The Ancient Tradition

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Music

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You’re listening to The Ancient Tradition. A Wonk Media Production. Music provided by Joseph McDade. He is your host, Dr. Jack Logan.

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Welcome to the Ancient Tradition. I’m your host, Jack Logan. As always, it’s great to have you listening in. If you’re a first time listener, welcome to the program. If you’re wondering what we do on this podcast, we spend each episode combing through the world’s oldest texts. And we’re doing this with the sole objective of letting the peoples of antiquity teach us who God is and why we are here on this

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And so far this approach has been quite fruitful. If you’re a long time listener to the program, you’ve likely noticed that several of the things that the ancients taught about God completely contradict what is taught about God today. And that makes this program both interesting but also really challenging because each one of us must decide for ourselves who we believe. The ancients or the imams, pastors, rabbis, priests and ministers.

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who teach different things about who God is today. And where each of us come down on this is of course a matter of faith. Nothing on this podcast will change the importance of faith. I do think though that knowledge matters and that knowledge matters quite a bit. In the ancient Judeo-Christian tradition, the apostle Peter in 2 Peter chapter one verse four,

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encouraged the early Christians to diligently seek to be, quote, partakers of the divine nature, which is something that we’re going to talk about more today and in part two of this episode. After this, in verse five, Peter shared with the early Christians just how this divine nature is acquired. And this is what he said, quote, and beside this, giving all diligence. Add to your

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and to your virtue, knowledge. He’s telling us that we need to add knowledge to our faith. Something that we need to pursue. There is of course, many types of knowledge, but knowledge still the same appears to be an absolutely critical requirement for anyone desiring to obtain the divine nature. Acquiring knowledge is not something that we can abdicate to someone else. It’s something that we must do ourselves.

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20 years ago when I decided to do just that, to acquire as much temporal knowledge as I could about God, I started to notice that the farther back I went, the more similar the religious traditions looked to one another. On the surface, they looked really different, but the internal theology that they were teaching was undeniably similar. So similar that one could even argue that they were virtually the same.

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And the evidence for this was literally pouring out of the ancient texts. This suggested to me that these early religious traditions, specifically the religious traditions that were found in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Canaan, and among the Hittites and the Hebrews, must have sprung from one powerful religious tradition in deep antiquity else. How would one explain those similarities? If you’re a first time listener,

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You’re probably wondering what the ancients were teaching. What did they teach? You’re probably wondering what the main thrust of that theology was. Well, it’s a pretty darn amazing theology. And honestly, I haven’t seen another theology even come close to the theological, philosophical, and cosmological depth of what the ancients taught. There’s way too much to summarize it here, but if you’re interested in learning more,

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you can find more than 40 episodes dedicated to laying that out step by step. The theology that was taught by the peoples of the ancient world, which they actually wrote down in an amazing number of texts. And you can find those episodes in this podcast back catalog. The episodes are set up kind of like a college course where each episode builds on the previous episode. So I recommend starting with episode number one and working your way through.

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me personally if what the ancients taught is true it changes everything it’s life changing but before anyone can know that they first have to know what the ancients actually taught acquire some knowledge which is exactly why I put this podcast together so that you and anyone else interested could learn about this amazing theology and like I mentioned

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This theology doesn’t disappoint. The ancients give us a clear description of who God is. A clear explanation for why we’re here on planet Earth and a clear description of our greatest potential. It’s pretty great stuff. In a nutshell, the theology of the ancients is a theology of kingship. Kingship. Both heavenly kingship and earthly kingship.

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which is why this episode is titled Nesut, Malku, and Melek, which are the ancient Egyptian Semitic and Hebrew terms for king. To truly comprehend the theology taught by the ancients, we have to start here with this understanding of who God is, that God reigns as a celestial king. This is incredibly important.

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I can’t overstate how important it is to understand that God reigns in the heavens as a king, a celestial king, because every single thing in the theology of the ancients centers around God as king. Every thread of thought, every intricate detail, every belief and every ritual practice.

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And it’s for that reason that it’s important that we take time in the podcast to examine this characteristic of God in greater detail. In our last episode, we examined the descriptions of God as a heavenly king in ancient Mesopotamian texts, along with a list of the roles and responsibilities that the ancient Mesopotamians taught were the prerogative and privilege of God as a celestial king. And it’s for that reason that we’re going to continue this examination in today’s episode.

