Help Support the "Exodus Inscriptions" Project

Requesting Your Support in Completing the “Exodus Inscriptions” Project

To All Supporters of Torah-affirming Biblical Archaeology,

As a life-long Torah scholar and retired rabbi turned academic researcher, I am at a critical stage in a 7-year-long project that stands to help forever change the cynical, minimalist way in which mainstream academia relate to the historicity of the biblical narrative.

After studying and interpreting over a dozen ancient inscriptions in Proto-Sinaitic (earliest Hebrew) script, found in the Sinai Desert and Egypt proper, I have convinced my academic mentors that we have actual Hebrew writing that provides solid evidence for the biblical narrative of the Sojourn and Exodus.

This is a public petition to fund the completion of the third and final part, or “Phase III” of this “Exodus Inscriptions” project. Here are the first two stages:

• Phase I proto-paper: The Exodus Inscriptions at Serabit el-Khadim | Michael S. Bar-Ron - Academia.edu

• Phase II proto-paper: Sinai 351 and 360 as “Exodus Inscriptions” as Par Excellence | Michael S. Bar-Ron - Academia.edu

The three papers will then be coalesced into a single, broad, academic thesis, to serve the requirements of a joint MA and PhD program through Ariel University. All under the supervision of my academic adviser Dr. Peter Van der Veen, professor of West Semitic at the University of Mainz, Germany.

Here is the current title and abstract (summary):

What Early Proto-Sinaitic Writing and the Stele of Renisseneb Reveal about the Origin of the Alphabet and Historical Context for the Genesis Traditions of Joseph and the Early Sojourn

Mori* Michael S. Bar-Ron

------------------------------------------

ABSTRACT:

An original reading of P-S Inscriptions 1 and 2 at Wadi el-Hol reveals their language to an early West Semitic (Hebrew). They express anger at a “corrupt individual”, a criminal being “crowned” and “beautified as a god/lord”, and that Semitic “freemen”, or “children of nobles” were being “counted” for conscription to labor. Their widely accepted dating suggests them to be expressions of angst by Semites against a high official of Pharaoh Amenemhat III, likely the Semitic Vizier Ankhu.

This is all bolstered by P-S 350. Found at Serabit el-Khadim, it features the royal symbol of Pharaoh Amenemhat III. Strengthened by what is seen in P-S 358, P-S 350 lauds the Deity El.

All this suggests a Semitic, Joseph-like courtier Amenemhat III. The Stele of Renisseneb and a cylinder seal found at Tell ed-Daba provide further support for the Vizier Ankhu as the historical figure behind Joseph.

In addition to notable elements in the script, the inscriptions explored here suggest a top-down model for the development of the alphabet.

------------------------------------------

This leg of the project, now 50% complete, has been delayed by severe lack of funding, particularly due to how much I’ve been compelled to expand its scope:

In early 2023, I was flooded with new material, providing more support for the thesis, all of which must be included. It has been much harder to process and integrate than originally thought. In greater detail:

With the agreement of my academic supervisor, I decided that it would strengthen the paper considerably to include my new, original readings of three previously unconsidered P-S inscriptions: P-S 348, 350, and 358. That is, after having had the opportunity to consult with Dr. Ludwig Morenz at Bonn University in January 2023, and then to study, hands-on, actual casts of these inscriptions at the Semitic Museum at Harvard University.

[Caption: Last year at the Semitic Museum. In Sinai 348 (middle), besides other elements, we have, "El [God] King of the Hidden"). This is of inestimable importance not only to the paper, but the history of the biblical concept of the Divine. In Sinai 350 (right), there’s an element of the cartouche of Pharoah Amenemhat III. That a Hebrew inscription lauding the God “El” was created from within the Egyptian court for the sake of literate Semitic laborers, is profound.]

I should add that, by involving Dr. Morenz, Head of the Egyptology Department at Bonn, the demand for precision in my work is at a whole new level.

[Caption: At University of Bonn in January 2023]

In the paper, I am also presenting an explanation of one of the most dramatic proofs for our thesis: the Stele of Renisseneb son of Ankhu, who we confidently identify as the historical “Manasseh son of Joseph”, for a broad set of reasons presented in a previous paper. I happened upon the find on the same trip, visiting the Egyptian Wing of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It features an actual depiction of Ankhu (“Tzafenat Pa-Ankh”, Yoseph the Vizier), seated next to his wife (Renisseneb's mother), "Asenat" (or "Senet"), explicitly mentioned in Gen. 41:45, 41:50, and 46:20. She is mentioned twice in the stele.

This is all according to the plain reading provided by the Museum, and additional insights of two expert scholars. It provides the “extraordinary evidence” required to back our strong claim of Ankhu as the biblical Joseph -- a key element to my interpretation of the Wadi el-Hol inscriptions.

Again, this influx of so much new material delayed my work even more than I’d expected. Nonetheless, the resulting paper promises to be so well worth the long wait. It is growing to a level of quality above and beyond what we could have hoped for. It reveals how the Wadi el-Hol inscriptions may actually cast light on the career of the actual, historical, biblical Joseph. It also relates to the readings of other scholars, while defending my own.

Here is one of them, Inscription 2 from Wadi el-Hol:

[Caption: Note: Very high-resolution images of the original stone surface are included in the developing paper.]

To all this I will add compelling evidence from my 2017 paper “The Seal of Joseph”, exploring the symbolism on a cylinder seal impression found in the ruins of the Middle Bronze Age palace at Tell el-Dab'a, dated to what some understand to be the 'early Israelite period' at Avaris.

WHY YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT IS SO NEEDED AT THIS TIME

I have promised my academic supervisor that the paper will be thoroughly complete and handed in by February 1, 2025. That is not far off.

Meanwhile, several blessed factors in my life have come together, giving a unique degree of focus on this project over the next few months. All that I require is proper funding, so that I can finally pour my full attention into completing this paper. Otherwise, I would be compelled to continue exhausting my time and energies as an English instructor, to make ends meet and support my children.

As noted above, by supporting this work, particularly at this critical stage, you have an opportunity to have a hand in making a monumental, historical change: to affect how the biblical narrative is treated from within the ivory tower of academia.

Unfortunately, even noted academics in the field with noble intentions, with hearts for God, have brought this approach into disrepute. Hubris, populist-driven sensationalism, together with poor, sloppy methodology by Bible-affirming scholars have yielded weak proposals for “biblical messages” in such inscriptions. This has earned the justifiable ire of the vanguard authorities in the field.

On the contrary, I have spent 7 years studying these inscriptions objectively, with grinding rigor, harsh self-critique, peer review, challenging and refining my readings. Not in order to “prove the Bible”, but to arrive at the truth of these inscriptions. The result is such that there is no need to embellish nor sensationalize: the inscriptions are revealed to say what they do, and the ramifications for biblical truth are greatly profound.

And so, if you could find it within your ability to provide the support I require for this deeply important project (and it supports a lot more), I would be most deeply grateful.

I am thankful in advance for the understanding, patience, and good faith: not only on behalf of my personal life and my family, but in light of the incredible ramifications of this work, grounding our biblical traditions in confirmed history. As my mentor David Rohl has told his own students (see endorsements here), my “Exodus Inscriptions” work may well be the most important breakthrough towards that end in the last 50 years.

Sincerely,

Michael S. Bar-Ron (my page on Academia)

* Mori is a traditional, humble term for Torah teacher or rabbi