable?  The short answer is yes.  The long answer is nuanced and revolves around many satellite issues of what the term reliable means.

 

Reliability and the Autographs

For example, is the Bible reliable because the Bible we have today may differ from that of fifteen hundred years ago?  Fortunately, we can easily answer that question.  Enough archaeological remains of Biblical texts exist that seem to point to singular source texts (or autographs).

Much of the autographs can be restored from the Dead Sea Scrolls, Masoretic Text, Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, and the thousands of New Testament manuscripts and fragments.  And even with unresolved variants, what variants do exist do little to change the meaning of the text.  Many of the variants are attributable to spelling mistakes, transposition errors, or accidental deletions caused by, for example, same endings (homoioteleuton).

Although we can point to a Biblical autographic text, the question of reliability is far from answered.  If by reliable we mean that the Bible accurately reflects our understanding of what it means, the answer is a qualified not necessarily.  A lot of traditions and beliefs have been superimposed over the Bible.  These traditions may not necessarily reflect the way the original authors would have read the text.

 

Reliability and Literary Style

The Biblical authors used many literary devices that might be unfamiliar to the modern reader: retrojection, cyclic parallelism, and gematria.  Such devices were obvious to ancient readers but to us are a missing piece of the context.

For example, many people assume that Moses was a prince (“son of the king”) because his adoptive mother was the daughter of the king (Exod 2:5).  From the archaeological evidence, no reason exists to believe that Moses ever held that title or lived in a palace.  In all likelihood, the title was given to Moses’ adoptive mother retrojectively after her father assumed the throne and probably long after Moses had fled Egypt.  But if we read meanings into the text that are not actually there (eisegesis), can we make the claim that the Bible is unreliable when those meanings don’t pan out?  Unfortunately, this happens far too often.

Now, what if by reliable we mean that miracles happened and God appeared at certain times and places?  Possibly, but this is generally impossible to prove on way or the other.  Miracles and divine manifestations might leave physical after effects.  But how can one distinguish such effects from other physical phenomena?  One could suggest that the improbability of Israelite survival infers divine intervention, and it may.   However, this would only show that events like those described may have occurred, and therefore does not address reliability one way or the other.

 

Morality, Science, and History

What if we mean that the Bible is reliable for ethical and moral teaching?  Quite likely, since much of the functioning ethical systems of the world do reflect a Biblical origin.  Do not steal and do not murder remain universally good ideas.  Loving your neighbor is also an ethical good.  Some areas are gray; however, it seems some of the grayness often arises out of reading a passage out of context; for example, reading ritual laws as ethical imperatives.

What if we mean that the Bible is reliable scientifically?  Yes and no.  Again, context matters.  Some passages are not meant to be read as factual accounts or use definitions that have changed over time.  Applying a strict scientific idealism to an ancient text is anachronistic.  For example, sometimes a “year” was not exactly 365.25 days, and thus does not reflect an exact solar revolution around the sun.

Even the lower standard of does the Bible line up with “facts” can present a problem.  This is because what constitutes a fact can often be in the eye of the beholder.   For example, how years were counted in the books of Kings changed to reflect the shifting hegemony of Egyptian and Assyrian suzerains.  The Bible might reflect a political reality where a Western reader may expect a scientific reality; this is not a problem with the text as much as the reader’s expectations.

 

Is the Bible Reliable?

So can we say that the Bible reliable?  I think that this depends largely upon our approach to ancient texts.  We could read the Bible in its context.  We could present the Bible as it represents itself.  And we could treat the text without special prejudice just like we would any other ancient Near Eastern text.  If we approach the Bible in that manner, we can definitely glean historical information from it.  And that historical information has been confirmed by a large amount of secondary sources, e.g. the Sennacherib Historical Prisms (see featured image above) confirming the siege of Jerusalem.  Insofar as taking the Bible from a historical point of view, I have no doubt that the Bible is reliable.

