The Passover — according to the Bible — began with the Exodus, but critics deny the Exodus ever occurred. Here is astounding PROOF, lost for centuries, verifying the Bible record!
LAST SUMMER Dr. Meredith and I stumbled upon astounding contemporary evidence of the Exodus and of the first Passover — evidence carved in the rocks of the Sinai Peninsula. The names of Moses, Miriam, Marah (the site of Israel's demand for water), the name "Hebrew," the shortened form of the name of God — "Jah" (Psalm 68:4), and many accounts of the rebellion, the idolatry, the miraculous feeding of the people — all are to be found carved on the near — inaccessible rocks of Sinai! They occur along the very route of the Exodus. AND TOGETHER WITH THE INSCRIPTIONS ARE THOUSANDS OF GRAVES along the same route.
What Critics Believe
Agnostics and higher critics and not a few modernist ministers all unite their voices today in one chorus to declare the record of the Exodus preposterous. Their influence is permeating the nation's grade and high schools, and especially the colleges! How could 600,000 men, besides women and children have lived in the land of Goshen, they ask? And why, ask the agnostics further, does the Bible say the Pharaoh perished in the Red Sea, when the Egyptian records plainly state that the Pharaoh, under whom the critics assume the Exodus occurred, did not die in the Red Sea? Further, they would have us believe that the voice of the God who spoke at Sinai to 2 1/2 million people was merely a local thunder storm which Moses — if he ever existed — cleverly attributed to the local god of thunder. That thunder-god of Mt. Sinai, the higher critics blatantly assume, was the origin of the Jewish concept of one God! But the evidence of the very rocks of Sinai itself disproves these idle dreams of the would-be scholars and pretended ministers of Christ. Yes, the Bible ir true after all! And here is the evidence.
The Sinai Inscriptions
All along the route of the Exodus from Egypt to Sinai, around Sinai itself and in the Arabah from Petra to the Gulf of Aqaba are literally thousands of inscriptions carved in stone. Many inscriptions cover hundreds of square feet each. The inscriptions, deciphered over a century ago, are a contemporary record of the events which befell Israel during the 40-year sojourn in the wilderness. These inscriptions are usually referred to as the "Sinai Inscriptions." They first became known to the "modern" world in 518 A.D. — almost 1450 years ago. An Alexandrian merchant, Cosmas Indicopleustes, on his commercial visit to India had certain Jews with him who formed part of his company. While on a side excursion through Sinai, they encountered these inscriptions. The Jews immediately recognized them as a Hebrew dialect written in archaic Hebrew script. They attributed the inscriptions to the time of the Exodus. Here is what Cosmas wrote: "One sees, in that wilderness of Mount Sinai, all the rocks (even those broken off from the cliffs), at all the resting-places, written over with sculptured Hebrew characters, as I myself, who traversed those localities on foot, do testify. Which inscriptions certain Jews of our caravan having read interpreted to us, etc. In fact the Israelites so exuberated in writing, that all these localities are filled with engraved Hebrew characters, preserved even until now for the sake, as I think, of the unbelievers. But it is open to all who will to visit these localities, and to see for themselves, or to inquire and inform themselves on the matter... to ascertain whether we... speak the truth." The discovery was written up in Cosmas' Christian Topography, but the discovery was neglected because the Catholic Church had pressing political matters to occupy itself with in Europe. THE WORK LAY FORGOTTEN UNTIL 1707, when it was republished in Latin by the celebrated Montfaucon. For the next 150 years numerous scholars investigated the astounding discovery. Agnostics were frightened by their significance! But, surprisingly, the sudden onslaught of Higher Criticism 100 years ago quickly obscured the importance of the inscriptions. Today the inscriptions are again almost forgotten among this world's Bible scholars — though a few individuals know of their existence! A recent book on previously undiscovered inscriptions appeared in 1923 in Germany, written by Dr. Hubert Grimme under the title Althebraische Inschriften vom Sinai.
By Whom Engraved?
