Ancient Egyptian Religion - Essay Example

?Ancient Egyptian Religion Ancient Egyptian religion depended primarily on sets of complex rituals and polytheistic beliefs that were the essence of ancient Egyptian society. This religion centered specifically on the interaction of Egyptians with a number of deities who were believed to be benevolent, controlling the forces and elements of nature. During ancient history of Egypt, most religious practices centered on the pharaoh, who used to be the king of Egypt. This pharaoh was believed by ordinary Egyptians to be descended from the gods, as Egyptians, during this old time in history, believed in many deities, not just one God. In that sense, the pharaoh acted as the intermediary person between people and the gods. Another important aspect of the ancient Egyptian religion was the sincere belief in the afterlife and this belief shaped their funerary practices. As such, ancient Egyptians made great efforts to ensure the survival of their bodies and souls after death, providing tombs, grave goods, and offerings to preserve the bodies and spirits of the deceased. After believing in a number of deities for long periods of time, a new religious trend started to emerge, depending on monotheism and belief in one God. The birth of Moses represented the climax of this religious trend in old Egypt. Moses lived during the 13th or the 14th century B.C. The story of the name as mentioned in the second chapter of the Exodus answers the question. The story says that the Egyptian princess who saved the child from the Nile gave him his name: “because I picked him up from the water”, so he will be called Moshe. But it is obvious that this is not the appropriate explanation (Freud, "Translation and study by Dr. Abdel Moniem El Hefny". 1991, 26) In another version of the story, an author says in Jadishness Lexicon magazine the interpretation of the name in the Torah is “the one who was picked up from the water” (the name of Moshe only means “the one who was picked up”). This opinion may be supported by two other arguments; the first one is that it is absurd to say that an Egyptian princess knows the Hebrew language, and the second one is that it is most probable that the water from which the child was picked up is not the Nile ("A History of Christianity in Egypt"). Many people suggested a long time ago that Moses’ name is derived from the Egyptian language because of a newly published book written by the chronicler Peristide, “Egypt’s history”: “It is important to notice that the name of Moses is an Egyptian name. It is not other than the word mose that means “a child”, which is an abbreviation of the compound name, for example “Amon Mose” that means “the child Amon” or “Betah Mose” that means “the child Betah”. But this divine name has been gradually omitted by use, and was limited to the boy’s name of Moses. However, when Peristide mentioned unrelated names, he reviewed the list of the names of the Egyptian kings which are similar in terms of the religious connotations, for example “Ah-Moses” (Ahmos), “Tut-Moses” (Tuhutmos) and “Ra-Moses” (Ramses). (Soliman, 1988, 25) Many authors who discovered that the name Moses is an Egyptian name, to conclude that the one who bears an Egyptian name must be Egyptian himself, or at least to say that this is possible (Freud, "Translation and study by Dr. Abdel Moniem El Hefny", 1991, 26). The first family where he was born is usually a special family according to legends. But it is here a very modest Jewish family. And the second family where the child was raised is, as usual, a modest one. But here, it is the Egyptian royal house as the princess has raised him by her side. This discrepancy from the traditional type of legends seemed really odd to many researchers, to the extent that Eduardo Myer and others said that the original form of the legend was different; as Pharaoh had a dream warning him of his grandson who will be dangerous to him and to his kingdom. Therefore, this resulted into delivering the child to the Nile waters immediately after his birth. But the Jewish people saved him and raised him like one of his children. As per Rank, “the strong motives” have changed the legend and turned it into the one we know nowadays (Freud, "Translation and study by Dr. Abdel Moniem El Hefny", 1991, 33). The first thing we deduced from the idea of “Moses being Egyptian” is that the new religion that Moses offered to the Jewish was his own religion, which is the Egyptian religion. And there is a big different between them. (http://www.touregypt.net/chiste0.htm, "A History of Christianity in Egypt," 21 January, 2006) The Torah and Talmud represent the core of the Jewish religion. They show us that recording of the Old Testament (the Torah) and the oral teachings (the Talmud) is an obvious evidence that Judaism is an evolving religion; as a cult and as a law. The Old Testament starts with the Torah that consists of five parts (Badran, 1979, 15). It took almost one thousand years for compilation and recording, from the 13th century B.C. until the 4th century B.C. The religion kept evolving beyond the Old Testament period until date. It is worthwhile mentioning that such evolution of Judaism allowed some Jews nowadays to link Zionism to Judaism and consider it as a chain in the evolution series of Judaism, claiming that it is the last chain of such link (El-Messeiry, part 2, 2005, 232). God, for Judaism according to the Torah, has created the earth in six days, after which He wanted to relax in the seventh day, which is Saturday. That's why Saturday is used to be the day off for the Jews. The most famous parents of all are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob –peace be upon them- as well as Jacob’s sons forming the Israelis grandsons. Some Jewish chroniclers tend to include Adam and Noah in the group of parents, thus justifying the Torah’s narrations pertaining to them in the Genesis. The pivotal character in the parents’ era is Abraham –peace be upon him- to whom an independent religious epoch is attributed where the history and the old religion of Israel began. The god worshiped by the parents is known by the name of Yahoh (he has many names indicating an incorporation in the Kana’an environment, namely Eel Elyoun, Eel Oulam, Eel Sheday and Eel Beatel (Badran, 