I've heard this a lot...that some of the ten commandments were actually really borrowed from the Egyptian book of the dead when moses was in Egypt or something.
Is this true? Does anyone know? And if it is true does it matter (lol) ???
Yes! I know....
There are many of these types of accusations attributing many things of the Bible to older traditions found in other places in the world, but they are hardly proof of anything. If you read these typical articles, they are ripe with opinion, unfounded historical statements, and conjecture. About the only thing that is real is that there is such a thing as the 42 negative confessions which come from the Papyrus of Ani. The unfortunate misconception they give is that Moses borrowed from it, where Moses pre-existed the Papyrus by around 200 years. So if anyone borrowed from anyone (though this was not necessary) then the Papyrus (which forms a basis for much of the Book of the Dead) borrowed from Moses, and not the other way around.
It has been determined that the Papyrus Ani was from around the year 1250 B.C. (19th Dynasty). Moses on the other hand is believed to be from the late 18th Dynasty (around 1450 B.C.). The Bible confirms this. 1 Kings 6:1 says, In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomons reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the Lord. Now Solomon began building the Temple (of course Muslims will insist Solomon never built a Temple) in 966 B.C., so if we add 480 to 966 we come to 1446 B.C. (right around the time assumed), which means had already received the 10 commandments nearly 200 years before the Scribe Ani even lived. This places Joseph as a Vizier in the House of Pharaoh about 1800 to 1900 B.C.!
Secondly, the 42 confessions are part of the Book of the Dead, which is actually agreed by liberal and conservative scholars alike (many non-Christian), to be a compilation which was not finished until around 250 B.C.! How many possible slight interpretive changes may have taken place over 1000 years in the copy we have in the finalized Book of the Dead? Parts of the final product could very well have been exposed to the teachings of other cultures.
Next, mankind also has an inner witness (a conscience) that lets us know that some things are just plain wrong. No written laws are required for these things
all people always knew that murder, rape, stealing, is wrong
even though they did these things. Deep down inside they knew. If an ancient man burst into the palace and killed the King, do you think the masses ignored this? If someone went to the remotest tribal people who never heard of our God and raped some of the mothers and daughters do think the men would not chase them down and torture or kill them as they deserved? This even goes deeper than just humans. Some animals (according to the Bible) have nephesh
this is a degree of affection and awareness of self. Steal some food or a female even from a male Gorlilla and see what he does! Do you get the point?
Many of these things are built in and not uncommon to any man, in any time. Only the more pagan and God rejecting cultures become reprobate (they degenerate because stronger people find they can control through pain, fear and threat) if there is no intervention (Romans 1). Our world is sinking more into that same quagmire right now as we speak (not that it was ever eradicated)
only it is a very slow process because there are still many who know God. Now of course besides these inborn ethical senses, over time, any culture will come to certain agreements as to right and wrong or what is taboo or evil from their personal experiences.
Next, in the Torah there are actually 613 commandments and the Book of the Dead certainly does not cover or mimic anywhere near all of these. Even the big 10
Where in the Book of the Dead does it mention the one and only true God of Noah and Abraham (men who already knew all these social laws from very long before the Book of the Dead)? Yes all these things, as well as even worshiping God alone (Commandment 1), and all about His grace and the importance of faith, and initiatory rituals like circumcision, and appeasement rituals like the slain lamb, and so on, all were known long before the Law was codified in stone at Sinai! They were known since Seth. This does not mean that God hasnt spoken now to or through Moses to write down certain things or Himself etched a message in the Stones. Heck, I see God speaking to us through the stones all the time today (Archaeology)! There is no talk of these things in their book. No call to serve YHVH of Hosts alone
no commandment to honor a Sabbath day as a memorial, or day of worship, no command not to bow down to and serve gods of stone and wood or the stars, moons, and other creatures
the list goes on. So in effect
if you really look at them you can see many differences and very few if any real similarities.
So no just like we did not steal the resurrection motif from the nature religions (see Easter: Myth, Hallucination, or History by Professor Edwin Yamauchi) we did not steal the 10 Commandments from the Book of the Dead, or from the Code of Hammurabi
on one hand it was mans internal witness of the Creator, and it was passed down in the teachings of their own fathers (Shem, Japheth, and Ham, the sons of Noah
the Egyptians are offspring of Ham). When God gave the 10 Commandments in Moses time, this was not the first time these people had heard of such things. It was not the first time anyone had senses these were the right things to do. It was the first time they were written down as part of a binding covenant with YHVH. They were to do those things and He would bless them and preserve them in ways unparalleled among your average culture (see Deuteronomy 28). I hope this helps.
Also about ten years ago there was a man out there saying much of the Biblical Laws were mere borrows from the Code of Hammurabi, and in fact, if you peel back all the pagan references to their pantheon of false gods and their misunderstanding of the true God that their people originally followed (also as sons of Noah), you find there are edicts within this treatise on Law that say it is unlawful to murder people, it is unlawful to steal, testifying falsely against another person, etc.! There are even laws regarding divorce, civil matters, and the use of a just measure in buying and selling. So by this alleged logic, wouldnt that mean that the Egyptians stole their ideas from Hammurabi? Well yes it does if one goes by the same logic! Finally, consider Confucius, who never even heard of a Bible. He makes many of these same types of statements concluding that people should not do to other people what they do not like done to themselves. Wow! Sounds like Christs Golden Rule to me!?! I guess this means Jesus secretly traveled to China and was taught or borrowed from this Confucius (DUH!). Anyway do not be concerned by this, we get this all the time. If it were related to anything other than the Bible or Jesus they would not even care to make an issue out of it. For example, in school if I talk about Mohammed, or Buddha, Wicca, Voodoo, then I am interesting and may or may not be seen as a deep thinker, but if I even mention the name of Jesus or talk about the Bible, I am instantly seen as an enemy of everyone else and possibly a closed minded bigot!?! But that is the way of the world under the lordship of the god of this world. All his followers being lord over their own loves
be not thrown, keep the faith, because it will get worse as his time here gets shorter. They hated Jesus (and still do) and so, if you have His Spirit in you they will also hate you
pray for them.
Paul
