All cultures around Israel were polytheistic.1 Ply theism is a characteristic of all religions besides Judaism, Islam and Christianity. These three major world religions practice a belief in one God, a practice called monotheism.
In Ancient Egypt, about 3500 B.C there were numerous gods and each town had its chief deity along with a number of lesser local gods. Gradually, trade, war and ultimately political unity, bring these groups of local gods larger jurisdiction and force the priesthoods to correlate them, if not in actual service of the local cult at least in the current services of the gods, out of which an early theology grows. There were no conception of a universal divine government and hence no notion of a universal divine governor. It was polytheism of innumerable gods. There worship was individual rather than social and had little or any ethical influence on the life of the worshipper; prayer was but the repetition of a magical formulary.2The gods of Egypt had had origins, the procreation element is obvious in the god list and in any references to the familial relationships between various gods.
3 The birth of the gods does not relate to their physical or material existence but to their functions and roles. These gods all had names, individual personalities and characteristics, wore different kind of clothing, held different objects as sacred, presided over their own domains of influence, and reacted in highly individualistic ways to events. Each deity had their own area of expertise but were often associated with several spheres of human life.4In the Hebrew bible YHWH is presumed to exist, not procreated created by the union of any god or separated out of any distinct entity; not as the Egyptians thought of gods coming into existence through bodily fluids. YHWH existed, there is a complete absence of theogony from a biblical perspective.
There are no indications or the slightest suggestion that the God of Israel has an origin. The scriptures simply declare in Gen. 1:1 “In the beginning God created…..” God is not a created being, if he did he would not be God.
In ancient Greek philosophy something can never come from or out of nothing. A vacuum or void can never produce matter. Therefore, something had always had to exist, whether it is matter, Spirit or intelligent being.When we compared the Ancient Near Eastern ideas of theogony to the biblical portrayal of scriptures. The biblical text offers no indication that Israel considered YHWH as having an origin, and there are no other gods to bring into existence either by procreation or separation. The worship of YHWH was to be monotheistic and exclusive.5 The exclusiveness of the worship of YHWH is voiced in Deut.
6:4-5 “Hear o Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might.” In this Moses was not only forging a belief in one God but was also calling for the preservation of such belief. The book of Deuteronomy is characterized by a harsh polemic against any compromise with foreigners lest they turn their hearts away from YHWH.5 With many passages of scriptures not only denouncing the confusion that may arise in worshipping one absolute God (monotheism) and henotheism- the worship on one God without denying that others worship other gods because they are all equal.The God of Israel is personal and revealing God, He make known His will and character. The nature of the gods of Egypt is to conceal their will as Jacobson describes Enlil “man can never be fully at ease with Enlil, can never know what he has in mind.
In his wild moods of destructiveness, he is unreachable, deaf to all appeals.”YHWH encourages Israel “call upon me and I will answer you” Jer.33:3 and Heb. 4:16 bids us to “come boldly to the throne of grace.”In ancient Egypt, the gods operated in individualistic ways, there is little to suggest an assembly rule, however, there is a concept of King of the gods as well as a hierarchical structure amongst the gods, much similar to the God of Israel acting without consultation. The Hebrew bible depicts God, YHWH as the only authority responsible for carrying out comic function.
Isaiah 40:14 “with whom took he counsel and who instruct and who instructed him and who taught him the path of judgment and taught him knowledge and show him the way of understanding.”Temples of the Egyptian gods were sacred spaces, “heaven on earth,” the intersections between the human and divine spheres and focal points of the presence of deities on earth. Their architecture, images and texts embedded them in the world and the cosmos. During the flood seasons, the temples were inundated and when the water receded, the building with its columns shaped as lotus and papyrus plants emerged like the hill from primeval ocean. Thus, the temples were regarded as being built on the primeval hills; their surrounding wavy walls symbolized the primeval waters and kept people and chaos at bay. A ‘sacred lake” in the temple provided water and was a reminder of various aspects of cosmogony.
6Egyptians strived to make the gods stay on earth as agreeable as possible. Most temples have several resident gods, which are represented by statues they live and sleep in the holy of holies, a chamber with shrine inside the temple. These are central to the Egyptians rituals and are usually made from precious materials.
The statues were regarded as transient receptacles, a form or double for the god or his “ba-soul” which, seem always to be present within the statue. This concept allows for the simultaneous presence of a god at various places.7In the daily rituals, the statues/gods were washed, dried adorned, censed and given offering of food, drink and gifts, heaps of beer, dread, vegetables are left before the cult statues and removed later, before setting up the next offerings. This meal service was performed three times per day,8 and involve a variety of priest, porters and craft man who receive wages that consisted of a portion of the offerings.
9The Tabernacle presents the re-established of sacred space that was forfeited when Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden of Eden. This was the first indication of the creation of sacred space in Israel’s history, but the practice was a long establish practice in the Ancient world. The instructions given by God to Moses for the construction of the tabernacle were similar to established ancient customs and convention; in which the earthly dwelling of the gods is a type of their heavenly abode. For example, in the construction of the inner court, the holy of holies was similar to the ancient near eastern custom, the temple found at Arad in southern Israel had a forecourt, main hall and holy of holies. This establishes a hierarchy of space with a progression towards space that was more holy and restricted this prevent unwanted persons to come in contact with the divine and violate sacred space. This is similar to the holy of holies which allows for only the High Priest to enter only once per year at appointed times.There are differences which can be found in the cycle of cosmic life of the God of the temple. The God of Israel does not need provisions of food to be satiated or to meet any personal needs, there are no images of YHWH, His glory is a revelation of His presence.
YHWH does not live in temples, Solomon in 1Kings 8:27 declares “but will God really dwell on earth; the heaven, even the highest cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built.” There is no multiplicity of YHWH, He is omnipresent and does not require images everywhere to represent him.Ancient Egyptian religion was highly ritualistic, involving daily ceremonies, specific times for festivals celebrating the divine even though animal sacrifice was not allowed. The Pharaoh was the High Priest of Egypt, the sole representative of the gods and goddess of earth. His main ritual was the offering of Maat to his father Re. The performance of rituals was central and foundational to religion in the Ancient Near East.
The shape of one’s belief was not significant, but performance of the ritual/cult was the essential expression of belief. Assmann states “the world of the deities of Egypt was not an object of belief, but rather of knowledge. Knowledge of names, processes, action and events that were superimposed in a manner that explained and made sense of, saved, transfigured, on the realm of manifestation in the cult and in nature.”10 The sacrificial system in the ancient near east served as appeasement by the feeding of the gods and providing for their needs in contrast Ps. 50:12-13 YHWH does not find pleasure in these. The presentation of offerings made to God took place in the outer court at the brazen altar of sacrifice in the presence of all.The concept of the sacrificial system was not the feeding of God but an atonement for acts committed against YHWH and to draw one into closer fellowship with him. The experience of the fullness of YHWH’s presence does not necessitate eating and drinking but worship; When Moses was in the presence of God he did not eat bread and water Ex.
34:28. The book of Leviticus gives to the nation of Israel details regarding civil, sanitary, ceremonial, moral and religious regulations and offerings these served as a constant reminder of the holiness of God and how to approach Him in worship. The creation story of ancient Egypt is recorded in sacred hieroglyphics writing found on pyramids, temples, tombs and sheets of papyrus.
These writings describe how earth was created out of chaos by the god Atum- a primeval cosmic god, the sun god of creation, the substance from which all creation unfurled. He is Lord of the universe. In his human form, he represents the kings of Egypt who wears the double crown of Egypt. The earth was seen as a sacred landscape, a reflection of the sky world where the gods resided.
The creation of the universe took place over a long period when the gods lived on earth and established kingdoms based on the principles of justice. When the gods left the earth to reside in the sky world, the pharaohs inherited the right to rule.The book of the dead describes how the world was created by Atum, the god of Heliopolis, the center of the sun god cult in upper and lower Egypt. In the beginning the world appear as an infinite expanse of dark and directionless waters named nun. Nun was personified as four pairs of male and female deities.
Each couple represents one of the four principles that characterized nun: hiddenness or invisibility, infinite waters, straying or lack of direction and darkness or lack of light.Atum created himself out of nun by an effort of will or by uttering his own name. As created of the gods and human, he is responsible for bringing order to the heavens and earth. As lord of the heaven and earth he wears a double crown of upper and lower Egypt and carries the Ankh, a symbol of life and a scepter, a symbol of royal authority.All cultures around Israel were polytheistic.1 Ply theism is a characteristic of all religions besides Judaism, Islam and Christianity. These three major world religions practice a belief in one God, a practice called monotheism.In Ancient Egypt, about 3500 B.
C there were numerous gods and each town had its chief deity along with a number of lesser local gods. Gradually, trade, war and ultimately political unity, bring these groups of local gods larger jurisdiction and force the priesthoods to correlate them, if not in actual service of the local cult at least in the current services of the gods, out of which an early theology grows. There were no conception of a universal divine government and hence no notion of a universal divine governor. It was polytheism of innumerable gods. There worship was individual rather than social and had little or any ethical influence on the life of the worshipper; prayer was but the repetition of a magical formulary.2The gods of Egypt had had origins, the procreation element is obvious in the god list and in any references to the familial relationships between various gods.
3 The birth of the gods does not relate to their physical or material existence but to their functions and roles. These gods all had names, individual personalities and characteristics, wore different kind of clothing, held different objects as sacred, presided over their own domains of influence, and reacted in highly individualistic ways to events. Each deity had their own area of expertise but were often associated with several spheres of human life.4In the Hebrew bible YHWH is presumed to exist, not procreated created by the union of any god or separated out of any distinct entity; not as the Egyptians thought of gods coming into existence through bodily fluids.
YHWH existed, there is a complete absence of theogony from a biblical perspective. There are no indications or the slightest suggestion that the God of Israel has an origin. The scriptures simply declare in Gen. 1:1 “In the beginning God created…..
” God is not a created being, if he did he would not be God. In ancient Greek philosophy something can never come from or out of nothing. A vacuum or void can never produce matter. Therefore, something had always had to exist, whether it is matter, Spirit or intelligent being.When we compared the Ancient Near Eastern ideas of theogony to the biblical portrayal of scriptures. The biblical text offers no indication that Israel considered YHWH as having an origin, and there are no other gods to bring into existence either by procreation or separation.
The worship of YHWH was to be monotheistic and exclusive.5 The exclusiveness of the worship of YHWH is voiced in Deut. 6:4-5 “Hear o Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might.” In this Moses was not only forging a belief in one God but was also calling for the preservation of such belief. The book of Deuteronomy is characterized by a harsh polemic against any compromise with foreigners lest they turn their hearts away from YHWH.5 With many passages of scriptures not only denouncing the confusion that may arise in worshipping one absolute God (monotheism) and henotheism- the worship on one God without denying that others worship other gods because they are all equal.The God of Israel is personal and revealing God, He make known His will and character.
The nature of the gods of Egypt is to conceal their will as Jacobson describes Enlil “man can never be fully at ease with Enlil, can never know what he has in mind. In his wild moods of destructiveness, he is unreachable, deaf to all appeals.”YHWH encourages Israel “call upon me and I will answer you” Jer.33:3 and Heb. 4:16 bids us to “come boldly to the throne of grace.”In ancient Egypt, the gods operated in individualistic ways, there is little to suggest an assembly rule, however, there is a concept of King of the gods as well as a hierarchical structure amongst the gods, much similar to the God of Israel acting without consultation. The Hebrew bible depicts God, YHWH as the only authority responsible for carrying out comic function.
Isaiah 40:14 “with whom took he counsel and who instruct and who instructed him and who taught him the path of judgment and taught him knowledge and show him the way of understanding.”Temples of the Egyptian gods were sacred spaces, “heaven on earth,” the intersections between the human and divine spheres and focal points of the presence of deities on earth. Their architecture, images and texts embedded them in the world and the cosmos. During the flood seasons, the temples were inundated and when the water receded, the building with its columns shaped as lotus and papyrus plants emerged like the hill from primeval ocean. Thus, the temples were regarded as being built on the primeval hills; their surrounding wavy walls symbolized the primeval waters and kept people and chaos at bay.
A ‘sacred lake” in the temple provided water and was a reminder of various aspects of cosmogony.6Egyptians strived to make the gods stay on earth as agreeable as possible. Most temples have several resident gods, which are represented by statues they live and sleep in the holy of holies, a chamber with shrine inside the temple. These are central to the Egyptians rituals and are usually made from precious materials.The statues were regarded as transient receptacles, a form or double for the god or his “ba-soul” which, seem always to be present within the statue. This concept allows for the simultaneous presence of a god at various places.7In the daily rituals, the statues/gods were washed, dried adorned, censed and given offering of food, drink and gifts, heaps of beer, dread, vegetables are left before the cult statues and removed later, before setting up the next offerings.
