Genesis Hebrew creation story in light of ancient kemet creation mythology

Parallels between Genesis Hebrew story of creation and Kemet Cosmogony of Heliopolis, Memphis and Hermopolis.

1. A lot of scholarship such as James Hoffmeier, Cyrus Gordon and other have suggested that Genesis 1-2 reflects ancient Egyptian background.
2. Most of the scholars’ work was ignored in the past until recently.
3. In 1933 /34 Yahuda identified several similarities between Genesis 1-2 and ancient Egyptian texts and Egypt influence throughout the Pentateuch –
4. Pentateuch – is first books of the Hebrew Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy- which are traditionally grouped as the Torah.

Brief presentation of Egyptian Cosmology – Creation Mythology

1. The ancient Egyptian beliefs and concepts of creation appear in various sources:
2.  Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, The Book of the Dead, The Memphite Theology, as well as various hymns
3.  These sources show that Egyptian cosmology is both uniform and diverse.
4. Although there are nearly one dozen Egyptian creation myths, the three most dominate arose in the cultic sites of Heliopolis, Memphis, and Hermopolis.
5. These three interconnects with one another as evidenced by the appearance of some of the gods in more than one tradition.
6.  The cosmogonies of Heliopolis and Memphis share more in common with one another than with Hermopolis.
7.  However, they all feature the similar concepts of a primordial ocean, a primeval hill, and the deification of nature.
8.  These three cosmogonies deal specifically with how the god(s) created the world.
9.  They do not directly address the creation of humans and animals.
10.  The Egyptians developed a separate creation tradition to explain the creation of humans and animals, namely the tradition of Khnum, the potter-god.

The Creation of the World: Three Major Egyptian Cosmogonies

Heliopolis Creation Myth

1. The Pyramid Texts contain the earliest known cosmogonic expressions of the Egyptians.
2.  Priests of the temple in Heliopolis recorded these hieroglyphic texts inside the pyramids of Unis, Teti, Pepi I, Merenre I, Pepi II (kings of dynasties 5 and 6, ca. 2375-2184 BC)
3.  From these texts comes the knowledge of the Heliopolitan cosmogony.
4.  In Heliopolis, nine gods constitute the Great Ennead.
5.  Atum functions as the creator god from whom the other eight gods originate.
6. Pyramid Text 1655 lists the gods of the Great Ennead and acknowledges Atum as the father of the other eight.
7.  It reads, “O you Great Ennead which is on (Heliopolis), (namely) Atum, Shu, Tefēnet, Gēb, Nūt, Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys.
8.  O you children of Atum, extend his goodwill to his child in your name of Nine Bows.”
9. Atum arises first from the primordial waters (personified as Nun) from which also emerges the primeval hill.
10. He takes his stand on the primeval hill and begins his work of creation.
11.  Not having a consort, he masturbates to bring forth other gods to assist him in creation.
12.  Pyramid Text 1248 graphically describes this event. “Atum evolved growing ithyphallic, in Heliopolis.
13.  He put his penis in his grasp that he might make orgasm with it, and the two siblings were born Shu and Tefnut.”
14.  However, Pyramid Texts 1652 and 1653a describe the event without erotic language.
15. “Atum Scarab! When you became high, as the high ground, when you rose, as the benben in the Phoenix Enclosure in Heliopolis, you sneezed Shu, you spat Tefnut.”
16. From his emission or his spittle Shu and Tefnut originate who deify air and moisture, respectively.
17.  Then, Shu and Tefnut copulate and produce Geb, the earth, and Nut, the sky.
18. Geb and Nut in turn produce five offspring: Osiris, Isis, Horus the Elder, Set, and Nephthys.
19. However, Horus the Elder does not become a member of the Great Ennead.
20.  Instead, he, along with Thot, Maat, Anubis, and other deities not clearly identified, constitute the Little Ennead.

