Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Isaac Fried wrote:  “Akhnaton}" Said to be the worshiper of Aten or Aton, which seems to me to be but  the Hebrew אדון ADON….”

 

But consider now the name that pharaoh Akhenaten used most frequently:  wa-n-ra.  wa means “one” and implies “the one and only”.  -n- is merely an all-purpose connector.  ra is the Egyptian god Ra. 

 

Now look at the name of the Egyptian priest from On [where Ra was honored] whose daughter Pharaoh gives as a bride to Joseph:  P W +  -Y-  P R(

 

Wa, meaning “one” and implying “the one and only”, is the first element in Akhenaten’s name wa-n-ra.  The name of Joseph’s Egyptian priestly father-in-law starts with P W, which is pA wa.  That literally means “the one and only”.  The phrase pA wa is short for the following ultra-monotheistic phrase that appears in Akhenaten’s Great Hymn to the Aten:  pA nTr wa, which means “The one and only God”.

 

Akhenaten’s name wa-n-ra ends with ra, meaning the Egyptian god Ra.  This priestly name ends with P R(, which everyone agrees is pA ra.  That means “The [one and only] Ra”.  The particular phrase “pA ra” is found in the most important nobleman’s rock tomb at Amarna (Aye’s tomb), in association with the younger sister of Akhenaten’s Queen Nefertiti.  [After Year 9, Akhenaten used a long Ra-based name for his deity, not Aten/pA itn.]

 

Do you see my point?  If Akhenaten is the Pharaoh of the Patriarchal narratives in Years 13-14, then one could not possibly imagine a more fitting name for Joseph’s Egyptian priestly father-in-law from On than what is in the received text:  P W +  -Y-  P R(  =  pA wa di -- pA ra, which means:  “The one and only [God] gives -- The [one and only] Ra”.  Akhenaten’s name wa-n-ra could be interpreted as implying a similar meaning, and in any event betrays the same monotheistic mindset honoring the Egyptian god Ra.

 

Such a monotheistic priestly name honoring Akhenaten’s god Ra fits the Amarna Age absolutely perfectly [after Year 9, including in Years 13-14], while not making good sense in any other historical era.

 

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Illinois