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Cody Poe
Dr. Gilmore
Bible 499
May 1, 2013
Ipuwer Papyrus: A Credible Contribution for Confirmation
An integral piece of conservative Christian theology is the literal rendering of miracles
performed by people of faith. The ability to perform miracles is undeniably the work of God,
throughas the Bible1 notesthe Holy Spirit. This Spirit is believed to be a form of
identification; and in a first-century Jerusalem and Rome, when an indescribable amount of
persecution against Christians occurred, the Spirit served as a confirmationshowing the
messenger, or follower to be of Christ. However, the twenty-first century is bound to
evidence, leaving little room for faith. Because there are not any credible people healing the
sick through unnatural means, or there are not any credible people predicting certain plagues,
some skeptics are led to believe that the Bible is illogical, flawed, and ignorant2. This is
fallacious reasoning: Just because people are incapable of doing something miraculous today,
does not mean that all human beings were always incapable. One case is found in the book of
Exodus. Moses, a Jew who was raised in Pharaohs house, through miracles, which he
predicted, guided the enslaved Israelites out of bondage and helped establish Israel as a
nation. However, the book of Exodus, in conjunction with all of the books of the Bible, is
often criticized and considered to be a myth, in part, because there are very few non-biased
sources that confirm what the Bible refers to as miracles. But what if there were? If there was
an unbiased historical document that confirms the manifestation of the miracles of Exodus,
then that document is necessary for concluding that Exodus has credibility as a historical and

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religious document. Enter the Ipuwer Papyrus, an Egyptian text that parallels the Biblical
account of the plagues, confirmingin this instancethe plight of the Israelites, and the
miracles that led them to freedom, and giving Exodus credibility as a historical and religious
document.
Ipuwer and His Papyrus
Limited to one document, which he authored, Ipuwer is described by what is generally
known of himan ancient Egyptian sage who is known because of the discovery of one
poorly preserved manuscript relating his speech to the king and the royal court (Ipuwer).
Dr. James Breasted, in The American Journal of Theology, embellishes a picture of the
speech:
An Egyptian sage named Ipuwer stands in the presence of the king and some
others, probably his court and in response to a lost utterance of the king, the
wise man addresses them in a long harangue filling a lurid description of
the decadence and disorganization of Egypt. (114,5)
Ipuwers manuscript, Leiden 344, currently resides at the Dutch National Museum
of Antiquities in Leiden, Netherlands. Chemist Russell Grigg, of Creation Ministries
International, makes reference to the discovery of Ipuwer Papyrus, dating it back to 1828 AD.
The papyrus was copied by a scribe during The New Kingdom; specifically, biologist Siro
I. Trevisanato says, the style of writing indicates that the scribe performed his work around
1250-1225 BC. The scribe, however, merely copied words from an earlier manuscript. The
words in the text betray a much earlier author (Trevisanato 20). This earlier penman, whom
Trevisanato considers to be Ipuwers secretary, probably, as author Roger Isaacs notes, wrote
the piece around 1650 BC. This date places the author, Ipuwer, within a time frame that may

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include the years that the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. Ipuwer, being an Egyptian
contemporary during the Israelites enslavement, can provide appropriate, unbiased
documentation as to the manifestation of miracles in Egypt during the exodus.
It must be noted here that many scholars have placed the exodus in later dates. Isaacs
posits that the exodus occurred between 1570 and 1290 BC, though he does not reveal any
legitimate reason for conveying those dates. Other writers and critics, such as Dr. Douglas
Petrovich, contend that the exodus can be dated with complete confidence at 1446 BC.
While those who contend with such a degree certainty may do so fallaciously, there remains a
relevant disparity with the dates. Such a disparity has caused many Christian apologists to
back away from connecting Ipuwer to Exodus. Author of the book, The Bible as History,
Kevin McKinney, says that the correlation is just too strong: I personally find it difficult to
believe that two independently written documents, recording similar events all of which take
place in Egypt, can be so similar and are in no way related to one another (McKinney). W.J.
Tait calls it a prophetic text, possibly conveying a future uprising within the slaves. Isaacs,
in an attempt to synthesize the disconnection, writes Could it be that the scribes who copied
the document at the time of the Exodus were experiencing similar calamities to the earlier
ones and were using Ipuwer's words to warn the present-day Pharaoh? Perhaps these
calamities are the direct result of the Hebrew God, freeing his encumbered people.
Dating of the papyrus will undoubtedly be the catalyst of dissention among scholars,
writers, and Bible enthusiasts until further archeology reveals an unequivocal answer. Until
then, suffice it to say that the disparity between assumed dates is capable of neither proving
nor disproving the reality that two documents written, as first-hand accounts, by authors of
different origin contain the same content about a specific event in Egyptian history.

