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According to Genesis 46, Jacob traveled to Egypt with his family and possessions in wagons sent by Pharaoh. There he was reunited with Joseph and spent the last years of his life.
My journey was a little different. It involved a Boeing plane and I did not run into any family that I know of in Egypt, but God did bless me while in Egypt. God granted me safety, health, and many wonderful experiences.
The airport was my first real experience of Egypt. After finding our luggage, we made our way to the bus and had to push our way through a large group of Egyptians who were returning from outside the country. Then we stepped into the not so fresh air of Cairo—a city of approximately 18 million people if you count the city of Giza, which is on the western side of the Nile. Our buses took us through Cairo and across the Nile on the main road of Cairo, the Saleh Salem, which stretches 45 km from the airport to the base of the pyramids. Our one-hour trip was very enjoyable because Harry told us about Cairo. He was a very funny man.
Several different things struck me very quickly about the country. Everyone wears long sleeves. This was a bad thing because I only brought short-sleeved clothing. Another interesting thing to notice was that farming is still done by hand and the farmland is often right beside the apartment buildings that are added onto as needed for additional tenants. Also, I found it sort of amusing that there were shepherds herding sheep within the city. I never really did figure out where they took the sheep to graze, but apparently they had their places.
Our morning began early with breakfast at our wonderful hotel. From the lobby window, you could see the pyramids. Something that seemed so unreal was now so close. Our afternoon sightseeing took us to these great constructions, but our morning was spent touring the museum. This was our first time to meet our tour guide, Osmond, who traveled with us and became a part of our family for the week. He can read hieroglyphics and holds a Masters Degree in Egyptology. He is a devout, sincere Muslim who treated us with great respect and made our trip to Egypt what it was—nearly perfect.
The museum building was built in 1897 and houses a large number of artifacts from ancient Egypt including the treasures found in the tomb of King Tutankhamen. Howard Cotter discovered it in 1914 after five years of digging. His tomb is the only one that was never robbed by tomb raiders, but it was not because it could not be found. The tomb raiding was an inside job. The same workers who built the tombs did it. The tomb of King Tut was left alone because it was considered to have little value because this Pharaoh was not very powerful. His tomb was piled over with trash because the people did not care for him. This is amazing to think about when you consider just how much gold he did have inside his tomb. If his tomb was this great, how much more spectacular were the tombs of other Pharaohs?
Another item of great interest in the museum is the Mereneptah Stele—a large black stone with hieroglyphic writing on both sides but from different periods. Near the bottom of one side, several different groups of people are mentioned as being conquered by Mereneptah; one of these is a people known as Israel. More information about it can be found here: http://www.specialtyinterests.net/israel.html#stele.
There were three different periods in ancient Egyptian history. In the Old Kingdom, Pharaoh was considered to be a god. During the Middle Kingdom, Pharaoh was of god. And during the New Kingdom, the Pharaoh was seen only as a man. This explains why the Pharaohs of the 3rd and 4th dynasties, which date back to 2800 BC, were the only Pharaohs to construct pyramids. Later Pharaohs were given smaller and smaller tombs, but still tombs none-the-less, to house their great wealth that they wanted to carry with them into the afterlife.
Egyptians, like all other ancient peoples, believed in a god or gods and a life beyond this life. Pictures remaining from many years ago show scenes of Pharaohs meeting Anubis, the god of the underworld, and the deeds of his life being weighed against the feather of truth. People around are happy because the two to balance, and the Pharaoh is allowed into the afterlife.
Culture was very important to the Egyptians. This is underscored by the many Papyrus remains in the museum. Papyrus itself means “way to RA,” and RA is the chief god in the ancient Egyptian pantheon. He was responsible for bringing the sun up each day. Reading and writing were important to the people and five percent of the population was dedicated to the work of a scribe. Through this, culture was passed on through the generations and allows us insight into an ancient culture.
