Summary: Dr. Douglas Petrovich’s book on the world’s oldest alphabetic script and a new companion volume on evidence for Israelites in Egypt are set to be published – but he needs help to make this happen.
“I promise that I will bring you up out of your affliction in Egypt …. to a land flowing with milk and honey. – Exodus 3:17 (ESV)
Two Petrovich Books and an Opportunity to Help
Many of you will recognize Dr. Douglas Petrovich from the film Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy, where he argued for the case that Hebrew was the language of world’s oldest alphabetic script that arose during the time the Israelites were in Egypt. As Professor of Biblical History and Exegesis at The Bible Seminary (Katy, Texas), Petrovich has a Ph.D. minor in ancient Egyptian language and teaches all levels of biblical Hebrew. He has also appeared in previous Thinker Updates as well as in our, Hebrew: The World’s Oldest Alphabet, Lecture DVD.
Previously, Professor Petrovich presented his research in his highly controversial book, The World’s Oldest Alphabet, which has since gone out of print. He is also announcing the completion of a new book on evidence for the Israelites in Egypt. We have asked him to profile each of these books and share an opportunity for you to join in the effort to get these two books published and printed.
Petrovich on His World’s Oldest Alphabet Book
In this book I profile how the proto-Hebrew script originated in the middle of the nineteenth century BC and was the byproduct of Joseph’s two oldest sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who developed the pictographic script by taking 22 signs from the hieroglyphic sign list and using them to represent the consonants in their alphabet. This invention led to our alphabet, which allows you to understand what is written here in the Thinker Update.
The World’s Oldest Alphabet (TWOA) includes a section on Sinai 115 and its mostly-Middle-Egyptian caption that reads, “6 Levantines, Hebrews of Bethel, the beloved,” which was inscribed by Joseph’s son, Manasseh, under his Egyptian name, Hebeded. By far, Sinai 115 represents the oldest attested extra-biblical reference to the Hebrew/Israelite people (1842 BC).
Another extremely important facet of TWOA is how three of the inscriptions translated in the book attest to biblical figures: Asenath, Ahisamach, and Moses. Asenath is the name of Joseph’s wife, and the inscription dates to a time about 130 years after she was born, which almost certainly is at least several decades after her death and refers to a vineyard that was named after her posthumously.
Ahisamach was the father of Oholiab (Exod 31:6), one of the two men whom God specially selected to construct the tabernacle after the Israelites had left Egypt. The inscription, which dates to sometime during the last several decades before the exodus, states that Ahisamach was “the overseer of minerals” at Serabit el-Khadim, the site of turquoise mining operations in Sinai, which is suited perfectly to the occupation that should be expected of Oholiab’s father.
The inscription naming Moses (Sinai 361) declares that “Moses provoked astonishment,” which almost certainly refers to the effects of some unknown number of the ten plagues that had already been unleashed on the Egyptians.
Unfortunately, TWOA completely sold out right about the time that COVID hit, just after my publisher (Carta: Jerusalem) decided to reprint the book. COVID had devastating results for Carta, because the majority of their books are sold to tourists in Israel who frequent Israeli and Palestinian souvenir shops, as the pandemic eliminated virtually all foreign access to Israel.
Companion Volume – Origins of the Hebrews
I have a background as a biblical scholar, historian, archaeologist, Egyptologist, and epigrapher and specialize in the Israelite sojourn in Egypt. During the pandemic I worked diligently to complete the writing of the companion volume to TWOA, which is titled, Origins of the Hebrews: New Evidence for Israelites in Egypt from Joseph to the Exodus (OOTH).
While TWOA features the translation and biblio-historical importance of 15 proto-consonantal Hebrew inscriptions dating from 1840–1446 BC (which falls within the 430 years during which biblical chronology requires that Jacob and his descendants resided in Egypt, before the exodus), OOTH offers the results of groundbreaking research that provides evidence of Israelites in Egypt from Joseph’s day until the exodus, which Moses led.
This evidence exists in the form of Middle Egyptian (hieroglyphic) inscriptions that name Joseph, Manasseh, Ephraim, Shechem (Manasseh’s son), persuasive signs of Joseph’s administration as Egypt’s vizier during the middle of Dynasty 12, uniquely-Israelite domestic architecture in Egypt that is identical to the later architectural style of the Israelite homes in Canaan after the conquest, and inscriptional and material cultural remains that attest to the presence of Israelites in Egypt just before the exodus occurred.
In addition, mass burials of the four types of animals listed as being in the Israelites’ vicinity at the time of the tenth plague on Egypt (i.e., dogs, cattle, sheep, and goats, per Exodus 11 and 12) that date to the reign of Amenhotep II (the exodus pharaoh) are argued to be the direct physical remains of the deadly visitation by the angel of death (Exod 12:23). (See Thinker article by Dr. Petrovich)
Evidence Necessary to Refute Biased Criticism
The importance of this volume cannot be overstated, because professors in universities around the world have used the lack of any evidence of Israelites in Egypt during the Bible’s Egyptian sojourn to ridicule the concept of the historical reliability of the biblical text. With the publication of this book, for the first time ever, powerful evidence is presented that will refute these criticisms for any objective thinker.
Students will be equipped with strong argumentation that they can use to rebut the unfair accusations of biased university professors and teachers with a low view of the Bible. Jews and Christians who believe in the reality of the Egyptian sojourn and exodus will be vindicated in their conviction that the Bible presents a historical account of these events. These two books go hand in hand to provide a brand new day for the fields of biblical history and apologetics.
Printing Approved
Carta finally just approved the reprinting of TWOA, but they do not have the capital to pay for the printing. At the same time, I could not publish OOTH with a pedigreed Christian publisher in the United States, either because my proposal was rejected for supporting a literal Egyptian sojourn and exodus or because I proposed that the exodus occurred in the middle of the fifteenth century BC, which is not the view held by the publishers’ consultants, who control what books the publishers will and will not publish.
Therefore, OOTH must be published by a newer Christian publisher, which requires the raising of funds for a print-run of 1000 books, the same amount of copies of TWOA that Carta first published at the end of 2016. In light of this, I have begun a crowd-funded campaign to raise funds for the publication of my two books.
Funding Needed and Perks to Donors
In order to cover the cost of (1) reprinting TWOA, (2) printing OOTH, (3) artists’ drawings, (4) an indexer’s work, (5) the shipping of books to consignors, (6) INDIEGOGO fees, and (7) miscellaneous costs, a total of $32,500 needs to be raised. All of this will provide for 1000 copies of both books. This conservative printing represents the exact number of copies of TWOA that were printed early in 2017.
Because these 1000 copies sold out by 2020, there is no reason to believe that 1000 copies of each book will not sell out now, especially considering all the email I’ve received asking how they might find a copy of TWOA, or when OOTH will be in print.
You can help fill this need by contributing any amount toward the campaign. Anyone who donates $500 will receive a signed copy of OOTH. Anyone who donates $1,000 will receive a signed copy of OOTH, electronic versions of each of my proto-consonantal Hebrew inscriptions that are documented in TWOA, plus five hours of his or her own online conference with me that delves into any area of either book that the donor prefers. Plus, you will be free to invite as many family members and friends that you want to participate in the virtual conference with you. If you would like to contribute to the campaign, here is the link: https://igg.me/at/dp-2-books Thank you for your consideration.
NOTE: Not every view expressed by scholars contributing Thinker articles necessarily reflects the views of Patterns of Evidence. We include perspectives from various sides of debates on biblical matters so that readers can become familiar with the different arguments involved. – Keep Thinking!
TOP PHOTO: A line drawing of some of the world’s oldest alphabetic inscriptions from Wadi el-Hol in Egypt from the Middle Kingdom (12th Dynasty) around the time of Joseph. Source: Bruce Zuckerman in Collaboration with Lynn Swartz Dodd, Pots and Alphabets: Refractions of Reflections on Typological Method (MAARAV, A Journal for the Study of the Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures, Vol. 10, p. 89) (public domain via Wikimedia Commons)
