Relationship between Genesis creation story, Ancient Egypt

The#ChiselingtheDebris Shingai Rukwata Ndoro  —
Through this column, we have found that the Rig-Veda (between 1,500 and 1,200 BCE) is an ancient Indian texts. Within the Rig-Veda, one finds the “Nasadiya Sukta,” also known as the “Hymn of Creation” concerned with mythical cosmology and the origin of the universe.

The Sumerian Creation Myth called the “Enuma Elish” (c. 4,500 BCE), is “the story, one of the oldest, if not the oldest in the world, concerns the birth of the (deities) and the creation of the universe and human beings.”

Let us have a look at the redacted Ancient Egyptian Creation Myth found especially in the Pyramid Text 600 and Coffin Text spell 76 from the “Pyramid Texts”(2,686-2,181 BCE) and the “Coffin Texts”(2,134-1,782 BCE).

“Coffin Texts, collection of ancient Egyptian funerary texts consisting of spells or magic formulas, painted on the burial coffins of the First Intermediate period (c. 2130–1938 BCE) and the Middle Kingdom (1938–c. 1630 BCE). The Coffin Texts, combined with the Pyramid Texts from which they were derived, were the primary sources of the Book of the Dead.” — Encyclopædia Britannica (2008).

According to the Ancient Egyptian Creation Myth, in the beginning, there was only a swirling dark waters called Nun (“abyss of nothingness” or “primeval space”), whose chaotic energies contained the potential forms of all living things.

These waters were “a cosmic ocean or watery chaos and liquidy primeval abyss everywhere, endless, and without boundaries or directions.”

This is the same characterisation as that one finds in the Hindu “Nasadiya Sukta” and Sumerian “Enuma Elish.” This was later paraphrased as Genesis 1:2 by the Hebrew scribes and copyists.

“Scientists agree with the Ancient Egyptian description of the origin of the universe as being an abyss. Scientists refer to this abyss as neutron soup, where there are neither electrons nor protons, and only neutrons forming one huge extremely dense nucleus. Such chaos, in the pre-creation state, was caused by the compression of matter, i.e. atoms did not exist in their normal states, but were squeezed so closely together, that many atomic nuclei were crowded into a space previously occupied by a single normal atom. Under such conditions, the electrons of these atoms were squeezed out of their orbits and move about freely (a degenerate state).” — In the Beginning, www.egypt-tehuti.org/religion.html

It was out of Nun (Space, the inert, dark, chaotic primordial deep, vast and limitless waters representing an infinite sea of potentiality of life) and that everything began.

Out of this darkness of the abyss of waters, was a great shining egg representing the primordial source and potentiality of life.

This was calledAtum/Aten/Amen (also known as Khepri), the maker of all forces of nature and the “creator of original human beings.”

As a cosmic energy, Atum/Aten/Amen(germ of consciousness) gave birth to Shu (Air) and Tefnut (Water). Atum/Aten/Amen gave birth to them without a mate after he made a union with his shadow for he was alone in the world. After self-stimulation, he then breathed Air out, Shu, and spit Water out, Tefnut, so that the first winds and rain blew and fell, respectively.

In this ancient Egyptian story of creation, Atum/Aten/Amen is described as saying: “I had union with my hand, and I embraced my shadow in a love embrace; I poured seed into my own mouth and I sent forth from myself issue in the form of the deities Shu and Tefnut.” Shu(Air) and Tefnut(Water) became the first two elements of nature.

Tefnut then gave birth to Nut, who became the sky feminine power, the personification of the sky and represented the female principle, which was active during creation of the universe.

As the sky feminine power, Nut is shown stretching from horizon to horizon, touching only her fingertips and toes to the ground while the body created a vault or canopy over the earth. She was in love with her brother Geb, the earth masculine power, who is often shown reclining beneath her. During the day, Shu, the masculine power of air, separates Nut and Geb (these later became Kronos and Rhea, the masculine and feminine powers of Time and Space, respectively) but each evening Nut(sky) comes down to meet Geb (earth).

They stayed embraced until the morning light.

Nut (sky) and Geb (earth) late gave birth to Asir/Osiris (Will/Masculine Principle or the Solar Principle) and Aset/Isis (Wisdom/Feminine Principle or the Lunar Principle), Seth/Set (Disorder), Nephthys (Matter).

Asir is the mental Creator, Maker and Craftsman of the universe through his Articulated Thought (“Logos”) while Aset is the Nurse and Mediator (“Eros”) in having the Formative Seed, the “Logos,” embodied or substantiated.

Resources:

1. James P. Allen and Peter Der Manuelian, “The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts (Writings from the Ancient World)” (2015)
2. “The Pyramid Texts,” translation by Samuel A. B. Mercer (1952) www.sacred-texts.com/egy/pyt/index.htm
3. “The Pyramid Texts” online www.pyramidtextsonline.com/translation.html
4. “The Egyptian Coffin Texts,” edited by Adrian De Buck and Alan Gardiner
5. E.A. Wallis Budge, “Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life” (1908)

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