Pharaoh In Canaan

This joyous book came out of my love for teaching. It is the product of teaching and lecturing in schools, universities, and prestigious conferences. The trial of the Egyptian Pharaoh was a case of human rights violations. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, his officials, and the Egyptian people forced the Israel people into slavery and treated them with extreme cruelty. They forced the Israelites to do hard labor and they mercilessly oppressed them and heavily exploited them. The Israelites cried to God and God agreed with them. God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and sent him to Pharaoh to tell him to let the Israelites leave Egypt, the land of slavery, and go to Canaan, the promised land flowing with milk and honey. God gave Moses two miraculous signs and wonders to perform before Pharaoh and his officials. God hoped that the two miraculous signs will convince Pharaoh and he will let the Israelite leave Egypt and go to Canaan. In his famous call to Pharaoh, God ordered, "Let my people go." Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh in Egypt and told him everything that God wanted him to do. Let the people go. But the Pharaoh, king of Egypt, refused to let the Israelites go out of Egypt. He refused to let God's people go out of Egypt, the land of slavery. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, adamantly asked Moses, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go." Then Moses left Pharaoh alone but God sent him back again. Moses and Aaron threw Moses's staff on the ground in front of Pharaoh and his official. Then Moses's staff turned into a great snake. Pharaoh watched the great snake crawl in front of him. Then Pharaoh summoned his wise men, and his sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians, and ordered them to do what Moses and Aaron did in front of him and his officials. The wise men, the sorcerers, and the great magicians of Egypt threw their staffs in front of Pharaoh and his official, but their staffs turned into small snakes and Moses's great snake swallowed them all. However, those miraculous signs and wonders did not deter or stop Pharaoh from his stubbornness. He refused to let God's people go out of Egypt and God decided to take this case to a higher level. The case of the Israel people, as plaintiffs, vs. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, as the defendant, was indeed a unique case. There has been no case before and since then where God himself presided over the case like he did before Pharaoh and his officials, God was the judge in this case. And God chose Moses and Aaron to prosecute Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his officials for violating the Israel people's human rights when they forced them into slavery and treated them with extreme cruelty. Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go out of Egypt. He disobeyed God's order to "let my people go." God performed a lot of miracles and wonders throughout this unique case. But Pharaoh refused to obey those miraculous signs and wonders. Then God decided to inflict Pharaoh, his officials, and the Egyptian people with deadly plagues. God sent ten deadly plagues that devastated the whole land of Egypt. God sent (1) the plague of blood, (2) the plague of frogs, (3) the plague of gnats, (4) the plague of flies, (5) the plague on livestock, (6) the plague of boils, (7) the plague of hail, (8) the plague of locusts, (9) the plague of darkness, and (10) the plague on the firstborn. The plague on the firstborn was the last straw for Pharaoh, king of Egypt. There was great crying, wailing, yelling, and mourning in the whole land of Egypt. God sent the angel of death to Egypt and killed all firstborn sons of the Egyptian people, including Pharaoh's firstborn son. Finally, Pharaoh woke and hurriedly summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, "Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go worship the Lord as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds as you have said and go. And also bless me." So, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. God opened up and divided the Red Sea and the Israelites walked and crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. God was with the Israelites all the way to Canaan, the promised land. He fed them on manna and honey. He gave them the Ten Commandments and he led them across Jordan River into Canaan, the promised land. God helped the Israelites conquer the land of Canaan. Joshua divided the Land of Canaan among the nine and a half tribes of Israel, as commanded by the Lord. The land east of the Jordan River had already been assigned to two and a half tribes of Israel by Moses as commanded by the Lord. The whole land is commonly known as "the land of the twelve tribes of Israel."

Covering the time span from the Paleolithic period to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., the eminent Egyptologist Donald Redford explores three thousand years of uninterrupted contact between Egypt and Western Asia across the Sinai land-bridge. In the vivid and lucid style that we expect from the author of the popular Akhenaten, Redford presents a sweeping narrative of the love-hate relationship between the peoples of ancient Israel/Palestine and Egypt.

The proceedings of the conference “Egypt, Canaan and Israel: History, Imperialism, Ideology and Literature” include the latest discussions about the political, military, cultural, economic, ideological, literary and administrative relations between Egypt, Canaan and Israel during the Second and First Millennia BC incorporating texts, art, and archaeology.

Throughout the past three decades, Nadav Na'aman has repeatedly proved that he is one of the most careful historians of ancient Canaan and Israel. With broad expertise, he has brought together archaeology, text, and the inscriptional material from all of the ancient Near East to bear on the history of ancient Israel and the land of Canaan during the second and first millenniums B.C.E. Many of his studies have been published as journal articles or notes and yet, together, they constitute one of the most important bodies of literature on the subject in recent years, particularly because of the careful attention to methodology that Na'aman always has brought to his work. Collected here are 23 essays on the Hurrians, the Egyptians and their presence in the Levant during the second millennium B.C.E., Canaanite city-states, the Amarna Letters, and the neighbors of Canaan in the north, such as Alalakh and Damascus. The essays range over such topics as scribes and language, archaeology, cultural influences, and the interrelations of the great powers during this period. The volume includes indexes of ancient personal names, place-names, and biblical references.

Throughout the past three decades, Nadav Na'aman has repeatedly proved that he is one of the most careful historians of ancient Canaan and Israel. With broad expertise, he has brought together archaeology, text, and the inscriptional material from all of the ancient Near East to bear on the history of ancient Israel and the land of Canaan during the second and first millenniums B.C.E. Many of his studies have been published as journal articles or notes and yet, together, they constitute one of the most important bodies of literature on the subject in recent years, particularly because of the careful attention to methodology that Na'aman always has brought to his work. Collected here are 23 essays on the Hurrians, the Egyptians and their presence in the Levant during the second millennium B.C.E., Canaanite city-states, the Amarna Letters, and the neighbors of Canaan in the north, such as Alalakh and Damascus. The essays range over such topics as scribes and language, archaeology, cultural influences, and the interrelations of the great powers during this period. The volume includes indexes of ancient personal names, place-names, and biblical references.

This comprehensive classic textbook represents the most recent approaches to the biblical world by surveying Palestine's social, political, economic, religious and ecological changes from Palaeolithic to Roman eras. Designed for beginners with little knowledge of the ancient world, and with copious illustrations and charts, it explains how and why academic study of the past is undertaken, as well as the differences between historical and theological scholarship and the differences between ancient and modern genres of history writing. Classroom tested chapters emphasize the authenticity of the Bible as a product of an ancient culture, and the many problems with the biblical narrative as a historical source. Neither "maximalist" nor "minimalist'" it is sufficiently general to avoid confusion and to allow the assignment of supplementary readings such as biblical narratives and ancient Near Eastern texts. This new edition has been fully revised, incorporating new graphics and English translations of Near Eastern inscriptions. New material on the religiously diverse environment of Ancient Israel taking into account the latest archaeological discussions brings this book right up to date.