We were delayed on our way to lunch because of a truck that was burning along the side of the road. The merchandise of Marlboro Light cigarettes and various food items had somehow caught fire. As traffic was stopped, it was amusing to watch some drivers attempt to turn around and head the wrong way down a four-lane freeway. After some time, we finally passed the truck and made it to lunch. In Muslim countries, allowing food to go to waste is unlawful so people were gathering up all of the food that was still in decent condition so that it could be fed to if nothing else, animals.
During the afternoon we visited the Great Pyramids of Giza. They were constructed for the Pharaohs, Cheops, Chefren, and Mycerinus. We were only able to enter the smallest of these pyramids, which was built for Mycerinus. His pyramid contains 1.1 million blocks. The pyramid of Cheops is the largest. It is approximated 450 feet tall and contains enough stone to build a wall around France three meters high. The middle pyramid of Chefren appears to be the largest from a distance but is slightly smaller. It is the only one with any remains of the smooth limestone covering on the outside. The Sphinx guards it, seemingly daring anyone to approach it.
These monuments required years of labor. Lifetimes were poured into these stairways to heaven to immortalize one man. They are the only wonder of the ancient world to still exist. To be in their presence leaves no question as to why they are a wonder of the ancient world. The stones weigh between one and ten tons with an average of three tons. Never again will any man be able to orchestrate the construction of anything quite like it for himself.
A camel ride was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. Maybe it was not supposed to be, but they are interesting animals. Especially after seeing Reginald in the VeggieTales: Jonah Movie, I have wanted to be able to ride one. And the one I rode was definitely all decked out with colorful pompoms and such.
After a night’s rest, we flew south from Cairo to Aswan where we met our cruise ship. I was really impressed with the ship. We had a few minutes to settle in and eat lunch before going to visit our first temple of the trip. This was the temple of Philae, which is located on an island in the Nile. The original location is now under water because of a dam that was added to the river, but the entire temple was moved to another nearby island.
The Temple of Philae was dedicated to the goddess of love, Isis. Her love for her husband, Osiris, was strong enough to gather and resuscitate the pieces of his body that were scattered when he Seth murdered him.
Because the cruise ship did not leave until early Thursday morning, we were able to take a long felucca ride. A felucca is basically just a sailboat. We sailed around on the peaceful water and sang along to some songs of the boat driver. Even danced around the boat a bit. It was quite a fun and relaxing time. The boat dropped us off for a walk through the botanical gardens of Aswan. There were some amazing flowers and trees there. Apparently if you are from California, then it pretty well looks like home, or so I was told. Aswan is the cleanest area of Egypt and it really showed. The air was so much better than Cairo or even Greece as Athens has some pretty polluted air.
We witnessed the beauty of having our security guards around each day of our trip. If vendors got too close or bothersome, he would just “pssss, pssss” them and they would back off. That was really cool. Each of our guards that accompanied us on the bus wore a suit and had at least one gun concealed underneath his coat. They were usually pretty young. The ones I talked to were between 20 and 25. But they are professionals and committed to doing this for some time. Other security people were always around or present, but they were not necessarily professionals. Military service is compulsory for men in Egypt. Because of the Camp David Accord, Egypt maintains a much smaller military than it once did so the men can work as police officers instead for a time. These non-professionals do not wear stars on their shoulders. According to Osmond, if one of them has a gun, they do not have bullets. Someone else carries the bullets for them. The security has a purpose besides just to keep us safe. It is to make us feel safe so that American tourism money will keep flowing in. If an accident happens, Americans will be the first to stop coming.
A Papyrus store was another stop during the day. Papyrus was extinct in Egypt until several years ago when 3 stalks were found in another country. People in Egypt bought all the land around these stalks that they could and allowed them to multiply before moving some back to Egypt. They found that the papyrus grew best in the delta area and now it is grown and harvested for tourism use. The process for making papyrus paper was examined and it was determined that the ancient way was the best way for making it. Any shortcuts attempted produced sub-par quality paper that fell apart. The process takes 12 to 14 days total. Three weeks is used only when a darker paper is desired.
