Which god(s) in Egyptian religion most closely resembled the Abrahamic one, a Supreme Creator Lord?

[Rakovsky]

I am looking for which god(s) in ancient Egyptian religion most closely resembled the Abrahamic or Mosaic one, a Supreme Creator Lord. Which god was the earliest, most foundational, the one who was a Lord, an uncreated eternal Originator or Creator of all things? Perhaps there is no particular god who fits all of these qualities and connotations, so let's consider several possibilities.

Prehistoric Egypt's religion

The Gerzean

In the middle of the fourth millennium BC, the Naqada II period superceded the Naqada I.

They also introduced the images and totems of the falcon, symbol of the sun god Ra, and the cow, symbol of the love goddess Hathor.
Predynastic Egypt

The Naqada III had many territorial divisions, known as nomes.
There were thirteen or so rulers at Nekhem, of which only the last few have been identified (though they are by no means certain):

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Horus "Crocodile"

Horus Hat-Hor

Horus Iry-Hor

Horus Ka

Horus "Scorpion"

Horus Narmer "Baleful Catfish"

The rulers who named themselves after animals, were probably attempting to identify themselves with the divinity found in these animals. The rulers became the personification of the named animal-god, as later on the pharaohs were known as the "Son of Ra". These rulers also wore the white crown of Upper Egypt and were depicted as superhuman figures, giants who towered above mortal men.
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Narmer managed to take over the state of Lower Egypt, by force according to decorated palettes and maceheads. The famous Narmer palette shows him on one side wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt, and the other shows him wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt. It also shows the hawk emblem of Horus, the Upper Egyptian god of Nekhem, dominating the Lower Egypt personified papyrus marsh. From this, Narmer is believed to have unified Egypt.

Horus and Nekhbet, the vulture goddess of Al Kab, came to represent Upper Egypt. In Lower Egypt, Set and Udjo, the cobra goddess of Buto, were worshiped. In later Egyptian history, the vulture and cobra were united in the royal diadem, to represent dominion over both lands. So when Nekhem became the most powerful town, Horus became the god par excellence. The rulers started to identify themselves as the living embodiment of the hawk god.The growth of the Egyptian religion is one of the reasons why Egypt ended up with such a complex and polythestic religious system. When a town grew in prominence, so did the god. So it is that some of the ancient gods of Neolithic and Predynastic Egypt came to national prominence are considered to be some of the main gods in the Egyptian pantheon today: Amun of Thebes, Ptah of Hikuptah (Memphis), Horus (the Elder) of Nekhem, Set of Tukh (Ombos), Ra of Iunu (Heliopolis), Min of Gebtu (Koptos), Hathor of Dendra and Osiris of Abydos.

Read more: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/predynastic.htm#ixzz4FZU0Z2DQ

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/predynastic.htm#ixzz4FZSWUdSE

 

[lovesong]

That depends on what time period you're looking at. You could say Nun since she is the beginning of all the gods, or Ra because he was celebrated most often as the highest god. Amun could be what you're looking for, similar to Ra, but the Aten is probably your best bet, seeing as how it was an attempt at monotheism and all. No matter what you go with though I don't think you'll ever find a god quite like Yahweh, he's a trickster, tyrant, manipulator, and war-crazed lunatic.

 

[Rakovsky]

Nit (Neith), Goddess of Weaving, War, Hunting and the Red Crown, Creator Deity, Mother of Ra


the goddess of the Red Crown of Lower Egypt and the patron goddess of Zau (Sau, Sai, Sais) in the Delta. In later times she was also thought to have been an androgynous demiurge - a creation deity - who had both male and female attributes.


Generally depicted as a woman, Nit was shown either wearing her emblem - either a shield crossed with two arrows, or a weaving shuttle - or the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. Nit was probably linked with the crown of Lower Egypt due to the similarities between her name, and the name of the crown - nt .

Similarly, her name was linked to the root of the word for 'weave' - ntt (which is also the root for the word 'being').

