"And the descendants of Israel did what Moses told them; and from Egyptians they borrowed jewels of
silver, of
gold,
and raiment: And YHWH gave
ha'am
[the people]
favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they gave what they demanded. And
waynatzelu
[thus they PLUNDERED]
Egypt. And the descendants of Israel journeyed from
Rameses
to Succoth, about 600 eleph [head-of-thousand] strong footpersons, aside the little ones. And an
erebh rabh
[mixed general/multitude]
went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle." -Exodus 12:35-38
This was how Moses later was known to the Egyptians: that he was a plunderer, and hence king Rameses III, according to the publication of king Rameses IV, called him with a notorious name
"Yar-su,"
to mean "Plunderer of Authority" (originally understood "He who is a self made man").
From king Rameses II, Moses had received silver & all good things from the king's house, and this event is officially reported on The Stele of Mose, where an army was celebrating Moses.
Moses reported it too in this way:
"Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of
silver,
and jewels of
gold.
And YHWH gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the
man Moses was very great
in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people." -Exodus 11:2-3
Thus, both king Rameses II (1279-1213 BCE) and Exodus 11:2-3 corroborate each other in reporting that Moses was great on the sight of the Egyptian people around 1230 or 1229 BCE.
Rameses II gave silver to Moses, and likely he gave the gold scarab of his father (Seti I) as the possible highest token of permission to travel abroad.
Clay scarabs (commemorative of Thutmose III) released in 1229 BCE were also given by king Rameses II to the people of Yahweh, probably effective as a military token only as long as they would not fight against Egypt.
The gold token (Seti I's scarab) was likely encharged by Moses to Joshua when he announced him as his successor. That gold scarab found its way to Jezreel, the territory of Joshua's tribe, and after 3 thousand years archaeologists discovered it together with a coffin.
According to Exodus 12:36 Moses - by the descendants of Israel - plundered Egypt. Moses did not give the reason why he asked the Hebrews to plunder Egypt with gold, silver, and other valuable things, likely after king Rameses II permitted him to ask any thing from the pharaoh's house, which might have resulted to looting in the temples.
King Setnakhte, the enemy of Yar-su (Moses) & Queen Tausert, revealed the reason why Yar-su plundered silver & gold from the temples of Egypt.
"... The troublemakers before him, after the fear [of Setnakhte] had taken their hearts, they fled away like flocks of small birds with a falcon behind them, leaving behind
gold,
silver
and [... precious materials in] ta-Mery [Egypt]. They had those paid to the Asiatics of the leaders of Egypt to attract them as combatants. Their plans failed and their promises were stranded..." -Setnakhte, Elephantine stela, line 9
According to king Setnakhte's official report, Yar-su's troops were planning to use those gold & silver as a pay to attract Egypt's leaders in Syria-Palestine to be combatants against Egypt.
The Egyptian 19th dynasty (1290-1189 BCE) royal scribe Ipuwer gives details about this plundering, saying:
"III. Indeed, the foreign barbarians came to deserted land, destroyed nomes.
No Egyptians anywhere when men arrived.
Indeed, maidservants strung on their necks
gold
and lapis lazuli,
silver
and turquoise, carnelian and amethyst, Ibhet-stone...
[....]
Indeed, the builders [have become] cultivators, and those who were in the sacred bark are now yoked [to it]. None shall indeed sail northward to
Byblos today;
what shall we do for cedar trees for our mummies, and with the produce of which priests are buried and with the oil of which [chiefs] are embalmed as far as
Keftiu [Caphtor]?
They come no more;
gold is lacking
[. . .] and materials for every kind of craft have come to an end. The [wealth] of the palace is despoiled...
Civil strife is impending without taxes to Upper Egypt's Elephantine and Thinis. Treasury is useless without revenues, as the palace's profit comes from craftsmen, that are lacking grain, charcoal, irtyw-fruit, m'w-wood, nwt-wood, and brushwood. Happy indeed is the heart of the king when truth comes to him!
What we can do if all is ruined as every foreign land is our fate and happiness?