Memphis Creation Myth

1. The Shabaka Stone contains the famous Memphite Theology.
2. Carved onto a black granite slab by order of king Shabaka (716-702 BC)29 of the 25th Dynasty, this stone was to preserve the writing of a worm-eaten document.
3. Sadly, the stone later suffered severe damage.
4.  The names of Shabaka and of the god Set were intentionally chiselled out, and the stone was used to grind grain.
5. The Memphite theologians borrowed the Great Ennead of Heliopolis.
6.  Ptah replaced Atum as the creator god, but Atum did not disappear from the new theology.
7.  According to Mercer, He “became the heart (understanding) and tongue (word) of ‘Ptah the Great’, and in turn, Ptah was the heart and tongue of the Ennead [sic]…Ptah (that is, Atum) was the ennead in emanation and manifestation.
8.  Thus, the other eight deities of the Memphite ennead were merely Ptah himself in manifestation.”
9.  Line 55 of the Shabaka Stone supports Mercer’s assertion, and reveals that Ptah creates by divine word.
10. It says, “His (Ptah’s) Ennead is before him as teeth and lips. They are the semen and the hands of Atum.
11.  For the Ennead of Atum came into being through his semen and his fingers.
12.  But the Ennead is the teeth and lips in this mouth which pronounced the name of everything, from which Shu and Tefnut came forth, and which gave birth to the Ennead.”
13. In this text, Ptah’s creation by word is contrasted with Atum’s creation by masturbation, and Ptah’s method is shown to be the real cause behind Atum’s method of creation.
14. The Memphite Theology does not portray Ptah as using magic to call the world into being.
15.  “The divine creator is not imagined as a magician reciting his spells; he is seen as one who first conceived in his mind that which should be created to form the world, and then brought it into being by pronouncing the necessary command for it to be.”

Hermopolis Creation Myth

1. In the city of Hermopolis, the cosmogony of the Ogdoad arose.
2.  The Ogdoad of Hermopolis consists of four gods and their respective consorts: Nun and Naunet, Keku and Kauket, Hehu and Hauhet, Amun and Amaunet.
3.  Each of the four goddesses receives her name from the feminine form of the name of her male counterpart.
4.  These deities represent the four conditions present at the beginning of Egyptian creation.
5. Nun and Naunet personify the primeval waters.
6. Nun embodied the primeval ocean, and Naunet, his consort, referred to the counter-heaven lying under the primeval ocean.
7. Keku and Kauket personify the darkness which attended the primordial state.
8. Hehu and Hauhet personify the boundlessness and formlessness of the primordial condition.
9. Amun and Amaunet present some difficulty in ascertaining their precise meaning.
10. Brandon suggested that ‘Amun’ comes from the root mn which means ‘hidden’.
11. Although Amun became identified with the sun god, Rē, during the Middle Kingdom, he was originally known as the god of air and wind.
12. One can see an association between air and wind, and the idea of ‘hidden’ or ‘unseen’.
13.  Thus, Amun and Amaunet personify the hidden air and wind that attended the primordial state.
14.  Frankfort comments on Amun’s role and explains the function of the Ogdoad.
15. He states, “Amon could therefore be conceived in later times as the dynamic element of the chaos, the mainspring of creation, the breath of life in dead matter.
16.  But this is not the original conception, which simply, by means of the Ogdoad, made the chaos more specific, more apt to be understood.
17.  On the Isle of Flames the Eight mysteriously made the sun-god come forth from the waters, and therewith their function was fulfilled.”

The Creation of Humans  Ancient Kemet Cosmogonies

1. Egyptians viewed the creation of the world as a separate creative act from the creation of man.
2.  While the cosmogonies of Heliopolis, Memphis, and Hermopolis address the origin of the world, the creation of humans and animals receives little attention.
3. The three main Egyptian cosmogonies primarily focus on the condition of the primordial state, the origin of the gods, and the creation of the heaven, the earth, and the sun.