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focusing on the descriptions of God as a heavenly king in the ancient Egyptian, ancient Canaanite, and ancient Hebrew texts. By doing this, you’re gonna see that God was universally identified across the ancient world as a celestial king. And what’s even more remarkable, you’ll see that the theology centered around God’s kingship was strikingly consistent in the ancient world.

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From civilization to civilization, the ancients were teaching the same royal kingship theology. I wanna take a second and point out just how remarkable it is that the entire history of the world seems to testify of this royal kingship theology. Every king who ever lived attests to this theology. Every temple ever built attests to this theology.

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The greatest myths ever recorded, the greatest epic poems ever written, the greatest literature ever put on paper attest to this theology. And we haven’t talked about this in the program yet, but the sun, the moon, the stars, the seasons, and even the days of the week attest to this theology. And when you know what you’re looking at, it’s absolutely mind boggling how much in the world

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sociologically, politically, architecturally, mythologically, and symbolically attests to the veracity of this theology. That’s something to think on. With that, let’s dive back into our discussion on who is God, a heavenly king, and see what else we can learn.

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When we take a look at ancient Egypt, we see that the high God, Ray. Now I wanna start by pointing out that Ray is the same as Atum and Ra and Amun. Those are all the same names for the same God. So in these texts, when we talk about Ray or Ra, it’s the same. Ray is clearly understood to be and depicted in the iconography as a celestial king.

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raised described as a celestial monarch from the very onset of the ancient Egyptian Empire. Descriptions of which we find in ancient Egypt’s oldest religious text, the pyramid text, the earliest of which date to 2400 BC. And this persists remarkably unchanged for the next 2400 years until the ultimate decline of the Egyptian Empire in 30 BC.

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Rey’s dominion as a heavenly king plays an absolutely central role in the content and purpose of the pyramid texts. In these texts, Rey is described as the Establisher of Cosmic Order, the Defender Against Chaos. These texts vividly recount his nightly battle against the awful

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and his position as the supreme ruler of the gods is particularly important in these texts because he serves as the divine blueprint for earthly pharaohs who desire to take their place among the company of the gods as heavenly kings after their death. That’s what these texts are all about. These texts teach the dead pharaoh what he must do to become like Rey.

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They teach him what he must do in order to take his seat in the heavens and reign as a heavenly king. That’s the purpose of the pyramid text. Much of this heavenly king making process is described as an ascension or a heavenly journey, which is symbolic of the dead pharaoh’s transformation. His transformation from an earthly human being into an eternal divine being.

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which the apostle Peter would call the divine nature as eternal divine beings who have the right and privilege to govern as a celestial monarch. These texts are golden because they give us a lot of clues about how this process works, which will definitely plumb when we get into ritual. All in all in the texts, the high God Ray is identified as the quote,

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the quote, Lord of everything. In Pyramid text 257, the dead king Unus tells us that he’s going to take his seat on Reys throne. The text reads, quote, I, and this is King Unus speaking, sit on the seat, the throne of the Lord of all. And the Lord of all here is the celestial monarch, Re, or Reatum.

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In another pyramid text in pyramid text 271, King Eunice tells us that he’s going to take his seat on a heavenly throne next to Ray. The text reads, quote, I sit on the great seat, a throne beside the God and the God here refers to Ray. I believe I’ve mentioned this in the program before, but note how similar this is to the Christian New Testament passages found in Mark chapter 16 verse 19.

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Matthew chapter 26 verse 64 and Acts chapter 2 verse 33 where we read that Christ after his death ascended So note how we’re talking about ascension here too and took his seat next to God In Mark chapter 16 verse 19 it says quote So then after the Lord has spoken unto them and it’s talking about the Apostle. So this is post-resurrection He being Christ was received up into heaven

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and sat on the right hand of God. I know that the ancient Egyptian religion is often labeled as a pagan religion, but I think the ancient Egyptians in Christ, as crazy as this may sound, were teaching the same theology. They were teaching a theology of heavenly kingship. And it’s not just textual parallels like this that have me thinking this. It’s also because as you’re gonna see down the line,

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that both the ancient Egyptians in Christ described the place and the process, the theology by which heavenly kingship can be acquired in virtually identical ways, like we see with the anointing oil. And let’s also note that it’s not just the ancient Egyptians in Christ who are teaching this theology.

