People of Ancient Egypt

QUESTION: Who did the people of ancient Egypt worship?

ANSWER:

The belief system of the people of ancient Egypt from the 4th millennium to the first centuries AD included polytheism. Their gods held both human and animal form, as pharaohs promoted their preferred worship. All the pharaohs were preoccupied with the afterlife, as evident in the surviving tombs and pyramids. People paid large sums to be buried near the king hoping to gain passage into the netherworld, while all used passwords with spells from the "Book of the Dead."

The pyramids date from the Old Kingdom era of Egypt's history. The cult of Osiris flourished in the Middle Kingdom era, as the Exodus of the Jews constitutes the New Kingdom era. The myth starts out that Osiris was slain, his body torn apart and flung all over Egypt. Isis and Nephthys found the pieces of his body, giving new life to Osiris, who became the ruler of the underworld. The Book of Exodus in the Bible's Old Testament tells of Moses being born in Egypt to Hebrew parents, who set him afloat on the Nile in a reed basket saving him from laws that required all newborn Hebrew males to be executed. The pharaoh's daughter found the child while bathing in the Nile and reared Moses as her adopted son. Moses learned of his heritage, forsook the royal upbringing, and chose the sufferings of his people, instead. He led God's people out of Egypt's oppressive slavery.

The people of ancient Egypt worshipped their gods of astrology. Apis (Taurus) was revised from the Hebrew prophecy of the coming Messiah, portrayed as a bull rushing forth with might energy, fierce wrath, and horns pushing back his enemies and destroying them. The Egyptian Zodiac of Denderah corrupts this Hebrew prophecy calling the bull, Apis. After an Apis bull died, it was buried with pompous ritual and its calf was its successor. Apis' priest used divination practices, as they saw omens from the bull's behavior. The Judeo meaning of the ram is one of redeeming qualities. It is a living lamb showing the foundation upon which the victory of atonement rests. The Zodiac of Denderah changed it to the rescuing of Phrixus out of Thessaly to Colchis. Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Zeus, who placed the ram in the heavens as a constellation.

To worshippers of ancient Egyptian religion, the soul consists of two entities: one survives death yet remains near the body, while the other goes into the realm of the dead. Ancient Egyptian worshippers offered up millions of sacrificed ibis and baboons to the moon god, Thoth. Children were sacrificed to the god, Moloch, usually in times of great distress attempting to appease the character of this god. Laws given to Moses by God after the Exodus forbade the Israelites from participating in this worship. Much of the practices of modern day Satanism can be traced back to the ancient Egyptian religion. Imohotep was an Egyptian magus, who was worshipped as the god of medicine. Egyptologists regard that the whole "Book of the Dead," with two hundred chapters of curses, and possible medicinal cures reside in Imohotep's tomb, which has yet to be found. This is causing a major stir within the Egyptian society to unearth Imohotep's tomb, firing a renewed interest and practice in worship of the ancient Egyptian religion.