Bible mentions the Egyptian Pyramids and the Sphinx



	In a fascinating new book entitled "Exodus", by Garry Matheny, the author makes a compelling case for the location of where Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt. And a couple of very important landmarks still standing in Egypt today may mark where it all began. Those two landmarks being the Pyramids and the Sphinx located at Giza. And the Bible itself may just in fact mention both of them.



	The main Biblical texts for the arguments are place names found in Exodus 13:18 thru 14:9:
	"So God led the people around by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea .... So they took their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. . . . Now the Lord spoke to Moses saying: "Speak to the children of Israel that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea." . . . So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horseman and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi-Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon."



	Matheny first of all believes that the royal Egyptian palace to which Moses confronted Pharaoh was at Memphis, just seven and a half miles south of the pyramids at Giza. This is based on comments from early historians such as Philo who when commenting on the seventh plague said "the country beyond Memphis, where the palace of the king is". A position also held by the church historian Eusebius.
	The first location mentioned in Exodus 13:20 is Succoth which Matheny identifies as Saqqara which overlooks nearby Memphis. Saqqara is a site where several kings were buried along with a number of Pyramids that were built there. Matheny contends that this would have been the royal burial spot of Joseph whose bones were taken by Moses when Israel leaves Succoth as recorded in Exodus 13:19. The next stop on their journey is Etham, "a place in the desert" at the end of the wilderness. And indeed Egyptian records indicate that traveling northward from Memphis towards the Pyramids at Giza definitely would describe this landscape.
	The next place Israel stops is at Pi-Hahiroth near the Sea. Pi-Hahiroth's Hebrew meaning is "mouth of the gorges". And Matheny contends that this is the location of where the upper delta dumps into the mouth of the Nile river. This area regularly flooded and became as a sea. Matheny quotes from the historian Herodotus who states that the channels in the upper delta became flooded and boats could sail across it just as sailing across a sea.
	Herodotus states: "They pass by the water not now by the channels of the river but over the midst of the plain; for example as one sails from Naucratis to Memphis the passage is then close by the Pyramids, whereas the usual passage is not the same.



	This is where Matheny contends Israel crosses through the Red Sea. The Hebrew word translated Red Sea in the book of Exodus is ("cuwph" ) meaning a reed especially a papyrus, flag, or weed. and ("Yam") meaning a large body of water or river. In other words the reed sea. And this would indeed describe this flooded location.
	In Exodus 14:2 it sates this location was between the sea and Migdol. The word Migdol means “tower” and is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis 11:4 for the "Tower" of Babel, the stepped Ziggurats of the Chaldeans. So Migdol would definitely be the appropriate Hebrew term the Israelites would have used when referring to the Pyramids.



	According to Exodus 14:2 this site was also close by Baal Zephon which Matheny states means "The Lord of the North". Lord meaning a false idol or god. Baal Zephon is the god that was worshiped as far North as Syria, but was also attested to by the Egyptians through individuals traveling on errands of diplomacy and trade. Matheny believes Baal Zephon was known as being the protector god of mariners, and that the Sphinx located at the apex of the Delta where all shipping on the branches of the Nile would pass, mariners would have viewed the Sphinx as the god protector of the Nile.



	Our own research indicates that the Hebrew word "Ba'al Tsephown" where Tsephown is a form of "Typhon" meaning "Destroyer." And that Baal Zephon may also refer to the “Lord of Destruction”
	And there was an Egyptian false goddess known as Sekhmet who was known as the lion goddess of destruction, disease, plague, pestilence, and war who was also known as the fierce protector of pharaoh. She had the face of a lion and the body of a woman. Interestingly the Sphinx is somewhat similar, but just the opposite, it has the body of a lion and face of a man. The Pharaoh's also believed they were the children of Sekhmet. The Hebrews therefore may have associated the Sphinx with Sekhmet because she was the lion goddess and protector of pharaoh. Whether or not this is the case is uncertain, but it is interesting speculation anyhow. Interesting because of this false god being associated with being a destroyer and associated with plagues. Sekhmet was also associated with a festival dealing with when the Nile ran blood red from silt during flooding, which is very interesting as well.
	If so God was performing His signs and plagues right under the very nose of the Egyptian false god who was supposed to be able to protect pharaoh. God was letting Pharaoh know that his god was nothing before Him.
	The Egyptian record below may also support the connection between Sekhmet and the Sphinx:
	"Runner, racer, courser! Khepri (Sphinx) whose birth was distinct, whose beauty was upraised in the body of the sky goddess (Sekhmet was also a solar deity of the sky who sometimes is called the daughter of the sun God Ra). He who illuminates the Two Lands with his (sun) disc, the primordial one of the two lands. . . . The sole lord who reaches the ends of the lands every day, being one who sees them tread thereon. ANET 368



