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In a previous article I introducted the reader to a new concept: the Neteru as the "Attributes of God" as understood by the Ancient Egyptians. Before you discount this whole idea understand in the 5 books of Moses we find the exact same idea expressed and endorsed and taught by Judaism today. In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title. It represents the Jewish conception of the Divine Nature, and of the relation of God to the Jewish people. The various Jewish names of God represent God as He is known, and represents His Divine attributes. So in this regard this is the same concept expressed just differently. Now let us go on.
In an earlier article I shared a little about these "attributes of God" called by Egyptian religion as the "neteru". These "Neteru" are the personifications of universal principles, functions and attributes of the one great and supreme God. The neteru who were called "gods" by some, were endorsed and incorporated into Christianity under a new name, "angels".
The ancient Egyptian word "neter," and its feminine form "netert," have been wrongly, and possible intentionally, translated as "god" and "goddess," by almost all scholars and in so doing have promoted the false idea that Egyptian religion was "pagan" and "polytheistic" when nothing could be further from the truth if one does his own study into this matter. There is no equivalent word in meaning, to the word "neter," in the English language. Honest translation should use the native word, if they cannot find its equivalent in their language. "Neteroo" (plural of "neter/netert") are the Divine Principles and Functions that operate the Universe that are contained within the very being of this One God. They are all aspects and functions of the One Supreme God. The words "god" and "goddess" leave the impression that ancient Egyptians had a multitude of gods, which is absolutely untrue.
As such, an Egyptian neter/netert was not a god/goddess but the personification of a function/attribute of the One God. With this understanding comes likewise the understanding that the labeling of Egyptian religion as "pagan" or "idolatrous" betrays the complete lack of understanding of the Egyptian religion by the writer or would be scholar.
So when we speak of various attributes of God called "neteru" we are not speaking of literal separate "gods" or "goddesses" but are the divine principles and functions of the One Supreme God.
Now let us look at one very important "neteru". Let us get familiar with the God of Harmony.
Ma'at
is the netert (goddess) that personifies the principle of cosmic order.
The Egyptian texts recognize her cosmic power, as the source without which
the other neteroo (gods) are functionless. She
signifies harmony, balance and equilibrium between all the different
cosmic forces (neteroo).
The Egyptians perceived the universe in terms of a dualism between Ma'at - Truth and Order - and disorder. The Creator summoned the cosmos out of undifferentiated chaos, by distinguishing the two, by giving voice to the ultimate ideal of Truth. If you read the Genesis account of creation then you see this very same concept originally expressed thousands of years before the rise of the Jewish nation. It is a fact of history that Egypt originated the world's first "religion" and "understanding of God" and other nations learned from them about this Creator. We see the same concept later expressed in Mesopotamian texts on creation and let us not forget that after the Jewish nation left Egypt then they were later captives in Babylon and it is from this latter influence of Babylon that they would later write their "Genesis" but fuller and more complete accounts of this Creation are to be found first in Egypt and later in Babylonian records. So if you want to really get to understand this God and His Creation then you begin with Egypt and later full in the gaps with Babylonian accounts for Genesis is but a sixty or so verse summary of earlier detailed accounts of Creation that long existed in Egypt and Babylon before the rise of the Jewish nation.
In the Egyptian Coffin Texts, Spell 1130 reads:
I am the Lord of fire who lives on Truth.
The forces of chaos were multitudinous and disorder, while the ideal Truth (ORDER) was a single harmonious entity, running through the cosmos and society. On a cosmic level, this ideal Truth (the message of God speaking ORDER our of CHAOS) was manifested in the solar cycle, in which the Creator had to repeatedly vanquish the forces of darkness every morning, as the sun rose. Every sunrise dispelled the darkness which was considered the greatest evil that plagued primitive mankind. Light triumphed over order daily and although darkness seemed to triumph at the Winter Solstice it was short-lived for on December 25th the Sun was again born from the dead after its battle with darkness 3 days where it appeared to not move on the horizon when it set. This motionless sun who had set 3 days in the same place was thought to have died but gloriously was "born again" on December 25th and began to once again rise in the sky. God was re-establishing His "order" in the Cosmos yearly and this message of "renewed order" was in time fully understood by these early Egyptians and they realized that this "pattern of order" was God's message to them and that they were to follow such "order" in their lives.
