A Story of the Planet Venus

Appendix 12

Red Sea Passage Exodus Story

 Contents 

Introduction                                                           

Venus Comet Descriptions                                   

Think Big !  Much Bigger.                                     

An Aside Involving Uranus                                    

Circling the Sun                                                     

Moses’ God is Involved                                         

God at Work                                                          

The First Encounter by Venus                               

From Egypt to the Red Sea                                   

Questions and Thoughts                                       

Brother Aaron                                                        

Trapped at the Red Sea                                         

The Crossing of the Red Sea                               

The Egyptian Attack                                              

Losing Opponent of Moses.                                  

Conclusion                                                             

Introduction

In the story of the Venus Comet, one remarkable reference(1) tells of the experiences of a particular group of people who utilised a Venus Comet - Earth interaction in 1446 BCE, to break-free of their captivity in Egypt. They managed to effect a permanent separation that enabled them to remain free.

While the Comet was battering Egypt, the Israelites left the Nile delta as a large group, perhaps as many as 2 - 3 million people in total. Led by Moses, a strong leader from their own people, who had been raised and trained like a pharaoh, they fled eastward. This Exodus of people came to an abrupt halt beside the northern part of the Red Sea at the Gulf of Aqaba. Their path was blocked by mountains that ran down into the sea. AND   the army of the Egyptian pharaoh closed off their way back !!

When all seemed lost, an amazing series of events took place!  Dense clouds in the sky passed above the area and the waters of the narrow and shallow Gulf of Aqaba pulled back so that the sea bed was exposed. Moses, the leader of the escapees, directed them to cross to the other side and this took place overnight. The Egyptian army chased them but got swamped and drowned when those waters returned to normal. The Israelites got away !

The author of this Venus Comet story studied this event. It is described in the Bible as "The Exodus". Knowing the story, did not provide all the details on what actually happened. In the Bible, the unexplained portions are attributed to  "the Will of God". This author accepted that those unexplained things did happen and sought the physical reasons as to how they could have happened. He expected that they would be very unusual and infrequent things, and ... yet .. were physically possible. Moses, the Israelite leader, with his astronomy and military back-grounds, had grasped the ideas that were being presented to him, ...  and had acted  !!

This Appendix is used to examine and assess various physical details of the Venus Story that support the events spoken of in the Crossing of the Red Sea story.

This author suggests, that while reading this Appendix, that you take time to visualise yourself being in the scenes that your mind will form.

Venus Comet Descriptions

The author postulates that the Venus Comet cloud was long and drawn out; serpentine-like; bulky, not stringy. In addition, it is HUGE! The image seen in the sky was a very large and long cloud, horizon to horizon, with the planet somewhere inside. In this view, the planet Venus is NOT assumed to be at the head of the Comet, but somewhere inside it. Nordic legends elsewhere describe the Comet as “encircling the Earth as a ‘Serpent’ and grasping its tail in its mouth”. They call it the “Midgard” meaning “middle girdling” or Earth Encircler.

Repeated mentions in Appendix 2 - Serpent & Dragon Lore  emphasise its huge serpentine characteristic. Some other descriptions mention a huge Comet with strands coming from it, reaching out as hands or arms or claws as if to grasp or capture viewers.

In trying to visualise the Comet, we must not allow our thinking to be constrained to something small. People always labeled it mind-blowingly huge! Well beyond the size of a so-called "large" comet like Halley's.

THINK  BIG !  MUCH  BIGGER  !  

The happenings associated with the crossing of the Red Sea are all dependent on the path that the Venus Comet took vis-a-vis the Earth. From the details in the Book of Exodus, those two bodies appear to have had two close approaches within perhaps six weeks. In the first one(2), the Earth got showered with debris that polluted the water, and destroyed crops, trees, animals and people. Some buildings may have been knocked down. The author noted that the earlier events mention only debris and vapours as causing a problem. A deadly cloud form was mentioned, but  nothing is said about a solid body in the sky, or anything like an earthquake.

The second event(3) was the renown "Crossing of the Red Sea" story. It also describes clouds and winds, but no sign of a solid body in the sky. At that time, however, there was a massive water movement out of the Gulf of Aqaba leaving a wide shore-to-shore stretch of exposed sea bottom. The fleeing Israelites used it to escape to the far shore. After about 15 hours, the Red Sea level rose and flooded back into that Gulf to normal levels, cutting off further crossings.

