Genesis... The Creation
See also Amun
In Greek the word "Genesis" means beginning or to be born in. Given the fact that the Egyptian civilization predates that of the Greeks by many years, the Greek origin of this word could be an Egyptian extraction...
Gen - Isis - the English, Spanish and Latin use similar words, peoples that all have religious roots that lead to mother Gods like Venus, Astarte or Athena. We could easily imagine an Egyptian root to this word as the birth of Isis the cental female figure of the Egyptians.
The Biblical creation story is not entirely specific to the Israelites. In fact it is very similar to the Egyptian creation story with the exception that the characters of the Egyptian story are Gods instead of humans.
The first books of a Bible are filled with war stories, most told from a defensive point of view. People to whom God gave a particular piece of land which happens to be the front lines in defense of the Egyptian homeland. It would be understandable that the Egyptians would give the Israelites a creation story with similarities to their own.
The Egyptian creation story
At first there was chaos, Nun. Then a hill rose out of the waters and there stood the first God Atum ... Atum made two more Gods Shu the air and , Tefnut, God of moisture...then the air and the moisture made two more Gods the Geb and Nut the earth and sky. Nut and Geb (adam and eve) had four children named Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys.
Osiris was the king of the earth and Isis was his queen. Osiris was a good king, and he ruled the earth for many years. Seth wanted to rule he was jealous of Osiris. He killed Osiris. (Cain and Able) Although killed Osiris went down into the underworld and Seth (Satan for us?) became king of earth. Osiris and Isis had a son called Horus. Horus battled against Seth and lost his eye and now rules the earth (and the people of Seth?). His father, Osiris was now the king of the underworld.
Note the similarity of the Seth and Osiris account to that of Cain and Able, or of Romulus and Remus for the Roman creation story.
The Biblical story of creation.
We understand that Genesis as given to us by Moses. It was written for Egyptian slaves, one of the sons of Adam and Eve, In particular the family of Abraham. You should also note that the land given to Moses by God, Canaan, is the most strategic territory the Egyptians could have. In the past freedom was non-existent, there were rulers and there were slaves. Yet, we know that a sense of freedom makes for a far more fearless warrior, and by contrast slaves make poor warriors.
Besides the story of Moses in exodus, historically there are few problems between the people of Israel and Egypt. The problems are with the territory to the east, Babylonia and the sea people of Phoenicia.
Until the Suez Canal in Egypt was opened in 1869 there was no water between Egypt and Canaan, you did not need to cross the Red Sea you could simply walk around it.
Slavery in Egypt was normal and remained so into modern times. The French invasion of Egypt by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798 was met by the defensive forces of the Mamluck, slave soldiers who had converted to Islam, they were known as the Mamluk Sultanate from 1250–1517. To understand the creation story, you must try to think of slavery as normal, and freedom as what is unthinkable. Even today there are many people that think government should care for us. Many if not most people would gladly submit liberties for a state that protects and provides.
If Moses is the origin of the biblical creation story we know the mother that abandoned him was a slave, and the Mother that raised him was the Pharaohs sister, what story would he give to a slave class from Egypt?
Lets compare what the Biblical Genesis says and compare that to the Egyptian creation story...
1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Atum created Geb and Nut the earth and the sky.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters
Atum standing on his hill on the face of the waters Without form and void is what chaos meant to the ancient Greeks.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Nut the sky. The night comes later, that is Seth
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
Gods Shu the air, and Tefnut God of moisture.... the mist of the waters and by dividing the water from the moisture you have air or I guess the heavens. This is speculation but is the story for the chosen people... and it appears to be very similar to that of Egypt.
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
This would be the God Geb. The Egyptian mythology had many Gods that came from this creation ... animal, plant gods, etc...
I will let those more knowledgeable to interpret the parallels with Egyptian mythology to the above passages, what I am looking for is coming up. So I'm jumping to Genesis 26.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Here God creates Man and Woman, please note made in his image. Now, God is satisfied its the seventh day of creation and God has done a good job, but oops ...
5. And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
He created man and woman in his image .. but God's don't work, "who will till the ground"... God has made heaven and earth and a fine earth at that. But the Man and Woman he made in his image they don't work either. We need someone to do the tilling and all the other work that needs to be done on Earth.
7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
In the garden where they needed to get to work... and to add insult to injury.... no way they could have knowledge... stay away from that... for they may rule one day... rule over the other Man he made first "in his own image."
Who would be the other Man made in Gods image? The Egyptian Pharos those that do not "till the earth".
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
James Henry Breasted (1906, 1962). Ancient Records of Egypt:
The Book of the Kings of Egypt: Dynasties I-XIXBy Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge