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

44 101 Myths of the Bible
give birth to any children, Babylonian myth can’t serve as a prototype for the biblical
story. But, if we look to the Heliopolitan Creation myth, we find some of the source
material for the second biblical Creation story.
According to Heliopolitans, Geb (earth) and Nut (heaven) had three sons—
Osiris, Set (or Seth), and Horus—and two daughters.
The relationships among members of this family play an important role in Egyptian
mythology. One story tells how Geb (earth) and Nut (heaven) disobeyed the chief
deity and how he punished Nut with difficulties in childbirth. Another tells how Shu
(the sky, son of Atum and father of Geb) pulled Nut from Geb’s body and separated
heaven and earth. And still another tells of how one of the brothers killed one of the
other brothers, and how the third brother founded the line of legitimate heirs to the
Egyptian throne.
These plot lines should sound vaguely familiar to those who know the story of
Adam and Eve. God separated Eve from the body of Adam; the two of them disobeyed
God’s order; God punished Eve with difficulties in childbirth; Adam and Eve
had three sons—Cain, Abel, and Seth—one of whom (Cain) murdered one of the
others (Abel) and the third of whom (Seth) went on to found the line of heirs from
Adam to Abraham.
The two genealogical patterns coincide so closely that one can’t help but conclude
that the Egyptian model influenced Genesis. This means that Adam and Eve had an
original incarnation as the Egyptian deities Geb and Nut and their three sons (Cain,
Abel, and Seth) corresponded to the three sons of Geb and Nut (Osiris, Horus, and Set).
Later biblical editors, however, had problems in presenting these stories about the
ancient Egyptian deities. On the one hand, the Hebrews were monotheistic and didn’t
believe in these gods; on the other hand, these stories were widespread and wellknown.
The biblical editors hit upon the solution of demystifying the deities and
recasting their stories as if they were about humans instead of gods.
Subsequently, when they attempted to integrate the two biblical Creation stories
into a single continuous account, they reworked the stories so as to convey the impression
that Adam and Eve were the first humans, identical with the humans born on the
sixth day, which interpretation has remained highly influential throughout history