(2nd. ed. Algora, 2008. An earlier edition was published in England in 1997)
The Genesis of Israel and Egypt, Volume 1 of Ages in Alignment, examines the beginnings of literate civilization in the Near East. It is shown that the early civilizations of the region arose in the wake of a great natural catastrophe, the evidence for which is extensive, though now misinterpreted and ignored. The appearance of temple-building and priest-kingship was intimately connected to this catastrophe, and the impulse to erect high places for sacrifice (“altars”) delivered to mankind the first architecture, mathematics, and record-keeping.
After a detailed examination of these questions, The Genesis of Israel and Egypt goes on to trace the story of the great migration which, following a further natural catastrophe, led groups of early Mesopotamians westwards towards Egypt, where they helped establish Egyptian civilization. This migration, recalled in the biblical story of Abraham, provides the first link between Egyptian and Hebrew histories; and it is shown in detail how Menes, the first pharaoh (who initiates the custom of circumcision) is to be placed alongside Abraham, who also initiates the custom of circumcision. The fact that a thousand years are normally supposed to have separated these characters reveals an enormous error in textbook chronology.
Removing a thousand years from the length of Egyptian history has the effect of bringing it precisely into line with that of the Bible, and the histories of the two neighbouring peoples, which have hitherto shown no agreement at all, now fit together like matching pieces of a jigsaw. The next link comes a few generations later with Imhotep, the great seer who solved the crisis of a seven-year famine by interpreting pharaoh Djoser's dream. Imhotep is shown to be the same person as Joseph, son of Jacob, who likewise solved the crisis of a seven-year famine by interpreting the pharaoh’s dream.
The next “match” comes about a century later, when, according to the Bible, the children of Israel escaped their bondage in Egypt in the midst of a terrible upheaval of nature, which darkened the earth. In the same way, Egyptian history informs us that about a century after Imhotep, Egypt was plunged into chaos and a new dynasty established. Sneferu, first pharaoh of the new line, had to fight desert tribes who invaded Egypt, apparently during a terrible darkness that had gripped the land.