We often think of the classic texts – the Torah, the Midrash – but there's a whole other world of accounts out there, often written by those not so fond of the Jewish people. Let's delve into one of those now.
We’ve already heard from Manetho, an Egyptian priest who spun a rather unflattering version of the Exodus story. Now, let's turn to another Egyptian writer, Cheremon, who also offers his own… unique… perspective. The historian Josephus, in his work Against Apion, quotes Cheremon directly, and it's a wild ride.
Cheremon, like Manetho, identifies the pharaoh of the Exodus as Amenophis, and his son as Ramesses. So far, so… normal, at least for these accounts. But then things take a sharp turn.
"The goddess Isis appeared to Amenophis in his sleep," Cheremon writes, "and blamed him that her temple had been demolished in the war." Talk about divine discontent! But here’s where it gets really interesting.
Apparently, a "sacred scribe" named Phritiphantes advises Amenophis that to stop these troubling visions, he needs to purge Egypt of "men that had pollutions upon them." That's a loaded phrase, isn't it? What exactly does "pollutions" mean? Well, in Cheremon's narrative, it translates to Amenophis rounding up two hundred and fifty thousand "diseased" individuals and kicking them out of the country.
And who are these unfortunate souls led by? None other than Moses and Joseph, cast here as scribes whose names were originally Egyptian – Moses being Tisithen and Joseph Peteseph. According to Cheremon, these two lead the exiles to Pelusium, where they encounter another three hundred and eighty thousand people abandoned by Amenophis (he apparently couldn't be bothered to transport them all). Moses and Joseph then form an alliance with this group and launch an attack on Egypt.
Amenophis, unable to withstand this onslaught, flees to Ethiopia, leaving his pregnant wife behind. She gives birth in secret to a son named Messene. Messene, upon reaching adulthood, pursues the Jews into Syria with an army of two hundred thousand, and then welcomes his father, Amenophis, back from exile.
Think about the implications here. Cheremon is attempting to rewrite Jewish history, painting the Exodus not as a divine liberation, but as the expulsion of diseased people led by rebellious scribes. It's a blatant attempt to discredit the Jewish narrative and portray them as a source of impurity and unrest.
What’s fascinating is how these counter-narratives, however outlandish, persisted. They reveal the anxieties and prejudices of the time. While we might dismiss Cheremon's account as mere propaganda, it's a stark reminder that history is rarely a simple, straightforward story. It's a complex tapestry woven with different perspectives, biases, and agendas. And understanding those different threads is crucial to understanding the bigger picture.