The magnificent tomb of the boy King Tut: embodying the biblical story of the exodus!
When the tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered in 1922, it caused a sensation around the world, the splendor of his death mask of pure gold became a central display of the wealth and opulence of ancient Egypt. In addition, large in size, it contained many jewels of turquoise, lapis lazuli, carnelian, also articles of gold, silver and bronze, in addition to numerous objects for the death journey of the pharaoh. Egyptologists, however, were puzzled as to how Tutankhamun, but eighteen years old and sole heir to the throne of Egypt, could be buried in such a magnificent tomb; the established tradition is that the reigning pharaohs built their own tombs during their lives. The size, grandeur and ornamentation of each pharaoh’s tomb and the splendor of its content are reflected in the extent and richness of their sovereignty.
Dr. Lennart Moeller, a Stockholm physician, but also an Egyptologist, archaeologist, amateur deep-sea diver, etc., developed a theory in his book “The Story of the Exodus” to explain the anomaly: Tutankhamun, first-born of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, dies in the Tenth Plague; later, Pharaoh, pursuing the fleeing Hebrews with his army of chariots, drowns and his body is lost in the Red Sea; Therefore, the empty tomb of Amenhotep is available while the royal prince Tutankhamun is dead and in need of a burial place.
There is a lot of extra-biblical evidence to support the theory.
The Biblical “Ten Plagues” inflict on Egypt
After Pharaoh repeatedly refuses to let the Hebrew slaves leave Egypt, Moses warns that there will be plagues, first the Nile will turn to blood, then frogs, lice and finally locusts, darkness and the 10th plague, the death of all the firstborn, including Prince Tutankhamun. .
A very important extra-biblical source of corroborative detail, for almost all the accounts of the ten plagues plus the events of the Exodus (as recounted in both the Bible and the Passover Haggadah), is the Ipuwer Papyrus Scroll. Found in Egypt in the early 19th century, it was translated and taken to the Leiden Museum in the Netherlands, where it is still preserved. Described in various archaeological books from ancient Egypt, it is a papyrus scroll over twelve feet long, called “Admonitions of Ipuwer”, written during the 19th Dynasty by an Egyptian scribe-historian named Ipuwer. Interpreted in 1909, it describes violent events in Egypt during the previous dynasty, which seem to parallel the Biblical plagues and the Exodus story: it describes a society in total crisis, essentially providing an eyewitness account of extreme and unusual events:
- “What the forefathers had predicted has come to pass”, (Imhotep, the Egyptian vizier who saved Egypt from famine, 260 years earlier, believed to be the biblical Joseph, had predicted the exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt ).
- “The river is blood … there is blood everywhere, the dead are not lacking … many dead are buried in the river {The first plague} … there is a lack of cereals, charcoal … a lot of hunger and suffering”.
- “destruction of grain” {The plague of locusts or hail}.
- “We don’t know what happened on earth.”
- “animals moaning and roaming freely.”
- “darkness” {The ninth plague}.
- Deaths .. “sons of princes, prisoners, brothers” {The tenth plague, death of all the firstborn}.
- “What was seen yesterday is over. Look now, the land is deprived of royalty. Look, all the ranks, they are not in place … like a herd that wanders without a shepherd.”
- “The poor … they have become riches … Gold and lapis lazuli, silver and malachite, carnelian and bronze are hung from the necks of slave girls.” {.. and they asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold. And God made the Egyptians favor them and they granted their request. “Exodus 12: 35-36};
- Further extra-biblical confirmation of the Passover plagues are the mass burial tombs of the Egyptians, excavated at Tel ed Daba and elsewhere, indicating a panic, with no individual burials.
The exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt
After the Tenth Plague, when Amenhotep III’s firstborn, Tutankhamun, dies in the 10th plague, Pharaoh finally orders Moses to take the Hebrews and leave Egypt. Later, however, when he realizes the loss in Egypt of his slave people, and also learns of his explorers who are “trapped in the desert” (see article “Miracles, 3500 years ago”), he pursues them with his army of chariots.
Going beyond the plagues, the Ipuwer scroll also corroborates the biblical description of the Exodus flight: “fire … went up on high … its fire advances against the enemies of the earth” {Bible: “at night in a column of fire “}.
Pharaoh and his chariot army drown
Pharaoh, leading his chariot army, pursues the Hebrews to the Gulf of Aqaba, where artifacts of coral-covered chariot remains and bones of men and horses have recently been discovered, all scattered along an underwater ridge. eight miles between the Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia. they had drowned (see Ezine article, “Miracles, 3,500 years ago”).
The corroboration of these events comes from several sources: first, the Ipuwer scroll: “Look, he who slept without a wife, found a noble woman …” Written much later, it obviously describes the conditions after the loss of the army Egyptian, made up of members of the upper class. males. Second, this also supports the request of Pharaoh’s “royal” widow, in a remarkable letter from Amarna (clay cube) to the king of the Hittites, asking that one of her sons become her new husband. It was sent to King Suppiluliumas, “The one who was my husband is dead and I have no son. People say you have many children. If you send me one of your children he will become my … I hate to take one of my children . servants .. from ancient times .. never happened before .. writing to a foreign country .. humiliating for me and my country. “
The loss of the mighty Egyptian chariot army seems to be supported by several pieces of evidence: Josephus, the Roman historian, quotes Monetho, an Egyptian priest, around 300 BC. C., regarding the “easy” conquest of mighty Egypt by the Hyksos. (Egypt’s loss of its entire chariot army in the Red Sea seems a corroborating explanation.)
In addition, letters from Tel-Amarna have been found from cities that depend on Egypt to protect themselves from invaders, asking the pharaoh to send troops, saying that “no help has arrived.” Historians point out that Egypt, having lost its mighty chariot army, was now unable to send military protection, and recovery from a demoralized Egypt would take a long time; according to Dr. Moeller, it was “the beginning of the end of the 18th dynasty.”
Tutankhamun is buried in the tomb of his father pharaoh
With Pharaoh Amenhotep III drowned in a distant sea and his magnificent tomb fully furnished but without a body, but with the body of royal prince Tutankhamun in need of a burial place, the obvious apparently happened, the Egyptian court decided that Tutankhamun would be buried. on his father’s grave. The only personal item was the magnificent death mask.
Dr. Moeller quotes a direct reference: “… young king … buried in a grave originally prepared for ‘Woe'”.
