With
his high education Moses at the Pharaoh’s court had achieved valuable
information about ancient knowledge, e.g. also mystery knowledge. The
importance of this should not be out of focus in history research. At
the ancient Egyptian court a stranger would probably not have reached
this far; thus, Moses’ high
level indicates him as a royal
person. This status and these circumstances can in particular be seen in
the traditional, corresponding narratives of the Bible (Pentateuch) and Antiquity's
"The Rabbinical Writings",
the oldest parts of which can be tracked
back directly to the times of Moses.
To make reasonable
establishing of such
circumstances fitted for a perception in later times would
require a detailed scientific treatise, unlikely for a broad audience to
reach. Nevertheless, being able to reach this audience
as well as the science fields
of relevance became a special goal for the present book-series
about Moses.
The following exemplifies a scientist's
impression when reading “The Suppressed Records”,
i.e. the volume 1 of the series. This scientist’s field is not
into the humanities but the lines of the exact sciences (in this
case physics, chemistry, and geology). Well, did it work out, then? When
being a reader this
scientist of physics appears at
first a bit unfamiliar with the subject of the book; however, at the
same time he is a habitual reader
-using extra angles of view.
Ove von Spaeth -
www.moses-egypt.net
Assassinating Moses
By RICHARD M. STERN, Dr.rer.Nat.
Published by: The Swedano Journal,
wwww.swedano.dk , Sept.2002 (org. 15 October1999)
A scientist of Exact
Sciences having a surprising encounter with new historical sources on Moses:
“The Suppressed Record - Moses' Unknown Egyptian background”: what makes the tale believable is the extent
to which Ove von Spaeth has been able to assimilate a vast amount of
information from a wide variety of sources, utilising research into Hebrew,
Egyptian and other contemporary language documents.
Ove von Spaeth in his literary debut has created a highly original and yet, at
least to the non-expert, believable story of the life of Moses and of his
times. The period covered in this first of five planned volumes ranges from
Moses’ celestial (and biological) conception and birth to the then reigning
queen Hatshepsut as “Son of Pharaoh’s Daughter”, through the famous episode in
the bulrushes, to his crowning, at the age of three, as heir apparent and
coming Pharaoh of Egypt.
The book ends with an introduction to
the next volume (which will deal with Moses as a young man) giving hints as to
the reason for his banishment and his supposed flight from court intrigue and a
“false” accusation of manslaughter, to live with his father-in-law (who,
according to von Spaeth, is probably his biological father) Jethro in the
desert. This is a detective story based on a great deal of circumstantial
evidence but the case could just ring true. But even if this version of a
controversial subject is fiction, it is interesting fiction.
I truly enjoyed my second
straight-through reading of this short story (told in less than 150 pages)
because von Spaeth’s glimpse of history, arrived at after a half-lifetime of
research into primary and secondary sources, results from his combining this
unique collection of information to create a logical framework for a series of
lifelike characters.
I have just returned from a series of
travels where I visited Isis’ temple at Philae near Aswan and marvelled at the
images of the goddess suckling her son Horus (a drawing of which is the front
paper illustration while a colour image of a Horus hieroglyphic is on the
cover), walked unknowingly past the spot near the massive temple at Karnak
where the basket with the infant Moses presumably was found in the little basin
at the then edge of the Nile (shown in detailed illustration in the text),
climbed a bit of what perhaps is the Mt. Sinai of the Bible and then viewed the
possible descendant of the burning bush and Moses’ well in the Monastery of St.
Catherina, drove past nearby Serabit el-Khadim where Moses is proposed to have
sought refuge with Jethro, and finally stood on the summit of Mount Nebo/Nevo
(in Jordan) with the intention of seeing the same view, as I assumed did Moses,
of the for him never-to-be-reached promised land.
I had not intended these trips
to be in the footsteps of Moses but after reading von Spaeth’s story I realise
that I have been near to much more of his history than I thought, and am
thankful and pleased for having been given this additional insight and new
perspective.
The book starts with a review of
Egyptian history, and a reminder that Moses' existence as a historical
character is not universally accepted (and especially disputed, it seems, in Denmark. The
scene is set in the 18th Dynasty when during the times of Queen Hatshepsut
(1509-1487 BC) (known as "The Pharaoh's Daughter" as a crown princess
is called in Egyptian texts), a rare celestial conjunction at new moon,
recorded in old Jewish sources (and shown by modern astronomical calculations
to probably have been the one that occurred at new moon between February-March
1537 BC) together with mention of a prophecy that in three years a royal son
will be born who will change the course of Egyptian history. This places Moses'
birth in 1534 BC, predating a contemporary concept of the age of the Biblical
version by 200 years.
The biblical story of the
finding of the three-month old boy child is shown to be identical to a ritual
played out in Egypt to
separate the celestial birth of a crown prince from his biological birth from a
human mother, common to similar rituals in many places in the ancient world
including Denmark.
In this case the biological
mother and the royal stepmother are argued plausibly to be the same person, and
the scenario around the ceremonial discovery of the child in an ark made as a
woven basket is part of the theatre of a mystery/passion-play with the real
actors representing at the same time their celestial equivalents. Hatshepsut is
playing Isis, mother to Horus, of whom Moses is the embodiment and receives
this child of heaven well knowing that it is her own and her appearance on the
banks of the Nile at the right moment just follows stage directions: Jethro is
playing the Nile-god Jitru (Jtrw/It(e)ru) (the Egyptian word for Nile or
river), who delivers the child whose father is identified with the god Amon-Ra.
Shakespeare got it partly right: life is but a stage, but these actors live on.
