Here's a helpful article that clears up this issue:
"Not only was Egypt the most prominent culture of the Biblical patriarchs time, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses all had lengthy stays in the country and are all stated in scripture to have had personal acquaintance with the Egyptian kings of their time. Moses in particular would have been trained in all the Egyptian religious beliefs/customs, and would have been one of the few literate Hebrews to leave Egypt. The culture and icons Moses would have been immersed in throughout his early education most certainly influenced his vernacular, and possibly even his understanding of God. It could even be argued that there were advantages for Moses to use some of those cultural icons of his time to effectively communicate the truth God was reveling to him.
The question is . . . was there a predominant icon or idea in the Ancient Egyptian culture that Moses would have thought of when he recorded this term “sullam”? I believe there was! In fact, this one absolutely pervasive icon incorporates all three of the characters included in our term from Genesis 28. Before unveiling this key hieroglyph which will solving the riddle of “sullam”, we need to start by understanding the significance of the terms first letter “sin”, which was a character drawn from the djed pillar."
To see the whole article, go here:
http://www.faith-friends.com/index.php? ... 3&Itemid=1