The Armor of God – The Word – Teaching
(I suggest watching the videos and checking the links before you teach, so you’ll know. If you want to show the videos and lengthen this study to a few weeks, God bless, you can do that!)
Really quickly: Who has started doing communion at home? …. Did you notice a difference?
It’s life changing when you start inviting the Lord to eat with you. There seems to be a difference in the atmosphere and flow of the evening. Next up, invite him to watch tv with you. Just look straight ahead and smile.
Ephesians 6:17 NKJV
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
The Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. I think we all understand what the Sword of the Spirit is and that the greater measure of the Word in our hearts, the bigger the sword we can wield. I think it’s self-explanatory, if you have no Word in you, you have no sword. I want you to understand the Bible itself isn’t your prayer suit sword, like put it in your hand and swing it around to scare the devil. It’s the Word in your heart that is your Sword.
Most often we hear opinions on which piece is offensive, which piece is defensive, and which are both. I’m here to say, it doesn’t matter. Each piece can be used in different ways. We went over this in the intro. In a desperate time of prayer, no one cares or even thinks about offensive and defensive pieces. Years ago, I tried to get an ex-drug dealer saved. He was chatty about his past and said that when he realized a fight was about to happen, he would start with a surprise headbutt to their face. Why can’t we do that to the devil? “I’m saved! *headbutt* Haha devil!” All jokes aside, the most important point of the sword is to see how Jesus used it in Matthew chapter 4 NKJV when he was tempted:
4But He answered and said, “It is written…
7Jesus said to him, “It is written again…
10Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written…
It is written. It is written. It is written! That’s the sword at work as a weapon. Opening your mouth and speaking it out loud. Remember, faith comes by hearing and the Word out of your own mouth is hearing!
The size of the sword depends on you. If you use your sword or not, that also depends on you. It’s our job to read through the Word, looking, memorizing, and praying to discover the mysteries of God that are hidden. We’re treasure hunters, seeking the hidden treasures in the Word. How many treasures you find is also up to you! You might be wondering why, “Why did God hide them?” Well, do we go up to a stranger and tell them every deep intimate detail about us or are those things reserved for your closest friends? Besides, if He laid everything out, you’d be bored out of your mind reading the same thing over and over through the years.
The Book of Revelations is the biggest example we have of mystery. Every ten years, interpretation changes drastically! Back in the 80s they used to depict the mark of the beast as a 666 tattoo and show a cashier checking your 666 tat. In the 90s, they started saying it was something to do with computers. They began depicting it as a scan barcode on hand and forehead. By the early 2000s, we knew it was a chip under the skin. Now Christians are thinking it’s an implanted chip in the hand and/or head that connects people to a computer. We know they’ll track people’s whereabouts, and also be connected to a digital banking system. There won’t be a need for a cashier, because they’ll take your digital money as you walk by. They already have technology available, but that’s not what we’re talking about today! We were looking at how the Word stayed the same, but how our interpretation changed. There are mysteries in the Word, and there is revelation knowledge waiting to come alive in your spirit hidden in the Word. We’ll go over a couple of them today, but first we’ll close the series with this thought…
Just like every piece in our armor, it all depends on us and how much we want the things of God. In this series we learned the Armor of God is God’s Armor on us. It’s made so that we can look like Him, and do battle His way, in prayer. I believe when we’re fully suited up in our armor, using it as a mighty prayer weapon, that’s where the miraculous results will take place.
Until our time is up this week, we’re going to look at Bible archeology, and solve some mysteries. Please DO NOT ask a bunch of questions on a certain topic. I am aware some of these might be shocking to you. I will give you a paper to take home so that you can watch videos and/or read on whatever topic interests you. We can spend an hour on each one of these, and I want to get through them all today. We probably won’t, but I’m hopeful!
The New Testament was originally written in Hebrew, NOT Greek.
Many of us have been taught the New Testament was written in Hebrew and then the apostles themselves translated them into Greek. That is unlikely the case; however, Revelations is poorly translated to Greek. The books originally written in Hebrew that have been found are Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, James, Jude, and Revelations. They do have all the books of the New Testament written in Hebrew, but they were translated from Greek back to Hebrew, that’s not what we’re talking about or looking for. So, everyone please agree in prayer that more books will be found, because there are some text issues in the Greek that the original Hebrew corrects. We don’t have time to go through them all, but here are some.
