Dead Men Tell Tales

by Harry Rimmer

Our fathers believed also in the virgin birth of the Son of God. They accepted literally the record that Almighty God himself had given of the incarnation of His Son. Our fathers believed that the body of Jesus was formed in the womb of a virgin woman because of the direct visitation of the Holy Ghost. Thus, the birth of Jesus Christ was a biological miracle, and He owed even His earth origin to His heavenly Father alone! This foundational fact of the Christian revelation has disappeared from the walls and the worship of many a once-Christian gathering. In the place of that golden fact there is the ghastly and brazen substitute of an illegitimate child, who was probably the fruit of a woman’s sin! And then men wonder that the old-time power and greatness of the Christian faith seem lacking in much of our land today!

In like manner, the golden shield of redemption through the shed blood of Calvary has been exchanged for the brazen substitute of a “Perfect Example.” The physical resurrection of Jesus Christ has been bartered for a misty idea of some sort of a spiritual resurrection that has no bearing upon the facts of the record that God has given to man. Shield by shield, and buckler by buckler, the things that were given to us for our defense, gleaming with the intrinsic value of a supernatural revelation, have been stolen away by the enemy. The humanistic substitutes that have replaced them have left us at the mercy of the enemy who would destroy our souls.

But great as are the moral lessons involved in this record, its apologetical value is incalculably greater. It has been the custom in our day to question the historical accuracy of much of the record of the Scripture. So it is with considerable interest that we turn back to ancient Egypt to see what can be learned from the external sources of pure archeology concerning these sections of the Old Testament.

The visitor to the British Museum may come away well acquainted with this man Shishak. In the fourth Egyptian Room, in Table Case “O”, there is a pair of gold bracelets, the exhibits being numbered 134 and 135. These beautiful ornaments are overlaid with lapis lazuli, and a blue substance which is similar to faience. The inside of each is inscribed with a text written in hieroglyphics stating that the bracelets were “Made for the Princess,” the daughter of the chief of all the bowmen, Nemareth, whose mother was the daughter of the Prince of the land of Reshnes. This Nemareth was the descendant in the fifth generation of Buiu-auau, a Libyan prince who was the father of Shishak the First.

In this same case, exhibit number 217 is a heavy gold ring set with a scarab carved from soapstone, which is inscribed with a clearly cut cartouche containing both the prenomen and nomen of Shishak the First.

Looking further in this case, exhibit number 392 is a silver ring inscribed with the titles of an official who held many important positions under two monarchs. He was president of the granaries, also a prophet of the fourth order, served as a scribe and at one time was libationer in the reigns of Psammetichus and Shishak.

The most important of all the records of Shishak, of course, is the voluminous account that he caused to be engraved at the Temple of Karnak. A detail is added in Shishak’s record that is not contained in the Scriptures. According to the conqueror, to strengthen the ties of vassalage, he gave Jeroboam one of his daughters in marriage. This complete record of Shishak’s we photographed, studied carefully, and found eminently satisfactory, with the single exception that the king of Judah is not named by name in Shishak’s account of this conquest. But he does tell of the capture of Judah, the rape of Jerusalem, and gives a categorical list of cities and villages overthrown. He specifically mentions the bucklers and shields of gold that he took from the temple.

In a word, this science of archeology, upon the authority of men long dead, but who have since been raised to testify, stamps an emphatic O. K. upon this section of the Sacred Record.[1]

The next king who parades these pages under the designation of his proper name is the Pharaoh Zera, who has also been identified with Osarkon. Shishak’s first-born son, named both Usarkon and Osarkon the First, succeeded his father to the throne as the last of the Tanite kings of the twenty-first dynasty. This son, in turn, was called Shishak and became the high priest of Amon. Osarkon the First was succeeded by Takeloth the First, who, in turn, was followed by Osarkon the Second. Since both of these Osarkons figure in the Scriptural account, we briefly cover their record as it occurs in antiquity.

Being emperor of Ethiopia, as well as of Egypt, the first Osarkon, or Zera, had a vast horde of Ethiopian allies who fought with him in his important conquests. This entire line was of Libyan extraction. A portion of Africa that is now temporarily possessed by the crown of Italy seems to have given rise to this family of conquering rulers. Undoubtedly the designation “Ethiopian” was suggested by this African ancestry.