Akhenaten: Failed Prophet of God?

[ChristianNationalist]

One of the lost religious visionaries of history is Akhenaten. I'm sure many here are familiar with him; for those who aren't he attempted to institute a monotheistic faith in the god "Aten" and initially saw success. Unfortunately his faith did not long survive him and he was purposefully wiped from records and simply referred to as "the enemy." Today his wife Nefertitti and son Tutenkhamen are far better known.

Some even theorize his grandfather was Joseph, son of Jacob, and Freud even claimed that Moses was an Atenist priest forced to flee Egypt in the wake of Akhenaten's death. Akhenaten wrot the Great Hymn of Aten below:

<DL><DD>

<DL><DD>How manifold it is, what thou hast made! <DD>They are hidden from the face (of man). <DD>O sole god, like whom there is no other! <DD>Thou didst create the world according to thy desire, <DD>Whilst thou wert alone: All men, cattle, and wild beasts, <DD>Whatever is on earth, going upon (its) feet, <DD>And what is on high, flying with its wings. </DD></DL><DL><DD>The countries of Syria and Nubia, the land of Egypt, <DD>Thou settest every man in his place, <DD>Thou suppliest their necessities: <DD>Everyone has his food, and his time of life is reckoned. <DD>Their tongues are separate in speech, <DD>And their natures as well; <DD>Their skins are distinguished, <DD>As thou distinguishest the foreign peoples. <DD>Thou makest a Nile in the underworld, <DD>Thou bringest forth as thou desirest <DD>To maintain the people (of Egypt) <DD>According as thou madest them for thyself, <DD>The lord of all of them, wearying (himself) with them, <DD>The lord of every land, rising for them, <DD>The Aton of the day, great of majesty.</DD></DL>

</DD></DL>

 

[handy]

I don't know about Moses and Joseph's part in Akhenaten's story.

However, I don't think that Akhenaten was a prophet of God. That he realized the truth of monotheism is clear, but it wasn't the God of Abraham, Issac and Israel that he was worshiping. Had it been so, he would have said so.

 

[for_his_glory]

Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Deuteronomy 7:25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God.

Akhenaten was no prophet of God nor did he ever recognize God as he was a Pharaoh who worshiped idols as in sun worshiping and making graven images to the sun as his god.

In your words, he attempted to institute a monotheistic faith in the god "Aten" and initially saw success. Yes he was successful in instituting the monotheistic faith of sun worshiping that was an abomination to the one an only true God of heaven and earth.

 

[Vic C.]

I don't know about Moses and Joseph's part in Akhenaten's story.

However, I don't think that Akhenaten was a prophet of God. That he realized the truth of monotheism is clear, but it wasn't the God of Abraham, Issac and Israel that he was worshiping. Had it been so, he would have said so.

Hey Dora, I've never seen that name in Scripture, so of course I agree. ;)

 

[ChristianNationalist]

It seems people are caught up in the name "Aten", as if we know God's real name. We don't even know today how to pronounce YHWH (we guess Yahweh); we also know him by Elohim, Adonai, and Jehovah. Even YHWH means basically "to be" and when asked to identify himself by Moses he simply identified himself by "I am that I am." All names we have for God are our own creation, he has no need for a name and even Jesus doesn't name him.

As for the sun worship part, that's actually an inaccurate description.

However in the ninth year of his reign Akhenaten declared a more radical version of his new religion by declaring Aten not merely the supreme god, but the only god, and that he, Akhenaten, was the only intermediary between the Aten and his people. He even staged the ritual regicide of Amun, and ordered the defacing of Amun's temples throughout Egypt. Key features of Atenism included a ban on idols and other images of the Aten, with the exception of a rayed solar disc, in which the rays (commonly depicted ending in hands) appear to represent the unseen spirit of Aten. New temples were constructed, in which the Aten was worshipped in the open sunlight, rather than in dark temple enclosures, as the old gods had been.

Although idols were banned - even in people's homes - these were typically replaced by functionally equivalent representations of Akhenaten and his family venerating the Aten, and receiving the ankh (breath of life) from him. The radicalisation of Year 9 (including spelling Aten phonetically instead of using the rayed solar disc) may be due to a determination on the part of Akhenaten to enforce a probable misconception among the common people that Aten was really a type of sun god like Ra. Instead, the idea was reinforced that such representations were representations above all of concepts - of Aten's universal presence - not of physical beings or things.

source

Aten was not a sun god, he was THE GOD. All images of him were banned save for one very specific symbol, which is no different than the Christian God being represented by a cross and Allah by a crescent moon.

 

[handy]

I'm not particularly caught up in the name of Akhenaten's god, but rather simply the fact that it wasn't the God of the Hebrew people. According to the dates, this would be in the time of the 400 enslavement of the Hebrews and after 400 years, I'm sure many of the northern Egyptians were well acquainted with the Hebrew's God. If the one true God had indeed revealed Himself to Akhenaten, then Akhenaten would have known that He was the God of the Hebrew slaves and would have said so. Had an Egyptian Pharaoh embraced the God of the Hebrews, I think Jewish historians would have known...as a matter of fact, it probably would have wound up in the Scriptures.

All images of him were banned save for one very specific symbol, which is no different than the Christian God being represented by a cross and Allah by a crescent moon.

This is an interesting point. To me, I don't see the cross as being a representation of God, but rather just a symbol of our faith. To be Christian, at the most fundamental level, is to be one who has faith that Christ died upon the cross for the remission of sin...and that is what the cross symbolizes. However, others might have the view that the cross represents Christ Himself.

To your point though that the disc with arms was to be only a representative of Aten and not Aten himself, if that is what history states then it's most likely true. However, even though the Law hadn't been in force by then, had this been a true revelation of God to Akhenaten, he would have also known not to make any representation of Him. Especially one that would be involved in worship as the armed disc was.