*Matthew 5:13-14 Salt and Light
NKJV
13“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
The text problem here is that anyone who cooks can tell you that salt can’t lose its flavor or saltiness. That will never happen. We’re supposed to take the Bible literally, not figuratively, and this scripture always poses a problem.
Original Hebrew
13And it happened furthermore, that Yeshua Mashiach (Jesus the Messiah) said unto his talmidim (disciples), “You are the instruction of the world, but the instruction is cut off by them who are not saved, and nothing else is fit, except to cast them to the street and to trample them. 14The light of the world is not able to hide the city that rests on the mountain.
We don’t have the issue of salt losing its flavor, and we purposefully throw salt out (or spray pickle juice) onto walkways and streets with snow and ice to trample “underfoot by men” as a good thing. We don’t have a non-salty salt issue, but we do see in everyday life that Biblical instruction is cut off by those who are not saved. Jesus would never make an ignorant comparison, topped off with making a good thing bad; but an ignorant Greek scribe would!
*Do what the Pharisees tell you? WHAT?
Matthew 23:1-4
NKJV
1When Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
What? Jesus told people to do ritualistic hand washing, rules about spitting on the ground, and other craziness, and Jesus said, “whatever they tell you observe…observe and do!?” Not once but twice! Hmm…
Original Hebrew
1Then Yeshua (Jesus) said to the people and to his talmidim (disciples), 2“It is said: ‘The scribes and the Perushim (Pharisees) have ascended onto the seat of Mosheh – 3all that they say to you, you must keep and do.’ However, you must not do according to their works, for they say but they do not do. 4They load heavy burdens on the peoples that they are not able to bear, but they are not pleased to touch them with their fingers.
Here we see that Jesus was quoting what people were saying. “All that they say to you, you must keep and do,” was part of that quote, NOT Jesus telling the people to listen to them. Jesus downright told them to not listen. Once you go back and re-read the Greek translation, you can see it, but only after you see it in the original Hebrew writing first.
One more then we will move on…
*Revelation 8:12 – Fourth Trumpet: The Heavens Struck
NKJV
Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.
If you look up the word in Greek, it’s pléssó (place-so) and means to strike. We all know if 1/3 of the sun is struck and does not shine, we will all instantaneously die. We cannot survive! That’s a fact! Anyone who is into Earth science has to take this scripture as error or by crazy faith; or we can just read the original Hebrew.
Hebrew
Then the fourth blew, and there was stricken (also means smitten or ECLIPSED) – a third of the sun and the moon and stars; and a third of the day did not shine, and also the night
Now we don’t have an Earth Science problem. We have all been through eclipses of the sun and lived. This scripture tells us something is coming that will block out a portion of the sun, so that the moon doesn’t reflect the sun’s light all night. The rogue planet, comet (probably too small), asteroid (definitely too small), or whatever it is will also block our view of the stars. This completely makes sense. The Greek scribe didn’t understand the sun can’t be struck, because it burns things up before they even get too close, or we would die. But John knew the truth!
Where these manuscripts were found and where you can read all these books are in the handout. I encourage you to read them regularly. You’ll find Hebrew James is quite different, not as harsh as Greek James and more loving.
David and Goliath – The Weird Ancient Battle of Yelling and Trash Talk
1 Samuel 17:1-16 NKJV (skipping through)
1Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle… 2And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah... 3The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.
4And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. (goes on to describe Goliath) 8Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” 10And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” 11When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. (skipping down) 16And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening.
What is this weird ancient battle of yelling trash talk? There is a video for you to see, and it will be in the handout. Why are they shouting and Israel afraid? They had a walled city, and a dangerous river in the spring would flow in front of the hill where Israel was located. If the Philistines attempted to approach Israel, Israel would have the high advantage and kill them with archers or throw rocks at them, as they tried to cross the dangerous river and go up the hill. If Israel attempted to cross the river, and went to the Philistines they couldn’t retreat easily and would all die if the battle didn’t go well. The Philistines decided to call out one man of each camp to do battle in the valley or flat area, hence the daily shouting and trash talk. Before David went into battle, he went to that river to choose the smooth stones he would take with him. Where else would you find notably smooth stones other than moving water?
The video is from Sergio and Rhoda is Israel on YouTube. I encourage you to watch all their videos on archeology in Israel. It’s great to use the videos as a part of your fasting routine. Read your Bible 20 mins (OT 10 and NT 10), praise and worship 10 mins, pray 10 mins (or more), watch a show, and you easily spent an hour with God. These videos are great to watch together as a family too.