All the while, our planet Earth was circling the Sun in its usual arrangement. The Venus Comet on its elliptical orbit, had been drawn towards the Sun from beyond Jupiter. It came on a path that brought it in tangentially to the Earth's orbit, but between the Earth and the planet Mercury. It would have been much, much closer to the orbit of the Earth, than Venus comes today. Closer even than the Moon.

Using the ideas in the paragraphs above, this author created a mental image of the Comet along with its movements. The reader can make their own image. Unlike most comets we see today, the large body did not lead this unusual comet and did not shed material that formed its tail. The planet Venus is thought to have travelled inside that debris cloud, possibly mid to two-thirds of the way along. It was simply a part of the debris from whatever celestial event smashed the original much-larger body that the author calls the proto-Venus.

An Aside Involving Uranus

As a point of interest, the author noted that the planet Uranus of our solar system, also appears to have been been smashed at some time. The reader is directed to material in Appendix 10 - Venus and Uranus ?    He is intrigued by the properties of two damaged planets in our solar system. They both rotate clockwise on their axes when all other planets go the other way. Additionally, unlike other planets, both rotate slowly, with their "day" (one axial rotation) of each nearly equated to their "year" (one orbit around the Sun). He posits the questions :

    - Was Uranus hit by a proto-Venus?

    - Was our Venus a planet-sized chunk of debris from a space collision?

(See also Appendix 13 - Pyramids and the Sphinx, at the end  "Suppose")

Circling the Sun 

During its approach to the Sun, the Venus Comet would be "steered" by the Sun's attraction into an orbit around that body. About half a Venus year later, it would break from that orbit and return to the outer parts of the Solar System. How closely it followed the direction from which it came is unknown. It may in its lifetime have gone in multiple directions and then returned. It made that orbital journey each time in exactly seven (7) years, each of 360 Earth Days  (a total of 2520 Earth Days). This cycle of data is shown by the dusting found in the NOAA GISP2 analysis of the Greenland ice cores.(4)

Is this the reason for our infatuation with the number 7  ?  

Interestingly the orbit of the planet Uranus, mentioned above, is 84 Earth years of 360 Earth days each as counted by the author; another multiple of 7. 

Moses’ God is Involved 

Here the author speaks of God, as he has come to know and understand the concept.

The Exodus story definitely considers that God was involved in these people grasping and using these events to effect their escape. The author believes that since God is a spirit, not a person, that God's communications with people occur, each in their own spirit, that is their individual minds. The communications come as what we call "ideas and thoughts". When faced with a problem, you look for a solution. You let your mind be open to old memories, new off-the-wall ideas, and likely reworkings of them. You can accept them or ignore them.

Some ideas come totally unsolicited, but from what source? A comment by another person may prompt a different idea in your mind that may get you through the immediate concern. You can then turn your attention to the next point of concern and be open to further new inputs to your thoughts. Or you can dismiss/ignore/forget them all !

But from where, and why at that time, might spinoffs of the thoughts of another person be of benefit to you? God's thought had not created your problem .....  nor did it take away your problem. It opened your mind to a possible solution. Its your business to take the time to review and use all your skills, knowledge, plus old memories and new ideas as you move ahead. You will keep looking for solutions to the new concerns as they arise.

God at Work

This would have applied to the Israelite leader, Moses and his experiences. About 60-70 years before the Exodus, Egyptian records indicate that he seemed to have been schooled like a pharaoh, a prince of Egypt. He learned the ways of effective leadership. For about 20 years, he commanded the armies of the Pharoah Queen Hatshepsut. He would have gained the skills in organising and commanding a large group of people such as the army, for a single purpose.

As her Royal Astronomer, Moses had been in charge of the astronomy done in Egypt. He would have learned about the Venus Comet, its actions, effects and history. In 1495 BCE, he would have observed the Comet encounter at that time, and then overseen the work done to under-stand it. As her vizier, he would have been thoroughly involved in planning, arranging and leading the trading mission of the Queen's royal fleet to the land of Punt.

