Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - [b-hebrew] Joseph's Egyptian Name

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Joseph's Egyptian Name
  • Date: Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:49:37 EST


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




**************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living.
(http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/
2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page