Is it Possible that the Hebrew stories of Joseph and Moses both originate from the far more ancient Sumerian Cuneiform story of Sargon of Akkadia? By CQ Scafidi

Why did Pharaoh accept Joseph's dream interpretations and not the others'?

When Pharaoh had his two dreams (Genesis ch. 41), he wasn't short of interpretations and meanings. "Pharaoh sent and called all the necromancers of Egypt and all its sages, and related to them his dream, but no one interpreted them for Pharaoh." Meaning, not one of them offered an interpretation which satisfied Pharaoh.

But first, here are the dreams:

Dream 1:

From the Nile were coming up seven cows, of handsome appearance and robust flesh, and they pastured in the marshland. And behold, seven other cows were coming up after them from the Nile, of ugly appearance and lean of flesh, and they stood beside the cows which were on the Nile bank. And the cows of ugly appearance and lean of flesh devoured the seven cows that were of handsome appearance and healthy.

Dream 2:

Seven ears of grain were growing on one stalk, healthy and good. And behold, seven ears of grain, thin and beaten by the east wind, were growing up after them. And the thin ears of grain swallowed up the seven healthy and full ears of grain.

All the advisors around gave their opinion. According to the Midrash, some said that the dreams were hinting that Pharaoh would have seven daughters born to him and these seven would die shortly thereafter. Others explained that he would conquer and then lose seven countries. However, Pharaoh was not satisfied until Joseph came along and offered his divinely inspired interpretation.

Schmel Kogan

Sargon’s Birth story from 2900 B.C.

A Neo-Assyrian text asserts that the great king was the illegitimate son of a priestess. In the Neo-Assyrian account Sargon's birth and his early childhood are described thus:

Sargon’s Birth

My mother was a high priestess, my father I knew not. The brothers of my father loved the hills. My city is Azupiranu, which is situated on the banks of the Euphrates. My high priestess mother conceived me, in secret she bore me. She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed my lid. She cast me into the river which rose over me. The river bore me up and carried me to Akki, the drawer of water. Akki, the drawer of water, took me as his son and reared me. Akki, the drawer of water, appointed me as his gardener. While I was a gardener, Ishtar granted me her love, and for four and ... years I exercised kingship.[17]

Origins and rise to power

 The story of Sargon's birth and childhood is given in the "Sargon legend", a Sumerian text purporting to be Sargon's biography.  The extant versions are incomplete, but the surviving fragments name Sargon's father as La'ibum. After a lacuna, the text skips to Ur-Zababa, king of Kish, who awakens after a dream, the contents of which are not revealed on the surviving portion of the tablet. For unknown reasons, Ur-Zababa appoints Sargon as his cupbearer. Soon after this, Ur-Zababa invites Sargon to his chambers to discuss the dream with Sargon,  involving the favor of the goddess Inanna and the drowning of Ur-Zababa by the goddess.

Moses & Sargon

Cuneiform texts have this to say of King Sargon, the founder of Semitic dynasty of Akkad. In 2360 B.C.: I am Sargon, the powerful king, the king of Akkad. My mother was an Enitu priestees, I did not know any father . . . . My mother conceived me and bore me in secret. She put me in a little box made of reeds, sealing its lid with pitch. She put me in the river. . . . The river carried me away and brought me to Akki the drawer of water. Akki the drawer of water adopted me and brought me up as his son.

The Birth of Moses from Exodus, Chapter 2.

1Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

5 Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. "This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said.

Hypothesis

Is there a chance that both the stories of Joseph and the Pharoah and the story of Moses and the Pharoah  originate from the same 2900 year old Sumerian cuneiform text regarding Sargon’s birth and subsequent acceptance into the Royal court through dream interpretation?  The similarities between the birth stories of Moses and Sargon are indisputable…Moses literally means “drawn from the water” in Hebrew as Akki was the drawer of water in Sumerian, bulrushes, baskets, rivers, queens (Pharoah’s Daughter and Sumerian Queen, Ishtar), etc. 

It is also strange that he (Sargon) gained entrance to the court through dream interpretation in the same way as Joseph.  One must remember that the Hebrews did not pen the Torah until approximately 900 B.C.E. , 1500 years (that we have archaeological evidence for) after the Sumerians stories of Sargon and 2000 years after the Epic of Gilgamesh which tells a similar story to that of Noah and the Flood. Perhaps 2000 years of re-telling the stories by the tribes of Israel before finally writing them down somehow merged them together?