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THE JOURNEYMAN 1977
THE JOURNEYMAN 1977
CITY OF REVELATION John Michell 1972 Page109 "At the root of our traditional units of measurement is the ancient, mystical science of numbers, to which Plato makes an obscure reference towards the end of Epinomis, here quoted from Lamb's translation. The most important and first (study) is of numbers in themselves: not of those which are corporeal, but of the whole origin of the odd and the even and the greatness of their influence on the nature of reality. When he has learnt these things, there comes next what they call by the very ridiculous name of geometry, when it proves to be a manifest likening of numbers not like one another by nature in respect of the province of planes; and this will be clearly seen by him who is able to understand it to be a marvel, not of human but of divine origin. And then, after that, the numbers thrice increased and like to the solid nature, and those again which have been made unlike, he likens by another art, namely that which its adepts call stereometry.' The text is probably corrupt, the expressions are unfamiliar and it is hard to follow Plato's meaning. But the reference, both here and in another passage in Laws, is to some method of relating different classes of phenomena to one numerical system, by which the adept may come to understand the unifying principle in nature. Of this knowledge Plato declares that it is the greatest of all blessings both to him who possessed it and to his community, but if it can not be acquired, the best substitute is simple faith in God since, on the / Page 110 / word of an initiate, matters are far better arranged than we can possibly conceive. He continues, 'Every diagram and system of number and every combination of harmony and the agreement of the revolution of the stars must be made manifest as one in all to him who learns in the proper way, and will be made manifest if a man learns aright by keeping his eyes on unity; for it will be manifest to us as we reflect, that there is one bond naturally uniting all these things.'
Parallels Between Osiris and Jesus
Parallels Between Osiris and Jesus -- Part I
Briefly, the Egyptians believed that Osiris was King and Creator of the gods, and of heaven and earth, that he came down to earth to live as a man, that he was killed by his enemies, (other gods headed by Seth,) that his body was mutilated and scattered, and that he rose to once again assume command in the heavens. The ancient Egyptians appealed to him for resurrection and eternal life in the heavens.
Lest the reader be misled, I shall state my thesis boldly here at the beginning of my discourse. It is my firm belief that the event of Jesus was known many millennia before it actually took place, and that the account, or prophecy, was maintained by certain cultures, and later incorporated into their folk myths. This is the root behind the similarity of the ancient stories from culture to culture, all reflecting in various distorted forms that most ancient knowledge. The Egyptians were fortunate in that their folk memories reflect considerable more details of that account, even though still highly distorted. Since publication of The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) by E. A. Wallis Budge in 1895, untold numbers of people have written books, papers, and dissertations around the many parallels between Jesus and the Egyptian King God, Osiris. In more recent decades this demanding puzzle has been assigned to thievery by Jesus, or his followers, in borrowing the Egyptian story, and applying it to him. This includes extending the details to an incredible death and resurrection. Unfortunately, those who espouse such weird and godless theory seem to know very little about the facts available to us from historic documents. They clearly are unfamiliar with the ancient Egyptian texts. Further, the New Testament record, and the statements by Josephus, are regarded as worthless except as evidence of the psychological madness of a few followers. My purpose here is not to waste my time or that of the reader in refuting such pathological nonsense. Rather I shall concentrate on technical details of the parallels to show the strength of the similarities. James George Frazer (1854 - 1941) made a major contribution to cataloguing the stories of murdered and resurrected gods in myths around the world. His first edition of the famous The Golden Bough was published in two volumes in 1890, shortly before Budge published the Papyrus of Ani. The work was expanded twice, with a 12-volume edition published in 1915. This was later reduced to a one-volume edition in 1922. Frazer was well educated, a Fellow of Trinity College, 1879-1941 and Professor of Social Anthropology at Liverpool University (non-resident),1907-22. He was a prolific writer, creating many books and papers. His other related works included Adonis, Attis and Osiris, 1906 (1961), The Dying God, 1911 (1966), and a series on The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, 1913-1924. While I do not ignore Frazer, his works are secondary, and must be held subservient to the original texts. As with many scholars over the past century, his interpretation of the stories reflect a puzzle that has had no clear framework, and is based strictly on speculation. My purpose here is open the mystery to more certain understanding. I do not quote from secondary works and their speculations except to cite views held by those authors. My sources are The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts Translated into English by R. O. Faulkner, Aris & Phillips, Warminster, England, 1969, and The Egyptian Book of the Dead, with a subtitle, The Book of Going Forth by Day, translated by R. O. Faulkner, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 1994. I also use the translation of the Book of the Dead, (The Papyrus of Ani), by E. A. Wallis Budge, Dover 1967 (and other) reprints of the 1895 edition. The first is a listing of all religious texts available from the Fifth and Sixth dynasties. As stated by Faulkner: The Pyramid Texts of Ancient Egypt were carved on the walls of the pyramids of King Unas of the end of the Fifth Dynasty and of the rulers of the Sixth Dynasty, (c. 2500 BC) and constitute the oldest corpus of Egyptian religious and funerary literature now extant. Furthermore, they are the least corrupt of all such collections of funerary texts, and are of fundamental importance to the student of Egyptian religion. The Papyrus of Ani is a beautiful, full-color reproduction of the original Egyptian papyrus dating from the New Kingdom, circa 1250 BC, from which Budge did his initial work. It probably was the product of scribes at a funerary workshop, sold to wealthy Egyptians who could afford it. As a further important source I use the Moralia, Volume 5 of Plutarch, written circa 100 AD, published in the Loeb Library series of Harvard University, 1936, with many reprints, and translated by Frank Cole Babbitt. The first edition of the Moralia was by Stephanus in 1572. It comprised fifteen volumes, and is published in that traditional order by Harvard Press. Plutarch gave us a dissertation on Isis and Osirisin which he presents the Osiris myth, containing more information than we can deduce from the formal Egyptian funerary statements — which are often mere allusions. While the myth may be a fanciful story, it offers additional insight to give us a better idea of how the Egyptians understood the role of Osiris. I shall offer details from the above sources to support these remarks. As Budge wrote in his section on The Legend of Osiris: We find that the doctrine of eternal life and of the resurrection of a glorified or transformed body, based upon the ancient story of the resurrection of Osiris after a cruel death and horrible mutilation, inflicted by the powers of evil, was the same in all periods, and that the legends of the most ancient times