Exodus - an Authentic Record of Events

The Bible is the inspired word of God. This page is a continuation in a series of articles about the Bible as God’s word.

Part 35  Exodus - an Authentic Record of Events

The next category of comments in the Ipuwer papyrus are collected in the next section

6. The Pharaoh of the Exodus Deposed

Section VII “Behold, things have been done which have not happened for a long time past; the king has been deposed by the rabble. [The king who ordered his army to their death in the Red Sea would be regarded as a fool]... Behold, it has befallen that the land has been deprived of the kingship by a few lawless men... Behold, men have fallen into rebellion against the Uraeus, the [. . .] of Re, even she who makes the Two Lands content. [Uraeus refers to the cobra, representing the goddess who was believed to be the protector, worn on the pharaoh’s elaborate hat].... Behold, Egypt is fallen to pouring of water, and he who poured water on the ground has carried off the strong man in misery. [The waters of the Red Sea returned (Exodus 14:27) at the behest of the man who poured water which turned into blood when it reached the ground - Exodus 4:9, 30]... Behold, the Serpent is taken from its hole, and the secrets of the Kings of Upper and Lower Egypt are divulged. [The cobra god failed to protect the king]... Behold, the land has knotted itself up with confederacies, and the coward takes the brave man’s property.” [With the decimation of the king’s army in the Red Sea, there is no more enforcement of the law, and the country is now ruled by a collection of warlords?]

Pharaoh is left without his army

Exodus 14:28 “Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained.”

Exodus 15:4 “Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.”

What went through Pharaoh’s mind as he realized that all the troops he had sent in pursuit were now drowned? Now even his closest advisors around him would regard the man who sent his army to their death as a fool. The comments in the papyrus remarkably fit this scenario.

In very plain language SECTION VII declares that the king has been deposed by the rabble (the same term as the NIV in Numbers 11:4). The ordinary people would not feel like defending the pharaoh who had sent his army to their death in the Red Sea. And so “ the land has been deprived of the kingship by a few lawless men.”

Rebellion against Uraeus refers to the cobra, worn on the pharaoh’s elaborate headdress, and representing the goddess who was believed to be the king’s protector. The reference to “pouring of water, and he who poured water on the ground” fits well with the returning of the waters of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:27) at the behest of the man who poured water which turned into blood when it reached the ground - Exodus 4:9, 30.

The serpent taken from its hole also appears to say that the cobra god failed to protect the king. The reference to confederacies and the seizing of property ties in with the decimation of the king’s army in the Red Sea, leaving no more enforcement of the law, and the country ruled by a collection of warlords.

Next time, God willing, the seventh category of comments in the Ipuwer papyrus.