Did you know that many of the basic moral actions and attitudes of the heart found in the Bible were expressed in the Egyptian Ma'at Confessions—written 4,000 years ago? Check out this research from SIN by C. W. Steinle. I think you'll by surprised.
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| Comparison of 42 Negative Confessions with the Ten Commandments image from SIN by C. W. Steinle, Copyright 2024 by Memorial Crown Press. |
THE MA’AT PRINCIPLES (C. 2000 BCE)
COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL from SIN by C. W. Steinle
https://www.amazon.com/Sin-C-W-Steinle-ebook/dp/B0DHL94DB8:
Ma’at was the ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, and justice. Egyptians believed living in accordance with Ma’at helped maintain cosmic order. Although this association could not be equated with the 19th century metaphysical idea of “mind over matter,” the assumed correlation does indicate the Egyptians believed the condition of their world (cosmos) was subjectively linked to their personal behavior. The Ma’at Principles are prima facie evidence, not only of a general awareness of right and wrong, but of an acute knowledge of what would be required to reach perfection—sinlessness.
These confessions can be seen as a progression in human thinking beyond mere legal guidelines to consequences in the spiritual realm; or, as a completely separate set of laws dealing only with spiritual purity. The 42 Negative Confessions of Ma’at are comparable to many of the Ten Commandments and are also similar to principles taught in the Bible’s New Testament. Keep in mind, these confessions were written 2,000 years before the time of Jesus.
Each negative confession made an appeal to one of various Egyptian gods on behalf of the deceased, as if to appeal to that particular jury of gods. Professing these attitudes and behaviors were meant to convince the gods that the dead had passed all the tests of truth required to pass into the next life. These declarations were able to make an “end run” around the realities of a person’s actual—less than perfect—life. Due to that fact, the Egyptians had no one omniscient God who could see all of a person’s deeds and the attitudes of their heart. The Egyptians simply waited for death and then sought to appease only those specific gods of death who could bar entrance into the afterlife. As other ancient religions, which believed in the three different realms of the “World Tree,” the Egyptians believed in an underworld (the Duat) and the rebirth of the soul.
The Coffin Texts and the Book of the dead describe one of the underworld challenges as fiery rivers and a lake of fire. Living in the lake of fire was Am-heh, the “devourer of millions,” also known as the “eater of eternity.”
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The Confessions
The very first confession claims the deceased had not sinned. The Egyptian hieroglyph for “sin” is represented by the verb “grg,” which means “to do wrong” or “to commit an offense.” In ancient Egyptian thought, this wrongdoing signified a disruption of the cosmic order (maat) in both the moral and spiritual sense. Claiming both 1, “I have not sinned” and 8, “I have uttered no lies” would, by themselves, declare the perfection of the deceased. (Those familiar with the Bible might recognize this is the very declaration addressed by John the Apostle in the first chapter of his first letter.) By listing 42 negative confessions, the text reveals how intricately human behavior was judged in light of moral perfection.
Even though the Egyptians did not worship the same God who would later be revealed as the God of the Bible, their standards for perfection and entry into “the good place” in the afterlife were, in many instances, identical. Precisely because of the quantity of ideals that are strikingly similar to Judeo-Christian instructions, these confessions are listed in their entirety; translated by E. A. Wallis Budge.
(The deity addressed at the beginning of each phrase has been omitted in all instances.)
1. I have not committed sin.
2. I have not committed robbery with violence.
3. I have not stolen.
4. I have not slain men and women.
5. I have not stolen grain.
6. I have not purloined offerings.
7. I have not stolen the property of God.
8. I have not uttered lies.
9. I have not carried away food.
10. I have not uttered curses.
11. I have not committed adultery.
12. I have made none to weep.
13. I have not eaten the heart.
14. I have not attacked any man.
15. I am not a man of deceit.
16. I have not stolen cultivated land.
17. I have not been an eavesdropper.
18. I have not slandered anyone.
19. I have not been angry without just cause.
20. I have not debauched the wife of any man.
21. I have not debauched the wives of other men.
22. I have not polluted myself.
23. I have terrorized none.
24. I have not transgressed the law.
25. I have not been angry.
26. I have not shut my ears to the words of truth.
27. I have not blasphemed.
28. I am not a man of violence.
29. I have not been a stirrer up of strife.
30. I have not acted with undue haste.
31. I have not pried into other’s matters.
32. I have not multiplied my words in speaking.
33. I have wronged none, I have done no evil.
34. I have not worked witchcraft against the king.
35. I have never stopped the flow of water of a neighbor.
36. I have never raised my voice.
37. I have not cursed God.
38. I have not acted with arrogance.
39. I have not stolen the bread of the gods.
40. I have not carried away the khenfu cakes from the spirits of the dead.
41. I have not snatched away the bread of the child, nor treated with contempt the god of my city.
42. I have not slain the cattle belonging to the god.
1. I have not committed sin. This altruistic confession would have been enough to make the other 41 confessions unnecessary. The value of their inclusion was to define exactly which behaviors were considered to be sin.
Six of the confessions were nearly identical to six of the Bible’s Ten Commandments, which would be given to Moses roughly 800 years later. The last two might not be an exact fit, but they do promote the same general intent. —end excerpt.
Copyrighted material from SIN by C. W. Steinle.