were accepted without material alteration or addition in the texts of the later dynasties. The story of Osiris is nowhere found in a connected form in Egyptian literature, but everywhere, and in texts of all periods, the life, sufferings, death and resurrection of Osiris are accepted as facts universally admitted. While many recent scholars look with disdain on the work of Budge this statement accurately reflects the Egyptian sources. We should note the manner of address in the Pyramid Texts, and the Papyrus of Ani. Always does the human person (King) who makes an appeal for eternal life assume the status of Osiris. As Budge wrote: Osiris was the god through whose sufferings and death the Egyptian hoped that his body might rise again in some transformed or glorified shape, and to him who had conquered death and had become the king of the other world the Egyptian appealed in prayer for eternal life through his victory and power. In every funeral inscription known to us, from the pyramid texts down to the roughly written prayers upon coffins of the Roman period, what is done for Osiris is done also for the deceased, the state and condition of Osiris are the state and condition of the deceased; in a word, the deceased is identified with Osiris. If Osiris lives forever, the deceased will live for ever; if Osiris dies, then will the deceased perish. Thus in the following quotes from the Pyramid Texts the reader should note how the the Egyptian appeals were made on the behalf of the King, who was the human personification of Osiris. The Plutarch Material First I shall summarize remarks by Plutarch that enlighten this story. While some may regard him as a secondary source, his is the only ancient account available to us that shows how common Egyptian folk believed, much closer to Egyptian times, and not influenced by modern skeptical theories. In Moralia Plutarch addresses a priestess named Clea. I have myself employed the technique of addressing a particular individual to smooth formation of my thoughts. Plutarch did the same. For convenience of the reader I have excerpted all pertinent paragraphs of the original text of Plutarch. In Section 358E he describes general attitudes about ancient myths: There is one thing that I have no need to mention to you: if they hold such opinions and relate such tales about the nature of the blessed and imperishable (in accordance with which our concept of the divine must be framed) as if such deeds and occurrences actually took pace, then “Much need there is to spit and cleanse the mouth,” as Aeschylus has it. But the fact is that you yourself detest those persons who hold such abnormal and outlandish opinions about the gods. That these accounts do not, in the least, resemble the sort of loose fictions and frivolous fabrications which poets and writers of prose evolve from themselves, after the manner of spiders, interweaving and extending their unestablished first thoughts, but that these contain narrations of certain puzzling events and experiences you will of yourself understand. Just as the rainbow, according to the account of the mathematicians, is a reflection of the sun, and owes its many hues to the withdrawal of our gaze from the sun and our fixing it on the cloud, so the somewhat fanciful accounts here set down are but reflections of some true tale which turns back our thoughts to other matters. Plutarch said it well. The ancient myths are evolved fabrications that reflect a much older and now mostly forgotten reality. You may note his view: One: . . . the nature of the blessed and imperishable (in accordance with which our concept of the divine must be framed) . . . Plutarch clearly believed that the gods actually exist, that they are divine, and that they are heavenly and immortal. Thus the myths of Osiris and Isis are far more than pleasant fabrications; they retain degraded human memory of “blessed and imperishable” divine beings. Two: Individuals who hold to the inferior view have . . . Much need to spit and cleanse the mouth . . . In other words, they should cleanse not only their mouths but also their minds of nonsense. Those persons who hold abnormal and outlandish opinions about the gods, should reexamine where they stand. This general indictment holds universally among modern scholarship. Three: The ancient myths contain narrations of certain puzzling events and experiences you will of yourself understand. Plutarch expected Clea to understand, as well as his general readership. Apparently Clea had background material available. Hence, Plutarch believed that the myths of Osiris and Isis had an origin in a reality known to the ancients but now lost to us. We are uncertain of the sources to which Plutarch referred. Some general notes: In later paragraphs Plutarch identifies the Greek Typhon with the Egyptian Seth, the rebel god. I will substitute the name Seth where Typhon appears in his account. Admixed in the story are segments that confuse events associated with the heavenly gods and events associated with the former planetary, but god-like, administrators. I make no attempt here to unravel this confusion. Plato, for example, wrote about these earthly god-like administrators. The outline of the story from Plutarch is as follows: Seth contrived a treacherous plot against Osiris with a group of 72 conspirators. Seth made a beautiful chest, exactly the size of Osiris, whom he had earlier secretly measured. During a party of the gods he enticed Osiris to lie down in the chest, pretending to see if it would properly fit. When Osiris did so Seth quickly placed the lid on the chest while the conspirators nailed it shut. They then placed the chest on the Nile, from whence it was carried to the Mediterranean and eventually landed at Byblos (modern Lebanon). The date of this deed was the seventeenth day of Athyr, when the sun passes through Scorpion, and in the twenty-eighth year of Osiris. (The sun passes through the constellation of Scorpio from Oct 23 to Nov 22. 17 days is Nov 9.) Isis, the consort of Osiris, forlornly sought for the chest until eventually she learned that it had washed up on the shores of Byblos. The chest had landed in a clump of heather that grew up around it and enclosed it from everyone’s sight. The king of Byblos, greatly admiring this wooden mass, used it as a pillar to support the roof of his palace. The goddess traveled thence where she determined the location of Osiris. She persuaded the king to give the pillar to her, whereupon she loaded it aboard a boat and returned it to Egypt. Isis proceeded to her son Horus and asked him to hide the chest in a secret place. But Seth, who was hunting by night in the light of the moon, happened upon it. Recognizing the body he divided it into fourteen parts and scattered them in different places. Another section of the myth states that the end of the life of Osiris came on the seventeenth of the month, on which day it is quite evident to the eye that the period of the full moon is over. (In ancient times, until today, the month was counted from the New Moon. This means that an observer could clearly recognize that after seventeen days the moon has just passed fullness.) Isis held a funeral for each part when she found it. This is the explanation for the many memorial tombs scattered throughout Egypt dedicated to Osiris. According to the legend Osiris lived twenty-eight years. Others say that these were the years of his reign. Plutarch gives his understanding of the origin of these numbers: Fourteen is the number of the moon's illuminations; in that number of days she completes her cycle from darkness to full light.. The dismemberment of Osiris into fourteen parts was allegorically due to the days of the waning of the satellite from the time of the full moon to the new moon. In other words, the daily waning of the moon is the dismemberment of Osiris as the god of the moon. I shall discuss the significance of these numbers more fully in following segments.
