by
Damien F. Mackey
If any revisionist historian had placed
himself in a good position, chronologically, to identify in the Egyptian
records the patriarch Joseph, then it was Dr. Donovan Courville, who had, in The Exodus Problem and its Ramifications, I
and II (1971), proposed that Egypt’s Old and Middle Kingdoms were
contemporaneous. That radical move on his part might have enabled Courville to
bring the likeliest candidate for Joseph, the Vizier Imhotep of the Third
Dynasty, into close proximity with the Twelfth Dynasty – the dynasty that
revisionists most favour for the era of Moses.
Courville, however, who did not consider Imhotep for Joseph, selected
instead for his identification of this great biblical Patriarch another
significant official, Mentuhotep,
vizier to pharaoh Sesostris I, the second king of Egypt’s Twelfth Dynasty.
And very good revisionists have followed Courville in his choice of
Mentuhotep for Joseph.
With my own system, though, favouring (i) Imhotep for Joseph; (ii)
Amenemes [Amenemhet] I for the “new king” of Exodus 1:8; and (iii) Amenemes I’s
successor, Sesostris I, for the pharaoh from whom Moses fled (as recalled in
the semi-legendary “The Story of Sinuhe”), then Mentuhotep of this era must now
loom large as a candidate for the Egyptianised Moses.
Introduction
In 1981 I began a search for
Moses in the Egyptian records.
The first lesson that I had to
learn (and Courville’s two-volume set served as my guide in this) was that the history books and the Bible just did not
align.
Now, after decades of effort on
this work of revision, I have been blessed to have encountered - and sometimes to
have made - exciting discoveries, including the appropriate era for Moses and
the Exodus, and the true archaeology for the Israelite (Joshuan) Conquest of
Palestine. But Moses himself, the person, has proved to be most elusive.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I now think that - and it has taken me only
about 34 years to realise it -
this Mentuhotep may be Moses staring
revisionists right in the face.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In my most recent excursion into
this era of biblico-history:
Bible
Bending Pharaonic Egypt. Part One: Abraham to Exodus.
I returned to the view - in line
with the thinking of professor Immanuel Anati, in his classic, The Mountain of God - that the famous
Egyptian “Sinuhe” tale carried a reminiscence of the historical Moses: “I
accept that this famous Egyptian tale is based upon a real biblical event. The
semi-legendary Sinuhe may at least
provide us with the time of the flight of Moses from Egypt to Midian, during the early reign of Sesostris I”.
And I as well, in line with my
revised Old to Middle Kingdom parallelism, tentatively making contemporaneous:
4th Dynasty 6th
Dynasty 12th
Dynasty 13th
Dynasty
also suggested in this article a
possible connection of Sinuhe with
the Sixth Dynasty’s Weni. Thus:
There
is a famous Sixth dynasty official, Weni
(or Uni), who may be the parallel of
the Twelfth Dynasty’s Sinuhe as a
candidate for the elusive Moses.
I
have previously written on this:
Now, given our alignment of the so-called
Egyptian Middle Kingdom’s Twelfth Dynasty with the Egyptian Old Kingdom’s Sixth
Dynasty (following Dr. Donovan Courville), then the semi-legendary Sinuhe may
find his more solidly historical identification in the important Sixth Dynasty
official, Weni, or Uni. Like Weni, Sinuhe was highly honoured by
pharaoh with the gift of a sarcophagus. We read about it, for instance, in C.
Dotson’s extremely useful article (“…. The Cycle of Order and Chaos in The Tale of Sinuhe”) (https://journals.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/StudiaAntiqua):
“…. The king gives Sinuhe a sarcophagus of gold and
lapis lazuli as a housewarming gift. The gift of a coffin by the king was
considered a great honor and a sign of respect.
In the Autobiography of Weni from the Old
Kingdom, Weni records that the king had given him a white sarcophagus and
“never before had the like been done in this Upper Egypt.” ….
