Everyone knows that the Bible was not written on a clean slate. It data for us the life and occasions of historic individuals who had been set in a novel historic and cultural context that was largely influenced by its geography.
Outdoors of the Promised Land, one of many locations of biggest significance to the Israelites was Egypt. Not solely did God's individuals dwell there for about 400 years, however Abraham and the prophet Jeremiah additionally traveled there. Jesus, too, spent his childhood in Egypt, the place his dad and mom took him once they fled from Herod.
Over the previous 4 years, whereas writing a commentary on the Ebook of Exodus, I’ve learn rather a lot about Egypt and realized how a lot the traditional Egyptians can educate us about the best way to learn and perceive the Bible in its correct context. This was underlined by the research tour I accomplished final month with Dr. James Hoffmeier, famend Egyptologist. Visiting the pyramids, temples, museums and tombs in particular person introduced so many acquainted passages to life.
The guide of Exodus is filled with references to the lifetime of the Israelites in Egypt – together with borrowed phrases from Egypt and particular motifs that resonated in that context.
Throughout their lengthy sojourn in Egypt, generations of Israelites had been repeatedly uncovered to sure motifs—and plenty of of those imagery created their very own biblical imagery. In spite of everything, the biblical authors selected standard means to speak everlasting truths about Yahweh. These visible ideas would make sense to their viewers – and now that I've seen a few of them with my very own eyes, they make extra sense to me.
Beneath are six examples that I discovered notably instructive.
Backyard temple
I had learn earlier than that the individuals of the traditional Close to East styled their temples after gardens, however I used to be capable of witness this phenomenon with my very own eyes.
Most of the temples we visited had papyrus-shaped columns. The well-known columned corridor of the nice temple of Amun-Re at Karnack had a whopping 134 papyrus-shaped columns of huge measurement—seven individuals may barely attain their arms round a single column. At one finish of the corridor the papyrus buds had been closed, however on the different finish the petals of the plant had been open huge in full bloom. Every column was adorned with brightly coloured reliefs (carvings in stone) with dyes created from plant powders.
On the temple ceilings, the place they had been preserved, there have been all the time work of a deep blue sky with yellow stars. And though the temples had been made totally of stone, they seemed like lush gardens – with depictions of bushes and crops resembling papyrus and lotus frequent in every single place.
No marvel Israel's temple had a darkish blue ceiling held collectively by golden clasps to glitter within the candlelight (Ex 26:1-2, 6, 31-32). It’s no marvel that the candlestick contained in the temple was within the type of a tree with branches and buds—and that pomegranates held on the gown of Israel's excessive priest (Ex 25:31-40; 28:31-33). The Backyard Temple acknowledges God as Creator and acknowledges God's position within the flourishing of the pure world.
Wings of Safety
All over the place we seemed in Egyptian temples, we noticed winged creatures—typically seraphim, and typically different deities with outstretched wings that offered safety to the pharaoh. The sacred barque (or boat) carrying the divine picture was all the time flanked by winged guards.
These photographs jogged my memory of the cherubim embroidered on the curtains of Israel's tabernacle and temple (Ex 26:31) and the golden cherubim with wings unfold above the ark of the covenant within the holy of holies (Ex 37:9, 1 Kings 6:27). I even have a clearer concept of why Boaz would describe Ruth as looking for safety beneath the wings of Yahweh (Ruth 2:12) and why the psalmist referred to individuals taking refuge beneath God's wings (Ps 17:8; 36:7; 91: 4).
Giving of the Spirit
Picture: Courtesy of Carmen Imes
You will have seen that almost all historic Egyptian statues are lacking a nostril. Whereas this may be partly defined by the truth that the nostril is essentially the most weak a part of the statue if it falls over, additionally it is true that the quickest option to put the statue out of fee – and to point that the pharaoh not has the fitting to rule – is to interrupt his nostril.
The Egyptians believed that souls entered and exited by the nostril. A useless pharaoh and not using a nostril can be doubly useless—not simply bodily, however spiritually—with no hope of resuscitation. The pharaohs went to nice lengths to guard their our bodies in order that they might be intact and due to this fact viable within the afterlife. The mother was positioned in a coffin inside a coffin inside a coffin, like Russian nesting dolls.
