Books Written in Stone: Volume 2: Enoch the Seer, the Pyramids of Giza, and the Last Days

By J. Marc. Merrill

Like the Great Pyramid, mysteries surround the other pyramids as well as other features found at the Giza plateau in Egypt.

For example:

Why does the second pyramid have two entrances, both off center, while the single entrance to the third pyramid is centered?

What was the purpose of the two lower chambers in the second pyramid? Moreover, why was the sarcophagus in this pyramid made to be wider than the passages that lead to the upper chamber? In a related matter, why were the bones of a bull placed in the sarcophagus? And why was the sarcophagus sunk into the floor up to its lid?

At the third pyramid, why were parts of a body dating to the Christian period wrapped in a coarse yellow woolen cloth and buried beneath three feet of rubbish in the upper chamber?

Why in the third pyramid was the lower vaulted chamber designed so that it would absorb both sound and light?

Out on the plateau, what was the purpose of the so-called trial passages?

On the south side of the Great Pyramid, why was an ancient boat dismantled and buried in a pit east of that pyramids north-south axis? And what was stored in the other pit west of the axis?

Do the four so-called air shafts in the Great Pyramid link the three major pyramids together? And how are the compartments above the Kings Chamber related to the end time?

David Furlong, author of The Keys to the Temple, says the whole of the Giza complex was based on a coherent design intended to portray a spiritual theme (page 89). Volume 2 of Books Written in Stone: Enoch the Seer, the Pyramids of Giza, and the Last Days provides the evidence to support this thesis.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 4, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477201763

J. Marc. Merrill

J. Marc. Merrill began writing at the age of 14, starting with short stories, then novels, stage plays and screenplays. He has taught English—both composition and literature—at five colleges, including Arizona State Unirversity and Kauai Community College in Hawaii. He retired in 1999 in order to have more time to do research and to write. Thirteen years later he published the two volumes of Books Written in Stone: Enoch the Seer, the Pyramids of Giza, and the Last Days; the two volumes of Building Bridges of Time, Places, and People: Tombs, Temples & Cities of Egypt, Israel, Greece & Italy; From Coolidge to Kauai, a collection of stories; as well as four novels: Jane Austen in Time, Espana!, From Nauvoo to Carthage, and Wracked.

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Contents

1. Parable

2. Parable

3. Jeeseh

4. Restoration

5. Signs

Works Cited

 . . . the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.

—1 Corinthians 3:19

A NOTE ON DOCUMENTATION:

Although a few minor modifications have been made, for the most part the Modern Language Association (MLA) style of documentation has been chosen for this work so that readers will not have to turn to the end of each chapter or to the end of the book itself in order to find out what sources are being cited.

With the MLA style the reader is given at least the minimum information of authors’ and editors’ last names (or the titles of sources when no authors or editors are identified) within sentences and paragraphs, along with page numbers, although the word page is included with the page number or numbers only when confusion might result if page is left out. If more than one book or article by the same author is cited anywhere within the text, then the title of that book is provided whenever doubts might arise as to which source is being used.

Quite often authors’ full names and the titles of their books are mentioned in a sentence; in that case, at the end of the sentence or at the end of the appropriate paragraph, only the page number (or numbers) is enclosed in parenthesis.

Full disclosure of all sources can be found at the end of this book in the Works Cited listing. As indicated by Works Cited, only those sources referred to in the body of this book are included. For a more inclusive bibliography, readers will need to consult other books that have as their subject the various structures on the Giza plateau.

A WORD ON ADDING TO DIRECT QUOTES:

Whenever it is deemed desirable to add information or to make a comment for purposes of clarification within a direct quote, the words being inserted will be enclosed by brackets [ ]. In those few cases where brackets are used by the author or authors being quoted, a note to that effect will appear at the end of the quote.

A WORD ON SPELLING:

A number of British sources have been used throughout Books Written in Stone and for those who might not realize it, British spelling frequently varies from American spelling. For example, the British will write centre, colour, and symbolises whereas Americans will write center, color, and symbolizes. This difference is being pointed out so that only in a few instances will it be necessary to use [sic] in order to indicate that a word in a direct quote is, or at least appears to be, spelled incorrectly.

A WORD ON ITALICIZING TITLES:

Under the MLA system of documentation the Bible and its various books or epistles are not italicized, nor are they enclosed in quotation marks.

Except when noted otherwise, biblical quotations are from The New King James Version.

THE HEBREW ALPHABET

The Hebrew alphabet is comprised of twenty-two letters, all consonants. For the letters themselves, see page 11 of Biblical Hebrew by R. K. Harrison, or the Table of Alphabets in The American Heritage College Dictionary.

THE GREEK ALPHABET

Two of the Greek letters became lost over time: stigma, which is also called digamma by Alexander and Nicholas Humez in Alpha to Omega: The Life & Times of the Greek Alphabet, had the numerical value of 6, while koppa had the value of 90 (187-188).

1. Parable

Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away.

—Matthew 13:47-48

(New International Version)

On the Giza plateau, south and west of the Great Pyramid, stands the 2nd pyramid, traditionally attributed to the pharaoh Khafre (or Chephren in Greek), who, according to Egyptologists, was either a brother or a son of Khufu (J. P. Lepre, The Egyptian Pyramids 139; Werner Forman and Stephen Quirke, Hieroglyphs and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt 49).

