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Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament

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In the Foreword to John Currid's book, the eminent Kenneth Kitchen writes that the "whole subject of the interrelations of ancient Egypt and the Old Testament is very much larger than most people realize" and in this book Currid has selected a series of themes. I would agree that this is a most apt description.

Currid divides his 13 chapters between an introduction and various portions of the Old Testament. There are six chapters on the relationships between the Pentateuch and Egypt, two on the historical books, one on wisdom literature, and two on prophecy. Currid is widely read on Egyptology and this comes across in his writing. In his chapter called "The Egyptian Setting of the Serpent Confrontation," Currid shows the breadth and depth of his studies in Egyptology. Numerous Egyptian sources are cited showing the meaning of the serpent in ancient Egypt. Then Currid adds the battle of the biblical writers. Aaron's throwing the rod-snake before Pharaoh was an assault on the latter's authority since the serpent was a symbol of Pharaoh's. The reader might want to have a look at the story in Exodus again for the full impact of this.

Currid treats the biblical figures as historical figures. Moses or Aaron did this or that, etc. Currid does the same with Potiphar where he concludes that what can be known about Potiphar is "not much." Potiphar's name does not tell us much about the station and function of a person by that name though probably he was not a eunuch. Moreover the name itself "seems to be an anomaly" if the Joseph story occurred in the second millennium; "the name itself is primarily confined to the 1st millennium."

One would do well to read Currid's book for what Kitchen said: because the interrelations between Egypt and the Old Testament is much larger than most people think. On that basis Currid's book is thought-provoking reading from cover to cover.

"The whole subject of the interrelation of ancient Egypt and the Old Testament is very much larger than most people realize, be they lay or scholars!" K. Kitchen

Curried valued credentials:
If you are new to the subject, how would you support your expectations? The author, John Currid got his Ph.D. degree from the Oriental Institute, at the University of Chicago, one of the finest, a Pioneer to the Past, established by the eminent Egyptologist James H. Breasted. Prof. Edwin Yamauchi, a towering expert, and author of 'Persia and the Bible', described the book as; "An excellent study of the Egyptian background of certain parts of the Old Testament. The author has read widely and commented judiciously on a number of very interesting topics." While K. Kitchen, attests that; "Currid's well documented book is a breath of fresh air and represents a valuable contribution." I may add that John Currid has shown scholarly prudence, in referring to the Septuagint, the Alexandrian Koine translation of the Hebrew Bible.

Book's Thesis:
Kitchen's Forward, and Currid own Preface should be examined carefully before reading and after finishing its discourse. In five parts, Currid writes a plan, elaborates on his defense of the Old debated case for the Egyptian Origins of OT, as follows
1. Egypt and the Bible / ancient Near east Cosmologies.
2. Pentateuch Egyptian Element.
3. Egypt / Israel in the Historical Books
4. Parallels of Egyptian Wisdom
5. Prophecy in Egypt and Israel.
This book represents the depth of American scholarship in comparison to the broad and versatile style treatment of such subjects as represented by: Moses, The Egyptian, which Jan Assmann, of Heidelberg University wrote in California, same year. Assmann puts it forward; "The aim of a mnemohistorical study is not to ascertain the possible truth of traditions such as the traditions about Moses but to study these traditions as phenomena of collective memory. Memories may be false, distorted, invented, or implanted." Moses the Egyptian, Jan Assmann

Conscience and Revelation:
Currid does not intend to support the historicity of the Hebrew Bible but just to explain why it is logical. The most important issue here is what shocked his own pioneer James Breasted; "When that experience began, it was a dark day for my inherited respect for the theological dogma of 'revelation.' I had more disquieting experience before me, when as a young Orientalist I found that the Egyptians had possessed a standard of morals far superior to that of the Decalogue over a thousand years before the Decalogue was written." Revelation should be directly proportional to the tuned perception of the receiving side to interpret the All Knowing Lord's thought line.

Egyptian Wisdom Parallels:
Job, written some fifteen hundred years before a similar book among the Hebrew wisdom, reminds OT scholars of the Hieratic papyrus in the Berlin Museum: 'A dispute over Suicide', that dates from the middle kingdom (Ca 1900 BC).
The use of dialogue to treat a philosophical and religious problem is followed by the author of the book of Job in his presentation of the problem of suffering more than fifteen hundred years later." (Documents from Old Testament Times, W. Thomas, Editor)
Here I find Currid's treatment of the Egyptian parallels in Psalms and Proverbs is much short of Breasted's original and thorough treatment, apart from 'Proverbs 22 and Amenemope.' My NRSV Harper Collins study Bible, W. Meeks Editor, indicate in the foot comments: "Proverbs 22.17-24.22 this section departs from the proverb collections of 10.1-22.16, as it makes a free adaptation from the popular Egyptian wisdom text; The instruction of Amenemope."

