1. Pharaoh had a dream. (Gen 41:1-7)
1. We don’t know if Amenhotep III had a dream or not. But, it is reasonable to assume that he believed in prophetic dreams, as it was his own father, Tuthmose IV, who, though not in the direct line of succession, came to power as the result of following a prophetic dream:
1. Desroches-Noblecourt tells the story from the dream stele (History Tablet) of how the god Harmakhis appeared in the form of the sphinx in Tuthmose IV’s dream. Though Tuthmose was not in the line of succession, the god promised him the throne for digging the sphinx out of the sand. Tuthmose removed the sand and then later became king. He erected a single obelisk at Karnak, rather than the usual pair, as "the revolutionary symbol of Re Harakhti". (35)
2. Aldred’s account is similar, but he says that it was Re-Herakhte who appeared to Tuthmose IV in the dream. (142)
3. Redford also says that it was Reharakhte who appeared in the dream, and that "Throughout his reign the king continued to honor the sun under the icon of the ‘sun-disc’…". (20)
4. Remember Jesus is referred to as “The Lion of The Tribe of Judah”. The Sphinx as the head of a man with the body of a lion.
2. All of the Egyptian magicians/priests and wise men failed to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. (Gen 41:8, 15, 24)
1. This seems remarkable like Akhenaten’s complaints about the Egyptian gods in his introductory "Teachings". The fragments that remain tell us how, unlike his God, all of the gods and idols of Egypt had somehow failed, or ceased to be effective:
1. Redford says of the Teachings, "the king set on record his belief that the gods have somehow failed or ‘ceased’ to be operative". (172)
2. Aldred says that Akhenaten taught, "…that the original forms of the gods were known and consulted only perhaps by wise men or scholars. But though these gods might have been made of gold and precious stones they had somehow died or ceased to function and were now ineffective." (244)
3. Joseph was brought in to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. (Gen 41:9-24)
1. The sphinx in Tuthmose IV’s dream told him what he needed to do to succeed. Akhenaten having interpreted Amenhotep III’s dream could explain why he was often depicted as a sphinx (A Type of Christ):
1. The Pharaohs of the Sun says that Akhenaten often appeared as a sphinx. (103)
2. If Abraham had come and taught the Egyptians about a monotheistic god, and if this god had then become associated with dreams, then wouldn’t it follow that Pharaoh would have had been motivated to seek out a descendant of Abraham to interpret his dream? [See below - ‘Abiru/Habiru]
4. Joseph insists that it is not he, but his God working through him, that deserves all the credit. (Gen 40:8, 41:15-16, 25, 28, 32, 38-39, 45:5-8)
1. Akhenaten did exactly the same thing. Akhenaten insists that it is not he, but his God working through him, that deserves all the credit:
1. Aldred quotes the Great Hymn to Akhenaten’s God as saying of Akhenaten, "Thou hast made him wise in thy plans and thy power." (243)
2. Redford says that because Akhenaten was the only one who knew his God’s mind, that "he alone could interpret that will for all mankind." (179)
3. Aldred says that an early form of Akhenaten’s name denotes him as ‘The Chief Prophet’ of his God. (88)
4. Aldred quotes the boundary stele as saying that Akhenaten credited his God with putting him on the throne. (48)
5. Aldred suggests that Akhenaten and his God actually ruled together, as evidenced by the unique use of cartouches around his God’s name and the dates given on the pair of durbar scenes. (240)
6. Aldred says that Akhenaten claimed on the boundary stele that it was not he, but his God, who had led him to the site of Akhetaten and told him to build there. Akhenaten dedicated each building-to-be-built there to his God. (48-49, 262)
5. Joseph prophesied seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, and predicted that enough food could be collected and stored in the cities in the good years to feed the land during the years of famine. (Gen 41:25-36)
1. I’ve read on the Internet that the tomb of Khaemhat actually suggests that the Egyptians were expecting the record harvests of Year 30, but I have not chased this down yet. Nevertheless, a prophecy of record harvests would be a good explanation for why Amenhotep III reverted to a previously unknown form of the sed festival, which celebrated ‘especially good harvests’. It could also explain why he timed them to coincide with the start, middle, and end of the seven-year period which began in Year 30 of his reign. We can see that the record harvest-tax for the Jubilee Year 30 was indeed at least a noteworthy event:
1. Aldred says that the tomb of Kheruef tells how Pharaoh turned away from generations of traditions to celebrate his Sed Festival as it had not been done since the "Time of the Ancestors" (161-162)
2. Redford says that Amenhotep III based his jubilee rites on "writings of the ancients". (52)
3. Redford says of the sed-festival, "Some evidence suggests an early connection with an especially high Nile flood, and therefore the fertility resulting in an especially good harvest." (125)
4. Redford says that Khaemhat, supervisor of grain growing and harvest collection, is shown in his tomb being rewarded by the Pharaoh for handing in an "exceptionally bounteous harvest-tax" in Year 30. (48)
5. Aldred says that Khaemhet submitted a "report of a bumper harvest in Jubilee Year 30." (165)
2. Amenhotep III is believed to have tried to save the land from pestilence when he commissioned over seven hundred statues of the goddess Sekhmet:
1. Aldred says that Amenhotep III had over-700 granite statues of Sekhmet carved to provide protection from pestilence for each day of the year in each of the Two Lands. (149, 283)
2. I would speculate that these statues were an attempt to redeem the embarrassed priesthood, who presumed that the gods of Egypt were powerful enough to undo this prophecy. Could this explain why the people ended up abandoning their temples? Could this have led to a loss of influence by former advisors to the Pharaoh, like Amenhotep Son-of-Hapu?
3. Akhetaten’s boundary stele (History Tablet) also predicted that the whole world would come there to barter [for food?]:
1. Aldred says that it was written on the boundary stele that "the Aten would send the people of all foreign lands to Akhetaten with gifts for the king whose god had enabled them to live and breathe". (48) [See below - the Durbar of Year 12]
2. Desroches-Noblecourt cites an example of "gifts" that were given "with the unspoken understanding that they were exchange for goods of almost the same worth." (206)
4. If Akhenaten had needed to store all of the food that was to be "offered" during these proto-Jubilee years, then this could explain the haste implied by his invention of a whole new building technology that allowed for rapid construction and the use of unskilled workers. [See below - food storage]