Osiris and Jesus, Part II Parallels Between Osiris and Jesus -- Part II
The Pyramid Texts
Some idea of how these myth elements were preserved by the Egyptians may be obtained by returning to an examination of the texts found on the walls of the pyramid tombs of the 5th and 6th dynasty. I quote from The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts by Faulkner. However the reader should be aware of the history of the Texts, and that Faulkner was not the first, nor the last, to provide translation variously in German, French, and English. As described by Faulkner: The first attempt at translation goes back to 1882, when, in Vol. iii of the Recueil de Travaux Relatifs a la Philologie et L'archeologie Egyptiennes et Assyriennes, Maspero began a series of printed hieroglyphic texts and accompanying translations from each pyramid in turn; this was a remarkable achievement when it is realized how little at that time was known of Egyptian grammar and vocabulary. These articles were later collected in one volume and published in 1899. under the title Les Inscriptions des pyramides de Saqqarah. In Igio there appeared the standard edition by Sethe of the hieroglyphic texts, in which they are grouped into Spruche - here called `Utterances', often abbreviated to `Utt.'- and the corresponding passages from the different pyramids are displayed in parallel in numbered sections, an arrangement essential to a satisfactory study of the inscriptions. This publication by Sethe consists of two volumes of hieroglyphic texts and two slimmer ones of Kritischer Apparat, (Critical Apparatus) etc., and it will remain the indispensable source for students of these ancient texts. In 1912 Breasted, using Sethe's text, incorporated very many quotations thence in his Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt; in 1923 Speleers published in French a translation and index in his Textes des Pyramides Egyptiennes; Sethe's German translation and commentary appeared posthumously over a period of some thirty years under the title Cbersetzung and Kommentar zu den altdgyptischen Pyramidentexten, while in 1952 Mercer published an English version in four volumes. Piankoff has recently published a study of the Pyramid of Unas in the Bollinger Series, but it came to my notice too late to be utilized here. I use Faulkner because of the convenience of his English translation. For comparison I use Mercer but he apparently translated from Sethe's German translation, rather than from the original Egyptian text. Where I have checked, he seems to have faithfully followed the Egyptian text. See The Pyramid Texts, Samuel Mercer, Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 1952. If Mercer shows a considerable variation with Faulkner in my reference passages I note the difference. I must make an observation about Faulkner. Because of his intense godless attitudes his vocabulary did not contain such words as heaven, prayerful, worshipful, holy, or sacred. He never would assign such religious realities to the ancient Egyptians. For him everything was cultic, superstitious, and primitive. Thus he titles the separate pieces of the Pyramid Texts as Utterances, following Sethe's Speeches. Sethe, Faulkner, and others did not accept them as hymns, odes, or prayers. But the word utter means to send forth as a sound, to pronounce, or to speak, merely of material import, without any relationship to things divine or heavenly. Thus these scholars completely eliminate the import of the fact of devout religious faith by which the ancient Egyptians accepted life and death. In the process they conditioned a vast array of other scholars and lay persons to their frame of mind. How unfortunate. Hence, I have changed the titles from Utterance to Hymn. I give a tabulation of excerpt from the Hymns. I selected to highlight certain elements that tell us about the origins of the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians. Click here to go to the tabulation of Pyramid Hymns. I then show parallels to Judeo-Christian traditions, as recorded in the Bible. A Note about translations: I have the tools to critique Hebrew and Greek translations; I do not have the tools to do the same with ancient Egyptian. Therefore I must depend on the integrity of the modern scholars who have performed this task for us. I accept their words and phrases except as I have noted above and in my other papers. Many persons may feel that random selection of passages to show parallels is not sound scholarship, that we should be guided by careful textual critique and hieroglyphic interpretation. But such view misses the whole point of the study. We are looking at how people expressed their religious beliefs. The Egyptians were just as sincere in regard to their religious history, even if pagan, as the later Hebrews and Christians were with theirs. The difference was an inheritance from a distant past that became corrupt and embellished over time, compared to a fresh contact with the heavenly realms recorded by Hebrews and Christians. The Egyptian record is from debased human memory; the Judeo-Christian record is from living experience. Modern scholarship refuses to accept that God and the gods are real; they believe that such beliefs had strictly evolutionary origins, and were generated from the psychological impulses of men. I do not address that crowd. The humanization of the gods into mortal physical, intellectual, moral, and religious attributes that gave rise to the folk myths of ancient times has been denounced since early Greek days. Xenophanes (570-475 BC) stood for religious reform. He believed that the traditional tales of the poets were directly responsible for the moral corruption of the time. He said that, "Homer and Hesiod have ascribed to the gods all things that are a shame and disgrace among mortals, stealing and adulteries and deceiving of another." He sharply criticized the widely accepted polytheism of the humanized gods in the Theogany of Hesiod and Homer. We cannot assign the origin of such attribution to Hesiod and Homer. They merely recorded the general understanding of contemporary people everywhere. The earliest recorded myths, not only from Egypt, but from also from Sumer, held this view. Oral folk traditions from the most ancient times held the same view. But we would be remiss in our intellectual integrity if we did not understand a natural human reaction to humanize celestial events. This fact is especially true because we do not have the gods presently coming down here to earth to correct our understanding, which, according to ancient traditions, they once did before they were called away. Hence we should understand the Egyptian stories in that light. Another aspect of the Egyptian religious mythical framework is the ancestry into remote antiquity. The elaborate, complicated, and detailed hymns could not have been carried merely by oral tradition; they had to have some written mechanism by which they were carried from generation to generation. We do not know when the elaboration took place; such humanizing probably required many generations. Without evidence we can only speculate on the origin, antiquity, and history of the accounts. Woven into this humanized framework is the story of Osiris. While we might see his story as part of the humanization process, we should recognize how the story was fashioned to record actual earth events. Repeated ascriptions to his human life, death and resurrection are found in the Pyramid Hymns. The Human Birth of Osiris Hymn 1: I say by Nut, the brilliant, the great: This is my son, my first-born, opener of my womb; this is my beloved, with whom I am pleased. This passage, first in the long sequence of Pyramid Text passages, is startling in its parallel with the New Testament record. Matt 3:17 -- And lo, a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Thayer's Greek Lexicon of the New Testament says that the usage is peculiar to Biblical writers, followed by en tini, to be well pleased with, take pleasure in, a person or thing. Mercer translates satisfied where Faulkner uses pleased. We can see the striking parallels, with exact similarity of phrasing: PT -- This is my son, . . . my beloved, . . . with whom I am pleased. NT -- This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. We should note also the New Testament record about the unique nature of this