Akhnaton’s Theophany

by Damien F. Mackey And this religious awakening on the part of Na’aman: ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel’, his theophany, was at the very root of pharaoh Akhnaton’s Atonism: ‘O Sole God beside whom there is none!’ (Hymn to Aton). Akhnaton (Akhenaten), that most misunderstood of pharaohs – including by myself – was definitely not chronologically capable of having influenced Moses (c. 1500 BC) in his religion (as per Sigmund Freud, Moses and Monotheism, 1939). Even Akhnaton’s highly-inflated, conventionally-dated location, c. 1352 - 1336 BC, would have made him at least a century too late for that; but Akhnaton’s proper historical locus in the El Amarna [EA] age, coincided with - as first determined by Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky (Ages in Chaos, I, 1952) - the C9th BC period known as the Divided Kingdom of Israel. Akhnaton was a younger contemporary of kings Ahab of Israel and Jehoshaphat of Judah. This necessary historical re-location of pharaoh Akhnaton also means that he could not have, as some think, influenced King David’s Psalm 104, despite the incredible similarities that have been found between parts of it and Akhnaton’s wonderful Hymn to Aton. The reverse now has to be the case. One of these great hymns must have influenced the other - but it is King David’s Psalm 104, alone, that could have influenced the Aton Hymn. Not vice versa. There can be found on the Internet plenty of side-by-side comparisons of these two hymns, such as, for instance, “Psalm 104 is almost a duplicate of the Egyptian Hymn to Aten”. (factsaboutreligion.wordpress.com) Pharaoh Akhnaton was influenced, as we shall find, not only by King David, but by Israelite Yahwism in general, specifically during the period of the ministry of the prophet Elisha. How did such a connection come about, between Israel and Egypt? Or, was pharaoh Akhnaton not actually an Egyptian? And, if not, who was this Akhnaton? Getting back to Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky, we learn that a contemporary of Akhnaton’s EA era was a Syrian (Amurru) raider named Aziru. Dr. Velikovsky would, using multiple biblical-EA comparisons, wonderfully succeed in identifying EA’s Aziru with the biblical Syrian, Hazael, a younger contemporary of kings Ahab and Jehoshaphat. Now, this king Hazael of Syria might have been just the sort of person who had experienced a religious theophany beneficial to Israel. How else to explain the fact that Hazael - whose only appearances in the Bible under that name seem to have involved assassination and killing - was chosen by Yahweh in the ‘Sinai Commission’ (in communication with the prophet Elijah) to become an instrument for purging the land of the House of Ahab, and for purging the ancient world of the scourge of Baalism? Otherwise, why choose a Syrian, and not an Israelite like Jehu (who, indeed, was also chosen) to accomplish this? The answer to this question will lead us to a genuine Syrian theophany, and eventually back to Akhnaton and his religious awakening. Hazael, the Syrian, was specifically selected to carry out the designs of Yahweh because he had experienced a profound religious conversion. (He was also a Syrian killing machine, another necessary attribute for this assignment). His surprising selection as a triumvir in the Sinai Commission makes it inevitable, I think, that Hazael must have been the, formerly, military commander, the Syrian captain Na’aman, a leper, healed anew by the prophet Elisha. And this religious awakening on the part of Na’aman: ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel’, his theophany, was at the very root of pharaoh Akhnaton’s Atonism: ‘O Sole God beside whom there is none!’ (Hymn to Aton). Through EA’s Aziru, so well identified by Dr. Velikovsky with Hazael, the Syrian-Egyptian connection can be established. For the Great Harris Papyrus [GHP] informs us that, at this approximate time, a (possibly Syrian) invader, Arsa (Irsu), or Aziru, took possession of Egypt, closed the temples there, and toppled the gods, treating the Egyptian religion with contempt. Most fortuitously for my argument, Dr. David Rohl has shown that this name Arsa (Irsu) can be linguistically equated with the name Asa-el, or Hazael - Dr. Rohl having no intention, though, of actually identifying the invader of Egypt with Hazael. The GHP account of Arsa’s rampage in Egypt fits very well with what Akhnaton did there. Though, seen through the prism of Akhnaton, Arsa’s activities will appear far less vandalistic. Something similar had been done centuries before, when the Asiatic Hyksos