Egypt (Kemet): The Egyptian Book of the Dead- The Negative Confessions-Part 1 and 2; The Origins of the Egyptian Gods

In this excerpt there's no attempt to undermine or challenge nor compare any religion or belief in any manner whatsoever to what is being discussed here. This is also not an attempt to argue nor settle the issue of 'racial ' and or "indigenous physical characteristics of the Ancient Egyptians or Nubians. The reasons for emphasizing the indigenous Southern African origin of the ancient Egyptians, is because of the message based upon an historical message taken from the most highly respected "Papyrus of Hunefer" found in Egypt and the Nile River and amongst the indigenous Africans', "Book of the Coming Forth by Day and Night" . In it, the Egyptians clearly state: "We came from the beginning of the Nile where the God Hapi dwells, at the foothills of the Mountain of the Moon. (Kilimanjaro- between Kenya and Tanzania, or Rwenzori in Uganda). This article is more focused on the spirituality and religiousness of the ancient Egyptians and how they accounted and comported themselves throughout the eons, in life and after-life. Sir Wallis A. Budge says: "The pre-historic native of Egypt, both in the old and the new Stone Ages, was African and there is every reason for saying that the earliest settlers came from the South". Budge further states that :"There are many things in the manners and customs and religions of the historic Egyptians that suggests that the original home of their prehistoric ancestors was in a country in the neighborhood of Uganda and Punt". (Some historians believe that the Biblical land of Punt was in the area known on modern maps as Somalia) The great historian, Diodorus Siculus, observed that 'the Kushites were of the opinion that their country was not only the birthplace of the human race and the cradle land of the world's earliest civilization, but that it was the primal Eden where living things first appeared on Earth, as reported by the Scriptures'. It is the spiritual and religious practices and comportment of the Egyptians in their daily life and in death that concerns us here. In learning about this practices, there's some hope that we might look at ourselves in relation to the Confession, in this day and era.

Osiris was one of the first gods to live as a human being, died and was resurrected to life again. In those days and times, every man hoped to rise from the dead and enjoy the immortal life just like Osiris did. Early Egyptians realized and accepted the fact that not everyone will be raised from the dead to live an immortal life, as they all believed that good and evil deeds of men were to be taken into account, somewhere, and by someone who had the power to punish the wicked and reward the just.

Before we dig deeper into the nature and form of the So-called 'Negative concession', it will be appropriate to view some short background as to what contributed to their rise and usage. In the VI dynasty. Osiris became known as a god and judge of all the dead of Egypt. Osiris had great power as an ancestor god, and his role was, as a judge of human conduct, illimitable. When he was murdered by his brother Set, he was helped to rise from the dead by Horus and Toth, and was allowed to rule over the kingdom of heaven by virtue of his innocence and freedom from the defects of sinful human nature. So, the Egyptians believed that Osiris died on their behalf and rose again in order that they must rise from the dead. This belief goes way beyond the VIth dynasty, and I might say, from my researches, this goes as far back as, and beyond, 10 to 20,000 BC. I hope to go deeper into the most remote civilizations of the past in the up-coming articles. So, we are really talking about a time in antiquity and in this case, it would tedious to digress and fill-in some gaps, so we will contend ourselves with the topic at hand.

First Form of The Negative Confessions

The Egyptians believed that when they died, Toth was to plead their case before Osiris, and as an advocate to place human merits in the most favorable light and plead extenuating circumstance for the sins which man has committed, so that Osiris can show compassion and mercy, thus inducing him(Osiris) to accept man and hold man as justified. This act was called the weighing of the heart, by the Egyptians. i.e., when one is dead and is faced with Osiris, in the hall of Maat(Balance). It should not be forgotten that Egyptians considered man's duty consisted of worshipping the gods faithfully, speaking the truth and acting the truth. The spiritual and moral conceptions were lofty and illustrate the high standard of worship and morals demanded by Osiris before they they could be considered to dwell with him. According to the Book of the Dead, the deceased entered the Hall of Maat and uttered these words:

"Homage to thee, O great god, thou Lord of Truth. I have come to thee, my Lord, and I have brought myself hither that I may see thy beauties," i.e. experience thy gracious clemency. "I know thee, I know thy name. I know the names of the Two and Forty gods who live with thee in this Hall of Maat, who keep ward over those who have done evil, who feed upon their blood on the day when lives of men are reckoned up in the presence of Un-Nefer"(i.e., Osiris). "In truth I have come to thee. I have brought Truth to thee. I have destroyed wickedness for thee". After having said all that, these words are followed by a statement of the offenses which he had not committed, the so-called "Negative confessions" and he/she says:

1. I have not sinned against Men.

2. I have not oppressed(or wronged) [my] kinsfolk.

3 I have not committed evil in the place of truth.

4. I have not known worthless men.

5. I have not committed act of abomination.

6. I have not done daily works of supererogation(?)

7. I have not caused my name to appear for honours.

8. I have not domineered over slaves.

9. I have not thought scorn of the god(or, God)

10. I have not defrauded the poor man of his goods.

11. I have not done the things which the gods abominate.

12. I have not caused harm to be done to the slave by his master.

13. I have not caused no man to suffer

14. I have allowed no man to go hungry.

15. I have made no man weep.

16. I have slain no man.

17. I have not given the order for any man to be slain.

18. I have not caused pain to the multitude.

19. I have not filched the offerings in the the temples.

20. I have not purloined the cakes of the gods.

21. I have not stolen the offerings of the spirits.

22. I have had no dealing with the paederast.

23. I have not defiled myself in the pure places of the god of my city.

24. I have not cheated in measuring of grain.

25. I have not filched land or added thereto.

26. I have not encroached upon the field of others.

27. I have not added to the weight of the balance.

28. I have not cheated with the pointer of the scales.

29. I have not taken away milk from the mouths of babes.

30. I have not driven beasts away from their pastures.

31. I have not netted the geese of the preserves of the gods.

32. I have not caught fish with the bait of their bodies.

33. I have not obstructed water when it should run.

34. I have not cut a cutting in a canal of running water.

35. I have not extinguished a flame when it ought to burn.

36. I have not abrogated the days of offering the chosen offering.

37. I have not turned off the cattle from the property of the gods.

38. I have not repulsed the god in his manifestations.

I am pure... I am pure.. I am pure.. I am pure.

The confessions above are made when the deceased entered the Hall of Osiris, when his heart had braved the ordeal of being weighed in Balance(Maat). Social balance and spiritual balance were in tandem with the functioning and well-being of that society. The recitation of these confessions were not only done in the after-life, but on earthly life too. Egyptians always provided elaborate resting places for the deceased. They mummified the bodies which would ensure reincarnation in the body upon the soul being weighed in the Hall of judgement by Osiris, god of the Dead.

It is worth noting that among the Calabar people, before a man undergoes the ordeal of drinking the great juju drink 'Mbiam', which is made of filth and blood, he says:

"If I have been guilty of this crime,

"If I have gone and sought the sick one's hurt,

"If I have sent another to seek the sick one's hurt,

"If I have employed any one to make charms, or to cook bush.

"Or to put anything in the road,

"Or touch his cloth,

"Or touch his yams,

"Or to touch his goats,

"Or to touch his fowl,

"Or to touch his chilren,

"If I have prayed for his hurt,

"If I have thought to hurt him in my heart,

"If I have any intention to heurt him,

"If I ever, at any time, do any of these things,(recite in full)

"Or employ others to do these things(recite in full)

"Then, Mbiam! thou deal with me."

The Egyptian acted as does the modern African. The former made his declaration of innocence of a series of offenses, and his heart was by the gods to test the truth of his words; the latter makes his declaration of innocence, and the action of the juju drink tests the truth of his words.

The Second Form of The Negative Confessions

Gods of the 42 Nomes

We now look at the second type of the Negative Confessions.. In this case, the deceased addressed a series of Two and forty gods by their names one after the other, and asserted before each, that he had not committed a certain sin. These gods were the forty-two nomes of Upper and Lower Egypt. He had already told Osiris that he knew their names, and proceeded to prove it by saying the following:

1. Hail, Usekh - nemmet, coming forth from Anu(Heliopolis), I have not done iniquity.

2. Hail, Heprshet, coming from Kher-aha[A Large City between Fustat and Matariyah), I have not committed robbery.

3. Hail, Fenti, coming forth forth from Khemenu (hermopolis), I have not stolen with violence.

4. Hail, Am-khitabu, coming from Qerrt'(The Circle- perhaps a place in the other world), I have not committed theft.

5. Hail, Neha-hau. comng forth from Re-stau(A region in the other World of Memphis), I have not killed men.

6. Hail, Lion and Lioness god, coming forth from heaven, I have not made light the bushel of corn.

7. Hail, Merti-f-em-tes, coming froth from Sekhem(Letopolis), I have not acted deceitfully.

8. Hail, Neba, coming forth from Khetkhet, I have not robbed the property of god.

9. Hail, Set-qesu, coming forth from Suten-henen(Herakleopolis), I have not uttered falsehood.

10. Hail Uatch-Nesert, coming forth from Het-ka-Ptah(Memphis), I have not stolen food.

11. Hail, Qerti, coming forth from Ament, I have not cursed.

12. Hail, Hetch-abehu, coming forth from Ta-he(Fayyum), I have not attacked any man.

13. Hail, Am-senf, coming forth from the slaughter-house, I have not slain the cattle of god.

14. Hail, Am besek, coming forth from Mabit, I have not used deceit

15. Hail, Neb-Maat, coming forth from Maati, I have not stolen grain.

16. Hail, Thenemi, coming from Bast(Bubastis),I have not acted the part of the spy (eavesdropper).

17. Hail,Asti (or Anti), coming forth from Anu, I have not slandered.

18. Hail, Tutu-f, coming forth from Ati(?), I have not been angry without cause.

19.Hail, Uamenti, coming forth from the House of the Block, I have not lain with another man's wife.

20. Hail Maa-anuf, coming forth from Per-Menu, I have not abused myself.

21. Hail, Her-seru, coming forth from Nehatu, Ihave made no man to be afraid.

22. Hail, Khemi, coming forth from Ahaui, I have attacked no man.

23. Hail, Shetkheru, coming forth from Urit, I have no been a man of wrath.

24. Hail, Nekhen, coming forth from Heq-at, I have not been deaf to the words of truth.

25. Hail, Ser-Kheru, coming forth from Unes, I have not stirred up strife.

26. Hail, Basti, coming from Shetait, I have made no one weep.

27. Hail, Her-f-ha-f, (was the ferryman of the Other World. He loved ruth and hated sin, and because of his integrity, became a leader of the gods), coming forth from the place of sailing, I have neither acted impurely, nor lain with men.

28. Hail, Ta-re, coming out of the night, I have not eaten my heart.

29. Hail, Kenemti, coming forth from Kenmet, I have not cursed any man.

30. Hail, An-hetep-f, coming forth from Sau, I have not done deeds of violence.

31. Hail,Nebheru, coming forth from Tchefet, I have not acted hastily.

32. Hail, Serekhi, coming forth form Unth, I have not ... my skin, I have not ... the god.

33. Hail, Neb-abui, coming forth from Sauti, I have not made loud my voice in speaking.

34. Hail, Nefer-Tem, coming forth from Het-ka-Ptah (Memphis), I have not acted deceitfully, I have not acted wickedly.

35. Hail, Tem-sep, coming forth from Tetu, I have not cursed the king.

36. Hail, Ari-em-ab-f, coming forth from Tebti, I have not fouled water.

37. Hail, Ahi, ..., coming forth from Nu, I have not made my voice loud.

38. Hail, Utu-rekhit, coming forth from they house, I have not dursed the god.

39. Hail, Neheb,-nefert, coming forth from ..., I have not acted insolently.

40. Hail, Neheb-kau, coming forth from [thy] city, I have not worked for honors.

41. Hail, Tcheser-tep, coming forth from the carven, I have not increased my possessions except through my own goods.

42. Hail, An-a-f, coming forth from Auker, I have not treated with contempt the god of my city.

The deceased, after his confession, concludes by saying to the Forty-two gods:

Homage to you, O gods who dwell in your hall of Maati. I indeed know you, I know your names. Let me not fall under your knives and slaughter,and bring ye not my wickedness before the god whom ye serve. Ye have no charge against me. Speak ye truth on my behalf before Neb-er-tcher, for I have worked righteousness in Ta--mera(Egypt), Ihave not ursed the god, and the king who reigned in his day had no charge[to bring] against me.(Budge)

The form of Negative confessions above is interesting because it supplies us with the names of several spirits or gods that were worshipped in the very early time, in fact, long before the cult of Osiris became common in Egypt. Taken as whole, thee forty two gods in that time period the spiritual gurus of all of Egypt and anyone who can satisfy them with his/her innocence in the Hall of Judgement, had a chance of being proclaimed "just" or "true" before the whole nation. It has not yet become particularly clear as to why a particular god was connected with a particular sin. This is ancient stuff which, because of the paucity of records explaining the process, we will aver that there was a good reason for the association. The second part of the Negative Confession is of interests becsue it show us that the idea of judgement is very old and ancient; also, that the importande of of life of truth-diong and truth-speaking was recongized earrlier in Egyptian society and history, even though they believed in the plurality of the Gods.

