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 31  Exodus - an Authentic Record of Events

We continue our investigation of the Ipuwer Papyrus to see what sort of connection may be found between the comments in that inscription, and the book of Exodus.

So far we have seen comments on the first category concerning the water of the Nile being turned to blood, which connects with the first plague which God sent on Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

The comments on the second category consisted of complaints about the destructive effects of the seventh and eighth plagues of hail and locusts, but not directly to how the damage was done.

3. Sudden and Extensive death

Section II “...pestilence is throughout the land, blood is everywhere, death is not lacking, and the mummy-cloth speaks even before one comes near it.... Indeed, many dead are buried in the river; the stream is a sepulcher and the place of embalmment has become a stream .... Indeed, men are few, and he who places his brother in the ground is everywhere.”

Section IV “Indeed, great and small [say]: ‘I wish I might die.’ Little children say: ‘He should not have caused [me] to live.’ [surviving children whose firstborn brothers have died mourn?]... Indeed, the children of princes are [dead is if] dashed against walls, and the children of the neck [parents’ pride & joy] are laid out [too many bodies for embalmers to prepare for burial] on the high ground.[burial ground, above flood-plain?]

Tenth Plague, Death of Firstborn, Exodus 12:29. “And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. 30 So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.”

It would not be unnatural for the Egyptians at the time to assume their country was stricken with a fatal epidemic disease to explain all the death. But this was no ordinary epidemic. The concurrence of all the deaths in one night was unlike anything before or after. This fact is underlined by the apparent laying out of bodies, which would be from well-to-do families, awaiting mortuary procedures - perhaps 15% or 16% of the entire population of Egypt all dying at the same time, besides the normal death rate.

People from all levels of society died. The poorer families evidently had nowhere else for burial but the river, and if we accept the translation, Ipuwer expresses this with a play on the word “stream”, to emphasize the great numbers of these also, all dying at the same time.

“Children of the neck” in Section IV sounds like an expression referring to the favorite in each family. In the early part of his life, Reuben, the oldest son of Jacob, was his father’s favorite. As Jacob told him, “you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power” - Genesis 49:3. But sadly Reuben in later life proved himself unworthy of his father’s former regard, and lost his status as the future leader of his family (v. 4). Every person who died in Egypt - one in every household, was a firstborn, and therefore most the dead would be favorite sons, all in various stages of being groomed for their future role. Next, God willing, Category 4 - Slaves plundering Egyptians.