Nexus - 0602 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

Hathor that the Pharaohs were said to gain their divinity, becom- ing gods in their own right. On one of the rock tablets near to the Mount Serabit cave entrance is a representation of Tuthmosis IV in the presence of Hathor. Before him are two offering-stands topped with lotus flowers, and behind him is a man bearing a conical cake of white bread. Another relief details the mason Ankhib offering two coni- cal bread-cakes of shem-an-na to the king, and there are similar portrayals elsewhere in the temple complex. One of the most sig- nificant perhaps is a depiction of Hathor and Amenhotep III. The goddess holds a necklace in one hand, while offering the emblem of life and dominion to the Pharaoh with the other. Behind her is the treasurer Sobekhotep, who holds in readiness a conical cake of white bread. Sobekhotep is described as the "Overseer of the Secrets of the House of Gold, who brought the noble and precious stone to His Majesty". I mentioned earlier that, upon coming out of Egypt into Sinai en route to Canaan, the Israelites would have expected to be made familiar with the laws and ordinances of their new homeland. However, although this appears to have been partially the case, the situation was largely reversed on the religious front, with the Egyptian customs being introduced to the native Hebrews. It was upon the mountain at Sinai that Jehovah first announced his presence to Moses. Being an Aten supporter, Moses asked this new lord and master who he was, and the reply was "I am that Iam", which in phonetic Hebrew became ‘Jehovah’. However, for the longest time afterwards, the Israelites were not allowed to utter the name Jehovah—with the exception of the High Priest who was allowed to whisper the name in private once a year. The problem was that prayers were supposed to be said to this new godhead—but how would he know the prayers were said to him if his name was not mentioned? The Israelites knew that Jehovah was not the same as Aten (their traditional Adon or Lord), and so they presumed he must be the equivalent of the great State-god of Egypt, even if not one and the same. It was decided, therefore, to add the name of that State- god to all prayers thereafter, and the name of that god was Amen. To this day, the name of Amen is still recited at the end of prayers. Even the well-known Christian Lord's Prayer (as given in the Gospel of Matthew) was transposed from an Egyptian origi- nal which began, "Amen, Amen, who art in heaven..." As for the famous Ten Commandments (said to have been con- veyed to Moses by God upon the mountain), these too are of Egyptian origin and they derive directly from Spell Number 125 in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. They were not new codes of conduct invented for the Israelites, but were simply newly stated versions of the ritual confessions of the Pharaohs. For example, the confession "I have not killed" was translated to the decree "Thou shalt not kill"; "I have not stolen" became "Thou shalt not steal"; "I have not told lies" became "Thou shalt not bear false witness"; and so on. Not only were the Ten Commandments drawn from Egyptian ritual, but so too were the Psalms reworked from Egyptian hymns (though they are attributed to King David). Even the Old Testament Book of Proverbs—the so-called Wise Words of Solomon—was translated almost verbatim into Hebrew from the writings of an Egyptian sage called Amenemope. These are now held at the British Museum, and verse after verse of the Book of Proverbs can be attributed to this Egyptian original. It has now been discovered that even the writings of Amenemope were extracted from a far older work called The Wisdom of Ptah-hotep, which comes from more than 2,000 years before the time of Solomon. In addition to the Book of the Dead and the ancient Wisdom of Ptah-hotep, various other Egyptian texts were used in compiling the Old Testament. These include the Pyramid Texts and the Coffin Texts, from which references to the Egyptian gods were simply transposed to relate to the Hebrew god Jehovah. godhead—but how would he know the prayers were said to him if n Bloodline of the Holy Grail | made the point that the modern his name was not mentioned? [= of Christianity, which evolved from the Roman Church The Israelites knew that Jehovah was not the same as Aten in the 4th century AD, was actually a created ‘hybrid'—a reli- (their traditional Adon or Lord), and so they presumed he must be gion based on themes from numerous others, including, of course, the equivalent of the great State-god of Egypt, even if not one and = Judaism. the same. It was decided, therefore, to add the name of that State- Now it transpires that Judaism itself was no less of a hybrid in god to all prayers thereafter, and the name of that god was Amen. the early days, being a composite of Egyptian, Canaanite and To this day, the name of Amen is still recited at the end of Mesopotamian traditions, with the stories, hymns, prayers and rit- prayers. Even the well-known Christian Lord's Prayer (as given uals of the various and sundry gods brought together and related to a newly contrived ‘One God' concept. What is particularly interesting is that, histori- TYPICAL... YOU GET INTO 1 cally, this was not fully contrived in the time of A BIT oF TROUBLE Ard vs) Abraham, nor even in the later time of Moses. IN A DEAD SferT., It did not happen until the 6th century BC, when tens of thousands of Israelites were held captive by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Until that time, the Hebrew and Israelite records referred to any number of gods and goddesses by indi- vidual names, and under a general plural classi- fication of 'the Elohim’. Through some 500 years from the captivity, the scriptures existed only as a series of quite separate writings, and it was not until after the time of Jesus that these were collated into a sin- gle volume. Jesus himself would never have heard of the Old Testament or the Bible, but the scriptures to which he had access included many books that were not selected for the compilation that we know today. Strangely, though, some of these books are still mentioned in the modern Bible text as being important to the original culture. They include the Book of the Lord, the Book of the Wars of 58 + NEXUS FEBRUARY — MARCH 1999