Although the Israelites, and in particular Joseph and Moses, played so significant a role in Pharaonic Egypt, this role - apart from certain events which are graphically recorded in the Old Testament - remains curiously shadowy and confused when the Hebrew scribes eventually set down in writing what had been an entirely oral tradition. The result is that the chronology of the Old Testament is wildly at variance with the chronology of the written Egyptian records, and a principal factor in the confusion is that at the time of writing the Israelite nation was at pains to dis-associate itself from its earlier involvement with the Egypt of the Pharaohs.
For example, the Old Testament scribe, who was writing many centuries after the Exodus, has it that Sarah's son Isaac was fathered by Abraham. Yet, when Abraham and Sarah came to Egypt end 16th/early 15th century BC, Abraham, when he saw that Pharoah was attracted to Sarah, took the precaution of declaring Sarah to be his sister. Pharaoh did indeed marry Sarah, whose son Isaac was - scholar Ahmed Osman maintains - Amenophis II, the son of Tuthmosis III (c.1490-1436 BC). He believes the biblical writer needed Abraham to be the ancestor of the twelve tribes of Israel through Isaac, his son Jacob, and Jacob's son Joseph, and so changed the names of those in the Israelites' past to conceal the bloodline. This study attempts to identify who might well have been who.
According to the Book of Genesis, the Hebrews were involved with Egypt on two occasions, the first was the visit of Abraham to Egypt during a period of famine, in which Abraham moved for a period of time into Egypt until the crisis passed. Cusriously, the same story and under the same circumstances is recorded as have occurred to Jacob, Abraham's grandson, who also moved to Egypt for a period of time as a result of famine in the land.
By the present chronological system of Egyptian history there are serious problems in synchronising the events described in the Biblical account with Egyptian history. Most scholars have therefore concluded that the Bible record is unreliable or distorted. In 1 Kings 6:1 it is stated that "In the 480th year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the 4th year of Solomon's reign over Israel . . . that he began to build the house of the Lord". Most scholars today accept a date of about 970 BC for the beginning of Solomon's reign. His 4th year would be 966 BC, and this being the 480th year after the Exodus would place that event about 1445 BC.
But because of the lack of archaeological evidence both in Egypt and Israel to support this date, most scholars have rejected the information supplied in 1 Kings 6:1, and have accepted a date closer to 1200 BC for the Exodus. But even for this date there is only very flimsy circumstantial evidence, and scholars still disagree as to who was the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Dr Immanual Velikovsky's claims that the fault lies, not with the Biblical information, but with the generally accepted chronology of Egypt, and that the Egyptian dates need to be reduced by some 600 years at the time of the Exodus. This would mean that the ruling dynasty of Egypt at the time Exodus would be the 13th dynasty, rather than the 18th or 19 dynasty as is now generally believed, and the Pharaohs who ruled at the time of Joseph and Moses were the Kings of the 12th dynasty. When this system is adopted there is found to be remarkable agreement between the histories of Egypt and Israel.
The book of Genesis indicates that the descendants of the 12 sons of Jacob became the nation known as the Children of Israel during the period of 400 years or more they spent living in Egypt. It is only reasonable therefore to expect that some of their culture, which developed during their time in Egypt, was influenced by the country in which they lived. Indeed, it is not unreasonable to expect that some of the figures who feature prominently in their history also featured prominently in Egypt's history, since Egypt, after all, was their home. The very thought of that possibility repulses many Jews and Christians, but a comparison of Old Testament scripture with ancient Egyptian records reveals that aspects of their histories are remarkably similar. In somes cases, the names of the heroes are the only differences.
The Hyksos left Arabia seeking better pastures after a flood (Noah's flood?) of around 1900 BC, which had led to a plague and a great famine. As Egypt was not touched by the devastation, it received a sizeable influx of migrants, mainly Hyksos shepherds, from an area stretching from Arabia to present day Palestine. The ancient Egyptians blamed the Hyksos for conquering their country. The truth may have been a somewhat more benign and gradual process of integration. Kings of Egypt had as many as five official names. Generally they were referred to by their birth names, but so often we find that it is the throne name or prenomen that has found its way into the Bible. Occasionally the situation is worsened when a scribe has been confused or mistaken and treats the separate titles as having been two different people.
Sheshi, a Hyksos king of Egypt around 1720 BCE was a ruler during Egypt's fragmented Second Intermediate Period. Sheshi is usually described as the founder of the 15th dynasty, as he appears to have been the first of the Hyksos or Shepherd kings. His is the most well known of the Hyksos kings and is credited with having established his people in Egypt. It is unclear whether Sheshi reigned for 13 or 23 years. He is well known from over 300 seals and seal impressions made during his reign. Throne name: 'Maaibre' - 'seeing is the heart of Re'; he was known by the Hyksos sahepherds as Maaibreham, which means King Maaibre. It is believed his name was later corrupted to Abraham.
Sheshi became known as the Shepherd King, because he was a very prosperous shepherd. The size of his flock, his staff and the recorded history of his activities in Egypt correspond to the description and activities of Abraham in the book of Genesis. Genesis 17:5 tells us that Abraham was to be a father of many nations. King Sheshi was known in Egypt by that name as his rule established dominion over countries to the south and to the east as well as Egypt itself. Joshua 24:2-3 says God took "your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan". History records that Sheshi escaped a devastating flood and came to Egypt via what in Biblical times was the land of Canaan, just as the Bible records Abraham did at the very same point in history.
Amenhotep II, also spelt Amenophis II, was the son of Thutmose III and a minor wife of the king: Hatshepsut-Meryetre. He was not, however, the firstborn son of this pharaoh; his elder brother Amenemhat, the son of the great wife Satiah, was originally the intended heir to the throne since Amenemhat was designated the 'king's eldest son" and overseer of the cattle of Amun in Year 24 of Thutmose's reign. However, between Years 24 and 35 of Thutmose III, both queen Satiah and prince Amenemhat died which caused the pharaoh to marry the non-royal Merytre-Hatshepsut. She would bear Thutmose III a number of children including Amenhotep II.
In the Biblical account, Ishmael was the firstborn and Isaac the second; Ishmael was also the son born to a minor wife, and not Isaac. In the Bible, Sarah was Isaac's mother; in Egyptian history, Satiah was Amenemhat's mother. According to Hebrew sources, the name Isaac means "to take pleasure" or "laughter". The name Amenhotep means "Amun (God) is Pleased". There is little other evidence linking Amenhotep II to Isaac.
As is ever the case when searching for names in Egyptian, the missing written vowels makes it difficult to make a positive identification from the name alone. With nearly all the other Patriarchs there has been some additional evidence to confirm that we have found the right man. With Isaac, all we could hope for was some kind of match in the name and proximity to Jacob in the Kings Lists. There is no shortage of kings whose names began with the Consonants 'SK', including Antef V who is thought to have followed Jacob, and whose throne name was Sekhemre Wepmaat. But the consonant 'M' is an integral part of the name, and unlikely to have been dropped.
There is one name in the Kings List though, where the 'SK' can legally be separated from the following determinative glyphs. It is the name associated with Manetho's Salitis and Biblical Salah. It also happens to be the name of a king who was a close ancestor of Jacob - Sekhaenre. This was also the prenomen or throne name of Jacob himself. So we may have a similar situation to Nahor and Thera, where the two names of one King have through the ages turned into Father and Son. It is possible too that Isaac didn't originally have an initial vowel at the beginning of his name. The name may have started off as the 'Sark' who is mentioned in the Memphis Priest's name list - but then we do not know if that name too might have had an initial vowel 'I', as opposed to the 'ee' sounding 'Water Reed' glyph. Another source listed Isaac and Zechariah as alternartive names for Jacob, derived from his throne name.
