The Jews have had connections with Egypt from very early times. Because of a famine, Jacob and all of his family moved to Egypt and settled in a land called Goshen. Later, it would be Moses who would lead them out of Egypt and into a land of their own. However, because of enemy invasions, wars and unstable conditions at home, over the years, many Jews returned to Egypt and established colonies. One such colony was on an island called Elephantine.

The island of Elephantine (Elephant Island) is located about 600 miles down the Nile river from Cairo and served for many years as the southern border military outpost of Egypt. The waterfalls at this location made the river impassible. Therefore, it was a natural location to station border guards. The island was called the doorway to the south. From sometime in the 500's B.C. to about 400 B.C. a colony of Jews served as foreign legion soldiers hired by the Egyptian government to protect this important border crossing. But, it is what the Jews left behind that is important to us today.

In the early 1900's, archeologists dug up nearly 100 ancient documents that belonged to the Jewish colonists. These included wills, deeds, contracts, letters and other documents that date back to the 400's B.C.. In Bible times, these documents were written in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah. Among them are letters back home to Israel and most important of all, documents with double-dates from two different calendars. These double-dates included a date from the Jewish calendar and the date from the calendar being used by the rulers of Egypt. For instance, in a marriage contract of a former slave girl, written in 420 B.C. it reads: On the first day of the month of Tishri, that is Epiphi, the year 4 of King Darius, in the fortress Elephantine . . . " Here, Tishri is the Jewish month and Epiphi is the other date. The double-dates are important because they allow us to match the calendar used by the Jews in Israel with the calendar used by the Egyptians at that time.
This permits Bible scholars to reconstruct most of the Jewish calendar for a large part of the 400's.

The discovery of the ancient documents on the island of Elephantine is just another little piece of evidence proving your Bible to be accurate and trustworthy.

Next week, the seemingly impossible task of matching up calendars based on the moon with those based on the sun.

Blessings in your study of God's Word!

Marvin Hunt

There is never a charge for my articles, and if you have a good reason, there is no limit to how many you may request. However, if you find them valuable you may want to order my latest book, History, Mystery and Facts About the Bible. Order at 1-800-845-7618 (ext. 301). You may also order from Amazon.com. Proceeds from the book go to support this ministry.

Blessings!
Marvin Hunt

Http://www.biblehistory.com

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