Son, a record that strikes to the heart of the purpose of a divine incarnation. John 3:16-17 -- For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten (only-born) Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 1 John 4:9-10 -- In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only begotten (only-born) Son into the world, so that we might live through him. This is a son. This is a divine son. This divine son is born as a human mortal. This is the first-born, or only-born, son. This son is beloved of a higher celestial personality. The higher celestial personality is well pleased with the human life of this divine son. We can clearly see from the New Testament record that the human birth of this celestial son is unique; there is no other like it, no other celestial personality who was born as a human mortal. The Egyptian record reflects the same belief, but confused in their memory with Horus and other gods. (Even though Jews and Christians do not recognize the biblical record, their sources also indicate the human birth of more than one divine son. Christians took that material and melded it all into the event of Jesus. I do not explore that evidence here.) Hymn 7: Nut says: The King is the son of my heart. Hymn 471: I am the essence of god, the son of god, the messenger of god. I have dropped the indefinite article "a" in this translation. I do not know if Sethe, Faulkner, Mercer, and Piankoff found it in the original text, or inserted it to satisfy their understanding. One can readily see the vast difference such a single alphabet letter can have on our understanding. This leads us into an observation about the human birth of Osiris. Nowhere in the Texts is there an explicit indication that his birth is human. References are to birth by Nut, (Nuit), the female god who represents the sky. In fact, explicit remarks are made otherwise: Hymn 412: The Great Maiden who dwells in On has placed for you her hands on you, because there is no mother of yours among men who could bear you, because there is no father of yours among men who could beget you. Hymn 438: Oho! Oho! I will make it for you, this shout of acclaim, O! my father, because you have no human father and you have no human mother; your father is the Great Wild Bull, your mother is the Maiden. This shows that the ancient Egyptians were loath to entertain the idea that Osiris was born as a man, from an earthly womb, conceived by earthly sperm. They reserved his birth to a celestial father and a heavenly mother. We know he must have been born on earth, in human form, otherwise how could he exist as a human being? If he did not have natural human birth he must have been created in human form on earth by the gods. (Consider similar concerns by Christians who made the conception of Jesus immaculate from the Holy Spirit and his birth pure from a virgin.) Yet many purely humanized expressions in the Pyramid Tests suggest otherwise. One cannot help but recognize that the references are to a human birth, and not a celestial birth. Hymns 427 to 435 are a short series in praises to Nut, the heavenly mother, which appear as substitutes for the earthly mother. We see such remarks as: Spread yourself over your son, Osiris; hide him; protect him. In 429 Nut is exhorted to . . . become spiritually mighty; you were physically mighty in the womb of your mother, Tefnut, before you were born. Here the reference has been displaced from the birth of the human mother of Osiris to the heavenly mother of Nut. Hymn 430: You were in the body of your mother, in your name of Nut. Hymn 431: Make the King mighty in your womb. He shall not die. 432 is reminiscent of Christian attribution to Mary, mother of Jesus: To say: Great lady, who became heaven, you became mighty, you became victorious, you filled every place with your beauty. The whole Earth is under you; you have taken possession of it; you encompass the earth and all things therein in your arms; may you establish this King in you as an Imperishable Star. The other aspect of the birth of Osiris is repeated references to being the son of the Earth God, Geb. As the God of the earth, Geb was one of the most important of ancient Egypt's gods. His parents were Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture, who were in turn the children of Atum. Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys were the children of Geb and Nut, and together these gods made up the Heliopolitan Enniad. After Atum, the four deities (Shu, Tefnut, Geb, and Nut) established the Cosmos, whereas the second set of deities (Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys) mediated between humans and the cosmos. As the God of earth, the earth formed his body and was called the "house of Geb," just as the air was called the "house of Shu," and heaven the "house of Ra," (The sky was called the "house of Nut.") Hence, he was also often portrayed laying on his side on the earth, and was sometimes even painted green, with plants springing from his body. Earthquakes were believed to be the laughter of Geb. He is one of the gods who watch the weighing of the heart of the deceased in the Judgment Hall of Osiris. The righteous who were provided with the necessary words of power were able to make their escape from the earth but the wicked were held fast by Geb. Here we see how the cosmos was partitioned off into aspects then assigned to gods. We also see how the wicked are denied heaven and held by Geb in the same manner as the wicked are denied heaven and assigned to hell in the Christian myths. In one Hymn Osiris threatens the Lord of heaven with cataclysmic events if he is not given a place in heaven. Hymn 254: O! Lord of the horizon, make ready a place for me, for if you fail to make ready a place for me, I will lay a curse on my father Geb, and the earth will speak no more, Thus he acknowledges the earth as his mortal father. In another he claims his right to live among the gods, even though he is a mortal son of Geb, the earth god. Hymn 307 An Onite (character) is in me, O! God; your Onite (character) is in me, O! God; an Onite (character) is in me, O! Ra; your Onite (character) is in me, O! Ra. My mother is an Onite, my father is an Onite, and I myself am an Onite, born in On when Ra was ruler of the Two Enneads and the ruler of the plebs was Nefertem, (even I) who have no equal, the heir of my father Geb. Explicit acknowledgement of his mortal status is avoided in the Egyptian hymns, even though his physical generation is from the earth god. This process may be seen in the following, where his father acted on his behalf. May we infer that it was an earthly father who did things for him in the proper manner? Hymn 306 Geb has acted on your behalf in accordance with the manner in which things should be done for you. The purely mortal elements of these ascriptions is seen in Hymn 366 O Osiris the King, arise, lift yourself up! Your mother Nut has borne you, Geb has wiped your mouth for you. Otherwise, I have difficulty finding texts that would allude to, or imply, a human birth to Osiris. This all can be understood if the ancient Egyptians did not accept that a god from the celestial realms, who lived on earth as a man, could, or would, be born of human parents. They then transferred all those earthly connections to the heavenly gods. More likely they invented Nut and Geb to complete their structure of the cosmos, and in order to satisfy their mythological needs. But the Hebrew people were not thus confused. That this God will be born as a human being is stated in a very famous passage, although it has not yet reached fulfillment: Isa 9:6 -- For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Osiris as God In a preceding quote we saw that Osiris claims to be one of the Onites. On was the name of the heavenly location, the home, of the gods. Compare with Mt. Zion of the Hebrews. Hymn 364: O! Osiris the King, you are a mighty God, and there is no God like you. Jer 32:18 -- O! great and mighty God whose name is Yahweh of hosts. 1 Kings 8:23 -- He said, "O! Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath." Here we can see that Osiris has the same role in heaven as the Hebrew God. Christians believe that Jesus resurrected in heaven as the great and mighty God, Yahweh, although they often avoid translation of the divine name. Refer to my paper on the parallels between the Egyptian and Judeo-Christian titles, Egyptian Religious Comparisons. Hymn 571 The king is the son of Atum and is a star. The King's mother was pregnant with him, (even he) who was in the Lower Sky, the King was fashioned by his father Atum before the sky existed, before earth existed, before men existed, before the gods were born, before death existed. Prov 8:22-30 Yahweh created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth; before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always. John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not comprehend it. Col 1:15-17 He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities - all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. We can see the position of Osiris and Jesus in the heavenly realms. In both cases they existed before there was a creation. Osiris/Jesus shared existence with the heavenly Father, known to the Egyptians as Ra, and to Christians according to the teachings of Jesus as the "Father." But Osiris had an expanded role after creation. He became a heavenly administrator. Hymn 412: You shall lay hold of the hand of the Imperishable Stars, your bones shall not perish, your flesh shall not sicken, O! King, your members shall not be far from you, because you are one of the gods. Laying hold his hand on the Imperishable Stars means that after his resurrection in heaven he will become Administrator and Controller, God, of the stars. The Stars are understood as celestial personalities. Hymn 519: You shall set me to be a magistrate among the spirits, the Imperishable Stars in the north of the sky. Unfortunately, the ancient Egyptians fell into the same trap as Christians. They believed he will arise in earthly flesh. See the famous passage where Jesus invites Thomas to touch him , John 20:27. However, we know the passage is not accurate, and is an interpolation by a later scribe. Just a few sentences earlier in John 20:17 we are told that Mary Magdalene attempted to grab hold of him in her adoration but the risen personality told her not to touch him. This probably meant that he was in a different energy state, and her material touch would have harmed her. This confusion is reflected in another passage, Job 19:26, where it is stated in the Revised Standard Translation that "and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then from my flesh I shall see God." Unfortunately, the phrase "from my flesh" literally in Hebrew is "without my flesh" but the translators did not know how to handle a passage that directly contradicts the mythological beliefs. The biblical Commentators had a field day with this one. The heavenly administrative role is found in many other passages. A Judge Among the Gods And A Morning Star Hymn 412: Remove yourself from upon your left side, put yourself upon your right side, for your seat among the gods endures and Ra leans on you with his arm. Your scent is as their scent, your sweat is as the sweat of the Two Enneads. You appear in the royal hood, your hand grasps the scepter, your fist grips the mace; stand at the head of the Conclaves, judge the gods, for you belong to the stars who surround Ra, who are before the Morning Star, you are born in your months as the moon, Ra leans upon you in the horizon. Osiris grasps the mace with his fist; his hand grasps the scepter: These are symbols for his administrative rule in the heavens. His administrative power extends to judgment, an attribute widely described in the Texts. He judges the gods: Hymn 437: The earth speaks: The doors of the earth-god are opened for you, the doors of Geb are thrown open for you, you come forth at the voice of Anubis, he makes a spirit of you like Thoth, you judge the gods. Ps 82:1 -- God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment. (RSV) Or Ps 82:1 -- God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods. (NKJV) Ps 89:6-7 -- For who in the skies can be compared to the Yahweh? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Yahweh, a God feared in the council of the holy ones, great and terrible above all that are round about him? In the passage above we see a reference to Osiris as a Morning Star. This same appellative is found in the Judeo-Christian scriptures. Job 38:7 -- When the Morning Stars sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for joy? 2 Peter 1:19 -- . . . until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts. Rev 22:16 -- "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright Morning Star." The label of "Morning Star" denotes a celestial personality who was present at the dawn of time. Osiris as a Spirit Hymn 217 O Thoth, go and proclaim to the western gods and their spirits: `This King comes indeed, an imperishable spirit, adorned with Anubis on the neck, who presides over the Western Height. He claims hearts, he has power over hearts. Whom he wishes to live will live; whom he wishes to die will die.' Thus we can readily see his spirit, not material, being, among other spirit beings. We can also see the graphic power to offer or deny eternal life; the references are to eternity, not mortal existence. Jesus is quoted demonstrating his heavenly power in Matt 25:46 -- And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Hymn 260 My limbs which were in concealment are reunited, and I join those who are in the Abyss, I put a stop to the affair in On, for I go forth today in the real form of a living spirit. The "affair in On" is the heavenly rebellion by Seth and other rebel gods. Osiris will put a stop to such outrageous affrontery. Hymn 364 Live, that you may go to and fro every day; be a spirit in your name of `Horizon from which Ra goes up'; be strong, be effective, be a soul, and have power for ever and ever John 4:24 -- God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. 2 Cor 3:17 -- Now the Lord is a Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Osiris and Jesus, Part III Parallels Between Osiris and Jesus -- Part III Osiris Living On Earth Hymn 222: Stand upon it, this earth which issued from Atum, this spittle, which issued from Khoprer; come into being upon it, be exalted upon it, so that your father may see you, so that Ra may see you. We may view this remark as Osiris striding upon the earth as a god, or we may see it as his standing upon earth in human form. The context of the Hymn does not provide a certain view. Epilogue to Hymn 224: How happy is your condition! Your spirit, O! King, is among your brothers the gods. How changed it is, how changed it is! Protect your children and beware of this boundary of yours which is on earth. Recite four times: Clothe your body, that you may come to them. Here we see that the condition of Osiris has changed; he has taken on the clothes of human form. His spirit was among the gods, but now it has changed to earth. He is exhorted to be careful in his earthly habiliments, that he not exceed the boundary of the earthly form. He could, as God, exceed the limits of the human form he took on voluntarily. Hymn 246: Geb created you; the gods gave birth to you, Horus is pleased with his father, Atum is pleased with his years, the gods of East and West are pleased with the Great One who came into being in the arms of Her (Nut) who bore the god. Again we see how Geb is credited with creating Osiris, rather than an earth father, while Nut again bore him, rather than an earth mother. The mixture of, and confusion between, earthly birth, and heavenly status is here displayed. Time and again the earth life of Osiris is implied, although not explicitly stated: Hymn 373 Oho! Oho! Raise yourself, O King; receive your head, collect your bones, gather your limbs together, throw off the earth from your flesh, receive your bread which does not grow moldy and your beer which does not grow sour. Here we see an exhortation to throw off the earthly body to take on the heavenly form. He then will receive gifts (sacrifices) that do not grow moldy or sour, as they do on earth. The collection of his limbs and bones shows the depth of the tradition of his earthly dismemberment by Seth. Hymn 419: The doors are opened because of those whose seats are hidden (in heaven); arise, remove your earth, shake off your dust, raise yourself, that you may travel in company with the spirits, for your wings are those of a falcon, your shining is that of a star. The night-demon will not bend over