This meal service was performed three times per day,8 and involve a variety of priest, porters and craft man who receive wages that consisted of a portion of the offerings.9The Tabernacle presents the re-established of sacred space that was forfeited when Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden of Eden. This was the first indication of the creation of sacred space in Israel’s history, but the practice was a long establish practice in the Ancient world.
The instructions given by God to Moses for the construction of the tabernacle were similar to established ancient customs and convention; in which the earthly dwelling of the gods is a type of their heavenly abode. For example, in the construction of the inner court, the holy of holies was similar to the ancient near eastern custom, the temple found at Arad in southern Israel had a forecourt, main hall and holy of holies. This establishes a hierarchy of space with a progression towards space that was more holy and restricted this prevent unwanted persons to come in contact with the divine and violate sacred space. This is similar to the holy of holies which allows for only the High Priest to enter only once per year at appointed times.There are differences which can be found in the cycle of cosmic life of the God of the temple. The God of Israel does not need provisions of food to be satiated or to meet any personal needs, there are no images of YHWH, His glory is a revelation of His presence. YHWH does not live in temples, Solomon in 1Kings 8:27 declares “but will God really dwell on earth; the heaven, even the highest cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built.” There is no multiplicity of YHWH, He is omnipresent and does not require images everywhere to represent him.
Ancient Egyptian religion was highly ritualistic, involving daily ceremonies, specific times for festivals celebrating the divine even though animal sacrifice was not allowed. The Pharaoh was the High Priest of Egypt, the sole representative of the gods and goddess of earth. His main ritual was the offering of Maat to his father Re.
The performance of rituals was central and foundational to religion in the Ancient Near East. The shape of one’s belief was not significant, but performance of the ritual/cult was the essential expression of belief. Assmann states “the world of the deities of Egypt was not an object of belief, but rather of knowledge. Knowledge of names, processes, action and events that were superimposed in a manner that explained and made sense of, saved, transfigured, on the realm of manifestation in the cult and in nature.
“10 The sacrificial system in the ancient near east served as appeasement by the feeding of the gods and providing for their needs in contrast Ps. 50:12-13 YHWH does not find pleasure in these. The presentation of offerings made to God took place in the outer court at the brazen altar of sacrifice in the presence of all.The concept of the sacrificial system was not the feeding of God but an atonement for acts committed against YHWH and to draw one into closer fellowship with him. The experience of the fullness of YHWH’s presence does not necessitate eating and drinking but worship; When Moses was in the presence of God he did not eat bread and water Ex.
34:28. The book of Leviticus gives to the nation of Israel details regarding civil, sanitary, ceremonial, moral and religious regulations and offerings these served as a constant reminder of the holiness of God and how to approach Him in worship. The creation story of ancient Egypt is recorded in sacred hieroglyphics writing found on pyramids, temples, tombs and sheets of papyrus. These writings describe how earth was created out of chaos by the god Atum- a primeval cosmic god, the sun god of creation, the substance from which all creation unfurled.
He is Lord of the universe. In his human form, he represents the kings of Egypt who wears the double crown of Egypt. The earth was seen as a sacred landscape, a reflection of the sky world where the gods resided. The creation of the universe took place over a long period when the gods lived on earth and established kingdoms based on the principles of justice. When the gods left the earth to reside in the sky world, the pharaohs inherited the right to rule.The book of the dead describes how the world was created by Atum, the god of Heliopolis, the center of the sun god cult in upper and lower Egypt.
In the beginning the world appear as an infinite expanse of dark and directionless waters named nun. Nun was personified as four pairs of male and female deities. Each couple represents one of the four principles that characterized nun: hiddenness or invisibility, infinite waters, straying or lack of direction and darkness or lack of light.
Atum created himself out of nun by an effort of will or by uttering his own name. As created of the gods and human, he is responsible for bringing order to the heavens and earth. As lord of the heaven and earth he wears a double crown of upper and lower Egypt and carries the Ankh, a symbol of life and a scepter, a symbol of royal authority.
