Why was the discovery of merenptah tomb such a surprise?

Answer 1

He was not there!Merneptah (or more accurately "Merenptah") was originally buried within tomb KV8 in the Valley of the Kings, but his mummy was not found there. In 1898 it was located along with eighteen other mummies in the mummy cache found in the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV35). Quote from Wikipedia

The following is from Don Stewart, Auditor of Egyptology

The full name of this king is Merenptah (or Merneptah) Baenre Meriamun Hotephir-maat. It is much more convenient to write "Merenptah" or "Merneptah". The latter is easier to pronounce but seems to be not quite or strictly correct in pure Egyptological terms. Mind you, there is no absolutely correct way to transliterate Egyptian titles or names into modern English. At best we just have conventions that direct us how to read or write these things. The conventions theoretically help us to make sure we are all talking about the same person.

The last part of Merenptah's name is "Hotephirmaat". This should probably be read: "Ho-ephir-maat". 'Ho' or more likely 'Haa' means prophet or leader (Petrie, Memphis 1908). 'Ephir' is probably the Ophir of the Bible (Literally Auphirah, Afirah or Afriha = Africa). "Maat" is generally undisputed and means "bringing order out of chaos". That is the role of kings to maintain Law and Order. The last segment of his full title or name therefore reads: "The leader (or prophet who points the way) of Africa who maintains law and order", a tiresome task with the almost perennially inebriated ancient Egyptians. Removing the maat yields 'Hotephir'. Removing the 't' which acts as a vowel separator so that readers say "Haa of Ophir", leaves us with Ho'ephir or Hophra. That last option is the one used by Jewish Prophet Jeremiah 44:30. There the Hebrew for "Hophra" is written chet, phe, resh, ayin (Ch, p, r, a). If we are reading the Egyptian correctly, Jeremiah should have written the name he, phe, resh, ayin (H, p, r, a). A very subtle variation. In Hebrew, "Chopra" means 'cowboy'. That means Jeremiah is naming him a cowboy- or mickey mouse-king. He was just playing 'let's be kings'. Jeremiah is mocking Hophra. The Hebrew for Pharaoh is phe, resh, ayin, he(P, r, a, h). Jeremiah does a sneaky little switch of the Hebrew letters in 'pharaoh' and 'Hophra' to render "Pharaoh Hophra King (Melech) of Egypt (Mitzraim)". Or "Pharaoh Chophra Melech Mitzraim". The Chophra also allows one to use the throat as if preparing to spit. It is a special way of degrading and mocking Hophra. Below, the reason for this extreme treatment is explained because it is Hophra who claimed "Israel's Seed is destroyed; the Land razed to the ground". Hophra, also named Apries of the 26th Dynasty, is actually Merneptah of the 19th Dynasty. For Egyptologists, this is a devastating conclusion first reached by Dr Immanuel Velikovsky. Two kings in two different dynasties separated by 600 years being actually the same man. A real Stargate-type drama except that the problem is the false and misaligned Egyptian chronology constructed by 20th Century 'Egyptologists'.

Unfortunately, the naming conventions break down when it comes to Merneptah and other pharaohs. That is another reason why locating these pharaohs' mummies is so often complicated. In Merneptah's case, there is special interest because he is quoted as saying on the Merneptah or Israel Stele: "Israel's Seed is destroyed; the Land razed to the ground". Generally, it is said this is the only reference to Israel we find in Egypt's written history. Egypt is very frequently written about in The Bible (Israel's official ancient history). However, it also seems to be both the First and Last official reference to Israel in Egypt's official documents and literature. The problem is, the ancient Israelites themselves, merely described their land as "Our Land". In Hebrew this is "Eretz-ainu". The Egyptians', always a bit lazy with other nations' languages, just like the British with 'foreign languages', pronounced this as "Retinu" instead of "Eretzainu".

Egyptian documents are full of references to "Retinu". Later documents refer to "Upper" and "Lower" Retinu. That's because in circa 930 BC, Israel divided into two separate kingdoms: Judah in the South (= Lower Retinu) and Israel or Samaria-Ephraim in the centre and North (= Upper Retinu). Unfortunately, because Egyptologists' chronologies are a complete mess, placing most dynasties 600 years before their real time in history (e.g., the 19th dynasty of Ramesses II and Merneptah in the 13-12th centuries BC instead of the 7-6th centuries BC), the Egyptian 'history' of "Retinu" has been ascribed to the pre-Israelite cultures that lived in ancient Canaan-Israel. Thus the Bible's credibility, in the eyes of the general public, has been destroyed by a false Egyptian chronology.

Merneptah's very famous (or infamous) statement seems to apply to the Israelites at the early stage of their entry to Canaan-Israel after they left Egypt with Moses. However, the circumstances fail to fit very well with other historical information (e.g., Babylonian data) and certainly not with Israel's own historical record which talks about Israel's great desolation in 600 BC not 1200 BC. Egyptologists also overlook the meaning of "Israel". In this case, Merneptah is referring to the descendants of Jacob who was surnamed "Israel". Thus the "Seed" or descendants of "Jacob-Israel" were destroyed (literally 'cut-off'). The 'cutting' refers to castration. The Jewish Book of Daniel notes that the young Jewish servants of Nebuchadnezzar had been put in the care of the "Chief Eunuch". They had been castrated. So on the stele now in the Cairo Museum, Merneptah is saying the "Seed of Jacob" was castrated. He is mocking Israel's history after 900 years of statehood following their Exodus out of the Egypt destroyed by God in 1485 BC. "Merneptah" was boasting that the Israelites once again had to seek Egyptian protection. "Where is your Jehovah now", mocked Merneptah. "Wait and see, Israel will come back" replied Jeremiah, as the world is again witnessing. In fact God had already predicted back in the Books of Moses that Israel would once again flee to Egypt so Merneptah's boast could be trumped by God's own statements 900 years before Merneptah.

