i was very ill this weekend and started brooding over the OT which fascinates me even now.
According to Egyptian religion, the spirit is shown as a pair of wings. Since in Genesis the literal words are "the spirit of god was FLUTTERING above the face of the waters", why do translators hide this obvious animistic phrase by translating it "moving to and fro" rather than fluttering? (remember the Gospel where gods spirit flutters down in the form of a dove?)
The other interesting thing is that the Egyptian Sun god, rode across the heavens, then at night was swallowed by the great night serpent.
Jehovah is said to ride across the heavens, and some sources say that he has to have a show down with the great serpent, or Leviathon.
I also noted to myself as I lay in bed suffering, that the Egyptians used four canopic jars to contain the organs of the deceased according to the quality they imbued.
A man = Love
A bull = strength
Kestrel = wisdom
Jackal = justice. Does this look like the jews adapted this to their own ideas only replacing the unclean animals with clean ones?
I recalled instances where YHWH is said to desend into the abyss to confront Leviathan, like RA desending into the snake each night under the earth.
I reckon that by the time the Bible was being edited by scribes well read in Ptolemy's Almagest, they would start removing anything that refers to the old cosmology as undermining the authority of scripture.
Can any body think of passages in the OT that reveal traces of borrowing from Egyptian Religious Traditions?
Sorry I also forgot the Egyptian myths also accounted for how the tow luminaries of day and night came to be - but again i reckon this was edited OUT of the Jewish scriptures at a later date. Any evidence you think??
HB