Note that this "Drama" took place approximately more than one-thousand three-hundred years to one-thousand three-hundred and fifty years (1,300-1,350) before Moses was supposedly driven out of Western Sais (Egypt) to the eastern limits - Mt. Sinai - by Pharaoh Rameses II between c1225 and 1232 B.C.E. An account of this document was discovered written on a black basalt-slab (stone) in the ruins of the Temple of Ptah at Memphis, Sais(renamed Egypt by the Hebrews and the Greeks). This stone, itself only dates back to the 8th century B.C.E It was prepared by Shabaka - the Ethiopian (Kushite) Pharaoh of Egypt - founder of the Temple of Ptah. It was Pharaoh Shabaka's attempt to preserve the words of his very much more indigenous African ancestory whose descendants are today called "negroes, Bantus, Pygmies(Twa), Nilotes" and other such names. It is estimated (by Egyptologists) that the original script was written around 1,3000 years before Moses(Moshe) - the messenger of Yahweh (Jehovah), 2575 years before the the birth of the Christians' Gpd - Jesus Chris, and 3,197 years before the Moslem (Muslim) prophet of Allah - Mohamet. Why, then is it told that the first time man was given only "Ten" of these one-hundred and forty-seven (147) "CONFESSIONS" - called "COMMANDMENTS" - was when God allegedly "gave them to Moshe at Mt. Sinai?" Because each religion that followed the other in this region co-opted most of the myths and traditional dogmas of the former - Judaism, through Moses, being no exception to this rule of historical tradition

A Cursory Glance at the Gods of the Egyptians

Wallis Budge informs us thus: "The Egyptians, however, acted in a perfectly logical manner, for they believed that they were a divine nation,and that they were ruled by kings who were themselves gods incarnate; their earliest kings, they asserted, were actually gods, who did not disdain to live upon the earth, and to go about and up and down through it, , and to mingle with men. Other ancient nations were content to believe that they had been brought into being by the power of their gods operating upon matter, but the Egyptian believed that they were of directly divine origin. When the gods ceased to reign in their proper persons upon earth, they were succeeded by a series of demi-gods, who were in turn succeeded by the Manes, and these were duly followed by kings in whom was enshrined a divine nature with characteristic attributes. When the physical or natural body of a king died, the divine portion of his being, i.e., the spiritual body, returned to its original abode with the gods, and it was duly worshiped by men upon earth as a god with the gods. This happy result was partly brought about by the performance of certain ceremonies, which were at first wholly magical, but later partly magical and partly religious, and by the recital of appropriate words uttered in the duly prescribed ton and manner, and by the keeping of festivals at the tombs at stated seasons when the appointed offerings were made, and the prayers for the welfare of the dead were said."

Budge continues: "From the earliest times the worship of the gods went hand in hand with the deification of dead kings and other royal personages, and the worship of departed monarchs from some aspects may be regarded as meritorious as the worship of the gods. From one point of view Egypt was as much a land of gods as of men, the the inhabitants of the country wherein the gods lived and moved naturally devoted a considerable portion of their time upon earth to the worship of divine beings and of their ancestors who had departed the land of the gods. In the matter of religion, and all that appertains thereto, the Egyptians were a "peculiar people," and in all ages they have exhibited a tenacity of belief and a conservation which distinguished them from all the other great nations of antiquity. The Egyptians were not only renowned for their religious observances, they were famous as much for the variety as for the number of their gods. Animals, birds, fishes and reptiles were worshipped by them in all ages, but in addition to these they adored the great powers of nature as well as a large number of beings with which they peopled the heavens, the air, the earth, the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the water. In the earliest times the predynastic Egyptians , in common with the [otter Africans or non-africans] people, believed that all the various operations of nature were the result of the actions of beings which were for the most part unfriendly to man. The inundation which rose too high and flooded the primitive village, and drowned their cattle, and destroyed their stock of grain, was regarded as the result of the working of an unfriendly and unseen power; and when the river rose just high enough to irrigate the land which had been prepared, they either thought that a friendly power, which was stronger than that which caused the destroying flood, had kept the hostile in check, or that the spirit of the river was on that occasion pleased with them. They believed in the existence of spirits of the air, and in spirits of mountains, streams, and trees, and all these had to be propitiated with gifts, or cajoled and wheedled into bestowing their favor and protection upon their supplicants."

