from egyptian god Ra to Hebrew God YHVH (moved from Origins)

why cant i find any mention of YHVH before moses wrote of YHVH around 1500 bc.
The egyptians had Ra put down as creator right up until then.
is there any connection between these two gods?

i mean if Yhvh is the creator then why no mention of him by the egyptians
or by anyone before 1500 bc?

Ra (often pronounced as Rah, but more correctly as Ré) is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the fifth dynasty he became a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun, with other deities representing other positions of the sun. Ra changed greatly over time and in one form or another, much later he was said to represent the sun at all times of the day. The chief cult centre of Ra first was based in the city of Inunu, later called Heliopolis meaning "City of the Sun" by the Ancient Greeks. In later Egyptian dynastic times, Ra was merged with the god Horus, as Re-Horakhty (and many variant spellings). When his worship reached this position of importance in the Egyptian pantheon, he was believed to be in command of the sky, the earth, and the underworld. He was associated with the falcon, the symbol of other sun deities who protected the pharaohs in later myths. After the deities were paired with pharaohs, the children of Hathor were considered to be fathered by Ra.

Ra is most commonly pronounced 'rah'. It is more likely, however, that it should be pronounced as 'ray'; hence the alternative spelling Re rather than Ra. The meaning of Ra's name is uncertain, but it is thought if not a word for 'sun' it may be a variant of or linked to 'creative'. As his cult arose in the Egyptian pantheon, Ra often replaced Atum as the father, grandfather, and great-grandfather of the deities of the Ennead, and became a creator of the world.

Up until the mid-twentieth century, theories of Egyptologists postulated that the Heliopolis priesthood established this pesedjet at Heliopolis in order to place their local sun-god Ra above all other deities such as Osiris. Many Egyptologists now question this.

It appears almost certain, rather, that the Great Ennead—the nine deities of Atum, Geb, Isis, Nut, Osiris, Nephthys, Seth, Shu, and Tefnut—first appeared during the decline of Ra's cult in the sixth dynasty, and that after introduction of the new pesedjet the cult of Ra soon saw a great resurgence until the worship of Horus gained prominence. Afterward worship focused on the syncretistic solar deity Ra-harakhty (Ra, who is Horus of the Two Horizons). During the Amarna Period of the eighteenth dynasty, Akhenaten introduced worship of another solar deity Aten. The deified solar disc represented his preferred regional deity as he attempted to lessen the influence of the temple of Atum. He built the Wetjes Aten (wṯs ỉtn), elevating the Sun-disc temple in Annu. Blocks from this temple later were used to build walls to the medieval city of Cairo and are included in some of the city gates. The cult of the Mnevis bull, an embodiment of Ra, had its centre here and established a formal burial ground for the sacrificed bulls north of the city.

In the later myths Ra was seen to have created Sekhmet, the early lion-headed war goddess from Upper Egypt, who becomes Hathor, the gentle cow goddess, after she has sufficiently punished mankind as an avenging Eye of Ra. This changes the themes of much earlier myths into aspects of his and he is often said to be the father of both and brother to the god Osiris. Afterward nearly all forms of life supposedly were created only by Ra, who called each of them into existence by speaking their secret names and eventually humans were created from Ra's tears and sweat, hence the Egyptians call themselves the "Cattle of Ra."

Ra's child is also Hathor. Her title is "Eye of Ra". Ra's wife is Ratet, his female aspect.

Because the egyptions didn't worship Him, they worshipped Ra. There has to be a first time God gets into written words, it seems that, according to you, that was 1500 years ago. Is that a problem?

This video is interesting, not a direct response to your questions but it gives an overall picture that is applicable.

