Valley of the Kings

Another beautiful spring Egyptian day brought us bright sunshine and 75 degrees. And then we descended underground into ancient Egyptian tombs on the west bank of Luxor. These tombs were carved deep into a mountain shaped like a natural pyramid. Over 35 tombs found to date including that of King Tut, the only tomb not previously plundered and looted. Yet the carvings and colored depictions of a myriad of hieroglyphs and ancient Egyptians were an incredible sight. Every day we are learning more about the meaning and intent of these figures and ancient language and the afterlife that these kings were hoping to meet.

Our trip leader Jonathan Greer started off the day with explaining about the cultural setting of these pharaohs and kings, so that we could look for and understand the context of their time. These kings and pharaohs considered themselves gods and strived to be carriers of and the essence of gods like Ra. These images were meant to be statements if their personhoods. Jonathan reminded us that we are created in the image of God, male and female and that the essence of His divinity is impressed on all humans.

And then once again, Jennifer Greer led us with a Psalm reading this time 115, about giving the name of our Lord glory and not to idols or silver and gold from whose hands, feet and eyes give life nor to those who follow them, but we will bless the Lord.

After the Valley of the Kings Tombs, we visited an alabaster shop where we observed the carving process of this soft, translucent stone that is mined nearby. Alabaster was the jar that Mary Magdalene broke open to anoint the feet of Jesus with perfume. It was nice not to be “courted” by local venders to spend “one dolla” on some souvenir, something we have encountered at most public areas and monuments.

Our last trip of the day was to the massive mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, a female king who was much loved by the Egyptians of the day, even though she wore a false beard, maybe to keep up some respect from the men that she ruled. From great distances she brought animals like giraffes and leopards to Egypt, transplanted plants, imported fish and introduced ships.

Late afternoon we returned to our ship and promptly set sail on the Nile. Some great discussion occurred on deck as we had “Tea with the Greers” in the late afternoon followed by teaching from Jonathan after dinner about biblical connections to Egypt such as Abram and Sara and Joseph followed by his brothers and father. More on other biblical connections tomorrow.