© Charles Chandler

 

Armarna era statue in the Brooklyn Museum, thought to represent Ankhesenamun, sister and wife to Tutankhamun.

© 2007 Keith Schengili-Roberts

Then, in 1323 bce, Tutankhamun died, and his wife Ankhesenamun disappeared shortly thereafter. By this time in Judges, Otni'El was taking Kirjath Sepher, for which he was given Aksah's hand in marriage. Perhaps Aksah was Ankhesenamun, who had decided that she wasn't interested in Ay (or vice versa), and who opted to fall in with Moses instead, thereafter being known by her nickname. If so, the mention of "upper and lower springs" would have been references to the Upper and Lower Nile,¹ inserted to identify her as a former queen of Egypt. Perhaps this was the Cushite marriage that Aaron & Miriam criticized,² not the marriage to Zipporah, who was a Midianite (or a Mitannian — see the article on Jethro, Balaam, & Job), nor to Merit-Ptah, who seems to have been from Memphis.^3:42 A chunk of Jewish lore first published in 1552 ce (i.e., before Egyptian hieroglyphics were deciphered, and before Amarna was unearthed) agreed that Moses' Cushite wife was a former queen, who married Moses after the king died,^4:ch73:31 consistent with Ankhesenamun going with Moses after Tutankhamun died. It went on to give her name — Adoniya — which was an Atenist name, suggesting that she had been a queen at Amarna. If we're looking for an Amarna queen, of Ethiopian descent, whose pharaoh (also of Ethiopian descent) died after 1329 bce, Ankhesenamun is the only candidate. We can then set the date of the marriage of Otni'El & Aksah at ~1322 bce, a year or so after Tut died, and identify them with Ra'Moses-Hermes & Ankhesenamun.