1 Mar 585 BC: Ezekiel's Memo on Egypt

1 March 585 B.C. “Lamentation for Pharoah of Egypt.”  This is a few months after the exiles would have heard news of the destruction of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 33.21?).  See Ezekiel 32.1-15 below.  Ezekiel sends God’s “Funeral Dirge” and message to the King of Egypt, a Pharoah.  Think Beethoven’s “Funeral Dirge” or a gathering of a TEC General Convention (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmm2k4fRUO4).  Enjoy the dirge as you read Ezekiel 32 and the memo to Egypt.  And, as you read modern Episcopal history in the US, Canada, and England.

Backstory.

There were 2 deportations of Jewish believers (reprobate and elect) by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar into exile. That was 605 and 597 B.C. By Aug 586 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem.  The exiles got word of this in Jan 585 B.C. Egypt gloated.

So, God sent Ezekiel a memo to forward to Egypt.  In 568 B.C., Babylon paid, shall we say, a destructive visit to Egypt to clip their arrogant wings.

Ezekiel 32:1-15

1599 Geneva Bible (GNV)

32 2 The Prophet is commanded to bewail Pharaoh King of Egypt. 12 He prophesieth that destruction shall come unto Egypt through the King of Babylon.

¹ And in the ^[a]twelfth year in the twelfth month, and in the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

² Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a ^[b]lion of the nations, and art as a ^[c]dragon in the sea: thou castedst out thy rivers ^[d]and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and stampedst in their rivers.

³ Thus saith the Lord God, I will therefore spread my net over thee a great multitude of people, and they shall make thee come up into my net,

⁴ Then will I leave thee upon the land, and I will cast thee upon the open field, and I will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill all the beasts of the field with thee.

⁵ And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys ^[e]with thine height.

⁶ I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou ^[f]swimmest, even to the mountains, and the rivers shall be full of thee.

⁷ And when I shall ^[g]put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark: I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.

⁸ All the lights of heaven will I make dark for thee, and bring ^[h]darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God.

⁹ I will also trouble the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, and upon the countries which thou hast not known.

¹⁰ Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be astonished with fear for thee, when I shall make my sword to glitter against their faces, and they shall be afraid at every moment: every man for his own life in the day of thy fall.

¹¹ For thus saith the Lord God, The sword of the king of Babel shall come upon thee.

¹² By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall: they all shall be terrible nations, and they shall destroy the ^[i]pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be consumed.

¹³ I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from the great watersides, neither shall the foot of man trouble them anymore, nor the hooves of beasts trouble them.

¹⁴ Then will I make ^[j]their waters deep, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord God.

¹⁵ When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country with all that is therein, shall be laid waste: when I shall smite all them which dwell therein, then shall they know that I am the Lord.

Footnotes:

1. Ezekiel 32:1 Which was the first year of the general captivity under Zedekiah.
2. Ezekiel 32:2 Thus the scriptures compare tyrants to cruel and huge beasts which devour all that be weaker than they, and such as they may overcome.
3. Ezekiel 32:2 Or, whale.
4. Ezekiel 32:2 Thou preparest great armies.
5. Ezekiel 32:5 With heaps of the carcasses of thine army.
6. Ezekiel 32:6 As Nile overfloweth Egypt, so will I make the blood of thine host to overflow it.
7. Ezekiel 32:7 The word signifieth to be put out as a candle is put out.
8. Ezekiel 32:8 By this manner of speech is meant the great sorrow that shall be for the slaughter of the king and his people.
9. Ezekiel 32:12 This came to pass in less than four years after this prophecy.
10. Ezekiel 32:14 To wit, of the Chaldeans thine enemies, which shall quietly enjoy all thy commodities.

(Telegraph): Abundant Archaeological Treasures from Submerged City of Heracleion/Thonis



Heracleion disappeared beneath the Mediterranean around 1,200 years ago Photo: Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation, graphic: Yann

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/archaeology/10022628/Lost-city-of-Heracleion-gives-up-its-secrets.html


By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent

7:20AM BST 28 Apr 2013  

 

For centuries it was thought to be a legend, a city of extraordinary wealth mentioned by Herodotus, visited by Helen of Troy and Paris, her lover, but apparently buried under the sea. 

In fact, Heracleion was true, and a decade after divers began uncovering its treasures, archaeologists have produced a picture of what life was like in the city in the era of the pharaohs. 
 

The city, also called Thonis, disappeared beneath the Mediterranean around 1,200 years ago and was found during a survey of the Egyptian shore at the beginning of the last decade. 
 

