Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament

Lucid articles on the relationship of Egypt with OT. I especially liked the article on Egyptian cosmology in comparison with Genesis and the discussion of the Potipher and Joseph.

"The whole subject of the interrelation of ancient Egypt and the Old Testament is very much larger than most people realize, be they lay or scholars!" K. KitchenCurried valued credentials:If you are new to the subject, how would you support your expectations? The author, John Currid got his Ph.D. degree from the Oriental Institute, at the University of Chicago, one of the finest, a Pioneer to the Past, established by the eminent Egyptologist James H. Breasted. Prof. Edwin Yamauchi, a towering expert, and author of 'Persia and the Bible', described the book as; "An excellent study of the Egyptian background of certain parts of the Old Testament. The author has read widely and commented judiciously on a number of very interesting topics." While K. Kitchen, attests that; "Currid's well documented book is a breath of fresh air and represents a valuable contribution." I may add that John Currid has shown scholarly prudence, in referring to the Septuagint, the Alexandrian Koine translation of the Hebrew Bible.Book's Thesis:Kitchen's Forward, and Currid own Preface should be examined carefully before reading and after finishing its discourse. In five parts, Currid writes a plan, elaborates on his defense of the Old debated case for the Egyptian Origins of OT, as follows1. Egypt and the Bible / ancient Near east Cosmologies.2. Pentateuch Egyptian Element.3. Egypt / Israel in the Historical Books4. Parallels of Egyptian Wisdom5. Prophecy in Egypt and Israel.This book represents the depth of American scholarship in comparison to the broad and versatile style treatment of such subjects as represented by: Moses, The Egyptian, which Jan Assmann, of Heidelberg University wrote in California, same year. Assmann puts it forward; "The aim of a mnemohistorical study is not to ascertain the possible truth of traditions such as the traditions about Moses but to study these traditions as phenomena of collective memory. Memories may be false, distorted, invented, or implanted." Moses the Egyptian, Jan AssmannConscience and Revelation:Currid does not intend to support the historicity of the Hebrew Bible but just to explain why it is logical. The most important issue here is what shocked his own pioneer James Breasted; "When that experience began, it was a dark day for my inherited respect for the theological dogma of 'revelation.' I had more disquieting experience before me, when as a young Orientalist I found that the Egyptians had possessed a standard of morals far superior to that of the Decalogue over a thousand years before the Decalogue was written." Revelation should be directly proportional to the tuned perception of the receiving side to interpret the All Knowing Lord's thought line.Egyptian Wisdom Parallels:Job, written some fifteen hundred years before a similar book among the Hebrew wisdom, reminds OT scholars of the Hieratic papyrus in the Berlin Museum: 'A dispute over Suicide', that dates from the middle kingdom (Ca 1900 BC).The use of dialogue to treat a philosophical and religious problem is followed by the author of the book of Job in his presentation of the problem of suffering more than fifteen hundred years later." (Documents from Old Testament Times, W. Thomas, Editor)Here I find Currid's treatment of the Egyptian parallels in Psalms and Proverbs is much short of Breasted's original and thorough treatment, apart from 'Proverbs 22 and Amenemope.' My NRSV Harper Collins study Bible, W. Meeks Editor, indicate in the foot comments: "Proverbs 22.17-24.22 this section departs from the proverb collections of 10.1-22.16, as it makes a free adaptation from the popular Egyptian wisdom text; The instruction of Amenemope."Interrelation Reconstructed:The greatest early Bible commentators and exegesis were from the two great Churches in the East, Alexandria and Antioch, both of Jewish ancestry, who did not find anything illogical in the Biblical derivations. The Hebrews lived in Egypt for four centuries, acquiring their culture, folklore and traditions. They were led out from their alleged slavery by an Egyptian or assumed Egyptian, in education, wisdom, and 'Akhenaton' monotheistic belief system. What is more logical than Moses asking the Israelites, bitten by the fiery serpents to the Egyptian Symbol of pharmaceutical healing, that many pharmacies depict as their logo today?It is not but logical to have these narration, given Egypt dominated the thought theater for the two thousand years. Mostly all native rulers were educated in memphis and Heliopolis. The Kingdom of Israel and Judah, among all others in the fertile Crescent, were planets in the ancient Egyptian 'Solar' system.

Though this book is almost twenty years old, I don't know of any more recent work that covers the same material, though Kenneth Kitchen's On the Reliability of the Old Testament includes some similar coverage. The Introduction gives a brief overview of the relationship between Egypt and the Old Testament as well as a summary review of Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) cosmologies. The remaining four parts are: Egyptian Elements in the Pentateuch; Contacts Between Israel and Egypt in the Historical Books; Egyptian Wisdom Literature and the Poetical Books; and Egyptian and Israelite Prophecy. The whole book is well done. Currid's treatment is careful and balanced, noting where there is diversity of opinion and giving a fair presentation of differing views. The most important part of the book is the first, in that Currid shows that the biblical cosmogony in the opening chapters of Genesis is much closer in character to that of Egypt than it is to the Mesopotamian cosmogonies. This is particularly important in light of the recent works of such scholars as John Walton, who trace the influences on the opening chapters of Genesis from the Mesopotamian sources. Such a fundamental misapprehension calls into question the conclusions that Walton draws. Other significant contributions of Currid's work are the treatment of the plagues of Egypt (Exodus 7-10), the Israelite wilderness itinerary (Numbers 33), and the relationship between Proverbs 22-24 and the Egyptian "Instruction of Amenemope." Highly recommended to all students of the Bible, though it should be noted that this is a technical, and would be heavy going for those with little background in the field.

As other reviews of this book show, this is an area where people's minds are made up and a book like Currid's will either elicit support from those who agree with him or derision from those who don't.Because ancient Egypt's relationship to Israel can be a confusing thing, I appreciated Currid's introduction to the material in an engaging, readable style. I especially found the chapters on Egyptian cosmogonies, the Egyptian setting of the serpent confrontation, the exegetical and historical consideration of the ten plagues of Egypt, and the Egyptian complexion of the bronze serpent to be the most helpful.Archeology being what it is, fragmentary and scattered, there are rarely clear answers to the questions raised. Thus, I found it somewhat humorous that many of the chapters could be summed up by saying, "We simply don't have enough information to verify one theory or the other."Though technical in parts, I enjoyed sitting down and thinking through the relationship between Egypt and Israel. This is a good place to start, whether you agree with Currid or not.

Though I have an MDiv, I knew next to nothing about Ancient Egypt before reading this book. Other than tidbits I picked up along the way (some of which were erroneous), I was a complete ignoramus when it came to Egyptology. In that light, Currid's book is nothing short of amazing. It's obviously super-scholarly; probably half the footnotes cite French or German obscure archaeology journals. That being said, it is clearly-written, captivating, enjoyable, none-too-long, and extremely illuminating for so much of the Old Testament. Next time I preach Genesis, Exodus, 1 Kings, or Isaiah I'll be shamelessly relying on this resource. I'd strongly recommend it to all pastors. My only quibble is the price. It's a bit expensive for a softcover book just over 200 pages.