1. The Pharaoh who did not know Joseph enslaved the Israelites, but the more they were oppressed, the more they increased. (Ex 1:9-14)
1. Haremhab needed workers to dismantle Akhenaten’s buildings:
1. Aldred says that Haremhab used the talatat from Akhenaten’s dismantled constructions to build his pylons at Karnak. Aldred says that there were enough left over to be used by later pharaohs, as well. (85) Redford concurs. (66-67)
2. Those who dismantled Akhetaten seemed to have been quite poor:
1. Aldred says that those who dismantled the constructions at Akhetaten "must have squatted in town for a long time". He says that rough huts were put up in the palace to house these workmen. (67)
2. Aldred says that Petrie found that Akhetaten "had been thoroughly cleared out by its inhabitants before they evacuated it, and little was left behind of the everyday domestic furnishings so characteristic of similar abandoned sites elsewhere in Egypt." (60) Aldred says that Petrie found the houses at Akhetaten "to be remarkably denuded of household goods, not a single scrap of papyrus and scarcely even a potsherd." Aldred says that Petrie concluded that the inhabitants had removed "every object that could be put to any possible use." (55-56) Aldred again says, "Any abandoned objects of the slightest use were doubtless purloined by the squatters who moved into their abandoned homes, and very few household goods have been excavated at Amarna, apart from those that had been hidden and forgotten." (296)
3. The population of Akhetaten continued to grow through its years of poverty:
1. Aldred says that when Akhetaten was abandoned they were still building new houses that had been "left in various stages of construction." (63)
2. The slaves built the cities of Pithom and Rameses. (Ex 1:11)
1. Because Rameses II did so much construction in this part of the country, is it realistic to expect to find any works that Horemheb and Ramses I may have built there? How likely is it that, had they built there, that their constructions would not have been usurped by Ramses II?
3. Moses is saved from the river and raised by a daughter of Pharaoh. (Ex 1:15-2:10)
1. I have found no evidence of Moses in the record, but that should probably not be surprising, seeing that the text never mentions any constructions of his. However the story does match somewhat, in that Horemheb’s wife, Mutnodjme, could have been especially sympathetic to the ‘Atenists’. After all, she was Nefertiti’s sister, was shown in Akhetaten in the early years, and, seemed to have restrained Horemheb’s demolitions until after her death.
4. The Pharaoh who did not know Joseph died. (Ex 2:23)
1. Horemheb, who ruled for about twenty eight years, was followed by Ramses I:
1. The Cambridge Ancient History says that Horemheb ruled from 1348-1320 and was followed by Ramses I, who ruled from 1320-1318. (1038[?])
5. Pharaoh punishes the slaves by not giving them any straw to make their usual quota of bricks. (Ex 5:6-19)
1. Egyptian mud brick walls use beds of reeds between every two or three courses of bricks. (Redford, 230) Now, talatat allowed for brick construction without straw. Could the original story of making bricks without straw be related to dismantling the temples and re-using their talatat?
6. Moses and Aaron were eighty and eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh. (Ex 7:7)
1. Like the other ages given in the story, these ages would appear to contradict the historical record. If Moses was indeed eighty years old, then I calculate that would have made him about 21 years old at the beginning of Akhenaten’s reign. Now, although this might be interesting to someone trying to make the case that Joseph and Moses were the same person, it definitely does not match the biblical story. What if these ages were dates? Assuming that they were given on the same calendar as the base date [See above - 110 years], then they would be several years different from the timeline used by Aldred, which would imply that the exodus would have occurred around Year 86 on Amenhotep III’s calendar. Perhaps if Tut had started his reign before Akhenaten’s ended, then there might be some correlation, but as of now I will continue to include this in the list of significant differences.
7. The Israelites are saved from a plague by painting their door-posts and lintels with blood. (Ex 12:7,13,22-23,27)
1. The houses at Akhetaten had unusual red painted doorways, but theirs were inside:
1. Aldred says of Akhetaten’s houses, "A feature of all such houses was the shrine in one of the principal rooms in the form of a false door with red-painted jambs, and a niche for a stela showing the royal family engaged in some cultic activity." (66)
8. The Israelites leave Egypt. (Ex 12:30-51)
1. Akhetaten was abandoned so rapidly that there were still houses in various stages of construction:
1. The Cambridge Ancient History says that Akhetaten was "still in the process of being built when it was abandoned". (57)
2. Aldred says that when Akhetaten was abandoned there were houses "in various stages of construction". (63)
9. The Israelites take unleavened bread with them. (Ex 12:34,39)
1. Flatbreads were ubiquitous during the years of Jubilee. They were shown everywhere. If there was any food left over after the seven years of famine, it seems likely it would have been flatbreads. Perhaps the tables that escaped dismantling in the Great Temple did so because they still held food on them. If there were flatbreads left, there would seem to be little doubt that the Atenists were the owners of them, and entitled to take them with them. But can you imagine how hard this ‘bread of affliction’ would have been after so many decades out in the desert?
10. The Israelites despoil Egypt. (Ex 3:21,12:35-36)
1. Akhetaten was stripped of all its household goods. [See above – slavery]
2. I would imagine that the Atenists would have been entitled to anything ‘Atenist’. Actually, wouldn’t the Egyptians have been likely to want to rid themselves of any reminders of this period? If so, it would make it especially ironic if it had been Atenist treasures that were melted down to make the Golden Calf.
3. Could this also explain why Tut’s tomb was opened and an unusual collection of items removed not too long after his burial? Could his tomb have been despoiled of all its purely ‘Atenist’ treasures?