When the idea of freeing his fellow Israelites came to him, his accumulated knowledge and these skills, would have supported him in accepting the task of freeing his people from slavery. Moses would plan and time and execute the Exodus. He credits God acting as a strong leader whom he calls “Lord”, in guiding him in acquiring that knowledge and for bringing back those strong memories in a time of need. Moses left Egypt in 1486 BCE at age 40 years. At that time, he was still in charge of Hatshepsut's and Egypt's affairs. The Pharoah Queen was in poor health as shown by her mummified remains. Moses possibly foresaw a personal conflict with the expected next pharaoh, Thutmoses III, whom he had probably schooled. Fearing that such a relationship would interfere with the Lord's intent of freeing His people, Moses may have chosen to flee to Midian until the time was right for the Venus Comet to appear.

In the 40 year period of waiting in Midian, Moses grew into the idea of the Exodus, and his brother Aaron began to work with him. [See pg 8 following]. In 1447- 46 BCE, Moses answered the Lord's call to begin the movement out of Egypt. Moses realised that he was tasked to take control and to "get the job done".

As the action date associated with the Venus Comet encounter drew closer, Moses, the planner, started to get "cold feet", seemingly over his ability to speak powerfully to the Pharaoh. When Moses was trying to convince the Lord that he cannot do the job, he is told that Aaron is already on his way to join him and will help(5). They met at the mountain of God and proceeded to Egypt, likely trading information and planning all the way. This reference as to how Aaron affected the call to Moses is very revealing. This author conducted a separated examination in Egyptian records on Moses’ and Aaron’s involvements. Moses quickly rose to very exalted positions under Queen Hatshepsut, as Queen’s Vizier. Other members of his family, including brother Aaron, rose to elevated high, trusted positions seemingly reporting through Moses. The first of Moses’ tombs built in the Valley of the Kings shows tomb labels for Moses [Senenmut] and family members. (See pg 8 following)

This Venus Comet encounter was the event for which they had planned and waited. It was 40 years earlier that Moses had left Egypt for Midian and now they returned to Egypt. They would confront the pharaoh Amenhotep II who was the son of Hatshepsut's successor, Thutmoses III.

The First Encounter by the Venus Comet 

It would not be by chance that this timing of his visit matched the next expected return of the Venus Comet in the spring of 1446 BCE, and the chaos that could accompany it. By making demands that would not be accepted by the Pharaoh, Moses controlled the time period to allow him to match his plans with the pass of the Comet. From his experience as the Royal Astronomer with the Venus Comet 49 years earlier, Moses would have understood that the Earth would pass through the debris stream in the leading part of the Comet. This would happen at the incoming cross-over point of the orbits of the Earth and the Comet. That would be a matter of timing that the astronomers could calculate.

Visualising the following description of the initial encounter of the Earth and the Comet, the author "sees" the Earth passing through the leading portion of the comet on an angled path at the cross-over of their orbits. This would have meant going through the lengthy and extensive debris field ahead of the Venus planet. It likely would have taken multiple days, and the debris would have become thicker and thicker. Crops would be destroyed, water polluted, and unprotected people and animals killed and injured by flying rocks. At its closest approach, it appears that it caused Earth movements that damaged buildings. Flimsy structures with thatched roofs could collapse but you could still get out. Buildings of stone failing were a deadly threat to their wealthy owners. Injurious gases in the Comet may have been experienced at ground level.

Some Bible sources call this the Ten Plagues of the Exodus, each one worse than the previous one. All were physically possible and totally foreign to the Egyptians and our own experiences.

During the worst of it, Moses, recognising what was happening, directed the Israelites to leave Egypt. The country was in chaos and they would take advantage of it. We are not told what all else happened in Egypt after they left. Obviously the Pharaoh recovered his wits somewhat, and called out the army. The author guesses that he may have had as many as 10,000 soldiers to handle 2,000,000 run-away slaves. He had 600 Chariots as mentioned in Egyptian records. The author is not confident that the pharaoh had any understanding of the "Big Picture". He likely would be totally focused on the fleeing slaves!

From Egypt to the Red Sea

A normal journey to Canaan would last a few weeks and would follow a route along the Mediterranean coast from Egypt to that country. That route had forts, army units and supplies for Pharaoh's soldiers so Moses decided that they should go a different way.(6) "The people may change their minds when they see a war before them, and turn back to Egypt." The escaping Israelite slaves led by Moses followed the only other east-bound flat-land route available from Egypt. It took them south along the eastern side of today's Gulf of Suez, and then eastward toward Aqaba. This route, chosen by Moses, brought them into a "cul de sac", boxed in by mountains ahead and beside of them, plus the Red Sea on the other side and the Egyptian army behind them.

The Bible description of their journey(7) states that there was a cloud (the Venus Comet) that covered them. It provided  "a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night " to guide them so they were able to keep moving day and night. As discussed elsewhere, the cloud contained combustible material.

Questions and Thoughts 

In discussing these thoughts with a friend, I was asked

  -   "Was it reasonable that Moses, as Senenmut, the vizier, and general of the earlier Pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut, did not know that there was no easy path to Canaan other than along the Mediterranean Sea?"  and  

   -  "Was it possible that Moses had information that indicated that the Comet would/might affect the Gulf of Aqaba?"

Answering these questions compelled me to reread the pertinent passages in Exodus. I also found information in Egyptian papers(8), that years earlier, ships, loaded at Aqaba, had brought Cedars of Lebanon to the Egyptian side of the Red Sea to be loaded on the ships for Punt. However no mention was found in Egyptian material, of Senenmut being in Arabia, or having anything to do with copper mines and precious gems in south Sinai. While he himself was on the ships to Punt, as vizier, he would have been the commanding master-mind behind the overall project. Tidal actions at Aqaba, and their reasons were understood by Moses.

I am now certain that Moses knew what he was doing. He knew before setting out, that crossing at the Gulf of Aqaba was his only possible option. From his own observations, he would have known that the Venus Comet was returning as expected. The timing of events and their severity, would be God's doing; he would have to adapt his plans accordingly. As a military commander, he would know that the Pharaoh and his army would be surprised, and ill-prepared to operate in that area. Chariots and cavalry can only attempt to corral the people with fear until the multitude of weary foot soldiers arrive perhaps several days later to try to enforce a return to Egypt.

Involvement of Brother Aaron

His brother Aaron had, like the others in the family, risen with Moses into the "elite classes" during his time with the Pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut. Family members were found to have been buried in the first tomb of Senenmut in the Valley of the Kings. By information given in the Bible, Aaron was not a slave and was able to move about freely. He could leave and enter the country. On returning, he was able to get several hearings by Moses with the Pharaoh. The author suspects that the two brothers had retained contact with each other over the years and had an identifiable meeting place, possibly at the mountain of God.

I further suspect that Aaron had sources within the astronomy group who unwittingly shared their findings that the Comet would come close enough to the Earth to cause problems. (Yes, knowledge of astronomy was good enough to do that.) I believe that he was "the man on the inside" for Moses, brought the latest news, expected timings and opinions of the astronomers and astrologers. With that knowledge input, Moses could make his own plans, and revise them. (Note: Astronomers determined where, when and how close the Comet would pass, and what damage might occur. Astrologers speculated on personal effects and the impacts on peoples' perceptions.)

Trapped ??  at the Red Sea 

Moses obviously understood that when the Comet came close to the Earth, it would not impact our planet. It would come very close to the sun-side of our planet at mid-day, and being a large body, would draw our seas towards it. He planned the arrival of the Israelites at the Strait of Tiran on the Red Sea by mid-day of the day before it came closest.

The “other side of our planet” from the Red Sea, was in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean at 280 S, 1400 W, and it was the middle of the night there. The fiery Venus Comet might be lighting up the sky over Aqaba, but was not yet aligned with both the Earth and the Sun. Twelve hours later our planet has made a half revolution, and the Comet is aligned with the Sun and Earth over the Pacific Ocean. The Comet had pulled the seas towards the Pacific Ocean as a huge "tide". That ocean would be elevated as a low dome by the gravitational attraction of the planet Venus. As our planet had rotated on its axis (our day), the Venus-caused tidal pull of the seas had moved the bulge of water westward with lowered seas on the opposite side. These effects would likely last not much more than one day.

