Who destroyed the temples of Egypt, accuracy of Jeremiah, and Ezekiel

     Aramaic Papyrus No. 30, "Now our forefathers built this temple in the fortress of Elephantine back in the days of the Kingdom of Egypt, and when Cambyses (the Persian king) came to Egypt he found it built. They knocked down all the temples of the gods of Egypt, but no one did any damage to this temple." (1) The Jews of Elephantine, Egypt boasted in this letter to a Persian governor that all the temples in Egypt had been destroyed in an earlier invasion, except their sanctuary. Herodotus blames the Persian king Cambyses whom he describes as insane, when he committed sacrilegious behavior towards Egyptian tombs and cults. (2) He also said Cambyses opened Pharoah Amasis tomb and burned his mummy. (3) The Greek historian Strabo traveled to Egypt and viewed the destruction at Thebes and Heliopolis in 25 B.C. He also blamed Cambyses for the burned temples and destruction he saw there. (4) Professor Matt Waters stated that Herodotus relied on a "negative tradition of Cambyses current in Egypt when he visited" after 454 B.C. (5) Henry P. Colburn said, "the Greek sources had a bias against the Persians." (6) Karol Mysliwiec stated "his (Cambyses) barbaric attitude toward Egyptian temples is doubtless also a product of fantasy." (7) Cambyses invaded Egypt in 525 B.C. and defeated the Egyptians at Pelusium after which he took control of the country. He left three years later to deal with a rebellion in Persia. All three scholars above state that                   the Greek sources about Cambyses's invasion being exceptionally destructive can be discounted and are not true. The Egyptian sources show that the Persians were respectful towards the temples and cults of Egypt. One Egyptian wrote, "Cambyses came to Egypt, the foreign peoples of every foreign land being with him. He gained majesty of this land in its entirety. They established themselves in it, and he was Great Ruler of Egypt...His Majesty betook himself to the temple of Neith (Egyptian goddess). He touched the ground before her very great majesty as every king had done. He organized a great feast of all good things for Neith..." (8) Only 43 years separate the Babylonian and Persian invasions.  According to Herodotus, a civil war broke out in Egypt between Pharoah Apries and one of his generals Amasis. Herodotus stated Amasis won the war and put Apries to death. (9) A Babylonian tablet records Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt in 568-67 B.C. (10) Most scholars today believe that the Babylonian king was defeated by Amasis and did not conquer Egypt. (11) They also believe Amasis then ruled Egypt successfully until his death shortly before the Persian invasion. However Arab sources state that Nebuchadnezzar's invasion was successful, and that he conquered Egypt and killed her "lame" pharaoh, taking thousands of Egyptians back to Babylon. (12) Josephus also said Nebuchadnezzar's invasion was victorious, that he "fell upon Egypt, in order to overthrow it; he killed the king that then reigned and set up another; and he took those Jews who were there captive and led them away to Babylon." (13) "The Coptic Chronicle of John Bishop of Nikiu" is a late Egyptian version which compresses both...

       NOTES: (1) A. Cowley, Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C, p.113, Oxford University Press, 1923; (2) and (3) Herodotus, The Histories, Translation by George Rawlinson, (2) p.160, (3) p. 164-165; (4) Strabo, The Geography, Translation by Horace Leonard Jones, p. 85 and p.123, Harvard University Press, 1959; (5) Matt Waters, Ancient Persia, p.155-156, Cambridge University Press; (6) Henrey P. Colburn, Archaeology of Empire in Achaemenid Egypt, p.7, Edinburgh University Press; (7) Karol Mys'liwiec, The Twilight of Ancient Egypt, p.135, Cornell University Press; (8) Ame'lie Kuhrt, The Persian Empire, p.118; (9) Herodotus, The Histories, p.148-150; (10) Parker-Dubberstein, Chronology, p.28, For the Text, see ANET, P308b; (11) Herodotus, The Histories, p.148-150, and Josette Elayi, The History of Phoenicia, p201; (12) Okasha El-Daly, Egyptology: The Missing Millennium, p.16; (13) Josephus, Translated by William Whiston, Book 10,9,7, p.349.                                                                                                                                                                                               