had invaded Egypt and had closed down the temples there - though only in some parts. But the Hyksos had by no means replaced the Egyptian polytheism with any sort of monotheistic Atonism. A far closer parallel to Arsa’s-Akhnaton’s impact upon Egypt is to be found in Manetho’s account of the semi-legendary priest, Osarsiph (Osar = Arsa?), who some scholars think must be based on Akhnaton himself. Most interestingly, in my context, Osarsiph was said to have ruled a leper colony in Egypt. The leper aspect may need to be explored further in light of Na’aman’s leprous background. The large book entitled, Death on the Horizon. Osteoethnography of the People of Akhetaton, might well be worth reading in this regard. The interesting writer James K. Hoffmeier has written a book about pharaoh Akhnaton’s “theophany”, Akhenaten and the Origins of Monotheism; an immediate problem with which, though, would be, especially in connection with the Origins of any-something, Hoffmeier’s conventionally accepted C14th BC dating for pharaoh Akhnaton. According to a review of his most relevant chapter, “Finding Aten and Founding Akhet-Aten” (oxford.universitypress.com): This critical chapter examines the development of Atenism, seeking an explanation for what prompted this revolution. Taking his cue from the name of the temple, Gem-Pa-Aten (used of a temple at Amarna and in Nubia), and means something like “the Aten is found”, it is suggested that this name refers to an original theophany that motivated the religious changes that followed. Other texts hint that he experienced a theophany and by revelation was urged to build a new capital, which occurred at Tell-el-Amarna and was named Akhet-Aten. The boundary stelae around Akhet-Aten suggest that Aten discovered this sacred spot for the king, just as previously Aten was discovered by the king.’ [End of quote] Now compare: King David’s (Psalm 131:14 Douay; var. 132:14): “This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it”, with Queen Hatshepsut’s (Karnak obelisk base inscription): “I know that Karnak is God’s dwelling upon earth … the Place of his Heart …”, with Pharaoh Akhnaton’s vow never to leave the city of Akhetaton. (Graham Phillips, Act of God, 1998, p. 58): “Accompanied by Nefertiti, Meritaten, and a second daughter, Meketaten, [Akhnaton] mounted his state chariot, drove to the southernmost edge of the town and swore that he would never again leave the holy city”. The golden thread through all of this is Davidic. Hatshepsut’s Steward and (probably) consort was Senenmut, who was David’s very son, the famous King Solomon. Davidic and Solomonic (and even Genesis) wisdom pervaded Hatshepsut’s Egypt. Previously I wrote on this (“Solomon and Sheba”, SISR 1997:1, p. 11): … Baikie states that …. In language that ‘might have come straight out of the Book of Psalms’, the queen continues, ‘I did it under [Amon-Ra’s] command; it was he who led me. I conceived no works without his doing …. I slept not because of his temple; I erred not from that which he commanded. … I entered into the affairs of his heart. I turned not my back on the City of the All-Lord; but turned to it the face. I know that Karnak is God’s dwelling upon earth; … the Place of his Heart; which wears his beauty …’. Baikie continues, unaware that it really was the Psalms and the sapiential words of David and Solomon, that influenced Hatshepsut’s prayer ‘The sleepless eagerness of the queen for the glory of the temple of her god, and her assurance of the unspeakable sanctity of Karnak as the divine dwelling-place, find expression in almost the very words which the Psalmist used to express his … duty towards the habitation of the God of Israel, and his certainty of Zion’s sanctity as the abiding-place of Jehovah ‘Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids. Until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob - For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell; for I have desired it’.’ Akhnaton, the Syrian convert to Yahwism, naturally absorbed much of this Israelite influence, his most famous hymn being based heavily upon King David’s Psalm 104, as we have read. It was only fitting, then, that Akhnaton would represent his holy city, Akhetaton, for whose location he, too, had prayerfully searched, along Davidic lines for Jerusalem, and that Hatshepsut had emulated for her city of Karnak. A Concluding Note Who would have thought that the Sinai Commission’s reach would have led to the attempted eradication of paganism (Baalism) even as far away as the land of Egypt? ‘NOW I KNOW THAT THERE IS NO GOD IN ALL THE WORLD EXCEPT IN ISRAEL’. 2 KINGS 5:15