A strong leader in the mold of Sadaam Hussein, he fought a life and death struggle with the Hittite leader Muwatalli II at Kadesh in Syria in 1274 B.C.E.. While the battle resulted in a draw, it was just barely so and resulted in a peace treaty between the two empires. Egyptian inscriptions portray it as a great victory ("Ramses ii: the," 2007).

This author identifies most with Moses. He is great but is also the typical "everyman" in that he is an ordinary man caught up in extraordinary circumstances who aspires and achieves his greatness through humble service to his nation.

The narrative does not seem to be interested in Egypt or the Pharaoh per se. For instance, we do not even know who the Pharaoh is. For the author of Exodus, this is not important. Even the relation of the Exodus narrative itself is only told because it...
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