Who actually wrote these inscriptions? Some answer, Christian pilgrims visiting Sinai. Others say the Nabathaeans some 200 years after Christ. Some believe ancient Egyptian slaves working in Pharaohs mines. Others declare they are the work of the ancient Hebrews. But whose graves are those found with the inscriptions along the route of the Exodus? A generation ago the scholars declared all to be the work of Nabathaean Arabs. Even the Britannica sanctioned this conclusion. But the idea was suddenly blasted when it was admitted that the inscriptions were not on the Nahathaean trade routes, but on the route of the Children of Israel during the Exodus! Further, Greek carvings dated 100 years before the crucifixion of Christ arc found engraved on top of these ancient inscriptions. The differences in the engraving prove that the original Sinai inscriptions were completed many centuries before the time of the Greeks. To hide their embarrassment, scholars today plead ignorance. They contend they cannot correctly decipher the inscriptions. And it is most probably true! It is a method of escape similar to the one adopted in the footnotes of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. You will notice there that the translators often use the expressions: "original obscure" or "Hebrew corrupt" — which are merely euphemisms for the true explanation, which is: "translators ignorant of Hebrew!" The fact remains that competent scholars over 100 years ago did translate these inscriptions and the decipherments did prove the Bible record true! But today the premium is put on ignorance. Anyone who claims to know the answers to the BIG problems of life is laughed at. The man who CLAIMS HE DOES NOT KNOW THE ANSWER is considered great! This is indeed an age of the glorification of agnosticism. In many circles, only materialistic scientific knowledge is considered worth knowing. And truth is labeled "superstition! " To admit that the inscriptions mean what they say — to admit they are contemporary records of the Exodus would be to admit that the Bible is true after all! Over a century ago, Charles Forster made a thorough study of these inscriptions, and published his findings in The Voice of Israel from the Rocks of Sinai and Sinai Photographed, both of which I have before me now. He found the inscriptions were fundamentally written in Old Hebrew script — the script used by Israel for centuries before the time of Ezra. The inscriptions were interspersed with Egyptian hieroglyphics. The use of hieroglyphs on stone was apparently employed by Moses himself, according to Exodus 17:16. In the margin of the King James Version is the literal rendering of the Hebrew original. It is a hieroglyph of "the hand upon the throne of the Lord." This symbolized the fact that God would lift His hand against Amalek in war from generation to generation. The language of the Sinai Inscriptions is Hebrew. Proof of this is easily found on page 195, vol. 6, of the "Journal of Religion," 1926, which admits: "The language in which these inscriptions were written was evidently Hebrew, and of a type not essentially different from that of the Old Testament." The Hebrew is interspersed with Old Arabic, the tongue of Hagar and of ancient Lower Egypt. And this is exactly what we would expect from the Israelites at the time of the Exodus. After 215 years in Egypt, the Israelites were certainly conversant with the Egyptian dialect. They heard it every day in some harsh command. A people who lost the Sabbath, the Calendar and the truth certainly would have picked up some Egyptian influence. Some have concluded that because there is Egyptian influence, the work must have been done by Egyptians. But what Egyptians used Hebrew as a native tongue and would have had time to carve literally thousands of inscriptions hundreds of feet high up on the route of the Exodus? And especially so since scholars admit the inscriptions to have been fundamentally the work of a single generation! Besides, only the people of Palestine ever used the Hebrew script. The Egyptians never used it, nor do the Arabs use it. The conclusion is inescapable. The only generation which was under great Egyptian cultural and language influences, but which still used the Hebrew script and tongue, was the generation which came out of Egypt under Moses!
Israel's Custom to Write on Stone
A special custom of ancient Israel — found among no other people of the same degree — was to set up waymarks and to raise up heaps of stone along the route of travel. Notice Jeremiah 31:21. And compare this with Genesis 31:52 and Deut. 13:16 and Joshua 7:26, each of which speaks of raising up a heap of stones as a monument. Next, consider Deuteronomy 27:4-8: "When you be gone over Jordan," commanded Moses, "ye shall set up these stones... and thou shalt plaister them with plaister...: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them [because this was an altar).... And thou shalt WRITE UPON THE STONES all the words of this law very plainly." It was an ancient custom to write up events on stone monuments. This command was fulfilled in Joshua 8:30-32. When the children of Israel crossed over Jordan River dry-shod, Joshua commanded them to gather twelve stones from the bed of the river. "And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel come over this Jordan on dry land..." (Joshua 4:21-22). Once again the route of Israel was marked by stone monuments. A possible direct reference in the Bible to the Sinai Inscriptions may be found in Numbers 11:26. Some scholars translate the original Hebrew: "But there remained two of the men in the camp {the others were by the tabernacle], the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other was Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were among the inscriptions." The ordinary translations are influenced by the Septuagint and the Vulgate translation of the original Hebrew. Accompanying this article are a few reproductions from Forster's works, together with his translation of the inscriptions. With aid from a Hebrew Lexicon and a Classical Arabic Dictionary and the knowledge of ancient alphabetic scripts it is a relatively simple matter to verify these decipherments. Agnostics and higher critics will not admit these inscriptions mean what they say. But neither do they admit the Bible means what it says — and the Bible is written in their own language! Here at last is evidence, not for the unbeliever, but for the believer! Evidence which demonstrates that the observance of the Passover is based on verifiable, historical fact! And evidence that substantiates the fact that God did speak to His people at Sinai — and that the Bible is still the AUTHORITATIVE Revelation of the Will of God.
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