you, your heart will not be taken away, your heart will not be carried off. You are a great one with intact Wrrt-crown; may you provide yourself with your iron members. Cross the sky to the Field of Rushes, make your abode in the Field of Offerings among the Imperishable Stars, the followers of Osiris. This is a clear statement of resurrection in the heavens. According to the sense of this Hymn, the Imperishable Stars are heavenly personalities, just as were the Morning Stars. We may not know what is meant by the Wrrt-crown, but it obviously refers to his power as a heavenly ruler. The Field of Rushes and the Field of Offerings are heavenly places. (I do not pursue the many difference celestial and earthly references in the Pyramid Texts. Such examination belongs in a larger work.) The Bread and Water of Life Hymn 685 The waters of life which are in the sky come, the waters of life which are in the earth come, the sky is aflame for you, the earth quakes at you before the god's birth. Clearly the earth quakes at the human birth of Osiris. He brings the water of life. Rev 21:5-7 -- And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the fountain of the water of life without payment." Rev 22:17 -- The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let him who hears say, "Come." And let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price. Hymn 211 My detestation is hunger, and I will never eat it. My detestation is thirst, and I will never drink it. It is indeed I who will give bread to those who exist, for my foster-mother is Iat and it is she who nourishes me, it is indeed she who bore me. John 6:35-36 -- Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. John 6:48-51-- I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." Once again we gain insight into the Pyramid Texts when we arrange them and select them to show their origins in a time when the earth was more devout and dedicated to a living God who had not been debased by degenerate, and now pagan, human memory. This was brought back to man through the ministry of the biblical prophets and messengers from heaven, in preparation for the return of the heavenly administrators, as part of a work of world rehabilitation. The Great Polar Region, Home of the Gods Hymn 437: The celestial portal to the horizon is opened to you, and the gods are joyful at meeting you; they take you to the sky with your soul, you having been endowed with a soul through them. You will ascend to the sky as Horus upon the sdsd of the sky in this dignity of yours which issued from the mouth of Ra as Horus who is at the head of the spirits, you being seated upon your iron throne. May you remove yourself to the sky, for the roads of the celestial expanses which lead up to Horus are cleared for you. Seth is brotherly toward you as the Great One of On, for you have traversed the Winding Waterway in the north of the sky as a star crossing the sea which is beneath the sky. The Winding Waterway is sometimes thought to mean the Milky Way, but it could have other meaning. We do not know enough about the Egyptian allusions to be sure. Note that Osiris now has human attributes, even though a god, because of his human experience; he now has a soul. Again resurrection in the heavens is clearly described. As God, he will resume his throne in heaven. He is the Great One of On. Hymn 513: My father ascends to the sky among the gods who are in the sky; he stands at the Great Polar Region and learns the speech of the sun-folk. Ra finds you on the banks of the sky as a Waterway traveler who is in the sky. `Who has done this for you?' say the gods who serve Atum. It is one greater than I who has done this for me, (even) he who is north of the Waterway, the end of the sky. He has heard my appeal, he has done what I said, and I have removed myself from the Tribunal of the Magistrates of the Abyss at the head of the Great Ennead. Hymn 519: You shall take me with you to your Great Field which you have laid down with the help of the gods, and what you eat at night when they are bright is the fullness of the God of Food. I will eat of what you eat, I will drink of what you drink, and you will give satiety to me at the pole, at that which is the foremost of its flagstaffs. You will cause me to sit because of my righteousness and I will stand up because of my blessedness; I will stand up when I have taken possession of my blessedness in your presence, just as Horus took possession of his father's house from his father's brother Seth in the presence of Geb. You shall set me to be a magistrate among the spirits, the Imperishable Stars in the north of the sky, who rule over offerings and protect the reaped corn, who cause this to go down to the chief of the food-spirits who are in the sky. The Great Field is the Field of Creation, the universe. Now the heavenly beings may partake of the same food as their God. The "pole" probably is a reference to the pole of the earth, a mathematical reference to a celestial pole, further designated by the term "flagstaffs." This does not denote some earthly emblem with its carrying pole. Many other references could be quoted showing that the home of the gods is in the North Polar region. Mercer here has a completely different translation. Compare these passages with the Bible. Ps 48:1-2 -- Great is Yahweh and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King. Isa 14:13 -- You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north. Resurrection Hymn 666: O! King, collect your bones, assemble your members, whiten your teeth, take your bodily heart, throw off this earth which is on your flesh, take this purification of yours . . . O! King, come, you also, tell of this going of yours that you may become a spirit thereby, that you may be great thereby, that you may be strong thereby, that you may be a soul thereby, that you may have power thereby. Refer to the many other remarks about his resurrection Ascension
Hymn 306: `How lovely to see! How pleasing to behold!' say they, namely the gods, when this god ascends to the sky, when you ascend to the sky with your power upon you, your terror about you, and your magic at your feet. Geb has acted on your behalf in accordance with the manner in which things should be done for you. There come to you the gods the Souls of Pe, the gods the Souls of Nekhen, the gods who are in the sky, and the gods who are on earth. They make supports for you upon their arms; may you ascend to the sky and mount up on it in this its name of `Ladder'. `The sky is given to you, the earth is given to you', says Atum.
John 6:61-63 -- But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
Note how these remarks parallel remarks in the Pyramid Texts.
Hymn 467: Someone flies up, I fly up from you, O! men; I am not for the earth, I am for the sky. O! you local god of mine, my double is beside you, for I have soared to the sky as a heron, I have kissed the sky as a falcon, I have reached the sky as a locust which hides the sun. Acts 1:9 -- And when he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. John 3:13 -- No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man. Hymn 627:The King has ascended on a cloud, he has descended. Eph 4:8-10 -- Therefore it is said, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) Hymn 485C O! Horus who is upon the sdsd, give me your hand that I may ascend to the heavens. Set your hand on me with life and dominion, that you may assemble my bones and collect my members. May you gather together my bones at . . . there is no limb of mine devoid of God. May I ascend and lift myself up to heaven as the great star in the midst of the East. Lord of the Gods Hymns 665: Raise yourself, O! King, to your thousand of bread, your thousand of beer, your thousand of oxen, your thousand of poultry, your thousand of clothing, your thousand of alabaster. I have gone forth for you from the house, O! King, that you may inherit the leadership of the Lord of the Gods and give orders to the Westerners, because you are a great and mighty spirit, and those who have suffered death are united for you wherever you wish to be. O! King, may you have power thereby, for the gods have commanded that you guard yourself from those who speak against you, O! King, because you are he whom Osiris installed on his throne that you may lead the Westerners and be a spirit at the head of the gods.