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We clearly see this theology being taught across the ancient Near East in Mesopotamia, Canaan, and among the Hittites and Hebrews. In another pyramid text, in pyramid text 335, the dead King Unas tells us that the heavenly crown he received in the heavens was given to him from the crown that rested on Ray’s head. So you should get the point here of vassal kingships.

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The text reads, quote, how beautiful is the sight of me. And this is King Eunice speaking, with my headband, his crown, from Ray’s brow. In this text, the high God is clearly referred to as wearing a royal crown, which of course identifies him as a heavenly king. Note in these passages how King Eunice obtains a crown from Ray’s crown

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and takes his seat on a throne next to Ray’s throne. In other passages, we learn that he wore the royal garments that Ray wore. And in Pyramid Text 412, we’re told that he even smelled of the same scent that Ray smelled, which we assume was the smell of the anointing oil. You can see from passages like this that the high God Ray not only reigned as the supreme King of Heaven,

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but that he also served as the divine model, the divine prototype for earthly kings, kings who were to pattern not only their earthly reign, but their heavenly reign after him too. In ancient Egypt, the word for king was primarily nsut, N-S-W-T, which translates directly to king in English. This term was widely used

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throughout ancient Egyptian history to refer to Egyptian monarchs. According to Egyptologist Sir Alan H. Gardiner, the most common hieroglyph for Nasut was a seated king wearing the cobra crown or a seated king wearing the cobra crown holding a flail. And if you’d like to see pictures of the hieroglyphs used to identify kings, you can find them on the webpage for this episode.

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These hieroglyphs were used in the Papyrus of Annie, also known as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which is dated to 1250 BC. It’s currently housed in the British Museum. The Papyrus of Annie is a great text, and we’re gonna talk a lot more about it when we get into ritual. But for this episode, it’s important because the papyrus begins with several introductory hymns to Ra or Rae.

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And it’s in the first hymn that we find these really beautiful, vivid descriptions of Ray as the reigning celestial king. And I’m going to read a significant portion of the English translation of the first hymn. It’s found on plate one, not just because it identifies Ray explicitly as a heavenly king, but because it also identifies Ray as an exalted king in reference to the rest of the theology of heavenly kingship that we’ve discussed.

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this point on the program. The Hymn to Ra reads, quote, A Hymn of praise to Ra when he riseth in the eastern part of heaven. Behold the Osiris Annie, the scribe of the holy offerings of all the gods, saith, Homage to thee. And he’s speaking of

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Thou art seated on thy throne. Thou art seated on thy throne as the king of the gods. This is a description again of Ray. Here we’re told that in the heavens, the high God Ray sits on a throne and reigns as the king of the gods. In the royal hierarchy in heaven, he reigns supreme. And note too that he reigns over other gods.

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which indicates that there is more than one God in the heavens. Let’s keep reading and read what else the hymn tells us about Ray’s kingship. The text continues, quote, the goddess Maat embraceth thee. May Ra give glory and power and truth speaking. In this text, we see that Ray, the king of the gods is embraced by Maat, the cosmic law.

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which infers that his reign is a reign built upon the cosmic law. It’s by way of his adherence to this law that order is established in his heavenly kingdom. In other words, his kingship, his rule, is embraced by righteousness, truth, and justice. Let’s see what else we can learn. The text continues, quote, “‘Hail Tattoon.'” Now, Tattoon’s interesting here, because that’s a name.

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Tatun is a shortened version of Tatennin, which is derived from the Egyptian word Ta, which means land or earth, and Tenin, which means to give birth or to produce. So Tatennin refers to the one who gave birth or produced the land or earth. So this is really referring to the primordial mound, the first land to rise out or be given birth from the primordial waters.

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To call Ray Tatun is to call him the creator of the primordial mound, the creator of the world. The text continues, Hail Tatun, thou creator of mortals and of the companies of the gods. Here we see that Ray, the king of heaven, created mortals. And we’re gonna talk about that a lot more down the line. And he’s also the creator of the company of the gods, the council of the gods.

