MOSES Moses = Thutmoses III. He helped t Thutmoseo rid the Hyksos out of Egypt.

Let my people Go means from the stranglehold the Hyksos had on ancient Egyptians. Moses story is borrowed from Sargon I, King of Assyria, a thousand years prior or before the Moses story. You don't hear it much today, but it used to be all the rage to compare the birth story of Moses to that of a certain Sargon of Assyria, and claim copying was done. That's not heard much anymore, and we'll see why in a moment. First let's set up with the Moses story, from Exodus 2:1-10: And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water. We'll begin with a sidelight about the last verse where Moses is named. Some have argued that this is one of the "folk" etymolgies, incorrect because Egyptian for Moses' name means "child" (so, Thutmose = child of Tut, for example). But chances are that "Moses" was not Moses' full name. Like Thutmose and Ahmose, he was the "child of..." something, and that something was probably an Egyptian deity or object, and that part of his name is one which he would have discarded as he cast his lot with his own people and declared his independence of his past.

One commentator has suggested that "Moses" is actually what is left of a combo of the Egyptian words for "child of" and "water" (swh -- which was generally applied to the Nile as well). So "Moses" would be a child of the water, one who was "born of" or, metaphorically, drawn out of the water (the metaphorical usage being made precisely in order to draw the pun between "Moses" and "draw out" in Hebrew, and serving as a slap in the face to Moses' now-rejected Egyptian heritage -- think of this in the same way as Malcolm X adopting his own name). But now to Sargon. Here's his story, the relevant part. It is in poetic form, but we will compact that here for convenience. Our primary source here and hereafter is Brian Lewis' The Sargon Legend (American Schools of Oriental Research, 1978). Sargon, strong king, king of Agade, am I. My mother was a high priestess, my father I do not know. My paternal kin inhabit the mountain region. My city (of birth) is Azupiranu, which lies on the bank of the Euphrates. My mother, a high priestess, conceived me, in secret she bore me. She placed me in a reed basket, with bitumen she caulked my hatch. She abandoned me to the river from which I could not escape. The river carried me along: to Aqqi, the water drawer, it brought me. Aqqi, the water drawer, when immersing his bucket lifted me up. Aqqi, the water drawer, raised me as his adopted son. Aqqi, the water drawer, set me to his garden work. During my garden work, Istar loved me (so that) 55 years I ruled as king. The story goes on to relate some of Sargon's deeds. None of these are claimed to find parallels in Moses' account. Some of the similarities commonly cited are: 1. 2. 3. 4. The The The The secrecy factor surrounding the birth placing in a reed basket, covered with bitumen setting in a river recovery and adoption