Real Supporting Facts About Moses

Once in the HubPages forums a post was made, asking if there was any validity to the biblical story of Moses. To my dismay, many people were actually under the impression that since it was a bible story, it had to be a myth. Many hubbers even went so far in writing, with exacting certainty that to their knowledge, there were no known archaeological evidence to support events, as they are unfolded in the book of Exodus. The common misconception amongst my fellow hubbers, was that the Moses story was just a "fairytale."

Searching out certain facts that support a particular biblical story is a big hobby of mine. I guess you could say that I am an amateur historian. Even as a child, I liked attending Sunday school and bible school for its historical value. The impossibilities behind ancient biblical story, usually left me quite intrigued, and searching for the real facts later on in life. This curiosity eventually grew into something greater than a moment's thought, and now at forty-one searching out biblical history is not only a life long hobby, it is a passion of mine.

When History Channel’s Naked Archaeologist, Simcha Jacobovici teamed up with Oscar winning director and producer James Cameron, to create a documentary called the Exodus Decoded, I was thrilled. I recorded the documentary, April 16, 2006 on Easter Day, and eagerly watched the episode over-and-over, with pen and paper in hand. As with all documentaries- evidence presented in these types of programs, must be absorbed with caution. When any major producer and filmmaker gets involved with a project of this magnitude, there are bound to be exaggerations. Even with keeping this in mind, I still had plenty of notes to ponder over and research. Anybody can make up history I figured, but only facts can tell the real story. The evidence of the Exodus story was not as convincing as I would like. That is to be expected, when dealing with history over thirty-five hundred years old. Thirty-five hundred years is a very long time for any remaining artifacts to linger, let alone those of the Exodus story. Nevertheless, that is what makes this hobby exciting though.

One of the first misnomers of the Moses story, happened by mistake, roughly twenty-five hundred years ago. When a scribe failed to translate the ancient Hebrew words Yam Suph correctly. It is widely known that Classical Hebrew is used in Jewish ceremonies, worship services and bible studies still to this day. However, what is not widely known is that this form of the Hebrew language, only dates back to the time of the Roman occupation of Judea. Thus, the Classical form of the Hebrew language, is not old enough to be the language of Moses. It has been recently discovered, that a far more primitive, Sumerian based Hebrew was being used during the time period of Moses and Abraham. This older form of the Hebrew language, supposedly has strong, influential, root words stemming from an ancient Sumerian vocabulary, which is also the bases of the ancient Syrian Coptic and Aramaic languages. The very same languages spoken during the time of Jesus. The mistake was inadvertently made when scribes began to translate many of the Sumerian based stories, into the classical the of Hebrew, commonly used today. If it had not been for a recent discovery, this mistake could have gone unnoticed for another thousand years.

The recent discovery collaborating the mistranslated words theory, was found on an ancient Egyptian tax collection record kept during the time of Pharaoh Ahmoses. The tax recorded on a stone wall found in the tomb of a wealthy Egyptian regional overseer, who duties were to collect money. When the money had been collected, it was the overseer's job to also see to it that it was then safely delivered to the Pharaoh Ahmoses treasury. This Egyptian overseer's tomb had been turn into a stone journal of events, which occurred during his life. His life's work was written in great detail, for all the world to see, and stayed perfectly preserved for over thirty-five hundred years. Amazing, I agree. What they also discovered on this overseer's tomb wall, was that a great exodus of people had occurred during the height of Pharaoh Ahmoses' power, and that a great famine had swept through the lands of Egypt. When Egyptian archaeologists started studying the newly found tomb writings in great depth, the recorded hieroglyphs for the words Yam Suph, depicted a slightly different meaning than what they mean in Classical Hebrew today. What they discovered was that the word “Yam,” in primitive Hebrew meant “reed”. However, in Classical Hebrew Yam means “red.” Moreover, the hieroglyph for Yam was a picture of a grouping of reed stalks, standing upright in a body of water. Apparently though, this was not the first time someone on the archeology team, studying the tomb writings had encountered a translation discrepancy, involving the same Hebrew word Yam. One of the team experts at the Egyptian overseer's tomb, had also previously studied one particular Dead Sea Scroll, which had been discovered in cave four.

