Archæology and the BibleBarton, George A. (George Aaron)
Religion
Archæology and the Bible
Barton, George A. (George Aaron)
Bible -- Antiquities; Egypt -- Antiquities; Middle East -- Antiquities
And the elder brother became as a panther of the south; he sharpened
his knife; he took it in his hand; he stood behind the door of the
stable to slay his younger brother as he came in the evening to bring
his cattle into the stable.
Now the sun went down, and he loaded himself with herbs in his daily
manner. He came, and his foremost cow entered the stable, and she said
to her keeper, “Behold thy elder brother standing before thee with his
knife to slay thee; flee from before him.” He heard what his first cow
had said; and the next entering, she also said likewise. He looked
beneath the door of the stable; he saw the feet of his elder brother;
he was standing behind the door, and his knife was in his hand. He
cast down his load to the ground, and betook himself to flee swiftly;
and his elder brother pursued after him with his knife. Then the
younger brother cried out unto Rā Harakhti,[435] saying, “My good
lord! thou art he who divides the evil from the good.” And Rā stood
and heard his cry; and Rā made a wide water between him and his elder
brother, and it was full of crocodiles; and the one brother was on one
bank, and the other on the other bank; and the elder brother smote
twice on his hands at not slaying him. Thus did he. And the younger
brother called to the elder brother on the bank, saying, “Stand still
until the dawn of the day; and when Rā ariseth, I shall judge with
thee before him, and he discerneth between the good and the evil. For
I shall not be with thee any more forever; I shall not be in the place
in which thou art; I shall go to the valley of the acacia.”
We need not follow the story further. Those who wish to do so are referred
to Petrie’s _Egyptian Tales_. From this point onward, it contains many
mythological features.
This story, in the form in which we have it, was written for Seti II
(1209-1205 B. C.) of the nineteenth Egyptian dynasty, while that monarch
was still crown prince. Scholars of all shades of opinion have recognized
in it a striking parallel to the story of Joseph in the house of Potiphar,
in Genesis 39:1-20. Joseph, like the younger brother of this tale, was
trusted with everything about his master’s place; Potiphar’s wife, like
the sister-in-law of the tale, tempted Joseph; Joseph, like the younger
brother, resisted temptation; and Potiphar’s wife, like the sister-in-law,
charged him with the crime which he had been unwilling to commit.
Scholars of the critical school regard this as the original of the story
in Genesis. While they recognize that it is a theme which is not confined
to Egyptians and Hebrews (compare for other parallels Lang, _Myth, Ritual,
and Religion_, II, 303, ff.), the fact that the theme of the Biblical
story is laid in Egypt leads them to think it extremely probable that
there is a connection between the two.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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