by
Damien F. Mackey
This is absolutely extraordinary, unlike anything else in history,
that a ruler would allow a seer to follow through on his dream interpretations
to the extent that it would completely transform the appearance of his country.
Moses, almost Joseph in reverse
Joseph and Moses were quite different characters, the one from the other, and so were their circumstances in Egypt, and so were the Pharaohs whom they served.
No sooner did I finish typing this than I read the following by Avraham Ben Yehuda:
https://avrahambenyehuda.wordpress.com/2013/12/29/moses-as-the-opposite-of-joseph/
Moses as the Opposite of Joseph, Part 1
This entry was posted on December 29, 2013 ….
* Genesis closes with Joseph foretelling the redemption; Exodus opens with Moses heralding the redemption.
* Joseph, identified as a Hebrew, is known throughout as Joseph, the name given to him by his Hebrew mother, and despite the fact that the Egyptians gave him a new name; Moses, identified as an Egyptian, is known throughout as Moses, the name given him by his adopted Egyptian mother, despite the fact that his Hebrew parents gave him a different name.
* Joseph went from being a “youth, Hebrew, slave” to being viceroy of Egypt; Moses went from being Pharaoh’s adopted son to the leader of the Hebrew slaves.
* Joseph never had chance to become an experienced shepherd like his fathers and brothers; Moses left the Egyptian upperclass and became a shepherd, just like the patriarchs.
* When Moses first received prophecy, his older brother was happy for him; when Joseph first started on the path to prophecy, his older brothers were enraged at him.
* Moses was reluctant to spread the message he first received, but Joseph was all too eager to tell others of his portentous dreams.
* Joseph enriched Egypt and acquired millions of slaves for Pharaoh; Moses crushed Egypt, taking away all of its wealth and slaves.
* Joseph was eventually forgotten by the Egyptians; Moses was ultimately held in high esteem by the Egyptians.
* Joseph urged his entire family to settle in Egypt; Moses sought to deliver the Israelites from Egypt.
* Joseph told his people to make haste to settle in Egypt, and even sent wagons to ferry them; Moses took the Israelites out of Egypt by foot, and purposely took the long way to Canaan.
* Joseph took his father’s remains for burial in Canaan accompanied by Egyptian chariots; Moses took Joseph’s bones for burial in Canaan and was pursued by the Egyptian chariots.
* Joseph foresaw a famine and prepared by saving food; Moses had the people live day to day in the desert.
* Joseph gathered “as much grain as there was sand at the sea,” and stored “the food of the surrounding fields in the cities,” and then moved the entire population of Egypt into the cities; Moses went out to see his brethren compelled to build similar cities for the Egyptians. (Compare Exodus 1:11 and 2:11.)
* Joseph married the daughter of “Kohen On,” had two sons before the onset of the famine that made him famous, and invoked how he had been helped by God to forget his homeland when he named his firstborn; Moses married the daughter of “Kohen Midian,” had two sons before he returned to Egypt and became famous, and invoked how he felt that he was a stranger in his new land when he named his firstborn.
* Joseph, the Hebrew, wanted to return home, and barring that, insisted that he be buried in Canaan; Moses, who wanted to enter the land only to observe the commandments, did not settle for or even ask to be buried in Canaan.
* Joseph’s experience would symbolize the long and dark exile of the Jewish people, with trial followed by tribulation, but all along, his faith in God sustained him, and at each step of the way, we are told that God was with him, such that ultimately Joseph could declare that “God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” Joseph’s ordeal was the paradigm of what our sages termed “a time of hester panim, divine concealment,” when God does not perform open miracles, nor does He communicate His will to a prophet, but Moses’s experience was replete with the … greatest display of direct and obvious divine intervention and awesome revelation in all of history. Moses was told from the outset that his mission would be accompanied by many miracles, and God spoke to him at every stage of the process. During the Exodus, the Israelites could see “the Lord’s Hand” and rightfully declare “this is my God!” The story of Moses would become the paradigm for the Redemption, when God makes His presence known to all by saving His people.
….