What makes this and the rest of
the tale believable is the extent to which von Spaeth has been able to
assimilate a vast amount of information from a wide variety of sources,
utilising research into Hebrew, Egyptian and other contemporary language
documents. With this knowledge he then reconciles the relationships between the
Egyptian proper names and titles of these wonderful characters, and their
Hebrew equivalents in the many records of the Old Testament and the writings
and transcriptions of Hebrew rabbis and scholars during the past 3,500 years.
Especially intriguing, and
convincing, is von Spaeth's ability to find, combine and sort out the content
of the many Egyptian puns and word plays in which they seem to have enjoyed
indulging.
To name several of the arguments
presented, the common understanding of the Hebrew name for the biological
mother of Moses is Jochebed and
his father’s name Amram.
Jochebed is Egyptian with roots
in Jah(w) (moon) and Kebet (Qebhut, Qebhit) (heaven), names
identified with Isis and used when referring
to Hatshepsut.
Amram is related to an attempt
at the Hebrewification of Amon-Ra(-Re) (Egyptian’s highest god). Since
vowels(-markers) were only added to Hebrew texts around the 6-10th century AD,
it is easy to understand why interpretation and correspondences with earlier
Egyptian writing and oral history has often gone awry and the entire field of
nomenclature is difficult and full of potential pitfalls and surprises.
The name Moses, it turns out, is
related to the Egyptian word for boy-child (mosis) and is linked to
Tuth-mosis, both the name of Hatshepsut’s father and also of her later consort,
and most probably used to denominate her royal child as well. The subsequent
divergences between Egyptian and Hebrew versions of the “legend” are explained
in a long review and logical analysis of studies of the Hebrew texts of this
and later times: consistent suppression of the Egyptian origins of the heroic
Moses emphasises the idea of his being a Hebrew (hence the book’s title and
subtitle), although his personal behaviour is more suggestive of a non-Jewish
background (i.e. marrying his half-sister).
I must explain my need to have read
the book twice. When I first took up this handsome volume, I was, in spite of
the author's caveat that it was not a scientific work but an attempt at a
transdisciplinary popularisation of history, convinced that I was about to read
a (quasi)scientific treatise which it strongly resembles. The book contains
many illustrations together with appendices on: older versions of the Moses
myth; celestial conception in the time of the Pharaohs; dating of Moses and the
Egyptian calendar and reigns of the Pharaohs; and a review of the astronomical
calculations used in the dating and their sources. There is also a 32 page
bibliography divided into 12 thematic sections and 14 subsections.
As I started to read I was conscious
that von Spaeth is preaching to the converted so that his repetitions, whether
pedantic or for emphasis, are somewhat misplaced. Furthermore, the use of
references in the text is frustrating: just when you want to know from where a
piece of information comes (i.e. that DNA testing on mummies has revealed great
inbreeding amongst Egyptians of these dynasties) there are few clues given to
the source of his conclusions. And references which do appear in the text are
difficult to find in the bibliography since most of the 1000 citations are of
secondary sources and one must search through many of 26 separately
alphabetised sections. So reading and understanding is accomplished in fits and
starts: "what is the reason for this conclusion?" one frequently asks
oneself, and then says, "oh well, never mind, lets just get on with
it!", proceeding to the next complex explanation of who was doing what to
whom and why.
The remarkable accomplishment of von
Spaeth in “Assassinating Moses” is his collecting in one place all the arguments
he has found in support of his story: but it is impossible even to guess what
he has left out to avoid possibly negating his thesis. There is little
differential diagnosis here. The reader has to take von Spaeth’s word for what
is written, but thereafter going from one intellectual problem and its solution
to the next is a relatively easy question of faith. The last two chapters
disconcert since they serve mainly as further advertisement for the next
volume, whetting the readers appetite, which can grow only after deciding to
forget false expectations and suspending disbelief in the facts of the story as
presented, and then making him wait.
Anyone with a non-specialist
interest in these far-off times from a religious or historical perspective will
enjoy having this volume at hand. But there is also something for almost every
taste, and certainly enough grist for years of grinding of the mill of
controversy amongst the many specialist historians, Egyptologists,
anthropologists, and Hebrew scholars who will not be able to suspend their
disbelief in the story as I have. I must also admit that I had found the plot so
believable that I grew to expect quoted dialog between some of the characters
(Just what did Jethro and Moses talk about in their hideaway in the desert?),
but I guess I will have to wait to see the movie, the screenplay of which is
certain to be made from these tales.
I look forward to the next four
volumes of this exciting story now that I know how to sit back and enjoy them:
I also think I’ll read Exodus again to refresh my memory of the biblical
version. But I do hope that von Spaeth’s publisher will provide him with the
services of a good and patient editor. The series also deserves an English
translation so that it can be appreciated and argued about by a broad
international audience.
R.M.S. Copenhagen,
15 October, 1999.
(Richard M. Stern, a New Yorker and
long-term resident of Denmark,
is a widely published former professor of physics, toxicologist and
occupational health researcher and past manager of environment and health
information systems for the World Health Organisation in Europe, and has a
recently awakened interest in the history of Egypt
and Israel.)
Information
on the fascinating book-series and project: www.moses-egypt.net
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
Ove von Spaeth: “De
Fortrængte Optegnelser - Attentatet på Moses”.
(“The Suppressed Record - Moses' Unknown Egyptian Background”, -
Assassinating Moses, Vol. 1)
1999 - in Danish - 238pp., illus., soft cover, 125
DKR
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The Monastery of St. Catherina at the Mount Sinai
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