© Charles Chandler

 

Ramose consulted first with Jethro/Isaac,¹ and then Aaron/Thutmose,² and the other Israelite elders,³ and then headed for Egypt,⁴ to urge Horemheb to grant exile to the most ardent & influential Atenists.

 

Before meeting with the pharaoh, the Torah states that God revealed his true name, YHWH, to Moses.⁵ YHWH would seem to be the God of the Shasu, a Transjordan tribe (i.e., the biblical Edomites, Midianites, and Moabites). The adoption of a new name for God would have been strategic — Ramose would pledge that the exiles would renounce Adonai and then blend in with the Shasu, if it would please the pharaoh that the heretics would drop the heresy in return for freedom.

 

Horemheb also met just with Jethro/Isaac, Balaam/Esau, and Job/Jacob, as recorded in the Talmud.⁶ The decision was to grant exile to some of the Atenists, settling them on the East Bank. To prevent them from encroaching on the West Bank, Jacob was recalled from Mitanni to represent the Patriarchs on the northern frontier of Canaan. To establish his rapport with the exiles, he was to escort them through the wilderness. This is recorded as his split with Laban and reunion with Esau in Genesis 31 & 32.