Compare with the Old Testament testimony. Ps 84:7 -- They go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion. Ps 86:8 -- There is none like thee among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like thine. Ps 95:3 -- For Yahweh is a great God, and a great King above all gods. Ps 97:9 -- For thou, O! Yahweh, art most high over all the earth; thou art exalted far above all gods.
Osiris and Jesus, Part IV Parallels Between Osiris and Jesus -- Part IV The Reassembly of Osiris Many Hymns attest to the reassembly of Osiris by Horus and Isis. Note that the reassembly is not limited to Isis. These Hymns may be compared with the material from Plutarch. Hymn 357: O! Osiris the King, Geb has given you your eyes, that you may be content with the eyes of this Great One in you; Geb has caused that Horus give them to you, so that you may be pleased with them. Isis and Nephthys have seen and found you. Horus has reassembled you, Horus has caused Isis and Nephthys to protect you, they have given you to Horus and he is pleased with you. It goes well with Horus in your company in your name of `Horizon from which Ra goes forth'; in your embrace in your name of `Inmate of the come back to you, assign it to yourself, and may it belong to you. Isis has reassembled you, the heart of Horus is glad about you in this your name of 'Foremost of the Westerners', and it is Horus who will make good what Seth has done to you. Hymn 364: Horus has reassembled your members for you, and he will not let you perish; he has put you together, and nothing shall be disturbed in you; Horus has set you up, and there shall be no unsteadiness. Hymn 367: O! Osiris the King, Geb brings Horus to you that he may protect you and bring to you the heart of the gods; may you neither languish nor groan. Horus has given to you his Eye that you may take possession of the Wrrt-crown by means of it at the head of the gods. Horus has reassembled your limbs and he has put you together, and nothing in you shall be disturbed. Thoth has laid hold of your foe for you, he having been decapitated together with those who are in his following, and he will have no mercy on him. Hymn 485C: O! Horus who is upon the sdsd, give me, your hand that I may ascend to Nut. (O! Nut,) set your hand on me with life and dominion, that you may assemble my bones and collect my members. May you gather together my bones. . . . there is no limb of mine devoid of God. May I ascend and lift myself up to the sky as the great star in the midst of the East. The Moon God Hymn 412: you belong to the stars who surround Ra, who are before the Morning Star, you are born in your months as the moon, Ra leans upon you in the horizon. Here Mercer shows a different phrasing. He puts it thus: You belong to the nhh'w-stars, the servants of Ra, who are before the Morning Star. You will be born as your new moons like the moon, while Ra leans upon you in the horizon. This difference is important because Faulkner, in the interests of literary beauty, has sacrificed a phrase that provides information about the connection between Osiris and the moon. Faulkner substitutes "months" for "new moons," an interpretation on his part. Osiris is not the moon, but his rebirth, new moon by new moon, is like the birth of the moon. Osiris is connected to a monthly moon cycle; each new moon is a remembrance of his rebirth (not birth). Mercer literally holds to the nhh'w-stars, which he cannot identify, but which are shown as the servants of Ra, while Faulkner rearranges the entire phrase to eliminate the lack of identification and substitute "the stars who surround Ra." Faulkner practices such alteration repeatedly throughout his translations, taking scholarly liberty for literary nicety, thus sacrificing our understanding. Hymn 437: Awake for Horus! Arise against Seth! Raise yourself as Osiris, as a spirit, the son of Geb, his first-born! You arise as Anubis who is on the baldachin, the gods (Ennead) tremble at you, the three-day festival is celebrated for you, you are pure for the New Moon, your appearing is for the monthly festival, the Great Mooring-post calls to you as to Him who stands up and cannot tire, who dwells in Abydos. Compare with Mercer: Wake up for Horus; stand up against Seth. Raise yourself as Osiris, like the spirit, son of Geb, his first-(born). Stand up as Anubis, who is on the min-w shrine, before whom the Ennead tremble. The three beginnings (divisions of the year) will be celebrated for you. Purify yourself on the day of the new moon; you dawn on the first of the month. The great min.t-(stake) mourns for you, as for him who stands without being tired, who resides in Abydos. Again we see the differences in interpretation that Faulkner interposes into the text, preventing us from making assessment of the phrases for ourselves. Again we see how Osiris is exhorted to be pure for his dawning (rising) into rebirth at the beginning of each month. This event is celebrated in heaven as much as it is on earth. Hymn 610 (A variant of Hymn 43'7): Awake for Horus! Stand up for Seth! Raise yourself, you eldest son of Geb, at whom the Two Enneads tremble! Stand up, O! Herdsman, for whom the three-day festival is celebrated! May you appear for the monthly festival, may you be pure for the New Moon festival. Hymn 685: This King is hale, the Herdsman stands up, the month is born, Spa lives. I have prepared arourae so that you may cultivate barley, you may cultivate emmer; this King will be presented therewith for ever. Apparently, the ancient Egyptians felt that the health of Osiris in his monthly rebirth was important to the yield of grain. From Mercer: Hymn 483: Raise yourself up, Osiris, son of Geb, his first-born, before whom the Great Gods tremble. You purify yourself on the first of the month, you dawn on the day of the New Moon, for you will be celebrated at the three beginnings, (divisions of the year.) Again we see the importance of the rebirth of Osiris at the new moons. He is asked to be pure to ensure the cycles of the earth. A few passages concerning the Moon as the symbol for Osiris may be found in the Papyrus of Ani, dating to 1500 BC. CHAPTER II. (1) THE CHAPTER OF COMING FORTH BY DAY, AND OF LIVING AFTER DEATH. Says Osiris Ani: "Hail, Only One, shining from the Moon! (2) Hail, Only One, shining from the Moon! Grant that this Osiris Ani may come forth among the multitudes which are round about you; (3) let him be established as a dweller among the shining ones; and let the underworld be opened unto him. And behold Osiris, (4) Osiris Ani shall come forth by day to do his will upon earth among the living." We can see the nature of the symbolism. He shines in the heavens through his power and might. He is among the multitudes of celestial personalities. He will do his will upon earth among the living. CHAPTER VIII. (1) THE CHAPTER OF PASSING THROUGH AMENTA, AND OF COMING FORTH BY DAY. Says Osiris Ani: "The hour openeth; (2) the head of Thoth is sealed up; perfect is the eye of Horus. I have delivered the eye of Horus which shines with splendors on the forehead of Ra, (3) the father of the gods. I am the same Osiris, dwelling in Amenta. Osiris knows his day and that he shall not live therein; nor shall I live therein. (4) I am the Moon among the gods; I shall