Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 05/08/2004 19:21, MarianneLuban AT aol.com wrote:

> ...
>
> There is an ancient tradition that Moses was a "king of Cush" (or Kush) and 
> that he had led the Egyptians to attack a "royal city of Ethiopia" named Saba 
> hemmed in by three rivers, the Nile, the Astapus and the Astaboras.  Josephus 
> said that this same placed later came to be known as "Meroe", which we all know 
> had a considerable civilization with pyramidal structures and beautiful 
> jewelry that was Egyptian-like but different.  I have little doubt that this was 
> the home of the Queen of Sheba. There he married a king's daughter called 
> "Tharbis", which seems to me just a version of an Egyptian word for "princess"--tA 
> rpyt.  Otherwise, she is called "Ra'osa", which I think is "rsyt" or "woman of 
> the south".  Her father is called "Zoros", which is the same as  Zerah the 
> Ethiopian conquered by King Asa in Chronicles.  Perhaps this was thought a good 
> name for an Ethiopian king--or perhaps there is some truth behind it.  
> Regardless, there was a New Kingdom title, "King's Son of Kush", which did not 
> necessarily mean a son of the pharaoh but meant the Viceroy of Kush when it was a 
> conquered territory.  According to Josephus, Moses married the Kushite princess 
> by way of a political move. ...

I happened to be reading David Rohl's reconstruction of this, which is 
certainly partly speculative. He has Moses being brought up as the 
adopted son of Khaneferre Sobekhotep IV of the 13th dynasty, and as a 
young man leading his army to victory over the Kushites of Kerma. As 
part of the peace deal he marries the daughter of the Kushite king, and 
he sets up a statue of his Pharaoh near Kerma, which still exists. Soon 
after his victory, Moses has to flee Egypt, leaving behind his Kushite 
wife, and then marries Zipporah. Well, this implies that Miriam and 
Aaron had been holding a grudge for 50 years before complaining about it!


--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/