The Sinaitic inscriptions do not contain evidence of the historical Moses. But they are some of the earliest alphabetic inscriptions ever found and therefore constitute important evidence for studying the invention of alphabetic writing, which forms the basis for so much of modern Western society. In particular, they bear witness to the genesis of the alphabet from Egyptian hieroglyphs during the Middle Kingdom.
See Also: The Chief of Miners Mashe/Moshe, the Historical Moses.
By Aren M. Wilson-Wright
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Zurich
March 2017
Click here for article.
Comments (1)
I commented on the original article, suggesting that there is so little in common between Moses the commercial operator, who must have had business dealings with Egypt, that his story could hardly have been close enough to that of the prophetic Moses, miraculously sustained by God, to have been its inspiration. The connection suggested between Yahweh and Ptah was very interesting but I would now think - in the light of what these remarks about the alphabet, with all their implications of cultural connections between the Egyptian and Semitic worlds, tell us - that a conclusion opposite to that which asserts a massive moral and religious breach between Israel and Egypt should be drawn. A more deistic reading of scripture, perhaps?
#1 - Martin Hughes - 03/18/2017 - 18:27