She was also often shown carrying a bow and arrows, linking her to hunting and warfare, or a sceptre and sceptre and the ankh sign of life. She was also shown in the form of a cow, though this was very rare. In late dynastic times there is no doubt that Nit was regarded as nothing but a form of Hathor, but at an earlier period she was certainly a personification of a form of the great, inert, primeval watery mass out of which sprang the sun god Ra... -- The Gods of the Egyptians, E. A. Wallis Budge As the mother of Ra, the Egyptians believed her to be connected with the god of the watery primeval void, Nun.

(Her name might have also been linked to a word for water - nt - thus providing the connection between the goddess and the primeval waters.) Because the sun god arose from the primeval waters, and with Nit being these waters, she was thought to be the mother of the sun, and mother of the gods. She was called 'Nit, the Cow Who Gave Birth to Ra' as one of her titles. The evil serpent Apep, enemy of Ra, was believed to have been created when Nit spat into the waters of Nun, her spittle turning into the giant snake. As a creatrix, though, her name was written using the hieroglyph of an ejaculating phallus -

- a strong link to the male creative force a hint as to her part in the creation of the universe. According to the Iunyt (Esna) cosmology the goddess emerged from the primeval waters to create the world. She then followed the flow of the Nile northward to found Zau in company with the subsequently venerated lates-fish. There are much earlier references to Nit's association with the primordial flood-waters and to her demiurge:

a shield and two crossed arrows. This was her symbol from the earliest times, and she was no doubt a goddess of hunting and war since predynastic times. The symbol of her town, Zau [Sais], used this emblem from early times, and was used in the name of the nome of which her city was the capital. The earliest use of this Emblem was used in the name of queen Nithotep, 'Nit is Pleased', who seems to have been the wife of Aha "Fighter" Menes of the 1st Dynasty. She was thought to be the water from which Ra was born, becoming the mother of Ra and thus of the gods themselves. Eventually she became the creatrix, the great creator, who was neither male nor female, but a combination of both.

Read more: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/nit.htm#ixzz4FaInumGF


Let's now consider attributes of these three gods that could remind us of the Supreme One.

Horus bears resemblance to Him because Horus is considered "falcon god, lord of the sky, and symbol of divine kingship". This is because "horus" itself seems to mean falcon or "the one above", and the falcon was sometimes used as a hieroglyphic for god. Plus, the pharaoh was sometimes considered a god, while at the same time sometimes considered an embodiment of Horus. As the patron of the victorious Upper Egypt, the god of light, and in his association with the sun, he can also resemble a supreme god.

Hathor could be a chief deity if we see a mother goddess as the chief one, bearing her in mind as the mother or wife of Horus. Her perception as a cow goddess, her association with the "milky way" galaxy in the heavens and with the "primeval divine cow Mehet-Weret," and her association with Egypt's queens make her important as a leading goddess.

Neith is particularly interesting for me first because the spelling of her name (NT) reminds me of the name for god, (NTR) and her symbol, a collection of arrows, reminds me a bit of the Sumerian symbol for God, which looks a bit like an asterisk with arrows:

Besides, Neith is described as an uncreated creator of gods and she is so closely associated with the heavens that stars are put on her back and she is considered the "unseen" sky. The god in the Chinese and proto-Indo-European religions, for example, was also the God of heaven, so it's an important status. And her personification of the primordial waters from which everything came is also important.

 

[Rakovsky]

That depends on what time period you're looking at. You could say Nun since she is the beginning of all the gods, or Ra because he was celebrated most often as the highest god. Amun could be what you're looking for, similar to Ra, but the Aten is probably your best bet, seeing as how it was an attempt at monotheism and all. No matter what you go with though I don't think you'll ever find a god quite like Yahweh, he's a trickster, tyrant, manipulator, and war-crazed lunatic.

Hello, Lovesong!
I like your answer, as you showed alot of serious knowledge of Egyptian mythology. But how can I agree with you about the last part, knowing some of the crazy sexual-massacring myths about some Egyptian gods?

After the first dynasty the Egyptians stopped human sacrifice, so they can't be all bad though.

 

[1137]

All together the "correct" answer is Aten. However Khepri/Ra/Atum is somewhat comparable, as with Amun.

 

[NadiaMoon]

I would say Isis (Who is not on the List) But i know fellow Pagans who believe Nut (Or Nuit) is the Mother of the Universe/creator

 

[Rakovsky]

All together the "correct" answer is Aten. However Khepri/Ra/Atum is somewhat comparable, as with Amun.