[End of quote]
Naturally, Dr. Courville’s
radical proposal that the Egyptian Sixth and Twelfth dynasties were
contemporaneous - whereas, according to conventional history some four
centuries separate the end of the Sixth (c. 2200 BC) from that of the Twelfth
(c. 1800 BC) - has not been well received by non-revisionist historians, such
as e.g. professor W. Stiebing who has written (https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Yf2NWgNhEecC&pg=PA131&lpg=PA131&dq=co):
“There is simply no textual support for making the Sixth and Twelfth Dynasties
contemporaneous, as Courville does”. However, as I noted in my:
Connecting the Biblical Patriarchs to Ancient Egypt
…. [Dr.] J. Osgood proposes a possible close relationship
between the 6th and 12th dynasty mortuary temples ....:
Edwards certainly opens the possibility
unconsciously when referring to the pyramid of Sesostris the First ....: “...
and the extent to which its Mortuary Temple was copied from the Mortuary
Temples of the VIth dynasty, as illustrated by that of Pepi II ... is clearly
evident.”
The return of a culture to what it was before ...
after some three hundred years must be an uncommon event. The theoretical
possibility that the two cultures, the Twelfth and the Sixth Dynasties were in
fact contemporary and followed a common pattern of Mortuary Temple must be
borne in mind as real.
[End of quote]
That there is in fact some
impressive evidence to suggest that, as I wrote:
Egypt’s Old and Middle Kingdoms [Were] Far Closer in Time
than Conventionally Thought
is apparent from a set of examples
that I listed there taken from N. Grimal’s A History of Ancient Egypt (Blackwell
1994). After recalling some striking similarities between the Sixth Dynasty
founder, Teti, and the Twelfth Dynasty founder, Amenemes I, as follows: “…. {Teti, I have tentatively proposed as being the same
pharaoh as Amenemes/Ammenemes I, based on (a) being a founder of a
dynasty; (b) having same Horus name; (c) being assassinated. ….}”, I continued:
Grimal notes the likenesses:
Pp. 80-81
“[Teti‟s] adoption of the Horus name Sehetep-tawy (“He who pacifies the
Two Lands”) was an indication of the political programme upon which he
embarked. … this Horus name was to reappear in titulatures throughout
subsequent Egyptian history, always in connection with such kings as Ammenemes
I … [etc.]”.
“Manetho says that Teti was assassinated, and it is this claim that has
led to the idea of growing civil disorder, a second similarity with the
reign of Ammenemes I”.
P. 84: “[Pepy I] … an unmistakable return to ancient values: Pepy I
changed his coronation name from Neferdjahor to Merire (“The devotee of Ra”)”. ….
P. 159:
[Ammenemes I]. Like his predecessors in the Fifth Dynasty, the new ruler
used literature to publicize the proofs of his legitimacy. He turned to
the genre of prophecy: a premonitory recital placed in the mouth of Neferti, a
Heliopolitan sage who bears certain similarities to the magician Djedi in
Papyrus Westcar. Like Djedi, Neferti is summoned to the court of King Snofru,
in whose reign the story is supposed to have taken place”.
P. 164: “[Sesostris I]. Having revived the Heliopolitan tradition of
taking Neferkare as his coronation name …”.
P. 165: “There is even evidence of a Twelfth Dynasty cult of
Snofru in the region of modern Ankara”.
P. 171: “Ammenemes IV reigned for a little less than ten years and by
the time he died the country was once more moving into a decline. The reasons
were similar to those that conspired to end the Old Kingdom”.
P. 173: “… Mentuhotpe II ordered the construction of a funerary
complex modelled on the Old Kingdom royal tombs, with its valley temple,
causeway and mortuary temple”.
P. 177:
“… Mentuhotpe II’[s] … successors … returned to the Memphite system for
their funerary complexes. They chose sites to the south of Saqqara and the
plans of their funerary installations drew on the architectural forms of the
end of the Sixth Dynasty.
…. The mortuary temple was built during the Ammenemes I’s “co-regency”
with Sesostris I. The ramp and the surrounding complex were an enlarged version
of Pepy II’s”.
P. 178: “The rest of [Sesostris I’s el-Lisht] complex was again modelled
on that of Pepy II”.
Pp. 178-179:
“[Ammenemes III’s “black pyramid” and mortuary structure at Dahshur].