Now its life at the heart of trade routes in classical times are becoming clear, with researchers forming the view that the city was the main customs hub through which all trade from Greece and elsewhere in the Mediterranean entered Egypt.

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^{Photo: Christoph Gerigk}

They have discovered the remains of more than 64 ships buried in the thick clay and sand that now covers the sea bed. Gold coins and weights made from bronze and stone have also been found, hinting at the trade that went on. 
 
Giant 16 foot statues have been uncovered and brought to the surface while archaeologists have found hundreds of smaller statues of minor gods on the sea floor. 

Slabs of stone inscribed in both ancient Greek and Ancient Egyptian have also been brought to the surface. 

Dozens of small limestone sarcophagi were also recently uncovered by divers and are believed to have once contained mummified animals, put there to appease the gods. 

Dr. Damian Robinson, director of the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology at the University of Oxford, who is part of the team working on the site, said: “It is a major city we are excavating. 

“The site has amazing preservation. We are now starting to look at some of the more interesting areas within it to try to understand life there. 
 
“We are getting a rich picture of things like the trade that was going on there and the nature of the maritime economy in the Egyptian late period. There were things were coming in from Greece and the Phoenicians. 
 
^{Photo: Christoph Gerigk}

“We have hundreds of small statues of gods and we are trying to find where the temples to these gods were in the city. 
 
“The ships are really interesting as it is the biggest number of ancient ships found in one place and we have found over 700 ancient anchors so far.”

The researchers, working with German TV documentary makers, have also created a three dimensional reconstruction of the city. 

At its heart was a huge temple to the god Amun-Gereb, the supreme god of the Egyptians at the time. 

From this stretched a vast network of canals and channels, which allowed the city to become the most important port in the Mediterranean at the time. 

Last month archaeologists from around the world gathered at the University of Oxford to discuss the discoveries starting to emerge from the treasures found in Heracleion, named for Hercules, who legend claimed had been there. 

It was also mentioned fleetingly in ancient texts. 

Dr Robinson said: “It was the major international trading port for Egypt at this time. It is where taxation was taken on import and export duties. All of this was run by the main temple.”

^{Photo: Reuters}

Submerged under 150 feet of water, the site sits in what is now the Bay of Aboukir. In the 8th Century BC, when the city is thought to have been built, it would have sat at the mouth of the River Nile delta as it opened up into the Mediterranean.
 
Scientists still have little idea what caused the city to slip into the water nearly 1,000 years later, but it is thought that gradual sea level rise combined with a sudden collapse of the unstable sediment the city was built on caused the area to drop by around 12 feet.
 
Over time the city faded from memory and its existence, along with other lost settlements along the coast, was only known from a few ancient texts.
 
French underwater archaeologist Dr Franck Goddio was the first to rediscover the city while doing surveying of the area while looking for French warships that sank there in the 18 century battle of the Nile.
 
^{Photo: Christoph Gerigk}

When divers began sifting down through the thick layers of sand and mud, they could barely believe what they found.
 
“The archaeological evidence is simply overwhelming,” said Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe, an archaeologist at the University of Oxford has also been taking part in the excavation. 

“By lying untouched and protected by sand on the sea floor for centuries they are brilliantly preserved.”

The researchers now also hope that they may even find some sarcophagi used to bury humans in some of the outlying areas around the sunken city.
 
“The discoveries enhance the importance of the specific location of the city standing at the 'Mouth of the Sea of the Greek’,” said Dr Goddio, who has led the excavation.
 
“We are just at the beginning of our research. We will probably have to continue working for the next 200 years for Thonis-Heracleion to be fully revealed and understood.”

* Egypt’s Sunken City/ A Legend Is Revealed is to be shown on the German television station Arte on Saturday 11 May at 8.15pm

Egypt: Historical Outline

Giza, just a little
west of the Nile near Cairo.

Several authors. Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th ed. “Egypt.” Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.

Egypt. One feels a bit like a high school sophomore doing a book report from EB, but a data-base is developing.  A bibliography is growing. Given the continuing Marcionism of our time, one must do one's own homework. Notably, this deals with Exodus, but during a tour of Ezekiel this week, "Egypt" as a topic was at hand. Or, the Alexandrian period that laid the linguistic foundation for the transmission of the Gospel along with the Roman period. It brings up Daniel and the Ptolemaic reigns as well. So, excuse the sophmorism. The EB at hand is 1985, so it does not include updates since then or the "Arab Spring," that is, the renaissance of Islamo-fundamentalism.