Cave four is where the legendary Book of Deuteronomy was found. What the expert noticed occurring, during his first initial years spent researching the ancient book, was that whoever translated the book to the scroll; used two distinctly different forms of the Hebrew language. This exciting new discovery, ironically has now began to change the way Modern day scholars read ancient Hebrew texts, and also has changed the way Hebrew is being taught in schools in Israel. Therefore without a doubt, the supposed body of water parted by Moses, (originally written in the same tongue of Moses) was Yam Suph, or the Reed Sea.

In 1859, the Reed Sea was located at the Nile River's delta basin, where it then intersected with the body of water known as, Ballah Lake. Upon the completion of the Suez Canal in 1860, this low-land, river-basin, known as Yam Suph, was swallowed up by the canal, and today is covered up by water. Maybe someday archaeologists will be able to dive to the bottom of the canal, and conduct some underwater research. However, under the current Egyptian laws it is illegal to dig underwater, unless divers have been granted access by the Egyptian government. The building of the Suez Canal has curtailed any further study of the Exodus story in that region. That is why there are so little facts known today. But with the recent discoveries made on land, we do have some supporting, archaeological, evidence that during the time of Moses, the Yam Suph was the Reed Sea, and not the Red Sea, as it is found in our bible of today.

Something else I would like to point out is that after crossing the sea, they encamped in an area with a naturally-occurring spring and palm trees verse 15:27. This area is known as Elim in the book of Exodus. The area in Egypt was named Ayun Musa. Ironically, there is such a place named Ayun Musa, and it is found in Egypt today. Furthermore, Ayun Musa means Spring of Moses in Egyptian. Ayun Musa is situated in the Northeastern region of the Suez canal, it is an oasis right next to the shoreline where the Reed Sea once swelled. The people of this region today, are much like they were three thousand years ago. They have very little access to the outside world. It is my educated opinion that the area was so named the Spring of Moses by these peoples, ancient ancestors for a reason. That reason being because a man name Moses did something great there once.

I am also of the opinion that we cannot continue to ignore this linguistic evidence, which ironically dates back to Pharaoh Ahmoses. The Pharaoh I believe was the brother of Moses as told in the Exodus story. By the way, Ahmoses means “Brother of Moses” in Egyptian. Is this just circumstances? I doubt it. Just as with the name Ahmoses. People of that time frame, named their children accordingly to status, positioning, and rank. If Moses was considered the elder of the two boys, it is easily understandable that the family would name the younger son, “Brother of …..” It was and still a common practice amongst Bedouin peoples.

The most inescapable fact is that; the name Moses is Egyptian in origin. We cannot continue to ignore the fact that the name “Moses,” is Egyptian and thus, has been embedded in ancient languages for thousand, upon thousands of years. This little facts, once they are put together in their proper place, tells us all we need to know about the time period in which Moses lived. Now, is this proof there is a God? No, it isn't. It only proves that a mystical man named Moses, once lived in Egypt, slept there, did great things there and from there crossed into a new world. The fact that lands and naturally occurring springs are named after him, tells us that he was a man of strength, dedication and courage. Ancient Egyptians valued water above all things. It was the key to their survival. Without water, there were no crops, no transportation, no life. To name a spring after a man, who once slept there, tells us he was someone important. Moreover, it says nothing more than this. I have always been of the conviction that proving or disproving biblical stories, does not prove or disprove God. It only proves what is written, and nothing more. Did a man name Moses exist? You bet he did!

Moses in Hebrew is Moshe.

It is widely believed that there is no Egyptian record of the Story of Moses. That is incorrect.  In 1947 archaeologist Henri Chevrier found pieces of a broken stone monument - or stela that dated to a Pharaoh named Ahmose, around 1500 bce, which is before the Common Era, and B.C.E. Incredibly, the Ahmose stela is covered in hieroglyphic inscriptions that mirror the Biblical tale precisely.