This Post Is About The First Evidence, Outside the Bible, That Moses Existed

Archeologists and Biblical historians around the world were agreed on one point: There is no evidence that Moses existed, outside of the Bible.  However, there is now one man,  Prof. Charles Krahmalkov, who says there is plenty of evidence, outside of the Bible, that Moses existed.  This matters because many of the skeptical archeologists and Biblical historians say that the reason that there is no evidence, outside of the Bible, that Moses existed, is because there was no Moses. That Moses was just a made-up character in a novel we call the Bible.

Who, then is the one dissenter, Prof. Charles Krahmalkov?? He is a  Professor Emeritus of Ancient and Biblical Languages at the University of Michigan.  Prof. Krahmalkov received his PhD in Ancient and Biblical Languages from Harvard University. He has published two books that reflect his 40 years of research and publications in the field of Phoenician grammar. Those books are the “Phoenician-Punic Dictionary” and “Phoenician-Punic Grammar”, the latter of which was recently republished by the Society of Biblical Literature.  The reason why these books are important is because of certain inscriptions found, beginning in 1905-1906, in Sinai, which were written in ancient Phoenician and deciphered by Prof. Kramalkov.  Prof. Krahmalkov wrote about these inscriptions, and included photographs, in a 2017 article to the Belgian Academy for the Study of Ancient and Oriental Languages. The article is called “The Chief of Miners, Moses: Sinai 346, c.1250 BCE. You can find a condensed version of his 45 page article on Google.

In the winter of 1905-1906, Sir Flanders Petrie, discovered the largest Egyptian temple to have existed outside of the Nile Valley, on Mt. Serabit el-Khadem, in Southwest Sinai. This temple existed near a number of mines and a mining community. The temple was dedicated to the Egyptian goddess of mines, whose name was Hathor.  Discovered along a path, in 1930, from the Hathor Temple to Mine L, were inscriptions photographed, and described, as Sinai 360 and 361. Sinai 360’s inscription, on a small stele near mine K, says, according to Prof. Krahmalkov, that “This is the site of (where took place) the sign the Mashe Mahb-Baalt (Moses) performed with a snake”, possibly referring to Exodus 7:9-10 where Hashem tells Moses that if Aaron throws his staff on the ground, before Pharaoh, the staff will become a snake.

Sinai 361 is an inscription written on a rock embedded in the ground at the entrance to Mine N. It reads, according to Prof. Krahmalkov that: “This is the site of (where stood) the snake of bronze that Mashe Mahub-Baalt (Moses) made”.  This inscription seems to refer to an incident related in Numbers 21:6-9, where Hashem released fiery serpents, on the Hebrews, and many died.  However, when Moses prayed for the people, Hashem relented, and told Moses that if he made a fiery serpent of brass, and the Hebrew people looked at it, they would live, even though they had been bitten.

Sinai 377 is an inscription found on a ridge on a path from an oasis to Mt. Serabit. That inscription reads, according to Prof. Krahmalkov: “This is the site of where appeared the manna”. This inscription may refer to the manna received by the Hebrews in the desert in Exodus 16: 14-35.

Professor Krahmalkov notes that critics of the Bible say that the only mention of Yahweh (Hashem) found in the historical record, is in the 8th century BCE. The critics contend that since Yahweh was not “discovered” until then, there could have been no Exodus, ultimately led by Yahweh, in around 1300-1250 BCE, a major blow to any argument about the existence of an actual man named Moses. However, Sinai 351 shows, on its right half, an image of a g-d, in a shrine. This g-d is not of Egyptian origin because the name of the g-d is inscribed as YHW, or to us, Yahweh. The person identified with making the image is described in an inscription that says, according to Prof. Krahmalkov: “Mashe (Moses) the Miner, (the son of ) Mafhub-Baalt, made this”.

Sinai 375(a) is a plaque which had an image on it. However, the image has been effaced. But there is an inscription on it that says: “This is the Priest of the G-d Yahweh”. The Bible also describes Moses as a priest of the tribe of Levi, whose members were the priests of Hashem.  More evidence of Yahweh is in a cup with a handle and spout, discovered near Gaza, made approximately 1550-1450 BCE, which says, according to Prof. Krahmalkov, that it is a dedication “For Yahweh”. The earliest mention of Yahweh is on a shard of a jug discovered at Tell Nagila, that dates, approximately, 1650-1550 BCE. Only the beginning survives and it says, according to Prof. Krahmalkov: “May Yahweh grant grace and long life to ……”. Also, YHW was how Phoenicians described the g-d of Israel. Only in the ninth century, BCE, that Jews began to spell Yahweh, in Hebrew, with an extra added letter H, so that Yahweh became YHWH, or the Tetragrammaton. How do we know that the Hebrews were in Israel at the time the Bible gives?? Because a stele was erected in 1207 BCE, by Egyptian king Merneptah, which said: “Ashkelon has been captured, Gezer seized and Yangon utterly annihilated. The Israelite (singular collective) is wiped out. His seed (race) is no more. Khari (Palestine) is become a widow because of Egypt”. This stele was discovered in 1897. Professor Khalmalkov notes that the region where all the finds, described in this paragraph, are located, is in the same region as Ashkelon, Gezer and Yanoam. In other words, he argues, inscriptions from Sinai and Palestine were written by a group of Israelites.

Sinai 357 is an inscription written on a wall of a turquoise mine on Mt. Serabit, which says: “These are the offerings that Malkishama sacrificed in the month of Abib: Four lambs”. The month named Abib (March-April) is unique to the Israelite among the Phoenician calendars. March and April today generally contain Passover, and the four lambs described on Mt. Serabit, are likely the Paschal sacrifice, which is mentioned in Exodus 12: 3-11 and 21-23. The Bible also says that the first Passover was “…in the wilderness of Sinai (Numbers 9:1-5).

Finally, found in the temple of Hathor was a small cuboid statue of a man, Sinai 346. On the bottom of the statue is an inscription, with the phrase, according to Prof. Krahmalkov: “His (Mashe’s) wife presented this to Baalt (a g-d) on behalf of her husband, on behalf of the Chief of Miners, Mashe (Moses). According to Professor Krahmalkov, this statue of Mashe (Moses) and its inscription, is the ancient equivalent of the photograph of a man, bearing an annotation that identified him by name. The fact that this man’s statue was found in a temple to a goddess signifies that this man must have been considered very important.

Professor Krahmalkov argues that he is uniquely qualified to read all the inscriptions mentioned above, and that different translations, made by other historians, were wrong because they did not have the same knowledge of the Phoenician language that he did. Krahmalkov also says that all the above inscriptions and objects listed above support his claim that Mashe=Moses. After all, Prof, Krahmalkov argues, the inscriptions and objects describe a leader of an Israelite community, in a holy mountain in Sinai, that believes in the one god of Yahweh, that says that Mashe (Moses) performed with a snake, that Mashe (Moses) made a bronze snake, that manna appeared there, that lambs were sacrificed in the months containing Passover and that Mashe (Moses) was a priest. The key point of contention in my post/article is something that I don’t know the answer to: Are the inscriptions correctly read by Prof. Krahmalkov and are the artifacts correctly described by Prof. Krahmalkov?? Since I am not an expert in ancient Phoenician, or an expert in ancient artifacts, those questions will have to be answered by someone other than myself.

Thanks for reading this post.