Indeed, no laughter is made; instead groaning that is throughout the land, mingled with complaints.
IV. Indeed, every dead person is as a well-born man. Those who were Egyptians [have become] foreigners and are thrust aside.
[....]
Indeed, that has perished which yesterday was seen, and the land is left over to its weakness like the cutting of flax.
Indeed, the Delta in its entirety will not be hidden, and Lower Egypt puts trust in trodden roads. What can one do? No [secrets] exist anywhere, and men say: "Perdition to the secret place!" Behold, it is in the hands of those who do not know it like those who know it. The
desert dwellers
are skilled in the crafts of the Delta.
[....]
Indeed, all female slaves are free with their tongues, and when their mistress speaks, it is irksome to the maidservants.
Indeed, trees are felled and branches are stripped off.
V.
[....]
Indeed, magnates are hungry and perishing, followers are followed [. . .] because of complaints.
Indeed, the hot-tempered man says: "If I knew where God is, then I would serve Him."
[....]
Indeed, runners are fighting over the spoil [of] the robber, and all his property is carried off.
Indeed, all animals, their hearts weep; cattle moan because of the state of the land.
Indeed, the children of princes are dashed against walls, and the children of the neck are laid out on the high ground. Khnum groans because of his weariness.
Indeed, terror kills; the frightened man opposes what is done against your enemies. Moreover, the few are pleased, while the rest are [not well]. Is it by following the crocodile and cleaving it asunder? Is it by slaying the lion roasted on the fire? [Is it] by sprinkling for Ptah and taking [. . .]? Why do you give to him? There is no reaching him. It is misery which you give to him.
Indeed, slaves . . . throughout the land, and the strong man sends to everyone; a man strikes his maternal brother. What is it that has been done? I speak to a ruined man.
Indeed, the ways are [opened], the roads are watched; men sit in the bushes until the benighted traveler comes in order to
plunder
his burden, and what is upon him is taken away. He is belabored with blows of a stick and murdered.
Indeed, that has perished which yesterday was seen, and the land is left over to its weakness like the cutting of flax, commoners coming and going in dissolution [. . .].
VI. Would that there were an end of men, without conception, without birth! Then would the land be quiet from noise and tumult be no more.
[....]
Indeed, everywhere barley has perished and men are stripped of clothes, spice, and oil; everyone says: "There is none." The storehouse is empty and its keeper is stretched on the ground; a happy state of affairs! . . .
[....]
Indeed, the writings of the scribes of the cadaster are destroyed, and the corn of Egypt is common property.
Indeed, the laws of the council chamber are thrown out; indeed, men walk on them in public places, and
poor men
break them up in the streets.
Indeed, the
poor man
has attained to the state of the Nine Gods, and the erstwhile procedure of the House of the Thirty is divulged.
Indeed, the great council-chamber is a popular resort, and
poor men
come and go to the Great Mansions.
[....]
Indeed, those who were in the place of embalmment are laid out on the high ground, and the secrets of the embalmers are thrown down because of it.
VII. Behold, the fire has gone up on high, and its burning goes forth against the enemies of the land.
Behold, things have been done which have not happened for a long time past; the king has been deposed by the rabble.
[....]
Behold, it has befallen that the land has been deprived of the kingship by a
few lawless men.
Behold, men have fallen into rebellion against the Uraeus, the [. . .] of Re, even she who makes the Two Lands content.
Behold, the secret of the land whose limits were unknown is divulged, and the Residence is thrown down in a moment.
Behold, Egypt is fallen to pouring of water, and
he who poured water
on the ground has carried off the strong man in misery." - Ipuwer, III-VII
King Setnakhte summarized it by saying that the "land was in turmoil, Egypt had fallen into neglect of God" because all Egypt's temples were closed and no offering were prepared to enter the warehouses (Elephantine stela, lines 4,8). He also reported that Amon's high priest Bakenkhonsu had seen the images of gods & ancestors were fractured & fallen.