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    The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel were contemporary with these events and tell a different story. After Jerusalem fell some Jewish refugees were warned by Jeremiah not to flee to Egypt but they went anyway and apparently forced the prophet to go with them. Jeremiah predicted the Jews would not find safe refuge in Egypt. Jeremiah 43:11-13, "He (Nebuchadnezzar) will also come and strike the land of Egypt; Those who are meant for death will be given over to death, and those for captivity to captivity, and those for the sword to the sword. And I shall set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and take them captive. So, he will wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself with his garment, and he will depart from there safely. He will also shatter the obelisks of Heliopolis, (temple of the sun god) which is in the land of Egypt and the temple of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire."
 Jeremiah 44:30, "Thus says the LORD, Behold I am going to give over Pharoah Hophra (Apries) king of Egypt to the hand of his enemies, to the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave over Zedekiah king of Judah to the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and was seeking his life." Ladynin thinks Herodotus may be right that Amasis did put Pharoah Apries to death after the civil war. (25) The LORD said to the Jews who fled to Egypt that He would give them a sign of coming judgment. "The sign was that Pharoah Hophra (Apries) would be handed over to his enemies. Jeremiah did not specify that Hophra would fall into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar but merely into the hands of his enemies." (26) According to Jeremiah, there would also be a disastrous crushing of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, who certainly had a grudge against Pharoah Apries for raiding Babylonian territory in Phoenicia. Nebuchadnezzar perfectly timed his invasion when the civil war broke out and Egypt was the most vulnerable. Jeremiah 44:1, mentions Nebuchadnezzar would take the cities of Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis and the land of Pathros which included Elephantine on the southern border of Egypt. The Jews in Egypt were defiant against Jeremiah and said they would continue with their idolatry and worship the "Queen of Heaven," Jeremiah chapter 44. The Jews blamed their current troubles on the reforms of king Josiah who tried to put an end to pagan worship in Judah. "The argument is plausible. As long as the people had acknowledged the Queen of Heaven (possibly Ishtar, a fertility goddess) there was food, prosperity, and no disaster."  (27) After the death of Josiah, the reform movement collapsed, and they had known only calamity. So now they would return to their idols. Jeremiah then predicted in 44:28, "And those who escape the sword in Egypt will return out of the land of Egypt to the land of Judah few in number. Then all the remnant of Judah who have gone to the land of Egypt to reside there will know whose word will stand Mine or theirs." Jeremiah 44:25, the LORD gives a final statement concerning the Jews who lived in Egypt. "They who had promised to fulfil their vows to sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven. The LORD declares, go ahead and fulfil your vows and by all means perform them. The LORD is watching to bring evil and not good" to those who abandon their covenant with Him. "For Jeremiah the reason was plain: it was because of the idolatrous practices carried on in Judah that the calamity had come." (28) "The end would be virtual annihilation by sword and famine." (29) 

    NOTES: (25) Ivan A. Ladynin, The Elephantine Stela of Amasis: Some Problems and Prospects of Study, p.15, (26) J. A. Thompson, The New international Commentary on the Old Testament, The Book of Jeremiah, p.682, and (27) p.678-679, and (28) p.675, and (29) p.681-682.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

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     And they will draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain. Moreover, I will make the Nile canals dry and sell the land into the hands of evil men. And I will make the land desolate and all that is in it, by the hand of strangers; I the LORD have spoken. Thus says the Lord GOD, I will also destroy the idols and make the images cease from Memphis. And there will no longer be a prince in the land of Egypt. And I will put fear in the land of Egypt. And I will make Pathros desolate, set fire in Zoan (Tanis), and execute judgments in Thebes. And I will pour out my wrath on Sin, (Pelusium) the stronghold of Egypt; I will also cut off the multitude of Thebes. And I will set fire in Egypt;  Sin will writhe in anguish and Thebes will be breached, and Memphis will have distresses daily, young men of On (Heliopolis) and Pi-beseth (Bubastis) will fall by the sword, and the women will go into captivity, and in Tehaphnehes (Daphnai) the day will be dark when I smash the yoke of Egypt. Then the pride of Her power will cease in her; A cloud will cover her, and her daughters will go into captivity, thus I will execute judgments on Egypt, and they will know that I am the LORD." "He would dry up the canals of Egypt." Looking at maps of ancient Egypt, I count at least eleven channels of the Nile, today, there are only three.  After the Babylonian invasion, there would no longer be a "prince in Egypt". Egypt would never rule over the nations again, but instead they would be ruled by foreigners, first Babylon, Persia, Greeks, Romans and finally Arab nations.
              According to most scholars and history books today nearly all of the prophecies that Jeremiah and Ezekiel gave against Egypt never happened. One scholar said it was probably "wishful thinking" by the Hebrew prophets. According to Herodotus "It is said that the reign of Amasis was the most prosperous time Egypt ever saw...the land brought forth more abundantly for the service of man that had ever been known before." (33) The Greek writers (especially Herodotus) were entirely dependent on the Egyptian priests for information, and they mostly sympathized with the royal house of Amasis. "The information about the Babylonian invasion which helped Amasis seize power, was highly disparaging to Amasis and for this reason it must have been preferable to withhold it from all Greek visitors taking an interest in Egyptian history." (34) Consequently, the Greek sources are silent about Nebuchadnezzar's invasion.   

    NOTES: (33) Herodotus, Translated by George Rawlinson, p.152; (34) Ivan A. Ladynin, The Elephantine Stela of Amasis: Some Problems and Prospects of Study, p.6.                                                                                                                                                                                                          

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    It is not known if Amasis resisted Nebuchadnezzar for a time before he surrendered to the Babylonians. According to Ladynin, "the Bible prophets seem to be the least biased" of the available records for the invasion of Egypt. (41) According to Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who are our best sources for what was happening in Egypt in this time and almost contemporary with these events, eventually Amasis would have had to become a vassal of Nebuchadnezzar. Spalinger notes a Babylonian tablet may date to this time and shows tribute in the form of precious stones coming from Egypt to Babylon. (42) Professor Gregory Mumford notes "Mass deportations are verified by Babylonian texts referring to many foreigners, including Egyptians, residing throughout the land of Babylonia during Nebuchadnezzar's reign and under later Kings. Egyptians and people of Egyptian derivation, apparently formed a large proportion of the foreign community of Mesopotamia... These Egyptians consist of prisoners of war, deportees... jewelers, smiths, brewers, skilled laborers... scribes, bakers, farriers, shipwrights, diviners, interpreters of dreams, healers, and other occupations." (43) Egyptian prisoners of war worked on a temple in Sippar, during the reign of the last Babylonian king Nabonidus. "But we do not know where they (the prisoners) came from," since we know of no war with Egypt at that time. (44) There is also independent evidence for Egyptian deportees... dwelling in Assyria, Babylonia and Elam at this time. (45) There is evidence Egyptian troops were stationed in Babylonia, employed by Nebuchadnezzar and his successors. (46) As said before Egyptian's were present at all levels of Babylonian society from slaves even to high officials serving in the palace in Babylon, similar to the Hebrews in the Book of Daniel. (47) Instead of the prosperous nation that Herodotus mentioned in his writings, Egypt was suffering a severe economic disruption, and Amasis undertook an official policy of repair throughout the land of Egypt according to one inscription after the conflict. (48) As stated in Ezekiel 29:14, Pharoah Amasis would have been ruling over a "lowly kingdom" that had been stripped of its wealth, major temples and cities destroyed, and the greater part of its population taken away in exile. As said before, the Greek historian Strabo visited Egypt centuries later and could still see damaged and burnt temples and cities in Egypt which he attributed to the Persian King Cambyses. One Phoenician king who took part in Nebuchadnezzar's Egyptian campaign, brought back four stone sarcophagi to Sidon, where three of them have been found. These have been dated to the reign of Amasis and one had belonged to an Egyptian general named Ptah, before it was taken away as plunder. (49) The stela that Amasis set up at Elephantine makes no reference to the manner in which Amasis became king. Amasis did not want the Stela's propaganda to reflect the fact that he (Amasis) was a usurper, and responsible for Apries death. He was also careful to record on the Stela that he buried Apries with full honors befitting a Pharoah, which was unusual in that day, for a defeated foe. We also don't know if that was true. (50) 