Meruserenre Yakubher was an Asiatic pharaoh for 8 years from 1675 BCE. While he is occasionally described as a member of the Hyksos based 15th dynasty, the Danish specialist Kim Ryholt has suggested that Yaqub-Har was actually a 14th Dynasty king who ruled over Phoenicia. This is due to the fact that while the early Hyksos kings are known to have used the title Heka-khawaset in their reigns, such as Sakir-Har or Khyan - at least early in the latter king's reign before he chose the prenomen Seuserenre.
Later Hyksos kings such as Apophis simply adopted a prenomen - like the 14th dynasty kings. Yakubher himself always used a prenomen, Meruserre, in his reign, strongly suggesting he was rather a member of the Asiatic 14th dynasty which preceded the Hyksos. The name Meruserre would be pronounced Meruserah, which is very similar to Methuselah. Meruserenre Yakubher was his throne name, his birth name was Yak-Baal, which is also spelt Ay-Baal (pronouncec Abel). His tomb name was Jehovah I. Like the Egyptian pharaohs, the Hyksos kings were believed to be diety; thus we find here the first use ever of the name Jehovah for God.
Thus, when we see the name Jehovah in the Bible in texts believed to date from this period, such as Psalms 83:18, "That men may know that you, whose name alone is Jehovah, are the most high over all the earth", it may well have been written as a song of praise to King Jehovah I or II, rather than the Almighty God who lives in Heaven.
Another kingly name used in the Bible as a name of God is Yahweh or Yah which corresponds to the Phoenician God Yam (Yaw, Ieuo or Pontus) the son of El, who appears to have been Yakubher (King Jehovah I). The biblical God Elyon, from whom God's "El" names are derived, eg. El Shaddai, corresponds to Elioun who was the 18th century BC Phoenician king of Byblos and the father of Epigeius (Uranus/Baal-Shamen). He was made into a god by the Phoenicians after he was killed by wild beasts. When the Phoenicians of that nation's southern regions became part of the Northern Kingdom spoken of in the Old Testament, their brought with them the names of their God Kings - El Shaddai etc.
Later, these names were interchanged with those of Egyptian origin which the Israelites of Egyptian origin had brought with them - Amen and Adoni. Elohim (the Gods), El (God), Shaddai (the Destroyer), Elyon (the Most High), Adonai (Lord), Yahweh/Yah, Tseboath (Lord of Hosts) - these names or their variants were, in the main, the names of regional kings, many of whom were recorded as gods in the Phoenician Pantheon as given by Philo, and are also recorded in the Ras Sharma Tablets.
In Hinduism, there is a God Vivasvat Mitra Surya, who is also believed to be Meruserenre Yakubher. His names meant 'brilliant', 'shinning-forth', illuminator' and 'the Sun'. Surya as the brilliant Vivasvat is identified with the Persian Avestan or Vivanhvant, the father of Yima.
The son of Yakobaam Sekkhaenre, Meruserenre Yakubher followed his father on the throne during Egypt's fragmented Second Intermediate Period. Tomb name: Jehovah II. Meruserenre Yakubher ruled over Phoenicia. He was known to the Hindus as Yama. He is believed to be the Asiatic son of Vivasvat Mitra Surya and thus contemporary to Sraddhadeva Vaivasvata Manu in whose reign the flood is recorded to have occurred according to Hindu history (c.1628 BCE).
It now appears that the Hindu account of the flood was copied from the original Greek account of the Deukalion flood since it is clear that only the Greeks could have witnessed the mega tsunami caused by the Thera Eruption which was responsible for the flood. The Hindu account of the flood was written in about 200 BC whereas the Greek account is known from at least the time of Homer and Hesiod in 900 BC, and the Biblical book of Genesis was composed in about 65 BC, after the Chronicles and Kings; it was still being written during the Christian era since the books of Enoch and Noah date to about 100 AD.
According to the Book of Genesis, Joseph, the son of Jacob, was sold into Egyptian slavery by his jealous brothers. In Egypt he was able to interpret Pharaoh's dream to mean that there would be 7 years of plenty and then 7 years of famine. Pharaoh appointed Joseph as vizier of Egypt, and entrusted him with the task of collecting the grain in preparation for the famine. Genesis 41. This was an astounding event, and there should be some record of it in Egypt. In the time of Netjerikhet or Djoser, the best-known pharaoh of the Third dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, there is such a record. In it, the man who became pharaoh's right hand man during the famine was called Imhotep; In the Biblical record, the man who became pharaoh's right hand man during the famine was called Joseph (pronounced 'hotep' in ancient Egyptian).
The most compelling similarities between Joseph and Imhotep are forthcoming from a rock inscription on the island at Sehel, in southern Egypt, which connects Imhotep with a famine lasting seven years. The Sehel inscription consists of 32 columns of text containing a decree from the 3rd dynasty king, Neterkhet Djoser, to a governor situated at Elephantine in the extreme south of Egypt.
According to the text, the king, concerned about a seven year long famine which has ravaged the country, had petitioned the court of Imhotep regarding the cause of the famine. The famine was extreme. Imhotep, after investigating the matter, informed the king that Khnum, the god of Elephantine, was in control of the Nile floods. The following evening, in a dream, Djoser was visited by Khnum, who promised an end to the famine. In gratitude the king responded by offering Imhotep land and posessions, and placed him in charge of a program of storage in his graneries.
"All fishermen, all hunters, who catch fish and trap birds and all kinds of game, and all who trap Iions in the desert" were instructed to submit "one-tenth of the take of all of these, and all the young animals born of the females in these miles" and a tenth of all mining production" be awarded to the priests of the Khnum temple. Thus the decree awarded to the priests of the Khnum temple, as a temple endowment en perpetuity, a tax of one tenth or 10% of the revenues from a large stretch of land running southward from Elephantine into Nubia for twelve iter (approximately 880 miles), a strip of land known to the Greeks in the late period as the Dodekaschoinos. This is the first historical reference (preceeding that in the Bible) of the paying of a tenth of income by the people in support of a priesthood.
The fact that both famines lasted seven years is certainly the most striking parallel. The memory of the great Egyptian famine persisted down to the Ptolemaic era, when the Sehel inscription was apparently copied from an ancient stele. This memory may well have influenced the development of literary traditions in distant lands which had likewise been traumatized by famine in the remote past. In fact, the seven year long local famine remembered by many nations may well have taken place at the identical time as the Egyptian famine, since the biblical text states clearly that “all the countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the world.” (Gen 41:57) Certainly the famine extended into southern Palestine, and the fact that Jacob’s family sought help from Egypt rather than neighboring Syria, suggests that it extended far to the north, into the Levant, and perhaps beyond the Euphrates.
Political action based on dreams, so central in the Joseph story, is also a critical component in the Sehal inscription. The dreams of the pharaoh in both instances determine his response to the famine, in the one case anticipated, in the other actualized. When the pharaoh in both instances, as argued by Biblical chronology and expressly stated in the Sehel inscription, appears to be the 3rd dynasty king Djoser, the role played by dreams takes on added significance and argues for the identity of the two famines. In passing we should note that there is no contradiction in the fact that the Joseph story identifies the god of the patriarchs as the sole, all powerful being in control of events as they transpire in the story, while the Sehel inscription claims a God as the controller of the life giving Nile floods.
In both the biblical story, and in the Sehel inscription, special provision is made for the temples of Egypt. In the Joseph story they are exempted both from the loss of ownership of land experienced by the general population and from the tax of 20% on general revenues imposed throughout Egypt. In the Sehel inscription the Khnum temple is singled out for special favour. There is no hint that its lands were forfeit. And the tax of 10% on revenues in the Docekashoinos to provide the temple income and restore it to its former prosperity is arguably a benefit beyond what was prescribed for temples elsewhere; this because the king believed that Khnum was responsible for ending the famine. It is curious, to say the least, that both the biblical and Sehel inscription famines should emphasize the special status afforded temples in the aftermath of the great famine, and that both include mention of the same system oftaxation that followed the famine.
Both the biblical text and the Egyptian inscription link the seven year famine with the sojourn of the Hebrews in Egypt. A portion of the Sehel inscription concerned with the 10% tax on revenues is published elsewhere on the internet. The tax, as stated in the inscription, applied to all revenues in kind received by various working segments of the population employed in the south. Worthy of mention are the “kiry-workers, and the smiths, and the master craftsmen, and the goldsmiths, and the ... Nubians, and the crew of Apiru, and all corvée labor who fashion the stones”.
In the context of this inscription the Apiru can be none other than Semitic Hebrews, almost certainly in control of livestock. The reference brings to mind the conversations that took place between Joseph and his brothers, and between Joseph and the pharaoh, concerning the arrival of the extended family of Jacob. We are informed early in the Joseph story that “Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians.” (Gen. 43:32) The issue became the topic of conversation later when Joseph was about to bring his extended family into the region of Goshen in the Nile Delta.
It is clear from this conversation that tending livestock in Egypt was a job restricted to Hebrews, and at the time of the famine, this meant Hebrews from the clan of Jacob. Pharaoh specifically invited Joseph to find some of his brethren with special talent as herdsmen, to “put them in charge of my own livestock.” (Gen 47:6) It is not necessary to equate the “crew of Apiru” in the Sehel inscription with the clan of Jacob in the Joseph story, but the comparison is inviting. And the mere mention of Hebrews residing permanently in Egypt at this early period, and specifically at the end of a famine likened on other grounds with the biblical famine, is yet one more coincidence in need of explanation.
Apiru, taxation, temple incomes, a seven year famine, a pharaoh who dreams - these are the themes which dominate the Joseph story in the Bible and the Sehel Inscription in southern Egypt. Joseph served the biblical pharaoh as vizier, second in command in all of Egypt. His fame has endured through millenia, exclusively because of the biblical famine story. Imhotep served king Djoser as vizier, second in command of all Egypt. Outside of Egypt his fame lasted well into the Roman period, and in Egypt itself he was revered as a god. There is only one possible response to this sequence of parallels: Joseph and Imhotep are the same person.The matter is beyond debate.
Another possibility is that the character of Joseph was either the Vizier YuYa (during reign of Amenhotep III - 1386 - 1349 B.C) or more likely, a combination of Vizier YuYa and Imhotep; both were of non Egyptian origin, both were second in charge in Egypt and instigated policies that contributed greatly towards the prosperity of that Pharaoh's reign, but lived some 1,300 years apart. Pharaoh Thutmose IV's wife was named Tiye: her father was YuYa, and the name of her mother was Tuya. Tuya had traditional Egyptian features, however her husband YuYa, as his exceptionally well preserved mummy shows, was clearly of mostly Asiatic/Semitic heritage. Asiatics were renowned for their handling of horses, and were highly valued in the Egyptian military during the 18th Dynasty at which time the Egyptians first utilized the chariot in warfare.
The name Joseph (written as Yuseph in Arabic) is a compound name consisting of Yu, and Seph. Yu is not known in Egyptian, but is the root of the Hebrew word Yah, the contraction of the full name of Jehovah. Yah is used to form many other common Biblical names, such as Joel (meaning Jehovah is God). Seph is derived from the first part of the Egyptian name Zaphenath-paneah (Genesis 41:45) given to Joseph, which is translated as "sustenance".
Though his name was YuYa (God's one) which was abbreviated to Yu, it is expected that he would have been called YuSeph, as he was the Vizier, the one in charge of the King's storehouses. Yuya's titles (as found in his tomb) included "Master of the Horse," "Overseer of the Cattle of Amun and Min (Lord of Akhmin)," "Deputy of His Majesty in the Chariotry," "Bearer of the Ring of the King of Lower Egypt," "Mouth of the King of Upper Egypt," "The Wise One," "Favorite of the Good God," "Great Prince," "Great of Love," "Unique Friend," "Beloved of the Lord of the Two Lands," "One Made Great by the Lord," "He Whom the King Has Made His Double," and "The Holy Father of the Lord of the Two Lands."
The Bible credits Joseph for a tremendous influx of wealth into Egypt due to his plan to prepare for an extended drought. The seemingly inexhaustible wealth of Egypt at the time of Amenhotep III (1386 - 1349 B.C) stems from the extravagant building programs of the Vizier YuYa. That YuYa was held in very lofty esteem, particularly for a non-Egyptian, is evidenced not only by his titles, but by his marriage to the high ranking Tuya and also by his exceedingly privileged burial in a tomb beside those of the 18th Dynasty Pharaohs themselves in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb of Yuya and Tuya was the most undisturbed tomb found in the Valley of the Kings prior to the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun.
Corresponding to the Bible account, YuYa literally became "father to Pharaoh," that is to the young Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who was not yet a teenager upon the death of his natural father Thutmose IV. Childhood articles belonging to both Amenhotep III and Sitamun were placed in the tomb of Yuya and Tuya indicating that they helped raise them along with their own daughter Tiye.
Khyan was the fouth of the Hyksos kings during Egypt's fragmented Second Intermediate Period who ruled approximately c.1610-1580 BC, and the third after Sheshi. He was an Amorite, his Amorite name was Seth (the same name as Adam & Eve's third son). He was known in Egypt by non-Egyptians as Heber, his fellow Hyksos became known as Heberews by the Egyptians who used his name to describe his people. This name was eventually used by the later "Children of Israel".
Khayan (pronounced Kane or Cain) was succeeded by Apophis who apparently was a usurper. Since Yanassi was Khyan's designated successor, Apophis must have staged a coup d'etat to seize power, perhaps to pre-empt the latter's son from assuming the throne. The latter has led some scholars to equate Khyan with the biblical Cain who killed his brother, apparently out of jealousy. The land of Canaan was brought under Hyksos rule during Khyan's reign. As it was customary to re-name extended kingdoms after the person who conquered them or brought under their dominion, the land of Caanan would have been named after Khyan, the name means land of Cain.
Khamudi Aasehre was a Hyksos king of the 15th Dynasty. His throne name was Cush. King Saul, who preceded King David, is also referred to as Kush the Benjaminite in the Bible. As there is very little recorded history of Khamudi Aasehre's reign, the name is the only link between this king and King Saul. Khamudi Aasehre appears to be the last of the Hyksos kings before Pharaoh Ahmose I (1550 - 1525), the first pharaoh of the famous 18th Dynasty, expelled the Hyksos.
Within a hundred years of the expulsion of the Hyksos, the army of Thutmose I, the 3rd pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, had reached Canaan, where many of the Hyksos had settled, and travelled east as far as the Euphrates. Thutmose I's grandson, Thutmose III, an active expansionist ruler who has been called Egypt's greatest conqueror or "the Napoleon of Egypt", established Jerusalem as his operational base in Canaan and began his rule over the province from it.
History therefore argues that the 400+ years of bondage of the Hebrews by the Egyptians took place in the land of Canaan and not in Egypt, however both history and the Bible agree that it was a period of 400+ years of bondage under Egypt. The next king to officially rule over the Hyksos in their new home of Canaan after Khamudi Aasehre (King Saul?) was therefore Thutmose III. Interestingly, the Bible states that the next king to rule over Canaan after King Saul was King David, whose life and career bears more than a passing resemblance to that of Thutmose III!
