Creation and the Image of God: Plagiarism in Egypt

Koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Visiting Professor

Department of Liberal Education

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

19 October 2012

Introduction

Moses went to Midian in 1490 BCE and about 1460 BCE he composed the book of Genesis, Job and Psalm 90. His other books were composed and written while they were travelling from Egypt to Transjordan during 1448-1411 BCE. Ikhnaton was a hippy king who had no backbone to rule Egypt. He changed his god to monotheism with the name Aten but notice that the vizier of Thutmosis III said that when he died in 1450 BCE [pharaoh of the Exodus], Aten was born and his son Amenhotep II came to the throne.

Society was in a mess with Ikhnaton and alcoholism was prevalent. He did not follow temperance and there is evidence that he favored naked exhibitionism of his whole family on a balcony to the public. It is possible that the scribe Eye who composed this Hymn may have read books floating around, of Moses. Here are some cases in consideration.

Links between Psalm 104 and Hymn of Aten

In the tomb of the scribe Eye, after Tuthankamun, was found the hymn of Aten. The Adventist Archaeologist Lloyd Wills said that S. Douglas Waterhouse commented on the strong links that this hymn has with Psalm 104, namely that it is no problem since Ikhnaton, who worshipped Aton, “reached out to God” (Willis 1982: 378 footnote 1). The scholar Derek Kidner stressed the differences between the Hymn of Aten and Psalm 104.

If one compares Psalm 104 with the Hymn of Aten, it seems that the Hymn of Aten was composed by someone who was familiar with the theology of Moses, existing already nearly 100 years before the Hymn of Aten. It appears that these ideas of Moses were collected and were plagiarized and reformulated for an Egyptian audience (in a narrow sense). If it is composed for a tomb, one can assume that it was known outside the tomb as well. 

Psalm 103-106 is a group of Psalms that deals with the same content. The content finds a precursor in the theology of Moses not only in the Pentateuch but also in the book of Job and the hymn of Moses, Psalm 90. The name Moses is actually used in Psalm 103:7 where it says “He [God] made known his ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel”. Compare this with the Hymn of Aten line 40 that reads “And there is no-one that knows you except your son Nefer-kheper-ra-wa-en-ra, for you have made him well-versed in your plans and in your strength”. Almost 99% of what is said in Psalm 104 can be seen in the epic poem of Moses written in 1460 BCE in Midian, the book of Job. We cannot ignore the impact that the Exodus had upon Egyptian and colonial history and we cannot avoid the popularity that Hebrew literature had in the aftermath of this event affecting Egypt, for example, in the Hymn of Aten.

Sabbath rest in Hymn of Aten

Just like so well known in Genesis 2:2-3 by Moses, namely, that the Creator rested on the seventh day only after His creation, so also the scribe Eye wanted to indicate that Aton as creator god rests during the night. But, for Eye, the god rests every night. In the Hymn of Aten line 10 we read “For he [Aten] who made them rests in his horizon [sundown]. At daybreak, when you arise from the horizon, when you shine as the Aton by day. . . You drive away the darkness . . “.

God maintains the son in the womb of his mother

Similar to the biblical concept of God maintaining the child in the womb of his/her mother, so the Hymn of Aten reads in line 19 “Who maintains the son in the womb of his mother”.

God supplies all the necessities

Also in the Hymn of Aton line 21 it states that “You supply all his necessities”.

God gave breath to all persons

Just as Moses indicated in Genesis 2:7 and a number of places repeated by other Hebrew writers in the Bible, God breathed in the nostrils of the person and Adam became a living soul. In the Hymn of Aton line 20 it is stated “Who give breath to sustain all that he has made. When he descends from the womb to breath, on the day when he is born, you open his mouth completely”.  

God created all things

Just as Moses presented in 1460 BCE in Genesis 1:28 the list of things that God created “every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves upon the earth, which has life . . . “ so in the Hymn of Aton line 24 in ca. 1360 BCE says “O, only god, like whom there is no other. You did create the world according to your desire while you were alone: all men, cattle, and wild beasts. Whatever is on earth, going upon (its feet), and what is on high flying with its wings.”

Special nation of God

Just as Moses in 1460 BCE indicated about a God who wants to create a special people for Himself, as one can see in the covenantal history of early man in Genesis and the other books of Moses, so in 1360 BCE in the Hymn of Aton line 29 “you [the god Aten] bring forward to maintain the people (of Egypt) according as you made them to yourself, the lord of all of them, wearing (himself) with them”.

Evangelism of whole world through spiritual Israel as instrument

Just as Moses tried to indicate that God is interested in spiritual Israel not ethnic Israel (see Genesis 17:4 and 17:7 with the broad meaning of ‘nation’ God had in mind with Abraham) and that they had a mission for Him in the world to the other nations, so in the Hymn of Aton lines 30-31 indicates “All distant foreign countries, you make their life (also) for you has set a Nile in heaven, that it may descend for them and make waves upon the mountains like the great green sea . . “

Heavenly Jerusalem and the Nile in Heaven

The biblical concepts of an earthly and heavenly Jerusalem as portrayed in Hebrews 11 and found in the work of John in Revelation 20 indicate that Abraham had those concepts and Moses must have had it too. In the Hymn of Aton line 31 it mentions the heavenly Nile that descends for the benefit of the foreign nations.

Earthy Jerusalem and Heavenly Jerusalem – Earthly Nile and Heavenly Nile

Just as nationalistic ethnic Jews consider earthly Jerusalem as the true Jerusalem instead of the spiritual Jerusalem in heaven, so the scribe Eye in the Hymn of Aton line 33 explained that the earthly Nile is the true Nile for the Egyptian nationals but that the heavenly Nile is for the foreigners and beasts of every desert.

God created day and night and seasons

Just as Moses said 1460 BCE in Midian in Genesis 1:14 that “God said: Let there be lights in the expanse of heaven to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and nights” Eye explained in 1360 BCE in the Hymn of Aton line 35 “You make seasons in order to rear all that you have made. The winter to cool them, and the heat that they may taste you, you have made the distant sky in order to rise therein, in order to see all that you have made”.

God appear, withdraw

As we see God appearing to Moses in Exodus 3 and withdrawing at other times, so Eye in the Hymn of Aton says in lines 36-37 “While you were alone, rising in your form as the living Aton, appearing, shining , withdrawing or approaching, you made millions of forms of yourself alone, cities, towns, fields, road, and river . . “