Meeting Jesus in the air – Not so secret secret-time!
1 Thessalonians 4:16 NKJV
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
If you read through the Old Testament, you read the clues to when this event will happen. That’s why it’s important we invite the Holy Spirit to read the Bible with us, so He can reveal mysteries to us.
To understand when this will take place, we have to understand Israel’s calendar first.
Rosh Hashanah, Israel’s new year, is in the fall. According to the Bible it’s supposed to be in spring at Passover. I cannot find any specific information at what point this change had occurred, and also if they had switched prior to the time of Jesus. It’s likely that they had already changed times.
When Israel was exiled to Babylon, they came back with new names for each month as opposed to how the Lord named them first, second, third. Most of the names are from Babylon since the exile, such as the month of Tammuz, which is June or July for us. Tammuz is the Sumerian/Babylonian/Mesopotamian god of fertility. I tried to find why Israel would use this name or continue to use this name for one of their months. There is a popular, and very false story that seems to be passed around. It said that women were weeping for Tammuz because Moses broke the commandment tablets, and they were crying about the golden calf so that’s why they named it Tammuz. Some even took it as far as saying that it resulted in the Catholic lent (which is also not true). Let’s see what the Lord thinks of Tammuz, the sun god that died.
Ezikiel 8:13-14 NKJV
13And He said to me, “Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.” 14So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.
Women were weeping for this god’s death. It seems to have been a real person, that they claimed was a god reincarnated, but that’s irrelevant today, because we’re looking at Israel incorporating Babylonian ways into their culture. Babylonians celebrated their new year twice a year, the month of Nissan in the spring, which happens to be the same name Israel uses, and also in the month of Tishrei in the fall for final harvest, like most pagan religions including Halloween, which is when Israel decided to change to their new year. Yom Teruah, or the Feast of Trumpets, is now Israel’s new year, because of the change. Let’s look at how the Lord told them to find the new year, because it will be part of the answer to when we’re meeting Jesus in the air.
Exodus 12:1-2 NKJV The Passover Instituted
1Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2“This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.
How do they go about figuring out the first month of the year?
Deuteronomy 16:1 NKJV
Observe the month of Abib (Aviv), and keep the Passover unto the Lord thy God: for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
Aviv is also written Abib because V and B are the same letter in Hebrew. Aviv or Abib refers to a growth stage of crops and particularly the barley in this scripture. We can see this concerning the exodus from Egypt about the barley.
Exodus 9:31-32 NKJV
31Now the flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the head (abib or aviv) and the flax was in bud (gibol). 32But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they are late crops.
Once the barley is abib or aviv, which means not fully ripened for harvest, but edible, that marks the beginning of the new year. For more information, you can look up abib in a concordance and read all the scriptures concerning the abib stage, research ancient barley, and barley growth if you’re interested. I won't bore you with that information, but no one truly knows the specific answer because that information was lost in the exiles. They do believe they know, but can they say with 100% certainty unless the Holy Spirit weighs in on the matter?
After the barley is aviv or abib, Israel is supposed to look for the first new moon, and that marks the beginning of the new year. It’s not a wild concept in the ancient world! The ancient Egyptians’ calendar was based on the Nile River. Why? Because planting and harvest seasons were their life. So, how does this fit into meeting Jesus?
*Feast of Trumpets – Yom Teruah
Leviticus 23:23-24 NKJV
23And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 24Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
All the feasts in the Bible have an explanation except this feast, not one reason why! The only information we have is in the name. Yom means day, which is what Israel uses, but in Leviticus the word Zikkaron is used. Zikkaron means memorial or mention, as translated by a Hebrew scholar. Teruah, according to a Hebrew scholar in Israel, means loud noise, but the verb form of teruah often refers to the noise made by a gathering of the faithful calling out to the Almighty in unison. What does this feast mean by name? The Day of Mention Shout means a day of gathering in public prayer in which the crowd of the faithful shouts to God in unison. What does that sound like?
Most Christians agree that the Feast of Trumpets, or Mentioning Shout is an unfulfilled feast for the return of Jesus. Some believe it’s the rapture and others the second coming, because Paul said in...
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NKJV
16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
That would probably be a good reason why they were never given a reason about 3,500 years ago.
When exactly is this happening? Why is it that the answer is no one knows? Well, God isn't going to respect Israel's Babylonian lunar calendar any more than He is going to respect our Gregorian solar calendar. What day on either of our calendars is exactly seven months after the first new moon following the barley becoming aviv in the land of Israel? What variety of barley are they supposed to be looking at anyway? I don't know! No one else knows for certain either. When the Lord decides it's the year, He can easily adjust the barley harvest by using the weather. His Word will remain true.