Hello 1137!
Certainly under Akhenaten, Aten would be the right answer. But the weakness with that answer is that Akhenaten represented only maybe under 20 years of rule.

A weakness with Kehpri/Ra/Atum is that as far as I can tell, they emerged out of Nun. That is, Nun existed and then that triad emerged out of it. And then afterwards Ra/Atum created the rest of the world, making gods and animals, etc. With Atum though, maybe he was seen as always existing, but I am not sure of that, maybe you know?

Amun seems the best bet out of what you mentioned. As I understand it, within Thebes there was even a theory that Amun created the Ogdoad, the primordial substances/gods, like Nun that Atum emerged from.

 

[Rakovsky]

I would say Isis (Who is not on the List) But i know fellow Pagans who believe Nut (Or Nuit) is the Mother of the Universe/creator

Hello Nadia, thanks for chiming in. What makes you say Isis?
Nut is the goddess of the heavens and considered to have the title of mother of the gods. However, I think maybe even she was created.

Now here is a good question someone can tell me. I think -T is added to Egypt's words to feminize them. So Nunet is the goddess consort of Nun.
Does this mean that Nut. the heavens, is the goddess consort of Nu, the primordial waters?

 

[1137]

Hello 1137!
Certainly under Akhenaten, Aten would be the right answer. But the weakness with that answer is that Akhenaten represented only maybe under 20 years of rule.

A weakness with Kehpri/Ra/Atum is that as far as I can tell, they emerged out of Nun. That is, Nun existed and then that triad emerged out of it. And then afterwards Ra/Atum created the rest of the world, making gods and animals, etc. With Atum though, maybe he was seen as always existing, but I am not sure of that, maybe you know?

Amun seems the best bet out of what you mentioned. As I understand it, within Thebes there was even a theory that Amun created the Ogdoad, the primordial substances/gods, like Nun that Atum emerged from.

But central to Abrahamic thought is strict monotheism. In Egypt this only existed under Akhenaten.

 

[NadiaMoon]

Hello Nadia, thanks for chiming in. What makes you say Isis?
Nut is the goddess of the heavens and considered to have the title of mother of the gods. However, I think maybe even she was created.

Well here is a good source on Isis that i found: http://www.soundsofsirius.com/articles/isis-ancient-egyptian-goddess/

Also with Nuit i would think that is she is the universe/cosmos itself, then all things within the universe would be her children/came from/is held within her making her a creator, at least IMO

 

[Rakovsky]

But central to Abrahamic thought is strict monotheism. In Egypt this only existed under Akhenaten.

I understand. My intention was not to ask what period was monotheistic, or even ask which God exactly matched their concept, but rather which God was closest to their concept of a supreme, ultimate, eternal deity, like Shang Di (Supreme Deity) in ancient China or to the concept of Bhagwan Swayam in Hinduism ("God Himself"). For Sumerian religion, for example, it seems to me it would be An or Nammu, since as I understand it, the other deities came from them.

 

[Rakovsky]

Thanks for writing back, Nadia!

Well here is a good source on Isis that i found: http://www.soundsofsirius.com/articles/isis-ancient-egyptian-goddess/

Also with Nuit i would think that is she is the universe/cosmos itself, then all things within the universe would be her children/came from/is held within her making her a creator, at least IMO

That website says of Isis: "I am Nature, the Mother of All
Mistress of the Elements,
Sovereign of the Spirit".

I found that in
https://books.google.com/books?id=S...he Elements, Sovereign of the Spirit"&f=false

It says in Footnote 1 that this passage is "adapted" by something from Apuleius. In other words, it's not a quote from an ancient Egyptian shrine.

Also, that website might have made a mistake saying Isis is the oldest worshiped goddess, til 500 AD. What about Hindu Shakti, since Shakti's worship , Hinduism, didn't stop?

Anyway, it seems to me rather like you said here that Nut would be a better candidate than Isis. Part of me thinks she might have to do with the NT- in NTR(god), as I mentioned here:
http://www.religiousforums.com/thre...r-neter-god-nut-neith-hathor-ra-horus.189735/