Isaac Fried wrote: “Akhnaton}"Said to be the worshiper of Aten or Aton, which seems tome to be but the Hebrew אדון ADON….” But consider now the name that pharaoh Akhenaten used mostfrequently: wa-n-ra. wa means “one” and implies “the one and only”. -n- is merely an all-purpose connector. ra is the Egyptian god Ra. Now look at the name of the Egyptian priest from On [whereRa was honored] whose daughter Pharaoh gives as a bride to Joseph: P W + -Y- PR( Wa, meaning “one” and implying “the oneand only”, is the first element in Akhenaten’s name wa-n-ra. The name of Joseph’s Egyptian priestlyfather-in-law starts with P W, which is pA wa. That literally means “the one and only”. The phrase pA wa is short for the followingultra-monotheistic phrase that appears in Akhenaten’s Great Hymn to the Aten: pA nTr wa, which means “The one and only God”. Akhenaten’s name wa-n-ra ends with ra,meaning the Egyptian god Ra. Thispriestly name ends with P R(, which everyone agrees is pA ra. That means “The [one and only] Ra”. The particular phrase “pA ra” is found in themost important nobleman’s rock tomb at Amarna (Aye’s tomb), in association withthe younger sister of Akhenaten’s Queen Nefertiti. [After Year 9, Akhenaten used a long Ra-basedname for his deity, not Aten/pA itn.] Do you see my point? If Akhenaten is the Pharaoh of thePatriarchal narratives in Years 13-14, then one could not possibly imagine amore fitting name for Joseph’s Egyptian priestly father-in-law from On thanwhat is in the received text: PW + -Y- P R( = pAwa di -- pA ra, which means: “The oneand only [God] gives -- The [one and only] Ra”. Akhenaten’s name wa-n-ra could be interpreted as implying a similarmeaning, and in any event betrays the same monotheistic mindset honoring the Egyptiangod Ra. Such a monotheistic priestly namehonoring Akhenaten’s god Ra fits the Amarna Age absolutely perfectly [afterYear 9, including in Years 13-14], while not making good sense in any otherhistorical era. Jim Stinehart Evanston, Illinois
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