Biblical Hebrew Forum

[MarianneLuban AT aol.com]

In a message dated 8/20/2004 10:52:24 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
kwrandolph AT email.com writes:


> Evidences I pointed to in an earlier message included that the pharaoh gave 
> Joseph an Egyptian name, that Joseph’s wife was the daughter of a priest of 
> an Egyptian god, not a Semitic god, that apparently Joseph lived some 
> distance from the Delta and so forth. You may not consider it “beyond a 
> doubt” but 
> all the clues, taken as an aggregate, paint a pretty strong picture.

Since all the texts from the Hyksos period are in Egyptian, we can presume 
they spoke Egyptian, too.  So I don't see any problem with one of their later 
kings, Apophis (according to Manetho) giving Joseph an Egyptian name.  And, 
really, it is not even a normal Egyptian name.  It is just something the 
pharaoh 
said about Joseph.  iwnw (On), the Heliopolis of the Greeks, was at the apex 
of 
the Delta.  Even though it was in the territory controlled by the Hyksos, who 
held sway all the way to Hermopolis) it had been a city devoted to the cult 
of Re long before.  Just because the people of Avaris to the east "had no 
other 
god but Sutekh (Baal)" doesn't mean those in Heliopolis didn't.  By the way, 
the names of the Hyksos kings are not primarily Semitic.  Nobody knows what 
they are and when Manetho called them "of obscure race", he was dead on.  It 
has 
been suggested that their names are Hurrian--but I have never read any 
compelling explanation of these names.