Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Joe Baker <joebaker AT cygnus.uwa.edu.au>]

Hi all

I agree that the equation Osarsiph = Moses was not in Manetho's 
original source about the rebellion of polluted Egyptians and their 
Hyksos supporters. As noted by Russell the equation was supplied by 
Manetho and presumably was based on a belief held by some in his days.

Although the original story does have some connection with the days of 
Akhenaten/Amenophis 4. via Amenophis son of Paapis and also Manetho's 
Oros, the king who succeeded Amenophis/Amenophis 3 and was father to 
the female ruler Akenkheres (Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten = Meritaten) 
and her brother Rathotis (Tutankhamun). The story of the battles and 
expulsion of the polluted Egyptians and their Hyksos allies has its 
closest Egyptian parallel in the year 2 stela of Setnakht where he 
records his defeat and expulsion of certain ruling Egyptians and their 
hired Asiatic allies.

Now it is possible that Manetho placed this story in the reign of 
Setnakht, that is Amenophis and his son Rampses are none other than 
Setnakht and his son Ramesses 3. IMO Manetho had before him two lists 
of Egyptian kings. One that extended through the 18th to the end of the 
19th dynasty - but it did not include several kings, either by faulty 
omission (Amenophis 2, Seti 1) or by design (Smenkhkare, Tausert) and 
another that began with the 19th dynasty. His attempt to merge the two 
lists was faulty and he ended up duplicating certain rulers. From 
Josephus we can see his attempt to combine the list produced the 
following sequence (its continuation in Africanus contains his 
duplication effort)

Armesses Miamun = Ramesses 2 Meryamun
Amenophis       = Merneptah
Sethos Ramesses = Seti 2 (who expelled his brother Ermaios, ie. his 
rival Amenemes)
Rampses         = Ramesses Siptah
Amenophis       = Setnakht
Rampses         = Ramesses 3


Marianne the reason why Josephus said that the exile occurred in the 
Egyptian month of Pharmouti is because when he wrote his work (the AD 
80's) the Hebrew month of Nisan mostly corresponded with this Egyptian 
month.

Peter I see you follow Rohl and have some of his material on the 
chronology of this period. Read carefully and you will see that he has 
Setnakht ruling and dying before Tausert. Now this under any condition 
is impossible. Look up tomb 14 on various websites - the best is at 
http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/. This tomb was started for Tausert 
during the reign of her step son Siptah. By the time she became king 
work was being conducted on her burial chamber. Later when Setnakht 
became king he took it over and had a second burial chamber dug that 
began where Pharaoh Tausert's ended and extended further into the 
mountain. Now as I said Rohl has Setnakht dying before the reign of 
Tausert, yet his tomb, by its very nature, must have been constructed 
after the death of Tausert.

Regards
Joe Baker ===========\
Perth                |
Western Australia ===/