Widely considered a military genius by historians, Thutmose III is recorded to have captured 350 cities during his rule and conquered much of the Near East from the Euphrates to Nubia during seventeen known military campaigns. He is consistently regarded as one of the greatest of Egypt's warrior pharaohs, who transformed Egypt into an international superpower by creating an empire that stretched from southern Syria through to Canaan and Nubia.
The Egyptian historic accounts of Thutmose III and the biblical accounts of King David have the following similaries: both are remembered as the greatest Kings not only of their Dynasties, but also in their nation's history. Both possessed all the qualities of a great ruler. They were both brilliant generals who never lost one of their 19 major recorded battles, they both also excelled as an administrator and statesman. Both were accomplished horsemen, soldiers and discriminating patrons of the arts. Their reigns were notable for their lack of bad taste and brutality, and records show them both to be sincere and fair-minded men. The records of both men indicate they took the city of Megiddo in their conquests of the territory around Jerusalem. Both men made Jerusalem their headquarters during their time of occupation of and rule over the land of Israel.
Both men had an ark (a word for a vessel used to cross water, eg. Noah's ark) - Thutmose had the Barque of Amun (illustrated on an ancient papyrus scroll on display at the Cairo Museum, right); David has the Ark of The Covenant - both were carried by high priests on poles and taken into battle for them, both arks was said to be the dwelling place of God and both credited the presence of the ark with them on conquests as the reason for their military successes. Both men made Jerusalem the home of their arks and both men erected a building there to house their arks.
Thutmose III unified the country; brought stability and prosperity; extended the kingdom greatly in peaceful conquests and has the distinction of being the only leader of a world power in pre-Christ times to have never lost a conquest. His birth name was probably Djehutymes III in Egyptian, but he is frequently referred to by his Greek name of Tuthmosis (born of/heir to the god Thoth). Queen Hatshepsut had built impressively in Egypt but had shown no interest in securing an empire in Asia where Egyptian influence was largely eroded.
The long frustrated Thutmose III was eager to prove himself, and upon becoming Pharaoh his first act was to march out with the military. In anticipation, a formidable confederation of Canaanite and Syrian kings had already consolidated their own armies and were waiting in their camps when Thutmose III arrived in Canaan with his own. Using a risky strategic maneuver, Thutmose III divided the opposing confederation and conquered them at the original epic battle of the Valley of Armageddon (Megiddo). This battle is mentioned in 2 Kings 23:19, though the Bible places it almost a millenium later.
The sacredness attributed to Jerusalem initially by the Egyptians derived from the transport of the Barque of Amun (a holy shrine carried on poles in much the same manner as the Israelite Ark of the Covenant) to Jerusalem by Thutmose III. The shrine was normally kept within the Holy Place in the Temple of Amun at Karnak, however Thutmose III carried it with him into battle and believed it to be the reason he was never defeated. It remained with him when he took up residence in Jerusalem during the 7-month long siege of Megiddo.
After the fall of the Syrian city of Kadesh (in the Biblical region of Zobah and Hamath) during the sixth of 17 military campaigns he conducted in Israel, Thutmose III was able to cross the Euphrates and erect a second stele beside that of Thutmose I. In essence, Thutmose III "recovered his border at the river Euphrates," exactly as it has been credited to King David in 2 Samuel 8:3 It was at this time that Thutmose III "established garrisons in Syria," a military act also attributed to King David, in 2 Samuel 8:13.
The History of Egypt (Aegyptiaca), written in the 3rd Century B.C. in Greek by the Egyptian High Priest of Heliopolis known as Manetho, records that the God/Amun spoke of him, saying, "I grant thee by decree the earth in its length and breadth. The tribes of the East and those of the West ... that thy conquests may embrace all lands ... I ordain that all aggressors arising against thee shall fail...". King David wrote Psalm 2, which says: "I will proclaim the decree ... 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father ... I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them...'"
Chronologically, the United Kingdom of David and Solomon falls into the same time frame as history records that the entire infrastructure of Palestine was being put into place by the Egyptian 18th Dynasty Pharaohs. Solomon's Biblical reign spans the reigns of Amenhotep III through Merenptah in Egypt. Pharaoh Seti I ascended in Egypt around the middle of the forty year reign attributed in the Bible to Solomon. Shortly after his coronation, Seti I and the Egyptian army set out to deal with a crisis in Palestine. The Karnak account states, "their chiefs are gathered ... on the hills of Palestine," and that "Beth Shean was under attack from a Canaanite king and could not get help". Beth Shean is listed as one of the most important Solomonic cities, and yet it is Seti I and not Solomon who history records took action to defend Egyptian interests there at that time.
The Bible does not mention this Egyptian military intervention. However, it does mention the capture of Gezer by the army of Egypt during the reign of Solomon. The Bible also records that Solomon had troubling adversaries, e.g., Jeroboam who is said to have fled from Solomon to the Pharaoh Shishak in Egypt; Rezon, the former minister of Hadadezer (identified by Rohl as Aziru of the Amarna letters) in Damascus; and Hadad in Edom (I Kings 11:14-40). Both the Bible and the Talmud agree that Solomon was not the original name of the local monarch, but perhaps Jedediah.
What does seem certain is that Palestine remained an Egyptian possession from the time of Thutmose III throughout the Amarna period and up until the time of Ramses III of the 19th Dynasty. Egypt, and the other imperial powers that followed (Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome) sought to control Palestine in order to secure land routes between Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Arabia. This would explain the taking of Palestinians away into captivity on a semi-regular basis.
The Encyclopedia Judaica states, "Elhanan was David's original name, which was later changed to David." However, history has a more likely candidate, namely Dadua of the Amarna tablet inscription. The rise of the Habiru leader Dadua falls squarely within the Amarna period of Egypt. At this same time, another "Apiru" kingdom was emerging just to the north of Palestine known as Amurru. Its aggressive and independent leader, Aziru (the Biblical King Hadadezer) owed nominal allegiance to Egypt, but by the end of the Amarna period, had defected to the Hittites. It is reasonable, as the Bible describes, that the the newly established tribal kingdom of David/Dadua - a sub-branch of Egyptian rule - would clash with its close rival just to the north, and after the defection of Hadadezer (Aziru) may have been encouraged by Egypt to do so.
There was at least one major Egyptian military campaign during the Amarna period, either at the end of Akhenaten's reign or during that of Tutankhamun. This campaign was directed primarily toward re-establishing the traditional border of Egypt's empire in Syria. This sortie by the Egyptian forces was largely unopposed and resulted in the recapture of the Syrian city Kadesh. An interpretation of the Bible's statement that David defeated Zobah (a city or region in Syria mentioned in the Bible) and "went to recover his border at the River Euphrates," would be that David/Dadua participated in the Egyptian campaign of Akhenaten/Tutankhamun, and that it was later perceived as a retaking of the claims of his namesake Thutmose III. The Bible records that after this campaign, the Kings of Syria and the former allies of Hadadezer (Aziru) made peace with David (II Samuel 10).
Excavation of Jericho indicates that the catastrophic destruction of the city was associated with the first Exodus of the 13th Dynasty. The corresponding destruction layer includes outwardly collapsed walls, extensive fire damage, and storage jars filled with charred grain, and is consistent with the Biblical account. However, something dramatic also occurred during the reign of Amenhotep III, or shortly thereafter, as evidenced by the sudden absence of cartouches among Jericho burials.