The complex
infrastructure contained a granite sarcophagus which was decorated with
a replica of the enclosure wall of the Step Pyramid complex of Djoser at
Saqqara (Edwards 1985: 211-12)”. “[Ammenemes III’s pyramid and mortuary temple
at Harawa]. This was clearly a sed festival installation, comparable to the
jubilee complex of Djoser at Saqqara, with which Ammenemes’ structure has
several similarities”.
“The tradition of the Old Kingdom continued to influence Middle Kingdom
royal statuary …”.
P. 180:
“The diversity of styles was accompanied by a general return to the
royal tradition, which was expressed in the form of a variety of statues
representing kings from past times, such as those of Sahure, Neuserre, Inyotef
and Djoser created during the reign of Sesostris II”.
P. 181:
“A comparable set of statures represents Ammenemes III (Cairo, Egyptian
Museum CG 385 from Hawara) … showing the king kneeling to present wine vessels,
a type previously encountered at the end of the Old Kingdom (Cairo, Egyptian
Museum CG 42013 …) …”.
[End of quotes]
Further on, I shall be drawing multiple
comparisons also between the Sixth Dynasty official, Weni, and the Twelfth Dynasty official, Mentuhotep, thus suggesting
time approximation.
On the strength of this possible allowance
for tucking Egypt’s Old Kingdom, in part, into the Middle Kingdom - especially
with Teti being so reminiscent of
Amenemes I, and with the building complexes of Pepi II so resembling those of Sesostris
I - then a merger of the official Weni, with
the apparently important Sinuhe, may now
loom as being actually plausible.
Sinuhe Flees Egypt
As for the vizier Mentuhotep,
however, despite his having officiated at the very same time that Sinuhe is said to have, during the reign
of Sesostris I, I had not really followed through. And that despite the
rapturous manner about which revisionists (thinking that Mentuhotep was the
patriarch Joseph) have written of this powerful official, largely following
Courville. Thus Drs. D. Down and J. Ashton (“Unwrapping the Pharaohs”),
introduce him as follows (https://answersingenesis.org/archaeology/ancient-egypt/the-glorious-middle-kingdom/):
Sesostris [I] is known to have
had a vizier, or prime minister, by the name of Mentuhotep who wielded
extraordinary power, and some scholars have identified this vizier with the
biblical Joseph. Sir Alan Gardiner assigns a date of 1971–1928 B.C. to
Sesostris I, but by a revised chronology he would have been ruling when Joseph
was sold as a slave into Egypt in about 1681 B.C.
….
Genesis 41:43 adds, “He [Pharaoh] had him
ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, ‘Bow
the knee.’” That was the sort of status that was not usually ascribed to
viziers, but it was in the case of Mentuhotep. Another great Egyptologist, Emille
Brugsch, wrote in his book Egypt Under the Pharaohs, “In a word, our
Mentuhotep . . . appears as the alter ego of the king. When he arrived, the
great personages bowed down before him at the outer door of the royal palace.”3
And A. Montgomery writes about Mentuhotep
(http://www.ldolphin.org/alanm/chron1.html):
Courville
identified Joseph as Vizier Mentuhotep, the most powerful Vizier of the 12th
Dynasty. Under Senurset [Sesostris] I, his many impressive titles were: Vizier,
Chief Judge, Overseer of the Double Granary, Chief Treasurer, Governor of the
Royal Castle, Wearer of the Royal Seal, Chief of all the Works of the King,
Hereditary Prince, Pilot of the People, Giver of Good -Sustaining Alive the
People, Count, Sole Companion, Favourite of the King [Courville, 1977, Vol. 1,
p.142]. Such titles were unprecedented.
[End of quotes]
Nevertheless, Mentuhotep - the
favoured candidate for Joseph amongst revisionists of a conservative Christian
persuasion (e.g., Courville; Down; Ashton; Mitchell) - must have begun finally
to impress himself upon my mind as being a possible candidate for Moses, instead,
for I also wrote briefly in the above-mentioned ‘Bible Bending’ article:
Along
with Weni, and the semi-historical Sinuhe, there is another powerful
Twelfth dynasty character under pharaoh Sesostris I, who may be a candidate for
Moses. I refer to the Vizier, Mentuhotep, on to whom Courville and others have
fastened, instead, as Joseph (thereby missing out on the Joseph = Imhotep
synchronism).
