I AM

I am. Two words, three letters – no object, no adjective, no adverb, no modifier of any kind – just “I am.” The shortest sentence in the English language, but a very powerful sentence. Today, we might use it in the place of “yes” in answer to certain questions. Within Judeo-Christian history it has a much greater meaning. Moses asked who he should say was sending him back to Egypt, perhaps thinking it might be Ra or one of the other Egyptian gods. The answer he received was, tell them, “I am has sent me to you.” (Exodus 3:14) As a result, “I am” became sacred, and any person using the sentence was stoned. Later, Jesus said, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58). The implication of his words was not missed by his audience, and they were ready to stone him.

Let’s think about this for a moment. The implications are huge. I am. Not I was, or I will be. Simply, I am. These two words really say that, in no way is God restricted by time. To Him, everything is in the present – there is no past, and there is no future in His world. No past and no future also means there was no beginning and there will be no end. In other words, He exists in a timeless environment of some kind. This is a concept completely incomprehensible to us because we are imprisoned by a unidirectional, irreversible time and cannot conceive of anything else. Yet, this concept clarifies a very difficult dichotomy within Judeo-Christianity. That is: God gave us freedom of choice, but before we were born he had plans for us. How can there be both freedom of choice and predestination? Suddenly this becomes clear. We cannot understand how a timeless existence works, but if God knows no time, he knows both what options will confront us and what our decisions will be long before we are confronted by the necessity of making a choice!

I am. Not I am here, or I am there. Simply, I am. In other words, God is not restricted by a three dimensional space. He just is. If you can figure out how this works, let me know! Again, this is a concept completely foreign and incomprehensible to us because we live in the prison of three dimensional space. However, if this is true, the belief that God is everywhere at the same time (omnipresent) becomes a reasonable reality. Furthermore, the combination of his no time and no space existence makes the belief that He is all knowing (omnipotent) becomes a reasonable reality. Perhaps it makes some other incomprehensible beliefs understandable; I haven’t extended my thinking beyond this current discussion.

I have postulated a possible analogy in a past blog, but in reality we have no option but to make guesses about how this all works, based on our weak understanding of our own existence. The day may come that we will look around us and exclaim, “Oh, THAT’S how it works!” And at that point we probably won’t care any longer. 

Now, returning to “Before Abraham was born, I am.” Today, that is a pretty innocuous statement, but 2000 years ago it fell on the crowd like a thunder clap, and reverberated through them like the sound of a perfect bell. Today, there are those who say Jesus never claimed that he was God. Wrong! This was an unequivocal statement to, “I am God.” It was not misunderstood by those hearing him. Standing before them was a man who just claimed to be God. This was sacrilegious, and the crowd immediately reacted appropriately, picking up stones to stone him. 

As I indicated, we are imprisoned in a box of three dimensional space and unidirectional, irreversible time. We can conceive of nothing else. It is obvious that God lives somewhere outside this box, and is not constrained by it. In recognition of our inability to understand, Jesus also refers to himself as son. He prayed to the Father. Then he said that he had to return to the Father before he could send the spirit to his followers. We talk about, and accept, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as being three in one. But we don’t, and can’t, understand this – and understanding is a basic desire of humans.

I believe “Before Abraham was born, I am” was the only recorded time that Jesus unequivocally said he was God, but there are other recorded statements that imply this. John 10:30 – “I and the Father are one” was sufficiently understood by those hearing him that, once again, they were ready to stone him. Jesus also indicated the oneness in the prayer recorded in John 17 (verses 11 and 21). (In our “enlightened” world, psychiatrists would probably say Jesus has psychiatric problem and needs help!)   

One of the basic tenants of Christianity is that Jesus was both 100% human and 100% God. This is something that can only be accepted through trust – it cannot be explained.  Over the last 2000 years, there have been multiple heresies developed which attempt to circumvent the fact. A few of these heresies:

-          The Holy Spirit was placed upon the man, Jesus, when he was baptized, and it left him when he was crucified.

-          Jesus Christ was God’s first creation.

-          Jesus Christ was brother of Satan.

-          And other . . .

While they are presented in a way that sounds good to the ear, a critical examination of the scriptures quickly exposes their errors. We are left with the only explanation possible being that Jesus was the Christ, and that he was God. We can never fully understand this so long as we are imprisoned in our space-time box.

How long were Israelites in Egypt?

I am a Scientist, and I am a Christian. Their constant arguments are an irritation to me. If God is creator and supervisor of our world, their conclusions CANNOT disagree! But the two groups are constantly doing exactly that. Scientists have the tendency to reject the idea of God, and claim everything came about evolutionally, not via creation. Conversely, few Christians understand scientific methods, and they discount anything that might disagree with the bible and their interpretation of it.