Matthew 24:35-36 Hebrew
35The earth and the heavens will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 36And no man knows the day and the hour, neither the messengers, nor the son, but only the heavenly Father.
Scripture says, "day and hour," but it doesn't say month or year. We were left many clues in the Word. Israel’s time zone is 7 hours ahead of eastern time zone in the United States. That throws another curve ball into this guessing game. We need to remember, God loves us, and I believe there will be a stirring in Believers' hearts at that time to proclaim it, like a revival outbreak. But that’s just me, and we will see what happens! If you’re actively looking for Christ, end of harvest season not only makes sense in the Biblical spiritual harvest but also lines up with Yom/Zikkaron Teruah. No reason why we shouldn’t be extra excited or have extra expectations at the end of the harvest season. I think these things only become wrong when we tell people, “You can sin all year, but be careful at harvest time.” Or even, “You have to believe Jesus is coming at harvest time.” No, but we can freely dream of going to Heaven on or around Zikkaron Teruah, or even better yet, amp up bringing people to Jesus. We were given enough information in the Word to see about when He’s returning that Jesus needed to warn us about not watching (Matthew 24:36-44).
What really happened in Egypt?
We’re going to end this lesson with facts about Egypt. How long were the Israelites actually slaves? Did God really have a purpose for them to be slaves? Who was the Pharaoh at the time of Joseph? Who was the Exodus Pharaoh and who was his son? We will answer all of those questions tonight!
I know you’re going to have a lot of questions.
More information will be in the handout for you to study.
How long were the Israelites slaves? Not 400 years!
Exodus 12:40 NKJV
Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.
Notice it’s the word sojourn (a temporary stay), not enslaved.
Genesis 15:13 NKJV
Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.
The word afflict used here is anah, and means oppressed, bowed down, mishandled, weakened and submitted. Doesn’t indicate slavery only!
Galatians 4:29-30 NKJV
29But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
30Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Paul is reciting the story from Genesis. Ishmael, Abraham’s son with Hagar the Egyptian, was persecuting Isaac. It’s unclear if Ishmael humiliated Isaac at the great weaning party or he had been doing it (Genesis 21:8). Honor was huge in the ancient world. Apparently, it was bad enough for her to throw Hagar and Ishmael out. Abraham was consenting to throwing them out and giving them little to eat. We don’t have enough information to judge the situation, but we do have to realize a very wealthy man sent off his son and the child’s mother with little food and water. He was wealthy enough to pack several animals with loads of food and water and send servants with them too, but he did not.
Genesis 21:14
And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
One bottle of water, and he put it on her shoulder. How nice! Abraham was being a tightwad! The point we’re looking at here, there was some type of serious persecution that called for a drastic reaction. God didn’t tell Abraham that Sarah was wrong to cast them out. The seed persecution started with Isaac.
Genesis 46:11 NKJV
The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
Kohath went into Egypt with his grandfather Israel when Josheph was in charge of Egypt.
Exodus 6:18, 20 NKJV
18And the sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty-three.
We should all know from the Ten Commandments movie, (Charlton Heston) Moses’ famous line, “I am the son of Amram and Jochebed.”
20Now Amram took for himself Jochebed, his father’s sister, as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven.
We have Israel, Levi, and Kohath rolling into Egypt with carts, and then only Amram and Moses were born in Egypt. That’s NOT 400 years of slavery.
Paul helps sort this contradiction out in Galatians 3:16-17
Galatians 3:16-17 NKJV
16Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. 17And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.
Paul says that the law was 430 years after God gave Abraham the promise. That makes sense with our Genesis and Exodus family of Levi.
From the time of Abraham to all the children of Israel entering Egypt is 215 years, and that leaves us with a remaining number of 215 years until God gave Moses the law, totally 430 years. Of the remaining 215 years, we have to take Joseph’s age at the time his family entered Egypt until he died and subtract that number because they were not enslaved. They arrived when he was 39, and he died at age 110, which means we can subtract 71 years from the 215 and we’re left with 144. That tells us that the Israelites were slaves no more than 144 years at the absolute most. The Bible says that there arose a pharaoh that didn’t know Joseph, which in Hebrew means something like, “who personally didn’t know Joseph.” That being said, there was a span of time between Joseph’s death, and the particular Pharaoh that was ruling during Joseph’s life that they were still not enslaved.
