Egyptian Words

It seems logical to think that Moses wrote in Egyptian. You are right, he was educated in Egypt and that surely would have been his first langauge. After all he grew up in Pharaohs household. I am certainly not an expert on ancient Hebrew, but was it even a written language when Moses was alive?

 

Yes, Hebrew definitely was a 'written' language by this time, it would appear.

Since Moses (and also Joshua, his contemporary and successor) specifically 'wrote' at least some (although not necessarily, physically, all, as he/they may well have had the benefit of one or more amanuenses) of the words found in the first six books of the OT, he obviously had to have written it in some language. The understanding of Jesus' hearers and also the testimony of Jesus, himself, is also that Moses 'wrote' at least certain things. Just because Moses was not an eloquent individual (although a forceful one, when it became necessary), did not mean he was not a brilliant one, as he was a very learned individual.

There was also the command given that the kings (to be) were to write out a personal copy of the law of God, as a requirement of their ascension to the throne.

The priests were instructed to write.

And there were the regulations of divorce that one had to write the charges and the order of divorcement before they were valid.

I'm pretty sure that language of all this was not 17th Century English. And I'm also fairly sure Moses and the rest of 'em didn't have a 'lap-top' to type it out on, either. :laugh: :laugh:

Seriously, if these portions of Scripture were first written in the Egyptian language, it seems there would be some indication of this, somewhere. But, to my knowledge, there is no such indication, although Moses surely wrote in Egyptian, as well.

Scriptures rthat attest to the above. (Ex. 24:4; Num. 5:23; 33:2; Deut. 17:18; 24:1-3; 27:3, 8; 31:19, 22, 24; Josh. 8:32; 24:26; Mk. 10:4-5; 12:19; Lk. 20:28; Jn. 1:45; 5:46; Ac. 7:22; Rom. 10:5)

BTW, the writing of the law was not to be done in a sloppy manner, but plainly. (Deut. 27:8)

I'll also toss in a couple more for free, here. First, Moses objected that he was not eloquent. The LORD said that Aaron could supply this eloquence in speaking to Pharoah. Yet I do not believe that you will find that Aaron ever spoke to Pharoah, but only Moses addressed him. Guess Moses was more eloquent than he thought!

And although I have more than once thoroughly enjoyed the movie "The Ten Commandments" (and can barely even conceive of Moses, without seeing the images of Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner, in my mind), and although Rameses was probably either the brother, uncle, or at least the cousin of Moses by adoption, there was still a great deal of 'creative license' taken in this movie, to say the very least. For example, there is absolutely nothing to previously link Moses with Nefertari in any manner. Just one example.

Ed

 

Personally, I dunno', although Moses was definitely educated in Egypt and surely learned in Midian, as well. (Ac. 7:22; Ex. 2:21)

I'm only the Langauge Cop, not the language scholar. :laugh: :laugh:

Ed

 

There are Egyptian names in the Bible: Genesis 41:45 NAB: Pharaoh also bestowed the name of Zaphnath-paneah on Joseph, and he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis.
45] Zaphenath-paneah: a Hebrew transcription of an Egyptian name meaning "the god speaks and he (the new-born child) lives." Asenath: means "belonging to (the Egyptian goddess) Neith." Potiphera: means "he whom Ra (the Egyptian god) gave"; a shorter form of the same name was borne by Joseph's master (Genesis 37:36). Heliopolis: in Hebrew, On, a city seven miles northeast of modern Cairo, site of the chief temple of the sun god; it is mentioned also in Genesis 41:50; 46:20; Ezekiel 30:17.

The name Moses is both Egyptian and Hebrew. In Egyptian, the root word means "born." There are Egyptian kings with this word as part of their names: Thutmose and Ahmose. In Hebrew, it means "to draw out (of water)."