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great nation envied and feared by the Pharaoh who the "seven years of famine" (Genesis 41:29-30) was
"knew not Joseph." We need not stretch our imagina- discovered during the nineteenth century in southern
tions very far to appreciate that the Israelites, cradled Saudi Arabia. This inscription was found on a marble
in the great centre of civilization would apply them- tablet in a ruined fortress on the seashore of
selves to the arts and skills practiced in Egypt and Hadramaut in present-day Democratic Yemen. An ex-
would create that which was unique to them. amination of the writing suggests that it was written
approximately eighteen hundred years before the birth
Their skills were later to be applied to the construction of Christ, a time that corresponds with the biblical nar-
of the Tabernacle, under Divine guidance. There is evi- rative about Jacob and his twelve sons. This inscription
dence to the effect that a contingent of Danites left was rendered in Arabic by Professor Schultens and was
Egypt before the general Exodus from Egypt and colo- later translated into English by Rev. Charles Forster.
nized Greece helping to create the "Glory that was
Greece." Diodorus writes: "In Egypt there were for- This is his translation of this ancient inscription:
merly multitudes of strangers who used foreign rites
and ceremonies in worshipping the gods, for which We dwelt at ease in this castle a long tract of time;
they were expelled from Egypt and, under Danaus, nor had we a desire but for the region-lord of the
Cadmus and other skillful commanders came into vineyard.
Greece and other places. But the greater part came Hundreds of camels returned to us each day at
into Judea being conducted there by Moses a wise and evening,
valiant man." The other tribes became the nation of Is- their eye pleasant to behold in their resting-places.
rael in Canaan where they ultimately backslid from And twice the number of our camels were our sheep,
their God and separated into two separate and distinct in comeliness like white does, and also the slow
nations -- Israel and Judah. The former, Israel, con- moving kine.
sisted of the ten northern tribes: they separated them- We dwelt in this castle seven years of good life
selves from the Throne of David and from Temple -- how difficult for memory its description!
worship and the people became more and more like Then came years barren and burnt up:
the Gentiles around them. In 721 B.C. they were con- when one evil year had passed away,
quered by the Assyrian Empire and transplanted into Then came another to succeed it.
other parts of that Empire, where they became "Gen- And we became as though we had never seen a
tiles" as the prophets foretold. glimpse of good.
They died and neither foot nor hoof remained.
When Assyria was conquered by the Babylonians, the Thus fares it with him who renders not thanks to
gentilized Israelites moved out, to become "wanderers God:
amongst the nations," as the prophets also foretold. It His footsteps fail not to be blotted out from his
was by "wandering" peoples, Scythians and Celts, that dwelling.
Britain was first colonized. Historian Sharon Turner
traced the Anglo-Saxons to the Scythians. Assuredly This ancient poem records the devastation of the years
this Israelitish origin of the English-speaking peoples, of famine and barrenness that followed the seven years
which puzzled Mr. Burton-Brown, is seen in the affini- of plenty. The language of the poem implies that the
ties between the arts and skills of Ancient Egypt, the famine also lasted seven years. This account from an-
Ancient Greeks, the Etruscans, the Scythians and, sub- cient Arabia provides independent evidence confirm-
sequently, the Celts, Anglo-Saxons and the kindred ing the accuracy of the biblical account of the seven
folk who now constitute the great family of nations of years of plenty in the Middle East followed by seven
western Christendom -- modern Israel. years of famine that occurred during the rule of Joseph
as prime minister of Egypt.
-- W.F. Finlayson.
Moses recorded the history of the Egyptian famine and
Joseph and the Seven Years of the wise preparations that Joseph made to gather up the
Famine surplus grain during the seven years of plenty to pro-
vide against the coming years of famine. "So he gath-
ered up all the food of the seven years which were in
A fascinating inscription confirming the Bible's ac- the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; he
count of the "seven years of great plenty" followed by
laid up in every city the food of the fields which

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