Moses: - Was raised in Egyptian royal culture, so would have absorbed Egyptian priestly and mystery lore. - Preserved Mesopotamian influences already embedded in Genesis: flood myth, Eden motifs, divine council language. - Codified a Torah that blends Egyptian ritual (tabernacle/ark with parallels to Egyptian sacred barks and shrines) with Mesopotamian covenantal-legal forms (treaty law, suzerainty covenants).
Knight & Lomas’ claim is that this created a “royal line” of initiates—Moses not just as lawgiver but as hierophant who transmuted Egyptian death-and-resurrection initiation into Israelite covenant.
- Sumerian Influences: Biblical creation/flood stories (Genesis) parallel Sumerian epics (e.g., Enuma Elish, Gilgamesh). Moses' birth legend (basket in reeds) echoes Sargon of Akkad's (c. 2300 BCE), suggesting adaptation for a "royal" motif—Sargon as foundling king, Moses as liberator-prophet founding a divine kingship line. Some argue Moses "debunked" pagan myths by monotheizing them (e.g., one God vs. polytheism).
- Egyptian Elements: Raised in Pharaoh's court, Moses' name may derive from Egyptian "ms" (born of, e.g., Thutmose). Parallels: Staff-to-serpent (Exodus 7) evokes Egyptian magic; Horus as divine child/king models Moses' role in establishing a covenantal "royal" people.
Synthesis for Royal Line: In esoteric views Moses merges these to create a monotheistic "royal" theology—Sumerian kingship (divine mandate) with Egyptian pharaonic divinity, birthing Israelite theocracy (e.g., Davidic line as eternal kingship, Psalm 89).