Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

The language issue as to whether the Hebrew letter peh could represent the 
Egyptian word “pa”/“the” in the Egyptian names in the Patriarchal narratives 
is very important.  The Egyptian phrases “pa nTr” and “pa Ra”, each of which 
could be roughly translated as “The One and Only God”, are virtually 
inconceivable in Egypt in Biblical times except in the mid-14th century BCE, 
during 
Egypt’s very brief, unsuccessful experiment with monotheism.  
 
In this connection, the name of Joseph’s Egyptian priestly father-in-law from 
On, where the Egyptian sun-god Ra was worshiped, is of obvious importance.  
There will be no surprise at all to find “Ra” in his name.  But the $64,000 
question is whether “pa Ra” is in his name.  Every pharaoh honored Ra after a 
fashion, but Egyptian priests during only one pharaoh’s reign would use the 
stridently monotheistic Egyptian phrase “pa Ra”, which implies “The One and 
Only 
God”.  If “pa Ra” is in the name of Joseph’s Egyptian priestly 
father-in-law, that would indicate one 17-year historical period of time in 
Egypt in the 
mid-14th century BCE:  not before then, and not after then.
 
The innocuous Egyptian name “pa-di-Ra” (meaning “the gift of Ra”) would 
simply indicate a post-mid-14th century BCE time period.  The presence of the 
word “pa” would rule out a pre-14th century BCE time period, but the mere 
reference to “Ra” (not immediately preceded by the word “pa”) in that phrase 
would 
have no hint of any kind of monotheism.
 
By stark contrast, the Egyptian phrase “pa-di pa-Ra” is only possible during 
Biblical times in the mid-14th century BCE.  In any other time period prior 
to the 3rd century BCE, no one in polytheistic Egypt could say “pa-Ra” in 
reference to a god, which clearly implies the stridently monotheistic concept 
of “
The One and Only God”.  
 
[A boy born as a commoner in the mid-14th century BCE had the birth name “
Pa-Ra-mes-su”.  Upon later becoming pharaoh in his 50s, he dropped the now 
impolitic “Pa” and ruled as Ramses I.  His grandson was the famous Ramses the 
Great, who tried for years to take back Qadesh from the Hittites.  “Pa-Ra” 
fits 
the mid-14th century BCE time period in Egypt and no other time period.  (The 
word “ra” in Egyptian also means “sun”;  Ra was the sun-god.  In Roman 
Egyptian times, over a millennium later, “pa ra” simply meant “the sun”.)]
 
In Hebrew, the name of Joseph’s Egyptian priestly father-in-law at Genesis 
41: 45 is:
 
peh-vav-tet-yod peh-resh-ayin
 
Focusing on the second half of this Egyptian priestly name, which is 
peh-resh-ayin, the resh-ayin is obviously Ra (for an Egyptian priest from On, 
which 
was the center of the worship of the Egyptian sun-god Ra).  The question then 
is 
whether the Hebrew letter peh that immediately precedes Ra/resh-ayin means 
the Egyptian word “pa”/“the”.
 
If the Hebrew letter peh means the Egyptian word “pa”/“the” here, then the 
name of Joseph’s Egyptian priestly father-in-law is blatantly monotheistic.  
Only in the mid-14th century BCE, in Biblical times, could an Egyptian 
reference like this to “pa Ra”/“The One and Only God” be found.
 
The Blue Letter Bible gives the following explanation of this Egyptian 
priestly name:  “he whom the Ra gave”.  Note the key phrase “the Ra” in that 
explanation.  A more literal translation, having the same substantive 
meaning, 
would be “the gift of the Ra”, implying “the gift of The Ra”, and hence “the 
gift of The One and Only God”.  Gesenius opines that this name may simply 
mean “
who belongs to the sun”.  But for the name of an Egyptian priest from On, 
certainly the reference is not primarily, much less exclusively, to “the 
sun”, 
but rather is primarily to “the Ra”.  Please note that even Gesenius seems 
implicitly to agree that the Hebrew letter peh is being used here in this 
Egyptian 
priestly name to mean the Egyptian word “pa”/“the”.  That is the single 
most critical issue here.  The name of an Egyptian priest from On surely 
would 
not primarily reference the sun, but rather would primarily reference the 
Egyptian sun-god who was worshiped at On:  Ra. 
 
JEPD, being southern Hebrews in the mid-1st millennium BCE, knew nothing, and 
cared less, about any of this.  The author of the Patriarchal narratives was, 
rather, the first historical Hebrew, who lived in the mid-14th century BCE.  
His use of ancient Egyptian nomenclature in chapter 41 of Genesis exhibits 
stunning, pinpoint historical accuracy for a mid-14th century BCE Patriarchal 
Age.
 
The Hebrew letters used for Egyptian names in chapter 41 of Genesis are 
telling us the historical time period of the composition of the Patriarchal 
narratives.  No Hebrew in the mid-1st millennium BCE could have, or would 
have, made 
this stuff up.  No way.
 
JEPD had nothing to do with the composition of the Patriarchal narratives.  
Rather, the Patriarchal narratives are a truly ancient composition coming 
directly from the mid-14th century BCE, at the time of the historical birth 
of 
Judaism.  The Hebrew letters in the Egyptian names at Genesis 41: 45 tell the 
tale.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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