Plato's Debt to Ancient Egypt

Alice C. Linsley

Plato studied in Egypt for thirteen years under the Horite priest Sechnuphis. Many Greek philosophers had studied at Egyptian schools. Iamblichus wrote that Thales of Miletus insisted that Pythagoras had to go to Memphis to study because the Egyptian priests were a veritable source of knowledge and wisdom, especially when it came to the natural sciences, medicine and astronomy.

Plato

Judaism and Christianity draw from ancient Nilotic beliefs, religious practice, and cosmology. [1] The ancient Greeks were also influenced by Egyptian-Sudanese ideas, especially their observation of sidereal astronomy.

The Egyptians regarded the Sun as the symbol of the Creator because it was the source of light and life. [2] They observed that whereas the Sun is the source of light, the Moon merely reflects light. This is why the Bible criticizes Mesopotamian moon worship and why Abraham's father was regarded as an idol-worshipper (Joshua 24:2) since he maintained households in Ur and Haran, cities dedicated to the moon god Sin.

Note the binary distinction between the source of light (Sun) and the reflection of light (Moon). This observation is the basis for Plato's famous Allegory of the Cave. Those in the cave are able to see only passing shadows, not the true objects that cast those shadows. Yet they believe that the shadows are the real objects. They continue to do so until they turn toward the cave's opening and walk out of the cave.

Plato believed that the soul is eternal. He believed that the soul existed before it entered the body in the realm of eternal Forms. He believed that we are able to recognize a tree as tree or a mountain as mountain because our souls knew the true Forms of tree and mountain in that place of eternal Forms. What we experience in this world is ony a reflection of the true Forms which are in that realm where body-less souls exist. This seems strange to us today because we think that something exists because we see, taste, touch, hear or smell it. But while our senses suggest that something exists in the temporal realm with us, the senses don't explain how we re-cognize the essence of that object. Plato argued that we are able to re-know (re-cognize) the essence of an object because the soul knew it first as an eternal Form.

Might Plato have borrowed these ideas? It certainly seems possible. The ancient Egyptians were concerned about the afterlife because they believed the soul or "Ba" to be eternal. To avoid being counted among the damned of the afterlife, one had to live by a high moral code and standard of righteousness. In the Egyptian view, the soul or personality, called "Ba", lives after the body dies. Ba is sometimes depicted as a human-headed bird flying out of the tomb to join with the 'Ka' in the afterlife.

The unification of Ba and Ka happened after death by means of the proper offerings, prayers, and mummification. There was a risk of dying the second death if the unified soul and life force were condemned in the afterlife. Dying the second death meant not becoming an "akh." Only as an akh could one enjoy the resurrection life.

Ka is the life that animates the body. Ba is the eternal soul and Ankh is the Spirit of Life. The Ankh for the ancient Egyptians was the hieroglyphic sign of life. It is symbolic of the Sun's daily course from east to west, with the loop representing the Sun.

The horizontal crossbar symbolizes the path of the sun from east to west. To put this in terms more familiar to Christians, life is possible where the Sun, the Creator's emblem, sheds light and warmth. The ancient Egyptians believed that these elements - Ka, Ba and Ankh - became separated at death. By mummification, with prayers and sacrifices, they attempted to keep the KaBa together and prepared to receive Ankh in the afterlife. [3]

Plato’s Application of Egyptian Cosmology

Here is but one example of how Plato's thinking was informed by Egyptian cosmology. Another example involves the development of the Greek alphabet from the Pro-Canaanite alphabet which was based on Egyptian hieroglyphics. To understand how the alphabet expresses ancient Egyptian-Sudanese cosmology, consider the Teth (or Tau) below.

The sphere with the cross represents the precession of the equinoxes (see image below). This would have been observed by primitive peoples who studied the heavens carefully. The cycle takes between 25,000-28,000 years to complete and is called "Earth's Great Year." [4]

Plato regarded a complete cycle as the "perfect year" because it meant the return of the planets and the fixed stars to their original positions. He wrote: "And so people are all but ignorant of the fact that time really is the wanderings of these bodies, bewilderingly numerous as they are and astonishingly variegated. It is none the less possible, however, to discern that the perfect number of time brings to completion the perfect year at that moment when the relative speeds of all eight periods have been completed together and, measured by the circle of the Same that moves uniformly, have achieved their consummation."

According to Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend there are over 200 myths from ancient cultures that refer to a Great Year.

Paul’s Application of Plato

Saint Paul enjoyed a classical Greek education in his hometown of Tarsus, a recognized center of learning, with a famous university that the Greek geographer Strabo considered better than the academies of Athens and Alexandria. The Stoic philosopher Athenodorus lived and taught in Tarsus before Paul was born, and Paul likely was acquainted with his teachings on the conscience. Athenodorus said that, “Everyman's conscience is his god.” The conscience does not occur in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), which instead uses the word “heart”. Paul makes abundant use of the Greek word for conscience in his letters to the early churches, so it is evident that he was influenced by Greek philosophy.

Paul's training in Greek philosophy is evident also in his Platonic allegorical approach to Old Testament figures. Consider 1 Corinthians 15:20 and Romans 5:12 in which Paul speaks o the first man, Adam, as imperfect and the second Man, Jesus Christ, as the perfect and the true Form of humanity. God made humans in God’s image and likeness, but sin marred that image so that the first is imperfect. In Platonism, types are imperfect reflections of the true eternal Forms. Paul is using Platonic language to explain Jesus Christ to Corinthians and Romans who would have been familiar with this language. He wants them to see the pattern of revelation.

Platonism is a binary system of interpretation and evaluation of information. It regards the symbol or “Form” as more real than the its material reflection, so Adam as symbol concerns Paul where he teases out the pattern of revelation not only in reference to Adam, but also in reference to Abraham, Sarah, Moses, and David.

In Galatians 4:21-31, Paul uses a platonic approach to explain the relationship of Grace and Law. Sarah represents imputed righteousness (grace) while the bondservant, Hagar, represents the law. Paul writes, “There is an allegory here: these women stand for the two covenants.” A covenant was accompanied by a sign of blood. In this case, we have familial blood in Sarah as opposed to a contractual relationship in Hagar. The familial bond is always the stronger. So Sarah who was both mother of Isaac and sister to Abraham is the closer blood relative. Hagar, the Egyptian, is more distant. Sarah, as wife and sister, cannot be put away, but Hagar, as bondservant, can be put away and is. St Paul uses this binary method of interpretation to show that grace is better than law.

Using this same method, we are able to discover that Noah, Abraham, Moses and David are all types of Christ. All fail to accomplish righteousness, yet point to the One who does fulfill righteousness. Both Abraham and Moses met their wives at wells. So Jesus’ meeting with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well speaks volumes. She is the symbol of the Church, the Bride of Christ.

The relationship of type as mere reflection of the true Form is found throughout the Bible. Consider these examples:

Abraham and Moses were blessed by noble priests: Abraham by Melchizedek, and Moses by Jethro (his father-in-law). Jesus was blessed by Simeon, a man of great faith who had yearned to see the day of Israel’s deliverance.

Using the Platonic approach, we find that Christ is foreshadowed throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. This is what Paul, John, Peter and the early Church Fathers found in the Scriptures. As with Isaac, Jesus’ sacrificial journey required three days. As with Isaac, Jesus carried the wood upon which he would be sacrificed. As with Isaac, the sacrificed one was bound. As with Isaac, the Son was sacrificed on a mountain. Only with Jesus, no ram was substituted (contrary to what the Quran claims) because Jesus is not the type that points to the Form. He is the true Form, if we accept the Church's teaching.


NOTES

1. Genesis 1-12 is a record of Abraham's ancestors who were African. Abraham's mother was a Horite from Canaan. The Horites were devotees of Horus, who was called "Son of God." Their totem was the falcon so the oldest altars were built in the shape of the falcon. These have been found wherever the Sudra (Sudanese) established themselves.

2. The Sun was often spoken of a the God's chariot. The Sun was also associated with Horus, who was called "son of God". Horus is a very ancient type of Jesus Christ. Notr that the cross is evident in this symbol of Horus:

  The image shows a cross atop the head of the "Son of God". The seeing eye of Horus is shown above in the sun, which was his emblem. Other images associated with Horus show him with the body of a man and the head of a falcon. The falcon was a symbol of divine kingship. Horus or Har is called "lord of the sky". "Har" in Egyptian probably means "the one on high". The name appears on Egyptian hieroglyphs at the beginning of dynastic civilization (c. 3000 BC).

For more on ancient symbols that speak of God's nature go here.

3. Much of the ancient Egyptian view is preserved in Jewish mystical thought, known as "Kabalah", a term derived from "Ka Ba Ankh." Kabalah develops out of the ancient Egyptian concern with the eternal soul awaiting a resurrection body in a place of blessing. That is where one hopes to dwell until the coming of the Day of the Lord which is symbolizes in Kabalah by the number 9.

4.The precession of the equinox is observed as the stars moving across the sky at the rate of about 50 arc seconds per year, relative to the equinox. Conventional theory holds that this phenomenon is due to the gravity of the sun and moon acting upon the oblate spheroid of the earth causing the axis to wobble (the lunisolar theory). The alternative binary model holds that most of the observable is due to solar system motion, causing a reorientation of the earth relative to the fixed stars as the solar system gradually curves through space. (Read about the binary model here and about the lunisolar model here.)


Related reading:  Ancient Wisdom, Science and Technology; The Impact of Ancient Egypt on Greek Thought; Petra Reflects Horite Beliefs

Early Metaphysics: Primal substance and cause

Alice C. Linsley


Metaphysics is the study of what is beyond the natural. Metaphysics is intertwined with epistemology (the study of knowledge) and ontology (the study of existence). In our study of Metaphysics we will explore:

Part 1: Theories of primal substance and cause

Part 2: Theories of time

Part 3: Theories of change and constancy


The word "metaphysics" is composed of two Greek words:μετά (metá) (meaning beyond/upon/after) and φυσικά (physiká). Physics pertains to the study of natural science.Aristotle's "first philosophy" writings were given the title "Metaphysics" by Andronicus of Rhodes, the editor of Aristotle's works. This simply indicated the chapters coming after the chapters on physics. However, from the Middle Ages the term "Metaphysics" has referred to "the science of what is beyond the physical." It is the exploration of the "stuff" of the universe, and what is beyond matter, time and space.

A central question of Metaphysics is the nature of the universe and the origin of the Earth. Different explanations have been offered from before the time of Abraham (c. 2000 BC).


The Afro-Asiatics

The Afro-Asiatic record of beliefs can be determined from reading ancient scripts such as the Egyptian Coffin Texts, Sumerian commerical records and the Hebrew Scriptures, especially Genesis. Their worldview was essentially Nilo-Kushitic. They believed that the world was created from a watery chaos and that there was a hierarchy in the order of creation, with humans being the most like the Creator. They also saw a binary order in the natural world. This is evident in Genesis in descriptions of "the waters/firmament above and the waters/firmament below" or the dry ground and the seas, or the sun and the moon as the two great lights in the heavens. They found meaning in the relationship of binary opposites such as heaven-earth; male-female; night-day, and life-death. They regarded one of the components superior to the other. The heavens are more glorious than the earth. Males are larger and stronger than females. The sun is greater than the moon because it gives light whereas the moon merely reflects the sun's rays. Life is superior to death.

The Afro-Asiatic worldview was that of the educated upper classes which consisted of rulers, priests, scribes and warriors. Their society had a caste structure and people married only within their caste. This lent stability to the social structure. Rulers had great power and were expected to represent and enforce the Creator's will on earth. The earlier moral codes date to this time, between 4,000 and 600 BC.


The Pre-Socratic Greek Philosophers

Greek-speaking philosophers who lived before Socrates offered varied metaphysical explanations based on reason and observation of the natural order.

Group 1: The Milesians

This group of philosophers wanted to figure out what single substance forms the basic material of the world. They saw the universe as composed of one or more original substances, but to explain how these became a universe they introduced the idea of a force that acted upon the substance(s). Thales of Miletus (c. 624-546 BC) was a great observer of the natural order. He was a polymath, skilled in geometry, astronomy, engineering and natural science. Thales calculated the height of the pyramids from the length of their shadows. He was the first to measure the time between one solstice and the next.

Thales believed that all things derive from a single first cause or source which he called arche or archai. Arche designates beginning, source, origin, power, or dominion. Thales taught that water was the original substance from which all things took form. He noted that water has many states: liquid, solid, vapor, ice. He reasoned that everything that exists came from water and retains the essence of water. Aristotle later uses arche in a teleological sense, as the intangible element or principle of an entity that provides the conditions of the potential of that entity.

Anaximander of Miletus (c. 611-546 BC) held that the basic substance of the universe was an eternal and imperishable "infinite" or "apeiron" and he believed that a property of the substance was eternal motion. In his thinking, all things are born and return to the apeiron.

The idea that more than one Earth has existed can be traced to Anaximander who believed that the universe or “all the heavens and the worlds within them” came from “some boundless nature.” Their existence involved the interaction of the four elements of ancient physics: Earth, Water, Air and Fire. Anaximander thought of the indefinable apeiron as being under all four elements, similar to the Tao.

The idea of the separation of water and earth is found in Genesis 1. Here the Creator gives order to the chaotic "deep" by separating the waters from the dry land. Ancient metaphysics regarded the separation of elements and the interaction of elements to be the material cause of flux, growth, increase or decrease. 

These elements were observed to have certain properties upon which Aristotle later expands in his Physics and Metaphysics. A handful of earth when released falls downward to its natural place, the place where earth naturally resides. Fire, on the other hand, rises and the natural place of balls of fire is in the heavens above. Aristotle's argument in can be stated as follows:

Every element has a natural motion that is simple.
There are only a finite number of simple motions.
Therefore, there are only a finite number of elements.

Aristotle wrote:
If every element has its proper movement, and a simple body has a simple movement, and the number of simple motions is not infinite, because the simple motions are only two and the number of places is not infinite, on these grounds also we should have to deny that the number of elements is infinite. [On the Heavens III 4, 303b3]

Anaximander speculated that these elements constantly interact to produce new worlds. This is why some thought this world came about as the result of the explosion of a previously existing world. He hypothesized that the world originated when a fiery ball surrounded Earth like bark on a tree. When the ball broke apart it formed other worlds as hollow concentric circles or spirals, filled with fire.

In his first sermon on creation, Basil the Great argued against Anaximander's view that a world is created by the spiraling motion of the four interactive elements. He declared, "Do not then imagine, O man! that the visible world is without a beginning; and because the celestial bodies move in a circular course, and it is difficult for our senses to define the point where the circle begins, do not believe that bodies impelled by a circular movement are, from their nature, without a beginning." (The Hexaemeron, Homily I)

This idea of previously existing worlds is not found in the Bible. According to the Bible, God fashioned all the worlds from nothing. Hebrews 11:13 says, "By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible."

Anaximenes of Miletus (c.585-524 BC) was a student of Anaximander. In contrast to Anaximander, he believed that the source of all things was not an eternal and imperishable infinite, but air, an definite and limited material substance. He believed that the earth and the heavens were flat planes floating on air and that by the process of ‘rarefaction’ became fire and by the process of ‘condensation’ became water and earth. He also believed that the Sun "is broad and flat like a leaf."