1979, 15). The real start of Moses religion dates back to the period of Hebrew existence in the peninsula of Sinai. Second stage of the religion: Moses religion knew some desert Bedouin characteristics that distinguished it. Before entering the territory of Kanaan and the start of social, economic and religious change in the life of Hebrews, which resulted into incorporating in the Kanaan civilization, and the consequences thereof consisting of the religious effects on the Hebrew religion following the epoch of Moses –peace be upon him-. According to the Torah, Israel's children were lost in Sinai, and then Moses went to receive the teachings of God, leaving his people for about a month or a little more. During that period Israel's children created their own God in the shape of a cow. When Moses returned back he was completely infuriated by what his followers did, and that's why he threw the claimed god-Cow in the sea. In this story, there were a completely compatibility between what was written in the Torah and what was mentioned in the Koran, the Moslem's holy book (Abou El-Ghar, 2004, 69). The basic ideology crystallized during the time of Moses is the monotheist doctrine of the Israelis. For the first time, a special nature of divinity was set up, the most important elements thereof consisting of not describing the god nor personifying him in any way or any shape as the idolaters did with their gods. So, the second commandment of the Commandments stipulated that: “Do not make a sculptured statue nor a painting of what exists up high in the sky and underneath the earth or within the water under the ground”; such commandment furnished a metaphysical shape of the god, in terms of being a god far above the nature that he created (El-Messeiry, part 2, 2005, 25). There is another ideological text in the first commandment emphasizing a basic character of divinity being the monotheism “Do not have any other gods opposite to me”. The second commandment of this kind concerns the sanctification of Saturday and the rituals of such sanctification: “Remember Saturday to sanctify it. You have six days to work and accomplish all your tasks, but on the seventh day, there is a Sabbath for the Lord your god. Do not perform any task, you, your son, your slave, your woman, your animal nor your guest inside your house: because the Lord created the sky, the earth, the sea and everything therein during six days, then rested on the seventh day, therefore the Lord blessed Sabbath and sanctified it” (Badran, 1979, 17). * The Talmud: This stage is extended from the last century before Christ to the end of the third century A.D. During that period, Jewish clergy and religious men collected their comprehensive researches to be included in a unified book, referred to as the "Talmud." It consisted of sixty-three parts that included many aspects of the Jewish life, such as the religious beliefs and their sacred history (Wafi, 2002, 26). In view of the importance of such stage in the evolution of Judaism, the Judaism in this stage is often called the Talmud Judaism, that evolved in Palestine and Babel. The importance of Talmud arises from the fact that it is a register of the religious legislations organizing the Jewish life; as the legislative and ritual aspects derived their final shape from it. (Wafi, 2002, 26 - 27) However, the Talmud Judaism is based on solid foundations of the old Judaism as to the divinity, Torah and ethical commandments, as well as the ethical relationship between the creator and the creature, the idea of choice and the Christian promise of God’s kingdom. (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/T/Talmud.htm, "Talmud," 16 Jan. 2006) * The key principles in Judaism: 1- Resurrection: According to the Jewish teachings, the religious meaning of the human life on earth may not be reached during life itself, but in another world being the post-death world. So, the Jewish religion believed in the idea of resurrection, like the other two monotheistic religions. They did not mention the possibility or impossibility of resurrection, yet it totally neglected such ideology, without confirmation or denial. (Wafi, 2002, 49) The first token of resurrection appeared in the books of previous prophets, for example: Hoshea and Asheyaa. Other references were then made as well in the books of Yunan and Job. Here, we have to mention that the political situation may have collaborated in the emergence of the idea of resurrection, besides the eventual influence of other religions coming from the Countries of the two rivers and the Persian countries, that knew the idea of resurrection long ago, on the captivity Judaism. (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/T/Talmud.htm, "Talmud," 16 Jan. 2006) 2- Reward and punishment: Basic to the Jewish teachings is the idea of hell and paradise. According to the Jewish beliefs, good doers will be rewarded by being sent to heaven, while wrong doers will be punished by being sent to hell. (Wafi, 2002, 50) This concept of reward and punishment did not develop to become one of the well established principles of Judaism except during the captivity period and the classical prophecy period. As the prophets discussed in a direct way the principle of individual accountability of human acts. They considered the individual as directly responsible for his acts before the Creator in exchange for the man’s free will. Besides, it is essential that the concept of reward and punishment develops. By means of prophets, the god became a personal moral god who has his ethical requirements over his servants (Wafi, 2002, 50). References Badran, Badran Mohamed. "The Torah: Mind, Science, and History.. 1979. Dar El-Ansar Printing House. Freud, Sigmund. "The Message of Monotheism." Translation and study by Dr. Abdel Moniem El Hefny, 1991. Dar El-Rashad Printing House. El-Messeiry, Abd El-Wahab. "Jews, Judaism, and Zionism." parts 1 and 2, 2005. Dar El-Shourook. Printing House. Wafi, Ali Abdel Wahid. "Judaism and Jews." 2002. Nahdat Misr Printing House. Serag, El-Nabawi Gabr. "Jewish Synagogues." Al-Islam Misr Printing House. Hassan, Mohamed Khalifa. "The History of Religions." 2002. Dar El-Thakafa Printing House. Vioto. "The Description of Egypt. Translation by Zoheir El-Shayeb. 1983. El-Khangi Printing House. Read More