All cultures around Israel were polytheistic.1 Ply theism is a characteristic of all religions besides Judaism, Islam and Christianity. These three major world religions practice a belief in one God, a practice called monotheism.In Ancient Egypt, about 3500 B.
C there were numerous gods and each town had its chief deity along with a number of lesser local gods. Gradually, trade, war and ultimately political unity, bring these groups of local gods larger jurisdiction and force the priesthoods to correlate them, if not in actual service of the local cult at least in the current services of the gods, out of which an early theology grows. There were no conception of a universal divine government and hence no notion of a universal divine governor. It was polytheism of innumerable gods. There worship was individual rather than social and had little or any ethical influence on the life of the worshipper; prayer was but the repetition of a magical formulary.2The gods of Egypt had had origins, the procreation element is obvious in the god list and in any references to the familial relationships between various gods.
3 The birth of the gods does not relate to their physical or material existence but to their functions and roles. These gods all had names, individual personalities and characteristics, wore different kind of clothing, held different objects as sacred, presided over their own domains of influence, and reacted in highly individualistic ways to events. Each deity had their own area of expertise but were often associated with several spheres of human life.
4In the Hebrew bible YHWH is presumed to exist, not procreated created by the union of any god or separated out of any distinct entity; not as the Egyptians thought of gods coming into existence through bodily fluids. YHWH existed, there is a complete absence of theogony from a biblical perspective. There are no indications or the slightest suggestion that the God of Israel has an origin.
The scriptures simply declare in Gen. 1:1 “In the beginning God created…..” God is not a created being, if he did he would not be God. In ancient Greek philosophy something can never come from or out of nothing.
A vacuum or void can never produce matter. Therefore, something had always had to exist, whether it is matter, Spirit or intelligent being.When we compared the Ancient Near Eastern ideas of theogony to the biblical portrayal of scriptures. The biblical text offers no indication that Israel considered YHWH as having an origin, and there are no other gods to bring into existence either by procreation or separation. The worship of YHWH was to be monotheistic and exclusive.
5 The exclusiveness of the worship of YHWH is voiced in Deut. 6:4-5 “Hear o Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might.” In this Moses was not only forging a belief in one God but was also calling for the preservation of such belief. The book of Deuteronomy is characterized by a harsh polemic against any compromise with foreigners lest they turn their hearts away from YHWH.5 With many passages of scriptures not only denouncing the confusion that may arise in worshipping one absolute God (monotheism) and henotheism- the worship on one God without denying that others worship other gods because they are all equal.The God of Israel is personal and revealing God, He make known His will and character. The nature of the gods of Egypt is to conceal their will as Jacobson describes Enlil “man can never be fully at ease with Enlil, can never know what he has in mind. In his wild moods of destructiveness, he is unreachable, deaf to all appeals.
“YHWH encourages Israel “call upon me and I will answer you” Jer.33:3 and Heb. 4:16 bids us to “come boldly to the throne of grace.”In ancient Egypt, the gods operated in individualistic ways, there is little to suggest an assembly rule, however, there is a concept of King of the gods as well as a hierarchical structure amongst the gods, much similar to the God of Israel acting without consultation.
The Hebrew bible depicts God, YHWH as the only authority responsible for carrying out comic function. Isaiah 40:14 “with whom took he counsel and who instruct and who instructed him and who taught him the path of judgment and taught him knowledge and show him the way of understanding.”Temples of the Egyptian gods were sacred spaces, “heaven on earth,” the intersections between the human and divine spheres and focal points of the presence of deities on earth. Their architecture, images and texts embedded them in the world and the cosmos. During the flood seasons, the temples were inundated and when the water receded, the building with its columns shaped as lotus and papyrus plants emerged like the hill from primeval ocean. Thus, the temples were regarded as being built on the primeval hills; their surrounding wavy walls symbolized the primeval waters and kept people and chaos at bay. A ‘sacred lake” in the temple provided water and was a reminder of various aspects of cosmogony.6Egyptians strived to make the gods stay on earth as agreeable as possible.
