I came across this by accident:
It reads a lot like the biblical story of Moses and Aaron before Pharoah. Could the authors of Exodus have borrowed from this story? The business about the snakes and the plagues sounds very similar-has anyone established a link between Egyptian mythology and the Bible?
Yes, linked.
Here’s one website with a bibliography that may be helpful, but there are more, many more, a lot more works on Comparative Religion that link the Old Testament and ancient Egyptian religion:
When is that source material dated from?
I don’t know-only what is in the link. As I said, I was struck by how many of the details that the two stories have in common-magicians, rods turning into snakes, plagues, etc.
Could be total coincidence, but maybe, not.
The reason for Dr. Deth’s asking is, I’m fairly certain, because there any number of stories from Egyptian Mythology that are actually much later retellings of previous stories: that is, this tale may be more recent than the Genesis narrative, and borrow from it, rather than the other way around. Without knowing from whence and where the source originated, it is hard to know if it should be seriously considered.
Yes, right, given that the OT is older than a lot of other ancient stuff, it’s just as likely they were cribbing from the OT. True, Exodus was likely put into writing around 700BC, but the oral tradition could be hundreds, even a thousand years earlier. Admittedly the book of Exodus is seen today as mostly myth, so of course are many of the Egyptian stories such as this one. Likely, due to the way history & myth work, there was some kernel of truth which later got magnified and turned into myth. *
The Egyptian historian Manthetho in about the 3rd century BC wrote some stories which are considered to have likely Israelite roots, but describe something like Exodus. The Greek Hecataeus also wrote a “Exodus-light” tale which even gives the name Moses, etc, and he lived around 4th century BC. So, some sort of Exodus like myths were fairly common around that period, and it appears they may have Israelite roots.
** My guess here is that the Israelites were tribes of ethnic Canaanites, who were mostly in what was to become Israel all along (except those taken as slaves by the Egyptians, etc now & then). What is recounted in “Exodus” is the escape of a few educated Israelites, maybe only a few hundred, who returned to their tribes-people with new technology, military tactics and ideas. Armed with these, the “Conquest” began.
Oh, an interesting note- later Mithraism shows several odd coincidences with Christianity. This is because they cribbed from Christianity, rather than the other way around.
This is more than your guess. It’s the narrative modern archaeology strongly supports.
I don’t think current archaeological thought goes anything like this. In fact, I’d say it’s very dubious that the Exodus has anything to do with a small group of educated israelites coming from Egypt… considering that Canan was essentially a part of the Egyptian empire, I’m certain various peoples came and went on a routine basis via trade routes and through Egyptian assertion of military power.
I’ve heard the Hyksos expulsion might be a source. My guess is we’ll never know exaclty where the story came from, or what nugget of truth there might have been (or even if there was one at all).
Yes, but there has to be some reason for that Tribe of Canaanites rising up, and taking over the whole area in a century or two (it’s true the OT has it happening in a rather shorter period but that doesn’t seem to be the case, it seems to be more or less gradual, as those things go), and Myths don’t spring up out of nowhere. Yes, they could have been Israelites kicked out/ran during that period also.
What better reason for that tribe rising to (comparatively) sudden prominence that an introduction of new ideas, tech & tactics for expatriates coming home? Hand of Gawd? Aliens?
Well you also have to remember that in those times claims of military conquest were not only defacto, but viewed as superior to simply having been born in some place.
It might have just been a way to tell people how awesome -sauce they were cause they conquered, rather than 'cause they herded the sheep.