Wednesday, July 15, 2026

It is the 15th of July 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

I’m currently working on a weekend edition request: to tell the story of the Dead Sea Scrolls and their significance for the Bible and Christianity- we’ve mentioned them a lot, but never delved into them completely. So- as I’m prepping for the story about, perhaps, the most significant archaeological/ textual discovery of the modern age, I came across the story of, well… perhaps the second most significant archaeological/theological textual discovery of the modern age- and numerous sites claiming that this text was discovered on this, the 15th of July in 1799.

 

To understand the text and its discovery, you’ll need to remember the character Alexander the Great- the 4th-century BC King of Macedonia who defeated the Persians and spread the Hellenistic or “Greek” culture across the Mediterranean. This marks the end of the old rulers- the Persians, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, etc…. And the coming “Greco-Roman” world in which the Christian church would flourish.

 

Centuries later, there was a character who believed himself to be the next Alexander the Great- he was the very average-sized emperor of France- Napoleon. Like Alexander, it wasn’t enough just to conquer, but rather to take with him the great thinkers and scientists- to absorb the local culture and languages. It was in 1799- during the Napoleonic Wars that Napoleon had an expedition into Egypt, following the path of Alexander the Great.

 

And there in the port city of Rashid, on the Nile, as the army was digging to build fortifications, they came across a curious stone slab- it was covered in writing, in at least three different languages, and was discovered to be part of an ancient ‘Stela’ or royal proclamation.

The town, Rashid, was known to westerners as “Rosetta,” and Napoleon’s men had come across what we call today the Rosetta Stone. Why is it such a big deal that in common parlance a “Rosetta Stone” is used to refer to anything that unlocks new knowledge- the clue that solves the riddle… what’s the big deal with this Rosetta Stone?

 

By 1799, hieroglyphics were virtually untranslatable. The official written language of not only a world dynasty- but the world dynasty at the time of Moses and the early Hebrews- was locked. It was a dead language. The Last hieroglyph had been written around 394; the Christian Emperor Theodosius outlawed pagan temples and writings. It would be the death knell to hieroglyphics, and within a few centuries all knowledge of the language was lost.

 

This “Stela”- the “Rosetta Stone” was an official decree from Ptolemy V around the year 200 BC. By then, the Egyptians, having been “Hellenized” by Alexander the Great, spoke either a form of demotic Egyptian- something like Coptic- or the Koine Greek of the Mediterranean world. Hieroglyphics were the official, priestly language, but not as common as the other languages. This “Stela” or stone decree by Ptolemy was a decree he made regarding the protection of Egyptian temples… ok… but because the people were either the priestly caste who read Egyptian, those who read demotic Egyptian, and those who read Greek.

 

This Rosetta Stone was the same decree written in three languages- there was no more guesswork as to what hieroglyphs meant. The Egyptian Christians- those we call “Coptic” had preserved a kind of “demotic” or “of the people” Egyptian. And so from the Hieroglyph to the Demotic to the Greek- the great puzzle could be solved. This would have implications for Egyptian history and linguistics; it was able to solidify Egyptian references to the Hebrew people in some places and help situate timelines between the ancient Egyptian and Hebrew people. Not to mention the explosion of academic and biblical archaeology- what was once considered a field for treasure hunters would find a legitimacy that led to some of the most remarkable and stunning discoveries- the chief of which we will look at this weekend.

 

And in looking at the research, it seems the Rosetta Stone was long said to have been discovered “mid-July,” thus the 15th getting the stamp- historians are now pretty certain it was discovered early August… but by the time I read that I had come too far- and the connection to the weekend show was too good. So, it was around this time of year- good enough- that the Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799, setting off an ancient archaeology explosion.

 

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary, and wait... a Proverb! Yup, that enigmatic book of sometimes curious wisdom- ask a pastor or a friend about how we should read it- this is from Proverbs 11:

The desire of the righteous ends only in good,
 but the hope of the wicked only in wrath.

24 One person gives freely, yet gains even more;
 another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.

25 A generous person will prosper;
 whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

26 People curse the one who hoards grain,
 but they pray God’s blessing on the one who is willing to sell.

27 Whoever seeks good finds favor,
 but evil comes to one who searches for it.

28 Those who trust in their riches will fall,
 but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.

29 Whoever brings ruin on their family will inherit only wind,
 and the fool will be servant to the wise.

30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
 and the one who is wise saves lives.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 15th of July 2026 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who insists you stress the “T” in demotic… It’s not evil- it’s “of the people”- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who sang a little Rich Mullins at VBS and wanted to explain to the kids that he wrote lots of other songs too… he was much more than Awesome God- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.