Was Akhenaton the original writer of the songs of David (i.e., Psalms)?
In Akhenaten's "Hymn to the Sun" one can see a great resemblance to the Bible. Akhenaten sees the sun as his one and only god and for a Christian they see God as their one and only god.
Lines 1 through 15 automatically will make one think of the Bible. Akhenaten states that the sun took it's throne in heaven and that is when life began. Then he goes on to explain the majesty and compassion of the sun to all. To a Christian it is God that sets on a throne in heaven and it is God that created life. God is also know for ruling all and having compassion for all. Akhenaten gives the sun credit for creating woman and man, which makes a Christian think of the story in the Bible of Adam and Eve.
Akhenaten states "You make Hapy, the Nile, stream through the underworld, and bring him, with whatever fullness you will,..." This passage is referring to the sun controlling the Nile river and making it go where ever the sun desires. The New International Version Bible states in Psalm 104 verse 10 "He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains." This passage refers to God controlling the waters and making it go where ever he desires
Hymn to Aten
Sole God beside whom there is none!
Psalms 104
YHWH my God you are very great.
Aten
How many are your deeds … You made the earth as you wished, you alone, All peoples, herds, and flocks.
Psalms
YHWH, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
Aten
The young lions roar for their prey .. when the sun rises, they withdraw, and lie down in their dens.
Psalms
Every lion comes from its den
Aten
You set every man in his place, You supply their needs; Everyone has his food.
Psalms
These all look to you to give them their food in due season.
Aten
The fish in the river dart before you, Your rays are in the midst of the sea.
Psalms
Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there
Aten
He makes waves on the mountain like the sea, To drench their fields and their towns.
Psalms
You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills … The trees of YHWH are watered abundantly
Many academicians have noted the similarities between the most famous Ancient Egyptian folktale "The Autobiography of Sinuhe" and the biblical account of "David and Goliath."
The Sinuhe folktale existed in many texts as far back as the 20th century BCE. Therefore, it was developed a thousand years before the biblical account of David and Goliath was supposed to have occurred.
The story of David and Goliath is a fictional story which was inserted in the Bible in an attempt to enhance the biblical King David’s trait as a hero and a warrior, and that the events of the duel between David and Goliath were actually borrowed from the Egyptian literary work The Autobiography of Sinuhe.
Due to the universal nature of the themes explored in "Sinuhe", including divine providence and mercy, its anonymous author has been described as the "Egyptian Shakespeare" whose ideas have parallels in biblical texts. The Biblical account of the Exodus and of Moses were based at least in part on the story of Sinuhe.
SOURCES
http://www.seanet.com/~realistic/psalm104.html
http://www.egypt-tehuti.org/articles/david-goliath.html
|
|