We further on learn from Budge that: "There is no doubt that at a very early period in the predynastic history the Egyptians distinguished between great gods and little gods, just as they did between friendly gods and hostile gods, but either their poverty of expression, or their inflexibility of their language [or maybe that which we do not fully understand-my addition] prevented them[or us-addition mine] from making a distinction apparent in writing, and thus it happens that in dynastic times, when the lofty conception of monotheism prevailed among the priesthood(see my Hub on "Amen"), the scribe found himself obliged to call both God and the lowest of the beings that were supposed to possess some attribute of divinity by one and the same name, i.e., NETER. The inferior gods of the Egyptians were supposed to suffer from many of the defects of mortal beings, and they were even thought to grow old and to die, and the same ideas about the angels were held by Mhammadans and Hebrews. According to the former, the angels will perish when heaven, their abode, is made to pass away at the Day of Judgement. According to the latter, one of the two great classes of angles, i.e., those which were created on the fifth day of creation, is mortal; on the other hand, the angels which were created on the second day of creation endure for ever, and these may be fitly compared with the unfailing and unvarying powers of nature which were personified and worshipped by the Egyptians; of the angels which perish, some spring from fire, some from water, and some from wind. the angels are grouped into ten classes, i.e., the Erelim, the Ishim, the Bene Elohim, the Melachim, the Hashmalim, the Tarshishim, the shishanim, the Cherubim, the Ophannim, the Seraphim; among these wee divided al the deities connected with the ordering of the heavens and the earth , and they, according to their position of importance, became the interpreters of the Will of the Deity. A comparison of the passage in Rabbinic literature which describe these similar matters connected with the angels, spirits, etc., of ancient Hebrew mythology with Egyptian texts shows that both the Egyptians and Jews possessed many ideas in common, and all the evidence goes to prove that the latter(Hebrews) borrowed from the former(Egyptians), in the earliest period."

Budge finally sums up the narrative about the origins of the Egyptian gods as follows: "In comparatively late historical times the Egyptians introduced into their company of gods a few deities from Western Asia, but these had no effect in modifying the general character either of their religion or of their worship. The subject of comparative Egyptian and Semitic mythology is one which has yet to be worked thoroughly, not because it would supply us with the original forms of Egyptian myth and legends, but because it would show what modifications such things underwent when adopted by Semitic peoples, or at least by peoples who hadSemitic blood in their veins. Some would compare Egyptian andSemitic mythologies on the ground that the Egyptians and Semitic were kinsfolk, but it must be quite clearly understood that this is pure assumption, and is only based on the statements of those who declare that the Egyptian and Semitic languages area akin. Others again have sought to explain the mythology of the Egyptians by appeals to Aryan mythology, and to illustrate the meanings of important Egyptian words i religious texts by means of Aryan etymologies, but the results are wholly unsatisfactory, and they only serve to show the futility of comparing the mythologies of two peoples of different race occupying quite different grades in the ladder of civilization. It cannot be too strongly insisted on that all the oldest gods of Egypt are of Egyptian origin, and that the fundamental religious beliefs of the Egyptians also are of Egyptian origin, and that both the gods and the beliefs date from predynastic times, and have nothing whatever to do do with the Semites or Aryans of history."

The Nile was the cultural and spiritual highway on which elements of civilization came into and out of inner Africa. Most ancient civilizations were built alongside big rivers. How one behaved in these civilizations was according to law and rules like the Negative confessions and how they conceived of the Gods. What would have been life like in todays' civilization with some of the rules listed above, will remain a wonder. But I cannot help but notice how these confessions and the conceptions and beliefs in the various gods affect and effect ones soul and conscience. Some of the confessions really take a dig at the shenanigans that we see being carried out by many people in different spheres and religious institutions of life today.

Osiris was also a fertility-god. This and other attributes of Osiris will be delved into in the second part of this deposition. Right now, it is important to read the Negative confessions and begin to look at our contemporary and fledgeling civilization, how it has compared to them in the past and match-up with them today. We also need to dig deeper into issues pertaining to the soul and spirit in this rat-race society. We need to mull over the things that add some correction to our world which glorifies wealth and efforts towards that end. In the time when we are dealing with our souls and spirits, we need a much more deeper and well informed alternative take and perspective. If we teach ourselves to look backwards, we will be in a position to order to make sense of the present, , finally, we will be well armed to predict and formulate the future.