This second stone giant, says Christopher Angell, appears to be the taller though it was originally 10 ft lower than the Great Pyramid—this is assuming that the Great Pyramid was originally constructed with its capstone installed, which it was not. While the original height of the 2nd pyramid is said to have been 471 feet, its present height is 447 feet 6 inches, which makes it 30 inches lower than the Great Pyramid when the figure of 450 feet is accepted for the Great Pyramid’s current height (Inside the Pyramids of the Pharaohs 197). The illusion that the 2nd pyramid is taller than the Great Pyramid is created by the 2nd pyramid’s having been founded on bedrock that is 33 feet higher than the bedrock at the Great Pyramid’s site (Mark Lehner, The Complete Pyramids 122).

Before presenting more description of the 2nd pyramid we should pause to consider the 30 inches and the 33 feet that have just been cited. These same measurements were built into what is called the great basement sheet, which is located at the original entrance to the Great Pyramid. At 30 inches high and 33 feet wide (Adam Rutherford, Pyramidology, Book III, 952), this sheet was built to those specifications because 30 was Christ’s age when he began his ministry and 33 was his age when he died on the cross—and it is the rejection of Christ (which includes rejection of his authorized servants and of his church) that leads to the lower degrees of glory in the afterlife.

As we proceed with the discussion of the Giza plateau we need to bear in mind that the exterior of the Great Pyramid represents the highest degree of glory—the celestial kingdom—which is comparable to the glory of the sun, while the 2nd pyramid represents the 2nd degree of glory —the terrestrial kingdom—which is comparable to the moon, and just as the moon when viewed from the earth appears to be similar in size to the sun, so does the 2nd pyramid appear to be similar in size to the Great Pyramid.

Besides the 33 feet of higher bedrock, the terrace on which the 2nd pyramid stands was carved down below the original bedrock surface to the northwest by 33 feet; however, the terrace was built up with large blocks of masonry at the opposite, southeast, corner (Lehner 122). In other words, to quote Ahmed Fakhry, the area chosen for the site sloped sharply from west to east, so that considerable labor was required to prepare it for building (The Pyramids 137).

In a related matter, Graham Hancock has

noticed that the first few courses above [the 2nd pyramid’s] base . . . were composed of truly massive blocks of limestone, almost too high to clamber over, which were about 20 feet long and 6 feet thick. (Fingerprints of the Gods 294)

Again, let’s pause to consider these numbers and to draw a comparison. Inside the Great Pyramid the Queen’s Chamber represents the 2nd degree of glory, and in this chamber the blocks in the gabled ceiling are about 20 feet long (Rutherford, Book III, 1037), and so we have a match with the length of the blocks described by Hancock. As for the 6 feet, E. W. Bullinger points out that 6 is the number of imperfection (Number in Scripture 150), and imperfection can be seen in virtually every feature of the 2nd pyramid.

For example, imperfection can be detected in the base of the 2nd pyramid, which is approximately 6 per cent less than the base of the Great Pyramid (Lawton and Ogilvie-Herald, Giza: The Truth 12); furthermore, the 2nd pyramid covers only 12 acres (Hancock 294), whereas the Great Pyramid covers 13 acres (Peter Tompkins, Secrets of the Great Pyramid 1). Twelve is imperfect in comparison to 13. Why? Because, as explained in Volume I of Books Written in Stone, 13 represents Christ plus the Twelve Apostles, the Twelve symbolizing the foundation of the sacred building—i.e. the Church of Jesus Christ—with Christ being the chief cornerstone (see Ephesians 2:19). Remove the cornerstone and what happens to the building? It becomes imperfect.

A study of the various measurements associated with the 2nd pyramid reveals that the number 13 does not occur as a prime number (meaning an indivisible number) even once. It only occurs in multiples, as in 26, and that reflects the reality that without the cornerstone, i.e. Christ, the apostles—who are to be equated with the building, or in this case the 2nd pyramid—are incomplete and unable to attain perfection. Christ himself plainly told the apostles, without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

The difference of 10 feet in the completed height of the 2 pyramids is part of the intentional plan to make the 2nd pyramid inferior to the Great Pyramid. The number 10, Bullinger notes, signifies ‘the perfection of Divine order’ (243), but in this case the 10 is a minus figure since the 2nd pyramid is 10 feet shorter than the Great Pyramid, so just the opposite of ‘the perfection of Divine order’ is intended.

Similarly, the difference of 30 inches in the current height of the 2 pyramids, as well as the terrace having been cut down by 33 feet to the northwest, is to regarded in a negative light, and with these figures being negative we once again have an indication of Christ being rejected because of his having begun his ministry at the age of 30 and ending it at the age of 33.

Likewise, while the Queen’s Chamber and the King’s Chamber inside the Great Pyramid have the same width of 17 feet 2 inches (I. E. S. Edwards, The Pyramids of Egypt 103 and 106)—which establishes an undeniable relationship between the two—the Queen’s Chamber, in its overall dimensions, is smaller than the King’s Chamber, and that corresponds with the terrestrial kingdom having a lesser glory than the celestial kingdom.

