Was Moses Really the Writer of Exodus?
Have you ever wondered why the Pharaoh of the exodus is anonymous?
He is never named in all of Scripture, both Old and New Testaments.
Some commentators (e.g. Steindorff) have seen the anonymity of Pharaoh as a proof or argument that Moses did not write the book of Exodus, because if he was an eyewitness to these things, surely he would have recorded the name of the Pharaoh who features so prominently in the story. Even the mid-wives are named, why not Pharaoh?
The interesting thing about the Old Testament is that the more we come to understand the cultures and history it records, through archaeology etc, the more we can see the accuracy and wisdom of the Biblical authors.
Take the anonymous Pharaoh of the Exodus. If there was a Moses (and I would contend that there was) then he would have been living during the New Kingdom dynasties. The book of Exodus (see also Acts 7:20-38) tells us that Moses was raised and educated in the royal Egyptian court. To have such a public education would mean that he was familiar with the correct protocol and nomenclature of Egyptian historiography and public record. We now know that the title Pharaoh, which literally means ‘great house’, was not used as a prefix to the name of the ruler of Egypt, or in close proximity to it, during the New Kingdom dynasties. For example Amenhotep II would affix the titles, ‘ruler of the two lands’, ‘nine bows’ etc to his name, but not the title Pharaoh directly. Pharaoh as a title was used by itself. This can been seen in the Almara letters, 15th century BC. The Almara letters are cuneiform clay tablets with correspondence between Pharaoh and vassal kings in Canaan. The letters are simply addressed to Pharaoh, the birth name and the throne name of the Pharaoh are not mentioned. It seems strange to us, but in the New Kingdom era it was the correct protocol and style. As the centuries passed this stylistic feature would change.
In 1 Ki 11:40 we read of King Shishack of Egypt, who came to Canaan in the days of Rehobeam, 10th century BC. Here we are given the name of the king of Egypt, this is common in writings after the 11th century, but not before. By the time of Josiah, 7th century BC, the Hebrew authors have moved completely away from Egyptian New Kingdom usage of Pharaoh and affix the tile Pharaoh directly to the name of Necho, king of Egypt (2 Ki 23:29). This is seen again in the 6th century book of Jeremiah, e.g. Pharaoh Hophra (Jer 44:30)
So we can see how Moses, a man with a New Kingdom education correctly and accurately employs 15th century Egyptian style in his writings. As the history of the nation of Israel progressed, the Hebrew authors moved further away from the Egyptian style. If the book of Exodus was a 6th century creation, why do we not see 6th century style as can be seen in the books of Kings and Jeremiah? The evidence on the contrary shows an author who displays the education of the court of Pharaoh, and that author was Moses.
Thanks Shane, that is fascinating! We had a great Bible Study with Barry recently on the authority of the Word and, although we believe by faith that all Scripture is from God, I continue to be blessed when I hear about archaeological, historical and other data that support it’s truths! More please!
Comment by Maddy P — Tue, 14. July 2009 @ 13:34
Bravo shane! Agree with Maddy - more please. BTW, any chance you got a recording of your recent radio ‘appearances’?
Comment by Philip Pain — Tue, 14. July 2009 @ 14:58
http://creation.com/did-moses-really-write-genesis
Comment by Matthy — Fri, 3. December 2010 @ 14:04