Defending the historicity of the Israelite sojourn in Egypt and the exodus, GE Wright pointed to the prevalence of non-Semitic Egyptian names in the early history of Israel: “Moses, an abbreviation of a longer name, is from an Egyptian verb meaning ‘to bear, beget.’ The same verbal element occurs in such Egyptian names as Thutmose and Rameses, the first syllables of which are god-names while the remainder indicates that the god is the begetter of the person named. Other Levite names apparently acquired from the Egyptian language are Phinehas, Hophni, Pashuer, and perhaps Hur and Merari.”
This is important historical evidence, but it is also theologically significant. In life, Moses may well have been named “Begotten-by-Nile.” In the Bible, he is simply Moses – the begotten one, the true son of Yahweh, the true Israelite, type of the Only-Begotten. Also Moses is simply Moses, not Moses/begotten of Thoth or Ram or Horus, but Moses/begotten of the unnamed.
And, once again, it seems that in the early story of Moses, Yahweh already mocks Egypt and her gods.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