This would cause water in the Red Sea to rush southward and out through the Strait of Bab al-Mandab into the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. Lowering sea level in the Red Sea would cause a strong flow of water out of the Gulf of Aqaba until restrained by the level of the sand-bars at the Strait of Tiran. This water being removed would result in air, our atmosphere, moving in to fill the space that the top layer of water had occupied. This air movement would flow off of land to over water everywhere in the area. The Exodus mentions the wind coming from the east. The loss of water from the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean was drawing the air to those bodies from over the Euro-Asian land mass and Pacific Ocean.

When the Comet was approaching Earth’s noontime side, and pulling the ocean tides to that side of our plant, it would have become night time for the Israelites. They would be waiting on the night side of the Earth. The sea level before them would have begun dropping rapidly by sundown revealing the sandy bottom and allowing people to cross over. Water level likely dropped by its maximum amount (possibly 20m) by about midnight. By dawn, water was rapidly flowing back in, trapping the Egyptian army. Most of this would be happening by the light of fiery clouds overhead.

 The author suspects that Moses had some idea of the tidal drop that would occur when the Comet was on the sun side of the Earth and the Israelites were on the night side. He did know the timing of that tide as shown by his back-tracking to Pi-ha-hiroth and calling for a wait beside the sea. It is likely that he understood how long they had available before the crossing place re-flooded. When the underwater land bridge was revealed, Moses lifted his staff and pointed to the other side as the signal to move across.

Crossing the Red Sea

The land bridge would broaden as sea level fell, allowing more and more people to cross. Since the Gulf of Aqaba was relatively shallow, particularly at the Tiran Islands, a land bridge would be quickly exposed. Waters of the Gulf rushed into the Red Sea portion until a wet sandy path appeared along the bottom for the Israelites to walk across. Some water remained in the northern part of the Gulf, unable to flow across the bridge. The bridge may have become many kilometres wide which would greatly facilitate getting so many people to the other side. Hydro-graphic charts today show only the modern dredging of deeper channels. The description in Exodus suggests that the crossing of the people took about 12-15 hours before the sandy bridge was resubmerged.

The challenge to the Israelite leaders would have been to convince their people to keep moving instead of standing there gawking at the scene! Coming from a slave culture, avoiding work or effort would have been an ingrained survival pattern!  Understanding that they had to keep exerting themselves to stay free, was being learned.

                                          Move it!    Move it!     Move it!

The Egyptian Attack

The Egyptian army, a ways behind them, pressed forward with chariots, cavalry and foot soldiers. They were too late as the Israelites were reaching the other side. As discussed above, seeing the waters run away and "disappear" would blow their minds. Was this some sort of magic by that guy with a staff? They would have no understanding, only FEAR! This may be why they were slow to chase after the slaves!

When the waters of the Red Sea began recovering the sea bottom and land bridge, it made passage across or return impossible.The author suspects that the Egyptian Chariot and Cavalry Corps were likely wiped out. As the "flying wing" of the army, they would be well ahead of the foot soldiers, making them the farthest from shore. Chariot wheels and horses hooves would sink quickly as the returning water soaked the sandy bottom. Foot soldiers would be weighed down by their armament, and running in water would be next to impossible.

The Pharaoh Amenhotep II's chariot managed to escape. As commander, he would have a taken a position behind his troops to have an overview of the "battlefield". He would also be out of their way!  Later that year, his name appeared in Egyptian inscriptions on stone monuments bragging of his successful raid on the land of Canaan,  BUT ONLY AFTER THE ISRAELITES HAD COMPLETED THEIR EXODUS!   He returned from that "campaign" with food, over 300 slaves, gold, jewels, armour and yes, horses and 1100 chariots. All were mentioned on those stones! He, in effect, sacked the closest part of his empire!

The Israelites, having crossed safely to dry land, must have looked back at an awesome sight! By the fiery light of the Comet, they would see their pursuers with their chariots and horses, floundering in the soft water-soaked sand as the sea flooded back in. Most of those men would be unable to escape to a shore. Some that reached an island, would be isolated and likely starved to death!

No mention is made of Israelite losses although the number of people given as gaining the Arabian shore, is a repeat of the earlier number tabulated as leaving Egypt.

So Who was this Losing Opponent of Moses

By name he was Pharaoh Amenhotep II, the only surviving child of Pharaoh Thutmoses III. 