For further substantiation of this claim, David Furlong notes in The Keys to the Temple that the 2nd pyramid is inferior in many ways. Like the Great Pyramid, he says, it is oriented to the cardinal points of the compass, but with not quite the same level of accuracy as its maximum deviation is over 6 minutes of arc (80). In contrast, the deviation of the Great Pyramid is within three arc minutes from true north (Anthony Hilder quoted in Sellier, Mysteries of the Ancient World 150-51).

Furlong also observes that the stonework of the 2nd pyramid lacks the superior finish of the Great Pyramid (80). Mark Lehner, in agreement with Furlong’s observation, writes:

Just beneath the lowest surviving course of casing stones, a band of regular stepped core stone is visible. The rest of the surface down to the base—the greater part of the pyramid—consists of very rough, irregular, loose stones.

Not quite sure why this is so, Lehner inquires,

What is this loose lower band? Is it packing between core and casing, exposed when the casing was torn away? That seems likely until, climbing the corners of the pyramid, one sees that this irregular masonry seems to continue for some depth into the pyramid body. The discontinuity might indicate different building styles, perhaps even a hiatus and then resumption of building. Alternatively, the core masonry may simply have been laid in a more regular fashion towards the top in order to allow the builders greater control. (122)

While Lehner’s descriptions are useful, his speculation can be discounted. Why? Because, as we learn from Basil Stewart’s The Mystery of the Great Pyramid, the Arab historian Ibn Batuta recorded the truth when he wrote in the 14th century "that ‘the pyramids (Great, Second, and Third) were constructed by Hermes (the Greek name for Thoth), the same person as Enoch’ (59-60; italics added), and because Enoch had a complete plan of development before a single stone was ever set in place there was no hiatus involved in the construction of the 2nd pyramid, nor was the core masonry . . . laid in a more regular fashion towards the top in order to allow the builders greater control. The rough, irregular, loose stones symbolize the majority of those who will inherit the terrestrial kingdom. The band of regular stepped core stone" symbolizes the higher level of this kingdom, which, like the other 2 degrees of glory, will consist of more than one level.

William Flinders Petrie found that the imperfection of the 2nd pyramid extended to the wall that had been built around it.

This wall differs in its character on each side, and does not seem to have been planned with any uniformity. On the N. side it is a wide substructure of very large blocks, rather rudely hewn, and bearing cubit marks and numbers on the backs . . . . On its S. face this wall is much less finished, and has been banked up to the top of the broad part by a vast heap of chips, which have been kept in position by building retaining walls in them. Two of these retaining walls that I partly uncovered, were of rough broken stone, neatly put together, and mud plastered on the S. faces. (The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh 33)

All of these features are evidence that the 2nd pyramid represents the 2nd degree of glory. More evidence is provided by Petrie’s observation that the

upper part of the [2nd] Pyramid was cased with Mokattam limestone, of a rather different quality from that of the Great Pyramid; it is grayer, harder, more splintery, and of not such a regular and certain fracture. (32)

Concerning the casing stones that have survived at the top of the 2nd pyramid, Lehner says they are not flush, suggesting they were cut to the pyramid’s slope before setting. However, he surmises, the unevenness may be due to settling when lower courses were robbed. Lehner has also detected a very slight twist . . . at the top, introduced because the four corner angles were not quite aligned correctly to meet at the apex (122).

According to Egyptologists, the Egyptians’ pyramid-building skills improved from one project to the next and consequently the true pyramid was developed from the inferior step pyramid. Edwards, for example, states:

By a lucky chance it is possible to trace this development in the badly damaged pyramid at Meidum . . . . In its present condition the monument resembles a huge rectangular tower rather than a pyramid. (71).

(For a black and white aerial photograph of the tower or Pyramid of Maidum, a variant spelling of Meidum, see page 53 of Egypt: Antiquities from Above by Marilyn Bridges. For a color photo taken from ground level see page 424 of Ancient Egypt by Lorna Oakes and Lucia Gahlin.)

Edwards compares this tower to the stepped pyramid at Saqqara, which is near the site where the ancient city of Memphis was located south of Giza. This stepped pyramid is said to have been the first stone structure of any size to have been built anywhere (John and Elizabeth Romer, The Seven Wonders of the World 166).

(For a black and white aerial photo of the Stepped Pyramid of Djoser see Marilyn Bridges’ text, page 34; for a color photo, again taken at ground level, see Oakes and Gahlin, page 46.)

Like the stepped pyramid, the tower of Meidum, says Edwards, attained its final form after undergoing a number of transformations (71). It was finished, Lepre asserts, as a true pyramid; with sheer, sloping sides rather than the step-pattern of all previous pyramids (51). Its present-day appearance as a tower surrounded by sand and rubble is due, they say, to its structural weaknesses—caused by the miscalculations of an over-ambitious builder—[and that] led to a spectacular collapse of its outer casing (Angell 195). As a result, the pyramid was, they maintain, abandoned, and so out of its eight planned steps only 3 remain (Angell 199).