Anaximenes was an early pantheist because he believed that the air was divine and the source of life. Since everything is comprised of air in some form, there is no distinction between the divine and the world. In his Refutation of all Heresies, Hippolytus, a third-century Christian theologian, wrote, "Anaximenes… said that infinite air was the principle from which things that are becoming, and that are, and that shall be, and gods and things divine, all come into being… It is always in motion: for things that change do not change unless there be movement.

Today we speak of the elementary substance from the perspective of particle physics. An elementary particle is "not known to have substructure, thus it is not known to be made up of smaller particles." The elementary particles include the fundamental fermions (including quarks, leptons, and their antiparticles), and the fundamental bosons (including gauge bosons and the Higgs boson).

Group 2: The Pythagoreans

Bust of Pythagoras in the Capitoline Museums, Rome

Pythagoras the Samian (c. 572-500 BC)held the view that all things were reducible to or represented by numbers and extrapolated from Euclidean geometry an idea that would later become "The Music of the Spheres." He learned geometry from the Egyptians for whom math always related to spiritual matters. The view of the cosmos as having a geometric structure that could be expressed in numbers interested early mystics and led to the development of mystical numerology (as in Kabbala and later Gematria). Pythagoras' ideas influenced Plato, and through him, all of Western philosophy. Aristotle wrote, "The so-called Pythagoreans, who were the first to take up mathematics, not only advanced this subject, but saturated with it, they fancied that the principles of mathematics were the principles of all things." (Metaphysics 1–5 , c. 350 BC)

Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 540-480 BC) was nicknamed the "Dark Philosopher” and “the Obscure.” He tended to be contemptuous of ordinary citizens and rulers who failed to exhibit philosophical reflection. He was known for outrageous remarks like “Physicians who cut, burn, stab and rack the sick, demand a fee for it which they do not deserve to get,” and “Asses prefer straw to gold.” His philosophy took a pessimistic view of change. He saw the world as existing in a state of perpetual change. Nothing can last, and nothing can stay the same forever. He is quoted as saying, "You can't step in the same river twice" and "Everything changes but change itself." Heraclitus' writings appear to be the first place where the word logos was used in ancient Greek philosophy.

Parmenides (c. 515-440 BC) was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy. He explored the question of reality and existence (ontology), seeking to know what things must exist by necessity, what things cannot possibly exist, and in what ways things can exist. In his poem On Nature (of which only 160 lines are extant), Parmenides describes two views of reality. In "the way of truth" he explains how reality is one (monad/monism), change is impossible, and existence is timeless, uniform, necessary, and unchanging. In another part of the poem - "the way of opinion"- he explains that one's sensory faculties can lead to conceptions which are false and misleading. Appearances can fool. Parmenides' ideas influenced the development of Western philosophy, most notably through Plato.

Zeno of Elea (c. 490-430 BC) was a disciple of Parmenides and the Eleatic school. Aristotle called him the inventor of the dialectic. He is most famous for his Paradoxes on motion.

The Dichotomy: There is no motion, because that which is moved must arrive at the middle before it arrives at the end, and so on ad infinitum. The Achilles: The slower will never be overtaken by the quicker, for that which is pursuing must first reach the point from which that which is fleeing started, so that the slower must always be some distance ahead. The Arrow: If everything is either at rest or moving when it occupies a space equal to itself, while the object moved is always in the instant, a moving arrow is unmoved. The Stadium: Consider two rows of bodies, each composed of an equal number of bodies of equal size. They pass each other as they travel with equal velocity in opposite directions. Thus, half a time is equal to the whole time.

Zeno's paradoxes posed a challenge to reason and observation. How reliable is information based on the five senses? Can information based on pure reason be trusted? This poses the distinction that would later characterize the relationship between empiricism and rationalism.

Empedocles (490–430 BC) was a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek city in Sicily. He was influenced by the Pythagoreans. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for his cosmogenic theory of the four classical elements. He proposed the "alternaitve supremacy" (Mircea Eliade) of two opposing powers called Love (philia) and Strife (neikos) which act as forces to bring about the mixture and separation of the elements. These physical speculations address the nature and history of the universe and the origins of life. It is not clear if Empedocles believed the doctrine of reincarnation or the doctrine of metempychosis (as held by Plato). Given the influence of the Pythagoreans on his thinking, it is more likely that he held to the latter.


Group 3: The Pluralists

The Pluralists argued against the Milesians that matter is made of many different substances. This group included Empedocles (c. 490-430 BC) and Anaxagoras (500-428 BC). Empedocles believed that matter was comprised of many elements that were acted upon by opposing forces which he called Love and Strife. His most famous student was the rhetorician Gorgias.

Anaxagoras introduced the concept of Nous (Mind) as an ordering force in the cosmos. He regarded matter as a multitude of imperishable primary elements and believed that originally everything was mixed. Mind started the mixture rotating, and eventually the elements began to separate. He believed that this explains the rotation that we observe in the heavens. As the circular motion of the heavenly bodies was caused by Mind, Anaxagoras did not think rotation was natural to them.


Group 4: The Atomists

The Atomists were deterministic and materialistic in their view of the universe. They argued that all existence can be explained by matter in motion. They taught that all matter can be broken into indivisible units called atoms. The two best known Atomists were Leucippus (c. 490 BC-?) and Democritus (c. 460-370 BC).

Aristotle ascribes to Leucippus the Atomist theory that attempts to explain change, motion and a multiplicity of things. Worlds (kosmoi) are formed when atoms form a cosmic whirl. This motion causes the atoms to separate and sort by like kind. A enclosing membrane of atoms forms out of the circling atoms and continually acquires other atoms from outside. These become fire as they revolve and form the stars, with the sun in the outermost circle. This is how Leucippus conceived of the formation of worlds.

Democritus was a student of Leucippus. His experience of the world was broadened by his extensive travels. Using his inheritance, he traveled to Persia, India and Ethiopia. He lived for 5 years in Egypt where he became acquainted with Egyptian mathematicians, whose skill he praised. The ancient Egyptians were the first civilization to develop and solve quadratic equations of the second degree. Their influence on the Atomists may be greater than recognized. Posidonius and later Strabo claim that Mochus of Sidon was the author of the atomic theory. Sidon was an Egyptian holding.

The Biblical View

Genesis 1 describes when God began the work of creation. It uses the words tohu (formless or confused) and bohu (empty or void). The Hebrew phrase "formless and void" (Gen. 1: 2) is tohu wa-bohu and is of Nilotic origin. The word tohu in Isaiah 34:11 means "confused" so it appears that Genesis 1 refers to matter in a confused or chaotic state before God set things in order.

In Nilotic mythology chaos or disorder preceded creation. The Egyptians believed that chaos (tehom) dwelt south of Yebu (Elephantine Island) as a great river serpent between the Nile's east (bahku) and west (manu) banks. Tehom was overthrown by Tehut, divine Wisdom. The oldest known law code was the Law of Tehut, attributed to Menes, the first ruler to unite the peoples of the Upper and Lower Nile.

Thales of Miletus also believed that the primal substance at the beginning of time was chaotic water.


Blood as the primal substance

For the ancient Afro-Asiatics, being is constituted by blood (dam in Hebrew). Ha-adam means "the man" or the "human being." Adam and Edom also refer to the color red and are related to the Hausa word odum, meaning red-brown. This is the skin tone of the peoples who lived along the Nile where red-brown clay deposits accumulated after rains washed red silt down from the Ethiopian highlands. This is the region of the world where Abraham's Kushite ancestors lived and it is from them that we receive the story of Adam and Eve as the first created human beings. Adam was said to be made of the dust of the earth (Gen. 2:7) and this narrative comes from Abraham's Nilo-Saharan ancestors. The soil of the Nile Valley is red or reddish brown due to the high levels of chromic cambisols which produce a strong brown or red color.