A Natural History of Creation - posted by Gordon Glover (glovergj) - tangle.com

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The Ten Plagues were sent against Egypt, and each plague was a curse related to a particular Egyptian God. Ra was the god of the Sun, and God sent darkness over the land of Egypt, to show that the Egyptian's Ra could not help them, and that YHVH is the Almighty God.
"Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt--darkness that can be felt.'" (Exodus 10:21)
How can YHVH be the same God as an idol?

what started this for me is i was thinking that ra was basically the first god worshiped as creator by the egyptians who were here before moses and built some cool pyramids and were kinda smart for people back in the day. and i just thought that people a long time ago would know more about the creator than what we do now? and the large gap of time between ra and YHVH was puzzling. i guess YHVH just wasnt worshiped by the egyptians. i was thinking they had never heard of YHVH and that a simle name change would be in order, i had also forgot about the ten plagues, thanks for reminding me, i had to go back and read exodus!

i guess from Adam to Abraham to Joseph these people were all dead before like 3000bc because they worshiped YHVH. then about 1500 years later here comes YHVH lighting up a bush for Moses! YHVH probably never died out maybe the egyptians just took over and enslaved all the YHVH believers and YHVH worship went underground until Moses

sidenote: i've always believed the story of elijah at mt carmel where YHVH outstaged the god baal, i dont know why ive been struggling with this ra vs. YHVH thing? thanks for your help though, i was challenged to sort out my beliefs. thank you

Originally Posted by Jazmyn

The Ten Plagues were sent against Egypt, and each plague was a curse related to a particular Egyptian God. Ra was the god of the Sun, and God sent darkness over the land of Egypt, to show that the Egyptian's Ra could not help them, and that YHVH is the Almighty God.
"Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt--darkness that can be felt.'" (Exodus 10:21)
How can YHVH be the same God as an idol?

That article makes some serious stretches and states some outright incorrect statements.

Just for a few examples:

Hapi was not a water deity but a funerary deity. In Egyptian mummification, four canopic jars held many of the organs of the deceased. These jars' lids were carved in the shape of a protective funerary deity. Hapi was the baboon-headed guardian of the lungs. Furthermore, just because frogs were indeed considered to be symbols of fertility and the flooding of the Nile doesn't mean that they were considered divine.

Khepri is not a fly-headed god. Look closer: that's a scarab beetle (I cannot believe the article's authors thought it was a fly; it looks nothing like one!). As such, there is no way they can associate the plague of flies to a beetle-headed god.

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For You are the Lord Most High, of great compassion, long-suffering, and very merciful, and You relent at human suffering. O Lord, according to Your great goodness You have promised repentance and forgiveness to those who have sinned against You, and in the multitude of Your mercies You have appointed repentance for sinners so that they may be saved.

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I think we should all enjoy the Yu-Gi-Oh reference. Behold the most powerful of the three Egyptian God cards!... *in a dramatic voice* THE WINGED DRAGON OF RA!!!!!!

to answer my question, yes there is a connection between the two gods.
king tuts tomb had a replica of the ark of the covenant, this was at a time when ra worship was phasing out i guess.

im trying to piece it all together. king thuumose was from 1540-1504bc
moses was born somewhere around 1527bc
this is around the 18th dynasty. best i can tell ra worship was prevelant from like the 4th dynasty during which king khufu had one of the three pyramids at giza built. no mention of YHVH in that tomb!
but moses writes from adam to abraham to jacob to joseph i wonder when all that happened because the pharoh from josephs time was ramses i think? and that was around 1279bc. i'll figure it out. i'll let you know when i do!!

Why would the egyptians be worshipping YHVH? He revealed himself first to the descendants of Abraham, and while the Hebrews were living in Egypt, YHVH would have been considered a slave's god. Your question reveals a grave misunderstanding of ancient religions and mindsets. Gods were territorial - they governed a certain region and a certain people. There were no arguments about whether another nation's gods were real - they just didn't apply.

King tut's tomb couldn't have had a replica of the ark of the covenant, because that wasn't built until the Hebrews left Egypt.

The closest thing to YHVH worship you would have seen among the egyptians was the worship of Aten, a monotheistic religion stamped out after Tutankhamen, when the worship of the old gods was revived. There is some speculation that Moses may have started off as an Aten worshiper, since he would have been raised Egyptian.

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i thought YHVH first revealed himself to moses during the 18th dynasty (from approximately 1500bc-1400bc) and abraham and everyone else in the bible including noah was after that.