From 2500 to 1300
Amenhotep III was succeeded by Amenhotep IV (ca1344-ca1328), perhaps the most controversial and intriguing of all of the kings of ancient Egypt. Amenhotep IV relinquished the ancient Egyptian pantheon, changed his name to Akhenaton, founded a capital in Amarna (approximately equidistant from Memphis and Thebes), and created a religion based on the sole worship of the sun-god (Aton). It is a matter of debate whether this was the first historical manifestation of monotheism--in all religions, even the most polytheistic, there is always at one time or another, in one form or another, a god who is superior to all the others--but the inscriptional evidence shows that Akhenaton's god was not anthropomorphized (except for the sun's rays extending outwards as hands) and he ordered the defacement in temples of the representations of the old gods, a writ that was not carried out in Thebes.
The greatest act of faith in the Bible was performed by Abraham when he was disposed to sacrifice Isaac, the child of his old age, at God’s command. In this work by Anibale Carracci (17th century), an angel stops the hand of the resigned father as he is about to put the knife to his horrified son’s throat.
Joseph expounds to a rapt pharaoh the meaning of his dreams. The Hebrew presence in Egypt is not mentioned by the Egyptians themselves, so it is impossible to say which pharaoh it was who benefited from the young Israelite's wisdom.
The Child Moses is rescued from the waters of the Nile.
