Moses, The Tradition is Challenged
by Ben Lyon
Cover photo is the image of the face of Mermose from his sarcophagus in the Egyptian section of the British Museum, photographed by the author in October, 1984. The figure is supine but arranged here so that he appears to be standing. Copyright 1988-1997 Ben Lyon. Registration # TX 2 309 221: March 1, 1988.
This book will be periodically updated during the year. Updates will be marked thus (( )). Some minor changes will be made without markings. Note that the Greek "Amenophis" was conventional in 1987 when the study was written. Additions will use the now-conventional Egyptian "Amenhotep."
((In about 1350 B.C. it had been the tradition for far more than a thousand years that Egyptian kings were entombed with such care, equipment, treasure, ritual, symbolic food, servants, etc., that they should expect eternal life. A king's tomb was commonly called his "eternal house." All Egyptian kings were gods. But Amenhotep III became something very different. He became the incarnation of a concept which was new in the world. He became the living aspect of the universal creator god as seen through the sun, the discernable source of all life. He became Aten, and finally, Re.
How does one create an "eternal house" for such a god?
A man of legendary repute appears to have been the great mind behind the above and following activity. This man was Amenhotep son of Hapu, the king's first minister, who described himself as "...useful in his ideas when he is looking for monuments to make immortal the name of his lord..." It is my hypothesis that he:
1. Collected a population for a new nation from among Egypt's numerous Semitic serfs.
2. Isolated them at the ancient Hyksos and future Egyptian capital of Avaris. (The Biblical Raamses)
3. Gave them leadership -- Moses and Levites.
4. Gave them a history, laws, wealth, weapons, food, etc., all of these to be seen as the gifts of the universal god who had chosen them.
5. Finally he (his deified king) gave them the actual land which they would need as a nation. This is why the son of Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, was supporting the invasion of Canaan. He was helping to create Is-ra-el, the "Eternal House" of "Ra" "The Highest God."
Is = tomb = eternal house.
Ra = sun god = creator god = Amenhotep III.
El = Canaanite highest god.))