c. 2006 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) In February, I visited the world-famous King Tut exhibit in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. It’s on display until April 23 when it moves to Chicago and then Philadelphia.
The extraordinary artifacts from an ancient royal Egyptian tomb will remain in the United States until September 2007, and if the large Florida crowds are an indicator of public interest, the exhibit will attract huge throngs at its next two American venues.
Tut _ his full name was Tutankamun _ was a “boy-king” who at age 8, scholars believe, succeeded to the throne around 1353 B.C. following his father’s death. Tut ruled for only 10 years before his own demise, the cause of which remains a medical and historical mystery. During his reign, Tut, a traditionalist, attempted to rescind the religious reforms his father _ perhaps Akhenaton _ had instituted in Egypt, including the worship of one God. The young king returned to an elaborate system of polytheism that included gods, goddesses and the adoration of animals.
As befitted the monarch of a powerful empire, Tut’s tomb was laden with lavish objects of art, including fabulous jewelry made of precious stones, glittering gold and shining silver. For nearly 3,500 years, the precise location of the burial chamber was unknown, until 1922 when Howard Carter, an English archaeologist, discovered the magnificent treasures Tut’s subjects had placed near the body of their deceased ruler. It was believed that Tutankamun required such treasures for his journey into the next world.
As I walked through the exhibit, I was at first overwhelmed by the cumulative effect of seeing one stunning object after another: the amazing craftsmanship, the superb attention to detail, the sheer artistic talent, the dazzling aesthetics, and the shimmering quality of the precious metals. Like imperial regimes throughout history, the Egyptian pharaohs constructed magnificently furnished tombs, impressive governmental buildings, colossal temples, commanding thrones and other imposing symbols of royalty.
Clearly, King Tut’s empire was a powerful force in the ancient world and its ruler was worshipped as a deity.
Yet despite this gorgeous artwork, I became angry when I realized the objects honoring the youthful king were most likely the work of slave labor, including my spiritual and physical Hebrew ancestors who were ruthlessly exploited by Tut and other pharaohs for the express purpose of glorifying Egyptian royalty.
Tut lived only 100 years before Moses led the Hebrew slaves from Egypt _ the biblical “house of bondage” and “iron furnace.” Based on the sheer power and wealth of Tut, it is almost certain the same imperial might was still functioning a century after his death.
As a result of viewing the exhibit, the Passover holiday, which Jews everywhere will celebrate for eight days beginning with the Seder meal on the evening of April 12, took on a new, vivid reality for me.
No one knows for sure the actual name of the pharaoh that Moses and his brother Aaron confronted when they uttered the famous Hebrew words “shlach et ami,” or “Let my people go.” It required enormous courage and religious faith to stare down a pharaoh and demand that hundreds of thousands of slaves be permitted to leave Egypt in order to serve an invisible God.
The pharaohs controlled every instrument of state power, including life and death, yet Moses persisted. The pharaohs were the absolute rulers of a dominating empire that tolerated no rebellion or resistance, yet Moses persisted. The pharaohs had wealth that still delights the eye and captures our imagination, yet Moses persisted.
But not even nine frightening natural plagues could force the pharaoh to release his slaves. Only the 10th plague, the death of the Egyptian first-born males, compelled the emperor to yield.
But once the Hebrews actually fled the “fleshpots of Egypt,” the despotic pharaoh changed his imperial mind and deployed his well-equipped army to the shore of the Sea of Reeds in an attempt to halt the Exodus. Did the pharaoh succeed? What happened to the slaves? Did they escape?
The answers are provided each year during Passover. It is the holiday, as Paul Harvey always says on his radio newscasts, when the Jewish people lovingly retell “the rest of the story.”
MO/PH END RNS
(Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is the author of the recently published book “The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us.”)
Editors: To obtain a photo of Rabbi Rudin, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug. If searching by subject, designate “exact phrase” for best results.