"Ma'at" is the abstract concept of order that was seen first in the Heavens and then in Mother Nature. Apply God's message of "Order out of Chaos" man reasoned that in his life he was to manifest this same order and in so doing developed concepts like justice, truth, righteousness, and "what is right" in all their purest forms. Ma'at is the force which holds creation together and makes it work like a well-oiled machine. Ma'at is the ideal of balance: of things working as they should. Without Ma'at, chaos reigns unchecked and the ability to create order is forever lost - that is to say, Ma'at is order on its most abstract level - that which causes everything to exist and continue to exist.
Egypt understood that God's Ma'at is maintained in the world by mankind and his correct actions and personal piety. This "Order" in the Cosmos seen in the movement of not only the Sun in its path through the sky and the Zodiac year after year but also the constellations and their paths through the Heavens and the fact that stray not year after year, century after century, spoke to them of God's "pattern" and "order" as a way of life for not only the Cosmos but for them as well. God was speaking to them on the blackboard of the Sky and this message was a message of "Order". But man also noticed this "SAME ORDER" was expressed in Mother Nature as well as season after season the laws of God were kept without change and the cycle and pattern of this "Order" repeated it self over and over again unchangeable for hundreds and thousands of years. Early man reasoned that this God lives with an Order that was the way of all life. Such a way of life came to be understand as a "pattern" for mankind as well. The basis of such "Order" were Law that was unbroken in the working of God's Cosmos. Such a "Law" was seen as the way for all live by the earliest Egyptians. Such obedience to the Divine's Laws results in not only an "ordered" life but an "ordered" society which reflects the "perfect order" found in the Cosmos and in Mother Nature.
With only this small introduction into God's design for Cosmic Order then it is much easier to understand the concept of Ma'at and its huge importance in Egyptian Religion
Ma'at, Goddess of Truth, Balance, Order...Ma'at, unlike Hathor and Nephthys, seemed therefore to be more of a concept than an actual goddess. Her name, literally, meant "truth" in Egyptian. She was truth, order, balance and justice personified. She was harmony, she was what was right, she was what things should be. It was thought that if Ma'at didn't exist, the universe would become chaos, once again! Ma'at is the netert (goddess) that personifies the principle of cosmic order. The Egyptian texts recognize her cosmic power, as the source without which the other neteroo (gods) are functionless. She signifies harmony, balance and equilibrium between all the different cosmic forces (neteroo).
The Egyptians perceived the universe in terms of a dualism between Ma'at (Truth and Order) and disorder. For the Egyptian believed that the universe was above everything else an ordered and rational place. It functioned with predictability and regularity; the cycles of the universe always remained constant; in the moral sphere, purity was rewarded and sin was punished. Both morally and physically, the universe was in perfect balance. The Creator summoned the cosmos out of undifferentiated chaos, by distinguishing the two, by giving voice to the ultimate ideal of Truth. In the Egyptian Coffin Texts, Spell 1130 reads:
I am the Lord of fire who lives on Truth.
The forces of chaos were multitudinous and disorder, while the ideal Truth was a single harmonious entity, running through the cosmos and society. On a cosmic level, it was manifested in the solar cycle, in which the Creator had to repeatedly vanquish the forces of darkness every morning, as the sun rose. Constantly the message was taught on a daily basis that disorder is to be subjected to order.
