101 Myths of the Bible: how ancient scribes - Conscious Evolution TV

Myths of the Beginning 75
Turning to the Egyptian sphere, though, again we have a connection. The name
Japheth in old Hebrew consists of three consonants, “J-Ph-Th.” The “ph” and “th”
sounds are linguistically equivalent to“p” and“t,” so we can write the name as J-PT. In
Hebrew, when combining the name of God with another word, one would use a“J” for
God’s name, which usually appears in transliteration as“Ja” or“Jo.” In J-PT, the PT part
of the name contains the same letters used for the name of the Memphite Creator
deity, Ptah, so Japheth would be the linguistic equivalent of the name“God-Ptah.”This
is a typical form of Egyptian combination name, such as Atum-Re or Re-Herakhte. It
also suggests the frequently used Hebrew term“LORD God.”
In our explanation of the first day of Creation (see Myths #2–#4) we noted that
the first day consolidated the appearance of the eight Hermopolitan deities with the
presence of Ptah, who called forth the first light. The name “God-Ptah” symbolizes
that relationship, combining the eight Hermopolitan deities with Ptah.
The names of Noah and his three sons, therefore, can be seen to provide close correspondences
to the Hermopolitan Creation myth. Noah equals Nun, the primeval
flood; Ham signifies the first land to emerge from the waters; Shem represents the city
of Hermopolis, Shmn, built on the first land (according to the Hermopolitan tradition);
and Japheth corresponds to the primary Creator deity, a combined form of the
Hermopolitan Ogdoad and Ptah. Because Hebrew scribes needed to present a
monotheistic history of the world, they had to recast the story so that the well-known
Egyptian deities in this myth appeared in human form.