Red and brown Nubians (Image: Arthur Brack)

These Nubians resemble the red Nabatean warriors 

who had long wavy hair and wore feathers.

Blood is the complex and somewhat mysterious transport system that allows communication and coordination between different parts of the human body. It nourishes organs and muscles. Without it, life as we know it could not exist. This is the meaning of Leviticus 17:11: “The life is in the Blood.”

By extension, blood is connected to bone since blood cells develop from hematopoietic stem cells and are formed in the bone. By extension, Eve also has being since she is made from Adam's rib bone. Upon seeing the woman for the first time, Adam declares, "This is now bone of my bones..." (Gen. 2:23). Eve was named by Adam and her name means “living” because she is said to be the mother of all living (Gen. 3:20).


The Generative Word/Spirit/Wind

The creation of the Earth was a singular event according to the Bible. John 1:3 says that everything that was created in the beginning was created from nothing (creatio ex nihilo). In other words, God did not create from preexisting elements or from the substance of a previous world. God's power is in the Word which goes forth from God and unfailingly generates life and existence (Isaiah 55:11). The Word (logos) is generative.

The concept of the generative Word is very ancient. It has been preserved in some of the oldest know tribal songs. Consider these songs:

The bards of the Bambara Komo Society of Uganda recite this praise of the Word:

The Word is total:

it cuts, excoriates

forms, modulates

perturbs, maddens

cures or directly kills

amplifies or reduces

according to intention

it excites or calms souls.

The phrase "In the beginning was God" is not found in Babylonian sacred prose, but it is found in African sacred songs. The following is a song of the BaMbuti Pygmies, some of whom speak languages in the Nilo-Saharan language family:

In the beginning was God

Today is God,

Tomorrow will be God.

Who can make an image of God?

He has no body.

He is as a word which comes out from your mouth,

That word! It is no more,

It is past and still it lives!

So is God.

The Logos, Nous, Apeiron or Ruach are understood to be generative, that is, having the power to give existence or to give life.


Hierarchy in the Order of Creation

Another feature of the Biblical worldview is the pyramid or hierarchical conception of the cosmos. Humans are at the peak of the hierarchy, being made in the divine image. The ancient Afro-Asiatics were fascinated by the geometric properties of the triangle or pyramid. This is evident in the construction of pyramids and ziggarats. It is also evident in their multi-tiered cosmology which pictured the Creator at the peak with the throne of God at the seventh tier of the heavens.

In the hierarchical conception humans rank above the other animals, the animals rank above the plants, and the plants rank above inanimate objects such as rocks. Within these tiers are the "kinds" (essentialism), each reproducing according to its kind. Onanism was regarded as an unrighteous deed because the seed that should fall to the earth is the seed of plants, which spring forth from the earth. The seed of man should fall on his own type (the womb), from which man comes forth. Clement of Alexandria wrote, “Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted” (The Instructor of Children 2:10:91:2 A.D. 191).

Bestiality and sodomy were regarded as serious violations of the God-established boundaries. By extension, it was forbidden even to sow two different seeds in the same field, as was the blending of different fibers. The prohibition against mixing kinds, be they seeds, fibers or blood, upholds the binary distinctions and prevents confusing the holy with the unholy, or blurring the distinction between life and death, as happens when a baby goat is boiled in its mother's milk (forbidden three places in Scripture).

The Creator's design entails boundaries which are generally recognized in reproductive science. It was important to the Afro-Asiatics that these boundaries be honored.

Related reading: What Constitutes Being?; Answers to Students' Questions About the Creation of the Earth; The Nilotic Substrata of Genesis 1; Menes: Fact and Fiction; Victory of God's Order Over Chaos; Plato's Debt to Ancient Egypt; Food Prohibitions and Religious Beliefs