Kom Ombo or “pile of gold” was our next temple to visit. It is dated around 1500 BC during the time of Queen Hatshepsut and Tutmosis III. Of all our temple sites, this was the least preserved. This is quite impressive considering how much older it is than anything from ancient Greece. This temple is dedicated to two gods. The left side is dedicated to the falcon god, Horus; the right consecrated the crocodile god Sobek. Of interest at this site were three mummified crocodiles. Many more were once here, but have been moved to a museum. Also, the oldest evidence of a calendar system is etched into the walls of this temple.
Because this temple is broken down, it is easier to tell just how certain parts of it were used. A second wall was built outside of the main one that created a corridor around the temple. Common people were not allowed past the open court of the temple, but they could walk around the corridor. This allowed them to go behind the room where the statue of the god was kept. The priests, via an echo chamber inside the inner vestibule, could make noises that were said to be from the gods. A hole in the inner wall allowed these sounds to be heard in the corridor.
Another characteristic that was common to all temples was that of raised and sunk relief. If the wall was inside, the relief was raised. If it was outside, it was sunk. The temple was only decorated after construction. The wall was smoothed over with a layer of gypsum and then carved to tell stories and record information.
Relief decoration on the inner side of the outer wall shows a Pharaoh kneeling before Nephtis and Isis. He is offering surgical instruments. Imhotep, the god of medicine offers a connection to the ancient Greek god, Asklepius.
A well outside the temple was used to determine the amount of taxes people paid. As the water level increased, the taxes increased.
Edfu is the best-preserved temple in all of Egypt. Originally constructed by Tutmosis III, it was reconstructed by Ptolemy III. The entire temple took 25 years to build and 160 years to decorate from top the bottom. The highest points are five and a half floors high. It is dedicated to the falcon god, Horus.
There were a couple of points of interest we learned about during this visit. First, we learned just how dedicated these people were to their gods. The priests would wash and perfume the statue. On nice days there were spots on the temple roof where they would take the statue to bask in the sun. Also, at a certain point each year, the priests would take the statue and carry it to a boat on the Nile where it would be sail to the temple dedicated to its wife. From there, the two statues would be returned to the god’s temple for a 27-day honeymoon. As time went on, the amount of time of the honeymoon was lessened. This was a rare opportunity for the public to see their god or goddess.
Second, though no Egyptians still believe in the ancient gods and goddesses, approximately 2 million people from Canada and Holland make a pilgrimage each year to the temple at Edfu and others on January 15th to worship. I am not exactly sure why, but there are many other things I cannot explain either. Why not add one more to the list?
The ceiling of this temple is covered with soot that came from early Christians who used the temple while cooking.
On our way back to the cruise ship from the temple of Edfu, we took the opportunity to buy clothing for the Galabia on our cruise ship. We each bought or rented “authentic Egyptian outfits” for the evening dinner and party. Let us just say that the night was very interesting and entertaining.
We were blessed this morning to have time to rest. Nothing happened until after lunch so many of us took the opportunity to get some sun on the top of the ship. It was great to just relax after walking through so many temples.
After lunch we visited two temples, the first of which was Karnak, dedicated to Amon Ra and his wife, Mout. The temple complex covers approximately 102 acres. The temple itself was “T” shaped and was never completely finished. Various pharaohs expanded the temple over a period of 2,000 years so that there are 10 gates. At this site, there is a dirt ramp left on the inside of one of the walls. It did not look like much, but the ramp gives insight into how the temples were constructed. The ramps were used to drag the blocks into place. Then the carvings would be placed on the wall as the dirt ramp was taken away.
The Hebrew people introduced rams and sheep to Egypt. Many statues of Rams over a smaller statue of Ramses II lined the entrance to the temple. The ram became a symbol of the gods and Ramses II associated himself with it.
Ramses II was married to Queen Neferteri, which means “most beautiful.” He had two other queens besides Neferteri and 40 concubines. Between these women, he had 212 children, 167 of which were boys.
One of the most interesting sections of the temple was a room with 134 pillars. Each of these pillars was so large that it took ten people with their arms stretched out to reach around the pillar. In the temples, the number of pillars represented the number of priests who worked in the temple. These were all decorated with carvings and paint.