	The following Egyptian records also seem to support that Memphis along with the area around the Sphinx and Pyramids were important Egyptians centers at this time as well as the fact that the Egyptians did worship the Sphinx as a god. This inscription found on the Sphinx itself from Thutmose IV states:
	"Now he used to occupy himself with sport on the desert highland of Memphis, on it southern and northern sides, shooting at a target of copper, hunting lions and beasts in the desert, making excursions in his chariot . . . Now when his hour came for taking a rest . . . he paused at the ruins of Harmakhis (area of the Sphinx) , Besides Sokar in Giza; . . . Lady of the Southern Wall; Sekhmet, Presiding over Khas; and Hike, the first born of the holy place of primeval times; near the Lords of Babylon (Egyptian Babylon on the east bank opposite Giza) , the divine way of the gods to the horizon west of Heliopolis. Now at the very great statue of Khepri (Sphinx) rests in this place, great fame, majestic in awe, upon which the favor of Re rests. The villages of Memphis and of every other town which is beside it come to it, with their arms (outstretched) in praise before it, bearing great oblations to its ka.”
	“One of these days it happened that the King's son Thutmose came on an excursion at noon time. Then he rested in the shadow of this great god. . . They shall protect the offerings of this god that they shall bring to him, . . . Khepri (Sphinx) in the horizon west of Helipolis.” ANET 449



	Another inscription from Amenhotep II states: "Let there be given to him the very best horses in my majesty's stable which is in Memphis" . . . He would harness with the bit in Memphis and stop at the rest house in Harmakhkis (area of the Sphinx), so that he might spend a moment there, going around and around it and seeing the rest house at Khufu and Khaf-Re . . . After this, when his majesty was made to appear as king, the uraeus serpent, took her place on his brow, the image of Re was established at its post, and the land was in the first state, at peace under their lord., Aa-khepru-Re. He ruled the Two Lands and every foreign country was bound under his soles. Then his majesty remembered the place where he had enjoyed himself in the vicinity of the pyramids and of Harmakhis, and one ordered that it be caused that a rest house be made there, in which was set up a limestone stela, the face of which was engraved with the great name of Aa-Khepru-Re, beloved of Harmakhis. ANET 244
	This last inscription also mentions that Memphis is the spot where pharaoh's royal stables were located. This may also verify where Pharaoh may have begun his pursuit of the Israelites as recorded in Exodus 14:6 -8 which states: "So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. Also he took six hundred choice chariots of Egypt with captains over each one of them. . . And he pursued the children of Israel. . ."



	Of course Pharaoh and his armies would soon be destroyed by the God of Israel who would protect his people.

	What the Bible says about people who worship idols like the Sphinx and the false religious systems of this world.

	Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. 1 Corinthians 10:20

	"For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. 1 Thes 1:9-10



	Garry Matheny's book "Exodus" goes into much more detail on this subject as well as the route he believes the Israelites took on their journey from the pyramids to Mountain of God where the Lord gave the Ten Commandments. It is highly recommended. It may be purchased at either Amazon.com or BN.com. ISBN 9781613792971
	His video may be viewed at:
	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJS_WVnfkG0



	You may also email Garry Matheny with your questions at gmmatheny@aol.com

	BibleHistory.net wishes to thank Garry Matheny for his permission to print selected research from His book in order to make this article available.