not come to an end. Stand up, therefore, O Horus; Osiris hath counted thee among the gods." He is the moon among the gods because of the brilliance of his splendor, second only to Ra who is symbolized by the sun. CHAPTER LXXX. (1) THE CHAPTER OF CHANGING INTO THE GOD WHO GIVETH LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS. Says Osiris, the scribe Ani, triumphant: I am . . . I have led away the darkness captive by my might. I have upheld the Eye when its power waned (7) at the coming of the festival of the fifteenth day, and I have weighed Sut in the heavenly mansions beside the Aged one who is with him. I have endowed (8) Thoth in the House of the Moon-god with all that is needful for the coming of the festival of the fifteenth day. He led the darkness of the night away by his glorious shining. The festival of the fifteenth day is the Full Moon, when he is in his highest magnitude. The Eye here may infer Ra; if his power should wane Osiris would take his place to keep the heavens lit. We can now examine the Plutarch myth with greater benefit. Clearly, we have only allusions, not explicit statements. Neither the Pyramid Texts nor the Papyrus of Ani offer details for us to understand the foundation of the moon myth. But the allusions agree with the myth in their elements; they do not deny the myth. Plutarch recognized that the 28-year life of Osiris was a moon cycle, and that the 14 pieces into which his body was dismembered were the 14 days of the decline from full to new moon. In other words, Osiris was killed at the Full Moon. The association of Osiris as the Moon God then takes on a particular significance. Jesus was killed the day before the observance of the Passover, at the Full Moon. There are many striking parallels between the myth of Osiris and the New Testament record of Jesus. Both were killed by supermortal enemies. For the Egyptians it was Seth; for Christians it was the Devil Jesus was crucified at the full moon, Passover. Osiris was dismembered at the full moon. Jesus was in his 30's when he was killed; Osiris was 28. Both suffered bodily harm: Jesus was crucified; Osiris was dismembered. Both rose from the dead. Both returned to their home in heaven. Jesus is recognized by Christians as God and Creator; Osiris was recognized by the ancient Egyptians as Creator and Ruler of the Heavens. Both had the power to raise human mortals from the dead. The ancient Egyptians appealed to Osiris for eternal life. Christians appeal to Jesus for eternal life. I, for one, cannot accept that these detailed parallels were an accident of time. Neither can I accept that the apostles of Jesus fashioned his story to such detailed parallel. They did not even know of this material, let alone borrow it! The many passages from the Old Testament show that we have an on-flow of events that spans hundreds and millennia of years. An immortal heavenly being is unfolding a revelation of his human life, death, and resurrection that spans the Judeo-Christian religious texts, not limited by the narrow vision of a few ignorant fishermen. The evidence requires that the ancient Egyptians had an account of the events of Jesus thousands of years before the event, but that their memory became distorted and mythologized. I call it debased prophecy. Other parallels exist but outside of the scope of this presentation. For example, Horus became the enemy of Set; they engaged in a great battle in the heavenly realms. There was war in heaven. Rev 12:7-8 -- Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. Set was a rebel god. Horus was the son of Osiris, and his protector. The images fit those of Melchizedek of the biblical account, not always named. See Psalm 2, 72, 110, and so on. For me to accept that the Egyptian texts and stories were fashioned out of some primitive psychological impulse defies sanity. I cannot do it. The modern scholarly notion of the origin of such stories is, in itself, an insanity; it denies reality. The illusions propagated by the modern scholarly world must eventually reap their harvest.
KEEPER OF GENESIS A QUEST FOR THE HIDDEN LEGACY OF MANKIND Robert Bauval Graham Hancock 1996 Return to the Beginning Page 283 'I stand before the masters who witnessed the genesis, who were the authors of their own forms, who walked the dark, circuitous passages of their own becoming. . . I stand before the masters who know the histories of the dead, who decide which tales to hear again, who judge the books of lives as either fun or empty, who are themselves authors of truth. And they are Isis and Osiris, the divine intelligences. And when the story is written and the end is good and the soul of a man is perfected, with a shout they lift him into heaven. . .' Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (Norrnandi Ellis translation)
THE TRANSFIGURATION
Transfiguration of Jesus - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfiguration_of_Jesus King James Version 17 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, Mark 9:2-30 2 And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.
The Transfiguration 1And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
King James Version 17 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (Norrnandi Ellis translation) I stand before the masters who witnessed the genesis, who were the authors of their own forms, who walked the dark, circuitous passages of their own becoming. . . I stand before the masters who know the histories of the dead, who decide which tales to hear again, who judge the books of lives as either fun or empty, who are themselves authors of truth. And they are Isis and Osiris, the divine intelligences. And when the story is written and the end is good and the soul of a man is perfected, with a shout they lift him into heaven. . .'
Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (Norrnandi Ellis translation) when the corpse of Osiris entered the mountain and the soul of Osiris walked out shining. . . when he came forth from death, a shining thing, his face white with heat. . .
King James Version 17 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, THE TRANSFIGURATION
LETTERS TRANSPOSED INTO NUMBER REARRANGED IN NUMERICAL ORDER
LETTERS TRANSPOSED INTO NUMBER REARRANGED IN NUMERICAL ORDER
OSIRIS HORUS ISIS JOSEPH JESUS MARY
OSIRIS ISIS SET
PREHISTORIC GERM WARFARE Is Mankind an Alien Experiment? Robyn Collins 1980 CHAPTER 6 The Egyptian Connection Page 79 In F. H. Brooksbank's fascinating 1924 book Legends of Ancient Egypt: Stories of Egyptian Gods and Heroes, the author outlines an extraordinary legend relating to the arrival of the ancient Egyptian deities Isis and Osiris. Brooksbank remarked that the first to greet Isis and Osiris was an Egyptian astronemer and Holy Man who said 'Long have I known of your coming, but never did I think that I should be the first to greet you here on Earth'. Thereupon in reply, Osiris said:' ...I charge thee straightly to tell no man what thou knowest, whence we came or why'.
LONG HAVE I KNOWN OF YOUR COMING, BUT NEVER DID I THINK THAT I SHOULD BE THE FIRST TO GREET YOU HERE ON EARTH'. Thereupon in reply, Osiris said: I CHARGE THEE STRAIGHTLY TO TELL NO MAN WHAT THOU KNOWEST, WHENCE WE CAME OR WHY'.
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