Egyptian Influence on Judaism and Christianity Explained

Introduction

The issue of the relationship between Egyptian cultural history and the histories of Judaism and Christianity is one that is mired in controversy. This controversy is also linked to various interpretations of Biblical texts and to the view that has emerged in recent years that the Bible is more myth and fiction than actual historical fact. While this view does not invalidate the theological integrity of either Judaism or Christianity, it does suggest a link with the historical and cultural realities of the past, and with the way that various historical and religious contexts shaped the development of both faiths.

The view that the origins of both Judaism and Christianity are linked to other religions — and to the dominance of Egyptian culture, among others — is increasingly supported by scholarly research and evidence. As a study by David Rohl states:

"Biblical Archaeology was born in Egypt with the search for Joseph and the Seven-year Famine, the Ten Plagues, Moses and the Exodus. However, the unfortunate reality is that, after more than 150 years of excavations, not one scrap of archaeological evidence for the Israelite Sojourn in Egypt has come to light." (Rohl)

Views such as this are contested by many other scholars. Nevertheless, many studies suggest that much of the origins of Judaism and Christianity may have been influenced by — and possibly borrowed from — the dominant civilizations of the time, such as Egypt. While it is not the intention of this paper to delve into the convoluted and often obscure arguments about the origins of Judaism and Christianity, the aim here is to provide insight into the way that Egyptian civilization influenced the development and content of both religions.

This type of analysis has become increasingly important in light of recent scholarship, which has found very little hard factual evidence to support the Biblical texts. As Rohl notes, Old Testament specialist Professor Thomas L. Thompson of Copenhagen University argued that believing in a Bible based on real historical events is "not only dubious but wholly ludicrous." Thompson is supported in his views, to a lesser or greater extent, by scholars throughout academia — even in Israel. Many scholars agree that there is "really no unambiguous evidence for any of the biblical characters and events prior to the 9th century BC" (Rohl). However, this does not necessarily invalidate Biblical texts. What is clear from diverse sources in the literature is that there was a greater degree of influence from civilizations like Egypt than was previously thought.

Egyptian Influence on Judaism and Christianity

The common Biblical view of the relationship between the Israelites and Egyptian culture is as follows:

"The Bible tells us that when Jacob and his family migrated from Asia to Egypt, they were settled in 'the land of Rameses' and that they became property owners there (Genesis 47:11, 27). Eventually, the Israelites were used as slave laborers to build the city of Rameses (Exodus 1:11), and when they left after 430 years (Exodus 12:40), they departed from Rameses (Exodus 12:37). From these references, we can conclude that the Israelites spent the years of the Egyptian Sojourn in and around Rameses." (Is there evidence that the Israelites once lived in Egypt as the Bible says?)

However, this commonly accepted view is questioned by many modern scholars who assert that myth and fact must be separated in our understanding of Biblical history. In particular, scholars question the accepted view of the relationship between Egyptian culture and the development of Judaism and Christianity. Many studies suggest that the influence and impact of Egyptian culture on the content and structure of both faiths has not been fully acknowledged or understood. As one article on this topic notes:

"How much of the doctrine and ritual of Egypt were imported into Judaism by Moses is a question by no means easy to settle. Of Egyptian theology proper, or the doctrine of the gods, we find no trace in the Pentateuch. Instead of the three orders of deities we have Jehovah; instead of the images and pictures of the gods, we have a rigorous prohibition of idolatry; instead of Osiris and Isis, we have a Deity above all worlds and behind all time, with no history, no adventures, no earthly life." (Influence of Egypt on Judaism and Christianity)

This raises important issues. On the one hand, there are those who see an extreme difference between the religion that Moses propounded and the Egyptian civilization in which Mosaic Judaism first arose. In other words, the religion of Moses is commonly held to have been very different from, and therefore not influenced by, the religion and culture of Egypt. As the same source notes: "Moses gives no account of the judgment of souls after death; he tells nothing of the long journey and multiform experiences of the next life according to the Egyptians, nothing of a future resurrection and return to the body… His severe monotheism was very different from the minute characterization of gods in the Egyptian Pantheon." (Influence of Egypt on Judaism and Christianity)

However, this view of essential difference is strongly contradicted by many contemporary investigations of the subject. An extensive and insightful study is Gods of Our Fathers: The Memory of Egypt in Judaism and Christianity by Richard A. Gabriel (2002). In this work, Gabriel posits a very different view from the accepted notion of essential difference between the origins of Judaism and Christianity and Egyptian culture. He also suggests that Egyptian culture had a much greater influence on these religions than is commonly acknowledged.