In lots of the tombs and funerary temples we visited, we noticed scenes carved in stone through which the deity supplied the ankh, or image of life, to the pharaoh by holding it to his (or her) nostril. By accepting life from the deity after his demise, the pharaoh can be spiritually revived to do the desire of the gods.
These “giving life” scenes remind me of Genesis 2 the place God breathed life into the primary human being. Hoffmeier additionally identified that when David prayed “Take not your Holy Spirit from me” (ESV) in Psalm 51:11, he most likely didn’t concern the lack of salvation, however quite the lack of divine legitimacy for his rule. Allow us to do not forget that God took Saul of His Spirit to depose him from kingship (1 Sam. 15:23; 16:14); David didn't need the identical factor to occur to him.
Sturdy arm of the pharaoh
For hundreds of years, Egyptian artifacts depicted pharaohs of their favourite so-called “assault pose” to point their army energy. An excellent instance of this may be seen within the well-known Narmer Palette from 3100 BC. In it, the pharaoh stands with one hand prolonged behind his head, greedy a mace, and the opposite prolonged in entrance, greedy the hair of his defeated enemy.
Picture: Courtesy of Carmen Imes
What I didn't understand was how ubiquitous this visible was. We noticed it in each temple, typically dozens of occasions. Within the temple of Rameses III, the primary pylon (entrance wall) and every column within the first chamber present the pharaoh on this pose, every depicting a unique defeated enemy in his grasp. The corridor basically capabilities as a visible resume of Rameses' army achievements.
The illustration will not be solely visible, but in addition textual. On one of many outer partitions above the scene is the inscription “the one with the sturdy arm”, suggesting one of many pharaoh's most well-liked titles: “The Sturdy Arm”.
Does this sound acquainted? All through the Outdated Testomony, Yahweh refers to himself as having a “mighty hand and an outstretched arm” – normally utilized in reference to God's actions throughout the Exodus. In reality, the phrase referring to God's “outstretched arm” is reserved virtually solely for the Egyptian context (Ex 6:6; Deut 4:34; 5:15; 2 Kings 17:36; Jer 32:21).
In different phrases, Yahweh issued a direct problem to Pharaoh and Pharaoh's worshipers—as if to say, “Do you assume you will have a robust arm? Simply watch what I can do!”
Day by day life in historic Egypt
Along with how such figurative photographs illuminate the biblical textual content, I discovered rather a lot from the artworks in regards to the each day life, work, and gender roles of women and men in historic Egypt.
Within the tombs of nobles and employees, in addition to within the museums that saved the artifacts present in these tombs, I noticed statues, work and sculptures depicting bread-making, beer-making, brick-making, sculpting and writing, planting and harvesting, tanning. pores and skin, scenes depicting childbirth and extra. I noticed combs, make-up and jewellery palettes, instruments for spinning and dyeing wool and linen, and fashions of outdated looms. I noticed carpentry instruments and flint knives, hoes and whetstones, a hand-stitched tent, beds and chairs.
The traditional Egyptians believed that an individual would want all the pieces within the afterlife that he wanted on this life. Anticipating to work within the fields of the god Osiris, they stocked their tombs with quite a lot of sensible instruments resembling plows and shovels, plus beds, chairs and clothes. In distinction, the Hebrews at the moment had been largely involved with how their “identify” or status can be remembered after their demise, and mentioned virtually nothing about life after demise—that’s, till the latter durations of the Outdated Testomony.
On reflection, the Egyptians had the fitting impulse in regards to the continuation of man's vocation within the afterlife—in some methods much like how we now envision the New Jerusalem—but it surely took many a whole lot of years for God to disclose any particulars to the Jewish individuals. .
That is the perception we lose each time we ignore the geographic context of the Outdated Testomony. And but, because of Egypt's dry and sandy local weather, we’re privileged to journey again in time greater than 3,000 years to seize well-preserved glimpses of the tradition that profoundly formed the Israelites—and all of God's individuals who got here after. .
Carmen Pleasure Imes is Affiliate Professor of Outdated Testomony at Biola. She is the creator of a number of books, e.g Carrying God's Identify: Why Sinai Nonetheless Issues and is at present writing a commentary on Exodus for Baker Tutorial.