[End of quote]
The differing Pharaohs
The Pharaoh of interest in the case of the patriarch Joseph was Horus Netjerikhet of Egypt’s Third Dynasty (Old Kingdom), who was the same ruler as Horus Netjerihedjet of Egypt’s Eleventh Dynasty (so-called ‘Middle’ Kingdom).
I suspect that he was even younger than Joseph, at 30 (Genesis 41:46), and was completely overawed by this brilliant Hebrew who was able to interpret dreams, including his own worrying ones that presaged seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.
This Pharaoh allowed Joseph virtual carte blanche to do whatever was necessary to save the nation.
This resulted in the massive infrastructural work that we find undertaken during the Third/ Eleventh dynasties, much of which was directly connected with water and grain storage. I am talking about dams, massive grain storage facilities, and canals, including the one that even today bears Joseph’s very name, the Bahr Yusef.
Much of this building activity was for short-term purpose only, lacking elaborate decoration, and was soon abandoned, having served the required purpose.
This is absolutely extraordinary, unlike anything else in history, that a ruler would allow a seer to follow through on his dream interpretations to the extent that it would completely transformed the appearance of his country.
As we read above (Avraham Ben Yehuda):
* Joseph foresaw a famine and prepared by saving food; Moses had the people live day to day in the desert.
* Joseph gathered “as much grain as there was sand at the sea,” and stored “the food of the surrounding fields in the cities,” and then moved the entire population of Egypt into the cities; Moses went out to see his brethren compelled to build similar cities for the Egyptians. (Compare Exodus 1:11 and 2:11.)
Joseph, as Imhotep, known to have foretold a Seven Year famine during the reign of Horus Netjerikhet (the Sehel Famine Stela), also raised Egypt’s first pyramid, the mighty Step Pyramid of Saqqara, which I suspect may have been a material icon of his father Jacob’s vision of a Stairway to Heaven.
Indeed, Egyptologist Joyce A. Tyldelsley calls the pyramids, “staircases to heaven”.
In the case of Moses, there are initially (before the Exodus) two Pharaohs to take into account. And these, like the primary Pharaoh of Joseph, can be found both in Egypt’s Old and so-called ‘Middle’ kingdoms.
The first one is the “new king” of Exodus 1:8, the Oppressor King who ordered infanticide, to curtail the growth of the Hebrews. Although this new dynastic king had no connections with Joseph, he must have been much inspired at least by his building works and canals which he could augment to promote his own magnificence.
Thus began, amongst other major works, the Giza pyramid building project.
Magnificent as they were, the Giza pyramids were not stepped, thus being stripped of their original meaning.
Obviously, then, the first Oppressor Pharaoh belonged to the Giza pyramid building Fourth Dynasty, and he, as a “new king” was the dynastic founder, Khufu (Cheops). Khufu’s daughter, Meresankh, was the traditional “Merris” who drew baby Moses out of the water.
As we read above (Avraham Ben Yehuda):
* Joseph went from being a “youth, Hebrew, slave” to being viceroy of Egypt; Moses went from being Pharaoh’s adopted son to the leader of the Hebrew slaves.
Though Moses was actually born amongst Hebrew slaves and adopted into the royal family.
Thus Moses, like Joseph, came into favour under Pharaoh.
Moses, who would certainly have been involved in the huge building projects of the time, was actually made Crown Prince, and later, for a brief time, became Pharaoh. Moses was both pharaoh Djedefre/Djedefhor (Fourth Dynasty) and pharaoh Userkare (Sixth Dynasty).
But, despising the office, he soon abdicated.
Moses would now go on to serve Egypt as Vizier and Chief Judge, as Weni (Uni) of the Sixth Dynasty, and as Mentuhotep (also the semi-legendary Sinuhe/Sanehat) of the Twelfth Dynasty.
While Joseph was never officially elected as Pharaoh - and his ruler made clear that his position was second (Genesis 41:44) - he, in his greatness, seems eventually to have blanketted out the Pharaoh, not even bothering to mention him in various inscriptions.
Joseph, Pharaoh-like, even bore the cartouche.