However, since no contemporary inscriptions have been found giving a possible hint as to the builder or the king to whom the pyramid at Meidum belongs (Toth and Nielsen 53), the claims of the Egyptologists are nothing more than conjecture based on highly circumstantial evidence, evidence which is denied by one of their own colleagues. In The Complete Pyramids Lehner, addressing this issue, reveals that

[e]xcavations . . . have now cleared away a large part of the debris and recovered various later remains but no 4th-dynasty ropes, timbers or workers’ bodies—discounting the theory of a sudden collapse. (97)

And on the matter of the tower at Meidum having been finished as a true pyramid, Lehner confesses,

In truth, because there has been so much stone robbing we simply do not know to what extent the builders finished the Meidum pyramid. (100)

We may take it as a fact that Enoch and his people constructed the tower of Meidum basically as it appears today. It never was a pyramid; it was designed as a tower to represent in one construction—much like the interior of the Great Pyramid—the 3 degrees of glory, with the celestial kingdom at the top, the terrestrial kingdom in the middle, and the telestial kingdom at the bottom. This is why the structure at Meidum is the only other ancient Egyptian pyramid to have the same height-to-base ratio as the Great Pyramid, that ratio being, according to Furlong, 7:11 (76-77 and 87-88).

Furlong’s judgment is supported by Lehner, who gives 51 degrees 50 minutes 35 seconds as the tower’s slope, which is off by no more than 5 seconds from the Great Pyramid’s 51 degrees 50 minutes 40 seconds (99 and 108). The number 35 that is associated with Meidum represents the First Presidency of the highest kingdom. The number 40 associated with the Great Pyramid represents the incomplete state of that monument as evidenced by the lack of complete casing on the exterior and the lack of a capstone. The number 40 is related to

a period of probation, trial, and chastisement . . . . It is the product of 5 and 8, and points to the action of grace (5), leading to and ending in revival and renewal (8). (Bullinger 266; italics by Bullinger)

The tower at Meidum is surrounded by sand and rubble in order to graphically depict this statement by Christ:

"Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall. (Matthew 7:24-27).

If pyramid design and construction evolved and improved as each succeeding generation learned to avoid the previous generations’ mistakes, why then isn’t the 2nd pyramid of Giza even more impressive than the Great Pyramid? Or, as Richard Noone asks, why isn’t the 2nd pyramid at least equal to the Great Pyramid (116)? After all, Rosalee David’s 1998 Handbook to Life in Ancient Egypt specifies that the 2nd pyramid was built only 33 years after the Great Pyramid (8; the frequent occurrence of the number 33 will continue as this study progresses).

Did all the people who worked on the Great Pyramid die during those 33 years and did they also fail to pass on their knowledge to the upcoming generation? Was an entirely new and untrained crew responsible for the flawed design as well as the poor materials that went into the new pharaoh’s pyramid?

The same questions can be asked of the pyramid that Egyptologists say was built after the Great Pyramid but before the 2nd pyramid of Giza. That pyramid lies some 5 miles to the north of Giza at a site called Abu Roash (other spellings are Abu Rowash, Abu Rawash or Abu Rawwash).

This ruined heap of stones, as Nancy Jenkins describes the remains at Abu Roash (The Boat Beneath the Pyramid 12), has been assigned to a supposed son of Khufu who is most frequently called Djedefre. Lehner informs us that Djedefre’s pyramid was less than a quarter of the base area of his father’s, Khufu, at Giza (121). No doubt realizing that some readers would wonder why there was such a disparity between the Great Pyramid and the wreck at Abu Roash, Lehner devised the following theory:

Perhaps, already an elderly man when he came to the throne, Djedefre knew that he might not have many years left to complete his pyramid, and chose a smaller design—he is said to have reigned for only eight years. (121)

But, we might ask, did this pharaoh, who is referred to as Rededef by Lepre (The Egyptian Pyramids 132), know in advance that he was going to reign for only 8 years? We might also ask if there is any ancient record that can be used to back up Lehner’s theory. The answer is no, there is nothing at all; Lehner is simply entertaining what he thinks is a logical reason that might explain why the ruins at Abu Roash are so disappointing and so utterly unimpressive when compared to the Great Pyramid.

Lehner advises us that Djedefre is the first pharaoh we know to take the title ‘Son of Re’ (121). To this information, Lepre adds that another name for Djedefre or Rededef was Kheper or Creator and his pyramid was named the High One of Djedefre (135). Lepre, like Lehner, identifies Djedefre as a son of Khufu.

The first thing we need to realize is that there was no pharaoh by the name of Khufu. As demonstrated in the last chapter of Volume 1 of Books Written in Stone, the hieroglyphs that Egyptologists translate as KHUFU should be translated as HOW FEW. It follows, then, that there was no pharaoh by the name of Djedefre.

In that case, what are we to make of the above information? To begin with, if we regard Re as God the Father, then the Son of Re refers to Christ, and the number 8 in the supposed 8 years of rule becomes symbolic. We return to Bullinger to learn that 8 "is the number specially associated with Resurrection and Regeneration, and the beginning of a new era or order, and Christ was resurrected on the first day of the week, which was of necessity the eighth day (200). In addition, Christ is the great Creator", for all things pertaining to the earth were created through him (Ephesians 3:9). Christ is also the High One who is quoted in Chapter 57, verse 15, of Isaiah:

For thus says the High and Lofty One

Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:

"I dwell in the high and holy place,

With him who has a contrite and humble spirit,

To revive the spirit of the humble."