In understanding this argument, one must also bear in mind the distinction between earlier Yahwehism and Judaism. As Gabriel (2002) notes: "The Judaism of the sixth century B.C.E. was a considerably different creed in important respects than it had been when first introduced by Moses six centuries earlier, just as modern Judaism, the beneficiary of almost two thousand years of ethical introspection and commentary, is considerably different from the legalistic Judaism of Ezra. Like all religions, Yahwehism changed in response to the historical circumstances with which it was forced to deal." (Gabriel 64)

This refers to the influence that Egyptian thought had on Mosaic Yahwehism — the theology that is fundamental to and forms the core of modern Judaism. Scholars also note that the larger and more economically influential Egyptian civilization would almost certainly have influenced the development of the Judaic faith. As one commentator notes: "There were contacts between Egypt and the Syria-Palestine region as early as the Middle Kingdom, around 2000 BC, when Egypt exercised economic, if not political, domination over the Levant. It is in this period that the migration of the Hebrew patriarchs to and from Egypt belongs (Gen. 12:10ff)." (Kline)

Who Were the Israelites?

A common definition of the term "Israelite" is: "An inhabitant of the Northern Kingdom of ancient Israel. Also used to denote the members of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, made up of the descendants of Jacob." (Szczepanski) However, the common view of a unified group known as the Israelites is questioned by historical facts. As one commentator notes, "Archaeological evidence is indicative that Judaism, during its formative period, assimilated cultic beliefs acquired from neighboring peoples, and is, therefore, not the uniquely original religion that religious purists would have us believe." (Desborough)

The actual ancient Hebrew people were semi-nomadic herdsmen. The most likely originators of the Israelites were a people referred to by the Egyptians as the Apiru or Habiru, described as a "wandering group of Asiatics in Palestine and Syria with whom the Egyptians were familiar" (Gabriel 65). Gabriel (2002) also draws attention to the similarity between the words "Habiru" and "Hebrew," which has led scholars to conclude that "the Habiru were the Israelites of the Bible appearing for the first time in a historical source outside the Old Testament, a source that was at least two hundred years earlier than any known Israelite literature" (Gabriel 65). Furthermore, this designation did not refer to a specific ethnic group but rather to a class of wandering people in Palestine and Syria — a finding that runs counter to the myth of a unified ethnic group. Research also suggests that the Israelites entered Egypt most probably during the New Kingdom, approximately around the time of Amenhotep III (1417–1378 B.C.E.) (Gabriel 68).

As Kline also notes, contact between the Hebrew or Jewish people and Egyptian civilization continued to increase. This can be seen in many Biblical references: David was given political asylum by an unnamed Pharaoh (1 Kings 11:14–22); Solomon married an Egyptian princess (1 Kings 3:1); and many other instances are recorded. This inevitably led to interaction and cross-cultural exchange between the two cultures. Kline states that "no wonder that such a large number of Egyptian loan words, phrases and intellectual ideas should be preserved in the Old Testament, along with a large number of idiomatic expressions, and two Egyptian units of measure" (Kline). However, while cultural interaction and the adoption of various phrases and words is not denied by most scholars, what is contested is the extent to which this interaction influenced the religious foundations of both Judaism and Christianity.

Conclusion

The debate about the influences on religions is extremely controversial and sensitive. This is due to the fact that religion is not only about history but refers to views, insights, and intuitions that transcend mundane history. What recent scholarship has established is that the origins of both Judaism and Christianity were heavily influenced by Egyptian civilization.

The common belief that Judaism developed independently — and that its monotheism was unique to the Jewish people — is severely challenged by the view that monotheism was in fact an established part of Egyptian culture during the period of Israelite residence in the country. This view suggests that the similarities between the theology of Moses and that of Akhenaten, with regard to their conception of God, indicate a cross-cultural exchange between the two cultures. Similarly, we find echoes of Egyptian myths in the Christian story of Christ's life, death, and resurrection. This leaves little doubt that many aspects of both religions can be attributed to a significant degree of Egyptian influence in both a cultural and theological sense. For those wishing to explore this topic further, the history of ancient Egyptian religion provides essential background for understanding the broader context of these connections.