Why Pyramidology is Wrong

This article was written to disprove 'Pyramidology', or the idea that the Pyramid of Cheops (also called the Pyramid of Khufu, or the Great Pyramid) was built under mystical direction. The Revival Centre pamphlet, 'The Great Pyramid - God's Witness in Stone' says:

"'In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt' ... The Great Pyramid was constructed to a blueprint inspired by God, as a witness to the God of Creation, and His great plan of the ages"

Many are in awe at the Pyramid of Cheops. It stands majestically in the white sands of Egypt. It was, for a time, the tallest and heaviest structure on earth. It seems almost inspired. But is it? Was it really built under the Lord's direction? To answer this question, we must calmly review the evidence. As one source says, "ideas are worthless, unless they can be checked and supported by confirmatory evidence ... It is much the same with the great number of pyramid theories which have been put forward through the ages".[1]

In 1859, in the book The Great Pyramid, Why Was It Built and Who Built It?, John Taylor of London first suggested that the Pyramid of Cheops was built under the Lord's direction. John Taylor had never visited Egypt. He was neither an Egyptologist or engineer, but rather a retired publisher. Nevertheless, in the climate of British- Israelism, his theory flourished.[2] Taylor's theory gained greater appeal when a Royal astronomer, Piazzi Smyth, put his mind to it. As one source says, "There can be no doubt that once he got it going, Piazzi Smyth's innate eccentricity, his Scottish puritanism and his wish to find a connection between Britain and the Bible, completely took over".[3] His book, Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid, became famous. Another writer says, "Our Inheritance is a classic of its kind. Few books illustrate so beautifully the ease at which an intelligent man, passionately convinced of a theory, can manipulate his subject matter in such a way as to make it conform to previously held opinions".[4]

Refutation of Taylor's theory came from an unexpected source - a once devoted student of Piazzi Smyth. In 1880-82, the student went to Egypt in the hope of getting even better measurements to support Pyramidology. According to Egyptologist Kurt Mendelssohn, "He carried out a brilliant and extremely accurate triangulation of the Giza site which showed, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Piazzi Smyth's measurements had been wrong and that there was nothing to support his theories. Incidentally, the young man's name was Matthew Flinders Petrie and he became the greatest Egyptologist of his time".[5]

We can now consider other reasons why the Pyramid of Cheops could not have been the Lord's handiwork. Recall the quote used by the Revival Centres at the beginning of this pamphlet. They quoted Isaiah 19:19, "In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt", saying that the Pyramid was the altar. They do not, however, did not explain how the Pyramid, made of quarried stones, can be the Lord's altar. No altar of the Lord was allowed to be made of quarried stones! In the book of Exodus, Moses wrote "if you make for me an altar of stone, do not build it of hewn stones; for if you use a chisel upon it you profane it" (20:25).

The Pyramid could not have been the Lord's altar - but it was a religious monument of sorts. One writer notes, "the pyramid [of Cheops] was a religious monument ... the structure was part of a complex of buildings; adjacent was a temple for carrying on the worship of the dead king and for making offerings to him".[6] In May 1954, a ceremonial boat was unearthed in one of the temple pits. Edward's book The Pyramids of Egypt explains how the dead Khufu would have meant to use this boat to accompany the Egyptian sun-god in his journeys.[7] So scholars agree - the Pyramid complex was associated with the Egyptian Sun god (compare 2Kings 23:5, 11)! It is inconceivable that the Lord would have built this. For "What agreement does Christ have with Beliar? ... What agreement has the temple of God with idols?" (2Corinthians 6:15, 16). The truth is, pagan king Khufu built it. Adjacent to his pyramid are smaller ones, demonstrating that he WAS a polygamist pagan. These are the three 'Queen's Pyramids' - for his WIVES.

Another weak point in the Pyramid theory is that it includes only the Pyramid of Cheops. Comments one author about Smyth, "one extremely weak point of his theory was the existence of other pyramids, none of them containing any divine revelations. He got around this difficulty by declaring the Khufu pyramid the most ancient and the others as 'imitation pyramids'. Naturally, Egyptologists did not agree with this and, incidentally, not with his other theories either".[8] Chephren's Pyramid, for example, is only a few metres shorter than Cheops. It is also on higher ground, which gives it the impression of being much grander!

The truth is that the Pyramid was nothing more or less than a pagan tomb for Khufu. One Egyptologist has noted, "The Great Pyramid of Giza has always inspired thoughtful persons. It has also given rise to many mystical and occult theories ... They find in the dimensions of its passages and chambers the basis for many theories which explain or predict historical events. Some of them have found all the great occurrences of the Old and New Testaments recorded inside the Great Pyramid ... One thing most of these theorists agree on is that the Great Pyramid was not built as a tomb for Khufu. They offer up every kind of explanation for its purpose except the one accepted by archaeology. More than one Egyptologist has vehemently refuted all these mystical doctrines, but many people still believe in them. Archaeological research has proved beyond doubt that the Great Pyramid is nothing more or less than a tomb for King Khufu".[9]

Let's examine reasons why the Pyramid is said to have been designed by God.