But associating Christ with the remains at Abu Roash does not explain why the structure there was constructed to be so much smaller than the Great Pyramid. The answer to this mystery lies in further details to be gathered from Lehner, Edwards, and Ahmed Fakhry.

After observing that large quantities of granite from the casing lie all around, Lehner reports that a

number of blocks have a 60º slope, indicating to some that Djedefre intended a step pyramid . . . . However, step pyramid accretions generally had a much steeper slope of 72-78º. [By accretions Lehner means that the number of steps in a stepped pyramid was determined by how long the pharaoh lived.]

Lehner goes on to point out that

Franco-Swiss excavations at the north corners and centre of the base of the pyramid have revealed a foundation bed with a 12º slope.

He further remarks:

We still do not know how far building progressed above some 20 granite courses at the base. (120)

One more comment from Lehner is worth quoting:

From Sneferu [who, according to Egyptologists, preceded Khufu as pharaoh] to Khufu we have seen a continual striving to build chambers higher in the pyramid body. Djedefre returned to an earlier concept and began his substructure as a colossal pit in the ground, 23 x 10 m (75 x 33 ft). (121)

Edwards contributes the following information:

Apart from a nucleus of rock, very little of the [pyramid’s] superstructure has survived and it is impossible to be certain that it was ever completed. (144)

Fakhry adds that the superstructure measures at present about 12 meters [or 39 feet] high (129).

Continuing with Edwards’ account, we read:

The substructure consists of a trench with a gradient of 22º 35′, which leads to the base of a rectangular perpendicular shaft; it [meaning the trench] is about 160 feet long . . . . The approximate dimensions of the shaft are 66 feet in depth, 30 feet from north to south and 70 feet from east to west. (144-45)

We go back to Lehner for this important detail:

The height of the knoll on which the pyramid was built, some 20 m (66 ft) higher than the Giza plateau, meant that an extraordinarily long causeway was needed . . . . The tentative, cursory and diminutive character of the pyramid is a striking counterpoint to the size of its causeway. (121)

This causeway was laid down in a southwesterly direction . . . and seems to have terminated near the northeastern corner of the pyramid inclosure (Fakhry 128). Petrie estimated that it [i.e. the causeway] was . . . in places, 40 feet high (Edwards 145).

East of the pyramidal structure was a large rock-cut boat pit. With its long axis pointing north-south, it measured 35 meters [115 feet] long, 3.75 meters [12 feet] wide at its widest part, and 9.3 meters [30 feet] deep (Fakhry 129).

Now, as the purpose for all of these numbers is revealed readers should be told that with only one exception, Lehner, Edwards and Fakhry offer no explanations for the various dimensions they have so diligently recorded. The one exception pertains to the direction the causeway takes, which Edwards attributes to the configuration of the ground. By following that line, he argues, it was possible to utilize a ridge of rock and thus reduce the amount of building necessary for raising it to the required level (145).

Predictably, Edwards fails to see anything other than a natural cause for the direction of the causeway, but there is another reason behind its location; however, before that reason is given we need to explore some of the numbers that were cited above.

Beginning with the pit, its 75 feet x 33 feet relate to Abraham, who was 75 years old when he was forced out of Egypt by the pharaoh. Abraham was sent to Egypt by Jehovah/Yahweh—one of Christ’s many names—not just to escape the famine that was ravaging the land of Canaan but also to declare to the Egyptians what he had learned from Christ (see The Book of Abraham in The Pearl of Great Price, 2:8 and 3:15), and Christ, who was entombed at the age of 33, is represented by the number 33. In the matter of the pit, 33 indicates the entombment of the church in Egypt after Abraham’s expulsion, and it is related to Christ’s entombment in Jerusalem.

Thirty-three also provides a link to the 33-foot width of the Great Pyramid’s great basement sheet, on which the first section of the descending passage is built (Peter Lemesurier, The Great Pyramid Decoded 180, footnote), as well as to the 2nd pyramid of Giza where, in addition to the 33 feet associated with the northwest side of the terrace, the mean error in the angle of the sides is 33 seconds (Petrie 32).

The 60-degree slope of some of the blocks, instead of indicating that Djedefre intended a step pyramid, point to Abraham’s son Isaac, who was 60 years old when his son Jacob was born (Genesis 25:20-26). Since Isaac himself was born when his father Abraham was 100 (Genesis 21:5), it follows that at Jacob’s birth Abraham was 160—a match for the 160-foot length of the trench.

Abraham, of course, was a Hebrew, and the word Hebrew—ibriy in the Hebrew language—has a gematria or numerical value of 282: Ayin = 70, Beth = 2, Res = 200, Yodh = 10 (see James Strong, The New Strong’s Complete Dictionary of Bible Words 467, entry # 5680; while gematria is dealt with in detail in Volume 1 of Books Written in Stone, it will be reviewed later in this chapter). If we deduct the present height of the 2nd pyramid from its finished height—471 feet minus 447 feet 6 inches—the difference is 23 feet 6 inches or 282 inches.