Ma'at is the abstract concept of order, justice, truth, righteousness, and what is right, in all their purest forms. If not noticed the definition it is related to the "Logos" as they both express "order" and "harmony." Ma'at is the force which holds creation together andMa'at is the ideal of balance: of things working as they should. Without Ma'at, chaos reigns unchecked and the ability to create order is forever lost - that is to say, Ma'at is order on its most abstract level - that which causes everything to exist and continue to exist.
Because of Ma'at, the Egyptians knew that the universe, that everything in the universe, worked on a pattern, just as, later on, the Greeks called this same underlying order of the universe "logos" (meaning, order, pattern).
If you remember from an earlier article one of the meanings of the word "logos" is "order/pattern." We see that the Egyptians laid the foundation for this understanding which the later Greeks picked up on since much of the education and learning obtained by the Greek "thinkers" came from their exposure to Egyptian wisdom.
"In the beginning was the logos, and the logos was with God and the logos* was God." - John 1:1
Properly understood this concept of order and pattern was in the beginning and this order and pattern was with God and this order and pattern was and "is" God today. The above verse is not intended to be connected with some supposed New Testament Jesus but the concept of God expressed through the lives of many righteous people of whom the depiction of Jesus in the New Testament models for the reader.
Nowhere yet in our definition of the word "logos" have we yet applied it to anything other than a pattern or order and only much later would this "concept" be applied to men who exhibited this order in their lives to the fullest. More on that later.
Egypt, then, was seen to be nothing without Ma'at. Ma'at was reality, the solid grounding of reality that literally held the Universe together; made the Sun rise, the stars shine, the river flood and mankind think. The universe itself, all the world around them, was therefore sacred in the ancient view because it was an expression of the Absolute Divine who "ordered" everything. The Egyptians understood this order transcended the stars and nature and found its most important focus within humanity in the form of ethics. "Ethics" is an issue of human will and human permission. Man has free choice to live according to the pattern of Divine Order or not. It is a function of the human world of duality: order or disorder, good or evil, righteous or unrighteous; the choice is ours.
Ma'at, despite being personified as a winged goddess (like Nephthys), she was judge at the Egyptian underworld at the Halls of Ma'at or Halls of the Double Ma'at. One of many wonderful scenes in ancient Egyptian art is this judgement of the dead. It was called “The Judgment,” sometimes called “The Weighing of the Heart.” When a child of God died his heart was placed on a scale, balanced by Ma'at herself, or by the Feather of Ma'at (her symbol that she wore on her head was an ostrich feather). It appears in the papyrus scrolls of The Egyptian Book of the Dead. The scene shows a deceased Egyptian named Ani being led to the chamber of his judgment. The god Anubis, the underworld guide, brings Ani before a huge scale. On one side of the scale, Ani’s heart is placed in a jar. On the other side of the scale is the feather of the goddess Maat. Observing this weighing of the heart are various other gods. Thoth (Hermes, to the Greeks) stands nearby with Ani’s Book of Life in his hands, ready to inscribe the outcome of this weighing. Horus, the god who was immaculately conceived by Isis to save the world from Egypt’s satan, waits to see if Ani’s heart is light enough for him to lead Ani out of the underworld through Osiris’ chamber and on up into the heavens. Isis and Nephthys stand behind Osiris, who is seated on his throne. All await the outcome.
Thoth (god of writing and scribes who was also known as the "Logos" in creation) weighed the heart... if the deceased had been found to not have followed the concept of ma'at during his life (if he had lied or cheated or killed or done anything against ma'at and the Divine Laws of the Universe that was the pattern for this "order") his heart was devoured by a demon (she was called Ammut - Devouress of the Dead) and he died the final death. If the heart weighed the same as Ma'at, the deceased was allowed to go on to the afterlife (what we term Heaven). In life, it was the pharaohs' duty to uphold ma'at. "I have done Ma'at" has been spoken by several pharaohs, as well as being called "beloved of Ma'at". The ruler who forcibly emphasizes his adherence to Maat on his monuments in Akhenaten [Moses].
Ma'at, as would be logical, was also was the justice meted out in ancient Egyptian law courts since man's laws are to be a reflection of God's Laws and the Divine Order. It is likely that a "Priest of Ma'at" referred to people who were involved in the justice system, as well as being priests of the goddess herself.
According to Egyptian traditions Ma'at did not exist until Ra rose from the waters of Nun (various gods and goddesses that emerge out of Chaos...thereby revealing order). She was known as a Neter [energy, force, power] goddess, and as such, was described as a daughter of Ra. But without Ma'at, Egyptians believed that Nun would reclaim the universe. She was also thought to be the wife of Thoth, moon god and god of the wisdom. She was, really, the most important deity of them all.
Ma'at, as an expression of God's will and Divine Order, is a pattern revealed to mankind both in the Heavens as well as in Nature itself. Even within the human body the Divine Order is maintained that sustains life. When this Divine Order deviates from the "pattern" then sickness and death quickly follows. Such "order" as learned from this "Divine Pattern" was not only understood by the earliest Egyptians but also understood that they were responsible to maintain this same "order" in the world by their correct actions and personal piety in their lives. These actions which reflect the Divine Order of Ma'at are found in the Ethical Commandments of the Egyptian religion; specifically in the 42 Negative Confessions that mirror the later Ten Commandments (better known as Ten Categories consisting of 613 Laws/Mitzvoth). When men live by God's Laws then the Kingdom of God as manifested in Heaven is brought to bear upon mankind and this world and we reflect in this world "the pattern" desired by the Creator for His creation.
Again the reader should call to mind the definition of the "Logos" we saw in an earlier article and take special note as it relates also to order and Law and its dwelling within all humanity. The goal is the expression of this "Logos" through humanity. The similarity between the "Logos" and "Ma'at" are striking; one could say they are the same things. To the degree you yield your members to these Laws and Absolutes of Divine Revelation as found in the Commandments of God then you reflect the "Logos" within you as well as manifest "the Divine Pattern" through your life.
Answer for yourself: How are we to learn of this "pattern" for life? Well, actually there are a variety of ways; some better than others. Let me explain.
Many down through history record the appearance of "Avatars" or men who in rather unique ways revealed the Almighty through their lives and their "teachings" above their peers. You may be familiar with a more common term to reflect such men; that being "messiahs." History has recorded many "messiah" and the concepts taught by them have been handed down by oral and written tradition since the beginning of time. Often "personification" and "anthropomorphism" has been used in spiritual books as a vehicle to convey these "Divine Truths". The New Testament, as do many other spiritual books, conveys through the depiction of a "Jewish" messiah or anointed (named Yeshua/Jesus) such a "pattern of Divine Order".
A more correct way to view this presentation of "Divine Order" and its manifest message to all mankind is to understand that through an "anthropomorphic" medium was constructed by the creators of the New Testament a representation of these "Divine Truths" as embodied in the life of a "presumed Jewish messiah". We might say that in such a way we find the very essence of God and His Logos expressed through the symbolic life of Jesus of Nazareth on the pages of the New Testament. It is depicted for us in the New Testament the exemplary and symbolic life of a Jewish Rabbi, and hoped for "messiah" named Yeshua; a name that in itself means "God's salvation". The life of this Jesus teaches us that he lived the Laws of God out in his daily life and in so doing (by living the Laws and Commandments of God that produce order among nature and mankind) exhibited this "Cosmic Order" and brought it to bear upon his life and the lives of others around himself like few others in his day and did so on a daily basis as well as taught others to do the same. In so doing those around such a one who lived out and modeled this "Divine Order" through obeying the Laws and Commandments of God, called the Torah, was witnessed by others as one who manifested God's perfect Divine Order in and through his life. In reality and allegorical speaking his life is a model for us of what God desires for all mankind; we are all to be human manifestations of God's "Logos" like the example of Jesus in the New Testament. This manifestation of God's Divine Cosmic Order comes from one yielding himself to the Divine Pattern of God's Order in the Cosmos and this again is exampled for us in the life of the New Testament Jesus. This example of Jesus is to be an example to be learned and emulated by others. This again is done by observing and adhering to the Divine Pattern as represented by the Torah and the Laws of God. That is why this Jesus in the New Testament states:
Matt 5:17-20 17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (KJV)
But be not mistaken this "Logos" or this "anointing" resides in each of us as we say from an earlier article.