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Parallel Presentations
The Ipuwer Papyrus describes a time of troubles in the land (Williams 20)
troubles, the Bible reports, resulting from an uprising of slaves, aided by an omnipotent God.
As previously mentioned, the greatest connection between Exodus and Ipuwer Papyrus may
not be in relation to time, but content.
Exodus 7:8-13 narrates Moses and Aarons appearance before Pharaoh. In order to
verify his authenticity as a divinely appointed emissary to Israel, Moses had earlier performed
his corroborative signs before the people. Now he must do the same before Pharaoh (Sarna
37). It is during these encounters that Moses offers Pharaoh conditional contracts, stating that
if Pharaoh would let the children of Israel go free, then God would not send a plague. On ten
separate occasions Pharaoh acquiesced to the conditions, followed by a quick redaction of the
commitment. These redactions preceded Gods incomparable majesty, displayed through
reality transcending miracles.
The correlation between the Bibles account and the Ipuwer Papyrus is uncanny. Out
of the ten plagues recorded in Exodus, five are divulged in Ipuwerfour of which are
particularly difficult to explain through science or reason. In Exodus 7:20 the Bible says,
Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his
servants, he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile
turned into blood (English Standard Version). Siro Trevisanato contends that the redness
could be the result of dust, algae, red rain, or a volcano (21,6)all of which being logical
causes; however, natural or biological enactors could have caused the result many times
before: Ipuwer writes as though it is extraordinary. Consider the following verses from the

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Ipuwer Papyrus: 2:5-6 Plague is throughout the land. Blood is everywhere; 2:10 The river
is blood; 2:10 Men shrink from tasting - human beings, and thirst after water; 3:10-13
That is our water! That is our happiness! What shall we do in respect thereof? All is ruin
(Gardine). Ipuwers language, again, doesnt reveal commonplace, but an abnormal tragedy.
The Nile was Egypts water source and Moses effectively eliminated the societys basic
necessity.
Later, in Exodus 9:23-25 and 9:31-32, the Bible says,
Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder
and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land
of Egypt. There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail,
very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became
a nation. The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of
Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail struck down every plant of the field
and broke every tree of the field. (English Standard Version)
The parallels to this passage are: 2:10 Forsooth, gates, columns and walls are consumed by
fire; 10:3-6 Lower Egypt weeps... The entire palace is without its revenues. To it belong [by
right] wheat and barley, geese and fish; 6:3 Forsooth, grain has perished on every side;
5:12 Forsooth, that has perished which was yesterday seen. The land is left over to its
weariness like the cutting of flax (Gardine). The result of this tremendous display of nature
(Administered by God), left Egypt in shambles.
Moses, in Exodus 9:3, predicts a plague on Egypts livestock, Behold, the hand of
the LORD will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the
horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks (English Standard Version). Ipuwer

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records the result, All animals, their hearts weep. Cattle moan (Gardine). The plagues, in
these verses and the ones prior affect the livelihood of the Egyptians. What follows affects
their entire reality. Exodus 10:22 records, So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven,
and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days (English Standard Version).
Ipuwer similarly recollects in 9:11, The land is without light. God shows Pharaoh that he,
God, is so powerful that the sunan Egyptian god (Lockyer 3)is subject to his every word.
Finally, the plagues go from humbling to intimate. In Exodus 12:29-30 the Bible records,
At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from
the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive
who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. And Pharaoh
rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there
was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not
dead. (English Standard Version)
The plagues eliminated the water source, destroyed the crops, diseased the livestock, darkened
the earth, and killed the firstborns in Egypt, which included Pharaohs own child. Ipuwer, with
a voice of desperation, writes, 4:3 (5:6) Forsooth, the children of princes are dashed against
the walls; 6:12 Forsooth, the children of princes are cast out in the streets; 6:3 The prison
is ruined; 2:13 He who places his brother in the ground is everywhere; 3:14 It is groaning
throughout the land, mingled with lamentations (Gardine). The Bible goes on to say that the
children of Israel, essentially, plundered their masters for riches; Ipuwer, too, notes this: 3:2
Gold and lapis lazuli, silver and malachite, carnelian and bronze... are fastened on the neck
of female slaves (Gardine).

Parallel and Proven

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Egypt was inexplicably derailed, and Ipuwer, an unbiased Egyptian wise man, aptly
recorded an almost exact parallel of the message found in the Bible. Research reveals no
dispute with regard to the legitimacy of Ipuwers claims of despair, tragedy, and the
manifestation of abnormal reality-transcending events. How then can one conclude that a
document, which parallels Ipuwers legitimate document, is itself illegitimate? It is necessary
to conclude then, because that which the Bible calls miracles is confirmed by Impuwer,
Exodus is, in turn, confirmed to be a viable and credible source for historical and religious
knowledge.

"1 Corinthians 12:6-7." The Holy Bible: New International Version. Colorado Springs, CO:
International Bible Society, 1984. Print.
2
See Hume, David. An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, page
122.
1

Breasted, James H. "The Earliest Social Prophet." Chicago UP, 17 Apr. 2013. Print.

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Gardine, A. H. "The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage from a Hieratic Papyrus in
Leiden." Full Text of "The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage from a Hieratic Papyrus
in Leiden(Pap. Leiden 344 Recto)" Internet Archive, Web. 17 Apr. 2013.
Griggs, Russell. "The Ten Plagues of Egypt." Creation. Christian Ministries International.
Web. 29 Apr. 2013.
"Ipuwer." Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica Online Academic Edition.
Encyclopdia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.
Isaacs, Roger. "Passover In Egypt: Did the Exodus Really Happen?" The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 09 Apr. 2011. Web. 29 Apr. 2013.
Lockyer, Norman. The Dawn of Astronomy; a Study of the Temple Worship and Mythology of
the Ancient Egyptians. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T., 1964. Print.
McKinney, Kevin. "Ipuwer Papyrus - Does It Provide Proof Of The Plagues?" Bible
Archeology. 22 Sept. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2013.
Tait, W. J. 'Never Had the like Occurred': Egypt's View of Its past. London: UCL, Institute of
Archaeology, 2003. 103. Print.
Trevisanato, Siro I. The Plagues of Egypt: Archaeology, History, and Science Look at the
Bible. Piscataway, NJ: Euphrates, 2005. Print.