A MYSTERIOUS papyrus scroll has the potential to prove the story of the 10 plagues of Egypt written about in the Bible, researchers argue.
The Ipuwer Papyrus, an ancient Egyptian poetic lament, speaks about a number of catastrophic events – including a haunting “river of blood”.
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In the poem, the scribe, references famine, mass death and environmental disasters.
Many of these topics also appear in the biblical Book of Exodus.
Within the often daunting text, passages speak about how God sent a series of afflictions down to Earth to convince the Pharaoh to free the Israelites from slavery.
These Included swarms of locusts, three days of darkness and the death of every firstborn son as well as a statement about turning the Nile River to blood.
One of the lines in Exodus 7:20 reads: “Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded.
“In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, he lifted the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood.”
Eagle-eyes historians have now noticed a striking similarity between the Bible text and a line in the Ipuwer Papyrus.
One of the lines in the Egyptian text reads: “There’s blood everywhere…Lo, the River is blood.”
This almost mirrors the Nile turning into blood as mentioned in the Bible.
The papyrus also describes how “trees felled, branches stripped” and “grain lacking on all sides”.
Experts argue these are speaking about environmental devastation and widespread famine.
Biblical historian Michael Lane commented in a recent study on the similarities.
He says the papyrus appears to be written in such a way that it may “have been written by an eyewitness”.
Many others have refused to say the two pieces are related noting the lack of Moses or the Israelites as slaves in the Ipuwer Papyrus.
It is also regarded as poetic and fragmentary as opposed to factual in the eyes of many.
Egyptologists such as Miriam Lichtheim, James Hoffmeier, and Donald Redford all stress that: “There is no meaningful connection between the Ipuwer Papyrus and the biblical account of the Ten Plagues.”
The Ipuwer Papyrus is now held in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, Netherlands.
Scientific estimates place the Ipuwer Papyrus as being produced between 1550 and 1290 BC.
Other scholars suggest it may align with the biblical timeline of the Exodus around 1440 BC.
What were the 10 plagues?
A PASSAGE in the Bible states that God sent ten plagues down on Egypt in an attempt to persuade the Pharaoh to free the Israelites from slavery.
1. The Nile was turned to blood – killing fish and poisoning the water
2. Egypt struck by swarms of frogs
3. Swarms of lice shortly follow
4. God sends a final swarm of flies
5. Deadly livestock disease
6. Painful boils
7. Severe hailstorm
8. Locust swarms
9. Three days of thick darkness
10. The death of every firstborn son
It comes as a mysterious 3,800-year-old inscription etched on the walls of an ancient Egyptian turquoise mine has sparked claims it could prove the Bible’s Book of Exodus true.
Independent researcher Michael Bar-Ron believes markings discovered at Serabit el-Khadim in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula may spell out zot m’Moshe — Hebrew for “This is from Moses.”
The Proto-Sinaitic carving, found near the famed Sinai 357 in Mine L, dates back to around 1800BC in Egypt’s late 12th Dynasty.
Bar-Ron spent eight years poring over high-resolution images and 3D scans before suggesting the phrase could link directly to the biblical figure who led the Israelites out of Egypt.
“We find worshipful inscriptions lauding the idol Ba’alat, with clearly an El or God-serving scribe coming in later and canceling out certain letters, in an effort to turn the message into a God-serving one,” Bar-Ron told Patterns of Evidence.
“This is ground zero for this conflict.”
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