The 12-degree slope of the foundation bed at Abu Roash is a tie-in with the 12 sons of Jacob who became the foundation of the Israelite nation. The 20 courses of granite—granite being a symbol of those living on a higher level of spirituality—pertain to Jacob himself, who served his father-in-law, Laban, for 20 years, during which time Jacob married and fathered 11 of his 12 sons (Genesis 31:38-41). But there is more than this to the number 20, for Abraham was the 20th patriarch of the Genesis period and it was 20 years after Isaac married Rebekah that Jacob was born (Genesis 25:20 and 26), plus Joseph, Jacob’s 11th son, had been in Egypt for 20 years when the 7 years of superior crops culminated in such an abundance of grain that Joseph stopped counting, for it was immeasurable (Genesis 41:49).

The trench has a gradient of 22 degrees 35 minutes because 22 years separated Joseph from his father and his brothers, and because the number 35, as demonstrated in the first volume of this series, is associated with the prophets who lead the Church of Jesus Christ under the Savior’s direction.

The number 40 connected with the height of the causeway has to do with preparation for a major event, which in this instance points to Jacob’s moving his family to Egypt to be reunited with Joseph. The causeway runs from the northeast to the southwest because that is the overall direction Jacob traveled as he went from the land of Canaan to the land of Egypt. The ridge of rock mentioned by Edwards is a symbol of Christ, for he was the Rock who guided and supported his servants the prophets (Herbert Lockyer, Sr., Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary 921; see also 1 Corinthians 10:1-4).

When Jacob gave each of his 12 sons a blessing just before he died, he said of Joseph:

"With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel" (New International Version—hereafter cited as NIV—49:23-24; italics added)

The shaft which measures 30 feet from north to south is meant to be related to the causeway. Joseph was 30 when he became the co-ruler of Egypt and it was this commanding position that made it possible for his entire family to be brought from the land of Canaan to the land of the pharaohs. The shaft, as well as the knoll on which the pyramid was built, has a depth of 66 feet because we’re told in Genesis 46:26 that

All the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt, who came from his body, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, were sixty-six persons in all.

The shaft is 70 feet from east to west because after traveling north to south, Jacob then had to go from east to west to enter Egypt, and in Genesis 46:27 it is specified that when Jacob himself, along with Joseph and Joseph’s 2 sons, was added to the previous number of 66, then

All the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy.

The boat pit is 115 feet long because 115 years passed from the time of Abraham’s death to the time that Jacob entered Egypt. This is determined by subtracting 1742 BC, the year Jacob moved from Canaan to Egypt, from 1857 BC, the year Abraham died. (As explained in Volume 1 of Books Written in Stone, Cleon Skousen’s biblical chronology as developed in The First 2000 Years and The Third Thousand Years is most useful, however, for this work 10 years are consistently added to Skousen’s dates.)

The boat pit’s depth of 30 feet and width of 12 feet supply one more link to Joseph’s elevation to the governorship of Egypt and to Jacob’s 12 sons. With these connections, the boat pit also suggests that at a certain point in the journey to the south, Jacob and his family, arriving at the Red Sea, took a boat in order to reach Egypt. This idea will be dealt with in some detail in another volume.

The boat pit has its positive associations, but there is a negative association as well, and that is the fact that Jacob was 115 when Joseph was cast into prison by the man referred to as Potiphar in the book of Genesis. (Jacob was born in 1872 BC, Joseph was imprisoned in 1757. It is interesting to note that if we separate 1757 into the numbers 17 and 57 we can see an appropriate connection with the Great Pyramid, where the distance from the beginning of the ascending passage to the bottom of the descending passage is 57 feet and the height of the subterranean chamber at one point at the east end . . . is about 17 feet (Rutherford, Book III, 1084), and the subterranean chamber represents the telestial kingdom, which is a prison in comparison to the celestial kingdom.

This negative association goes hand in hand with the height of 39 feet listed by Fakhry for the superstructure at Abu Roash. Joseph was 39 in the 2nd year of famine, which was widespread and brought death to many. Moreover, Joseph had been in Egypt for 39 years when his father died (Joseph was taken to Egypt in 1764 while Jacob’s death came in 1725), and the loss of Jacob was a time for great mourning (see Genesis 50:1-11).

In his account of the ruins at Abu Roash, Lepre includes the cartouche that is identified with the name Rededef or Djedefre (an illustration of this cartouche can be found on page 132 of The Egyptian Pyramids).

Enclosed in the cartouche are 3 hieroglyphs: on the left is a disk, which is followed by what is called a djed pillar, and on the right, a horned viper.

Mark Collier and Bill Manley in How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs identify the disk with the sun and, when used as a determinative, that is, when a hieroglyph is intended to give a general idea of its meaning (2), they say it indicates either sun, day, [or] time; however, when this particular hieroglyph should be transliterated, then they say it is to be equated with the letter R and as such it stands for either sun or for (the god) Re (136).

Samuel Mercer’s Handbook of Egyptian Hieroglyphs contains basically the same information regarding this disk. On page 159 of Mercer’s text 2 disks are shown. The first of these 2, which is like the one in the cartouche, has a small dot in the center of the disk while in the cartouche the dot is a small circle. The second of the 2 disks has no such dot.