Most temples have several resident gods, which are represented by statues they live and sleep in the holy of holies, a chamber with shrine inside the temple. These are central to the Egyptians rituals and are usually made from precious materials.The statues were regarded as transient receptacles, a form or double for the god or his “ba-soul” which, seem always to be present within the statue. This concept allows for the simultaneous presence of a god at various places.7In the daily rituals, the statues/gods were washed, dried adorned, censed and given offering of food, drink and gifts, heaps of beer, dread, vegetables are left before the cult statues and removed later, before setting up the next offerings.
This meal service was performed three times per day,8 and involve a variety of priest, porters and craft man who receive wages that consisted of a portion of the offerings.9The Tabernacle presents the re-established of sacred space that was forfeited when Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden of Eden. This was the first indication of the creation of sacred space in Israel’s history, but the practice was a long establish practice in the Ancient world.
The instructions given by God to Moses for the construction of the tabernacle were similar to established ancient customs and convention; in which the earthly dwelling of the gods is a type of their heavenly abode. For example, in the construction of the inner court, the holy of holies was similar to the ancient near eastern custom, the temple found at Arad in southern Israel had a forecourt, main hall and holy of holies. This establishes a hierarchy of space with a progression towards space that was more holy and restricted this prevent unwanted persons to come in contact with the divine and violate sacred space. This is similar to the holy of holies which allows for only the High Priest to enter only once per year at appointed times.There are differences which can be found in the cycle of cosmic life of the God of the temple. The God of Israel does not need provisions of food to be satiated or to meet any personal needs, there are no images of YHWH, His glory is a revelation of His presence. YHWH does not live in temples, Solomon in 1Kings 8:27 declares “but will God really dwell on earth; the heaven, even the highest cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built.
” There is no multiplicity of YHWH, He is omnipresent and does not require images everywhere to represent him.Ancient Egyptian religion was highly ritualistic, involving daily ceremonies, specific times for festivals celebrating the divine even though animal sacrifice was not allowed. The Pharaoh was the High Priest of Egypt, the sole representative of the gods and goddess of earth.
His main ritual was the offering of Maat to his father Re. The performance of rituals was central and foundational to religion in the Ancient Near East. The shape of one’s belief was not significant, but performance of the ritual/cult was the essential expression of belief. Assmann states “the world of the deities of Egypt was not an object of belief, but rather of knowledge.
Knowledge of names, processes, action and events that were superimposed in a manner that explained and made sense of, saved, transfigured, on the realm of manifestation in the cult and in nature.”10 The sacrificial system in the ancient near east served as appeasement by the feeding of the gods and providing for their needs in contrast Ps. 50:12-13 YHWH does not find pleasure in these. The presentation of offerings made to God took place in the outer court at the brazen altar of sacrifice in the presence of all.The concept of the sacrificial system was not the feeding of God but an atonement for acts committed against YHWH and to draw one into closer fellowship with him.
The experience of the fullness of YHWH’s presence does not necessitate eating and drinking but worship; When Moses was in the presence of God he did not eat bread and water Ex. 34:28. The book of Leviticus gives to the nation of Israel details regarding civil, sanitary, ceremonial, moral and religious regulations and offerings these served as a constant reminder of the holiness of God and how to approach Him in worship. The creation story of ancient Egypt is recorded in sacred hieroglyphics writing found on pyramids, temples, tombs and sheets of papyrus. These writings describe how earth was created out of chaos by the god Atum- a primeval cosmic god, the sun god of creation, the substance from which all creation unfurled. He is Lord of the universe. In his human form, he represents the kings of Egypt who wears the double crown of Egypt. The earth was seen as a sacred landscape, a reflection of the sky world where the gods resided.
The creation of the universe took place over a long period when the gods lived on earth and established kingdoms based on the principles of justice. When the gods left the earth to reside in the sky world, the pharaohs inherited the right to rule.The book of the dead describes how the world was created by Atum, the god of Heliopolis, the center of the sun god cult in upper and lower Egypt. In the beginning the world appear as an infinite expanse of dark and directionless waters named nun. Nun was personified as four pairs of male and female deities.
Each couple represents one of the four principles that characterized nun: hiddenness or invisibility, infinite waters, straying or lack of direction and darkness or lack of light.Atum created himself out of nun by an effort of will or by uttering his own name. As created of the gods and human, he is responsible for bringing order to the heavens and earth. As lord of the heaven and earth he wears a double crown of upper and lower Egypt and carries the Ankh, a symbol of life and a scepter, a symbol of royal authority.