Archaeology also indicates that Jericho lay waste for a considerable time after this event, i.e., until the time of King Ahab as the Bible also states. This corresponds to the military action of Akhenaten's protege, the young Tutankhamun and his general Horemheb. His efforts could only have strengthened the position of the new Hebrew nation, which Egypt must have considered as an ally. This poses an interesting situation - that King David/Dadua was under and directly answerable to Tutankhamun (1334 -1325 B.C) when he ascended to Pharoahship - not the sort of thing the Children of Israel would want to remember their greatest king by.
Just as the life and times of Thutmose III and Kind David have remarkable similaries, so do those of Thutmose III's grandson, Pharoah Amenhotep III, and Israel's next Biblical king, Solomon. Amenhotep III was known in ancient times as the "King of Kings" and "Ruler of Rulers". Like Solomon, he inherited a vast empire whose influence extended quite literally from the Nile to the Euphrates, but in contrast to the empire of Solomon, the empire of Amenhotep is indisputable. The buildings, monuments, documents, art, and numerous other vestiges of his reign have survived and are ubiquitous and unparalleled (with the possible exception being those left by the 19th Dynasty Pharaoh, Ramses II). Evidence of Solomon's great temple and palace, in fact all physical evidence of the man, has yet to be found.
The entire reign of Amenhotep III was devoted to monumental construction throughout Egypt, Canaan, and Syria. In addition to the ancient world's most glorious temple at Luxor, he built many other temples of similar design throughout Egypt and in the rest of his empire, including the Canaanite garrison cities of Hazor, Megiddo, Gezer, Lachish and Beth-shean. It was during Amenhotep III's reign that Gezer and other major Palestine cities were refortified as royal Egyptian garrisons, and endowed with fine temples and palaces.
The Bible states that in Solomon's day, the Pharaoh of Egypt captured the Canaanite city of Gezer and presented it to his daughter as a dowry upon her marriage to Solomon (1 Kings 9:16-17). It was customary and obligatory for Amenhotep III to marry "the daughter of Pharaoh" in order to secure the throne. This is precisely what was done when he was married to Sitamun, the daughter of his father, Pharaoh Thutmose IV.
The network of Egyptian 18th Dynasty garrison cities included Jerusalem. Just as there is no archaeological evidence that Solomon built a gigantic temple at Jerusalem, there is no evidence that Amenhotep III did either. There is evidence, however, that he built elaborate stables there. The structure adjacent to Jerusalem's Temple Mount, known traditionally as "Solomon's stables," is consistent with the architecture of Amenhotep's garrison cities. Archaeology has also confirmed that chariots were kept here during his reign, in groups of between thirty to one hundred and fifty each.
The ancient mining operations at Timna in the Negev desert, known as Solomon's mines, are earlier than the Bible indicates King Solomon lived by some three hundred years, but actually date from the time of Amenhotep III. The copper found in his palaces has been identified as originating from Timna. Along with this copper, gold from the Sudan, other precious metals, jewels and high quality stone were used in great abundance in Amenhotep's temples, just as they were in Solomon's.
A stela from Amenhotep's mortuary temple boasts that the temple was "embellished with gold throughout, its floor shining with silver ... with royal statues of granite, of quartzite and precious stones." The list of materials used in another temple built by Amenhotep is also "staggering: 3.25 tons of electrum [an alloy of silver and gold], 2.5 tons of gold, 944 tons of copper ..."
The Biblical Solomon's greatest satisfaction is said to have been the challenge of completing grand projects (Ecclesiastes 2:4-11). The same was said of Amenhotep III. A royal Egyptian text of the period reads, "Lo, His Majesty's heart was satisfied with making very great monuments, the like of which had never come into being since the primeval age of the Two Lands." Amenhotep III was arguably the ancient world's wealthiest king, a title also bestowed on Solomon by the author of the Biblical Books of kings.
The administration and taxation system of Amenhotep with its 12 districts is identical to that of Solomon as described in the Bible (1 Kings 4:2-7,27; 5:13; 9:23). Amenhotep also dedicated himself to rediscovering the wisdom, mysteries and traditions of earlier Egyptian Dynasties. The "Proverbs of Solomon" in the Bible and the "Maxims of Amenhotep III" found in Egypt read like variations of the same document. In addition to the projects already mentioned, Amenhotep also built a completely new palace complex in Thebes.
The new royal residence included all of the elements contained in the palace complex of Solomon which are described in the Bible (1 Kings 7:2-12), namely:
1 a house made almost entirely out of cedars of Lebanon (built for Amenhotep's Jubilee festival);
2 a colonnade (hall of columns) fronted by a portico and surrounded by a column-lined courtyard;
3 a throne room built with many wooden columns and whose floor was a painted lake scene (identical to the one crossed in wonder by the Queen of Sheba when she approached the throne of Solomon, as described in the Koran);
4 a separate palace built for Sitamun, "the daughter of Pharaoh";
5 a royal palace consisting of his own residence, the residence of his Great Wife, Tiye (who, incidentally, appears to have been the daughter of the Biblical Joseph), and a residence for the royal harem.
Amenhotep, like Solomon, was relentless in his pursuit of women for his harem, especially beautiful foreign women of both royal and common backgrounds alike. Amenhotep's harem included two princesses from Babylon, two princesses from Syria, two princesses from Mitanni, and included a princess from each of the seven nations listed in 1 Kings 11:1 that were in Solomon's harem. As the mightiest king of the Middle East, Amenhotep did not send any of his own daughters to other kings in exchange, nor did any other Pharaoh of this dynasty. He specifically denied a request by the King of Babylon for an Egyptian wife. Importantly, the Bible emphasises Solomon's Egyptian bride, but does not mention that Solomon had any Hebrew wives. Rehoboam, who is said to have succeeded Solomon, was the son of an Ammonite princess.
The court of Amenhotep was an extremely liberal one, and reflected every possible excess of an affluent and secure kingdom. Eroticism in art and court life reached its height during the reign of Amenhotep. The famous Egyptian "nude dancing girls" mural dates to Amenhotep's reign. As with Solomon, Amenhotep denied himself nothing "his eyes desired" and "refused his heart no pleasure" (Ecclesiastes 2:10). However, the last years of Amenhotep's thirty-eight year reign were not pleasant ones. The long years of indulgence had taken their toll and he had many ailments. As a compassionate gesture, his Mitanni brother-in-law sent him an idol of the goddess Ishtar (Solomon's latter-day idols were of Ashtoreth and Milcom - 1 Kings 11:5).
Solomon is said to have had "a thousand and four hundred" chariots (1 Kings 1:26). This represents a prodigious army by ancient standards, and one which could only have been amassed over a long period of time by an established civilization. Yet we are told that only five years after the great King Solomon's death, the Egyptian Pharaoh Shishak and his allies invaded Judah and captured its fortified cities with little or no military resistance (2 Chron. 12) though they had taken part in no major military conflicts since Solomon's death.
The inescapable conclusion one must conclude is that the story of Solomon was patterned specifically after the life of Amenhotep III. The name Solomon itself points to Amenhotep III; his name in Egyptian means "the Peace (Salim) of god (Amun)" (Egyptian pharoahs were considerted diety). His long and pervasive reign in the 14th Century B.C. did not include any major military campaigns, but was characterized by unprecedented stability throughout the Near East. The name of Jerusalem appears first in Egyptian texts as the place where Thutmose III made his base while in the locality however, it does not appear in texts until the time of Amehotep III.