But I now think that - and it
has taken me only about 34 years to realise it - this Mentuhotep may be Moses
staring revisionists right in the face. They have dimly perceived this, though,
mistaking him instead for the great Joseph. But, by having missed out on
identifying Imhotep as the rightful Joseph (as I see it), and substituting
Mentuhotep, they may unwittingly have rendered
impossible, within their revision, for an historical identification of Moses.
[End of quotes]
A further potential obstacle for
identifying Moses in Egyptian history has been the tendency, following midrashic and other legends, to regard
him as having been “a king”, that is, a pharaoh of Egypt. Courville had toyed
with the idea that Moses may have been the last of the Twelfth Dynasty
pharaohs, Amenemhet [Amenemes] IV (as referred to at: https://answersingenesis.org/archaeology/ancient-egypt/pharaohs-of-the-oppression/).
And I have, for a long time,
pursued this line of thought that I now believe to be erroneous. Certainly
ancient legend attributes a lot to the talented Moses, who - if he were a
combination of Weni (Sinuhe) and Mentuhotep - may not have
fallen too far short of such startling claims. Thus we read (http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/artapanus.html
… the long article concerning
Moses (Euseb. ix. 27) gives detailed information of his being the real founder
of all the culture and even of the worship of the gods in Egypt. For he it was
whom the Greeks call Musaeus, the instructor of Orpheus, the author of a
multitude of useful inventions and attainments, of navigation, architecture,
military science, and philosophy. He also divided the country into thirty-six
provinces, and commanded each province to worship God; he also instructed the
priests in [hieroglyphics]. He introduced order into State affairs. Hence he
was beloved by the Egyptians, who called him Hermas, δια την των ιερων
γραμματων ερμηνειαν. King Chenephres however sought, out of envy, to get rid of
him. …. When [Chenephres] was dead, Moses received commandment from God to
deliver His people from Egyptian bondage. …. Single traits from this history
are related, with express appeal to Artapanus, in Clemens Alex. Strom.
i. 23. 154, in Chron. pasch. ed. Dindorf, i. 117, and in the Chron.
anonym. in Cramer, Anecdota, Paris, ii. 176.
[End of quote]
It should be noted here this alleged
creativity generally refers only to the “Egyptianised” Moses (cf. Exodus 2:19
and Acts 7:22), and not to the post Burning Bush version of the man.
Comparing Weni - (and Sinuhe) - with Mentuhotep
About Sinuhe, we learn (http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/sinuhe.htm): “I was a henchman
who followed his lord, a servant of the Royal harim attending on the hereditary
princess, the highly-praised Royal Consort of Sesostris in the pyramid-town of
Khnem-esut, the Royal Daughter of Amenemmes in the Pyramid-town of Ka-nofru,
even Nofru, the revered”.
We have already learned something
of the greatness of Mentuhotep.
Weni has, for his part - like Imhotep (Joseph) - been described as
a “genius” This little excerpt on the “Autobiography of Weni” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobiography_of_Weni) already tells us a lot about the man:
Weni rose through the ranks of the military to
become commander in chief of the army. He was considered by both his contemporaries and many Egyptologists to have been a brilliant tactician and possibly
even a genius. His victories earned him the privilege of being shown leading
the troops into battle, a right usually reserved for pharaohs. Weni is the first person, other than a pharaoh, known to have been
portrayed in this manner. Many of his battles were in the Levant and the Sinai. He is said to have pursued a group of Bedouins all the way to Mount Carmel. He battled a Bedouin people known as the
sand-dwellers at least five times.
[End of quote]
Weni’s famous “Autobiography” has been described
as, amongst other superlatives (https://books.google.com.au/books?id=sgoVryxihuMC&pg=PA352&lpg=PA352&dq=the): “… the best-known biographical text of the Old Kingdom and has been widely discussed,
as it is important for literary and historical
reasons; it is also the longest such document”. This marvellous piece of
ancient literature, conventionally dated to c. 2330 BC - and even allowing for
the revised re-dating of it to a bit more than half a millennium later - completely
gives the lie to the old JEDP theory, that writing was not invented until about
1000 BC.
Here I take some of the relevant
inscriptions of the renowned Vizier, Mentuhotep (http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/Ancient_Records_of_Egypt_v1_1000075076/297),
and juxtapose them with comparable parts of the “Autobiography” of Weni (in brown) (http://drelhosary.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/weni-elder-and-his-mor)
(all emphasis added):
INSCRIPTIONS OF MENTUHOTEP ….