Looking back a generation in the Egyptian King Lists, the Author recognised that Pharaoh Thutmoses III was the stepson raised under Pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut and her vizier, Senenmut (Moses). Egyptian records say he reigned from age 4 at his father's (Thutmose II) death in 1506 BCE to age 50. In reality, Hatshepsut seized the crown about a year after her husband's death, and ruled to her own death in 1484 BCE (two years after Moses went to Midian). At that date, Thutmose III, who was acting as regent under Hatshepsut, finally gained the crown and ruled to his own death in 1456 BCE.

At the death of Thutmose III, his second son took the crown as Amenhotep II and was in his ninth year when the Exodus occurred in 1446 BCE. This man was the Pharaoh of the Exodus.

From other records mentioned above, it is well known that Pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut, likely with the guidance of her vizier Senenmut (Moses), had a well documented fleet of ships visit the land of Punt to the south, and return richly laden. In an ancient reference, the Kolbrin, in Chapter 24 of it's Book of Manuscripts, there is a letter entitled ‘An Early Egyptian Scroll’. It details the preparations for sending another Egyptian fleet to Punt, some time after the death of an unnamed pharaoh. Mention is made that people were still wearing mourning garb to honour the late pharaoh.

From the details given, this author thinks that preparations were begun for a new trip to Punt while Thutmoses III was alive, or in honour of him shortly after his death. This emulation of what Hatshepsut did, would be in keeping with the many known efforts of Pharaoh Amenhotep II to destroy, cover-up or exceed her accomplishments.

The Kolbrin mention could been one or two years later and they are still mourning, honouring the great Thutmoses III as they are completing the outfitting. This would have been happening under Amenhotep II, who, as mentioned, became the pharaoh of the Exodus.

Later in that Scroll, “a terrible storm” is described as having "unusual movements in the heavens", signifying a time of climatic upheaval. Details seem to indicate that the great fleet coming back from Punt was destroyed. This coincides with the timing of the events of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea in 1446 BCE, and the wind and water disturbances.

Taken together, it appears that the Pharaoh of the Exodus lost many slaves, the best of his army and a portion of his trading treasure on the same day! He seems not to have received the in-depth training on how to best to rule his country as well as his father did!

Conclusion

Support for these events and their timings has been noted. It fits together quite well. This Bible story, while very unusual, was quite feasible. The author is stunned by the timing of the events and how the escapees utilised them.

Moses, the leader of the escapees, having been an army commander, very capably assessed opportunities and directed his charges accordingly. His seeming knowledge of the events to be expected, gave him a great advantage over his adversaries.

The Egyptian Pharaoh was constrained from killing the escapees to terrorise them. He required them as slave labour. His manner of controlling them would reveal his power and authority over them, leaving others to judge his performance as Egypt’s new pharaoh. He controlled his forces during the Exodus until the Israelites effected their “break-away” as the tide flooded back in. Egyptians were unable to seize control of the fleeing slaves. They had to break formations and flee to save their own lives.

The magnitude of the Egyptian losses, other than the soldiers, was apparent in Egyptian inscriptions that he later erected.(See above) As expected, he did not mention the loss of his army, nor of the fleet returning from Punt. Besides not bragging about losses, he may have not then been aware of the loss of the fleet.

In the overall picture we have a strong leader, Moses, whose life, prior to this Exodus, was a series of increases in skills, knowledge, abilities and self-confidence that all came together in this very unusual but totally possible, physical event. He retained those attributes for over 40 years awaiting the exact time to exercise them.

Moses listened to the thoughts that came to him. The scripture says that those were when God, the Lord, was speaking to him directly or through others. He acted upon those thoughts in a timely fashion. He obviously was not alone but included the talents of others, particularly in handling all those people under duress. 

His success was in seeing his people, his charges, safely separated from their enslavers. He went on to shepherd them for the next 40 years, including their educations, and in their faith.

(1)  Bible book of Exodus Chapt 12 - 15

(2) Bible Exodus 12: 29-30

(3) Bible Exodus 14: 21-27

(4)  Alley, R.B..  2004.   “GISP2 Ice Core Temperature and Accumulation Data.”   IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series #2004-013. NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA.

(5)  Bible- Exodus 4:14

(6)  Bible Exodus 13: 17

(7)  Bible Exodus 13: 21-22

(8)  Joyce Tyldesley, Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh, Penguin Books, 1996 hardback, p.145- 148