The name appears to honour the latter - Jeru in Egyptian means 'place of', Salim is Egyptian for 'peace', symbolising the role that Amehotep III played in establishing and maintaining peaceful Egyptian control over Palestine during the 18th Dynasty. This Egyptian name is actually found in Hebrew in Nehemiah 11 as "Yurushalayim ha Qudesh," meaning, "Jerusalem the Holy City." The capture of Jerusalem/Kadesh by Thutmose III also resolves the formerly unknown source of the name Zion. The name consists of the components 'zi', a Hebrew word meaning 'arid place', and 'on', the Hebrew name for the holy city of Heliopolis in Egypt. Literally translated, Zion appropriately means 'Holy City of the Desert'. Anyone who has been there will know the aptness of this name.
The name of Moses is part of the name of most of the Pharoahs of the 18th Dynasty, but their common link goes far beyond just the name. A major achievement in both the lives of Moses and the 18th Dynasty Pharoahs was the conquest of Palestine. Thutmose III, in one of his greatest military triumphs, led an army out of Egypt, through the Sinai desert and conquered Palestine by driving out its occupants in a remarkably similar way that the Children of Israel took their promised land. The major event in Moses' life was to lead the Children of Isreal out of Egypt, through the Sinai desert and (through his deputy, Joshua) conquer Palestine by driving out its occupants. Both did this in the name of their god. Thutmose III carried with him an ark, said to contain the presence of his god, which brought him victory wherever it was taken in the conquest of Palestine. Joshua carried with him an ark, said to contain the presence of his god, which brought him victory wherever it was taken in the conquest of Palestine.
Though a Pharoah with the same name as Moses appears to have performed similar exploits to Moses after he left Egypt, it was a Pharoah with a different name - Akhenaten - who also performed similar exploits to Moses that points to them being one and the same person. A previously unnoticed correspondence between the name of Moses' mother in the Bible and that of the mother of King Oedipus in Greek traditions leads to a convincing new evidence that both women were one and the same, the historical Queen Tiye, mother of the sensational and mysterious Pharaoh Akhenaten.
The mother of Moses is named in the Bible as Jochebed ("nobility of Jo/Yah"). The Hebrew name Jochebed is almost identical to that of Oedipus' mother, which is given in the Sophocles plays as Jocaste. Jocaste also translates from the Greek as "nobility of Jo/Yah." The mother of Akhenaten has been established by archaeology as the Queen Tiye. Tiye was in turn the daughter of the Prime Minister "Ya" (Vizier Yuya) who governed Egypt during the reigns of Pharaohs Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III. Yuya and the Biblcal Joseph have near identical stories. Both names, Yuya and Joseph/Yuseph, derive from the deity Yahweh/Jehovah. Therefore, Tiye as the real life mother of Akhenaten, was quite literally of the "nobility of Ya" as well!
This triple correspondence is entirely reasonable. However, the controversy involves the emphatic assertion by Sophocles and other Greek writers that Oedipus also sired heirs through a dynastic marriage with his mother. Surprisingly, a fresh investigation of relevant passages in the Bible and the Talmud also indicates that Zipporah, the wife of Moses and mother of his two sons, was also considered by ancient Jews to be Moses' own mother. Pseudonyms were used to separate the two roles of Tiye.
As mother of Akhenaten she is Jochebed, and as his wife Zipporah. Moreover, there is strong circumstantial archaeological evidence attesting to a dynastic marriage between Akhenaten and his mother Tiye. This does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that Akhenaten (Moses/Oedipus) actually did produce royal heirs by his mother Tiye (Jochebed/Jocaste). It does lead to the conclusion that, right or wrong, this is what reliable and independent textual sources are explicitly and implicitly telling us. The first name given for Moses's father-in-law is Reuel. Reuel is also named explicitly as the father of Zipporah, Moses' wife. Amazingly, this name Reuel literally means "Friend of God."
Akhenaten is the most mysterious and interesting of all the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. He created a revolution in Egyptian religion, philosophy and art that resulted in the introduction of the first organised monotheistic form of worship known in history. Sigmund Freud, father of psychoanalysis, was the first to suggest a connection between Moses and Akhenaten. In his last book, Moses and Monotheism, published in 1939, Freud argued that the biblical Moses was an official in the court of Akhenaten, and an adherent of the Aten religion.
After the death of Akhenaten, Freud's theory goes, Moses selected the Israelite tribe living east of the Nile Delta to be his chosen people, took them out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus, and passed on to them the tenets of Akhenaten's religion. When modern archaeologists came across the strangely-drawn figure of Akhenaten in the ruins of Tell el-Amarna in the middle of the 19th century, they were not sure what to make of him. Some thought he was a woman disguised as a king. By the early years of the 20th century when the city of Amarna had been excavated and more became known about him and his family, Akhenaten became a focus of interest for Egyptologists, who saw him as a visionary humanitarian as well as the first monotheist.
The son of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye (daughter of Yuya, who many believe to be Joseph the patriarch), Akhenaten had an Egyptian father and an Israelite mother (Genesis describes Moses as having an Israelite mother also). Yuya had been appointed by Tuthmosis IV to be the Master of the King's Horses and Deputy of the Royal Chariotry. On coming to the throne, and according to Egyptian customs, Amenhotep III married his sister Sitamun, who was just a child of three years at the time.
However, in his Year 2, Amenhotep decided to also marry Yuya's daughter Tiye, the girl whom he loved, and made her, rather than Sitamun, his Great Royal Wife, his queen. (According to Egyptian customs the king could marry as many women as he desired, however the queen, whose children would follow him on the throne, had to be his sister, the heiress.) As a wedding present, Amenhotep presented Tiye with the frontier fortress of Zarw, in the area of modern Kantara in north Sinai, the capital of the Land of Goshen. This locality is referred to in the Bible as the place where the Israelites dwelled in Egypt. Here Amenhotep built a summer palace for her. To commemorate his marriage with Tiye, the king issued a large scarab and sent copies of it to foreign kings and princes.
Akhenaten was born in Year 12 of the reign of his father Amenhotep III, 1394 BC, as Amenhop IV in the summer royal palace in the border city of Zarw in northern Sinai. Zarw, modern-day Kantara East, was the centre of the land of Goshen where the Israelites dwelt, and in the same location where the biblical Moses was born. But contrary to the biblical account, Moses was born inside the royal palace. His mother Queen Tiye had an elder son, Tuthmosis, who died a short time before Amenhotep's birth. Tuthmosis had been educated and trained at the royal residence in Memphis before he mysteriously disappeared, believed to have been kidnapped and assassinated by the Amun priests. Fearing for his safety, Tiye sent her son, the infant Amenhotep, by water to the safekeeping of her father's Israelite family outside the walls of Zarw (the origin of the biblical baby-in-the-bulrushes story?).
The reason for the priests' hostility to the young prince was the fact that Tiye, his mother, an Israelite, was not the legitimate heiress to the throne. She couldn't therefore be accepted as a consort for the state god Amun. If Tiye's son acceded to the throne, this would be regarded as forming a new dynasty of non-Amunite kings over Egypt. During his early years, his mother kept Amenhotep away from both the royal residences at Memphis and Thebes. The boy spent his childhood at the border city of Zarw, nursed by the wife of the queen's younger brother, General Aye. Later, Amenhotep was moved to Heliopolis, north of Cairo, to receive his education under the supervision of Anen, the priest of Ra, who was the elder brother of Queen Tiye.
Young Amenhotep first appeared at the capital city of Thebes when he reached the age of sixteen. There he met Nefertiti, his half-sister, daughter of Sitamun, and fell in love with her. Tiye, his mother, encouraged this relationship, realizing that his marriage to Nefertiti, the heiress, was the only way he could gain the right to follow his father on the throne.