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Now listen to how this company of gods is described, especially in terms of the sacred center. Quote, the companies of the gods of the south and of the north and of the west and of the east. These gods are described in reference to the four cardinal points, which we know are used symbolically in ancient world to delineate the center, the sacred center, where Ray reigns as the king of the gods

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and where the divine council meets. The text continues, quote, “‘The companies of the gods of the south and of the north and of the west and of the east ascribe ye praise to Ra, the Lord of heaven, the King.'” We can see here that Ray is clearly described as the Lord of heaven, the King. It’s right in the text. In the Wallace Budge translation, each letter in the word King

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K-I-N-G is actually capitalized. I’m not exactly sure why that is, but it is. Now listen to what the text tells us about where Ra resides. The text reads, quote, give ye thanks unto him, Ray, or Ra, in his beneficent form, which is enthroned in the Atet boat. So according to this text, where does Ray sit enthroned?

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The text tells us that he sits, quote, enthroned in the Atet boat. The Atet boat is the bark of the sun or the bark of Ray. This vessel symbolically, and note that I’m talking about it symbolically here, represents where God dwells in the heavens. The ancient Egyptians didn’t believe that God literally dwelt in a boat in the heavens. Okay, so if they knew that,

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then why did they depict Ray as dwelling in a boat or in an ark? Well, the ancient Egyptians taught that God reigned over a cosmic kingdom, a cosmic kingdom that much like a giant air bubble was completely surrounded by a vast expanse of dark, inert, chaotic elements. Elements that the ancients described symbolically as water.

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And what floats on water? A boat. So naturally the ancient Egyptians portrayed God as residing in a boat. A boat that protected God not only from the chaotic waters themselves, but a boat that also protected him from the terrible sea serpent Apophis, who lurked in those waters. The boat represents the boundary, the wall, the shield.

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that forms a protective barrier around God and his kingdom and keeps the awful serpent and the forces of chaos at bay. The boat represents a place of refuge and safety in the cosmos. And what did the ancients call a place of safety and refuge? They called it a temple. So the Atet boat symbolically represents the temple.

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where God dwells, the temple where he reigns on his throne in the sacred center of his kingdom. Interestingly, the symbolic connection between the boat and the temple is beautifully conveyed in the Native American to Tuni Joshua creation account given by Chief Depot Charlie in 1900 AD. So this is way, way, way later, but yet it’s completely consistent.

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with this theology. In that account, Chief Depot Charlie tells us that God resided in a sweat lodge on the Primordial Waters, which is just amazing. If you’d like to listen to the Tutuny Joshua Creation account, you can find it on our sister podcast, The Ancient Tradition Audio Rid. When I saw that for the first time, I was just astounded.

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In ancient Egypt, we can find literally hundreds and hundreds of depictions of Ray, the king of the gods, seated on a throne in the center of the Atet boat, the royal bark. One of these depictions can be found in a vignette from the papyrus of Harubin. It’s dated to around 1075 BC. If you’d like to see a picture of this vignette along with other depictions of Ray enthroned in the Atet boat, you can find them also on the webpage for this episode.

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In this vignette, Ray is depicted in what is referred to by scholars as semi-anthropomorphic form. From the neck down, he’s depicted in human form with arms and legs, seated on a throne, a royal throne in the very center of the boat. But from the neck up, he’s depicted as a falcon. Deities whom the ancient Egyptians depicted with animal heads or bodies are referred to as zoomorphic.

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partially zoomorphic because he has a body of a human yet the head of an animal. As we’ve discussed on this program, the ancient Egyptians used animals symbolically. They used them as a way to emphasize particular aspects of that deity’s nature, personal qualities, or divine functions. The symbolic use of the animals not only reflected the cultural importance of those animals in the local environment, but they also served as a way to express complex spiritual concepts.

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in a visually recognizable way. In this vignette and in many others, the ancient Egyptians used a falcon to represent the high god Ray, the king of heaven. And one of the primary reasons that they used the falcon to represent Ray was because the falcon was not only a powerful bird of prey, but it also had the ability to soar to great heights, which perfectly aligned with Ray’s role as a celestial deity.

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who resided in the highest of heights. As we’ve noted previously on the program, it was common in the ancient world to symbolize God or divine beings as birds, to use avian symbolism for precisely this reason. When you take a look at the vignette, you’re gonna notice that there’s a large disc of the sun resting atop Ray’s falcon head. And this sun disc distinguishes Ray from the god Horus.

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who’s also depicted as a Falcon. In ancient Egypt, wherever you see images of a semi anthropomorphic Falcon with a sun resting on its head, then you know you’re seeing a representation of the high God Ray. And like we’ve mentioned previously on the program, the reason Ray is associated with the sun is because the ancient Egyptians knew that a glorious ineffable light radiated from his body.

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And our son was the only thing that was even remotely comparable to the light that his body emitted. So our son became a symbolic representation of Ray and the ineffable light that radiated from him. The ancient Egyptians tell us that Ray’s glorious light penetrated every single thing in his kingdom. In fact, this was precisely how the ancient Egyptians defined

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what constituted Ray’s kingdom. His kingdom included, quote, “‘all the sun encircled’ or quote, “‘all the sun encompassed’ suggesting that his dominion “‘extended as far as his light could reach.'” In this vignette, you’re gonna also notice that the terrible sea serpent Apophis surrounds Ray’s royal bark.

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And this is perfectly in keeping with the theology that Rey’s cosmic kingdom exists like a giant air bubble, which is surrounded by primordial waters and the terrible serpent of chaos that lurks in those waters. Note that Rey’s servants are taking the battle to Apophis, driving a spear into his throat or slicing him up to pieces with a knife, which clearly symbolizes Rey’s power to defeat the serpent.

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the Lord of Evil and Chaos. With that, let’s return to the papyrus of Annie, to the hymn of Ray, and pick up where we left off, because in this hymn, we’re gonna learn that Ray, the King of Heaven, won his battle against Apophis. The text reads, quote, give ye thanks unto him, Ray, in his beneficent form, which is enthroned in the octet boat.

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beings celestial praise thee, beings terrestrial praise thee. Thine enemy, the serpent, hath been given over to the fire. The serpent fiend hath fallen headlong. His forelegs are bound in chains. The sons of revolt, and note how the text is talking about rebellion here, rebellious sons, shall nevermore rise up.

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The gods rejoice when they see Ra crowned upon his throne. And now listen to this. And his beams flood the world with light. There you go. Beams of Ray’s glory flood the world. There are obvious references to Ray’s triumph over Apophis in this hymn. What’s interesting in the text though, is that right after the author of this hymn,

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makes mention of Ray’s triumph over Apophis and the sons of revolt. The text tells us that the gods rejoiced when they saw Ray crowned upon his throne. This is exactly the sequence of events that we see across the ancient world where after the hero slays the serpent he’s crowned a king. In this text we’re seeing the same sequence of events. Ray slays Apophis and he’s crowned a celestial king.

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But take note that the text is talking about Rey here, the High King of Heaven. What this means is that Rey himself acquired his heavenly kingship in the exact same manner that later dragon slayers received their kingdoms. Remember, Rey is the divine prototype for all celestial kings. And this becomes super clear when we keep reading.

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because we don’t get very much farther in the text before Annie starts pleading that he too can conquer the serpent, so that he too can be made a heavenly king. Listen to the text, and this is Annie, a human being speaking, quote, “‘Let me journey above the earth.'” Okay, so there’s that word journey. By journey, Annie is pleading for help to make it through the process

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transforms one into a celestial monarch. Now listen to what Annie says next, quote, let me smite the ass, let me slit asunder the serpent, let me destroy Apep, and Apep is a pofus, at the moment of his greatest power.

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In this passage, we can just hear Annie pleading for the power to conquer the great enemy, especially when the enemy gets really, really tough or like Annie says it, at the moment of his greatest power. Annie here is pleading for the ability to overcome the terrible serpent. See, Annie seems to understand that if he does this, then like Ray, he can become a celestial king.

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This is pretty remarkable because Annie wasn’t a major historical figure. He wasn’t an Egyptian pharaoh. He was a Theban scribe who lived during the 19th dynasty. Yet he seemed to believe that the theology of heavenly kingship applied to him too. That’s remarkable. Now, listen to what Annie pleads for next.

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It’s really interesting and it should conjure up in your mind some of the things we discussed in our previous episode. This is what Annie says, quote, let my name be called out. What is Annie asking for here? If you’re listening closely in our last episode, you might have a pretty good idea. In that episode, we established that in the ancient world, the names the high God gave his creations perfectly reflected the nature

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that creation. Annie seems to recognize that in order to become a heavenly king, he must first acquire, which is by way of the journey, the same nature that Rey, the king of heaven, has. He must first acquire a divine nature, one which perfectly upholds Ma’at, one where there is no unrighteousness in him.

