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It is indeed remarkable, as Shengold points out, that in writing “Moses and Monotheism.” Freud did not make the slightest reference to Karl Abraham, who had discussed the apparent influence of Amenhotep on the Jewish leader and his ideas about a single God. To be sure, this connection had been made by Breasted, the American historian in 1906. Both Freud and Abraham quoted him on this subject and the illustrations to Abraham's article were reproduced by permission from Breasted's “History of Egypt.” It is also true that Freud's further propositions about Moses—that he was an Egyptian, a deputy of Amenhotep, and that he introduced circumcision among the Jews-were all entirely original and almost certainly reflected a private family romance. Through this series of propositions, the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob (the namesake of Freud's father) were eliminated as ancestors, and Moses, with whom Freud identified, took their place as the spiritual father of his people.
Nevertheless, there was ample opportunity for such a courteous and appreciative note on Abraham. I believe Shengold's explanations have much to recommend them. While it is true that he offered us a self-styled speculative analysis, speculation can follow scientific lines and stimulate the discovery of confirmatory evidence. I will try to offer such validation, some speculative, some more substantive.
Speculatively, it strikes me that the omission of Abraham's name is counter-balanced by significant references in Moses and Monotheism to Otto Rank. These recall earlier and happier days of collaboration between them and suggest that the “Moses” is a continuation of their joint research. Oddly, this is precisely what might have been said of its relationship to Abraham's “Amenhotep” and suggests a reversal of the decision he had reluctantly made at one time to favor Abraham over Rank.