Joseph and the Alphabet

I was recently given a link to an article in a Jewish History website and was amazed to read that new research into ancient documents found in Egypt, indicate that the first alphabet was invented by Joseph the son of Jacob, the Joseph who was sold as a slave by his brothers and ended up saving Egypt and the surrounding country from famine.

 For a long time scholars thought that the Phoenicians had invented the alphabet but they could not fit Phoenician words with the texts.   As far back as 1920 Hebrew had been suggested but it was discounted as was the theory suggested by W. F. Albright, a gifted scholar of Biblical Archaeology, who believed that these writings were the work of Israelite slaves.

 The oldest of these texts dates from about 1800 B.C. and the most recent from the late 1500s B.C. After that, the alphabet has not been found in Egypt but it suddenly appeared in Canaan. Scholars were puzzled, but to those familiar with the Old Testament this clearly indicates the Hebrew people, the only ones who would have known this language.

 However, it is unlikely that the Hebrew slaves would have been able to create an alphabet, whoever did it had to be very skilled with language and used to reading the hieroglyphics used before the creation of the alphabet as well as being a native Hebrew speaker. 

 This description fits Joseph so exactly a Hebrew who became the trusted servant of Pharaoh in Egypt. (See Genesis Chapter 41 ff.)

 For more detail as to the discoveries and illustrations see

https://aish.com/the-jewish-invention-of-the-alphabet/

Image: Wikimedia Commons

 

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