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which is essentially akin to slaying the dragon. Annie’s pleading here that Ray will call out that name, that name that reflects that he has acquired the divine nature. Annie then pleads that his new name will be inscribed in the Egyptian heavenly tablet, which is essentially the same as the Judeo-Christian book of life. This is what Annie says, quote, let my name be called out.

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Let it be found inscribed on the tablet, which recordeth the names. Now, lest you think that Annie doesn’t really think he can be made a heavenly king, listen to what he asks for next. Annie pleads, quote, let there be prepared for me a seat, a throne, in the boat of the sun.

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Annie is asking that Ray prepare a throne for him in his heavenly temple. The 19th century BC Theban scribe Annie understood heavenly kingship theology. From these passages we can see that the ancient Egyptians taught that God reigns in the heavens as a celestial king. A celestial king who governs his cosmic kingdom

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according to the dictates of Maat, truth, righteousness, and justice. And as one who conquered Apophis himself, Re stands as the heavenly prototype of celestial kingship for all who desire the same. As we’ve seen in this and in the last episode, both the ancient Egyptians and the ancient Mesopotamians taught that the high god, be he Re or Anu, reigns in the heavens.

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as a celestial king. Now, if we take a look at some of the ancient Canaanite texts known as the Ugaritic texts found in the ancient city of Rosh Shamra, which is located today in Northwestern Syria, we find the same thing we find in ancient Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia, that God is described and identified as a heavenly king. A heavenly king who is also described

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as having anthropomorphic features. Let’s start with a quote by E.T. Mullen, who wrote what is easily one of my favorite books, The Divine Council in Canaanite and early Hebrew literature, which I’ve mentioned several times on the program. If you love this stuff as much as I do, you definitely need to read this book. On page 10, Mullen tells us that kingship is the main focus of the Ugaritic texts.

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He writes, quote, the central theme is that of kingship. What Mullen’s saying here is incredibly important and we shouldn’t glaze over it. He’s telling us that in the body of ancient texts that constitute ancient Canaanite literature, the Ugaritic texts, kingship is the central theme. This is the same thing that we see in ancient Egypt.

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The ancient Egyptian Pyramid Ticks are definitely all about kingship, as are most of the other ancient Egyptian writings. And this is the same thing we see in the corpus of Mesopotamian literature, like the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Enuma Elish, and the Epic of Anzu. They’re all about kingship. The theme of kingship in the ancient world is so ubiquitous, it’s so commonplace, that scholars have stopped asking why this is.

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See, kingship is a form of government, is not an inevitability. In Henry Frankfurt’s famous book on kingship in the ancient world titled, Kingship and the Gods, Frankfurt notes that kingship in ancient Egypt just seemed to appear out of nowhere. On page 18, Frankfurt writes, quote, “‘The rise of the first dynasty marked a turning point in the nation’s existence. It can be said that kingship

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as the peculiar concept which remained a living force throughout the country’s history did not exist before Menes. And Menes was the first King of Egypt. Note how Frankfurt calls kingship, quote, a peculiar concept, one that didn’t exist in Egypt before the enthronement of King Menes. On page 15, Frankfurt notes, quote, if we study the numerous

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pre-dynastic and proto-dynastic monuments, we must admit that the emergence of pharaonic rule coincides with an entirely unprecedented series of phenomena. On page 16, Frankfurt calls the emergence of kingship in ancient Egypt a, quote, total break from the past. On page 20, he writes, quote,

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It is important to realize that the dual monarchy in ancient Egypt had no historical foundation, meaning it seemingly came out of nowhere. Frankfurt goes on to offer up his own explanation for why he thinks kingship suddenly appeared in ancient Egypt, but I’m gonna save that for a future episode. It’s statements like Frankfurt’s that highlight the notion that kingship…

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as a form of government is not an inevitability. And we know this because nothing of the sort existed in ancient Egypt before King Menes. The point I’m trying to make here is that although we see that the topic of kingship dominates the ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Canaanite literature, this is not an inevitability. We have to ask why this is. Where did the notion of kingship come from?

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Why did kingship become the dominant form of government in the ancient world? And why did the notion of kingship take on such an incredible significance? Frankfurt asks this very question on page 19. He writes, quote, we may well ask how an institution and he’s referring to kingship introduced at the beginning of history could acquire transcendent significance for the Egyptians.