Why does Exodus say they sojourned in Egypt 430 years? This is where the confusion comes in.
In the video, and other places on the internet, you’ll hear that our modern translations use the Masoretic Text copied from the Leningrad Codex which was copied in 1010 AD. The Greek Septuagint, was copied by the Jewish community in Egypt when Greek was the common language throughout the region, somewhere around 250 BC. The Greek Septuagint has Exodus 12:40 as follows,
And the sojourning of the children of Israel, while they sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Chanaan, was four hundred and thirty years.
Egypt made Canaan a vassal state. Basically a vassal state is when a stronger country overtakes a weaker one, leaves them to govern themselves but they have to pay tribute to the stronger country. The tribute could be precious stones, metals, food, animals, or whatever.
New World Encyclopedia says about Canaan:
In the Late Bronze age, around the time of Moses, (1550-1200 B.C.E.), Egypt controlled most of Canaan through a system of vassal city-states. Hittite and Apiru (possibly Hebrew) attackers sometimes captured Canaanite towns or harassed them from the countryside. Israelite civilization began to emerge in the historical record in the late thirteenth century B.C.E., with a mention on the Merenptah stele among those nations conquered by the Egyptian monarch.
B.C.E. is Before the Common Era, unfortunately I needed to quote the encyclopedia, but in case you didn’t know, it’s not Before Christ Existed. Also, keep in mind as you do your own studies, ancient dates outside the Bible are not often exact and argued by scholars. A nation would rise up and say, “Year 1.” They have to date by pottery craftmanship, metals, or gods they found, so if you had an ancient Amish culture, the date will be way off.
Canaan was fully conquered by the Egyptian Pharaoh that ruled after Moses fled Egypt.
Here’s the beginning and end of an article, Egypt’s Final Redoubt in Canaan, in Archeology Magazine:
For three centuries, Egyptians ruled the land of Canaan. Armies of chariots and 10,000 foot soldiers under the pharaoh Thutmose III thundered through Gaza and defeated a coalition of Canaanite chiefdoms at Megiddo (Armageddon), in what is now northern Israel, in 1458 B.C. The Egyptians then built fortresses, mansions, and agricultural estates from Gaza to Galilee, taking Canaan’s finest products—copper from Dead Sea mines, cedar from Lebanon, olive oil and wine from the Mediterranean coast, along with untold numbers of slaves and concubines—and sending them overland and across the Mediterranean and Red Seas to Egypt to please its elites.
In 1125 B.C., the sight, from Jaffa, of smoke rising from Aphek (a city) would have made clear that Egypt’s rule in Canaan was over.
I read all this to show you, at the time of Moses’ birth it was well known that Canaan was part of Egypt. The Jewish scribes of the Septuagint in Egypt, added, “and the land of Chanaan,” because things had drastically changed by 250BC (875 years later when they penned the Septuagint) and they knew it was no longer common knowledge. But our text is not missing this part of the verse as the video and other internet sources suggest. To ensure the Torah was perfectly copied, there is a letter sequence in Hebrew:
Genesis and Exodus:
Every 50th letter spells out Torah (law, or better translated teaching)
Leviticus:
Every 7th letter spells out Yahweh, YHWH
Numbers and Deuteronomy:
Every 50th letter spells out Torah backwards
Genesis and Exodus are pointing forward to Yahweh, and Numbers and Deuteronomy are pointing back to Yahweh. That being said, “and the land of Chanaan,” would throw this off.
One last piece of evidence before we move on is from World History et cetera.com. Curator Eran Arie from Israel is being interviewed about an exhibit he put together called, “Pharaoh in Canaan: The Untold Story” which I recommend you scroll through the interview if you’re not convinced. I’m going to quote a small part of that interview:
It appears that an Egyptian governor was based in each stronghold. The local Canaanite rulers arrived from time to time to visit these fortresses. They had to give reports of their actions, offer presents to the pharaoh, and bring their annual taxes. Several public buildings were excavated in Beth Shean, and the most important ones are temples and the palace of the Egyptian governor. The finds attest that the site was an Egyptian capsule inside Canaan. Egyptian administrators, soldiers, and artisans lived there as if they were still living along the Nile River. Most of the material culture that was found in Beth Shean was Egyptian, but the use of local pottery vessels for cooking and baking suggest that only Egyptian men lived in Canaan, while local Canaanite women served them, as wives or slaves.
