Moses (Torah) reported " nahasim," which can be understood 'two serpents' (as the " -im" if we will consider as a short form of "-ayim", a dual suffix).
They encountered at least two snakes, one is poisonous and the other one is likely not deadly.
Traditionally, snakes when depicted or sculptured must be in a pair. That is attested even by the 1600 BCE Minoan Snake Goddess in Crete. Even in Hazor a bronze sketced with a goddess' head and two snakes is telling us that it was a standard in antiquity to have two copper snakes.
Moses made a change on this tradition, and according to king Rameses III, he treated gods as merely humans.
The people of captain (generals) was led by Moses to Athika in Edom. And this was likely under the permission of the pharaoh (Queen Tausert).
While the other population was in Horma, the " am rabh " (captain people) was headed toward a lake (Edom suph) for water.
" And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the
yam suph [reeds' sea],
to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread,
neither is there any water;
and our soul loathes this light bread.
And YHWH sent burning serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. " -Numbers 21:4-6
Since "edom" means "red," later Jewish Greek writers had translated 'Edom suph' as "Erythra thalassa" ("Red Sea"). And Herodotus (c.440 BCE) called the sea south of this lake as "Erythra" ("Red") as what he had learned from the Judaeans.
There was a locality there called by the Hebrews as "Athakh" (1Samuel 30:30), the same area called by king Rameses III (1186-1155 BCE) as "Atika," and Moses became known as "Musaeos of Attica" probably because of this place.
The group of people Moses hid here were " generals" and coded as "Leprous," most likely so that no foreign enemies would dare to touch them. He mentioned their sending in this way:
" wasalahti (and I will send)
'et-ha (the)
sir'ah (hornets)
lepaneka (ahead of you)
wagerasah (and which shall drive out)
'et-ha-hiwwi (the Hivites),
ha-kana'ani (the Canaanites),
we'et (and)
ha-hitti (the Hittites)
milapaneka (before you)." - Exodus 23:28
Moses plays a pun of word here, including the jargon that only them could quickly comprehend.
"Tsaraath" ("leprosy") is the rootword of both
sir'ah ("hornets, wasps")
and
"Zorah."
This part of people coded as "leprous" is historically also mentioned in the Aegyptiaca (History of Egypt) written by the Egyptian Greek priest Manetho (fl. c. 285 - c. 239 BCE), saying:
"... 'the people of Jerusalem came accordingly upon the Egyptians, ... and for that priest who settled their polity and their law,' he says,' he was by birth of Heliopolis, and his name was
Osarsuph,
[derived] from [the name] Osiris god of Heliopolis, but that he changed his name, and called himself
Moses.'
[Manetho] then says that 'on the 13th year afterward Amenophis [Amenmesse] of his misfortune, came upon them out of
Kush
with a great army, and joining battle with the shepherds and with the polluted people, overcame them in battle, and slew a great many of them, and pursued them as far as bounds in Syria. ...for the leprous people, and the multitude that was with them, although they might formerly have been angry at the king, and at those that had treated them so coarsely, and this according to the prediction of the prophet; yet certainly, when they come out
of the mines,
and had received of the king [Tausert] a city, and a country, they would have grown milder toward him...." - Manetho, Aegyptiaca (preserved in Apion 1.28-29, Josephus)
According to the Egyptian history that Manetho had learned, this incident of Moses (Osarsiph/Yarsu) with a troop of Kush in mining sites (Athika) happened in the Year 13 of pharaoh Amenmeses.
Amenmesse ruled between 1201-1198 BCE, and his Year 13 was in 1190-1189 BCE.
This is an independent extra biblical source written in a national History of Egypt in the 3rd century BCE.
Athika, now known "Timna Valley, Edom," was a mining site. Queen Tausert visited this place in 1190 BCE after the death of her predecessor Siptah. She became the "king of Egypt" (and traditionally, in hieroglyphic writings, masculine pronouns could be used for her when speaking to her as the "king"), and according to Rameses III this "king" conspired with "Yarsu" (Moses).
According to Rameses III, Athika was not heard by his father as it was a secret place that his family did not know earlier. It is expected since the people of generals were hid by Yarsu (Moses) in that place. Queen Tausert made secret about Athika.
"... to the land of
Atika
to the great copper mines which are there. ... It had
not been heard of
since the kings [earlier than me]. Their mines were found and yielded copper ..." - Rameses III (Papyrus Harris I, column 78, lines 1-4)
Yarsu (Osarsu) became the "Chieftain" of pharaoh (Queen Tausert), admitted by Rameses III in his official report in Papyrus Harris I, column 75, lines 3-6.
There in Athika, Edom, Kushite Midianites were very acquainted both by inhabitants and place. And tradition was that to appease the goddess of snakes, they probably need to make replica of snakes.
Why they needed to appease the goddess of snakes?
"... wayamat (and died)
'am (people)
rabh (captain)
miyisra'el (of Israel)." - Numbers 21:6
Many captain people died because of snake bites. But Moses changed the tradition. Instead to make two bronze snakes, he sculptured one and this
"nahas" (snake)
was an advice to him by his God.
Midianites, whether with or without the knowledge of Moses, made another copper snake (and fortunately, archaeologists discovered that very copper snake).
" And YHWH said unto Moses, Make a burning [snake], and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looks upon it, shall live.
And Moses made a copper snake, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to it, he lived. " - Numbers 21:8-9
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