The Creation Tradition of Khnum- Man- out of clay on potter’s wheel

Khnum– ancient  Egyptian go of fertility associated with water and procreation worshipped from the 1^st dynasty ( 2925-2775 BCE)

1. The creation of humans and animals receives little attention in the main cosmogonies.
2. There is evidence in Ancient Kemet Egyptian concerning the creation of man .
3.  Cyrus Gordon notes that “one of the most familiar scenes in Egyptian art is Khnum, the ram-headed god fashioning a person out of the clay on the potter’s wheel.”
4. In the Temple of Deir el Bahari, Hatshepsut had a relief carved on one of the walls depicting Khnum fashioning her and her ka out of clay on his potter’s turntable.
5. Khnum creates humans and animals on his potter’s wheel using the silt of the Nile, i.e., clay.

Khnum after creating humans and animals –His Consort Heket – offers the Breath of life- symbolised by the Ankh.

1. After fashioning a person, his consort Heket offers the “breath of life,” symbolized by the ankh, to the nose of the clay figure.
2.  This animates the clay effigy, and the person receives an allotted lifespan, personified as Shay meaning “That-which-is-ordained.”

Suggested parallels between Egyptian Cosmology and the Hebrew two creation accounts of Genesis 1-2.

1. The Egyptians held to at least three different means of creation simultaneously without concerning themselves with the contradictions may be compared to the two different creation narratives in Genesis.
2. The Old Testament scholars have wrestled with the presence of two creation stories in Genesis.
3. The two of the three means of creation in the Egyptian tradition show a parallel with the means Yahweh used.

In Genesis 1:1—2:3,

1.  Yahweh creates by divine word.

In Genesis 2:4-25,

1. Yahweh creates by fashioning:
2. God planted a garden, formed man, and formed animals.
3. Creation by masturbation (self-copulation) finds no parallel with the Hebrew tradition.
4. To picture Yahweh in such an act of creation would not be in keeping with His character.
5. Furthermore, in the Memphite Theology, Ptah’s creation by divine word superseded Atum’s ‘self-copulation’ as being the cause behind Atum’s activity. Interestingly, two forms of creation (divine word, and self-copulation) find expression in the Memphite Theology without one contradicting the other. Instead, they complement one another.
6. Ptah inaugurated creation by thought and word, and Atum carried out the sensible, i.e., material, creation.
7.  A similar process occurs in the creation account in Genesis 1:1—2:3.
8.  In the narrative, God first declares his desire “Let there be…” and then God makes that which he desired.
9.  The difference between Gen 1:1—2:3 and the Memphite Theology lies in the fact that God employs both means of creation without the aid of another god. For example, in Gen 1:6, God says, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water separating the water from the water.” Then, in Gen 1:7, God makes the expanse.
10.  It says, “And God made the expanse and separated the water which was below the expanse from the water which was above the expanse; and it was so.”

Ptah creates world by divine word parallel to Genesis 1:1-2:3

1. Ptah creates the world by divine word in the Memphite Theology.
2. This forms a unique parallel between Genesis 1:1—2:3 and Egyptian cosmology.
3. While the doctrine of creation in response to divine command is widespread in Egyptian literature, it is not to be found in Babylonian cosmologies.

Khnum Creates man on his potter’s wheel -Yahweh -Elohim creates man by forming him from the earth

1. While God is not explicitly called a potter in the Genesis narrative, the presence of the verb rx^y` “to form, fashion” (which is the root of rx@y) “potter”) implicitly suggests that God is viewed as a potter.
2. Furthermore, Gordon argues that the “God as the potter and man as the clay” motif occurs more explicitly throughout the rest of the Old Testament, especially in Job.
3. Therefore, he concluded that the Old Testament implies that everyone has been formed out of clay by the Divine Potter.
4. Both the Egyptian and the Hebrew texts use the phrase “breath of life” to describe the life-giving force that the deity infused into the nostrils of the clay figure
5. However, a difference exists between the two traditions.
6. The Egyptian reliefs usually portray two gods involved in the creation of man.
7. One creates the man, and the other puts the breath of life, represented by the ankh, into the nostrils.
8.  In the Hebrew tradition, Yahweh-Elohim performs both functions, an implicit polemic against ancient Egyptian mythology.
9. It appears that the creation traditions of Heliopolis, Memphis, and Hermopolis parallel the first creation account in Genesis by having as their focus the creation of the world in general.
10.  The creation tradition of Khnum parallels the second creation account in Genesis by focusing on the creation of humans specifically.

