The First National State

Egypt

Ancient Near East

Egypt’s unique geographical features allowed it to develop independently of most foreign influence.It was bordered by arid deserts on east and west, rugged terrain to the south

Egypt

1490 BCE, Egyptian forces defeated a coalition of more than 100 Syrian and Canaanite city-states.The battle lends its modern name “Armageddon” to a place where there is a cosmic battle between good and evil

Battle of Megiddo

Egyptian system of writing in pictorial charactersDeveloped at roughly the same time as cuneiform script in Mesopotamia

Hieroglyphics

A large flat slab of basalt inscribed with the same message in three different scriptsIt was not translated until the 19th century CEIt is the key to deciphering hieroglyphics Today’s scholars have found many parallels between Egyptian literature and biblical texts, including Proverbs, Job, and Wisdom writings.

Rosetta Stone

Historians believe he was the Pharaoh at the time of the Exodus

Rameses II

Earliest known reference to Israel as a distinct people appears on a victory inscription of Merneptah, the son of Rameses II.

Israel established in Canaan by late 1200s BCE

• “divine righteousness”—justice, truth, and good conduct

• Temples, windowless sanctuaries—similarly Israel built the Ark of the Covenant

• Temple rituals in both• Circumcision– the surgical removal of

foreskin from the penis. This was an ancient Egyptian rite adopted and perpetuated by the Israelites

Egyptian and Israelite Similarities

Coastal plain, 20-30 miles wide, bordering Mediterranean, later it was occupied by Philistines, Israel’s chief enemy during the age of the Judges

Inland strip, north to south, undulating limestone ridge of low mountains and small valleys, less fertile than the coastline yet this central hill country was the site of the earliest known Israelite settlements

A long rift valley through which the Jordan River (65 miles) flows south from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea (large salt water lake that lies 1290 feet below sea level—the lowest point on the earth’s land surface)

Transjordan, an arid mountainous terrain, but by deep canyons, averages 1,500 ft above sea level, extends from the plains of southern Syria east of Galilee to the southern end of the Dead Sea

Geographical regions of Palestine