King Rameses III reasoned out that Yar-su (Moses) did not recognize Egyptian gods as superior than humans & influenced people in the land under the dominion of the pharaoh to do not give offerings to the temples. According to Rameses III, Yarsu (Moses) made this practice since the time of Rameses the Great (1230 BCE) till the time of Queen Tausert (1189 BCE).
Egyptian priest Manetho reported that Moses was from the lineage of priests in Heliopolis (On), which is correct because Joseph the Dreamer became a priest in Heliopolis. He translated Moses' Egyptian name "Yah-Mesu" aka "Yarsu" into "Osarsu" (Hellenized "Osarsiph").
In the 3rd century BCE Egyptian official history, Manetho (fl. c.286 - c.240 BCE) wrote:
"...when these [shepherds] were gotten into Avaris [Hwt-w'rt],
... they appointed themselves a ruler out of the priests of Heliopolis, whose name was
Osarsiph
and they took their oaths that they would be obedient to him in all things. He then, in the first place, made this law for them, that they should neither worship the Egyptian gods, nor should abstain from any one of those sacred animals which they have in the highest esteem, but kill and destroy them all; that they should join themselves to nobody but to those that were of this confederacy. When he had made such laws as these, and many more such as we're mainly opposite to the customs of the Egyptians,..." (Aegyptiaca, preserved in Against Apion, book 1, section 26)
Manetho used the other description for Osiris, which is "yah" that for Egyptian language means "moon," which was referring to the other aspect of Osiris.
"It was also reported that the priest, who ordained their polity and their laws, was by birth of Heliopolis, and his name Osarsiph, from Osyris, who was the god of Heliopolis; but that when he was gone over to these people, his name was changed, and he was called Moses."
- Manetho, Aegyptiaca (preserved in Against Apion 1.28)
Manetho was more prank than Rameses III and reported that Moses... "first ordained that they should neither worship the gods, nor abstain from those animals that were worshipped by the Egyptians, but should kill and eat them all..."
Moses ordered that on their Passover festival Hebrews must eat lambs, which were Egyptian considered physical manifestation of god Amon and an abomination to be eaten.
King Setnakhte called these "poor men" as
"nn nj sty.w" ("these dirty [men]"),
a possible pun of word for "dusty" ('Apiru) people of Negev (south Judah) and for their sacrilegious activities to abandon Egyptian temples, as
"sty"
is Egyptian for "dirty, messy," and with plural marker
"-w"
it may refer to the desert men of Negev, as archaelogically evidenced that the troops of Yar-su (Moses) destroyed Egyptian idols in Timna Valley, Edom in 1190 BCE.
Not only in Ipuwer's report or archaeological findings, but also in pharaoh's official document that the said troops had made the destruction are reported. King Setnakhte in 1186 BCE mentioned that Amon's high priest Bakenkhonsu
"...had seen the images of the highly praises and the images of the ancestors, the images of the noble kings, have fallen into a state of broken in the court of the gates of the court of the temple [of Karnak], by the hands of poor people fell on their fronts."
The report of this quartz stela corroborates what Ipuwer was complaining.
And king Rameses III (1186-1155 ) have summarized what had happened from the latter part of the reign of king Rameses II (1230 BCE) till Queen Tausert's last year (1189 BCE), which was the 1st year of king Setnakhte, as follows:
"The land belonging to Egypt was abandoned abroad, and disloyalty was in every man because they had no chief-mouth for many years at the start [Rameses II] until the time of others [Merneptah & Seti II] when the land belonging to Egypt was formerly under [our] mayors and city-rulers; one [Amenmesse] was killed, his successor [Siptah] was a dignitary of wretches. Another [Queen Tausert] after him was in empty years, when
Su,
a Kharu [of Seir],
with them acted as outsider
GREAT [chief],
making the entire land serving him alone, and he joined his dependents in
PLUNDERING
their properties, and he treated gods as just like humans, that no man was presenting offerings inside the temple." - King Rameses III, Papyrus Harris I, 75.3-6, published by king Rameses IV on April 9th, 1155 BCE
The land abroad that was formerly under the influence of Egypt was all serving Yar-su (Moses) alone. Ipuwer gives the hints: Byblos and Caphtor, were now under the man who made the pharaoh ruined.