Hatshepsut and Moses

A brief background story

Queen Hatshepsut, Moses’ Egyptians Mother

 We all know Moses’ Hebrew mother Jochebed and his famous brother Aaron and Sister Miriam.

Moses’s- Egyptian Adoptive Mother Queen Hatshepsut

Below are the only two Bible passages mentioning Moses’ adoptive Mother.

Exodus 2:2-8 –read the passages of the Bible

Acts 7:20-22 read the passages of the Bible

The adoptive Mother who looked after Moses in Biblical history is not named? According to the Bible her most significant accomplishment was raising a young Hebrew boy that had been ordered by her father to be murdered and providing him with excellent education.

She is mentioned only 5 times in the Bible, interestingly God does not give her a name nor does the writer of the Book of Exodus her adoptive Son Moses.

The infant Moses born approximately 1526 B.C against the backdrop of a horrific historical event in which a powerful Egyptian Pharaoh King attempted to exterminate the Jewish nation which was increasing and would threaten his dynasty simply by their sheer numbers.

Does this sound familiar to another man born nearly 1500 years later when murderous rampage is ordered by King Herod for all male children under 2 years?

According to historical documents who was the Pharaoh daughter when Moses was born.

The ruling 18^th Dynasty of the time she is widely believed by many scholars to be Hatshepsut, the only surviving child of Thutmose 1 (her other two brothers had died) whose reign began approximately in 1526 BC– the year Moses was born.

Hatshepsut began her 22-year reign as Pharoah 14 years after her father coronation around 1512 BC.

She is the reigning Egyptian Pharaoh’s only daughter during the time of Moses. She wanted to be a legitimate heir to her father diminishing power as she witnessed her father ruthlessness as his answer to governing a growing minority and was wiping out vulnerable defenceless innocent children.

For her to be considered heir she either had to have a husband or son unfortunately she had neither.

Political Motive to take Moses as her son

She whisks her away to be an orphaned infant boy when she sees him alone on the river.

Moses as she calls him for the Ancient Kemet called Water by the name Mo and Uses because he was saved out of it.

She found an adopted heir that can protect her father dynasty and give her legitimate right to rule.

But this was a Hebrew Child sworn enemy of his Father who could be killed if caught rising him- the one who could overthrow her dynasty as scribes foretold.

Pharoah’s daughter took a tremendous risk and brought him back to the palace, the rest is history as she handed the baby Moses to his father arm and the Pharaoh naturally was affected since he had lost his other Sons.

He allowed her to keep and raise Moses as her own baby despite refusal by his advisors.

Hatshepsut and Moses

1. Omar Zuhdi Egyptologist author of Egyptscape, suggested that Hatshepsut daughter of Pharaoh who drew Moses from the water had a temple at Deir el-Bahari in Thebes which contained a sculptured wall-relief (wall relief -is a wall mounted sculpture in which the three dimensional are raised from flat base).
2. The Wall relief depicts Khnum the of fashioning her and her ka out of clay on his potter’s turntable.
3.  Khnum’s consort, Heket, kneels by the potter’s wheel and offers the clay effigy the breath of life, symbolized by the ankh.
4. If Hatshepsut adopted Moses as her son, he would have known about the Khnum since his stepmother’s right to rule depended upon Khnum’s creation of her.

Does the Moses familiarity with Khnum explain the Egyptian imagery found in the Second Genesis 2:4-25 Creation Account??

1. Here, Yahweh-Elohim forms man out of the ground and breathes the breath of life into his nostrils causing the man to become a living being.

It is left for the reader to synthesis and make they own conclusion the discussion is not meant to influence anyone but to act as a hub for learning and understanding.

Whether or not one chooses to accept or ignore facts this is intended for the readers to understand the accounts of history and its relation to the Bible story of creation.