Some other notable items from this temple were the second largest standing obelisk in the world. Queen Hatshepsut, the only female, Egyptian pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, ordered it. She also had several others constructed including the largest one in the world that now stands in Rome. Also, in the back part of the temple complex, there was a zoo. Many exotic animals were brought in and kept here, especially birds. The walls show scenes of different animals that were kept there. Another point of interest was the scarab beetle. A large crowd was gathered around it, circling the beetle counter-clockwise 3 times for marriage, 5 for luck, and 7 for a child.
My favorite temple visit during our trip was to the temple of Luxor. We went in the evening and were able to see it all lit up. This temple was covered with sand until 1881. So much of it was covered that there is a mosque built on top of part of the temple. It is still there and in use today, 1,000 years after it was constructed.
Early Egyptian Christians turned the back vestibule of this temple into a church. Instead of destroying or defacing the relief work on it, they covered it with a new layer of gypsum and made new carvings in the wall of Biblical scenes. They did this because as much as they did not believe in the Egyptian gods, they were still Egyptians too.
The Valley of the Kings was our first stop of the day. Only a few of the tombs are open to visitors each day and certain ones, including the nicest tomb have been closed to visitors for years. Ramses III’s tomb is the second nicest and it was open. He was the second most important Ramses and the last great pharaoh of ancient Egypt. He was also the last Egyptian to rule Egypt until 1954 when Nassar became the president. Under the rule of Ramses III, sea peoples tried to invade Egypt and left the economy in shambles.
This tomb is fairly typical to the Valley of the Kings. They were dug straight into the mountains, although this one does veer to the right at one point because the workers ran into a tomb that was dug from the other side. The walls are covered with scenes of gods and goddesses and different writings. Though this tomb is the second best preserved tomb, the burial chamber was destroyed by an earthquake and can no longer be entered.
Ramses IX can be blamed for the tomb robberies because they primarily took place while he was in power. He lived around the time of King David and you can actually go all the way down to his burial chamber.
The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut is built into a mountain. Although her stepson, Tutmosis III, destroyed it the Polish completely reconstructed this temple in recent years. It is the only completely reconstructed site in Ancient Egypt.
As nice as the Valley of the Kings was, it pales in comparison with the Valley of the Workers. These workers who built the tombs for kings took time to build their own smaller tombs as well. They all lived together in a village and their tombs overlook the village. These people were very advanced. Each house in the village had its own indoor bathroom. And the tombs they built for themselves have vaulted ceilings in 1450 BC. Rome claims to have the oldest, but Egypt had vaulted ceilings on buildings dating from 2800 BC. Because these tombs receive fewer visitors, the coloring on the walls is still vivid. The scenes differ from the pharaohs though. These scenes are from daily life instead of encounters with the gods.
During the evening following dinner, we flew from Luxor back to Cairo.
An early morning drive took us to Sakkarah. Before our primary reason for visiting the site, Osmond took us to the tomb of Ptah-hotep, a nobleman of the fifth dynasty (2400 BC). His tomb, like that of the workers contains scenes of daily life from his youth all the way to his old age. He served under three different Pharaohs, and at some point in his life played a game similar to baseball as a picture on the wall indicates.
Dzoser’s step pyramid was the primary reason for our visit. This was the first ever pyramid to be built and is in remarkably good condition. 108 pyramids have been discovered in Egypt and the 108th one stands barely recognizable as a pyramid just a couple hundred yards from this pyramid dating from 3000 BC. Imhotep was the architect of this first pyramid. It is essentially the old style of tomb stacked up 6 times with each one getting smaller.
Surrounding this area is the oldest stone structure ever built. It was a wall also engineered by Imhotep. Within these walls, are some the buildings with arched ceilings from 2800 BC. If you were to look at one, it almost looks like an airplane hangar.
In the distance, Snefru’s bent pyramid and others can be seen. They were over 25 km away and because of time, we were unable to visit them.
