There are no external sources on the history of the Elephantine community during the whole of its existence. When the southern frontier was exposed to Nubian raids, Jewish soldiers were sent to defend it, perhaps as early as under the Assyrian regime. Its temple may have been built in the second half of the seventh century or at the beginning of the sixth, in any event before the Persian conquest of Egypt in the days of Cambyss' rule, as mentioned in the letter of the Elephantine Jews themselves, undoubtedly on the basis of a faithful trandition which they possessed (Cowley 30). There may be a connection between the building of the temple at Elephantine and Isaiah's prophecy (19:19) concerning the "altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt" and the "pillar at the border thereof," and it may have been built under the influence of this prophecy. The Jewish soldiers who arrived at the border of Egypt with the armies of Ashurbanipal may have viewed this circumstance as a fulfillment of the prophecy and accordingly built an "altar" and a "pillar at the border." This early dating of the temple at Elephantine is supported by the heterogeneous nature of the Elephantine Jews' religion. While the temple may have been erected in the days of Psammetichus II (593-589 B.C.E), the earlier date is more probable.

The house of Yahweh is always easily identified by the rectanglar construction of the site. In 411 B.C.E, the temple of the Elephantine Jews was destroyed by the priests of Khnub with the help of the Persian commander Waidrang. No remains of the Pentateuch have been discovered at Elephantine, although the finding of the "Book of Ahikar" there shows that the community contained lovers of ethical and wisdom literature. It may also explain another, more interesting fact, namely that of the festivals of Israel only the observance of Passover is mentioned at Elephantine. And we found the place of the altar of Yahweh Allah that our forefathers had built. To fulfill Isaiah 19:19, we repaired the altar according to the guideline prescribed in the Book of the Law (Ex 20:24-25.) We then put forth a prayer offering of righteousness (Ps 50:14; Ps 116:17; Ps 69:30; Ps 1441:2.) and kept the Passover in that land. The Nubian women prepared the lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread for us. The Nubians were the only people in Syene that knew how to make unleavened bread, which they called Nubian's bread. We kept the Passover in that Nubian village and some of the people kept it with us. We read in the Torah and the Quran about the Passover.

During the feast of unleavened bread we went to Elephantine Island. The Nubians had a strong population on this island. There are ruin temple all over this island, so the archaeologist cut off that part of the island for tourists. Viewing the ruins we came across a pillar written in what is called ancient Hebrew. They have been digging up this city for 60 years; there are some restricted areas where they are still digging. The site was not anciently knowns as Elephantine, from our investigations on the area, and also in according to 1Chr 13:5, we have come to the conclusion that this site is biblical Shihor of the border of the land of Israel and the area was determined to be the area of Goshen.