Ancient Egyptian Stone Supports Bible History

Imagine being a farmer working your field in Egypt and finding a large limestone slab bearing ancient writing. That thing was interrupting his task, but it is beneficial to scholars of history that he notified the Tourism and Antiquities Police. The slab — a stele — is of interest to biblical historians.

As creationists and many other Christians have long maintained, history recorded in the Bible has never been disproved (despite foolish arguments from ignorance and silence such as, "Archaeology has not found..."). Biblical history been affirmed numerous times, though it sometimes takes many years.

Sphinx of Apries, Wikimedia Commons / Louvre Museum (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Yes, I know it is not a stele in the picture, but I did not think I had a legal right to use one. Follow the link to the article and you'll see a good image.

The hieroglyphics on the stele are still being translated, but it involves Pharaoh Apries. These pharaohs were known by many names. This one was also called Wahibre Haaibre, and apparently Jewish writers not only shortened the lengthy Egyptian names, but even made puns on them. Apries is known from prophecies by Jeremiah.

The stone slab, technically known as a stele or stela, is dedicated to a 26th Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh called Wahibre Haaibre (see box on ‘Pharaonic names’). This ruler is recognized by scholars as none other than the Egyptian king mentioned in Jeremiah 44:30 as Hophra. He was also known as Apries by the Greeks, notably by the historians Herodotus (c. 484–c. 425 BC) and Diodorus (c. 90–c. 30 BC). Alternate Greek and Egyptian spellings of Uaphris and Waḥibprê are attributed to the Egyptian historian Manetho (c. early third century bc).

The entire article, including how scholars know about all those names and the relevance to biblical history, can be found at "Newly discovered Egyptian relic witnesses to biblical king." Another post about a stele is over at "The Wet Climate of Ancient Egypt."