This is scary stuff. Gee, one would think there is a deluge of
" let's discredit Christianity" if one didn't know better! :-)
Simcha Jacobovici responds to Professor Ronald Hendel's review, "Viewer Beware: The Exodus Decoded"...Prof. Hendel says that I claim, "the Biblical Jacob and Joseph were Hyksos rulers." Is his scholarship so sloppy generally or only when it comes to the lowly art form called film? I never state that Jacob was a Hyksos ruler. Anywhere. Ever. The Bible makes no such claims and I make no such claims. What I do point to with respect to Joseph – not Jacob - is a royal Hyksos seal with the name "Yakov'Har" on it. I argue that since the Book of Genesis claims that "Yosef ben Yakov" was second in command to Pharaoh, this could be Joseph's royal seal. One would expect to find Joseph's father's name on the seal... As Prof. Hendel knows, Egyptian royal seals allow for a doubling up of the last letter of the first word to also act as the first letter of the second word. Scholars accept that the "Yakov'Har" inscription can also be read "Yakov B'Har." They generally think this means "Jacob of the mountains." But what anyone who attends daily synagogue services knows (or at least services on the High Holidays) is that the Orthodox prayer service repeats a Biblical formula that reads "Yakov B'Har, Israel le Sgulato." Which means God chose Jacob/ Israel as his special one. So what we have in the "Yakov B'Har" seal is a unique seal, with no parallel in Egyptian royal seals, dating to the beginning of the Hyksos period, that can be read "Jacob is God's chosen." If Prof. Hendel wants to argue this, that's his prerogative. But it doesn't help to misquote me by stating that I claim that Jacob was a king of Egypt.
August 29, 2006