From the field of the latest biblical and archaeological discoveries

Contents I. On the issue of the inscription on the monument of Pharaoh Merenpt II. Newly discovered fragment of the Gospel of John I. On the issue of the inscription on the monument to Pharaoh Merenpt About four years ago, the English Egyptologist Flinders-Petrie, as is known, discovered in a church in Thebes an inscription from the time of the named pharaoh, in which for the first time a literal mention of “Israel” was found - a fact extremely important for establishing the very controversial issue of the time of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. This inscription aroused a lot of speculation among scientists and several translations of it appeared. The passage concerning Israel itself in the inscription translated by the Egyptologist Spiegelberg (Zeitschr. füt egypt. Sprache und Altert. 1896, p. 1 et seq.) reads: “Kheta is brought to rest; Canaan is overtaken by all evil; Ascalon is taken away; Gazer is captured; Jenoam is destroyed; Israel (Israalu or Isiraalu) is devastated and its seeds destroyed; Horus of Egypt." Similar translations, although with digressions in certain expressions, were given by the Genevan scientist Egyptologist Paville and the Parisian scientist Deiber. The latter translates as follows: “Heta is in the world; Canaan is the prey of all evils; Ascalon is taken away; Gezer is taken; Innonaamim (And amnia?) is destroyed, Isiraalu is destroyed and has no grain bread; Syria (Horus, the country of the Horites) is like the widow of Egypt.” According to this inscription, it turns out that under Pharaoh Merenpth, whom most biblical historians hitherto considered the “Pharaoh of the Exodus,” Israel had long lived in Palestine and led a settled agricultural life. The inscription apparently refers to one of the invasions of the Egyptian pharaoh after Joshua, in the troubled times of the judges, when the Israeli people suffered disasters from all kinds of warlike neighbors, being unable, due to the decline of power and political disunity, to repel these enemies. Be that as it may, the newly discovered inscription deals a decisive blow to the theory of Lipsius and Brugsch, according to which the exodus took place under Merenpth, the son of Ramses the Great as the main oppressor of the Jews, and forces us to attribute the time of the exodus to the end of the XVIII dynasty, which will be in all respects more consistent with the solid data of biblical chronology. We consider it worthwhile to note that this very view is carried out in our “Biblical History in the light of the latest research and discoveries” (Vol. I, p. 581), and we are certainly not unpleasant to note the documentary confirmation of this view from a new discovery in Egypt. After some hesitation, such an authoritative researcher as Gomel also leaned in favor of this view. II. Newly discovered fragment of the Gospel of John Among the papyri discovered in Benes by the English “Society for the Exploration of Egypt,” in addition to the famous “sayings of J. Christ,” there are many more treasures precious for biblical archeology and hermeneutics. So between them comes part of the Gospel of John, which is of extreme importance and is of great interest in the study of the New Testament text. The newly discovered passage turns out to be as much as 150 years older than all hitherto known texts. The American Society, as reported by its chairman Winslow (in The Churchman of October 28 of this year), has already prepared the publication of this precious newly discovered document, which will soon become the property of the entire learned theological world. - Like a papyrus containing the newly discovered first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew (from 150 AD) and fully confirming the existing text of Matthew. I, 18-21, and the "Logia" or unrecorded sayings of the Savior were found in the form of a book, and a portion of the Gospel of John was also found in the form of a book. Some have supposed that the form of writing in the book or codex dates back only to the introduction of parchment; but both previous and present discoveries clearly show that such a custom already existed during the time of ancient Christian writing. Fragments of the Gospel of Matthew and the “sayings” were found on separate sheets of paper, but this papyrus of the Gospel of John is on a single sheet and is written on both sides. In addition, the first sheet contains Chapter I, and the second contains part of Chapter XX, so that consequently the fragment represents one outer sheet of a whole large notebook, in the middle of which apparently contained all the other chapters between I and XX, which, unfortunately, were not preserved in papyrus. This gospel book contained up to 50 pages. It should be noted that in the fragment we encounter the usual abbreviations in the spelling of words such as God, Jesus, Christ, Spirit, etc. Так как такие сокращения были весьма обычным явлением во втором и третьем веках, то можно предполагать, что появились они гораздо раньше, и этот факт прямо указывает на существование христианской литературы уже раньше 100-го года. The text of the newly discovered fragment (small uncial) is similar to the Sinaitic Codex. The forthcoming facsimile edition of this fragment will undoubtedly be of great interest to the scientific world. But it should have no less interest for the entire Christian society. After all the critical attacks of the rationalists against the authenticity of the gospel and the doctrine of the incarnation contained in them, is it not gratifying for every Christian to be convinced, on the basis of an authentic document, that the sublime, truly inspired saying, which constitutes the very essence of Christianity: “And the Word became Flesh” was written and read as the immutable word of truth already in the first century of Christianity. “Out of Egypt I called my son,” the prophet once said on behalf of God. Now, in view of the important discoveries that have been made in Egypt, one can truly exclaim: “Evidence has come from Egypt in favor of the immutability of the faith of the Christian Church in the Bible as the revealed Word of God.” In recent decades, many discoveries have been made that have completely confused the ranks of rationalists with their hasty theories; a new discovery made in Egypt takes the soil away from them even more. You might be interested in: