by
Damien F. Mackey
“But he said, ‘Who made
you a prince or a judge over us? Are you intending to kill me as you killed the
Egyptian?’ Then Moses was afraid and said, ‘Surely the matter has become
known’.”
Introduction
The ‘Egyptian Moses’, Sinuhe, was a
high official during the reign of the Twelfth Dynasty pharaoh, Sesostris
I, from whom he fled into ‘Adim’ (Edom: Sir Flinders Petrie).
Professor Immanuel Anati has recognized this
Egyptian story, the famous Tale of Sinuhe, as having “a common
matrix” [Mountain of God, p. 158] with the Exodus account of
Moses’ flight from pharaoh to the land of Midian. This is absolutely crucial
for a true revision of ancient history – which should then fit the biblical
history – because it pinpoints a famous biblical incident to a very specific
era of Egyptian history: namely, the end (perhaps by assassination) of the
reign of pharaoh Amenemes I, founder of the Twelfth dynasty, and the early
reign of Sesostris I.
Now, given our alignment of the so-called Egyptian
Middle Kingdom’s Twelfth Dynasty with the Egyptian Old Kingdom’s Sixth Dynasty
(following Dr. Donovan Courville), then the semi-legendary Sinuhe may find his
more solidly historical identification in the important Sixth Dynasty official,
Weni, or Uni. See e.g. my:
Like Weni, Sinuhe was highly honoured by
pharaoh with the gift of a sarcophagus. We read about it, for instance, in C.
Dotson’s extremely useful article at: https://journals.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/StudiaAntiqua/article/viewFile/12054/11980
A Portrait of
ancient Egyptian Common
Life : The Cycle
of Order and Chaos
in The Tale of
Sinuhe
“….
The king gives Sinuhe a sarcophagus of gold and lapis lazuli as a housewarming
gift. The gift of a coffin by the king was considered a great honor and a sign
of respect. In the Autobiography of Weni from the Old Kingdom, Weni
records that the king had given him a white sarcophagus and “never before had
the like been done in this Upper Egypt.” …”.
Now here is a brief portrait of Weni in
conventional terms (we would assign him a different date, though) http://en.starovekyegypt.net/pharaohs-old-kingdom/weni.php
– with Mentuhotep (12th Dynasty)
About Sinuhe,
we learn (http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/sinuhe.htm): “I was a henchman who followed his lord, a
servant of the Royal harim attending on the hereditary princess, the
highly-praised Royal Consort of Sesostris in the pyramid-town of Khnem-esut,
the Royal Daughter of Amenemmes in the Pyramid-town of Ka-nofru, even Nofru,
the revered”.
We
shall soon learn something also of the greatness of Mentuhotep.
Weni has, for his part – like Imhotep (Joseph)
– been described as a “genius” This little excerpt on the “Autobiography of
Weni” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobiography_of_Weni) already tells us a lot about the man:
Weni rose through the ranks of the military to become commander in chief of
the army. He was considered by both his contemporaries and many Egyptologists to have been a brilliant tactician and possibly
even a genius. His victories earned him the privilege of being shown leading
the troops into battle, a right usually reserved for pharaohs. Weni is the
first person, other than a pharaoh, known to have been portrayed in this
manner. Many of his battles were in the Levant and the Sinai. He is said to have pursued a group of Bedouins all the way
to Mount Carmel. He battled a Bedouin people known as the
sand-dwellers at least five times.
[End of quote]
Weni’s famous “Autobiography” has been described
as, amongst other superlatives (https://books.google.com.au/books?id=sgoVryxihuMC&pg=PA352&lpg=PA352&dq=the): “… the best-known
biographical text of the Old Kingdom and has been widely discussed, as it is
important for literary and historical reasons; it is also the
longest such document”.
This
marvellous piece of ancient literature, conventionally dated to c. 2330 BC –
and even allowing for the revised re-dating of it to a bit more than half a
millennium later – completely gives the lie to the old JEDP theory, that
writing was not invented until about 1000 BC.
Here I
take some of the relevant inscriptions of the renowned Vizier, Mentuhotep (http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/Ancient_Records_of_Egypt_v1_1000075076/297), and juxtapose them with comparable
parts of the “Autobiography” of Weni (http://drelhosary.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/weni-elder-and-his-mor) (all emphasis added):
INSCRIPTIONS OF MENTUHOTEP ….
- Hereditary prince, vizier and chief judge
The
exterior face of the north wall incorporates a large niche, and during
excavations here a damaged false door inscribed for Weni the Elder was
discovered in situ. Not only does this false door provide a nickname
for Weni (“Nefer Nekhet Mery-Ra”–Egyptian nicknames were often longer than
birth names!), but it also documents his final career promotion, a fact not
recorded in his autobiography: Chief Judge and Vizier.
attached to Nekhen,
judge attached to Nekhen,
prophet of
prophet of
Mat
(goddess of Truth), giver of laws, advancer of offices, confirming … the
boundary records, separating a land-owner from his neighbor, pilot of the
people, satisfying the whole land, a man of truth before the Two Lands …
accustomed … to justice like Thoth, his like in satisfying the Two Lands,
hereditary prince in judging the Two Lands …. supreme head in judgment, putting
matters in order, wearer of the royal seal, chief treasurer, Mentuhotep.
Hereditary prince, count the count
… chief of all works of the king, making the offerings of the gods to flourish, setting this land … according to the command of the god.
the whole was carried out by my hand, according to the mandate which … my lord had commanded me.
