Besides illustrating the presentation of various types of “cattle” to the nomarch Khnumhotep III, the painting depicts the arrival of a group of 37 Asiatics who are being led by an Egyptian with the title “Overseer of hunters”. The Asiatics are bearded, and wear the traditional dress of Semites as depicted in Egyptian artwork; they carry weapons typical of Middle Bronze Age Canaan, including what appear to be composite bows and a “duckbilled” axe. One of the inscriptions that accompanies the painting describes the arrival of the “Asiatics”, led by Absha, a “ruler of a foreign land”, who are bringing black eye-paint to the nomarch Khnumhotep in the 6th year of Senwosret II’s reign. Absha, Hyksos’ name, is Semite and means maybe “Father of prince” (Abshar), but the reading Abshay “Father of gift” (2 Samuel 10:10) is also possible.
As Galena, the material from which the black eye-paint is ground, is commonly found along the Red Sea coast and near Aswan, these Asiatics have to be Bedouins from Su[t]u, a region South of the Dead Sea (Moab), written Sutum (Swtwm) in the Execration texts.* As this means nothing in Egyptian it could correspond to the Old Babylonian word Sûtum (the famous city of Sodom) which means “tenant farming”.
In Numbers 24:17 (LXX) the chiefs of Moab are compared to Seth’s sons but it is likely a wordplay (buttock’s sons) because Moab’s father was Lot and the word seth (Hebrew letters: Shin Tav) means “buttock” in Hebrew (Isaiah 20:4) or “setting” (Genesis 4:25).
It is possible that the Beni Hasan tomb painting may represent an example of official contact between Egypt and the inhabitants of Canaan (Moabite), and one which points to a relatively peaceful style of interaction, the same depicted in the Tale of Sinuhe.