Gary A. Rendsburg, “Moses as Pharaoh’s Equal – Horns and All,” Biblical Archaeology Review 49 no. 3 (Fall 2023), 61.
[T]he closest parallel to Moses’s birth story (Exodus 2:1-10) is the account of the birth of the god Horus, one of the foundational myths of ancient Egypt, which first appears in Old Kingdom texts. Both infants are hidden by their mothers (Isis and Jochebed) in papyrus baskets among the reeds of the Nile Delta to protect them from the machinations of those who seek their death (Seth and Pharaoh, respectively). In both stories, an emphasis is placed on the mother nursing the child. This is explicitly stated in the case of Moses’s mother in Exodus 2:7-9, and there are numerous statuettes of Isis suckling baby Horus from ancient Egypt.
Horus is the god of kingship, and Pharaoh was considered the living embodiment of Horus. So whatever story was told about Horus essentially applied to whichever pharaoh sat upon the throne. Hence, the goal of the birth story of Moses, akin to that of Horus, is to portray the future leader of the Israelites as the equal to Pharaoh.
The Amateur Exegete 
Thank you for flagging this! Interesting stuff. The Sargon birth account is routinely (and understandably) invoked during discussions of the baby-in-a-basket episode in Exodus 2, but there’s no reason to assume Mesopotamian legends were the only possible influence on Hebrew authors. Rendsburg’s thoughts about both the similarities to Egyptian tradition and a sorta competition with Pharaoh are well taken, and align neatly with the analogous idea that the tale of the Plagues was a repurposing of earlier Egyptian lore, meant to illustrate the superiority of the God of Abraham over the puny gods of Egypt.
Moreover, Rendsburg’s take on Moses’ purported “horns”–long one of the weirder elements of his story and depiction–is enlightening.
-Lex Lata
LikeLiked by 1 person