…. sending forth two brothers satisfied
pleasant to his brothers
with the utterances of his mouth, upon whose tongue is the writing of Thoth,
I alone was the one who put (it) in writing ….
more accurate than the weight, likeness of the balances, fellow of the king in counselling … giving attention to hear words, like a god in his hour, excellent in heart, skilled in his fingers, exercising an office like him who holds it, favorite of the king
I was excellent to the heart of his majesty, for I was pleasant to the heart of his majesty
before the Two Lands, his beloved among the companions,
for his majesty loved me.
his majesty appointed me sole companion and superior custodian of the domain of the Pharaoh.
powerful among the officials, having an advanced seat to approach the throne of the king, a man of confidences to whom the heart opens.
his majesty praised me for the watchfulness and vigilance, which I showed in the place of audience, above his every official, above [his every] noble, above his every servant.
- Hereditary prince over the … the (royal) castle (wsh’t) … finding the speech of the palace, knowing that which is in every body (heart), putting a man into his real place, finding matters in which there is irregularity, giving the lie to him that speaks it, and the truth to him that brings it, giving attention, without an equal, good at listening, profitable in speaking, an official loosening the (difficult) knot, whom the king (lit., god) exalts above millions, as an excellent man, whose name he knew, true likeness of love, free from doing deceit, whose steps the court heeds,
overthrowing him that rebels against the king, hearing the house of the council of thirty, who puts his terror … among the barbarians (fp^s’tyw), when he has silenced the Sand-dwellers, pacifying the rebels because of their deeds, whose actions prevail in the two regions, lord of the Black Land and the Red Land, giving commands to the South, counting the number of the Northland,
His majesty sent me to despatch [this army] five times, in order to traverse the land of the Sand-dwellers at each of their rebellions, with these troops, I did so that [his] majesty praised me [on account of it].
When it was said there were revolters, because of a matter among these barbarians in the land of Gazelle-nose, I crossed over in troop-ships with these troops, and I voyaged to the back of the height of the ridge on the north of the Sand-dwellers. When the army had been [brought] in the highway, I came and smote them all and every revolter among them was slain.
His majesty sent me at the head of his army while the counts, while the wearers of the royal seal, while the sole companions of the palace, while the nomarchs and commanders of strongholds belonging to the South and Northland ….
in whose brilliance all men move, pilot of the people, giver of food, advancing offices, lord of designs, great in love, associate of the king in the great castle (wsfi’t), hereditary prince, count, chief treasurer, Mentuhotep, he says:
- …’I am a companion beloved of his lord, doing that which pleases his god daily, prince, count, sem priest, master of every wardrobe of Horus, prophet of Anubis of … the hry ydb, Mentuhotep, prince in the seats of … Splendor … at whose voice they (are permitted to) speak in the king’s-house, in charge of the silencing of the courtiers, unique one of the king, without his like, who sends up the truth ….
First of the Westerners ….
leader of the magnates of South and North … advocate of the people … merinuter priest, prophet of Horus, master of secret things of the house of sacred writings ….
Never before had one like me heard the secret of the royal harem.
[Sinuhe, too, was] servant of the Royal harim attending on the hereditary princess ….
governor of the (royal) castle,
governor of the South
prophet of Harkefti, great lord of the royal wardrobe, who approaches the limbs of the king,
chamber-attendant
…. overseer of the double granary, overseer of the double silver-house, overseer of the double gold-house, master of the king’s writings of the (royal) presence, wearer of the royal seal, sole companion, master of secret things of the ‘divine words’ (hieroglyphics) ….
- Here follows a mortuary prayer, after which the concluding lines (22, 23) refer specifically to his building commissions at Abydos ….
His majesty sent me to Hatnub to bring a huge offering-table ….
of lapis lazuli, of bronze, of electrum, and silver; copper was plentiful without end, bronze without limit, collars of real malachite, ornaments (mn-nfr’t) of every kind of costly stone. of the choicest of everything, which are given to a god at his processions, by virtue of my office of master of secret things.
[End of quotes]
I recall
(but do not currently have it with me) that professor A. S. Yahuda had, in his Language
of the Pentateuch in Its Relation to Egyptian, Vol. 1 (1933), when discussing the Exodus 5:5
encounter between Pharaoh and Moses and Aaron: “Then Pharaoh
said, ‘Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them
from working’”, referred to the rank of Moses and Aaron (differentiating them
from the common people) as something akin to new men.
Anyway,
that is precisely how Weni is classified in this next piece (http://drelhosary.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/weni-elder-and-his-mortuary.html):
Everyone who has studied ancient Egyptian history is familiar with the
autobiography of Weni the Elder, an enterprising individual who lived during
the 6th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom (ca. 2407-2260 BCE). His inscription,
excavated in 1860 from his tomb in the low desert at Abydos in southern Egypt,
enthusiastically describes his long service under three kings, culminating in
his appointment as “True Governor of Upper Egypt.” Scholars have hailed it as
“the most important historical document from the Old Kingdom” and have used it
to illustrate the rise of a class of “new men” in Egyptian politics and
society–persons whose upward mobility rested in their abilities, not in noble
birth.
Early in the season, we excavated a number of inscribed relief fragments
from this area, including two pieces that, when joined together, furnished the
name “Weni the Elder” and a fragment providing the title “True Governor of
Upper Egypt,” the highest title recorded in Weni’s autobiography. Further
evidence emerged supporting this association. The exterior face of the north wall
incorporates a large niche, and during excavations here a damaged false door
inscribed for Weni the Elder was discovered in situ. Not only does
this false door provide a nickname for Weni (“Nefer Nekhet Mery-Ra”–Egyptian
nicknames were often longer than birth names!), but it also documents his final
career promotion, a fact not recorded in his autobiography: Chief Judge and
Vizier.
[End of quote]
Weni, who served under the Sixth Dynasty pharaoh, Pepi
Chief Judge and Vizier.
Was this also the historical Moses, whose Judgeship, whose rulership, some of the Hebrews chose to reject (Exodus 2:14): ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’