531.
Hereditary prince, vizier and chief
judge
The exterior face of the north
wall incorporates a large niche, and during excavations here a damaged false
door inscribed for Weni the Elder was discovered in situ. Not only does
this false door provide a nickname for Weni ("Nefer Nekhet
Mery-Ra"--Egyptian nicknames were often longer than birth names!), but it
also documents his final career promotion, a fact not recorded in his
autobiography: Chief Judge and Vizier.
attached
to Nekhen,
judge attached to Nekhen,
prophet of
prophet of
Mat
(goddess of Truth), giver of laws, advancer of offices, confirming … the
boundary records, separating a land-owner from his neighbor, pilot of the
people, satisfying the whole land, a man of truth before the Two Lands … accustomed
… to justice like Thoth, his like in satisfying the Two Lands, hereditary
prince in judging the Two Lands …. supreme head in judgment, putting matters in
order, wearer of the royal seal, chief treasurer, Mentuhotep.
Hereditary
prince, count
the count
… chief
of all works of the king, making the offerings of the gods to flourish, setting
this land … according to the command of
the god.
the whole was carried out by my
hand, according to the mandate which …
my lord had commanded me.
…. sending
forth two brothers satisfied
pleasant to his brothers
with the
utterances of his mouth, upon whose tongue is the writing of Thoth,
I alone was the one who put (it)
in writing ….
more
accurate than the weight, likeness of the balances, fellow of the king in counselling
… giving attention to hear words, like a god in his hour, excellent in heart,
skilled in his fingers, exercising an office like him who holds it, favorite of the king
I was excellent to the heart of his majesty, for I was pleasant to the
heart of his majesty
before
the Two Lands, his beloved among the
companions,
for his majesty loved me.
his majesty appointed me sole companion and superior custodian of the
domain of the Pharaoh.
powerful
among the officials, having an advanced seat to approach the throne of the
king, a man of confidences to whom the heart opens.
his majesty praised me for the watchfulness and vigilance, which I
showed in the place of audience, above his every official,
above [his every] noble, above his every servant.
532.
Hereditary prince over the … the (royal) castle (wsh't) … finding the speech of
the palace, knowing that which is in every body (heart), putting a man into his
real place, finding matters in which there is irregularity, giving the lie to
him that speaks it, and the truth to him that brings it, giving attention,
without an equal, good at listening, profitable in speaking, an official
loosening the (difficult) knot, whom the king (lit., god) exalts above
millions, as an excellent man, whose name he knew, true likeness of love, free
from doing deceit, whose steps the court
heeds,
when preparing court, when preparing the king’s
journey (or) when making stations, I did throughout so that his majesty praised
me for it above everything.
overthrowing
him that rebels against the king,
hearing the house of the council of thirty, who puts his terror … among the
barbarians (fp^s'tyw), when he has silenced the Sand-dwellers, pacifying the
rebels because of their deeds, whose actions prevail in the two regions,
lord of the Black Land and the Red Land, giving commands to the South, counting
the number of the Northland,
His majesty sent me to despatch
[this army] five times, in order to traverse the land of the Sand-dwellers at each of their rebellions, with these troops, I did so that [his] majesty praised
me [on account of it].
When it was said there were revolters, because of a matter among
these barbarians in the land of Gazelle-nose, I crossed over in troop-ships
with these troops, and I voyaged to the back of the height of the ridge on the
north of the Sand-dwellers. When the
army had been [brought] in the highway, I came and smote them all and every revolter among them was slain.