Why would the ancient Egyptians have depicted the sun with a dot or a circle at its center? The answer can be determined by examining page 45 of Karl-Theodor Zauzich’s Hieroglyphs without Mystery. On this page Zauzich features 2 views of an architrave [a decorative molding] that stood over a doorway in the temple of King Sahure (about 2450 B.C.) [this is Zauzich’s date, which is incorrect by several hundred years]. The architrave is inscribed with a finely balanced composition of . . . signs, which are carved in very hard red granite (43).

Included in the architrave’s carving is a cartouche with 3 hieroglyphs. On the viewer’s left is a quail chick. In the middle are 3 vertical signs that resemble posts. These posts are equal in height and thickness and they are joined together near the bottom by a single crossbeam. This crossbeam is unusual in that a large loop dangles from its left end. At the top, on the side opposite from the dangling loop, all 3 posts have a separate loop with a downward angle, but because these loops are smaller than the one at the bottom they do not appear to dangle and therefore they suggest the kind of short pieces of rope that were used as hobbles in order to keep animals from straying too far while grazing—or, they could suggest another possibility.

On page 108 of When the Pyramids Were Built: Egyptian Art of the Old Kingdom, Dorothea Arnold features a full-sized photograph of a sculpture said to be from the Giza plateau (143, note 95). The subject of the sculpture appears to be a butcher preparing to slaughter a calf. The 2 hind legs and the left foreleg have been trussed together with a piece of rope that has been looped around the legs 3 times. The right foreleg is grasped by the butcher’s left hand, giving the impression that he is going to remove the shoulder.

In the Bible the shoulder is used figuratively of destruction (Ezek. 29:7), servitude (Is. 10:27), [and] deliverance from bondage (Ps.81:6) (Lockyer, Sr., Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary 987).

As for the calf itself, Barbara Walker says,

The calf was actually a deity in Egypt, worshipped as a symbol of Horus, offspring of Isis in the form of the Golden Cow. A golden calf called Heru-Nub, the Horus of Gold, was worshipped at Lycopolis. (367)

Lycopolis was the center of the 13th nome [i.e. province] of Upper [meaning southern] Egypt (Margaret Bunson, A Dictionary of Ancient Egypt 36). The number 13, as already established, is associated with Christ; the golden calf should also be associated with Christ, as should the calf in the sculpture, for its slaughter brings to mind Isaiah’s vivid prophecy that the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, would be oppressed and afflicted and led as a lamb to the slaughter (53:7). The lamb, like the calf, represented innocence and purity, and both were sacrificed as offerings to the Lord.

It came to pass on the eighth day that Moses . . . said to Aaron, "Take . . . a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering . . . to sacrifice before the Lord" (Leviticus 9:1-3; italics added)

Christ, in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, made reference to the fatted calf that was killed for the son’s sake after he returned home in a humble and penitent state (Luke 15:23-24). And Christ, like the calf in the sculpture, was bound—trussed—when he was taken captive by the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews (John 18:12). This arrest would lead to his slaughter on the cross.

The interrelationship among the pyramids makes it possible to correctly interpret their symbolic features; in a similar manner the sculpture of the calf helps to reveal the meaning of the central hieroglyph in the cartouche that is rendered as Rededef or Djedefre. The sculpture especially convinces us that there is something absurdly wrong with Zauzich’s identifying the loops as toes. On page 106 of his text, where this identification is made, Zauzich reproduces the hieroglyph in a rather crude drawing which is misleading because the small loops at the top resemble pennants even more than they do toes, and the loops are definitely not pennants.

What then do the loops and the posts represent?

In the sculpture just described, the calf is on its back, its head upside down. The 3 posts are also upside down. The posts represent crosses, crosses that are linked together by one crossbeam; rotating the illustration so that the posts are upright allows us to see what is being described. They were carved this way because they represent the 3 degrees of glory, which are linked together through Christ, whose resurrection assures the resurrection of all mankind.

The crosses are upside down to suggest the underworld; in other words, they represent Christ’s death on the cross. This is the real tie-in with the calf. Its 3 legs bound together by 3 loops function symbolically in the same way as the 3 small loops attached to the posts; that is, they symbolize the 3 days that Christ’s body was bound to the tomb. The reason for the single larger loop will be given in a moment.

The 3rd hieroglyph within the cartouche assigned to King Sahure is a disk with a circle in its center; however, this circle is more than just a circle. It is clearly a hole in the disk itself. Does this disk represent the sun? Zauzich says it does. He takes it for the logogram [a pictorial rep-resentation] of the sun and therefore says it is to be read as the letter R. Is he correct? No, he is not. The disk with the hole in its center represents a millstone. To substantiate this claim we can compare the disk to an illustration of a first century AD millstone from page 183 of The

Reviews for Books Written in Stone

[devil_llama · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An apocryphal book of the Old Testament. This work is apocalyptic and poetic, though lacking the sublimity of the poetry of some of the other biblical works, such as Revelation. There are traces in here of Revelation, though this work is much earlier, and as I said, somewhat less over the top and less poetic. Still, it's an interesting look at the history of religion, and in this work, it's easy to see the pagan origins of the later monotheistic religions. The references to the chariot in which the sun drives across the sky is reminiscent of the Greeks. An interesting read, but tedious at times.

[dswaddell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a book from the Eithiopian Bible which according to their beliefs outlines what Enoch was shown by God, the fall of the angels, and chronicals the birth of Noah.

[setnahkt · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Part of Dover Publications program of republishing just about every copyright-expired book ever written. The advantages of this approach is it makes a lot of otherwise rare books cheap and accessible; the disadvantage is that there is no updating or commentary; the Dover Book of Enoch is a 2007 republication of a work originally published in 1917 based on an 1893 translation.
Separations in the text show this is actually a compendium of a number of documents – perhaps three to five. The only full version is written in Ge’ez (The Book of Enoch is considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Church); at the time of the version published by Dover there were Greek fragments; since then more Greek and Aramaic fragments have been found (notably as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls). It seems that at least some of the Book of Enoch was known in New Testament times, as it is quoted by name in Jude v14-15. There must have been complete copies available to the early Christian church (which rejected it as noncanonical at the Council of Laodicea in 364); the English sorcerer John Dee knew enough about it to invent an “Enochian” language and Sir Walter Raleigh mentioned it in his History of the World.
The first section (sometimes called I Enoch, or the Book of the Watchers) is a discussion of the fall of the angels. The Christian story of the revolt in heaven is better known from Milton than from the Bible: the angels revolted because they didn’t like the idea that humans were to be created. The Muslim story is similar; Iblis was condemned because he refused to bow down to Adam. In I Enoch, however, the fallen angels don’t revolt in a military way; instead their sin is having sex with human women, an event somewhat cryptically noted in Genesis 6 v1-4. Enoch calls these angels “Watchers”, implying (but never stating outright) that they were seduced of their duty of keeping an eye on Creation. Their names are given; the leader is Semjâzâ (also named as Sêmîazâz) and there’s a list of his followers (including Azâzêl, later familiar from various black magic grimoires). As also discussed in black magic texts, particular fallen angels were responsible for instructing humans in occult technology, including “root cutting”; the manufacture of swords, shields, and armor; applying makeup; wearing jewelry; casting spells; astrology; and miscellaneous divination methods.
Enoch’s fallen angels are considerably less militant than Milton’s, eventually just sitting around morosely in the desert and asking Enoch to compose a petition for their forgiveness and carry it to Heaven. Heaven’s not having any of it; the Watchers are told that they should have been interceding for men, not men for them, and they are condemned to Sheol. Enoch is then conducted on a tour of heaven, earth, and Sheol, accompanied by archangels.
II Enoch (the Book of Parables) is an apocalyptic text vaguely similar to Revelation. It mentions entities called “the Son of Man” and “the Head of Days” at considerable length, and affirms that the righteous will have eternal life while the unrighteous will not (I understand this was a matter of considerable debate among theologians in the Israel of 300-100 BCE).
III Enoch (aka the Book of Noah; Enoch is Noah’s great-grandfather) is another apocalyptic work. Noah gets warned of the upcoming deluge; the specific reason for the Flood is to destroy the offspring of the Watchers and humans. Once again it is affirmed that the righteous will be saved.
IV Enoch (the Book of the Luminaries) is an elaborate calendar treatise, which sets out a 364-day calendar, with twelve 30 day months and an intercalary day at the end of each quarter. Although it wasn’t known at the time of the original publication here reprinted by Dover, a calendar of this sort was apparently used by the Essene colony at the Dead Sea. Neither Enoch nor the Essenes explain how they deal with the fact that the tropical year is not 364 days long; however, Enoch explains that the current calendar deviates from the 364-day ideal because of the sins of humans and the Watchers. The system explained by Enoch has the Sun, an angel riding in a chariot, departing from a portal in the east, entering a portal in the west, and returning under the horizon in the north. There are six portals and the Sun switches from one portal to another every 30 days. There are 18 “parts” in a day (a day-night cycle). Thus when the sun moves from the fourth portal to the fifth portal, the day:night ratio changes from 10:8 to 11:7. The Moon, of course, is somewhat harder to explain. The luminaries follow their courses voluntarily, from a strict sense of duty; there might be some Greek influence here, specifically the story of Phaëton and the chariot of the Sun; however, there isn’t enough for Enoch to adopt a spherical earth.
V Enoch (the Book of Dream-Visions) is an elaborate retelling of Jewish history as a parable of sheep and cattle. The sheep have various afflictions visited on them by the Shepherd, personified by other animals (asses, elephants, camels, hyenas, etc.) which can be identified with Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks, and so on. It comes across more as a “Guess who the ravens are supposed to be” game rather than a theological document.
This translation concludes with (not surprisingly) A Conclusion, A Fragment of the Book of Noah, and An Appendix; these are all minor apocalyptic texts.
I definitely want to read some of the commentaries on Enoch, as it has a lot of bearing on Near Eastern history and the idea of the Apocalypse. As already noted, Enoch has had quite a bit of influence on various modern mystics; people seem to like the idea of The Apocalypse, especially those who assume they’re going to be one of the Elect. Well, all I can say is in a few days they’ll all be sorry they weren’t reading up on Mayan cosmography.