The first argument is that the Pyramid could not have been built by man. It must have been God, or aliens! However, by putting ourselves in the Egyptian's position, we can easily see how the work was done. During the inundation (flood) season of Egypt, from July - October, no farming work could be done. The idle labour may as well have been put to a purpose such as building a pyramid! How did they move the stones? Archaeology has shown that sledges were used. In the Egyptian tomb of Djehutihotea, at El- Bersheh, there is an inscription showing how sledges were used to move the heavy loads. Henri Chevrier, a French architect, showed that a sledge with a six ton weight could be moved by six men! Ramps were used to get the higher stones in place.[10] Nothing mystical about it.

Northerly orientation. Various Pyramidologists suggest that the Pyramid is set so accurately to north, Egyptians could not have aligned it. But the Chephren pyramid is aligned as well as Cheops. The Bent and Mycerinus pyramids are aligned only slightly less accurately, being smaller.[11] The Egyptian accuracy in aligning buildings was clever, but not supernatural. According to a relief in the Sun-temple of Niuserre, the king would observe the stars of the Great Bear constellation. When the stars first rose on the northern horizon, a priest, impersonating the god Thoth, and using an instrument called a 'merkhet', would mark the position. The point on the horizon where the sun set would also be marked. By bisecting the angle of a rising and setting star, true north could easily be found.[12] So, the accurate orientation of Cheops does not mean that God must have built it.

Measurements. Pyramidologists often refer to 'Pyramid Inches' and make all sorts of mathematical computations within the Pyramid using them. In discussing 'Pyramid Inches', we must remember that they were invented by Smyth, and are a completely ARTIFICIAL unit. Egyptians actually measured using a 'Royal Cubit' (20.62 inches), which was 7 'palms', or 28 'digits'.[13] The Pyramid Inch, rather, was derived from a casing stone that Smyth unearthed. The stone measured slightly more than 25 British Inches. Smyth concluded that this length was the 'sacred cubit'. One twenty-fifth of this width was his 'Pyramid Inch'. One source says, "Many years later a number of other casing stones were dug up. They had entirely different widths. By that time, however, the Pyramid inch had become so firmly established in the literature of Pyramidology that devotees merely shrugged and admitted that the first casing stone just 'happened' to be a cubit wide".[14] Also, many measurements are fictitious. Edwards, one of the greatest Egyptologists of all time, gives these measurements: descending passage until the ascending passage, 60 feet; ascending passage until the Grand Gallery, 129 feet; and Grand Gallery, 153 feet.[15] Compare these measurements with those in Pyramidology books, and you will find that many passages have conveniently shrunk or stretched!

Pi in Stone. Smyth also points out that a circle with radius of the height of Cheops has a circumference equal to the perimeter of the base. This intriguing fact has puzzled many Egyptologists in the past, and is a genuine argument. While most pyramids rise to an angle of about 52? Cheops is peculiarly close to the special angle (51?2') which leads to the ratio 1/2Pi.[16] How is this accuracy explained? The answer Kurt Mendelssohn gives is quite simple. The Egyptians measured vertical distances, in Royal Cubits, by a hanging rope. However, they measured long horizontal distances by counting the revolutions of a rolling drum with a circumference of a Royal Cubit. He notes, "In this way they would have arrived at the transcendental number = 3.141... without realising it ... the Egyptian architects never did anything more sophisticated than to build pyramids according to simple gradients of 4:1 and 3:1"![17] So, again, nothing mystical about this special measurement.

We have seen that the Pyramid of Cheops cannot be the 'Lord's Altar in the midst of Egypt'. It is a pagan tomb, in the midst of other pagan tombs. While we respect the effort Egyptian builders put into the Pyramid, we must not confuse their handiwork with God's handiwork. Look to the sea, or the stars, or a flower. God's true creations make a mockery of the Pyramid of Cheops. Also remember, God's Word is a "lamp to [our] feet and a light to [our] path," (Ps.119:105) and was given so that we might be "equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:17). So there is no unfulfilled need that the Great Pyramid with its measurements might serve. We can even begin to deceive ourselves when we move beyond scripture. As Martin Gardner writes, "The ability of the mind to fool itself by an unconscious 'fudging' on the facts - an overemphasis here and underemphasis there - is far greater than most people realise. The literature of Pyramidology stands as a permanent and pathetic tribute to that ability".[18]