What can the Ancient Egyptians teach us about life after death?

 

Life in Ancient Egypt.

A study by Dr Graeme Bradford

 

The land of the pharaohs often appears to be a place of compelling mystery. In this land are found great pyramids, strange creatures like the Sphinx, the magnificent temples of Karnak and Luxor, and the hidden tombs of the Valley of the Kings. It was a land, also of strange gods - Isis, Osiris and Anubis. Out of this land comes strange stories such as the “Curse of Tutankhamen.” Who were these ancient Egyptians? And were they really as mysterious as we are often led to believe?

 

Ancient Egypt’s political history is like a jigsaw puzzle with most of the pieces missing. It is known that sizeable towns grew up along the Nile valley about 3500 to 3000 BC. For the next 3000 years this land; narrow, constricted, hemmed in by inhospitable deserts, but fertilised regularly by the mud of the flooding Nile produced one of the leading cultures of the ancient world.

 

Egypt was ancient even to the ancients. It was a great nation a thousand years before the Minoans of Crete built their palaces at Knossos, and about 900 years before the Israelites followed Moses out of bondage. It was looked back upon by the Greeks and Romans of 2000 years ago in much the same way that we today look back upon the ruins of Greece and Rome.

 

Nature favoured Egypt. The early civilisations of Mesopotamia stood on an open plain. This caused them to spend much of their vitality in defending themselves from one another. Palestine, farther to the west, was largely unprotected, falling to one invasion after another. In Egypt it was different. Desert barriers bordered the Valley of the Nile and discouraged invaders. The people of the Nile lived in relative security. Instead of fighting among themselves, they learned to co-operate. This concept of co-operation in order to control the annual flooding of the Nile led on to the need for organisation. It was their ability to co-operate and organise which enabled the nation to become great.

 

Because of the dry climate their monuments have endured. Travellers over the centuries have pondered over this mysterious race. They left behind monuments, sculptures and paintings and inscriptions; but their language was unknown. However in 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt to expand French influence against the British. With his army travelled 175 French scientists. They were asked to map and describe the land. They also collected a large number of ancient Egyptian carvings. One of them was a stone slab found near Rosetta on the river Nile. This stone along with the rest of the collection eventually finished up in London as a prize of war  given after Napoleon had surrendered to the British.

 

The stone contained part of a decree issued by King Ptolemy V in 196 BC. It was written in three different languages. At the top of the stone are 14 lines written in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs [picture writing]. Then there are 32 lines in Egyptian demotic [handwriting].  Finally the message was repeated in 54 lines of Greek.

 

Reading the Greek was not hard, but no one was able to read the Egyptian writings. This work was eventually achieved by a brilliant Frenchman Jean-Francois Champollion. Born in 1790, he showed himself a gifted child, studying Latin, Greek and Hebrew at the age of eleven. Over many years the deciphering of the dead Egyptian languages became his passion. In 1824 he set out in a book a full account of his findings which gave birth to modern knowledge of the ancient Egyptian languages.

 

No sooner had the languages of ancient Egypt begun to speak than the story was brutally interrupted by the actions of mindless wealth treasure seekers who swept in from Europe. Architectural fragments, statues, mummies, papyri and tomb furnishings were carried off to enrich museums and private collections. One Italian adventurer bludgeoned his way into tombs with a battering ram and reported that “Every step I took I crushed a mummy in some part or other” What the dry sands had preserved for thousands of years, human greed and haste were shattering in seconds.

 

It was only in the 1880’s that archaeology in Egypt became a precise science under the influence of an Englishman Flinders Petrie. To Petrie, archaeology was a means of not simply digging for treasure but of recreating the life of the people. Under Petrie, the trowel, camel’s-hair brush and record book replaced the battering ram. Howard Carter, an Englishman and former student of Petrie, and discoverer of the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922, learned so well from Petrie that it took him eight years to record and remove the treasure from the tomb.

 

With the development of the science of Egyptology we find that, piece by piece, more of the jigsaw regarding life in Ancient Egypt began to fit into place. By looking at the gigantic monuments and silent tombs many had thought that ancient Egyptians must have been a gloomy, oppressed people who were preoccupied by thoughts of death and forever hauling huge blocks under the cutting whips of the overseers.

 

It is now known that this is an entirely false picture helped in part by Hollywood movies. Far from being morbid or downtrodden, the Egyptians were sociable and light hearted. They were among the most industrious of all ancient people. Blessed with a fertile land of perpetual sunshine and a regular supply of water, life on earth was so good for them that their hope for the afterlife was a mere continuation of the present one.

 

While the Nile flooded for a few months of the year, they could not work in their fields so they built monuments for the Pharoahs. This was a service they performed for him. It was a way of paying taxes and also an act of religious devotion. Pharoah was considered a god/king and building a tomb for him was their privilege. The pharoah was the embodiment of the gods and the soul of the state. He was responsible  for the rise and fall of the Nile, the yield of the soil, the health of the commerce, the fortunes of the army and the maintenance of peace. He owned the land, directed the energies of the people and spoke the law.

 

The ancient Egyptians astonish us. Their ability to work with stone. Cutting out huge granite blocks weighing over 1000 tons. Transporting them over large distances of land and water and erecting them inside a building already existing is almost unbelievable. They made exceptional progress in many areas of medicine. Although their ideas were often tainted with magic, nevertheless they did have; opticians, bowel specialists, specialists for internal diseases, and dentists who could give gold fillings. Edwin Smith discovered a medical papyri, 16 feet in length, 3600 years old, listing 48 surgical operations. It is known that they also performed operations to relieve pressure on the brain. Some of the mummies show that the skull did knit again. This means that the patient must have survived.

 

In contrast to their magnificent progress in the arts and sciences, the ancient Egyptians remained highly superstitious in their religious practice. They worshiped cats, flies, snakes, bulls and animals ad infinitum. These they mummified at death and gave elaborate burials. Scholars estimate that there were around 2,000 gods worshiped by the ancient Egyptians.

 

Ironically, the greater gods were treated as if they were human. They lived in temples as images. They were awakened from sleep each morning with a hymn. They were washed and dressed, given their morning breakfast, have their business attended to, then given a midday and evening meal before being retired for the night.   

 

Being a deeply religious people the Egyptians were convinced of life after death. For them the next life was a mere extension of the present one. After death they would travel to a land like the Nile valley and there live in happiness with the gods. Because of this they put a lot of energy into preparing for their needs in the next life. It was felt that if the dead man’s  “Ka”, or spirit, was to survive, his body had to be preserved. This is the reason why they went through an elaborate 70 day ritual creating mummified bodies. This tomb was to be an “eternal habitation”- a tomb which would last for eternity. The dead would have needs in the after life so they placed within it either in actuality or representation, clothes, furniture, household goods, boats in which they would travel along the heavenly Nile and hunting weapons. Also included were statues and wall-reliefs of servants who would minister to them after death as they had in life.  

 

Their homes built of perishable mud brick have long disappeared; but their tombs were built to last forever, and have therefore survived. As have their temples which were to house their gods for eternity.

 

How does the Egyptian view of the afterlife differ from that of the Bible?

 

.

 

1. 1Timothy 6:7 “For we brought ....................into this world, and we can take .......................... out of it. “

 

2. Read Luke 12 13-21. What do you think this man had done wrong?

 

............................................................................................................

 

Verse 20 “But God said to him, ‘you fool! This very night ..........................

 

..................................................... Then who will get............................

 

..............................................................................yourself?”

 

Regardless of all the preparation for death the dead man still went forth to be judged by Osiris, god of the underworld. Osiris weighed his virtues and his faults,  and could metre out either a renewed life in eternity-or a second death of extinction. Judgement day scenes painted on the walls of tombs show the gods weighing the heart of the deceased against an ostrich feather which symbolised the deeds of their lifetime. Those found wanting risked being caste into fearful darkness of extinction. This extinction was represented by the jaws of a crocodile-headed monster.

 

By way of contrast, how does the Bible speak of our preparation to face the judgement?

 

3. How many of us will face the judgement seat of God?

 

Read Romans 14:10-12.

 

Verse 12. “So then, ...............................................................................

 

give an account of himself to God.”

 

4. Who is to be our judge?

 

 John 5:22. “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all

 

judgement to ..............................”

 

5. By what law are we to be judged?

 

Read James 2:10-12.  This law is commonly called “The ............... Commandments”

 

6. How many are guilty of breaking this law?

 

Romans 3:23 “For ........................................., and fall short of the glory of God.”

 

7. What condition does the Bible say we all find ourselves in?

 

Read Romans 3:10-18. How would you describe this condition in your own words?

 

............................................................................................................

 

8. How can I be found right with God and worthy of eternal life?

 

Read Romans 3:21-22. 4:1-8. 5:18-19. Could you answer this question in just a few words?

 

............................................................................................................

 

Read Ephesians 2: 8, 9 “For it is by .............. that you have been saved,

 

through  ...............- and this is not from yourselves, it is the ....................

 

..................... God. Not by .............., so that no one can boast.”

 

9. What good news did Jesus Christ give about the judgement?

 

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me

 

has .................................. and will not be ...............................; he has

 

crossed over from .................... to .........................”.

 

Despite all the efforts made by the Ancient Egyptians to conceal the tomb in the heart of the earth and the ever watchful eyes of the priests and guards. Despite all the secret corridors and the severe punishments inflicted on tomb robbers. Never the less the treasure was usually plundered and the body desecrated. This would mean to them that the hope of eternal life for their loved ones were gone.

 

 In contrast what does the Bible say about eternal security to those who trust in Jesus Christ?

 

10. Read 1 John 5: 11,12. When do we get eternal life? ..........................

 

Further Study.

 

1. Make a summary list of all the differences you can think of between the Egyptian ideas on how we get eternal life and that presented in the Bible.

 

2. There are many who believe that judgement for those who trust in Jesus Christ is good news. It is something they should welcome. For a Biblical concept of the Judgement read Luke 18:1-8, Revelation 6: 9,10 and see if you agree with them. Can you see in these verses some different ideas to what we normally think about judgement?