Interrelation Reconstructed:
The greatest early Bible commentators and exegesis were from the two great Churches in the East, Alexandria and Antioch, both of Jewish ancestry, who did not find anything illogical in the Biblical derivations. The Hebrews lived in Egypt for four centuries, acquiring their culture, folklore and traditions. They were led out from their alleged slavery by an Egyptian or assumed Egyptian, in education, wisdom, and 'Akhenaton' monotheistic belief system. What is more logical than Moses asking the Israelites, bitten by the fiery serpents to the Egyptian Symbol of pharmaceutical healing, that many pharmacies depict as their logo today?
It is not but logical to have these narration, given Egypt dominated the thought theater for the two thousand years. Mostly all native rulers were educated in memphis and Heliopolis. The Kingdom of Israel and Judah, among all others in the fertile Crescent, were planets in the ancient Egyptian 'Solar' system.

Coming from a family fascinated by ancient Egypt (my brother, Dr. Hoyt Hobbs, has written numerous books on Egypt, several published by Fielding/Morrow), I found John Currid's treatment an outstanding, well-documented, readable book. For me, Currid's book provided a stimulation and informative study of how the world of ancient Egypt illuminates the pages of the Old Testament. A must read for those of us interested in Egypt and the Old Testament.

This book is a fine appraisal of current trends, difficulties and issues relating to the two topics. Currid brings balance to the extremeists on both sides: those who would reject any historical data in the Bible and those who see Egyptian customs in every page of the Old Testament. Discussion concentrates on material from the Pentateuch and History books but includes brief chapters on the Wisdom lit. and prophecy. The book is up to date and recommended to any interested in learning more about OT customs and its environment.

Currid's book provides a valuable study of how the world of ancient Egypt illuminates the pages of the Old Testament. The author evenhandedly presents a variety of views found in the Bible, Egypt and other parts of the Ancient Near East. Currid successfully shows many firm points of contact between Egypt and the Bible on a variety of levels such as creation, the ten plagues of Egypt, the bronze serpent of Numbers 21, etc. This fresh, yet schoarly work, helped me study the Old Testament with a new, deeper understanding. A must read for those of us interested in learning more about Egyptian themes in the Pentateuch. Thank you, Dr. Currid.

This book is extremely informative. With all the reading I have done over the years on the Ancient Near East nearly 100% treat Mesopotamian connections. Currid does a great job of comparing and contrasting the Hebrew paralels with Ancient Egypt.

I am by no means a scholar but I heartily recommend this book to anyone who is interested in more fully understanding the Old Testament world, especially the one in which the sons of Abraham grew from a small clan into a nation ready to take their first steps toward the Promised land.

As other reviews of this book show, this is an area where people's minds are made up and a book like Currid's will either elicit support from those who agree with him or derision from those who don't.

Because ancient Egypt's relationship to Israel can be a confusing thing, I appreciated Currid's introduction to the material in an engaging, readable style. I especially found the chapters on Egyptian cosmogonies, the Egyptian setting of the serpent confrontation, the exegetical and historical consideration of the ten plagues of Egypt, and the Egyptian complexion of the bronze serpent to be the most helpful.

Archeology being what it is, fragmentary and scattered, there are rarely clear answers to the questions raised. Thus, I found it somewhat humorous that many of the chapters could be summed up by saying, "We simply don't have enough information to verify one theory or the other."

Though technical in parts, I enjoyed sitting down and thinking through the relationship between Egypt and Israel. This is a good place to start, whether you agree with Currid or not.

The author claims that the writers of the Bible knew about contemporary Egypt, and for this reason, based themselves on it. He is against the popular idea that mythological elements in the Bible should be separated from historical facts. Some may say he is inconsistent in his terminology or historical facts, yet he brings a new idea up for discussion. An interesting book on a subject that very few people have the courage to discuss.

This is an excellent source of information for anyone interested in the history and/or culture of the Near-East and Israel. As a student of mythology, I found myself inextricably fascinated. Dr. Currid presents good documentation and refreshing ideas. Quite wonderful! Certainly NOT "another example of what happens when personal theology gets in the way of historical accuracy." Speaking of personal opinions getting in the way of objectivity, Ms. Carol Koller Gordon, your dogma is showing...

Another example of what happens when personal theology gets in the way of historical accuracy. Dr. Currid can barely contain his contempt for ancient Near Eastern cultures which define god(s) differently than his traditional monotheistic conception. He nearly bends over backwards to try and prove that any interrelationship between the Hebrews their neighbors has been exaggerated particularily in the area of literature. He refers to the biblical creation stories as "accounts" and the literature of other ancient Near Eastern cultures as "myths." He also uses, in my opinion, unprofessional language to describe the cultural differences between ancient Israel's literary legacy in comparison to its ancient neighbors by slandering them as "pagan authors [who] vulgarized or bastardized those truths [biblical truths]--they distorted fact by dressing it up with polytheism, magic, violence and paganism. Fact became myth" (p. 32). Perhaps Dr. Currid should reread the Old Testament. If he finds none of the above, I would be surprised. I quite frankly expected better from a Ph.D. from the Oriental Institute. Any historical value of the book was lost due to such a clear disrespect for these magnificant cultures. Dr. Donald Redford's book "Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times," is a much more unbiased work.