     NOTES: (41) Ivan A. Ladynin, The Elephantine Stela of Amasis: Some Problems and Prospects of Study, p.15; (42) Anthony Spalinger, Egypt and Babylonia: 620 BC-550 BC, p.240; (43) Gregory Mumford, "Egypto-Asiatic Relations During the Iron Age to Early Persian Periods, (Egyptian Dynasties Late 20-26)," p.162; (44) Josette Elayi, The History of Phoenicia, p.211; (45) Gregory Mumford, "Egypto-Asiatic Relations During the Iron Age to Early Persian Periods, p.159; (46) Jonathan Stoki, Caroline Waerzeggers, (Eds), Exile and Return, The Babylonian Context, p.166 and (47) p.167-172; (48) Anthony Spalinger, Egypt and Babylonia, p.242; (49) Josette Elayi, The History of Phoenicia, p.213; (50) Roger Forshaw, Egypt of the Saite Pharaohs, p.150.                                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                            
       

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    The Babylonian garrison at the fortress of Babylon in Egypt was probably at least 7,000-10,000 men. It is probable there was a second Babylonian force at the fortress at Elephantine on the southern border of Egypt. Archaeologist Ziegfred Horn was surprised when he found the remains of two Babylonian temples at the far southern border of Egypt. A temple to Nabu son of Marduk was popular during the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Also, a temple to the Babylonian goddess Banit "is difficult to explain, since temples to her are not even known to exist in Mesopotamia. It is difficult to understand that a sanctuary was erected for her in faraway Egypt." He uncovered the ruins of a third temple to the "Queen of Heaven" as mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. (62) A number of documents dating to the Persian period were found in southern Egypt. These Aramaic Papyri consist of letters by polytheistic Jews living in Elephantine. These Jews were employed by the Persian empire to protect southern the border of Egypt. They intermarried with Egyptian women and worshiped foreign gods along with the God of Abraham. It is not known if they arrived during the reign of Amasis or after the Persians took control of Egypt. They began to worship Yahweh in a temple they found undamaged and sacrificed animals there. These mercenaries were divided into units or companies of men with Persian or Babylonian names, which may be the names of their commanders. (63) The letters show that the people were using the Babylonian legal code well into the Persian period. (64) These documents also show that Jewish and Babylonian and Persian names were common, and one letter mentions the "Queen of Heaven." (65) The Babylonian temples and Babylonian names along with the law code seems to suggest there was a Babylonian presence in southern Egypt before the Persian conquest. Amasis outlived the Babylonian empire and Egypt began to recover in the second half of his reign. After Babylon fell, the Babylonian troops in Egypt would have become mercenaries under Egyptian control. After the conquest of Babylon by the Persians, the Egyptian and Jewish exiles began streaming back to their homelands. Amasis lived fourteen years after the fall of Babylon, and he had plenty of time to change the narrative of his rise to power. That is why the Bible, Greek and Egyptian sources often contradict each other. The Babylonian priest Borosses writing after the death of Alexander the Great also said the Babylonians ruled "Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia and Arabia." (66) Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of Egypt was the crowning achievement of his reign. Jeremiah the prophet said the God would shatter the obelisks of Heliopolis, the Biblical On. Ezekiel said the men would be slaughtered and the women taken away in slavery. Strabo found Heliopolis a deserted city when he visited in the time of Augustus. He said there was heavy damage to the temple of the Sun God. "Cambyses, who partly by fire and partly by iron sought to outrage the temples, mutilating them and burning them on every side, just as he did with the obelisks." Except it wasn't Cambyses. It was Nebuchadnezzar. (67)

    NOTES: (62) Jim Reilly, Nebuchadnezzar and the Egyptian Exile, p.128-137, and Siegfried A. Horn, "Foreign Gods in Ancient Egypt", Studies in Honor of John A. Wilson, SAOC35, p.39; (63) A. Cowley, Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C, p.xvi, and (64) p.xxix, and (65) Letter 14, p.43; (66) Gerald P. Verbrugghe and John M. Wickersham, Berossos and Manetho, Native Traditions in Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, p58; (67) The Geography of Strabo, book VIII, 17. I. 25-27, p.79.

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