Schools of carpet making are abundant in this area. We visited one of the most famous ones. They have won the prize for the best carpet in the world for the past several years. Children in the area come and work for one and a half hours a day learning to make these carpets. Before the child labor cry comes out, it is a part of their schooling. Learning to make the carpets is something that will help them in their future. A silk carpet that is about four feet by seven feet costs around $2,000. Needless to say, it was a little out of my price range.
The Coptic Churches were our next stop. This is one of the main areas for Christians in Cairo. Tradition has that this area was a shelter area for Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. Because it was also a Roman fortress, it was not a likely place for Herod to look if he sent searchers out for Jesus. As Osmond pointed out, Egypt should be considered a part of the holy land just like Jerusalem or the Jordan River. He said, “If Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River for five minutes, he drank from the Nile for two to three years.”
Near the church stands the oldest synagogue in Egypt. It was restored eight years ago after a $2,000,000 donation from a Canadian Jewish woman. During the 1880s, the Genesa documents were found in the synagogue. This was the most important discovery of Biblical documents until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Another great highlight during our trip was our visit to the second tallest mosque in the world. Here, Osmond shared the history of his religion with us. Islam means “submit yourself to God.” It began in Mecca and expanded over five different periods. Reading and searching for knowledge is a very important part of Islam so there is a high literacy rate. Under various regimes though, education has been cancelled because it is easier to rule ignorant people. Throughout the mosque, one thing was very clear. The second commandment is upheld in a very strict sense. The walls are decorated only with colors or patterns, never pictures.
The evening was spent relaxing at our hotel and in worship. It is always great to worship God wherever we are and in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.
This was a historic day for me. I visited three continents in one day—Africa (Egypt), Asia (Sinai Peninsula), and Europe (Greece).
During the morning, we drove to the area of Goshen in northeastern Egypt. This is the area the Hebrews stopped at and made unleavened bread during the exodus (Exodus 12). Bricks made without straw still stand in some parts of this land. These were made by order of the Pharaoh after a few of the plagues sent from God made him angry. Semitic pottery pieces lay all over the ground too. We were able to pick up some to bring home. The area today is very rural and poor. The people we saw who lived in the area did not seem to have seen too many tour buses, but Osmond usually takes his biblical tours to this site.
Another site of biblical significance was Marah. This is the area where Moses was placed in a basket by the Nile and found by the daughter of Pharaoh (Exodus 2).
Osmond accompanied us to the airport in the afternoon, and we arrived safely back at “home” in Porto Rafti.
Final Thoughts and Random Information
(in no particular order)
We were very blessed by God to be able to go on this trip. The world situation was monitored until and throughout our stay. Fortunately nothing happened and we did not even feel threatened while in Egypt. The country is very open to tourists, especially Americans, and because it depends so heavily on that source of income. They protect people so well because they want you to feel secure and tell others.
I really appreciated Dr. Edwards’ thoughts before communion on Sunday night. He talked about all the empty tombs we visited. He talked about how the bodies were all prepared for some sort of afterlife by the Egyptians, but nothing remains of their bodies or treasures today because it has all been stolen or placed in museums. But our Lord was placed in the tomb and only stayed their three days. His body was never stolen. It was taken back up into heaven. We read together John 20:1-18 when Mary found the empty tomb. It was a great application of our experiences during the week.
Aida was performed for many years in a small village near the burial tomb of Queen Hatshepsut. Signs everywhere made it clear that they were very proud of this fact.
I cannot decide which thing I find more amazing: the amount of power the Pharaoh’s had or the amount of dedication the people had towards him. Pharaohs of old were the ultimate authority. Their word was law. But surely there were enough people to overthrow a Pharaoh who was abusive or had too much power. Surely the men who built the pyramids were strong enough to say no to the Pharaoh if it was undesirable work. Amazing…that’s all I can say.
Joseph, the son of Jacob, played a major role in Ancient Egyptian history. Osmond pointed out his influence and work at various sites in the country. One of the main things is the canal of Joseph, which diverted water from the Nile to an oasis called Fayum. This probably helped to save the Egyptians from the seven years of famine in Genesis 41 along with Joseph’s wise use of the seven plentiful years.