Is this the truth about Moses?

Question

"In the 3rd century B.C.E. Greek "History of Egypt" by the Egyptian priest Manethos,as excerpted by the Jewish historian Josephus,the inhabitants of Jerusalem were decendants of the impious Hyksos who had terrorized Egypt for 511 years until forced out by King Thutmose. They occupied Egypt again 518 years later and in an alliance with leprous slaves led by a Heliopolitan priest Osarseph-Moses,polluted the people,mutilated idols,and pillaged temples for 13 years until expelled by Amenophis and his son Ramses." Sounds a little different from the Judeo-Christian version. Opinions?

Source: The Cambridge History of Judaism v. 1,ed. W.D. Davies and Louis Finklestein ( Cambridge University Press: Cambridge,London,New York,Melbourne).

Published in 1984.

Answer 1

I've read that - thanks for the references. Sounds more realistic, eh? We know that "God" is a jealous god and was always telling the Jews to destroy temples and idols. You would think the Egyptians would have taken note of the best of Pharaoh's troops being wiped out by the Red Sea parting and then filling in again if it had happened.

Answer 2

I've always found it far more likely that the theory he was an Egyptian Pharoah was true. This is similar to the boy Jesus being hidden in Egypt, they are wondrous youth stories similar to those found in all cultures, or variations thereof, and perhaps even conflated in certain particulars. Egypt was noted for its magicians, and thus perhaps neither got anywhere near but simply claimed that lineage, much as you hear guys claim to be Gypsy, or here in the states, Native American. A friend who was Sioux once told me if every american who claimed to be part indian was, the pioneer kids would all have been more indian than european in only 2 generations! My own observation would be that the mythical dynamics involved are more important than the literal veracity of any of these stories, although I am also inclined to believe that magic is real and available to all of us and amazingly, "magically" even....can occur in these mythic forms. Josephus was notoriously biased, and just as his mentions of Christ are obviously later Christian interpolations, so too I wouldnt trust his inflated acounts of anything. He was a professional quisling, and thus the question from a scholarly point of view would be where do his lies end and the truth begin. I have also heard it said that the word hebrew was derived from the phoenician eberu, the word for those cast out of the city, to be restless nomads and sheepherders, outcasts..... That was the punishment for crimes, as they had no penal system in our sense, they simply made you eberu and you were condemned to wander. The point being, the literal truth is not necessary, the mythical truth of all such stories can teach us much about our selves. And if they started out criminals, so what, King Arthur was a pig reaver, and look at his press! Can we fix the materialistic viewpoints that lead to plunder? Who the Christ Knows!!! (haha) Evidently not, 2000 years later here we are, killing each other. Is there hope? I dont know, make Love Not War?

Answer 3

That is true,and there are now other known sources than Manethos. We just covered that a month ago in one of my courses; I wish I'd taken notes. But google up Hyksos.

Answer 4

I do not think this is entirely complete, I have included a link that gives another view point of your information.


What I like most about this is that you are showing an outside source that confirms a Biblical story. Something many on here claim do not exist.

Answer 5

That could be how the Egyptians recalled it. To every story, there are two sides. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Ask the Japanese who the aggressors were in World War II, or the southerners, their version of the Civil war, the British version of the Revolution.

Answer 6

Egyptians were Famous for deleting and embellishing their History. For instance there is not a single record of the Ten Plagues on Egypt or the Death of all the Military folk including Pharoah in the Red Sea. Judge accordingly.

Answer 7

No way of knowing whether someone named 'Moses' as described ever existed. If he did exist, what he might have said or done is for anyone to guess

Answer 8

Close enough.

Answer 9

nope sounds nothing like him

Answer 10

That is not true.