What we’re looking at is how interwoven the Egyptian and the Canaanite culture had become. If you follow the link to the museum and listen to the Exhibition Audio Guide and scroll to the first “el-Amarna letters,” you can hear for yourself a written accusation to the King (Pharaoh) of Egypt. It’s talking about how the King of Babylon demands justice. Egyptian men robbed a Babylonian caravan in Canaan, killed a Babylonian messenger and merchants. The important part of the letter for us is when it says, “Canaan is your country, and its kings are your servants.”
The Bible is completely accurate in calling Canaan Egypt from the time of Abraham through Moses. Canaan’s history seems to disappear around the time of Gideon.
Did God intend for the children of Israel to be slaves, because He called them to Egypt? Certainly NOT.
Genesis 50:24-26 NKJV
24And Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” 26So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Not only did Joseph tell his brothers God will visit you, but he took an oath from the children of Israel after he said it. He was warning them to leave and take his bones too! Everyone knew the Egyptians were doing divination, human sacrifice, and contacting demons to the point Joesph didn’t even want his bones left with them. Why didn’t God visit them? I believe that He did visit them, and they didn’t want to go! We don’t have a record of the event, because they ignored Him. I believe when we check out the Bible library in Heaven, we’ll see the list of those who ignored Him.
Genesis 45:17-18 NKJV
17And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and depart; go to the land of Canaan. 18Bring your father and your households and come to me; I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.
Life was easy in Egypt. They had good land for planting, animals were well fed, and they had free fish too. They were so prosperous that they didn’t want to leave. At that time, the memory of the bad conditions in Canaan were still with them. I’m sure they still told stories of the great depression. But apparently, they ignored the Lord, because they were of a royal family, Jospeh, the savior of the world t that time. Even though they ignored the Lord, He was still blessing them. Let’s look at what they later said after the exodus.
Numbers 11:4-6NKJV
4Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat? 5We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”
“Our whole being is dried up!” Oh the drama! They didn’t want to leave at all. They just wanted slavery to end. Even after they were forced out, they still wanted to go back! Some people think, “it was in God’s plan to make them slaves.” Clearly, they wanted to be there regardless of slavery. I just don’t believe that God didn’t try to visit them, as Joseph stated. We see in the Word that God visited Moses, that makes Jospeh wrong, or Joseph’s brother’s ignored God.
Back to Numbers, they cried pretty badly in the desert despite the miracles. How many people would rather live in a tent and eat manna than be a slave and have all you can eat fish with onions? Exactly! If YOU saw the red sea parted, followed a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, would you ask for meat and onions, or cry how life was better in the slavery of Egypt? Exactly! I don’t even know an unsaved person that would want to be a slave for garlic, cucumbers, onions, and fish. They just didn’t want to go! Egypt was imbedded in their souls (mind, will, emotions). Let’s look at a few more scriptures.
Genesis 1:8-10NKJV
8Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; 10come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.”
The word know in Hebrew means acknowledge or acquainted. What this scripture is saying is that there arose a new king who was not acquainted with Joseph, or as we would say, personally know. The pharaoh admits that the children of Israel are “more and mightier.” So, according to this scripture, Israel could have overtaken the Egyptians and took their land. They had the option to just say no and walk away. The word complacency comes to mind, doesn’t it? They willingly bowed. They willingly buckled. They did not seek God. We only have evidence of complaining.
And one last grand maneuver from this generation of people who loved Egypt more than God.
Exodus 32:1-5 NKJV skipping around
1Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods… 2And Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden earrings…and bring them to me.” 3So all the people … brought them to Aaron. 4…he …made a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” 5So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.”
Interesting point here: The word in Hebrew used for gods is elohim (plural), then Lord is actually Yahweh, God’s “I Am” Name, not a random god name. Moses was telling us the children of Israel thought the Egyptian cow god was Yahweh, they assigned The Great I Am to the golden cow. This one simple word tells us that not only did they not want to leave Egypt, but they also wanted an Egyptian god or gods in their life. Makes you wonder, did they just normalize the cow worship, or did they just want to continue to party like the Egyptians? Next time you read through this story, keep this study in mind, and you’ll wonder why God even bothered to rescue them at all, but then you have to remind yourself, God kept His Word to Abraham. He made those promises to Abraham, because otherwise He would have never been able to deliver them. Their hearts were filled with Egypt; from the onion and fish to sexually worshiping to their new cow god. Yes, that’s exactly what they were doing.
