The Moses Mystery: The African Origins of the Jewish People (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Despite the misleading subtitle, the principal thesis of this work by Greenberg, a trial attorney and president of the Biblical Archaeology Society of New York, is simply that the monotheistic religion of ancient Israel originated in the Aten cult of ancient Egypt. While Yahwism in some ways resembles Atenism, the claim that Yahwism derives directly from it is probably incorrect. For instance, Yahweh is in origin no benevolent sun god like Aten but rather a god of thunder, cataclysm, and war. Greenberg makes other less defensible claims, for instance, that the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 are really Egyptian dynastic chronology in disguise. He energetically pursues this very speculative proposal throughout the entire book. One has the feeling, though, that the author decided in advance what his conclusions would be and organized the sketchy archaeological and literary data to prove it. Dense with footnotes and complex in its reasoning, the book presumes a good background in ancient Egyptian history; it is for specialists, not for casual readers. For academic libraries.?James F. DeRoche, Alexandria, Va.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Greenberg is a senior trial attorney with the Criminal Division of Legal Aid in New York City and president of the Biblical Archaeology Society there. Emphasizing the absence of archaeological evidence of early Jewish history, Greenberg argues that "the refugees departing Egypt during what later became known as the Exodus were native Egyptians, devoted followers of the pharaoh Akhenaten." Moses, he suggests, "was the chief priest of the Aten cult" ; when Akhenaten died, Moses fled and then "attempted a military coup . . . to restore the Aten cult to the throne," ending in "a negotiated truce that guaranteed the insurgent army safe passage out of the country." Scholars will question at least some aspects of Greenberg's research, and given his stress on timelines in Egyptian and Jewish history, one could view his study as closer to it could have happened this way than it did happen this way. But it's a "hot" subject, and Greenberg's publisher hopes this work will appeal to students of (and opponents to) Afrocentrism. Consider cautiously. Mary Carroll

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 308 pages
• Publisher: Carol Publishing Corporation (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559723718
• ISBN-13: 978-1559723718
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #547,595 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, intriguing, but not new., March 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bible Myth: The African Origins of the Jewish People (Paperback)

Gary Greenberg's research and analysis of biblical history is interesting but not new. Much of what was presented has already be speculated by the english scholar Gerald Massey who wrote extensively on the orgins of Jewish ancient history and the relationship of that history to the ancient Kemet people during the late 1800's. Gerald Maasey's work was banned in much of the United States. He wrote the following books: Book of the Beginnings Vol 1 and 2 Egypt: Ancient Light of the World Vol 1 and 2 Historical Jesus and the Mythical Christ These books have ben republished by A&B Books (Brooklyn) and Black Classic Press (Baltimore). Gary Greenberg does probe deeper into the theory by making comparisions between the Old Testament and what is know of the various Egyptian Dynasties. Much deserve propers are given attributed to the ancient pharoah Ankhaten, the first true contributor to monotheism. He and his followers gave the world the 42 Negative Affirmations of Ma'at which were precusors to what is known today as the 10 Commandments. Unless you have a thorough background in Ancient Egyptian history and religion, his dissertation could be very difficult to follow. As a prerequisite to reading the Bible Myth, I strongly urge the novice to read Anthony Browder's Nile Valley Contribution of Civilization. Using modern text book and teaching techniques, Browder provides an excellent foundation to allow you to decipher much of what Greenberg is presenting. Other scholars who has done an enormous amount of research in the these areas are: Josef Ben-Jochanan African Origins of Western Religions Civilization or Barbarism We, the Black Jews Chiek Ante Diop Precolonial Black Africa African Origins of Western Civilzation

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Parallels myths of ancient Israel with those of Egypt., August 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bible Myth: The African Origins of the Jewish People (Paperback)

The author approaches histhesis from two directions. First by matching Egyptian dates with chronologies of the Bible, in an exercise that often appears to be tenuous and exhaustive. But combined with the much more intriguing second half of the book, which deals with comparative mythology, creates a very convincing point of approach for understanding the source of Biblical myths. By the end, I was glad I read this book.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On the search for the historical Moses, May 29, 2007

By	Steve Reina (Troy Michigan) - See all my reviews

Who was the historical Moses?

Using writings from the second century BCE Egyptian priest of Thoth Manetho and some deductive reasoning, Gary Greenberg thinks he's found him.

Best known for his fascinating book 101 Bible Myths, Greenberg an attorney and amateur biblical scholar is always good reading and can always be counted on for providing interesting speculation in answering bible mysteries. His strength is bringing solid legal reasoning to biblical speculation and his weakness is bringing solid legal reasoning to biblical speculation.

This book is an excellent case in point for showing the limits of using legal reasoning to comprehend bible mysteries. Greenberg builds his case that there really was an Exodus and that it really did take place in Egypt by showing similarities between ritual practices in Judaism and those in Egyptian religion (for example, circumcision and not eating with foreigners). However circumcision was practiced far and wide in antiguity including the fijians and samoans of Polynesia, some peoples in Australia, and even among the ancient Assyrians and Phoenicians. Likewise, variant dietary practices are known and have been known not only in the west but the east as well.

Next, Greenberg looks to Manetho a second century BCE priest of Thoth assigned by Ptolemy II to write a history of Egypt from its inception to the time of Alexander the Great. In writing his history, Manetho recounted an Egyptian version of the Exodus wherein he called Moses by the name of Osarseph and placed him around the time of Ahknaten, the renegade Pharoah who suppressed all but his religion of Atenism or sun worship. According to Greenberg Moses was himself a holdover priest of Thoth who was forcibly expelled from Egypt with his followers following the downfall of Ahknaten and the discrediting of Atenism. Again, though the theory no doubt has an ostensible plausibility it flies in the face of the way ancient historians plied their task. They didn't deny the fanstastic allegations of other writers, but merely rephrased them in way to strip their opponents claim of merit. A case in point is the second/third century debate between Celsus an anti christian and Origen a Christian proponent. For his part Celsus explained Jesus' lack of a father by naming a Roman solider Pantera as being his true but historically suppressed father. This process of rephrasing a minimization was common in ancient times and was in play when Manetho recounted his version of the Exodus.

What's more, Greenberg eschewed actual biblical archeological evidence in drawing his conclusions. Specifically, he failed to acurately weigh the lack of physical evidence in appraising the fact or existence of the Exodus. This would had a big effect on his work too because there is and has been a strong concensus in the biblical archeological community respecting the lack of factual evidence for the historical occurence of the Exodus.

Despite these failings, Greenberg has still managed to produce an interesting and thought provoking book. For those interested in perhaps a similar and more thorough treatment of the Isreal in Egypt position read Israel in Egypt by James Hoffmeier.