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Being a righteous man and a friend of God, there can be no doubt that he introduced God's
laws into the land -- including the weekly Sabbath and holy days. In order to correctly keep these
days Joseph must also have reintroduced the lunar calendar or corrected the one introduced by
Abraham. All evidence points to the fact that the Egyptians maintained a lunar calendar all through
the Middle Kingdom (the time of the Israelite presence in Egypt).

When the Israelites left Egypt in a mass exodus at the end of the 12th and 13th dynasties of
the Middle Kingdom, they were met by large numbers (the records indicate 240,000) of Amale-
kites that were heading for Egypt to fill the power vacuum left by the collapse of the ruling dynas-
ties. These Amalekites, known to the historians as the Hyksos, brought with them into Egypt a new
calendar. There is a gloss (a note of comment or explanation) found on a manuscript of Timaeus (a
Greek historian of Tauromenium, now Taormina, Sicily; circa 356-260 B.C.) which states "that the
Egyptian calendar of a 360-day solar year was introduced into Egypt by the Hyksos, following the
fall of the Middle Kingdom."

When the seven-year famine forced Joseph's father Jacob to send his sons to Egypt for
food, the Egyptian pharaoh approved the move of Jacob and his household into the land, and gave
them the very best of the land in Goshen. History indicates that Jacob and his sons became rulers in
Egypt, and also the island of Crete which was, at that time, under Egyptian control. There can be
no doubt that with the powerful influence of Joseph and his family in Egypt, God's laws and Sab-
bath days were diligently kept while they remained alive. There can also be no doubt that many of
the Egyptians, when confronted with the tremendous blessings that Joseph and his kin received for
obeying God, also kept God's laws -- including the weekly Sabbath.

This enlightened state of affairs lasted until the death of Joseph. Then, we read in Josephus,
"and having, in length of time, forgotten the benefits they [the Egyptians] had received from Joseph,
PARTICULARLY THE CROWN BEING NOW COME INTO ANOTHER FAMILY, they became
very abusive to the Israelites, and contrived many ways of afflicting them...(Antiquities of the
Jews, chapter IX, verse 1). Evidently, with the usurping of the Egyptian throne by the founder of
the 12th dynasty, a new dynasty came into power which did not revere the memory of Joseph and
all he had done for the country. Following the Israelites plunge into virtual slavery, the memory of
God's true Sabbath day also became lost and they were forced to work around the clock building
pyramids and waterways for the new pharaohs.

In a statement that may have a bearing on the Egyptian captivity, the Encyclopedia Biblica
makes this comment:

Hosea takes it for granted that in/during captivity, the CREATION LUNAR WEEKLY
SABBATH will be suspended, like all the other feasts, because in his day, a feast implied
A SANCTUARY (= 6944 = qodesh = a sacred, consecrated, dedicated Most Holy Place)!
The Sabbath marks Israel's separation from the heathen/pagans/Gentiles (1899, p. 4177).

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