This is just east of the Giza Pyramids.
Has a lovely restaurant just east
of the Sphynx with an evening show
and with commentator-narrators, lights,

the whole nine yards. 
It's a dinner-show and well-done. 
Napoleon Bonaparte's troops took
target practice on the Sphynx.
The Pyramids pre-date Moses
and Joseph of Genesis.

An outline.

Physical and Human Geography

1. The land

A. Relief
B. Drainage and soils
C. Climate
D. Plant life
E. Settlement patterns

2. The People

A. Linguistic groups
B. Ethnic groups
C. Religious groups

3. The Economy

A. Resources
B. Agriculture and fishing
C. Industry
D. Finance
E. Trade
F. Administration of the economy
G. Transportation

4. Administrative and social positions

A. Government
B. Justice
C. Education
D. Health and welfare
E. Housing
F. Police services

5. Cultural life

A. The states of the arts
B. Cultural institutions

History

1. Introduction to Eygptian civilization

A. The nature of ancient Egyptian civilization
B. Sources and chronology
C. Egyptian archaeology

2. The Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods

A. The Predynastic period (to c. 3100 B.C.)
B. The Early Dynastic Period (c. 3100 – c. 2686 B.C.)

3. The Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period

A. The Old Kingdom (c. 2686 – 2160 B.C.)
B. The First Intermediate Period (c. 2160 – 2040 B.C.)

4. The Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate Period

A. The Middle Kingdom (2040- 1786 B.C.)
B. The Second Intermediate Period (1786 – 1567 B.C.)

5. The New Kingdom

A. The 18th Dynasty
B. The 19th and 20th Dynasties
C. Society and culture in the New Kingdom

6. Egypt from 1085 B.C. to the Macedonian Invasion

A. The Macedonian Conquest
B. The Ptolemaic Conquest
C. Government and civilization of Hellenistic Jews

7. Roman Egypt (30 B.C. – 642 A.D.)

A. Roman administration
B. The end of Roman rule

8. From the Islamic consquest to 1250 A.D.

A. Period of Arab and Turkish governors (639 – 868 A.D.)
B. The Tulunid dynasty (868 – 905 A.D.)
C. The Ikhshidid dynasty (935 – 969 A.D.)
D. The Fatimid dynasty (969 -1171 A.D.)
E. The Avyubid dynasty (1171 – 1250 A.D.)

9. The Mamiuk and Ottoman periods (1250 – 1800 A.D.)

A. The Mamluk dynasty (1215 – 1517 A.D.)
B. The Ottomans (1517 – 1798 A.D.)

10. From the French to the British Occupation (1798 – 1805 A.D.)

A. The French Occupation and its consequences (1798 – 1805 A.D.)
B. Mohammed Ali and his succdssors (1805 – 1882 A.D.)

11. The Period of British Domination (1882 – 1922 A.D.)

A. The British occupation and the Protectorate (1882 – 1922 A.D.)
B. The Kingdom of Egypt (1922 – 1952)

12. The revolution and the republic

A. The Nasser Regime
B. The Saddat Regime
C. The Muburak Regime

Jihad Watch: Advisor to Egyptian President: "Uncircumcized Girls `Lack Faith'"



Egyptian President: Mohammed Morsi

http://www.raymondibrahim.com/2012/09/female-advisor-to-egyptian-president-girls-not

Female Advisor to Egyptian President: Girls Not Circumcised "Lacking in Faith"

 

by Raymond Ibrahim • Sep 8, 2012 at 3:47 pm
Cross-posted from Jihad Watch

 

http://www.raymondibrahim.com/2012/09/female-advisor-to-egyptian-president-girls-not

 

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Earlier this week, Egypt's Tahrir News conducted an interview with Dr. Amima Kamal, advisor to President Morsi on Women's Affairs, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party, and a member of the Constituent Assembly.

Women's Affairs Advisor to President Morsi: Uncircumcised woman "lacking in faith."

The discussion about female circumcision, or female genital mutilation, is causing some controversy. When asked what advice she would give to President Morsi concerning this practice, she said she would tell him that it should only be performed when the girl reaches puberty, and that it is wrong to perform it, as sometimes happens, when the girl is only seven or eight years old.

Despite coming off somewhat neutral at times, saying for instance that the practice is not strictly Islamic, although it is permissible, at one point she asserted that those girls who do not have the operation performed are "lacking in faith [iman]."
Criticism naturally followed—including from Egypt's National Council for Women, which condemned Kamal's remarks as "against the dignity of Egyptian women"—and Kamal now denies making the comment.

