“Akhenaten and Hebrew Religion”
Akhenaten's henotheism has been suggested as providing insight into the
framework-inspiration of some of the earliest Hebrew henotheism. "The
Hymn to the Aten" which dates to his reforms (14th century B.C.E.)
praises the beneficence of the sun in language that is echoed in Psalm
104 regarding the Hebrew God. Can this coincidence of religious
synchronicity be interpreted (without much danger of over-extension) as
a genesis (pardon the pun) for Hebrew religion? John Day (a Jehovah's
Witness scholar, which I disclose so you can judge for yourself how much
this plays into his research) posits that the creation Hymn to the Aten
served as a source for the biblical writer P. He also sees linguistic
connections between the two traditions.
"The expression l-mw'dym "for seasons" is found in the OT only in Psalm
104:19 and Genesis 1:14, and both are mentioned in reference to
luminaries. Similarly, chytw "beast" is found in Psalm 104:11-12 and
Genesis 1:24, and is elsewhere restricted to poetry in the OT. This
suggests at minimum that P is dependent on a poetic passage, and
probably Psalm 104.
The greater mythological character of the psalm clearly establishes the
direction of dependence. In Psalm 104:7 we actually have an allusion to
the divine conflict with the sea, whereas in Genesis 1:6-7, God's
control of the waters is merely work, and in Psalm 104:26 we encounter
God's creation of Leviathan while Genesis 1:21 speaks in demythologized
terms of "great sea monsters". The allusion to thwm "deep" in Genesis
1:2 can thus be traced to Psalm 104:6 which specifically refers to the
waters by this name." (see
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/73734/1.ashx )
What if an exodus event took place at the end of Akhenaten's father's
life?
Akhenaten had broken away by then. at least religiously, his
henotheistic views being well-documented before his father's death. What
if Psalm 104 carries echoes of the Hymn to the Aten because the
departing Hebrews took it with them?
Ex. 1:11 says the new Pharaoh set up treasure cities at Pithom and
Raamses.
The land of Goshen is mentioned in Ex. 8:22 as being the place where the
Hebrews were quartered. this is in no way connected to the palace of Pharaoh. Again in Ex. 9:26 the Hebrews are located in Goshen, which was
said to be immune to the plagues. Were the Pharaoh's palace and main
army there, they would have fallen under that immunity, according to the
rules of the story.
Besides, the first-born son of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye - Tuthmosis
did die before he could reach the throne. I can see how this story could
have been the impetus for the death of the first-born plague in Exodus.
Perhaps the Hebrews who left Egypt under Amenhotep III had heard of the
trials of their brethren Habiru in Canaan and decided to help reclaim
their homeland from the Egyptians? It would provide a sensical logical
motivation for an exodus. Ah, but this raises the question of why
Amenhotep III would have let them go. Why indeed.
I understand we cannot attest to the complete original meaning of the
list of Sheshonq I, however, the HB states that King Rehoboam fortified
14 cities in the hill country west of Jerusalem, and that the Egyptians
captured these 14 cities. Of those 14 cities, the only one that survives
on Sheshonq's list is Aijalon.
That leaves Bethlehem unattested in the Shoshenq I campaign record.
And Etam,
And Tekoa,
And Bethzur,
And Hebron,
And Ziph,
And Adoraim,
And Lachish,
And Mareshah,
And Moresheth-Gath,
And Adullam,
And Socoh,
And Azekah,
And Zorah.
Not to mention Jerusalem. It is plausible that we could be missing 1 or
2 cities from the list. In fact, we know that three cities' names are
lost to us. But 14? Including the prize Jerusalem? This approaches
unbelievability.
There are 39 other legible cities listed there. It is clear that the
focus of the campaign (based on the accident of preservation) was the
Negev, Israel , southern Galilee and Gilead.
I don't see wisdom in assuming that all those 14 cities were originally
included in Sheshonq's list.
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