Mystery Solved – Boy-King Tut’s Magnificent Tomb – Exodus Miracles Affirmed!

The Magnificent Tomb of Boy King Tut – Fleshing Out the Biblical Exodus Story!

When the tomb of Tutankhamon was discovered in 1922 it caused a world-wide sensation, the splendor of its death mask of pure gold becoming a centerpiece display of the wealth and opulence of ancient Egypt. In addition, extensive in size, it contained much jewelry of turquoise, lapis lazuli, carnelian, also articles of gold, silver and bronze, plus numerous objects for the Pharaoh’s journey of death. Egyptologists, however, puzzled over how Tutankhamon, but eighteen and only the heir to Egypt’s throne, could be buried in so magnificent a tomb – the established tradition being that reigning Pharaohs built their own tombs during their lifetimes. The size, grandeur and ornamentation of each Pharaoh’s tomb and the splendor of its contents, reflected upon the length and wealth of his sovereignty.

Dr. Lennart Moeller, medical doctor from Stockholm, but also an Egyptologist, archeologist, amateur deep sea diver, etc., developed a theory in his book “The Exodus Story” to explain the anomaly: Tutankhamun, first born son of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, dies in the Tenth Plague; later, Pharaoh, pursuing the fleeing Hebrews with his chariot army, drowns and his body is lost in the Red Sea; Amenhotep’s empty tomb is therefore available while royal prince Tutankhamun is dead and needful of a burial place.

There is much extra-biblical evidence to support the theory.

The biblical “Ten Plagues” inflict Egypt

After Pharaoh repeatedly refuses to let the Hebrew slaves leave Egypt, Moses warns there will be plagues, first the Nile turning into blood, then frogs, lice, and finally locusts, darkness, and the tenth plague, death of all firstborn, including Prince Tutankhamun.

A highly important extra-biblical source of corroborative detail – to almost all the narratives of the ten-plagues plus Exodus events (as told in both the Bible and Passover-Haggadah), is the Ipuwer Papyrus Scroll. Found in Egypt in the early 19th century, it was translated and taken to the Leiden Museum in Holland where it is still kept. Described in several archaeological books of ancient Egypt, it is a papyrus scroll over twelve feet in length, called “Admonitions of Ipuwer”, written during the 19th Dynasty by an Egyptian scribe-historian named Ipuwer. Interpreted in 1909, it depicts violent events in Egypt during the prior dynasty, which seem to parallel the Biblical plagues and the Exodus story – it describes a society in total crisis, providing essentially an eyewitness account of extreme and unusual occurrences:

  • “What the ancestors had foretold has happened”, (Imhotep, the Egyptian vizier who saved Egypt from famine, 260 years earlier – thought to be the biblical Joseph – had foretold the exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt.)
  • “The river is blood .. there is blood everywhere, no shortage of death .. many dead are buried in the river {The first plague}.. lacking are grain, charcoal .. great hunger and suffering”.
  • “destruction of grain” {The plague of locusts or hail}.
  • “We don’t know what has happened in the land.”
  • “animals moaning and roaming freely”.
  • “darkness” {The ninth plague}.
  • Deaths .. “children of princes, prisoners, brothers” {The tenth plague, deaths of all the first-born}.
  • “Gone is what yesterday has seen. See now, the land is deprived of kingship. See, all the ranks, they are not in their place .. like a herd that roams without a herdsman.”
  • “Poor .. have become of wealth .. Gold and lapis lazuli, silver and malachite, carnelian and bronze are strung on to the necks of female slaves.” {.. and they requested from the Egyptians, silver and gold articles. And God made the Egyptians favor them and they granted their request.” Exodus 12:35-36};
  • Additional extra-biblical confirmation of the Passover plagues are the mass burial graves of Egyptians, excavated at Tel ed Daba and elsewhere, indicating a panic, no individual burials.

The Exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt

After the Tenth Plague, when Amenhotep III’s first-born son, Tutankhamun dies in the tenth plague, Pharaoh finally orders Moses to take the Hebrews and leave Egypt. Later however, when he realizes the loss to Egypt of its slave people, also learning from his scouts that they are “trapped in the wilderness” (see article “Miracles, 3500 Years Ago”), he pursues them with his chariot army.

Going beyond the plagues, the Ipuwer scroll also corroborates the biblical description of the Exodus flight: “fire .. mounted up on high .. its burning goes forth against the enemies of the land” {Bible: “by night in a pillar of fire”}.

Pharaoh and his Chariot army Drowns

Pharaoh, leading his chariot army, pursues the Hebrews to the Gulf of Aqaba, where recently discovered artifacts of coral-covered chariot wreckage plus bones of men and horses – all strewn along an eight mile undersea ridge between the Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia – indicate they had drowned (see Ezine article, “Miracles, 3500 Years Ago”).

Corroboration of these events comes from several sources – firstly, the Ipuwer scroll: “See, he who slept wifeless, found a noblewoman ..” Written long afterwards, it obviously describes conditions after the loss of the Egyptian army, composed of upper-class males. Secondly, this also supports the request of the “royal” widow of Pharaoh, in a remarkable (clay cube) Amarna letter to the King of the Hittites- asking for one of his sons to become her new husband. It was sent to King Suppiluliumas, “He who was my husband is dead and I have no son. People say you have many sons. If you send me one of your sons he will become my husband .. repugnant to me to take one of my servants .. since most ancient times .. never happened before .. write to a foreign country .. humiliating to me and my country.”

The loss of the mighty Egyptian chariot army seems to be supported by various items of evidence – Josephus, the Roman historian, quotes Monetho, an Egyptian priest, circa 300 BC, regarding the “easy” conquest of mighty Egypt by the Hyksos. (Egypt’s loss of its entire chariot army at the Red Sea seems a corroborating explanation.)

Also, Tel-Amarna letters have been found from cities dependent on Egypt for protection from invaders, begging Pharaoh to send troops – saying “no help has come”. Historians note that Egypt having lost its powerful chariot army was now incapable of sending military protection, and recovery of a demoralized Egypt would take a long time – per Dr. Moeller, it was “the beginning of the end of the 18th dynasty”.

Tutankhamun is buried in the tomb of his Pharaoh father

With Pharaoh Amenhotep III drowned in a far-off sea and his magnificent tomb completely furnished but absent a body, but with the body of royal Prince Tutankhamun needing a burial place, the obvious apparently took place, the Egyptian court deciding that Tutankhamun would be buried in his father’s tomb. The only personal item was the magnificent death-mask.

One direct reference is cited by Dr. Moeller, ” .. young king .. buried in tomb originally prepared for ‘Ay’.”