New forensic evidence supports Egyptian “retainer sacrifice” as reflected on by Rev. Dr. Evelyn DuBois
Morning headlines recently announced ancient tomb discoveries in Egypt. Forensic scientists uncovered fatal skull fractures on servants, buried alongside their rulers. This grim news immediately turned my thoughts to Historic Bethel’s quiet pews. Our people have long understood what imperial power truly demands. Pharaoh did not simply demand bricks without straw. New forensic evidence confirms this ancient empire, drunk on its own supremacy, believed it could drag ordinary souls into the cold earth. They died simply to attend a monarch in the afterlife, a practice known as Egyptian retainer sacrifice.
The report from Ars Technica highlights a disturbing fact. Nearly forty percent of these excavated remains show unmistakable signs of fatal blunt force trauma. These were not willing martyrs celebrating an exalted transit. Instead, men, women, and youths had their breath violently extinguished. This cruelty served to stage-manage a ruler’s eternity. In the Black Church tradition, we recognize Pharaoh not as an exotic relic. Rather, Pharaoh represents an ongoing spiritual and political pathology. Pharaoh is every system that looks upon human beings, made in God’s image, and sees only instruments. They are currency, or disposable props for elite ambition.
Pharaoh’s Modern Retainer Sacrifice
From our nation’s auction blocks to modern company towns and prison yards, power always seeks retainer sacrifices. The mechanisms may change drastically. However, the idolatry remains intact. When a society decrees that workers must wear down their health and shorten their lives for flourishing stock portfolios, it performs a modern variant of that ancient ritual. Furthermore, when budgets cut maternal health clinics, neighborhood schools, and public transit while building luxury monuments, the vulnerable become sacrificial. They honor the comfort of a ruling few, just like ancient retainers.
Scripture reminds us that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Moses hears the groanings of the afflicted. When Moses stood before the throne, his demand was not an invitation to negotiate. It was a prophetic thunderclap: “Let my people go!” The Almighty does not sanction any arrangement. Therefore, the poor should not be consumed to burnish the glory of the mighty. Our faith proclaims that every life carries inherent dignity. No royal decree can lawfully extinguish or command that dignity into submission.
Resisting Exploitation, Embracing Freedom
Mothers and grandmothers in our community taught us through decades of struggle. True authority is never measured by how many people you can force to kneel. Instead, it is measured by how many weary souls you lift up while you have breath. Jesus upended the entire logic of empire. He declared that the greatest among us must be the servant of all. He laid down his life not to hoard glory. Rather, he broke the chains of death and domination once and for all.
Those ancient remains, buried beneath centuries of sand, now speak with harrowing clarity. Their fractured bones testify against the lie that power belongs to those who take life. Consequently, they summon us to look around our own cities. We must examine where our institutions still quietly demand the expendability of our youth. They also demand the silence of our elders. Prophetic justice calls us to name every form of exploitation, both ancient and modern. We must refuse compliance with any altar that demands human sacrifice.
We leave the tombs of despots to the decay they could not escape. We turn our faces toward the living work before us. We will organize. We will march. We will cast our ballots. Furthermore, we will gather on Sunday mornings to lift our voices in joyful, defiant praise. Our hope rests not in the gilded promises of mortal emperors. Instead, it rests in the God who breaks the bow, shatters the spear, and leads the oppressed into everlasting freedom.
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