The Legacy Of Egypt

244 Egypt
the middle of the fifteenth century B.C., it is written on papyrus,
and is now in Cairo Museum. What strikes one as especially
noteworthy here is the way in which words addressed to the
sun-god are paralleled with those addressed to the God of
Israel, in a number of passages in the Psalms-, the impression
is gained that Israelite psalmists, to whom this hymn must have
been known, have adapted thoughts from it and applied them
to Yahweh; the parallels seem to be too many to be fortuitous;
just a few may be offered.
Amon-Re is addressed as 'the greatest one of the heavens, the
most ancient of the earth, the lord of all that exists'; it is said
that he is unique among the gods, 'the chief of all the gods'; he
is *the lord of truth, father of the gods, he that formed men,
and created the animals'; and he is further described as the
creator of all things. He is also spoken of as 'he who rides,
exulting, across the skies'; and is called 'the righteous one'. With
all this we may compare the following passages from the Psalms,
which are far from being exhaustive (the verses are as in the
English Version, in the Hebrew they often differ): Tor who in
the skies can be compared with Yahweh ? Who is like Yahweh
among the sons of gods ?' (Ps. Ixxxir. 6). 'There is none like thee
among the gods, O Lord' (Ps. Ixxxvi. 8). Tor great is Yahweh,
and highly to be praised, to be feared is he above all gods' (Ps.
xcvi. 4). In Ps. xxsi. 5 it is said: 'Yahweh, thou God of truth/
Again: 'By the word of Yahweh were the heavens made, and
by the breath of his mouth all their host' (Ps. TTIJ;T 6). 'From
the end of the heavens is his going forth, and his circuit unto
the ends of it' (Ps. sir. 6). Many other parallels could be given,
but these will suffice to show the community of thought. It
goes without saying that all the psalms quoted were written
centuries after the Egyptian hymn, so that it is difficult to avoid
the conviction that the Hebrew psalmists knew it and utilized
it. But even more convincing is the identity of thought, some-
times there seems to be .almost verbal identity, between the