In the Bible, it is reported that during the exodus of Israel YHWH freed Peleset (Philistines) from Caphtor, and it's likely by Moses.
"Are ye not as children of the Kushiyim [Kushites] unto me, O descendants of Israel? says YHWH. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?" - Amos 9:7
Caphtor is an island from where Philistines were sailing to nearby Tyre & Sidon.
"Because of the day that comes to plunder all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyre and Zidon every helper that remains: for YHWH will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the
iy-Kaptor
[island of Caphtor]." -Jeremiah 47:4
King Rameses II (1279-1213 BCE) captured these men from Cyprus, and identified them as Caphtorim & men of Alashiya. These men from Cyprus island tried to penetrate Egypt, but the pharaoh did not permit them.
Moses allowed them to dwell in Gaza, probably as a buffer against non-members of their confederation. This was how YHWH saved Philistine ancestors (known "Caphtorim" unto Moses).
"Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the reed's sea, as YHWH spoke unto me: and we compassed Mt. Seir many days.
And when you come nigh over against the descendants of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give you of the land of the children of Ammon any possession... And the Avims [Gueans] which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah [Gaza], the
Caphtorims,
who came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead." -Deuteronomy 2:1,19,23
This gives clarity to the report of Ipuwer why Egyptians could not sail to Byblos as far as Caphtor. Because YHWH was freeing Philistines from Caphtor in Cyprus island during exodus (known "Late Bronze Age Collapse" in history) as Moses was active there in Asher, later known Phoenicia.
Balaam Ben-Beor, in 1190 BCE, revealed a military secret describing that a back up of Israel to deal the Asshurites to save Kenites (family of priest Jethro Reuel) was a fleet of ships coming from Kittim (Kition) or Cyprus.
"...and Israel shall do valiantly.
And
ships
shall come from the coast of Khittim, and shall afflict Asshur..." -Numbers 24:18,24
In the Battle of Kishon in 1208 BCE, prophetess Deborah revealed that the sailors were men of Asher & Dan, who were also identified by king Rameses III as Weshesh and Denyen, respectively.
"... and why did
Dan
remain in ships? Asher continued on the seas, and abode in his breaches. The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money. They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.
The river of Kishon swept them away, that Kedumim river, the river Kishon. O my soul, you have trodden down strength.
Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent." - Judges 5:17,19-21,24
The incident of the defeat of Qishon of Jabin to the Band of Deborah is officially discernable from the Great Asiatic List 23.21 of king Rameses II (1279-1213) and Topographical list 27.85 of king Rameses III (1186-1155 BCE). Qishon and Kedumim were both mentioned by king Rameses II (1270-1213 BCE).
The Battle of Kishon took place in 1208 BCE and was also reported by king Merneptah when the disturbances came to his ears, particularly the problem that the wandering no permanent Israel of many men & women was causing in the border of Egypt in Seir (Kharu) and Yenoam near Rukkath, and the plunder that the Canaanites had done.
Year 2 of Setnakhte, who started to revolt against pharaoh Tausert in 1190 BCE, when Moses died on circa 24th February 1189 BCE and a few weeks, around March 10 more or less, Queen Tausert died, too, the mayors and officers abroad who were sympathetic to Egypt (that is to traditionalists), went to Setnakhte and greeted him on 22nd March, 1189 BCE, saying about the death of these two major enemies, saying:
"Your heart is joyful, Lord of this country!
That's what the [Egyptian] god foretold
happened!
Your enemies, they are no longer on Earth."
- Elephantine stela, line 15 (official report of king Setnakhte).
If king Rameses II deliberately erased the record about Mohy, the general behind the successes of his father (Seti I), and altered the wordings on the Stele of Mose, king Rameses III,on the other hand, did not include the names of Siptah and Queen Tausert from the list of Egyptian historical pharaohs.
The army that was on Queen Tausert's side was now leaning toward to Setnakhte.
"There is no power of an army or chariots
except that of your father Seth!"
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