I Jn 2:27 27 But the anointing which ye have received of him (God) abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him (God). (KJV)
This "Christ" or "anointing" (same word) resides in you and me and to the degree that we yield our members to these Higher Laws of Divine Order manifested in the Jewish Torah and manifest them in our lives then we reveal the Christ-Spirit within us. In such a way then, when we obey God's Laws (the Laws of Moses for the Jews, the Laws of Noah for the Gentiles) we manifest God's Salvation which again is the meaning of the name "Jesus". We become God's "Jesus" (understand the meaning of the name) as we share our light and emulate the God of the Cosmos.
Matt 5:15-16 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (KJV)
Answer for yourself: What does the above verse not say? It does not say
In so doing we practice "Ma'at" and restore God's Divine Harmony whereever we go. Literally, we "save" the world and "redeem" the world and and others in it.
The "him" in this verse does not apply to a person but to God (we are called to abide in the "Logos" of God and manifest it through our lives). If we do this then we are taught of the Spirit and manifest what we are taught about the Divine Pattern and Divine Order of Heaven and how we can manifest it both in and through our lives. We do that by obeying the Torah handed through from Egypt through Judaism today. This is a very, very important piece of knowledge if one wants to "be holy for I am holy" says the LORD.
Understand Yeshua and the picture of Jesus for us in the New Testament correctly, because of his yieldedness to the Laws of God to the degree that he did was by others called then called God's "Christ." Understand his name was NOT "Christ" but this term was applied to him only because his followers saw in such a life the perfect manifestation of this Divine Pattern of Order in Heaven on earth. Said another way we reveal the "Logos" or we don't depending upon our obedience to the Torah and the Laws of God. Said another way to the degree we manifest and adhere to this Divine Order and Pattern as manifested in God's Laws and Commandments then we manifest the "Logos" which dwells within each of us; that part of the Divine within us that history records was revealed by many "avatars" down through history. The Jesus/Yeshua in the New Testament is our example; one of many. Understanding this Divine Pattern of "Ma'at" and manifesting this harmony of God through our lives as we bring "Heaven to Earth" through obedience to the Laws of God does NOT make us God; only Godly!
Rom 6:13 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. (KJV)
Before we end this article I need to make one more
point. As you noticed above there is a Divine
Pattern in Heaven that is supposed
to be manifested on earth. Egypt was the first to know
and live this "pattern". They called this "pattern" by
a specific name; "So
Above, So Beneath". The very "Star of
David"
shows this concept which is an Egyptian symbol before adopted by Judaism.
In this symbol we see the intersecting arrow pointing "up" and
one pointing "down" thus meaning that what lies above our heads
as understood as God's Order and Harmony is to be manifested on earth in
man's lives. Not
only that since learning that King David is really the Egyptian Pharaoh
Tuthmose III then we again see how Egypt pioneered these teachings that
yet affects the world today.
We find that in Scripture in various places. Let us look at only two of them.