During the proof reading of this study, the Holy Spirit brought us yet another revelation.
Genesis 50:23 NKJV
Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were also brought up on Joseph’s knees.
These are two big statements! Levi was Jacob’s third born and Joseph his 11th born son. This means that Joseph’s family was significantly younger, despite the different mothers, than Levi’s family. Ephraim’s children to the third generation means great-great grandfather Joseph told them to leave Egypt!! They got the message to leave directly from Joseph!! Thinking back to Moses, Levi was only Moses’ great grandfather.
Machir, Manasseh’s son and Joseph’s grandson, inherited the Promised Land.
Numbers 32:39-41NKJV
39And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. 40So Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he dwelt in it. 41Also Jair the son of Manasseh went and took its small towns, and called them Havoth Jair.
Moses gave Joseph’s grandson land, and his other grandson took some land. Machir was too old to fight, but as we clearly see he was alive and well. Psalms 105:37says, “there was none feeble among His tribes.” Joseph’s other grandson, alive and well, took some small towns. These two saw the prosperity of Joseph’s time, slavery, deliverance, trek through the wilderness, and the Promised Land.
These are mind blowing revelations from The Lord. You might wonder how. Moses was the great grandson of Levi, who was significantly older than Joseph. Don’t forget Levi was 3rd born and Jospeh 11th brother born. That’s enough time for another generation of children. If they were all born two years apart in age, that’s 18 years minimum. According to the Bible, they were not born at the same time. You can read about it in
Genesis 30
Leah had the first 4
Bilhah had 5 and 6
Zilpah had 7 and 8
back to Leah with 9, 10, and a daughter for 11
Rachel finally with 12 and 13
It's entirely possible that Levi’s sons were about Joseph’s age. Keep that in mind next time you read.
Who was the pharaoh for Joseph? Who was the Exodus pharaoh and his first-born son?
Let’s start with Joseph, his Egyptian name was Imhotep and his pharaoh was Djoser.
Here is an excerpt from World History.org
Imhotep was an Egyptian polymath (a person expert in many areas of learning) best known as the architect of King Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara. His name means "He Who Comes in Peace" and he is the only Egyptian besides Amenhotep to be fully deified.
In time, he became the god of wisdom and medicine (or, according to some sources, god of science, medicine, and architecture). Imhotep was a priest, vizier to King Djoser (and possibly to the succeeding three kings of the Third Dynasty), a poet, physician, mathematician, astronomer, and architect.
Although his Step Pyramid is considered his greatest achievement, he was also remembered for his medical treatises (writings) which regarded disease and injury as naturally occurring instead of punishments sent by gods or inflicted by spirits or curses. He was deified by the Egyptians in c. 525 BCE (long after he died) and was equated with the demi-god of healing Asclepius by the Greeks. His works were still extremely popular and influential during the Roman Empire and the emperors Tiberius and Claudius both had their temples inscribed with praise of the benevolent god Imhotep.
The Famine Stele is what links Imhotep to Joseph. There is a lot of reading you can do on Imhotep. As we can see, God gave Joseph an abundance of wisdom that he was able to impact the world in a great way. From this, we can see why Joseph had to be disciplined, trained, and humble because of the great abilities that were going to be gifted to him by God.
The book of medicine, which technically makes him the first medical author, was mostly about how to treat and dress wounds. He built the first step pyramid, the grain storage building, and possibly other structures. He was known as the “inventor of building with stone.”
Who was the exodus pharaoh and who was his son?
There are many guesses out there. The one that makes the most sense to me comes from Archeologist Ron Wyatt. The other pharaoh guess I’ve heard through the years are problematic for various reasons. This information I am going to share is from Battle of The First Born book. I can’t give you too much information, because it would be considered stealing. If you’re interested in the details, the book is well worth it. I am also quoting from Armstrong Institute of Bible Archeology, which is free, and I will give you the QR code so you can read the entire article. I do recommend reading Battle of The First Born because it’s very easy to understand and filled with really interesting information.
The pharaoh that killed Moses’ generation was Ahmose.
Moses’ adopted mother was Hatshepsut.
Moses is Senenmut.
The Exodus pharaoh was Amenhotep III
His son that died as a result of the plague was Tutankhamun
Pharaoh Ay, Tutankhamun’s uncle, was left to clean up the exodus mess.
Hatshepsut, Moses’ adopted mother, had two other names, Neferure and Maatkare. When she took over ruling Egypt, after Moses fled, male statues, which look like Senenmut, had her name on them. It’s said by Egyptologists that they used a male statue to show her as powerful. But we know otherwise from the Word.
Moses was next in line to be pharaoh over all of Egypt. According to Egyptian records, Senenmut rose to power and then completely disappeared, which is in line with the Word. Here is an excerpt from an article from Armstrong Institute of Bible Archeology:
According to Roberts, “A significant title she [Hatshepsut] bestowed … was in the changing of his name to Senenmut, which means ‘mother’s brother.’ In essence, it was a title elevating a son to the status of equal with his mother, allowing him to claim equal status of ‘brother to the gods’ with this pharaonic parent.”
This information changes our entire view of the Exodus story. Had Moses not killed an Egyptian and fled, he would have ruled upper and lower Egypt, and many vassal states including Canaan, The Promised Land. That’s why it was very important to understand Canaan was part of Egypt. God had a different plan! He didn’t mean for Moses to run away and hide in the dessert for all those years while Isarel was suffering in slavery. People say, “it was in God’s time.” What we’re actually looking at is humans accidently ruining the perfect plan of God. When we get to Heaven, we’ll have to find out what was really supposed to happen. But for now we can guess… What if Moses was supposed to send the children of Israel directly to Canaan and make the Canaanites their personal slaves? You might think, “That’s mean!” No, they were sacrificing children. Egyptians sacrificed children or people too, “but only in crisis or to send their servants to the afterlife to take care of their pharaoh,” said by an Egyptologist like it’s no big deal. All of their behavior was an abomination to the Lord.
Tutankhamun, the first born that died as a result of the final plague. There is a lot of evidence pointing to him being the son of the Exodus pharaoh. I’m just going to go through it quickly, and you can read the book or research it on the internet on your own. His tomb was found in complete disarray. Chariots were disassembled and tossed in the tomb without being reassembled. They threw items in his tomb and didn’t bother to arrange them. The items in the room clearly didn’t belong to him for two reasons. First, the previous owner’s name, perhaps his father that died in the Red Sea, was removed from items and his name was re-carved. Secondly, items, such as chairs, weren’t his size. His feet didn’t fit in the coffin, so they ground some of the wood on site and left the wood shavings wherever they fell. The coffin lid doesn’t appear to match the same paint and quality as the bottom. His body wasn’t as well preserved as other pharaohs. Everything appeared to be rushed. The most compelling evidence for him being the exodus pharaoh’s son is a floral collar that was found around his neck. It was made of flowers that only bloom in the spring around the time of Passover.
What happened? Egypt was completely destroyed. If there was a fierce battle, Egypt would take their priests with them to the battle. They were the ones who did the rituals to their gods, and they felt bringing them would appease the gods. When the army drowned, the priests would have been riding in the back and drowned with them. The priests did the embalming rituals, which meant that information died in the Red Sea. They know for certain pharaoh brought the priests, because golden chariot wheels were found in the Red Sea (see the book for evidence). Egypt had dead bodies everywhere from the death plague and proper burial was part of the afterlife. They probably had little to no one who knew how to serve their (demon) gods. They had a much bigger problem on their hands than we realize. The strongest nation in the world instantly had no army, little army equipment, and probably no one skilled to train a new army.
Egyptologist say grave robbers took cap stones (made of marble, limestone, granite, and even a gold-silver mix) from the pyramids and items of value from the pharaohs’ tombs through the years. I personally think Egypt was in such trouble they robbed their own tombs immediately! Egypt was known for luxurious fabrics, gold, and precious stones. Don’t forget they handed it all over to Israel as spoil. Egypt abandoned their gods, so they had no respect for the old gods they once feared and reverenced. Pharaoh Ay, the post Exodus pharaoh, changed their gods to one god, the sun god. Wonder why...
I hope everyone has enjoyed this long series, especially this last part, which we may do part two, Mysteries of The Sword Revealed (we can work on the name). Thank you for going through this long study with me. I hope everyone has been feeling like their spiritual life is supercharged, and you feel like God is more real to you.
Please get back to me with testimonies!
(Prayer Points:
- As we search the scriptures, reveal to each one of us which revelations we are supposed find
- Give us supernatural discernment as we read through history concerning the Bible
- Make connections for us to make the Bible come alive in a way we have never seen before
- Through these revelations, give us a greater understanding of You and Your ways
May the Lord bless you and bring you to a higher place in Him where we see, hear, and understand greater things.
In Jesus’ name)
