(The following article is from The Jerusalem Post. It is not likely that you have seen such a report in the media in our country. The media generally is silent on anything that is supportive of the Bible, sad to say. Plenteous are the voices that would attempt to discredit it. One attempt has been to treat Bible accounts as myths, rather than as reliable history. The story of Joseph is one supposed myth. It will be interesting to see what skeptics do with this information. We’ll probably never hear. R.B.)

Archaeologists have discovered ancient Egyptian coins bearing the name and image of the biblical Joseph, Cairo’s Al Abram newspaper recently reported. Excerpts provided by MEMRI show that the coins were discovered among a multitude of unsorted artifacts stored at the Museum of Egypt.

According to the report, the significance of the find is that archaeologists have found scientific evidence countering the claim held by some historians that coins were not used for trade in ancient Egypt, and that this was done through barter instead.

The period in which Joseph was regarded to have lived in Egypt matches the minting of the coins in the cache, researchers said.

“A thorough examination revealed that the coins bore the year in which they were minted and their value, or effigies of the pharaohs [who lived] at the time of their minting. Some of the coins are from the time when Joseph lived in Egypt, and bear his name and portrait,” said the report….

“Studies by Dr. Thabet’s team have revealed that what most archaeologists took for a kind of charm, and others took for an ornament or adornment, is actually a coin. Several facts led them to this conclusion: first, the fact that many such coins have been found at various archaeological sites, and also the fact that they are round or oval in shape, and have two faces: one with an inscription, called the inscribed face, and one with an image, called the engraved face—just like the coins we use today,” the report said.

[The above article is from The Sower, published by Ron Bartanen, minister at the Arthur, IL Church of Christ. Its website is www.arthurchurchof christ.com Also watch for his article next month re: the Illinois 1870 Preamble and what we can learn from it. –avw]