Heb 8:5 5 Who serve unto "the" example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. (KJV)
Several things strike us from the above passage. Notice first the definite article "the" which indicates the uniqueness of the example. There is not many but "one" example that is to be emulated by Moses and all humanity and that is the "real" that exists in Heaven in the realm of the Spirit. Believe it or not this is what Plato teaches about the realm of "Being" which is the real and our existence which he calls the "realm of change" which is but its shadow. Again Plato and the Greek philosophers get these concepts from Egypt. One only needs to read the book Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy Is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy by George G. M. James to see this for yourself. The term Greek philosophy is, to begin with a misnomer, for there is no such philosophy in existence. The ancient Egyptians developed a very large religious system, called "the Mysteries", which was also the first system of salvation of mankind. This was the notion of the summum bonum or greatest good, to which all men must aspire, and it also became the basis of of all ethical concepts. After nearly five thousand years of prohibition against the Greeks, they were permitted to enter Egypt for the purpose of education. First through the Persian invasion and second through the invasion of Alexander the Great the Greeks made the best of their chance to learn all they could about Egyptian wisdom and religion and instruction was given by Egyptian Priests to the Greeks. After the Alexander's invasion the Royal temples and libraries were plundered and pillaged, and the Aristotle school converted the library at Alexandria into his personal research center. There is no wonder then, that the production of the unusually large number of books ascribed to Aristotle has proved a physical impossibility, for any single man within a life time unless he plagiarized them from existing Egyptian knowledge.
Back to our point this "example" or "Divine Pattern" is to be manifested in this earth as the extension or "shadow" of this real that exists in this realm of Spirits (Plato learned this from Egyptian Priests). Moses, himself a Pharaoh, and who is already familiar with the concept of Ma'at, is instructed to adhere to the pattern of Ma'at shown him in the mount as the passage in Hebrews attests above. The Earth is to reflect the Heavenly realm in all things mankind does. This is accomplished by yielding to the "Logos" within each of us and manifesting in and through our life and influence through the obedience to God's Order as taught in His Laws we find in the Torah today. Thus the importance of Judaism for the Christian and the need to re-evaluate what the New Testament in "places" says derogatorily about God's Laws and Commandments.
Now let us look at another example and Pharaoh named Thuthmose III, otherwise known as King David in the Jewish Scriptures. Here we find again that King David is familiar with this "pattern" of Ma'at as recorded in I Chronicles 28:11-13:
Chr 28:11-13 11 Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat, 12 And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the LORD, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things: 13 Also for the courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and for all the vessels of service in the house of the LORD. (KJV)
The Hebrew word for "service":
Strong's number 5656 abodah or abowdah- labor, service
Interesting to note in the above passage is that this "Divine Pattern" was given by the Spirit and not by man. Included in this "pattern" is how mankind is to SERVE GOD! Included in this is the very worship of God which is according again to this "Divine Pattern" in Heaven as manifest in like form on Earth through the Egyptian and Jewish Torahs.
There is to be an "order" to this worship of God and the Jewish people, the children from the Egyptians, teach us by their example this "Divine Pattern" of worship in their religion termed "Judaism" today which I have found only to be a "modified" Egyptian religion. I strongly suggest you get a Siddur and learn the prayers that have been prayed according to this "Divine Order" since the days of King David (Thuthmose III). What will become apparent to you in time is the similarities between the texts of Egyptian worship and Jewish worship. After reading this article and doing some study into these areas for yourself you will no longer entertain doubts about the reason for the similarities between Egyptian religion and the Jewish religion. Let us never forget the Jewish word "Seder" means "order." The Seder is a term for the observance of the Passover kept yearly by the Jews according to this "pattern."
As I close this article we need to focus on the "Logos" once again since being reared as Christians and being taught that Jesus is the Literal Logos. I have tried to show you how the proper understanding of Jesus is NOT to be understood as the Literal "Logos" but only a symbol or methaphor for this "Logos." The Literalization of this "Logos" doctrine as taught by Gentile Christianity in error has rendered us idolators and blasphemers since it makes Jesus not the personification of God or Godliness but actually God Himself. Such is the great sin of Christianity given to the world by a previous sun worshipper who also declared his father and himself God: Constantine.
Now let us continue to explore the "Logos" to understand it properly thereby strengthening the above concepts that were originally given to the people who received this Divine Revelation from God.
Bennoah1@airmail.net