 

[ChristianNationalist]

I want to make sure that people know I'm not claiming Aten is God, I'm simply intrigued by the very possibility.

If he had said it was the god of the Hebrews, would the religion have lasted even 20 years? He weaned the Egyptians off of polytheism slowly, taking 9 years just to get to the step of banning other gods. The Egyptians had been polytheistic for 1500 years, old habits die hard.

The disk wasn't a representation of Aten, it was a representation of Atenism. Just as the cross isn't a representation of God or Jesus, but a representation of Christianity. We don't know if the disc was used in worship, all the details of Atenism was destroyed by the priests of Amun after they regained power. They strike me as being very similar to the Pharasees, more wrapped up in dogma than in true faith. And to be honest, the crucifix comes a lot closer to being a graven image than the solar disc does. Seriously, we have a statue of Jesus Christ nailed to a cross; for anyone who believes in the trinity that's a very vivid representation of God.

Akhenaten reigned about 1352-1335 B.C., which is during the life of Moses. In fact, assuming the Jewish belief that Moses was born in 1390 B.C. to be true he would have been born during the life of Akhenaten's father, Amenhotep III. Amenhotep would have been the pharaoh who ordered the murder of all newborn Hebrews, and it would have been in his household he would have been raised. Assuming he was in his early 20s when he fled (logical because he was at the time unmarried) that would put the time of his return at around 1330.

This date would put his return during the short reign of a young Tutankhamun. This is very interesting, as the priests of Amun were reasserting their power. Think on this, for 20 years the old gods were banished to be replaced by one true god. A few years after Akhenaten's death (possibly through poisoning) and the priests of Amun dominating a weak pharaoh Moses (who by this timeline would have been raised as a brother of Akhenaten) arrives demanding they free the Hebrews in the name of God. This coincidence is incredible. Another coincidence is that the years around this time in Egypt are known for being plague-stricken, perhaps the Biblical Plague?

Is it possible that God first gave the Egyptians a chance to recognize him through Akhenaten, who the Egyptians saw as god on Earth? Almost immediately after monotheism is rejected by them he sends Moses to demand the freedom of his people, as Egypt has failed to embrace the opportunity afforded them they must now suffer God's wrath. Just as Amenhotep murdured the first-born sons of the Jews God struck down the first-born sons of Egypt. Just as they made the Jews suffer God made them suffer through plagues. All this was inflicted on the Egyptians only after they had rejected the opportunity for forgiveness Akhenaten afforded them.

Considering the tales of Moses were passed down for centuries before being put to paper (or papyrus) it wouldn't be unusual for the contributions of the pharaoh (ruler of the very people who oppressed them) would have been forgotten. When examined closely it's truly remarkable how the events that surround the life of Akhenaten parallel the tale of Moses.

 

[handy]

Oh, I think this is a facinating discussion. Just because I might be taking the "other side" as it were, doesn't mean I don't find it just as intriguing. :yes

We don't know if the disc was used in worship, all the details of Atenism was destroyed by the priests of Amun after they regained power.

Not all of them. Not the information you're sharing...nor were these images which do show Akhenaten using the disc in worship.

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As far as the correlation between Moses and the Pharaoh's...I take a closer look. It is indeed quite interesting...but I'm still thinking that it's more likely that if a Akhenaten was pursuing the worship of a monotheistic god (and he was) while it may have been inspired by the Hebrews worship of one God, it wasn't based upon revelation by the One True God.

But right now I have to get back to my son. He's home today because his asthma is really bad right now, so were watching a show together.

 

[ChristianNationalist]

 

[handy]

;) Point taken.

 

[jasoncran]

I'm not particularly caught up in the name of Akhenaten's god, but rather simply the fact that it wasn't the God of the Hebrew people. According to the dates, this would be in the time of the 400 enslavement of the Hebrews and after 400 years, I'm sure many of the northern Egyptians were well acquainted with the Hebrew's God. If the one true God had indeed revealed Himself to Akhenaten, then Akhenaten would have known that He was the God of the Hebrew slaves and would have said so. Had an Egyptian Pharaoh embraced the God of the Hebrews, I think Jewish historians would have known...as a matter of fact, it probably would have wound up in the Scriptures.

This is an interesting point. To me, I don't see the cross as being a representation of God, but rather just a symbol of our faith. To be Christian, at the most fundamental level, is to be one who has faith that Christ died upon the cross for the remission of sin...and that is what the cross symbolizes. However, others might have the view that the cross represents Christ Himself.

To your point though that the disc with arms was to be only a representative of Aten and not Aten himself, if that is what history states then it's most likely true. However, even though the Law hadn't been in force by then, had this been a true revelation of God to Akhenaten, he would have also known not to make any representation of Him. Especially one that would be involved in worship as the armed disc was.

look to the sages and theres something that the sages say that arent in the bible but when you consider that it makes some interesting background stories.

such as.. the torah being translated into all 70 languages known at the time of moses.

 

[Mosheli]

One of the interesting things I found in my own research was that Agur ben Jakeh (Ha Massa) of Proverbs 30 could possibly be Akh-en-aten/Khu-n-aton [Akhu-en-aten] (Ankh-em-maat). The meaning of the name Jakeh "the 1 who spat out, despised" or "he who is free from sin, pure" or "to obey, obedient" is even similar to Akhenaten's reputation. So there is a possibility that he was a sort of believer in God.

When we consider the findings of David Rohl that David was about the time of the Amarna letters (including Akhenaten's reign) then this is quite possible. The conventional date of "1352-1335" for Akhenaten is wrong because the conventional dates of the Egyptian dynasties are too old/long, so the true dynasties dates will be later.