Following his marriage to Nefertiti, Amenhotep III decided to make Amenhotep his co-regent, which upset the priests of Amun. The conflict between Amenhotep III and the priests had started sixteen years earlier as a result of his marriage to Tiye, an Israelite, daughter of Yuya and Tuya. During his reign, Nefertiti was active in supporting her husband, Amenhotep, and was more prominently seen at official occasions as well as on all monuments. However, the climate of hostility that surrounded Amenhotep at the time of his birth surfaced again after his appointment as co-regent. On joining his father on the throne, Amenhotep became Amenhotep IV. The Amun priesthood opposed this appointment, and openly challenged Amenhotep III's decision.
When the priests of Amun objected to his appointment, the young co-regent responded by building temples to Aten, the God of his Hebrew mother who was a foreign God to the Egyptians. Amenhotep IV built three temples for Aten: one at the back end of the Karnak complex, another at Luxor near the Nile bank, and the third at Memphis. Amenhotep lV snubbed the Amun priests by not inviting them to any of the festivities in the early part of his co-regency and, in his fourth year, when he celebrated his sed festival jubilee, he banned all deities but his own God from the occasion.
Twelve months later he made a further break with tradition by changing his name to Akhenaten in honour of this new Hebrew deity. To the resentful Egyptian establishment, Aten was seen as a challenger who would replace the powerful State god, Amun, and vowed not to submit to his domination. In the tense climate that prevailed, Tiye arranged a compromise by persuading her son to leave Thebes and establish a new capital at Amarna in Middle Egypt, on the east bank of the Nile.
The situation calmed down following Akhenaten's departure, while Amenhotep III ruled alone in Thebes. For the site of his new city at Amarna, Akhenaten chose a land that belonged to no god or goddess. The building started in his Year 4 and ended in Year 8; however he and his family moved from Thebes to Amarna in Year 6. At that point of land, the cliffs of the high desert receded from the river, leaving a great semi-circle about eight miles long and three miles broad. Here Akhenaten built his new capital, Akhetaten, the Horizon of Aten, where he and his followers would be free to worship their God.
Huge boundary stelae, marking the limits of the city and recording the story of its foundation, were carved in the surrounding cliffs. Akhetaten was a capital city possessed of both dignity and architectural harmony. Its main streets ran parallel to the Nile with the most important of them, the King's Way, connecting the city's most prominent buildings, including the King's House, where Akhenaten and his family had their private residence. To the south of the house was the king's private temple to Aten.
Following the death of his father, Amenhotep III, in Akhenaten's Year 12, he organized a great celebration at Amarna for foreign princes bearing tribute because of his assumption to sole rule. Akhenaten and Nefertiti appeared to receive the tribute of foreign missions coming from Syria, Palestine, Nubia, and the Mediterranean islands, who offered them their gifts. It was at that time that Akhenaten decided to abolish the worship of all gods in Egypt except Aten.
Akhenaten gave orders to his troops, instructing them to close all the temples, confiscate their estates, and sack the priests, leaving only Aten's temples throughout the country. Units were dispatched to excise the names of the ancient gods wherever they were found written or engraved, a course that can only have created mounting new opposition to his already rejected authority. This persecution, which entailed the closing of the temples, the confiscation of property, the dispatch of artisans who hacked out the names of the deities from inscriptions, the banishment of the clergy, and the excommunication of Amun's name, was supervised by the army. Each time a squad of workmen entered a temple or tomb to destroy the name of Amun, it was supported by a squad of soldiers who came to see that the royal decree was carried out without opposition.
Aten (sometimes spelt Aton) was a single god, the creator of the Universe, depicted in a similar manner to the creator in Genesis 1, as the only true God. As a result of Akhenaten's intense devotion to this new religion, another ruler, Amenhotep III, took charge politically in the old capital, effectively splitting the kingdom into two parts (an echo of the Israelite kingdom splitting into two?) with the spiritual rule coming from the southern kingdom and the physical rule from the north. Akhenaten's change in name indicated that he no longer considered himself to be the son of the god Amun, but of Aten. On the monuments marking the four corners of his new city, Akhenaten referred to the hateful words spoken about him and his forefathers by the priests of Amun. Obviously, he had hoped that the city of Akhetaten would be his resting place as well.
Aten was depicted as a god without human or animal image. The disc of the sun became the single physical representation of the invisible and eternal god. (The sun disc was used later as a royal "lamelech" seal by the Kings of Judah and is a symbol common to the Roman Catholic church to this day). The cartouche of Akhenaten's god and heavenly father, the Aten, bore the name Imram. In the Bible, Moses is referred to as the son of Amram, its Hebrew equivalent.
The name of the Egyptian deity Aten translates into the Hebrew word Adon. This name, which appears in English Bibles as "the Lord" (Adonai translates as "my Lord") is used along with Jehovah (Yhwh) in the Bible as an exclusive personal name of God. In ancient times, the name Jehovah (Yhwh) was written, but never spoken. Whenever the written name Jehovah (Yhwh) was to be read out loud, Adon was voiced instead.
The written form of Adon is infrequent, but its limited use is significant, and predominantly in the first six books of the Bible: Moses first addresses God using the title Adon/Aten (Exodus 4:10,13; 5:22; 34:9; Numbers 14:17; Deuteronomy 3:23; 7:26; 10:17); Moses himself is addressed both by Aaron (Ex.32:22; Num.12:11) and by Joshua (Numbers 11:28) as Adon/Aten (which is part of Akhenaten's name); and Joshua also addresses God using the title Adon/Aten (Joshua 5:14 b; 7:7). In the Bible Adonijah is the elder step-brother of Solomon, and the commander of the Army. Adonijah is a combination of two Hebrews names for God - Adoni and Jah. Psalm 104 is an embellishment of the Hymn to the Aten, written by Akhenaten, which was found by archaeologists at the city of Akhetaten in the ruins of the temble he built. Many verses are word for word.
Akhenaten's persecution of the old gods and their priests proved to be hateful to the majority of Egyptians, including the members of the army. The harshness of the persecution had a negative reaction upon the soldiers who, themselves, had been raised in the old beliefs. They worshipped in the very temples that they were ordered to close.
At that time, the rapid growth of trade and exchange among nations of the Middle East made possible by the political stability of the times had facilitated the spread of disease. Akhenaten's reforms may have succeeded had they not coincided with a terrible plague that was spreading throughout the entire Middle East. Amenhotep III had made 700 idols of Sekhmet, the goddess of pestilence, in order to ward off a plague (one of the ten plagues of the book of Genesis?), which had taken hold on Egypt by the end of Akhenaten's reign.
Two statues were made for every day of the year providing a "double spell" against the spreading disease. When the plague did not relent, the thousands of unemployed priests and servants of Amun's temples had all the more reason to blame Akhenaten's reforms and his rejection of the god who had brought Egypt so much prosperity in the past. In ancient times, such plagues were invariably attributed to the anger of the gods.
Akhenaten's reign ended abruptly; no clear explanation as to what happened was given to the people of Egypt. Horemheb, Pa-Ramses, and Seti instigated a military coup against Akhenaten, and ordered troops from the north and south to move toward Amarna. When the army and chariots came face to face at Amarna's borders, Aye advised Akhenaten to abdicate the throne to his 10-year old son, Tutankhaten, in order to save the dynasty and avoid a wholesale defection and perhaps even a civil war.
Akhenaten agreed to abdicate and left Amarna with Pa-Nehesy, the Levi high priests of Aten, a few of his followers and the Hebrews who worshipped Aten, to live in exile in the area of Sarabit El-Khadem in southern Sinai. When Tutankhaten ascended the throne, he changed his name to Tutankhamun to appease the priesthood of the powerful State god Amun. He did not, however, renounce the Atenist religion of his father but attempted to be a peace maker by permitting worship of whichever god people chose.
