Newly discovered Egyptian relic witnesses to biblical king

A large slab of sandstone covered in superbly preserved hieroglyphic inscriptions was recently unearthed by an Egyptian farmer working in his fields.¹ The slab is 230 cm (91 in) long, 103 cm (41 in) wide, and 45 cm (18 in) thick.² It was discovered…on the west bank of the Suez Canal.

The stone slab, technically known as a stele or stela, is dedicated to a 26th Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh called Wahibre Haaibre (see box on ‘Pharaonic names’). This ruler is recognized by scholars as none other than the Egyptian king mentioned in Jeremiaha 44:30 as Hophra.³ He was also known as Apries by the Greeks, notably by the historians Herodotus (c. 484–c. 425 BC) and Diodorus (c. 90–c. 30 BC). Alternate Greek and Egyptian spellings of Uaphris and Waḥibprê are attributed to the Egyptian historian Manetho (c. early third century bc).⁴

How do scholars know these different names refer to the same person? For one thing, the names don’t look the same; or do they? Egyptologists recognize that the biblical writers often used abbreviated forms of pharaonic names, leaving out the various lengthy formal titles. This was done for Hophra, whereby his personal Egyptian name was transliterated into Hebrew letters, but with minor changes (see box again). This may have been deliberately done to make a pun on his name, which in Hebrew sounds like a combination of two words: 1) ḥepha ‘to cover/veil one’s head in sorrow, particularly before execution’⁵ and 2) ra` ‘evil’.<sup>6</sup> The combined words mean something like ‘to have one’s head covered by evil before execution.’ This suits the context of what Jeremiah prophesied would happen to Hophra. Another wordplay involves the fact that the ra` in Hophra’s name, which happens to sound, as indicated above, just like Hebrew for ‘evil’, denotes the Egyptian sun god.

Judah’s King Zedekiah was contemporaneous with Hophra, who likely reigned from 589–570 BC.⁷ Zedekiah reigned during the closing days of the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah, before the Jews were exiled into Babylonian captivity and Jerusalem was sacked.

Hophra is mentioned by name in Jeremiah’s prophecy: “Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life” (Jeremiah 44:30 cf. 37:5).

The prophet Jeremiah narrates how Nebuchadnezzar II’s Babylonian forces withdrew from their siege of Jerusalem when Hophra’s forces came to defend the city.

“The army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt. And when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 37:5).

However, according to God’s Word to Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar II’s withdrawal would only be temporary, as he would return to destroy Jerusalem.

“Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah who sent you to me to inquire of me, ‘Behold, Pharaoh’s army that came to help you is about to return to Egypt, to its own land. And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city. They shall capture it and burn it with fire’” (Jeremiah 37:7–8).

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References and notes

1 Steinmeyer, N., New Stele of Biblical Pharaoh Found, biblicalarchaeology.org, 1 Jul 2021. 

2 Jarus, O., Farmer discovers 2,600-year-old stone slab from Egyptian pharaoh, livescience.com, 18 Jun 2021. 

3 Kitchen, K., On the Reliability of the Old Testament, William B. Eerdmans, Michigan, pp. 16, 24, 66, 2003. 

4 Waddell, W.G., Manetho, Harvard University Press, London, pp. 170–171, 1964. 

5 This word also occurs in II Samuel 15:30; Jeremiah:14:3And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.
See All...–4; Esther:7:8Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.
See All.... 

6 Koehler, L., et al., The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament, Vols. 1–5, Brill, Leiden, 2000, nos. 3079, 8868. 

7 Kitchen, ref. 3, pp. 24.