The particular meaning of "Jacob's seed" is that all through the Bible, genealogical lines of people are carefuly recorded to trace the progress of "The Seed of the Woman" Genesis 3:15. The Bible says God "created" (Hebrew bara) Israel to provide a line of people that would eventually produce a woman who would produce a man who would save the world. That woman was Mary (Miri or Miriam) of Nazareth (Hebrew, eth nazar, or "The Branch" of Isaiah 11:1 and 9:1-2) the Mother of Jesus (Yeshua = Saviour) the Saviour of the World. The same verse in Genesis 3:15 said Satan would likewise imitate or counterfeit this miracle and sire an Antichrist who would attempt to rule the world. The Bible says The Antichrist, whose Roman (Western) name transliterated into Hebrew adds to 666, will control the world for about 7 years and he will attempt the complete destruction of Israel. However, the Jewish people will repent or change their minds about Yeshua and that is what actually precipitates the Second or Last Coming and Jesus' institution of His Government that rules the world from Jerusalem not London, New York or Babylon (Shinar) in South Iraq.

This is the one of the real reasons for distorting Egyptian chronology. It obscures the Biblical truths about world history - Past, Present and Future. A candidate for the Antichrist is now living in the world. We say "candidate" because there is a statistical possibility this person's name which adds to 666 is a quirk. This candidate's name reads like a Roman imperial name with the surname translatable as "King of Kings". The Book of Daniel explains that The Antichrist must come from the nation that executed Jesus ["bruised His (Jesus') heel" as in Genesis 3:15b]. That nation is Rome (also Italy or wider afield the Greco-Roman "West"). It was, in a sense "The West" that executed Jesus, albeit on behalf of all mankind. However, more specifically we do have a potential candidate for the Antichrist now on the scene, growing up in a normal way as Jesus did. This candidate may well enter his step-father's business as Jesus did. This candidate's 'Fatherly' parentage is uncertain that is to say "in the eyes of the general public", like Jesus'. Since a statistical quirk may be in operation here it would be quite irresponsible to name the person, identify the family etc. It would be Satan's prerogative to declare the Antichrist just as God declared Jesus at the Jordan River in 27 AD. With all the world chaos in economics (deliberately-engineered Credit Crunch?), melting ice caps returning the environment to the condition pre Noah's Ark, return of Israel and rise of the Chaldeans (Kurds) leading to friction between Turkey/ Iran/ Syria versus the Americans, the emergence of the Antichrist into these volatile world-crises will come as no surprise. In fact it is perfectly logical 666 should be with us right now!

Actually, the more important reason for saying these things is that Merneptah, who he was, where he was buried, how, under what circumstances, how he died etc., belies a massive mistreatment of ancient Egyptian history which the organised churches now officially ascribe to. All their Seminaries now teach this false history. They must do because their contracts to attract funding via student fees, or commercial, government or probate bequests, depend on cross-crediting units to other 'universities' degrees. That means they must teach the official but false Oxbridge-Ivy League "History of ancient Egypt". That 'History' is wrong in many facets, mainly chronological. The 'History of Social Systems' is generally sound but the "political history" as one Egyptologist explained at a Colloquium in London a few years ago, is quite unsound, misleading and terribly damaging in its implications, for example in Linguistic or Etymological History.

This false chronological-history emanating fom the placement of Merneptah and Ramesses II (The Great, Merneptah's father) six centuries before the real time of their lives, and duplicating them as Merneptah-Apries-Hophra and Ramesses II-Necho-Nechos respectively, has misled the churches into a false theology about Israel. They mostly think the Bible's narrative about Israel is metaphorical. They mostly no longer believe the Bible's "History of Israel". Nor, therefore, do they place any significant importance about the Bible's prophecies of Israel in today's and tomorrow's history.

Ironically, while Merneptah's identity was wrongly displaced he bequeathed us, via seminaries and Egyptologists, wrong interpretations of his history and relationship to ancient (Biblical) Israel. When Merneptah's world (600-586 BC) witnessed Nebuchadnezzar's castration of Israel's royal family and males generally, some like Mary's great, great, great (x?) Grandfather escaping the cut, other people (nations) began to believe God had set up an alternative way to be reconciled to Him. Thus, Buddhism, Confucianism, and other religions/philosophies began to surface. More recently, since Jesus, other theologies appeared to replace Israel in the Bible with their particular organisation (c.f., Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslims, Bahai, Eastern Orthodox-, Roman Catholic- or Protestant-Christendom). Christianity proper, in its pure First-Jewish Church form with Gentiles joining in the wake of Pentecost (Book of Acts of the Apostles, New Testament), accepts God is returning the Jews back to "The Land" to demonstrate the truth about God via precisely-fulfilled prophecies. Israel today, is proving Merneptah's statement wrong, 2600 years later. Current circumstances in the Middle East are beginning to clearly identify the differences between 'genuine' Christianity and various counterfeits that imitate it. The crisis in Syria is related to events in Ezekiel 38-39.

Many more surprises lie behind the actual life-and-death history of Merneptah ("Merenptah") than the discovery, real or otherwise, of his tomb and mummy.