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I get the impression from this lecture that Prof. Hayes' method seems to be: take an event in the Old Testament commonly read as historical within the church, assume that it didn't really happen, speculate about what really happened and could have served as a source for a later redactor to draw on and then analyse this invented source. Does anyone else get that impression, or am I being unfair on Prof. Hayes?

I'm also rather perplexed by her insistence that 'Salvation in the Hebrew Bible does not refer to an individual's deliverance from a sinful nature. This is not a concept we find in the Hebrew Bible. It refers instead, to the concrete, collective, communal salvation from national suffering and oppression, particularly in the form of foreign rule or enslavement.' Obviously there are many occasions where salvation refers to deliverance from oppression, etc. but to say that it is never about deliverance from sinful nature seems rather bizarre given the existence of sin offerings, the day of atonement and a running theme of problems for Israel because of her sins. I'm curious about whether Prof. Hayes thinks that sin is not presented as a problem in the Hebrew Bible or that no salvation from it is offered.

More positively, her examination of the suzerain-vassal treaties certainly puts more colour behind the tension inherent in the monarchy that is hinted at in Judges and Ruth before moving centre stage in Samuel.

I listened to the lecture by Christine Hayes and found myself disappointed - on occasion, even bored. I expected more about the historicity of these Exodus characters and events.
Personally, I have come to identify Akhenaten with Moses because Akhenaton revolutionized religion and philosophy; but far more importantly, introduced the first monotheistic religion in the form of the Aten.
Sigmund Freud was the first to suggest such a connection between Moses and Akhenaten. In his last book, "Moses and Monotheism", Freud contended that the biblical Moses was an official in the court of Akhenaten, and an adherent of the Aten religion. After the death of Akhenaten, Freud's theory goes, Moses took the Israelite people to be his chosen people & led them out of Egypt (Exodus). I have some difficulty with Freud's interpretation, but overall, I think it's far closer to the truth than anything said by Christine Hayes.
In my own attempts to round-out Freud's theory, I read the entire works of Ahmed Osman. Thereby, I came to the conclusion that Moses was not an official in the court of Akhenaten, but Akhenaten himself. Akhenaten was the son of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye (daughter of Yuya, who was likely Joseph, the Jewish Patriarch). Akhenaten had an Egyptian Pharoah father and an Israelite mother.
On coming to the throne, and according to Egyptian customs, Amenhotep III married his sister Sitamun; she was a child of three. However, in Year 2 of his reign, Amenhotep decided to also marry Yuya's daughter Tiye, (the real love of his life). He made Tiye rather than Sitamun, his Great Royal Wife. (According to Egyptian customs the king could marry as many women as he desired, however the queen, whose children would follow him on the throne, had to be by his sister.)
As a wedding present, Amenhotep presented Tiye with the frontier fortress of Zarw, in the area of modern Kantara, in north Sinai, the capital of the "Land of Goshen", mentioned by the Bible. Here he built a summer palace for her.
Amenhotep IV, later known as Akhenaten and Moses, was born in Year 12 of his father Amenhotep III's reign or 1394 BC, in the summer royal palace in the border city of Zarw. Zarw was the center of the land of Goshen where the Israelites dwelt, and the same location where it is believed Moses was born. Contrary to the biblical account, Moses was not taken into the royal palce; he was born inside the royal palace.
His mother Queen Tiye had an elder son, Tuthmosis (who died a short time before Amenhotep's birth). Tuthmosis had been educated and trained at the royal residence in Memphis; then, he mysteriously disappeared—believed to have been kidnapped & assassinated by the traditional Amun priests. Therefore, Queen Tiye felt great conern for her second son; she sent the infant Amenhotep by water to the safekeeping of her father's Israelite people outside the walls of Zarw. (This was the origin of the biblical baby-in-the-bulrushes story.)
The reason for the priests' hostility to the young prince was the fact that Tiye, his mother was an Israelite; she could not produce legitimate heirs to the throne because she could never be accepted as a consort for the state god Amun, who was deemed to be father of all Pharoahs. If Tiye's son was to acceded to the throne, this would begin a new dynasty and the Pharoahs would not be Amunite kings.
During his early years, his mother kept Amenhotep away from both the royal residences at Memphis and Thebes. He spent his childhood at the border city of Zarw, nursed and taught by the wife of the queen's younger brother, General Aye. Later, Amenhotep was moved to Heliopolis, north of Cairo, to receive his education.
Amenhotep first appeared at the capital city of Thebes when he was sixteen. There he met Nefertiti, his half-sister, daughter of Sitamun. Tiye, his mother, encouraged the relationship, realizing that his marriage to Nefertiti, an eligible heiress, could make her son eligible to the throne.
All of this upset the priests of Amun. The conflict between Amenhotep III and the priests had started sixteen years earlier as a result of his marriage to Tiye, an Israelite, daughter of Yuya (Joseph) and Tuya.
During his reign, Nefertiti supported her husband, Amenhotep. However, the climate of hostility that surrounded Amenhotep at the time that his father made him co-reegent. On joining his father on the throne Amenhotep became Amenhotep IV. The Amun priesthood went a little nuts. They openly challenged Amenhotep III's decision.
When the priests of Amun objected, the young co-regent responded by building temples to his God, Aten. He built three temples for Aten: one at the back end of the Karnak complex, another at Luxor near the Nile bank, and the third at Memphis. Amenhotep lV snubbed the Amun priests. Aten was the God, the only God.
Months later Amenhotep IV made a huge break with tradition & state religion: He changed hos name to Akhenaten in honor of one true God.
Things got seriously tense.
Tiye arranged a compromise by persuading her son to leave Thebes and establish a new capital at Amarna, on the east bank of the Nile.
The situation calmed down following Akhenaten's departure, while Amenhotep III ruled alone in Thebes. For the site of his new city at Amarna, Akhenaten chose a land that belonged to no god or goddess. So, it could be given in totality to Aten. He and his family moved from Thebes to Amarna in Year 6. Here Akhenaten built his capital, Akhetaten, the Horizon of Aten, where he and his followers might live free to worship their one true God.
Following the death of his father, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten organized a great celebration at Amarna for foreign princes bearing tribute because of his assumption to the role of Pharoah. Akhenaten and Nefertiti received tribute from Syria, Palestine, Nubia, and the Mediterranean islands. It was at this auspicious time that the new Pharoah decided to abolish all gods, except Aten.
Akhenaten closed all the temples, confiscated estates, and sacked the priests - leaving only Aten's temples throughout the country. The names of the ancient gods were excised. This persecution + the excommunication of Amun's very name, was supervised by the army.
The destruction of the old gods, however, proved to be fearful to the majority of Egyptians, even some members of the army.
More conflict arose between the Pharoah and his army. Horemheb, Pa-Ramses, and Seti planned a military coup against the king, and ordered their troops from the north and south to move towards Amarna. When the army and chariots came face to face at Amarna's borders, Aye advised the Pharoah Akhetaten to abdicate the throne to his very young son, Tutankhaten, in order to save the dynasty. Akhenaten agreed to abdicate; he departed Amarna with Pa-Nehesy, the high priest of Aten, and many persons who chose to go with them. He lived in exile in the area of Sarabit El-Khadem in southern Sinai.
When Tutankhaten took the throne, he changed his name to Tutankhamun to please the priesthood. He did not, however, renounce the Atenist religion of his father.
By the way Moses is in the Egyptian word Mos which means "son of." Thus Thutmoses means son of the God Thoth; Ramseses means "son of the God Ra". This word "mos" however also conveyed "heir".
Since it was punishable by death to mention Akhenaten's name after his banishment, a code name was established through which his followers could refer to him. Therefore they called him MOs (Moses) - the son which was only indicativew that he was the legitimate son of Amenhotep III.
Following his abdication, Akhenaten/Moses lived with his followers in exile in southern Sinai for about 25 years, during the reigns of Tutankhamun, Aye, and Horemheb. Here, Akhenaten/Moses lived among the Shasu (Midianites). On hearing of Horemheb's death, Akhenaten/Moses decided to leave exile and return to Egypt where he tried to reclaim his throne.
Akhenaten/Moses arrived with his allies at General Pa-Ramses' residence in the border city of Zarw, his birthplace, which had now been turned into a prison for his followers. Pa-Ramses was making arrangements for his coronation and getting ready to become the first ruler of a new 19th Ramesside Dynasty.
Akhenaten/Moses challenged Pa-Ramses' right to the throne. The general, taken by surprise, decided to call a meeting of the wise men of Egypt to decide between them. At the gathering, Akhenaten/Moses produced his scepter of royal power, which he had taken with him to exile, and performed secret rituals that only the legitimate Pharoah would know. Once they saw the scepter of authority and Akhenaten/Moses' performance of the rituals, the wise men fell down in front of him; they declared him to be the legitimate king of Egypt. Pa-Ramses, however, who was in control of the army, used the military to retain his "right" to rule.
General Pa-Ramses ascended to the Egyptain throne as Ramses I, the first Pharoah of the 19th dynasty. Left with no choice but to go back into exile, Akhetaten/Moses set out again with even more followers and began the Exodus toward the Sinai via the marshy area to the south of Zarw and north of Lake Temsah. This watery route would hinder the pursuit of Egyptian chariots. After a time Akhenaten/Moses marched north toward Gaza and attempted to storm the city with his Shasu allies.
Seti I, son of Ramses, led an army against Akhenaten/Moses and his people. There was great slaughter. Quite possibly Akhenaten/Moses was killed by Seti I.
These thoughts are what I believe currently about the Exodus, but I'm open to more input.

