- "Like the
accounts of the historian Manetho, the Talmudic stories contain many distortions
and accretions arising from the fact that they were transmitted orally
for a long time before finally being set down in writing. Yet one can sense
that behind the myths there must have lain genuine historical events that
had been suppressed from the official accounts of both Egypt and Israel,
but had survived in the memories of the generations" (p.24). "The Alexandrian
Jews were naturally interested in Manetho's account of their historic links
with Egypt, although they found some aspects of it objectionable. His original
work therefore did not survive for long before being tampered with [2/3
of Zarathushtra's Avesta reportedly was even
deliberately destroyed]" (p.27). And: "Yoyotte ... became one of the few
to see through the 'embellishments' of the biblical account and identify
the historical core of the story ..." (p.48).
- "... the Koran presents
the confrontation in such a precise way that one wonders if some of the
details were left out of the biblical account deliberately. Here Moses
sounds less like a magician, more like someone who presents evidence of
his authority that convinces the wise men of Egypt, who throw themselves
at his feet and thus earn the punishment of [an imposter] Pharaoh. One
can only suspect that the biblical editor exercised care to avoid any Egyptian
involvement with the Israelite Exodus, even to the extent of replacing
Moses by Aaron in the performance of the rituals. ... [During] their sed
festival
celebrations, Egyptian kings performed rituals that correspond to the 'serpent
rod' and 'hand' rituals performed by Moses - and, in performing them, Moses
was not using magic but seeking to establish his royal authority.
I think the correct interpretation of these accounts [of the Bible and the Koran] is that, when Akhenaten was forced to abdicate, he must have taken his royal sceptre to Sinai with him. On the death of Horemheb, the last king of the Eighteenth Dynasty, about a quarter of a century later, he must have seen an opportunity to restore himself to the throne. No heir to the Tuthmosside kings existed and it was Pa-Ramses, commander of Horemheb's army and governor of Zarw, who had claim to the throne. Akhenaten returned to Egypt and the wise men were gathered in order to decide between him and Pa-Ramses. Once they saw the sceptre of royal authority and Akhenaten had performed the sed festival rituals - secret from ordinary citizens - the wise men bowed the knee in front of him, confirming that his was the superior right to the throne, but Pa-Ramses used his army to crush the rebels. Moses was allowed to leave again for Sinai, however, accompanied by the Israelites, his mother's relatives, and the few Egyptians who had been converted to the new [monotheistic] religion that he had attempted to force upon Egypt a quarter of a century earlier. In Sinai the followers of Akhenaten were joined subsequently by some bedouin tribes (the Shasu), who are to be identified as the Midianites of the Bible. No magic was performed, or intended, by Moses. The true explanation of the biblical story could only be that it was relating the polical challenge for power in a mythological way - and all the plagues of which we read were natural, seasonal events in Egypt in the course of every year. ..." (p.178f)
"This would explain how a new version of the Osiris-Horus myth came into existence from the time of the Nineteenth Dynasty. Osiris, the King of Egypt, was said to have had to leave the country for a long time. On his eventual return he was assassinated by Set, who had usurped the throne, but Horus, the son of Osiris, confronted Set at Zarw and slew him. According to my interpretation of events, it was in fact 'Set' who slew 'Horus'; but their roles were later reversed by those who wished to believe in an eternal life for Horus [alternatively, if their roles were not reversed, that might support the idea that Moses/Akhenaton had a role to play in Canaan/Palestine in the post-exodus period]. This new myth developed to the point where Osiris/Horus became the principal god worshipped in Egypt in later times while Set was looked upon as the evil one. This myth could have been a popular reflection of a real historical event - a confrontation between Moses and Seti I on top of the mountain in Moab." (p.187f)
- "No primary
source of information on Moses exists outside the Bible. ... [In] the Haggadah's
hymnic confession Dayyeinu, ... Israel's career from Egypt to the settlement
is rehearsed in 13 stages without a reference to Moses. ... According to
Artapanos, Moses ... was the first pilosopher, and invented a variety of
machines for peace and war. He was also responsible for the political organization
of Egypt (having divided the land into 36 nomes) ... According to Josephus,
Moses was the most ancient of all legislators in the records of the world.
Indeed, he maintains that the very word 'law' was unknown in ancient Greece
(Jos., Apion 2:154). ...
Hecataeus of Abdera presented Moses as the founder of the Jewish state, ascribing to him the conquest of Palestine and the building of Jerusalem and the Temple. He explained, in the Platonic manner, that Moses divided his people into 12 tribes, because 12 is a perfect number, corresponding to the number of months in the year (cf. Plato, Laws, 745b-d; Republic, 546b). ... Very curious is the legend recorded by Israel Lipschuetz b. Gedaliah (Tiferet Yisrael to Kid. end, n.77). A certain King, having heard of Moses' fame, sent a renowned painter to portray Moses' features.
On the painter's return with the portrait the king showed it to his sages, who unanimously proclaimed that the features portrayed were those of a degenerate [4]. The astonished king journeyed to the camp of Moses and observed for himself that the portrait did not lie. Moses admitted that the sages were right and that he had been given from birth many evil traits of character but that he had held them under control and succeeded in conquering them. This, the narrative concludes, was Moses' greatness, that, in spite of his tremendous handicaps, he managed to become the man of God. Various attempts have, in fact, been made by some rabbis to ban the further publication of this legend as a denigration of Moses' character."