(3:1) Part Three: The Great Migration

When you build your house for your son, you make a dwelling for yourself. Establish your house in the necropolis and make excellent your place in the west. Remember that death means nothing to us, remember that we think of life, the house of death is precisely for life!

The instructions attributed to Hardjedef, 5th Dynasty (approx. 2494-2345 B.C.E.).
Taken from The Westcar Papyrus, dating to the later Hyksos period. [49]

Our journey through Genesis and the opening sections to Exodus has introduced us to the contrasting order and chaos sequences of the Torah, a theme which would have been very familiar to the ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern Semitic alike. The juxtaposition of Abram’s willingness to cross the dividing marker and confront Chedor-laomer and his allies, together with his willingness to petition God to restrict the devastation of Sodom to the wicked, is mirrored by Moses and is in sharp contrast to the restrictive division and oppression imposed by pharaoh. His markers are the store cities of Pithom and Ramesses. The burdens they bring are in their construction; the employment of imposed corvée labour, the restriction of movement and its preventing of free worship. The former brings about the restoration of Lot, while the latter creates division and separation, resulting in the departure of those who strive with the god Yahweh (Israel) from Egypt. [50]

The Ten Calamities and the Reversal of Creation.

The disparity between order and chaos is further highlighted by the writer’s introduction of the 10 calamities which precede the exit account. These calamities are the reversal of the creation of order, found in Genesis 1. The first day of creation (Gen 1:1-5) had God creating light out of the darkness in order to overcome the void of chaos. This is the first step in bringing order or light into the chaotic void of darkness. In the calamities or plagues of Exodus, Yahweh undertakes the opposite by causing the darkness to prevail over the light which reintroduces chaos. However, those who strived with Yahweh had light. [51]

The second day of creation (Gen 1:6-13) had God bringing His creation to order, through the separation and gathering of the waters of the earth. In contrast, Yahweh begins his destruction of Egypt by changing the waters to blood. This image of the Nile turning to blood may have originated from the spring flood carrying large quantities of red sediment down stream. But its significance goes beyond such physical changes, as blood like water in ancient Near Eastern literature is an omen of impending disasters. What God originally called good at the point of its creation, Yahweh had now turned into a curse and judgment upon the Egyptians. [52]

Just as the third day had the appearance of dry land and the creation of plants, the calamities of Yahweh destroy the three divisions of vegetation; herbs, fruit and trees, by the destructive use of hail and locusts.

The function of the fourth day’s creation of the luminaries was to separate the day from the night, light from darkness and the creation of the seasons. God set the sun, moon and stars in the sky in order to establish the orderly daily cycle and the annual calendar, which provided a temporal framework in which to live. Again, this order was temporarily suspended by Yahweh.

The calamities of Egypt and the reversal of cosmic order as understood by the Hebrew writer continued through the fifth and sixth days of creation. The birds, the fish and swarming creatures in the sea, are countered by the death of fish, the initial multiplication and then death of the frogs. The creation of land animals and humans are countered by the pestilence brought by the insects which results in boils on the beasts and humans and the death of the first born.

Ma'at (m3ˤt).
The concept of truth and justice, balance and harmony, order and morality.

The Ancient Egyptians’ belief in this cosmic arrangement, that which they called Ma’at, and the Hebrews’ literary attack upon it, serves to place them both within a wider human context. The search for an understanding of this principle power or force which binds the universe together, has long dominated the mind of man. Even today scientists are striving to discover the “fifth energy” or “dark matter” which is responsible for the inherent order of the universe. The Hebrews called it ‘ěmet’ and described it as the life giving force in nature throughout the Torah’s text. The psalms also speak of it as “Consistency and truth”. [53] [54]

Ancient Uruk, Sumer, Southern Iraq.
Photograph: British Museum.

Whether Egypt was the first region to come to grips with the problem of universal order is difficult to determine. The earliest known appearance of Ma’at, is from the beginning of the third millennium. This precedes its closest contemporary to be found in ancient Sumer, in Southern Mesopotamia. The Sumerian texts date from around the 22nd Century B.C.E. However, the Sumerian ‘Me’ or ‘Ñe’, as the principle force governing the universe, is spoken of in a manner that suggests that its origins date from a much earlier period.

In ancient Greece, ‘Logos’ was the term employed in referring to the concept of creative order. While Logos and Ma’at may not be identical in all respects, Ma’at clearly developed as a concept over the three millennia of its usage and included much of what Logos came to represent.

Our demonstration of the degree of travel being undertaken throughout this period, confirms that Sumer, Egypt and Greece are not that far apart in terms of ancient travel. There was a Sumerian presence at Tell Mardikh and at Tell Habuba Kabira, in modern day Syria, close to the port of Byblos, which was a much valued trading centre throughout Egyptian history. It is therefore difficult to suggest that these two terms could have been conceived independently and so the same fundamental concept may have dominated Egypt and the Middle East for millennia.

Ma’at signified truth, justice and order in society and was a concept. But in Egypt, Ma’at also assumed the shape of a goddess. She represented the cosmic order that fulfilled a dominant role in Egyptian thinking. This order manifested itself in the regularity of the sunrise and sunset, the annual flood and receding flow of the Nile and the germination of plant seeds, their growth, harvest and replanting. These illustrations were used to demonstrate the mysterious happenings in which life overcomes death and celebrates its resurrection. Order degenerates into chaos, which in turn regenerates back to order. As a result, Ma’at produced a static image cycle of the world. It also presents a realisation that the Egyptians did not expect continuing changes to society and culture, nor did they hold the concept of an uncertain future. Pharaoh, as the maintainer of Ma’at, was convinced that the same order, which was established in primeval days, would continue until the end of time. Periods of chaos and social disruption would pass by, with order being reestablished once again, forming a stable unity.

The Weighing of the Heart from the Book of the Dead of Ani.
Left, Ani and his wife Tutu enter the assemblage of gods. Centre, Anubis weighs Ani's heart against the feather of Ma'at, observed by the goddesses Renenutet and Meshkenet, the god Shay, and Ani's own ba. Right, the monster Ammut, who will devour Ani's soul if he is unworthy, awaits the verdict, while the god Thoth prepares to record it. Above are gods acting as judges: Hu and Sia, Hathor, Horus, Isis and Nephthys, Nut, Geb, Tefnut, Shu, Atum, and Ra-Horakhty.
Photograph: British Museum