 

An image taken from the Ramesseum showing Ramesses II at the Battle of Kadesh.
Exodus

The Reed (Red) Sea

After the Israelites escaped Egypt through the Wadi Tumilat, they did something hard to fathom.  Instead of making a clean break down the west coast of the Sinai as they had intended, they turn northward.  They made their way towards the Way of Horus, the military road that runs along the north Sinai.  After that, they “wandered” in the wilderness aimlessly to lure Pharaoh into thinking they were lost (Exod 14:3). From a strategic perspective, this move makes little sense.  The Israelites essentially boxed themselves in.  Pi-Hahiroth was to the west, desert to the south, Pharaoh’s chariots to the east, and their backs to the sea.  Strategically, this was the worst possible position to be in.  Trapped with nowhere to run.   And yet, the sea opened up and the Israelites escaped what would otherwise be certain death. In several sections, the biblical narrative simply calls this body of water the “Sea.”  But some texts (e.g., Exod 13:18 and 15:22) refer to it as the yam suf (יַם סוּף).  The translation of yam suf as the “Red Sea” entered into English Bibles through the Greek Septuagint (ca. 250 BCE) translation Ερυθρὰ θάλασσα. However, in Hebrew yam suf means “Sea of Reeds.” This place name most likely comes from the Semitic-Egyptian pȜ ṯwfy, “The Reeds.”  Papyrus Anastasi III (2:11-12) mentions this body of water and states that the “foliage and greenery” of Pi-Hahiroth was nearby (Papyrus Anastasi III, 3:3).  Thus, the pȜ ṯwfy was probably one of the lakes (possibly Lake Ballah or Lake Timsah) that were part of the marshy area along what is now the Suez Canal. P. Anastasi III mentions three toponyms (Piramesses, Pi-Hahiroth, and the “Reeds”) in a geographic sequence similar to that found in Exodus.  This suggests a strong correspondence between what the Egyptians knew about the region and the biblical record of the sites.
Seti I relief from Karnak Temple (Illustration from A. H. Gardiner, JEA 6 [1920], pl. 11), with the Migdol.
Exodus

The Tower Migdol

After the Israelites fled Pharaoh, they took the Wadi Tumilat to leave Egypt but God told them to double back (Exod 14:1).  So they moved northward camping between Pi-Hahiroth, the sea, and Migdol (Exod 14:2). Migdol was one of the fortresses on the Way of Horus.  The Way of Horus was the road that hugged the northern coast of the Sinai peninsula.  Several fortresses on this road controlled the flow of traffic from the Levant. The Egyptian version of this name, mˁktir actually derives from a Semitic loan word מגדל, “tower”.  The location of Migdol is unknown, but the name appears in a couple of extra-biblical sources. Papyrus Anastasis V (20:2-3) implies that the fortress was built by Pharaoh Seti I of the 19th dynasty.  This is the same king who first established the city of Piramesses.  According to a map of the Way of Horus found at Karnak Temple, Migdol (Karnak map, “E”) is east of the Dwelling of the Lion (Karnak map, “D”). The Dwelling of the Lion has been located at Tell el-Borg, near the north coast of the Sinai Peninsula and the estuary of the Ballah Lakes. The Egyptians reconstructed the site multiple times, as evidenced by its multiple phases including a destruction layer. Eliezer Oren excavated a different Migdol, which survived as a fortress into Roman times, but this site has no Ramesside period remains. Thus, if this is “the same” Migdol, then the site migrated over time.
A bronze figure of a deity from Alalakh.
Exodus

Baal-Zephon, Lord of the North

After the Israelites camped before Pi-Hahiroth, they wandered in the desert near the fortress Migdol.  They camped between Migdol, Pi-Hahiroth, the Reed Sea, and a looking post nearby known as Baal-Zephon. Unlike the previous Egyptian toponyms, Baal-Zephon has a Semitic etymology.  Baal is common to many Semitic languages and means “lord,” a term often used for a god.  The name, Baal, was used during the Old Babylonian period for a variety of deities including Marduk (bel) but is perhaps best known from the Bible as an epithet for the northwest Semitic storm-god (Hadad/Adad). The biblical text parallels “before Pi-Hahiroth” and “before Baal-Zephon,” implying that the two sites are adjacent (Exod 14:9).  Papyrus Sallier IV mentioned Ball-Zephon in the following:
To Amūn of the temple of the gods; to the Ennead that is in Pi-Ptaḥ; to Baˁalim, to Ḳadesh, and to Anyt; (to) Baˁal Zephon (bˁr-ḏȜpn), to Sopd. Papyrus Sallier IV (vs. 1:6)
The Hyksos who worshipped the storm god associated this god with the Egyptian storm god, Seth.  The Egyptians continued to use this association after the Hyksos left Egypt.  Given that the author of Papyrus Sallier IV wrote the toponym Baˁal-Zephon with the Seth character; Baal in this toponym may be a reference to Seth. The second element of the toponym, the word zephon, means “north” in Semitic languages. However, Zephon by itself also appears as a toponym in Amarna Letter 274, most likely as a name of a Levantine city. Thus, it is unclear whether zephon in Baal-Zephon refers to a direction, yielding “Baal of the North,” or a place, “Baal of (the city) Zephon.”
A relief of Montu at Tod with two Wadjet amulets
Exodus

Pi-Hahiroth, “Estate of the Temple of the Wadjet” by any other name

After Pithom, the Israelites camped before the fortress of Pi-Hahiroth (Exod 14:2).  The origin of the name Pi-Hahiroth comes from the Egyptian pr-ḥwt-ḥrt.  The toponym pr-ḥwt-ḥrt appears in one extra-biblical text, Papyrus Anastasis III:
The (Sea of) Reeds (pȜṯwfy) comes to papyrus reeds and the (Waters-of)-Horus (pȜḥr) to rushes.  Twigs of the orchards and wreaths of the vine-yards [ … ] birds from the Cataract region.  It leans upon [ … ] the Sea (pȜ ym) with bg-fish and bȗrἰ-fish, and even their hinterlands provide it.  The Great-of-Victories youths are in festive attire every day; sweet moringa-oil is upon their heads having hair freshly braided.  They stand beside their doors. Their hands bowed down with foliage and greenery of Pi-Hahirot (pr-ḥwt-ḥrt) and flax of the Waters-of-Horus.  The day that one enters (Pi)ramesses (wsr-mȜˁ-rˁ stp-n-rˁ) l.p.h., Montu-of-the-Two-Lands. Papyrus Anastasis III (2:11-3:4)
This document, dated to the third year of Ramesses II’s successor, Merneptah (ca. 1222-1212 BCE), locates Pi-Hahiroth on the way from the Sea of Reeds (pȜ ṯwfy) towards Piramesses.  It appears as though Pi-Hahiroth was probably on the south coast of the Sea of Reeds in a marshy area on the edge of the desert.  While no one knows the exact location of Pi-Hahiroth, it was probably is in close proximity to Migdol and Baal Zephon. Egyptologists have long struggled with the meaning of the pr-ḥwt-ḥrt toponym.  And early Egyptologists suggested that it might mean “House of (the goddess) Hathor,” assuming that the word ḥrt was an unusual or mistaken spelling of Hathor. The toponym follows Egyptian convention beginning with the hieroglyphic pr-ḥwt, “estate of the temple” or “house of the precinct.” It ends with the goddess character indicating that the final element, ḥrt, is theophoric. William F. Albright suggested that it might mean “the mouth of the canals,” which he suggested was perhaps a Semitic etymology of the Egyptian Pi-Ḥ-r-t, yet this creative solution ultimately did not solve the problem of the theophoric name.  He suggested that Heret was the name of a Semitic goddess.  The problem is that, even though the name could mean “Estate of the Temple of (the goddess) Heret,” no such goddess is known. Therefore, Albright’s proposal was not a tenable solution to the problem. I believe that ḥrt is an abbreviated spelling of ḥry(t)-tp, “the one who is on top.” The term ḥry(t)-tp is one of the epithets of the Uraeus serpent goddess, Wadjet, and therefore, the name would mean, “Estate of the goddess who is on top (=Wadjet).”  This solution retains the theophoric aspects of the toponym and is consistent with known examples of the Wadjet epithet (e.g. Karnak Rhetorical Stela [KRI V 89.10]).
Mud brick storage magazines at the Ramesseum.
Exodus

Pithom, “House of Atum”

