My rough draft translation has errors ... apologies ... but still: this I did not know!
p.12
Hathor is the ‘Goddess of Foreigners’ 1), who was also transferred among other things as such by the Egyptians to the Sinai. If in Egyptian legend usually Shu appears as the partner of Hathor, who has found the Sun's Eye (either as a lion or hunter) in the desert at the border of Punt (or in the Eastern Mountains) and has accompanied her to Egypt 2), then also Thoth 3) appears in Shu’s stead as the one who fetched Hathor. That this is valid also from the legend (as it stands in relation to the Sinai Peninsula) specifically is already conclusive from what was stated above regarding Hathor and Thoth as deities of the Mafkat region.
Between Moses and Zipporah, on the one hand, and Thoth and Hathor, on the other hand, a striking agreement already results on the basis of what has been said. As Moses goes from Egypt to Horeb/Sinai in the Midian country and there finds Zippora, so too Thoth comes from Egypt to Sinai and there finds Hathor. And this parallelism must appear all the more significant if one pays attention more precisely to the characters. This is because like Moses Thoth is also messenger of the gods, executor of their plans and mediator of their legislation. And as Zippora (daughter of the Chief Priest of Midian) is at home at Sinai, so also Hathor (not only Mistress of ‘God's Country in the East’ and of Punt, but also ‘Mistress of Mafkat’ specifically, i.e. the Sinai area) 4), is at home in Sinai and has a temple there.
If Moses has Zippora for his wife, yet Thoth’s is not actually Hathor but Maat, Goddess of Truth and Order. But like Hathor, Maat is also a daughter Rê 5), and both are readily identified with each other 6), so that Hathor appears
1) Sethe, p. 30,39.
2) Sethe, p. 34,39,40. ** Spiegelberg, Ägyptische mythus von Sonnenauge [1917], pp.1-8; Spiegelberg, “Sonnenauge, Demotischer Mythos vom.” **
3) Sethe, pp.21,22,25,39,40; cf. pp.3,4,14,16, 24.
4) Sethe, p.30.
5) Brugsch, p.478; Budge, I, pp.416,418; Philippe Virey, La Religion de L'Ancienne Égypte [1910], p.169. Cf. Erman, p.24.
6) Brugsch, pp.478,480; cf. also Budge, pp.430,418.
p.13
at the same time as Maat (or, as the Truth) and Maat at the same time as Hathor (or, as the Sun’s Eye.) This fusion of Hathor and Maat is especially accomplished in Hathor of Cusae (Ancient Greek; Ppy-Cnh; today's El Quseyya), because Hathor of Cusae is also called ‘Maat’ and worshipped as such 1), and it is to the Hathor-Maat of Cusae that the Old Testament narrative seems to refer explicitly.This happens, as I believe, in the narrative of Numbers 12:1ff. {“Then Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married, for he had taken a Cushite wife.” etc.}, where all at once a ‘Cushite’ is mentioned as Moses’ wife. That Moses should have taken a second wife besides the Midianite (or Kenite) Zipporah, and one of Cushite (i.e. Ethiopian) origin is not probable; also, nowhere else is something like this indicated. With the original {Hebrew} ḵu•šîṯ no Ethiopian woman was meant, but the same woman as Midianite (or Kenite) Zipporah, i.e. Hathor. This is only designated in Numbers 12 after her Egyptian origin from ‘Kuset’ or Cusae. Also following Sethe 2), besides Dendera so Cusae comes into consideration as the place of origin for Hathor’s legend of the Sun-Eye in a foreign country. And since Hathor-Maat of Cusae is numbered among the seven great Hathors 3), so too this explanation seems to reside in the fact Zipporah (wife of Moses) in her identity with the Hathor-Maat of Cusae, appears in Exodus 2:16ff as one of the seven daughters of the Chief Priest of Midian (= Rê). Zipporah also recalls Hathor by her name, since Zipporah means ‘bird; sparrow’ and the name Hathor was ideographically expressed by Egyptians by a bird, namely a sparrow-hawk 4). But that Hathor = Zipporah in the
1) Brugsch, p.481; Aegyptologie, p.445; Budge, I, p.432 above. **Claas Jouco Bleeker, Hathor and Thoth: Two Key Figures of the Ancient Egyptian Religion [1973], p.69.**
2) A.a.O. p.39, cf. p.29.
3) Brugsch, p.481, cf. p.318,319; Sourdille, p.99; Budge, I, p.433f.
4) Wiedemann, p.78.
p.14
Israelite tradition appears as a Midianite (Exodus 2:16 ff.) or Kenite (Judges 1:16; 4:11) can also be explained. The Kenites seem to have been a Midianite tribe that, as its name indicates (in Syriac and Arabic,‘Cain’ = blacksmith), practiced the blacksmith's trade. And the presence of these blacksmith nomads at Sinai (Numbers 10:29ff.; Judges 1:16; 4:11) who would be connected with copper mines there. For where there is ore, there are also smiths or ore-workers. Since Amenemhet III built his Hathor temple at the Sinai copper mines at, it can be understood that Midianites or Kenites appropriated Hathor = Zipporah at Sinai. That we are correct with equating Moses with Thoth and Zipporah with Hathor is confirmed by the further narrative in Exodus 4:18-26. As Moses returns with Zipporah from Sinai to Egypt, so also (according to the Egyptian legend of the Eye of the Sun) Thoth returns with Hathor from ‘Punt’ (or from Sinai) to Egypt. And as Moses and Zipporah stop on the way (of this journey, from Sinai to Egypt), so also Thoth and Hathor stop in (Bw-gm=) the desert station of Elkab 1) on their journey (from Punt, or by desert valley from Sinai to Egypt). In addition, according to Israelite as well as Egyptian tradition, something quite similar happens at this station. As Moses’ life is threatened by God, but his anger is appeased, so here too Thoth's life is threatened by a deity and that deity must be satisfied, i.e. their anger must be appeased 2). According to Egyptian myth it is, of course, the furious, bloodthirsty Hathor who threatens the life of Thoth 3), while according to
1) Cf. Sethe, op. cit. p. 23 f.
2) Cf. Sethe, op. cit. p. 21. 22. 34.
3) Sethe (p. 34 above) assumes that the Hathor of Punt and of Bw-gm was already early attributed a special shape, namely that of a predator, i.e. the panther.