The gods seem to come and go, el, baal, yahweh… a beautiful myth but a myth nevertheless. Why oh why would anyone even begin to base a life on this wonderful story?

DK

David Kerr:
Yes, in ancient times, gods were everywhere, and there were quite a lot of them - almost every tribe had its own God; I mean it was getting so crowded with Gods that there were hardly enough people to worship them all.
El was a Sumerian God. Baal was a Cannanite God, and Yahweh...well... Remember: people were never supposed to say his name. I've often asked myself why. Why would speaking the name of your God be forbidden...unless that God was already forbidden by a very powerful and angry country i.e. The Aten in Egypt.
I think about the sybtle clues in the name itself ATEN.
1. The "T" & "D" were often interchanged in the ancient world; so this might've originally been 'ADON".
2. The word for "men of" was ISH.
So combining these you quite easily get: "Adonis", the very word used to substitute for the God's name that cannot be spoken.

BB - I thought Prof Hayes identified El as chief god of the Caananite pantheon?

It doesn't matter to me personally of-course for I'm afraid I'm very firmly of the Henry Ford persuasion - all history (qua history), Biblical or otherwise, is more or less bunk. I was fortunate to have an excellent history teacher at an early stage in my education who understood this - I still remember her proclaiming that "facts and dates and things" were "the small change of history". What a wonderful start to one's education! That said, I await eagerly the response of our resident Egyptologist to your thesis.

BB

Dunno if it would gain scholarly approval, but there's a novel in that, and possibly a Channel 4 series! (-:

GV