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	Resources:

	The Holy Bible, Author: The Lord God
	Scripture taken from the New King James Version unless noted.

	Exodus: The Route- Sea Crossing-God's Mountain by author G.M. Matheny ISBN 9781613792971 Publisher Xulonpress.
	Pg 69 Philo and Eu. sebius have Moses at Memphis
	Pg 75 Succoth believed to be Saqqara cemetery near Memphis
	pg,137-138 Baal-Zephon = "Lord of the North" believed to be the protector of mariners.
	Pg 102 Herodotus quote of Delta becomes like a sea and passes near the Pyramids.
	Pg 150 Herodotus quote of Nile becomes like a sea

	Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament- James Pritchard. Egyptian Texts mentioninfg the Spinx
	ANET 449 (Thutmose IV)
	ANET 244 (Amenhotep II)
	ANET 371-372, ANET 368, ANET 366

	The Golden King, The World of Tutankhamun. Chapter 2, The Golden Age pg24 Author/Egyptologist Zawi Hawass
	Amenhotep II Built a temple at Giza, dedicated to the Great Sphinx as the sun god HoHoremakhet (Horus in the Horizon)
	The Memphite desert was very important as a training ground for young princes: and near the area of the Sphinx was known as the Valley of Gazelles.

	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekhmet: Sekhmet also is a solar diety, sometimes called the daughter of the sun god Ra.Sekhmet was believed to protect the pharaoh in battle, An early Egyptian sun deity also, her body was said to take on the bright glare of the midday.

	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Aqraa : Lord of th North information

	http://www.catchpenny.org/seconds.html The Arab writers who mention a 2nd Sphinx are:
	Al-I'Drisi (AD 1099-1166) who wrote about it in Kitab al-Mamalik wa al-Mansalik (a large geographic encyclopedia) and Al-Kitab al-Jujari, a geographical encyclopedia on Asia and Africa. He describes a second sphinx across the Nile from the first in very bad state of repair, made of mud (bricks?) and faced with stone, most of the stone having been hauled away by local inhabitants and now the Nile "lapping at it's feet." He doesn't say if it was the same size, but since the Nile moved further east after AD 1166, then it would have been destroyed.
	Ibn Battuta (AD 1307-1377) in his Travels in Asia and Africa doesn't mention it, either because it doesn't exist, or has already been destroyed by then (it was written around AD 1325-1354).
	Musabbihi mentions a smaller Sphinx across the Nile from the large one "south of Cairo" in a "ruined state of brick and stone" in the Annals of Rabi II around AD 1024.
	Nasir-i Khosrau visited Egypt between Aug 1047 and April 1048 and heard rumors of a second one .Msftedit 5.41.15.1507

	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Djoser
	Stepped Pyramid at Saqqara in Egypt similiar to stepped ziggurats of the tower of Babel

	http://www.ancient-egypt.org/index.html
	At some distance to the South of Sekhemkhet's unfinished complex, three kings built their pyramids

	Library of Universal History Vol 01 (1898)
	Author: Clare, Israel Smith
	Publisher: Union Book Co
	Copyright (c) 1996 Zedcor Inc. All Rights Reserved.
	Clipart : Egyptian Pyramids and Sphinx
	© copyright 2012; Jupiterimages Corporation -Clipart.com

	Title: Backsheesh! (1875) Author: Knox, T.
	Publisher: Worthington & Co. Publishers
	Copyright (c) 1996 Zedcor Inc. All Rights Reserved.
	Clipart : Sphinx and Great Pyramid of Giza
	© copyright 2012; Jupiterimages Corporation -Clipart.com

	Title: Travels Around the World (1873)
	Author: Seward, W. Publisher: Appleton Co.
	Copyright (c) 1996 Zedcor Inc. All Rights Reserved.
	Clipart : Sphinx of Egypt
	© copyright 2012; Jupiterimages Corporation -Clipart.com



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