‘You’ve heard of it?’ asked one of the doctors.
‘No, but it could be a province or a region instead of a country. Maybe it’s where he comes from.’
Meanwhile, down the corridor, a member of the hospital ancillary staff had gone to use a phone.
‘Hallo, is that the news desk? I’ve got a story that might be worth a few quid.’
Chapter 25
‘“I will sing to Jehovah for he has…” and then the next words in the Hebrew are “ Ga-ah, Ga-ah ” or “ Ga-oh, Ga-oh.” It depends on which vowels you insert and also whether you use the Sephardi or Ashkenazi pronunciations.’
Daniel was reading a biblical passage out loud, anglicizing words like Jehovah to make their meaning clear to Gabrielle.
‘In the Bible,’ Daniel explained, ‘when the same word is repeated in immediate succession, it’s for emphasis. It’s like saying “very” in English. In this case, the word itself means to triumph or achieve victory. So the repetition, “He is triumphant, is triumphant,” could be translated as “He is very triumphant,” or “He is highly triumphant.” It could even be a superlative: “He has triumphed above all.” And on the papyrus we see the word Jehovah followed by a similar repetition of a word. That’s one point of comparison.’
‘But what made you think it’s this Song of the Sea?’ asked Gabrielle.
‘It’s all a matter of location. Once you suggested that the papyrus was found in the Suez Canal excavations, it all fell into place. You see, in the Bible, the sea that parted to let the Israelites escape from the pharaoh was called Yam Suph in Hebrew. That’s usually translated as the Red Sea, but it actually means the Reed Sea or Sea of Reeds and most modern scholars believe that it was a shallow body of water in the place that today is occupied by the Suez Canal.’
‘But what exactly is the Song of the Sea?’ she pressed on.
‘Well, according to the Bible, after the Israelites crossed the Sea of Reeds, with the pharaoh’s army in hot pursuit, the waters flooded back and the Egyptian soldiers were drowned. When this happened, the Israelites were so delighted that they sang a song celebrating their escape and the destruction of their enemies. It’s called the Song of the Sea or the Song of Miriam, after Moses’ sister. When the song is described, with Moses singing it, there’s a repetition of the first verse sung by Miriam and the women – hence its alternative title. That incidentally is also the reason why Orthodox Jews insist on separating men and women in synagogues: because the women sang after the men.’
‘But why would the Song of the Sea be written on its own, if it was part of the Bible?’ asked Gabrielle. ‘And why would this copy of it be at precisely the location of the Sea of Reeds? I mean, presumably the Israelites carried on with their travels. They didn’t remain on the eastern banks of the Sea of Reeds. According to the Bible, they moved on, crossing the Sinai Desert. So why would this manuscript be there?’
‘According to modern theories about the Bible, the Song of the Sea was originally a separate work, an old poem that existed before the rest of the narrative. In fact, according to one theory, it’s the oldest text in the Bible. And this might be one of several manuscripts of the song that happened to be left at the scene. It probably described some minor event or battle that was then elevated to a greater importance.’
Mansoor picked up on this.
‘The idea that it was a separate ancient work that got written into the biblical narrative fits in very neatly with the carbon dating of the papyrus. 1600 BC would put it well before the traditional dating of the Israelite exodus. But more importantly, it would also fit in very neatly with the volcanic eruption of Santorini round about that time.’
‘Why would the eruption of Santorini have anything to do with the parting of the waters in Egypt?’ asked Daniel.
‘Because according to oceanographers, the eruption of Santorini would have produced a tsunami that would have reached the shores of Egypt and would have been especially pronounced in a shallow body of water that had an outlet to the sea. And when a tsunami strikes, because of the way waves move, the first thing that happens is that the water flows out, thereby creating a dry area which then becomes flooded when the water rushes back.’
‘Of course!’ said Daniel. ‘And that perfectly fits the biblical account of the parting of the waters, followed by the deluge.’
‘Are there any other points of comparison in the text?’ Mansoor followed up.
‘Well, if we look down to lines five and six in the biblical text, using the common word El or God as our point of comparison, we see, “ Zeh Elohi veAnveihu.” This is my God and I will live with him, or it could be translated as “I will beautify him”, depending on how you understand the problematic word anvei. Then the next line is “ Elohei avi veAmromemenhu,” which means: “God of my father and I will exalt him.” Now if we turn to lines five and six of the papyrus, again we see the letters for El written as the beginning of a longer word, and in just the right places, relative to the length and word spacing on the lines.’
He looked over at Mansoor for approval. Mansoor nodded.
‘Okay, now if we go down to the next two lines in the biblical passage, we see that they begin with the name Jehovah. And again the same is true of the papyrus.’
‘So it’s looking like a match,’ said Gabrielle.
‘It’s beginning to,’ Daniel confirmed.
‘So does that mean,’ asked Gabrielle, ‘that by comparing the papyrus text to the version of the Song of the Sea in the Bible you can use it like the Rosetta Stone to decipher the ancient language?’
‘Basically yes,’ said Daniel. But he realized that the downer was that this papyrus could not be the one that Harrison Carmichael had translated – the one about the plague. Assuming that his mentor really had translated a papyrus that made reference to the plague, he still had to find it.
But where?
‘I guess all we need are some more samples of the ancient language to translate.’
It was a long shot, but he noticed a flicker in the face of the SCA chief.
‘I have some more good news for you,’ said Mansoor. ‘While you were away, I did some checking in the archives and it appears that there are a few other samples of the ancient script that haven’t received all that much publicity.’
Daniel’s eyes lit up. Did Mansoor unwittingly have a papyrus that described the plagues?
Chapter 26
Once again, Goliath was afflicted by a feeling of failure. Senator Morris had told him that it was going to be a difficult task, but had been sure that he could pull it off. All he had to do was get the clothes and leave. But instead he had left empty-handed and a nurse dead.
Now, sitting alone in his hotel room, he was turning over the events in his mind, feeling something that he didn’t often feel: guilt.
He didn’t like killing the innocent, even though he knew that God would take them to his bosom in the next life. It was only the wicked that he enjoyed killing.
He remembered how, after he was released from prison, he had killed the lawyer who had represented him at the murder trial over the killing of the rabbi. He would have liked to have killed the lawyer who represented his wife in the divorce, but he was already dead of natural causes, so he decided to kill the lawyer who had defended him instead.
It wasn’t that he blamed the lawyer for his imprisonment. His lawyer had in fact done very well to get him off with manslaughter. But he was Jewish and he was a parasite, making his money off other people’s misery. It was only because of money that the lawyer had represented him in the first place.
The lawyer was no different from a hooker: he went with anyone as long as he was paid. Today it might be
