On an early post, I dealt with the issue of whether the Israelites were in Egypt (see my post here).  My conclusion was that “the weight of the evidence indicates that the Israelites were in Egypt, just as the Bible says they were.”

Mooli Brog, in his article “What the Israelites left in Egypt ,” published in the The Jerusalem Post, offers more evidence that words in the Torah reflect Egyptian intercultural influences that are still present in contemporary Judaism and in the Hebrew language.

Brog offers three Biblical expressions that reflect Israel’s presence in Egypt.  Below is one of the examples Brog offers that reflect ancient Egyptian culture:

“But the heart of Pharaoh was stubborn [kaved, heavy] and he did not let the people go” (Exodus 9:7). The ancient Egyptians believed that after death, at the end of his journey to the land of eternal life, the deceased would make his way to the Hall of Judgment – “Hall of the Two Truths.” There he would stand alone in front of the judges, to defend his deeds on earth and prove his soul was pure. This was to be done by testifying the “negative confession” such as: I have not belittled a god; I have not oppressed the members of my family; I have made no man suffer hunger. The recording of this testimony was done by Thoth, god of wisdom and reason, who had an ibis head and a human body.

At the end of this part, he would turn to Anubis, the jackal-headed god of the underworld, to execute the final test: weighing the heart of the deceased against an ostrich feather, symbol of Ma’at (or Mayet), goddess of morality, truth and justice. If the heart weighed the same it meant the person was good and honest, and the nine great judges would confirm the decision that the deceased was worthy. If it was not balanced, due to the heavy heart, the deceased was considered a liar and evil, and would therefore be thrown to Amemait the devourer, who was a hybrid monster, part hippopotamus, part lion, part crocodile. Describing Pharaoh as a person with “a heavy heart” is to say he was a wicked king.

To read the other examples, visit The Jerusalem Post online.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary