The Exiled Prince: Moses, the Fratricidal War, and the Secret of the Waters

The story we’ve been told is the one handed down through sacred texts: Moses, prophet and liberator, leads the Hebrew people out of Egyptian slavery, crosses the Red Sea, and receives the Tablets of the Law. But what if we flipped the narrative? What if Moses was not a Hebrew slave, but an Egyptian prince—a man of royal blood, raised among the columns of Karnak and the shadows of pharaonic power? And what if the liberation of the Hebrews was merely a pretext for a fratricidal war, a personal vendetta against the brother who had ascended the throne?

According to certain alternative theories, Moses was not a Hebrew at all, but an Egyptian priest, possibly affiliated with the cult of Aten, the sun god of Akhenaten. Freud himself, in his essay Moses and Monotheism, speculated that Moses was Egyptian and sought to preserve monotheism after the death of the heretic pharaoh. But in this darker, more dramatic version, Moses is a fallen prince—a man who watched power slip from his grasp and decided to use the mass of Hebrew slaves as an army of revenge.

The war against his brother—the new Pharaoh—was brutal. Moses, a master of military strategy and ancient priestly magic, led a revolt that shook the foundations of the empire. But his army was made of starving slaves, not trained soldiers. Defeat was inevitable. And so, the exiled prince enacted his final plan: escape toward the Red Sea.

Here enters the myth of the parting of the waters. Not a divine miracle, but a secret knowledge—perhaps tied to tides, winds, or lost technologies. Moses, son of Egypt, knew how to manipulate the elements. And so, as Pharaoh’s army pursued him, he opened a passage through the waters and led his followers to safety. Not out of faith, but out of vengeance. Not for liberation, but for survival.

Eleazar Majors

Founder of Universal Christin Church