Akhetaten's city of Akhetaten was abandoned and its temple defaced to remove all reference to Akhetaten and his god. Though never rebuilt, there is a village on the opposite side of the Nile near the site of Akhetaten which has retained the name Mal-lawi (pronounced Mallevi, meaning "place of Levi") to this present day. Levi was the name of the select group of nobles and close relatives of Akhenaten and Yuya who made up the newly formed priesthood of Aten; they served in the temples of Aten at Thebes and at the new capital city of Akhetaten. It is also the Biblical name of the tribe of the Children of Israel designated by Moses to be the priesthood of Adoni.
The one area were it has thus far not been possible to link Moses and Akhetaten in our study is in their names. The root of the name Moses is the Egyptian word Mose which means "child." But this word also had a wider legal meaning in terms of the Egyptian monarchy - "the rightful son and heir." As it was punishable by death to mention Akhenaten's name after his banishment, a code name was established through which his followers could refer to him.
Therefore they called him Mose, to indicate that he was the legitimate son of Amenhotep III and thus the rightful heir to the Egyptian throne. The ancient Egyptian language had no written vowels, although vowel sounds were pronounced. The written word consisted of two consonants, m and s, and was pronounced 'Mo-Es'. It is therefore easy to see that the Hebrew word, Moses, was derived from the Egyptian, Mos. Moses is the name by which Akhenaten was known after his banishment.
Following his abdication, Akhenaten/Moses lived with his followers in exile in southern Sinai for about twenty-five years, during the reigns of Tutankhamun, Aye, and Horemheb. Here, Akhenaten/Moses lived among the Shasu (Midianite) Bedouins with whom he formed an alliance. On hearing of Horemheb's death, Akhenaten/Moses decided to leave his exile in Sinai and come back to Egypt, in order to reclaim his throne. It is believed that most of the Hebrew who had come out of Egypt had died; their children who had been born in southern Sinai during the exile did not wish to return to Egypt. They decided to travel to the north east to the lands of their forefathers - present day Palestine - and settle there. The name of their leader is not recorded in Egyptian history.
In his rough Bedouin clothes, Akhenaten/Moses returned to Egypt and arrived with his allies at General Pa-Ramses' residence in the border city of Zarw, his birthplace, which had now been turned into a prison for his former followers. Pa-Ramses, by now an old man, was making arrangements for his coronation and getting ready to become the first ruler of a new 19th Ramesside dynasty when he was informed of Akhenaten/Moses' arrival.
Akhenaten/Moses challenged Pa-Ramses' right to the throne. The general, taken by surprise, decided to call a meeting of the wise men of Egypt to decide between them. At the gathering, Akhenaten/Moses produced his scepter of royal power, which he had taken with him to exile, and performed secret rituals that only the king could have had knowledge of. Once they saw the scepter (Moses' rod?) of royal authority and Akhenaten/Moses' performance of the rituals, the wise men fell down in adoration in front of him and declared him to be the legitimate king of Egypt. Pa-Ramses, however, who was in control of the army, used his power to frustrate the verdict of the priests and elders and retained the right to rule by force.
The description of the rod of Moses found in the Bible is perhaps the closest link between Moses and Akhenaten. Pharaohs possessed many types of scepters representing various aspects of their sovereignty. A staff topped by a brazen serpent was the scepter symbolizing pharoanic authority; The Biblical Moses would only have been permitted to own such a scepter were he a reigning pharaoh. The Bible declares that Moses' scepter was later destroyed by Hezekiah because it had become a cult fetish (2 Kings 18:4).
General Pa-Ramses ascended to the Egyptain throne as Ramses I, becoming the first Pharoah of the 19th dynasty. Left with no choice but to flee from Egypt with his followers - the Israelites and Egyptians who embraced the Atenist faith - Akhenaten/Moses led an exodus toward the Sinai via the marshy area to the south of Zarw and north of Lake Temsah, as this watery route would hinder the pursuit of Egyptian chariots. He then marched north toward Gaza and attempted to storm the city with his Shasu allies. Seti I, son of Ramses, led an army against Akhenaten/Moses and his followers, defeating them in a great slaughteri. It is likely that Akhenaten/Moses was killed by Seti I himself in the course of these military operations.
Surviving excerpts from two Egyptian histories provide even more clues regarding the possible 'Egyptian' identity of Moses. The History of Egypt (Aegyptiaca) written in the 3rd Century B.C. in Greek by the Egyptian High Priest of Heliopolis known as Manetho recorded details about Moses and the Exodus. Also, the five volume History of Egypt written by Apion in the first half of the 1st Century A.D. contained a passage about Moses that was quoted by the Jewish historian Josephus. Josephus deduced from Apion's work that Moses had constructed temples in Egypt which were oriented eastward, had roofs open to the sun, and made use of a modified obelisk. These were all distinctive characteristics of Akhenaten's many temples.
Excerpts from Manetho's history quoted by Josephus and the Christian historian Eusebius (chronicler to Constantine) place the Exodus specifically in the reign of Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) following a 13 year period marked by pestilence, rebellion and the violation of Egyptian temples and their gods. This is an accurate description of the traumatic 13 year period during which Akhenaten ruled Egypt. Manetho and Apion also recorded that Akhenaten led the followers of Aten out of Egypt to a 'promised land'. Josephus, who was also a Jew, took great offence to the accounts of both Manetho and Apion. Lacking any hard evidence to contradict these sources, Josephus resorted by simply denouncing the accounts as "ridiculous" and "silly" but failed to give factual arguments to support his beliefs.
Tutankhamun was the next Pharoah after Akhenaten. His parenthood is not documented - being a Pharoah, he would have to have been born into the royal family, so it is assumed he was the son of Akhenaten. As a 10-year old, he took power under the guidance of an elderly Prime Minister, Aye, the second son of YuYa. Tutankhamun devoted his life to reunite the divided nation of Eygpt and restore it to its former glory. The word 'Amunuel' appears on Tutankhamun's tomb. It means 'Amun My God': U = my; El = God. It is very close to the Herbrew word, Emanuel, meaning 'God with Us'. The name "Tutankhamun" is derived from the hieroglyphs which translate as Tut-ankh-amun meaning the "Living Image of Amun."
Tutankhamun re-instated Amun as the main god of Egypt and re-built the temples and statues to Amun. In later life, Tutankhamun named himself the 'Son of Nun', Nun being the most ancient God of the Egyptians who, in a parallel to the Genensis 1 story, is said to have been the creator of all life. This primordeal god resided in Nu (the name translates as "Abyss"), a mysterious underworld from where life was renewed. In the Bible, Joshua, Moses' successor, is referred to by the same name that Tutankhamun named himself - the son of Nun! There is no person by the name of Nun in any of the genealogies found in the Bible. Is it merely a coincidence that Moses' successor was Joshua, the son of Nun and Akhenaten's successor was Tutankhamun, also the son of Nun?
The bottom line of all this is that Moses may well have been the father of King Tut. But the implications of this conclusion pales into insignificance when one delves into the identity of Joshua. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament made in Alexndria during the 3rd century BC., which is the oldest version of the Old Testament in existence, the text did not indicate Joshua as being the Son of Nun, as our Bibles do; it said Jesus was the son of Nun.
This is not only the first record of the name 'Jesus' in the Bible, it is the first of many pieces of theology-shaking evidence drawn from the pages of Egyptian and Jewish history, the Talmud and The Bible which collectively point towards Jesus and Tutankhamun being one and the same person. But they lived 1,600 years apart; how could that possibly be? Our study, Tutankhamun and Jesus: the Lost Connection, examines the evidence in these ancient texts of the link two of the most famous people in history.
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