Is the two Creation Stories in Genesis was by design to refute the two Egyptian Creation Traditions

1. Is the presence of two creation stories in Genesis may result from the need of the Hebrews to refute the two Egyptian creation traditions, namely, the tradition of how the cosmos came into being, and the tradition of how humans and animals came into being.
2. One creation story would not suffice to argue against the views in Egypt since the Egyptians saw the creation of the universe and the creation of humans in two distinct ways, namely, creation by divine word, and creation by forming.
3.  To sufficiently argue against both, two creation accounts were needed.

Genesis 1:1-2:3

1.  Portrays Yahweh God as creating the cosmos by his spoken word. Although the creation of man and woman becomes God’s crowning achievement in his creation week, the specifics of how he made them receives little mention other than their creation as the image of God.
2. For a more detailed account of man and woman’s creation, the reader must consult the second Genesis creation account.

Genesis 2:4-25

1. Shows Yahweh-God creating man and animals from the earth.
2.  Yahweh-God forms man out of the earth and breathes into him the “breath of life.”

Through the two creation accounts, Yahweh-God is shown to be superior to the gods of Egypt.

He creates by divine word yet remains transcendent.

Unlike Ptah, he does not have to embody the creation to command it, neither does he require assistance from another god or demiurge.

He simply speaks and/or acts, and the creation is completed. He also creates by forming man out of the earth.

Unlike Khnum, he does not require the aid of a consort. He creates the man and breathes life into him.

Thus, through the two creation accounts, Yahweh-God demonstrates his ability to perform all the creative acts of the Egyptian gods.

Was the Genesis creation account a direct borrowing of Egyptian beliefs and deliberately written to refute the Egyptian creation mythology?

1.  Evidence suggest or shows the Author of Genesis Old Testament Moses possessed a tremendous knowledge of Ancient Egyptian belief system the parallels are too close to call.
2. The author the Genesis creation share certain concepts of creation worldwide with other ancient cultures like the Babylonian cosmology.
3.  However, it is with Egypt’s creation view that the author is more familiar with.
4. Rather than being a direct borrowing, the author ( although it says that the Moses had the five books of the Torah dictated to him by God )  reinterpreted or demythologise  the Egyptian concepts eliminate all mythical elements so as to arrive at an essential meaning and in the process form a strong written argument against the Egyptian gods and belief systems and concepts .
5. This elevate Yahweh God as the only one true God who is all powerful and speaks his command and does not require assistance of other gods to perform the acts.
6. He alone possesses the power to effect creation of the whole World.

The following reference can be used to learn more about the Egyptian background of Genesis

1. Cyrus H. Gordon, “Khnum and El,” in Scripta Hierosolymitana: Egyptological Studies, ed. Sarah Israelit-Groll, vol. 28 (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1982).
2. Abraham Shalom Yahuda, The Accuracy of the Bible (London: W. Heinemann, 1934.
3. S. Yahuda, The Language of the Pentateuch in Its Relation to Egyptian (London: Oxford University Press, 1933).
4. A. H. Sayce, “The Egyptian Background of Genesis I,” in Studies Presented to F. Ll. Griffith (London: 1932) 421
5. 4 James K. Hoffmeier, “Some Thoughts on Genesis 1 & 2 and Egyptian Cosmology,” Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 15 (1983): 39-49

Yahuda proposes that the author of Genesis adopted the Egyptians idea of creating man out of clay and of animating him by blowing the breath of life into man.

The creation of man in the “image of God” come from a typical Egyptian concept derived from the belief that the first primeval god begat children “out of his body” thus bearing his likeness.

Hoffmeier also compared Hebrew creation story man created in the “image of God” as a parallel to the Egyptian wisdom treatise from the 10th Dynasty, Merikare, which stated that man is the “snnw of the creator-god. Snnw is derived from the word meaning ‘second’, hence ‘likeness’, ‘image’

Moses and the 10 Commandments similarity to the Ancient Egypt 42 Maat Negative Confession.