Pithom, also called Etham, was located in the Wadi Tumilat to the east of the Nile Delta.  Pithom was the third destination of the Israelite exodus (Exod 13:20, Num 33:6-8).  It was one of the cities where the Israelites built for the Egyptians mud brick storage magazines like those at the Ramesseum (see photo above). In ancient times, the road between Piramesses and Pithom would have been about 65 km (40 mi) or about 2 days of travel by foot.  The wadi provided way stations for semi-nomadic tribes from the Levant.  And like the delta in general, the city had a significant Levantine Asiatic population during the Second Intermediate Period. A recent excavation of Tell el-Retabah showed that the site was only sporadically occupied at the beginning of Dynasty 18.  During Dynasty 19, Ramesses II built new fortifications at Tell el-Retabah to control the flow of Asiatics into Egypt.  He also built a Temple of Atum, from which the site gained the epithet pr-tm ṯkw.  The meaning of this new epithet, Pithom/pr-tm is “house of Atum,” named after a creator god.  The city fell into disuse during the Saite period (670-525 BCE). During the Old Kingdom/First Intermediate Period, tribes of Levantine Asiatics sought entry into Egypt via the Wadi Tumilat and Pithom.  This was especially true during times of famine.  When they left Egypt, the Israelites simply retraced the path that many Asiatics took when they entered into Egypt.
Exodus

Sukkot, Camping West of Pithom

The Torah states that Sukkot was the next stop for Israelites after leaving Egypt (Exod 13:20; Num 33:6-7).  Some scholars point to the similarity between the modern Arabic name Tell el-Maskhuta and the biblical name. The only problem is that Tell el-Maskhuta is east of Tell el-Retabah (Pithom).

From the exodus itinerary, it is clear that the biblical author pictured Sukkot as west of Pithom.  The name should therefore not be understood as the name of a city.   But like Goshen, the name was probably a regional designation, describing the area between Piramesses and Pithom.

This suggestion is consistent with the use of Tjeku in Papyrus Anastasis VI (54-56):  “We have finished letting the Shasu tribes of Edom pass the Fortress of the House of Merneptah, l.p.h., which is in Tjeku, to the pools of Pithom of Merneptah, which are in the Tjeku, in order to sustain them and sustain their flocks by the pleasure of Pharaoh, l.p.h.”

According to this papyrus, the Shasu traveled from the Fortress of Merneptah to Pithom, both of which were in Tjeku.  This would likely place the Israelite encampment of Sukkot near the entrance to the wadi, possibly near the modern town of Abou Hammad.

The Hebrew name Sukkot is related to the term that means “booths.”  As such, Sukkot may have only been the location of a temporary camp site.  In other words, a way station with limited water and resources.

Exodus

Pi-Ramesses, City on an Island

The Bible mentions the cities of Pithom and Ramesses as the places where the Israelites made “storage cites” (Exod 1:11).  Exod 12:37 and Num 33:3-5 point to Pi-Ramesses as the starting place of the exodus.  So what do we know about the early history of the island city of Pi-Ramesses?

The only city of the ancient world with name “Ramesses” was Pi-Ramesses, the “house of Ramesses.”  Labib Habachi identified Pi-Ramesses at the archaeological site of Qantir.  Qantir is located 2 km east of Avaris, the former Hyksos capital. 

Seti I (ca. 1303-1288 BC) founded Pi-Ramesses as a royal residence.  Ramesses II (ca. 1288-1222 BC) expanded the city to become capital of Egypt.  Papyrus Anastasi III (1:12) dating to Merneptah’s 3rd year spells Pi-Ramesses with the birth name of Ramesses II, “Ramesses Meriamun.”

The Egyptian kings built Pi-Ramesses to keep an eye on the large Semitic population at Avaris.  The city also located in the region where the Ramessides had their power base.  The two cities existed together until Avaris was abandoned during Dynasty 19.

Ground-penetrating radar and Caesium-Magnetometry surveys done in 1996, 2003, and 2008 revealed no earlier remains beneath the Dynasty 19 city.  Moreover, the city of Pi-Ramesses was an island surrounded by water on all sides.

These facts show us two things.   (1) The Israelites lived near but not in Pi-Ramesses itself.  (2) The Exodus could not have occurred earlier than the reign of Ramesses II.  Thus, the Israelites probably gathered for the exodus at a staging area between Avaris and Pi-Ramesses.  Avaris afterwards ceased being a viable city when it was abandoned by the Israelites.