Time has become a favorite ‘war’ subject for Christians, so I will use that as an example. God, living in a no-time ‘universe,’ has revealed methods of measuring time, although scientists don’t accept that viewpoint. Christians are inclined to say, “If it doesn’t agree with what is written in the bible, the measurement is wrong!”

As I said, time is one of the greatest sources of disagreement. Let’s look at just one situation. Christians and Hebrews both say that the Israelites spent 400 years in Egypt, a span recorded in both Bible and Hebrew records. The problem, though, is that Biblical dates can’t be historically verified until about 1050 BC, when Saul became king. This would have been about 400 years after Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. If we turn to Egyptian historical verification, we find that Thutmose I reigned 1506-1493 BC, and his only son had died, leaving his daughter as next in line. She became Queen Hatshepsut. To become Pharaoh, however, a woman was required to have a son who would follow her when he became old enough to fill the position. This fits perfectly with the story of Moses, and Josephus’ Book 2 tells the story of his being trained to become pharaoh. (Josephus names Moses’ adoption mother as Thermuthis.) Eighty years later, the Pharaoh Moses dealt with was probably Thutmose IV, who reigned about 1400-1381 BC, less than twenty years. (Ramses II has been suggested, but he was pharaoh about 200 years later, which doesn’t fit into Israel history.)

So far, our Hebrew time schedule is in agreement with Egyptian history, so let’s move on. Exodus 12:40-41 says, “Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt.” If we now go 400 years back in Egyptian history, we come to Pharaoh Amenemhat III, who reigned 1860-1814 BC. His reign is regarded as Egypt’s golden age. His father, Senusret III, ruled from 1878 BC to 1839 BC, his military campaigns having given rise to an era of peace and economic prosperity.  The campaigns had reduced the power of regional rulers. Amenemhat III helped develop and inherited a country revival in craftwork, trade, and urban development.

This should be about the time Joseph and his father’s entire family entered Egypt. The limited description of the Egypt given in the Bible, however, does not seem to fit into this picture of Egypt in the 1800s BC. Furthermore, archeologists have found no evidence of Joseph during this period (more on this in a moment). Looking a bit deeper, in Genesis 15:13, we find: “Then the Lord said to (Abraham), “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated.”(NIV) Then, in his ‘goodbye sermon,’ Steven says: “God spoke to (Abraham) in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me.” (Acts 7:6-7, NIV)

Returning to the introduction to Exodus, we find: “Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. ‘Look,’ he said to his people, ‘the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.’ So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.” (Exodus 1:6-11)

This passage fits perfectly with what we know about Pharaoh Amenemhat III. He did not seem to be a warrior, and would be logically concerned that some of the countries his father had defeated might reorganize and attack the Egyptian empire. The Hebrews had no real allegiance to Egypt, so it is also logical to think they might find it advantageous to join the invaders. In addition, his expansion plans were extensive and here was a group of potential slaves to do the building.  It therefore becomes apparent that the Hebrews were held in slavery for 400 years. This was not the period from Joseph to Moses! So, how long were Abraham’s descendants really in Egypt?

Let’s now return to Joseph. Egyptian Archeologists searched for evidence of his existence, but could find nothing within the time span he was supposed to live.  However, when the Step Pyramid was excavated, on the base of King Djoser’s statue an inscription was found, saying, “Imhotep, Chancellor of the King of Lower Egypt, Chief under the King, Administrator of the Great Palace, Hereditary Lord, High Priest of Heliopolis, Imhotep the Builder, the Sculptor, the Maker of Stone Vases …” That sure sounded like the Bible description of Joseph, but Christians said, “No, that can’t be. King Djoser ruled somewhere between 2682 BC and 2648 BC. That is about 800 years before Joseph.”

Since that discovery, Imhotep has been extensively researched. The more we understand him, the more it becomes obvious that, yes, this was Joseph, and the Bible only touches on his impact within Egypt. Imhotep has been described as “A commoner by birth who advanced to the position of one of the most important and influential men in Egypt through his natural talents.” He was the architect of King Djoser’s Step Pyramid. He was considered a god of science, medicine and architecture. He was a priest, vizier to King Djoser and the next three kings, Poet, physician, mathematician, astronomer, and architect. There is now a couple of TV programs focused on Imhotep, and it is apparent that the writer of Exodus did not ‘tell all.’ Had he done so, the focus would have been on Joseph, not God! Among other things, the archeologists found surgery implements exactly like those used today!! Pretty good evidence of alien contact in Egypt – the name was God, and he worked through Joseph.

I will now confidently say that the time between Joseph and the Exodus was not four hundred years, but the descendants of Abraham were in Egypt for about 1200 years. This also makes more logical the growth of the Hebrew nation from Jacob’s 70-person family to between two and three million that went with Moses. (There were 600,000 men of fighting age, so total count including elderly, women, and children had to be at least 2 million.)