No longer can he be referred to only as a fictitious character from the Old Testament. Neither is his name limited to the lead singer in the 400th production you have seen of some youth theater’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, where you were forced to go back stage and tell your dear friend that her child was wonderful, even when he stunk.
Coins from Joseph’s era have been discovered in boxes long ago stashed and ignored in Egypt’s National Museum. They were previously believed to be charms and ornaments because some of them have holes, thus the slow interest and gradual realization that they were actually coins. One of the coins does indeed bear the image of Joseph and identifies him as the head of Pharaoh’s treasury.
This is the first piece of evidence from the field of archaeology that authenticates Joseph as a Bible personage who really, truly lived, but not the first time facts eliminated other disputes from skeptics. Israel’s very existence at the time ascribed to the exodus and even the reality of King David himself have been challenged. But recent findings forced all honest cynics to retract their words and take a second look.
David’s existence is corroborated by two pieces of basalt with the phrase, “House of David in one section and “King of Israel” in another. 1 A stele from ancient Egypt also provides much earlier corroboration for Israel’s existence as a nation during the time of King Mernapoth, the Pharaoh who succeeded Ramsees II.2 (You know. That guy who messed up and saw his men clobbered at the Red Sea? OK. “Sea of Reeds” for those of you just waiting to jump on me over accuracy.)
The Bible has been around for a long time and has survived attacks from every single generation. And yet, ironically, time also seems to be the Bible’s friend, as time continues to unearth ancient witnesses.
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