He was also the First Dynasty potentate, Den, no doubt serving the Famine Pharaoh of that dynasty, Djet (= Netjerihedjet?) – for during the reign of King Djet, there was a great famine (Manetho).
Den had a set of names that, collectively, scream Joseph:
Den (he brings water) was
Khasti (foreigner) and
Usaph-ais (Yusef = Joseph)
“The Foreigner, Joseph, who brings water”.
As Imhotep, Joseph was also the mighty Khasekhemui Hetep-Imef (= Imhotep), and Sekhemet, whose other name was Zoser (Djoser-ti). Thus the famed, but enigmatic, Zoser, was Joseph, not Horus Netjerikhet as is generally thought.
All this brings us to a radical difference in personalities between Joseph and Moses.
It was already noted above (Avraham Ben Yehuda):
* Moses was reluctant to spread the message he first received, but Joseph was all too eager to tell others of his portentous dreams.
Joseph was boastful of his dreams and, consequently, greatly irritated his family.
He was greater than the Sun, the Moon and the stars (Genesis 37:9).
And he appears to have carried this sentiment through in his career, completely eclipsing Horus Netjerikhet and whatever ruling dynasty.
In fact, if he was the powerful Ankhtifi, as I have previously suggested, he completely ignored Pharaoh in his inscriptions and boasted that he was a man like no other, ever!
“I am a man without equal …. I am the front of people and the
back of people because (my) like will not exist; he will not exist.
(My) like could not have been born; he was not born”.
Autobiography of Ankhtifi
Which, to give him his due, he virtually was.
The wise Sirach, at a much later time, may have picked up Ankhtifi’s boast when he wrote almost identically (Sirach 49:15):
“Nor was anyone ever born like Joseph …”.
Moses, on the other hand, who may have been formally Crown Prince, which Joseph never was, and, for a time, even a Pharaoh, which Joseph never formally was, despised the office and abdicated. Far from being boastful, “Moses was the mildest man, over all men that dwelled in earth” (Numbers 12:3).
And, whereas Joseph may have shrewdly set himself up to high status when he said to the (young?) Pharaoh (Genesis 41:33): ‘And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt’, Moses, full of dread, resisted the Lord when told that he had to lead his people out of Egypt, trying to excuse himself with his lack of eloquence (Exodus 4:10): “Moses said to the Lord, ‘Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue’.”
By the time that the dynastic founding Pharaoh had died, apparently assassinated, and was succeeded by his son, the traditional “Chenephres”, husband of “Merris”, Moses had slipped back into his favourite role as servant.
“Chenephres”, obviously now Khafra (Chephren) builder of the second Giza pyramid, had indeed married Khufu’s daughter, Meresankh.
The Greek name “Chenephres” is taken from the Egyptian name, Kaneferre, which can also be presented, inverted, as Neferkare, a name belonging to both Pepi (Sixth Dynasty) and Sesostris so-called I (Twelfth Dynasty). It is all one and the same second Oppressor Pharaoh of the Hebrews.
Appropriately the career of Sinuhe, the literary Moses, will occur during the succession, Amenemhet and Sesostris.
As far as we know, Joseph never experienced any major opposition from any Pharaoh.
But Moses, who had been well regarded by the first Oppressor Pharaoh, will come to be treated most shabbily by “Chenephres”. Moses had immersed himself in scholarship, and had become a writer of wise Maxims (as Kagemni/ Ptahhotep/Djedefhor). He was highly regarded, and his advice was sought after.
Later he, like Imhotep, would be deified and virtually canonised.
But “Chenephres” - who, like King Saul with regard to the highly popular and successful David - grew to hate him out of jealousy and wanted Moses dead. He sent him on dangerous missions with inferior troops. But Moses, just like David would, turned these situations into victories through sheer genius.
Finally “Chenephres”, as Pepi Neferkare (a garbled version of this occurs in Sinuhe, in the reign of Sesostris Neferkare) found the excuse he needed to hunt down Moses after the latter had killed an Egyptian. Pharaoh Pepi then established damnatio memoriae upon Moses (as Userkare) and relegated his kingship to the “desert”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Userkare
