Moses

 In 1989 a very interesting archaeological discovery was made outside of Cairo by French Archaeologist Alain Zivie in a rock cut tomb at Sakkara. The mummy interred in the tomb was a priest of both the Hebrew and the Aten God.

  The mummies name was Aper-el-Tuthmose an important Egyptian official. It was very strange however when his DNA came back and indicated that he was a Semite.

  Aper-el-Tuthmose  was a Grand Vizier in the court of Pharaoh Akhenaten, and was the chief minister of northern Egypt. His title according to inscriptions at the tomb indicated that his title was servitor of the [God] El. El is the Hebrew name for God.

  This was a very strong indicator that Aper-el-Tuthmose was a Israelite, this would indeed be very strange, however the evidence at the tomb, identified him as the chief practitioner of the Israelite religion during the reign of Akhenaten.

  Even stranger yet were illustrations at the tomb indicating that he was also high priest at the Atenist Temple in Memphis in Northern Egypt.
This indicates that there was a shared link between the Hebrew religion and Atenism as indicated by the evidence in the tomb, and also that the High Priest didn't have a conflict in representing both religions.

  It would seem that these two religions are either very similar or perhaps one in the same. During Moses time their came to be for a short time in Egypt another state religion in the 1300's B.C, during the time of the exodus.
 
 Interesting the Hebrew faith was the first and only reported religion to be monotheistic and not another until the christen religion came to be one thousand years later.

  But for a short period under the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten there was another state religion and when you step outside of the box and compare the two, it is difficult to determine which came first, the Hebrew or the Aten religion.

 Many of my readers haven't encountered this faith so lets review it so that we are on the same page. There is indication that Hebrew slaves were practicing the worship of one God, and this is known as monotheism or a single God religion.

  By Pharaoh Amonhotep III's reign. The question arises did Hebrew religious ideas influence the Egyptian sect or was the Aten religion the long established religion and after four hundred years of Hebrew slavery in Egypt had influenced Hebrew thought.

 This Egyptian sect worshiped a one god deity and denied all other god's, as did the Hebrews. The religion of the Aten was thriving during the 1300's B.C. And by the turn of the century during the reign of the Pharaoh's son Pharaoh Akhenaten who took the Throne in the 1360's B.C., the Aten religion had become so influential that Pharaoh Akhenaten made it the state religion during his reign.

 The practices of the faith were so similar that Egyptologists believe there is a connection between the two religions especially in lieu of the fact that the High Priests tomb at Sakkara indicated that he was the leader of both religions.
 
  I have come to put a fair amount of credibility in conspiracy theories, primarily because when you follow the money and power trails associated with them they start to make sense.

 Governments use religions to control the masses you can see it to this day when politicians invoke the word of God every time they make a speech to the masses.

 The christen religion since its inception has used guilt, control methods, and fear to control their members ever since it became a force to be reckoned with.

 The similarities between these two religions are too similar to be just coincidence. They just refer to their God by titles not names, like Lord.
The Egyptian gods were referred to by names like the god Ra. When Egyptians referred to the god Aten they were also usually referring to a title.

 Normally a glyph is a symbol of the God. A translation of the god Aten would be the giver of life. In other words Aten is a description of their God not his name.
   
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  Thebes was the Ancient capital in southern Egypt. Pharaoh Akhenaten had established a temple to Aten at karnak in Thebes, shortly after the end of his reign, when Egypt abandoned the Aten faith and reverted to the traditional gods of Egypt the temple was torn down.

 Over forty thousand of the sculptured blocks that were from the temple were preserved inside two giant gate towers where they were used as fill.
 Many of these blocks were inscribed with Atenist prayers that were strikingly similar to Hebrew script.

  In the Old Testament Moses is spoken to by God while tending his father in laws heard of sheep, at Mount Sinai, when God appears in a burning bush.

   Moses wasn't sure which God was speaking to him so he asked God to reveal his name and God replies “ I am who I am”. (Exodus 3:14)  He was simply God.

 The Hebrew name for God was El. But was frequently referred to as the “ Lord of Hosts”. There is striking similarity between certain inscribed Aten prayers on the stones, known as the Hymn to Aten and Psalm 104 in the Old Testament.

 These prayers describe how both Gods created the world, plant and animals, how he nurtured his creation, and was responsible for everything that happened on earth.

   Another similarity is that neither Gods were to be represented by images.  But both religions made symbols to represent their Gods. When the Hebrews settled in Canaan, they used a symbol that is used till this day in synagogues and homes throughout The world. Of course we are talking about the seven branch candelabrum, the golden menorah, to represent Gods light and presence in the temple.

 The Atenists also used a symbol of light it was a glyph: a disc with arms extending downward to end with hands holding the ankh, the symbol for life. It depicted the sun with its rays delivering life giving sunlight to the earth.
 
 Egyptologist interpreted this as being evidence of sun worship. It is thought however by modern archaeologists that the glyph represents sunlight and not the sun itself.

  Sunlight which cannot be seen offered warmth, light and life and this to the Atenists was representative of the omnipresent all knowing, and all providing God. The Hebrew represented their God with the sacred golden bull, also associated with the sun god RA. This greatly upset Moses which is well depicted in the biblical story of the golden calf.

  According to the bible Moses was the prophet who first revealed God's holy laws, and by some accounts the originator of the Hebrew faith, the founder of what was to become the Jewish religion.

 According to the Old Testament Moses was born into a family of Israelite slaves. During a purge where the Pharaoh orders the killing of all Israelite babies. Moses mother saves him by placing him in a boat made of bulrushes and hiding him in the shore side reeds in the Nile River.

 The Pharaoh daughter finds him and being sympathetic to the plight of the Israelite s adopts him and raises him as her own. Nobody is aware of the infants true identity, and the Pharaoh accepts him as his grandson. This would make Moses a Prince of Egypt, heir to the thrown of Egypt.
 
  ( Exodus 2:14) states that Moses indeed does become a Egyptian Prince, however there isn't any Egyptian records available to identify Moses during the Reign of Amonhotep III or any time in the history of Egypt.

  However there is the thought that Moses may not have been his true name.  The name Moses is the Greek translation taken from the Tanak, that means to draw forth as when the Pharaoh's daughter drew Moses out of the reeds of the Nile River.

 Mose is an Egyptian word meaning “son”. In 1995 the Israeli historian David Ullian, suggests that Mose may have been a title and not a name just like Christ the “anointed one” later became an epithet for Jesus. Perhaps the shortening of a title “son of God”.

 In ancient times Kings and prophets of Judea were referred to as “sons of God”. It is possible then that if an individual did lead the Israelite's to freedom, then perhaps he appears in the Egyptian record under a different name.

 Who anywhere in Egyptian history would meet the profile of Moses? I believe that the adopted baby story isn't accurate. I believe it was taken from a Babylonian legend.

  In Exodus 2:3 we are told how Moses's mother hides him. There is a Mesopotamian myth concerning King Sargon I of Akkard, dated around  B.C. 2330. This King was also floated on a river in a basket of  bulrushes like Moses, he was found and adopted.

 The story of Moses's adoption fails to meet historical scrutiny. The exodus story says that the Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and he was raised as a prince.
 
 In ancient Egypt the bloodline of the royal family was strictly controlled and manipulated. The Pharaoh's were considered “gods” and their daughters could only conceive children with someone chosen by the Pharaoh—frequently the Pharaoh himself !

 Adoption would be completely out of the question! It would have been unheard of for any Pharaoh to allow one of his daughter's to adopt a son.

To be continued