In fact, Egyptian female politicians talking about how women are "lacking" is becoming commonplace. Earlier, for example, another female political candidate associated with the Salafi party said that women are lacking in "intelligence."

Egyptian Cleric: No to Mother's Day—Even if it Saddens Mothers

http://www.raymondibrahim.com/2012/03/egyptian-cleric-no-to-mother-day-even-if-it

Egyptian Cleric: No to Mother's Day—Even if it Saddens Mothers

Sheikh Yassir al-Burhami, an influential leader in Egypt's Salafi party—which won some 25% of the nation's votes, second only to the Muslim Brotherhood—just issued a fatwa banning any participation in Mother's Day, which is celebrated March 21st in Egypt.

Yassir Burhami: "No to Mother's Day."

According to Ahl Al-Quran, the context is as follows: A man wrote on Burhami's website saying that his mother is in need of house furnishings, and his sister wanted him to contribute by helping to purchase the necessities, which they would present as a gift to their mother on Mother's Day. The man refused, saying "I refuse to participate in anything that involves disobeying Allah"—celebrating Mother's Day, a Western import, is seen as a sin according to Sharia, which specifically commands Muslims not to imitate the traditions of the infidels—adding that he would pay the money asked of him next month.

His question to Burhami: Which is the sin? Making his mother sad, but obeying Allah, or making his mother happy, but disobeying Allah?

Burhami's response: "You may purchase these things on a different occasion, such as Eid al-Fitr or al-Adha [Islamic holidays], or on no occasion, like you did [by agreeing to pay next month]. However, it is forbidden to participate in the celebration [Mother's Day], even if it saddens your mother."

Discrimination Against Christians in Middle East

http://www.suntimes.com/news/huntley/9400290-452/christians-are-under-fire-in-the-historic-holy-land.html

This Christmas weekend we’ll see many newspaper and broadcast accounts of Christian pilgrims flocking to sacred places in the Holy Land. The unhappy counterpoint to that is the reality that Christians are increasingly relegated to the role of pilgrims in the Middle East and not natives of the region.

For years, the trend has been one of Christians fleeing from Muslim nations where religious freedom is being slowly extinguished. Then there’s Saudi Arabia, where no such freedom exists, and conversion to Christianity means a death sentence. In the historic Holy Land, only one state has seen an increase in its Christian population — Israel.

The Arab Spring is portrayed constantly as a liberation movement, but for Christians it’s been a decidedly darker story.

The uprising in Egypt unleashed anti-Christian attacks, with Coptic Christian churches burned and their parishioners murdered. In one particularly bloody incident, Egyptian security forces joined stick-wielding thugs in killing 24 Christians and wounding 300 in Cairo in the worse sectarian violence in Egypt in 60 years, according to an account in the New York Times.

The strong showing — more than 60 percent of the vote — in elections by the Muslim Brotherhood and the more fundamentalist Salafists portend more trouble. It’s no wonder Coptic Christians are fleeing Egypt by the tens of thousands, with one estimate that more than 200,000 may leave by the end of the year. Copts are descendants of ancient Egyptians. Their church dates from the mid-Fifth Century, nearly 120 years before the birth of Muhammad.

The situation for Christians in the disputed territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — the locale of many Bible stories — has been grim for a long time. Christians in 1970 accounted for 5.3 percent of the population of these areas, but it’s less than half that now, the World Christian Database told the BBC. Thirty-five years ago, Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, was nearly 100 percent Christian; today Christians make up less than a third of its residents.

Islam and Sharia law rule in the West Bank and Gaza, and Christians are subject to discrimination. Their plight isn’t helped by breakdown in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Open Doors, an organization that tracks persecution of Christians, reports that “many Christians want to leave the Palestinian territories because of the hopeless situation.”

So the story goes across the Middle East. The U.S. liberation of Iraq had the unintended consequence of sectarian violence, especially severe for Christians. The country’s Christian population is down to 500,000 from perhaps as many as 1.4 million less than a decade ago. “Iraq could be emptied of Christians,” a leader of the Chaldean Catholic Church told the Wall Street Journal.

You won’t be surprised to hear that the Islamic Republic of Iran registered “a sharp increase” in the number of Christians arrested starting last year, reports Open Doors. It apparently was part of any effort to distract from the popular protests against the repressive regime and its stolen election.

Only in Israel, where religious freedom is honored, have Christians increased, soaring from 34,000 in 1948 to 140,000 today.

Advocates for Islam talk about its history of tolerance, but political, revolutionary Islamism is the driving force in Mideast history today; it has little use for religious freedom. That has Christians literally running for their lives.