By Rev. C.J. Barry Kentner
His name was Senenmut…but in research, author and investigative journalist Scott Alan Roberts Identifies him as Moses. Antonio Crasto also, in an Italian-language article entitled Senenmut, gives the same name for the same person…Moses.
This is the Moses of the Bible…a “Friend of God,” daughter of a Pharoh, Leader of the massive march of Israelites from Bondage in Egypt, to Freedom in the Promised Land!
Egyptian records, clearly show that this man called Senenmet was of a decidedly low, or common birth; no royalty. Yet before he disappeared from the scene, after forty years, he had risen to the highest ranks of Egyptian Society in the 14th Century B.C.E.
According to Scripture, Moses was drawn from the waters of the Nile River at a time when Hebrew male children were murdered by the law of the land. He was given to his mother until he was weaned and then taken into the Palace.
Moses grew up in the Palace and was given all the finer things including the highest education an Egyptian could have. All this because he was looked on as the son of Hatshepsut, daughter of Thutmose 1, Shee succeeded him as Pharoh on his death. Before that, though, she had helped in bestowing Almost 90 titles on Senenment including Hereditary Crown Prince of Egypt, Royal Vizier, and Chief Royal Architect.
Roberts. and John Richard Ward co-authored the book “Exodus Reality in 2014. Remee Dreyfuss and Cathleen Keller wrote the book “Hatshepeut: from Queen to Pharoh”. Both Books explain that Senenmut means “Mothers Brother”. As Roberts explains… “the title (one of many given him) allowed him equal status with his adoptive mother which in turn allowed him to claim the equal status of “brother to the gods!”
According to Jewish Historian Josephus, and also to Crato and third-century B.C.E. Jewish historian Artapanus, Senenmut was active as a brigade commander in Kush (Ethiopia) in his earlier years. He was also among other things, a Royal Architect….and in his third period of Life he was responsible for building a tabernacle, and a “Pillared Complex” in the Desert against a Mountain..(Exodus 24: 4)
Senenmet disappeared from the Egyptian Scene about the same time as Moses, at the age of forty, after killing an Egyptian. He escaped into the Dessert, and according to Scripture, he went to work for the Priest of Midian as a shepherd until he was 80. Then he re-appeared on Egypt’s doorstep with the Command…(from God) to “Let my people go'”.
Dating, according to 1st Kings, chapter 6, verse 1; 480 years elapsed between the Exodus and the start of construction of King Solomon’s Temple. Judges 11:26 and 1 Chronicles chapter 6 are co-incident with archeological texts on this, and so in the third phase of his life Moses led Israel until they came to the “Promised Land” in approximately 1406 B.C.E. While he led them to the land, he never entered. Because of his disobedience at Horeb, (see the veiled reference in Exodus l7, verses 5-6, and the complete story in Deuteronomy Chapter 34. In the poem “The Burial of Moses”…by Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895) we find his demise.
The Burial of Moses
By Nebo’s lonely mountain,
On this side Jordan’s wave,
In a vale in land of Moab,
There lies a lonely grave;
But no man built that sepulchre…
And no man saw it e’er;
For the angels of God upturned the sod
And laid the dead man there.
That was the grandest funeral
That ever passed on earth;
Yet no man heard the trampling,
Or saw the train go forth;
Noiselessly as the daylight
Comes as night is done,
And the crimson streak on Ocean’s cheek
Grows into the great sun;
Noiselessly as the spring-time
Her crown of verdures weaves;
And all the trees on all the hills
Unfold their Thousand leaves
So without the sound of music
Or voice of them that wept,
Silently down from the mountain’s crown
The great procession swept.
Perhaps the bald old eagle
On gray Beth-peor’s height
Out of his rocky eyry
Looked on the wondrous sight;
Perchance the lion, stalking,
Still shuns that hallowed spot;
For beast and bird have seen and heard
That which man knoweth not.
But when the warrior dieth.
His comrades of the war
With arms reversed, and muffled drums,
Follow the funeral car.
They show the banners taken,
They tell of battles won,
And after him lead, his masterless steed,
While peals the minute gun.
Amid noblest of the land
Men lay the sage to rest
And give the bard an honoured place
With costly marbles dressed.
In the great minster transept
Where lights like glories fall.
And the sweet choir sings, and the organ rings
Along the emblazoned hall,
This was the bravest warrior
That ever-buckled sword;
This the most gifted poet
That ever breathed a word;
And never Earth’s philosopher
Traced with his golden pen,
On the deathless page
Truths half so large
As he wrote down for men,
And had he, not high honor?
The hillside for his pall!
To lie in state while angels wait
With stars for tapers tall!
And the dark rock pines like tossing plumes
Over his bier to wave,
And God’s own hand, in that lonely land
To lay him in his grave!
In that deep grave, without a name
Whence his uncoffined clay
Shall break again — oh wondrous thought
Before the judgment day,
And stand, with glory wrapped around,
On hills, he never trod’
And speak of the strife that won our life
With the incarnate Son of God
Oh lonely tomb in Moab’s’ land
Oh dark Beth-peor’s hill
Speak to these curious hearts of ours,
And teach them to be still;
God hath His Mysteries of Grace;
Ways that we cannot tell.
He hides them deep, like the secret sleep
Of Him, he loved so well.
