The Moses Legacy - Adam Palmer [39]
Mansoor picked up on this.
‘The idea that it was a separate ancient work that got written into the biblical narrative fits in very neatly with the carbon dating of the papyrus. 1600 BC would put it well before the traditional dating of the Israelite exodus. But more importantly, it would also fit in very neatly with the volcanic eruption of Santorini round about that time.’
‘Why would the eruption of Santorini have anything to do with the parting of the waters in Egypt?’ asked Daniel.
‘Because according to oceanographers, the eruption of Santorini would have produced a tsunami that would have reached the shores of Egypt and would have been especially pronounced in a shallow body of water that had an outlet to the sea. And when a tsunami strikes, because of the way waves move, the first thing that happens is that the water flows out, thereby creating a dry area which then becomes flooded when the water rushes back.’
‘Of course!’ said Daniel. ‘And that perfectly fits the biblical account of the parting of the waters, followed by the deluge.’
‘Are there any other points of comparison in the text?’ Mansoor followed up.
‘Well, if we look down to lines five and six in the biblical text, using the common word El or God as our point of comparison, we see, “Zeh Elohi veAnveihu.” This is my God and I will live with him, or it could be translated as “I will beautify him”, depending on how you understand the problematic word anvei. Then the next line is “Elohei avi veAmromemenhu,” which means: “God of my father and I will exalt him.” Now if we turn to lines five and six of the papyrus, again we see the letters for El written as the beginning of a longer word, and in just the right places, relative to the length and word spacing on the lines.’
He looked over at Mansoor for approval. Mansoor nodded.
‘Okay, now if we go down to the next two lines in the biblical passage, we see that they begin with the name Jehovah. And again the same is true of the papyrus.’
‘So it’s looking like a match,’ said Gabrielle.
‘It’s beginning to,’ Daniel confirmed.
‘So does that mean,’ asked Gabrielle, ‘that by comparing the papyrus text to the version of the Song of the Sea in the Bible you can use it like the Rosetta Stone to decipher the ancient language?’
‘Basically yes,’ said Daniel. But he realized that the downer was that this papyrus could not be the one that Harrison Carmichael had translated – the one about the plague. Assuming that his mentor really had translated a papyrus that made reference to the plague, he still had to find it.
But where?
‘I guess all we need are some more samples of the ancient language to translate.’
It was a long shot, but he noticed a flicker in the face of the SCA chief.
‘I have some more good news for you,’ said Mansoor. ‘While you were away, I did some checking in the archives and it appears that there are a few other samples of the ancient script that haven’t received all that much publicity.’
Daniel’s eyes lit up. Did Mansoor unwittingly have a papyrus that described the plagues?
Chapter 26
Once again, Goliath was afflicted by a feeling of failure. Senator Morris had told him that it was going to be a difficult task, but had been sure that he could pull it off. All he had to do was get the clothes and leave. But instead he had left empty-handed and a nurse dead.
Now, sitting alone in his hotel room, he was turning over the events in his mind, feeling something that he didn’t often feel: guilt.
He didn’t like killing the innocent, even though he knew that God would take them to his bosom in the next life. It was only the wicked that he enjoyed killing.
He remembered how, after he was