Trustworthy History

 Titles and terms

Accurate history is often revealed in the details-customs, etiquette, names and titles of officials, and so on.  How do the books of Genesis and Exodus, the first two books of the Bible, measure up to this respect? Regarding the Genesis narrative about Joseph, a son of the patriarch Jacob, as well as the book of Exodus, J. Garrow Duncan says in his book New Light on Hebrew Origins:" [the Bible writer] was thoroughly well acquainted with Egyptian language, customs, beliefs, court life, and etiquette and officialdom." He adds: [The writer] employs the correct title in use and exactly as it was used at the period referred to. . . . In fact, nothing more convincingly proves the intimate knowledge of things Egyptian in the Old Testaments, and the reliability of the writers, than the uses of the Pharaoh at different periods." Duncan also states: "When [the writer] brings his characters into the presence of Pharaoh, he makes them observe the correct court etiquette and use the correct language."

Brickmaking

During their period of slavery in Egypt, the Israelites made bricks out of clay mixed with straw, which serves as a binding material. (Exodus 1:14; 5:6-18) Some years ago, the book Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries stated: "In few places has [brickmaking] been practiced more than in Egypt, where sun-dried bricks still are, as they have always been, the characteristic building material of the country."  The book also mentions "the Egyptian practice of using straw in making bricks," thus corroborating that addition detail recorded in the Bible. 

Next time: Business enterprises 

From the jw.org publications