His majesty sent me at the head
of his army while the counts, while the wearers of the royal seal, while the
sole companions of the palace, while the nomarchs and commanders of strongholds
belonging to the South and Northland ….
in whose
brilliance all men move, pilot of the people, giver of food, advancing offices,
lord of designs, great in love, associate of the king in the great castle
(wsfi't), hereditary prince, count, chief treasurer, Mentuhotep, he says:
533. …'I
am a companion beloved of his lord, doing that which pleases his god daily,
prince, count, sem priest, master of every wardrobe of Horus, prophet of Anubis
of … the hry ydb, Mentuhotep, prince in the seats of … Splendor … at whose
voice they (are permitted to) speak in the king's-house, in charge of the
silencing of the courtiers, unique one of the king, without his like, who sends
up the truth ….
One to
whom the great come in obeisance at the double gate of the king's-house ;
attached to Nekhen, prophet of Mat, pillar … 'before the Red Land, overseer of the western highlands,
First of the Westerners ….
leader of
the magnates of South and North … advocate of the people … merinuter priest,
prophet of Horus, master of secret
things of the house of sacred writings ….
Never before had one like me
heard the secret of the royal harem.
[Sinuhe, too, was] servant of the Royal harim attending on the hereditary
princess ….
governor of the (royal) castle,
governor of the South
prophet
of Harkefti, great lord of the royal
wardrobe, who approaches the limbs of the king,
chamber-attendant
….
overseer of the double granary, overseer of the double silver-house, overseer
of the double gold-house, master of the king's writings of the (royal)
presence, wearer of the royal seal, sole companion, master of secret things of
the 'divine words’ (hieroglyphics) ….
534. Here
follows a mortuary prayer, after which the concluding lines (22, 23) refer
specifically to his building commissions at Abydos ….
I
conducted the work in the temple, built of stone of Ayan I conducted the work
on the sacred barque {nlm * /), I fashioned its colors, offering tables
His majesty sent me to Hatnub to
bring a huge offering-table ….
of lapis
lazuli, of bronze, of electrum, and silver; copper was plentiful without end,
bronze without limit, collars of real malachite, ornaments (mn-nfr't) of every
kind of costly stone. of the choicest of everything, which are given to a god
at his processions, by virtue of my office of master of secret things.
[End of
quotes]
I recall (but do not currently
have it with me) that professor A. S. Yahuda had, in his Language of the Pentateuch in
Its Relation to Egyptian, Vol. 1 (1933), when discussing the Exodus 5:5 encounter between Pharaoh and
Moses and Aaron: “Then Pharaoh said, ‘Look, the
people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working’”, referred
to the rank of Moses and Aaron (differentiating them from the common people) as
something akin to new men. Anyway, that is precisely how Weni is classified in this next piece (http://drelhosary.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/weni-elder-and-his-mortuary.html):
Everyone who has studied
ancient Egyptian history is familiar with the autobiography of Weni the Elder,
an enterprising individual who lived during the 6th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom
(ca. 2407-2260 BCE). His inscription, excavated in 1860 from his
tomb in the low desert at Abydos in southern Egypt, enthusiastically describes
his long service under three kings, culminating in his appointment as
"True Governor of Upper Egypt." Scholars have hailed it as "the
most important historical document from the Old Kingdom" and have used it
to illustrate the rise of a class of "new men" in Egyptian politics
and society--persons whose upward mobility rested in their abilities, not in
noble birth.
Early in the season, we
excavated a number of inscribed relief fragments from this area, including two
pieces that, when joined together, furnished the name "Weni the
Elder" and a fragment providing the title "True Governor of Upper
Egypt," the highest title recorded in Weni's autobiography. Further
evidence emerged supporting this association. The exterior face of the north
wall incorporates a large niche, and during excavations here a damaged false door
inscribed for Weni the Elder was discovered in situ. Not only does this
false door provide a nickname for Weni ("Nefer Nekhet
Mery-Ra"--Egyptian nicknames were often longer than birth names!), but it
also documents his final career promotion, a fact not recorded in his
autobiography: Chief Judge and Vizier.
[End of
quote]
Weni was, just like Mentuhotep, Chief Judge and Vizier.
Was this also the historical Moses, whose Judgeship,
whose Rulership, some of the Hebrews chose to reject (Exodus 2:14): ‘Who made
you ruler and judge over
us?
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