Biblical Hebrew Forum

[MarianneLuban AT aol.com]

In a message dated 7/22/2004 2:33:38 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
neitian AT nyc.rr.com writes:


> WIW (a lot) De Moor speculates that Moses was Beya, a royal scribe and
> butler under king Seti II (1203-1197); Sethnakht was the Pharaoh of the
> exodus, which happened in 1190 when Beya fled with the deposed queen Tausret
> and her partisans. - Noam Eitan, Brooklyn, NY

Well, this viewpoint mainly stems from the "Elephantine Stela" of Setnakht on 
which he gives some details of how he chased some Asiatics out of Egypt, back 
to their own land--and the chasees left a lot of gold and silver behind.  In 
my own book, I also give this time as a possible exodus.  Yet I do not 
believe 
in any single exodus from Egypt of  Asiatics and maintain Egypt was a regular 
"revolving door" for them.  There has always been an exodus--every few 
hundred years--the last one occurring during the Nasser regime.  While I also 
propose several candidates for Moses, I do not settle on one.  That would be 
impossible with current information.  But note the part about the "gold and 
silver".  
It is most interesting to compare how Biblical and Egyptian texts sometimes 
contradict one another within the exodoi framework.  In the HB, the Hebrews 
despoil the Egyptians--which they likely did--but it is piously phrased as 
"borrowing".  But Setnakht's stela makes a point of saying that the goods 
were 
relinquished.  However, not all went to Setnakht--but was buried right there 
at 
Bubastis in the Delta--the treasure having been dated to this same era and 
belonging to Setnakht's rival, Queen Tawosret and her household, which 
included Bey. 
 Another example of contradiction comes from Pharaoh telling Moses to go and 
sacrifice to his God and Moses demurring by saying the Egyptians might object 
to such sacrifices and stone the Hebrews.  But the Egyptian version, a story 
that mentions Moses, tells how the mixed multitude of dissident Egyptians and 
their Canaanite allies created havoc in Egypt and roasted the "sacred 
animals" 
right there in the temples, while throwing the priests out naked.