I have been very skeptical of the Amenhotep II as Pharaoh of the Exodus model, first because as my recent prior posts about Biblical Chronology show I favor Exodus dates older than 1446 BC, and because I have reasons for favoring the low chronology to the high chronology.
But then I stumbled upon something potentially vindicating of it I have to share. Even as I remain undecided on the full implication.
But first I need to state one aspect of the Amenhotep II model I find silly is identifying Hatshepsut as the Daughter of Pharaoh in Exodus 2 and Moses with Senenmut. Senenmut had a known Egyptian family, they were commoners but definitely not foreign slaves. The High Chronology timeline this model favors as the flight of Moses happening during the reign of Hatshepsut. That daughter ruling Egypt during all this would be a very weird thing to not mention.
It’s commonly assumed a 1446 BC Exodus means a 1526 BC Birth for Moses. But in my careful reading of Acts 7 and Exodus 2, I’d say the Three Months are also a separate time period. Each period of 40 years begins and ends around Passover, meaning the Birth of Moses could be the Hanukkah season, and in this timeline that means right at the end of 1527 BC.
In which case Amenhotep I would be the Pharaoh when Moses was born, he had a daughter named Ahmose who was a wife of Tuthmosis I. Ahmose bore Tuthmosis I two daughters but no known sons.
Tuthmosis I has an obscure son whose mother is unknown named Wadjmose. No Tomb was built for this son, yet he didn’t inherit even though it looks like he was older than Tuthmosis II. It may be he was never an actual son but a ward being raised in the royal household.
Some have theorized that Moses, or Moshe in Hebrew, was originally a fuller Egyptian Name but that he dropped the Theophoric part when he became a strict Monotheist. Usually people suspect an Egyptian word for water or The Nile River, like Hapi. But when you read Exodus 2 closely, it's possible when the Daughter of Pharaoh says "because I drew him out of the water" she was making a comparison to the reeds (or flags in the KJV) that were growing out of the water which the basket containing Moses was found floating amongst.
I double checked to make sure I wasn't just assuming, and the reeds that grow in the Nile Delta area are typically green. The Wadj part of Wadjmose is a word for the color green but also associated with happiness and prosperity.
And it was also the name of a god, Wadj-wer was an Egyptian god whose name meant " the great green", he was a personification of the Mediterranean Sea but also symbolized the riches of the Waters of the Nile. He was strongly associated with the Lagoons and Lakes of the northern Nile Delta, exactly where Avaris and later Pi-Rameses were located.
The fate of Wadjmose is unknown; we don't have his Mummy, but a depiction of him on a tomb built for his Egyptian tutor named Paheri. He had another tutor named Senimes. Sounds like he fits Acts 7:22 pretty well.
If I made a movie based on this theory, I’d identify the Egyptian he killed with Senenmut.
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