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Well, we know why, because the ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamians and Canaanites tell us why. And they all tell us a very similar story. They tell us that the high God of heaven himself reigns as a celestial monarch in the heavens over a cosmic kingdom of his offspring. And they tell us that the king of heaven established a monarchy on earth. Now listen to this, to mirror.

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the celestial monarchy established in heaven. That’s what the ancients tell us in their texts. They’re telling us that earthly kingship is a reflection of heavenly kingship. They’re trying to mirror or replicate the heavens. Now, that’s worth thinking about. In ancient Canaan, the Semitic word, Malku, was the word the Canaanites used to designate one as a king.

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In the Ugaritic pantheon, El, like we’ve seen elsewhere in the ancient world, reigns as the supreme authority, the King of the Gods. On page 22, Mullen notes, quote, The Ugaritic texts designate El as King, Malcu, in addition to noting his role as creator and father of the gods.

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Indeed, his epitaph is directly applied only to the god El in Ugaritic mythology. When applied to El, the epitaph King is found embedded in fixed epitaphs of the god. The most common is Malku Abu Sanima, the King, the Father of Years. The texts leave no doubt that El was called King in the Ugaritic pantheon. A study of El’s function as King reveals

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that he alone is the supreme power in the pantheon. He sits enthroned over the gods and rules them from a position of supreme power.

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Let’s take a look at a couple of texts. In Ugaritic text 5.2.2.6-8, we read the following description of El. Quote, let Rapiu, and that’s referring to El, the eternal king, rule by his might. Let the eternal king judge in his strength. Let him rule his offspring in his grace.

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In this passage, we see that El is given the epitaph, eternal king. So there’s the notion that God’s kingdom is an eternal kingdom. In this passage, we also see that El, the king of heaven, rules as a judge. The text said, quote, “‘Let the eternal king judge in his strength.'” And we also learned from this text that the king of heaven rules over a kingdom of his offspring. When the text says, quote,

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let him rule his offspring in his grace. In another Ugaritic text, 5.2.1.2-4, we find a very intriguing passage about El’s kingship. The text tells us the following about El, the king of the gods. Quote, El is enthroned with a tart.

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This text is important to our discussion because it mentions that the high god El sits on the throne. El is enthroned. The text is pretty intriguing though, because it tells us that El sits enthroned with someone else, with someone named Atart. Well, who is Atart? Well, it turns out that Atart is El’s female consort or wife. So in this text, we learn that the king of the gods, El,

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does not reign alone. He reigns in heaven with his wife, Queen Atart. He and his wife both sit on thrones and reign together. That’s pretty intriguing, but this makes sense in lieu of what we just read, where we learned that El reigns over a kingdom of his quote, offspring. Offspring that logically must have come from his union with Atart. Like we saw in ancient Mesopotamia,

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when we learn that the Anunnaki, the offspring of An, were the product of An’s union with his wife, Ki, thus the Anunnaki. On page 88, Mullen notes, quote, “‘The Ugaritic texts emphasize that the power of the divine decree belongs to El alone. He stands as the king of the gods, his offspring.’

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In another Ugaritic text, 5.1.11.14-16, we learn that El reigns as a heavenly king on a throne, which is housed inside a temple. The text reads, quote, “‘El sits enthroned in his shrine.'”

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In Cuneiform tablet 21.1.1-3, we read of El summoning some of his offspring to his temple palace. The text reads, quote, “‘Come to my house, O Halle ones. “‘I summon you to my house, O Halle ones. “‘I call you ones of El into my temple.'” From other passages, we learned that the Halle ones mentioned here refers to the council of the gods.

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Here we see that a temple exists in heaven, a temple palace out of which the high God reigns as the eternal king. In other Ugaritic texts, we learn that it’s in this celestial temple palace that El convenes and presides over the assembly of the gods, whom Cuneiform tablet 10.11.1 to five refers to as the sons of El. The text reads, quote,

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the assembly of the gods of El, the council of the sons of El, El and Atart. Again, you can see how heavenly kingship here with the emphasis on El’s offspring, like we’ve seen in ancient Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia, is structured entirely around El’s family, his wife, his offspring, his holy sons. El reigns as a celestial king,

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patriarch over his family. That’s enough to chew on until the next episode drops. We’ll pick up right here in part two. Until then, I’ll leave you with the words of William Shakespeare. Knowledge is the wing we’re with, fly to heaven. I’m Jack Logan.

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