A LIGHT SHINING IN THE DARKNESS
YAH
- Evolution Of A God -
In keeping with my statement of mission, in addition to its charitable goals, a primary objective of this ministry is to provide accurate knowledge to the members of Jade Temple LTD. As this temple is constructed upon the foundation of Iah, it's only to be expected that I, as its founder, display a definite degree of jurisprudence in my teachings pertaining to Iah. Today I propose to reassure you, in the face of all arguments to the contrary, that Iah was not only one of the original predynastic gods of Egypt, but at a certain period quite possibly the main one.
After reading incomplete, biased, or straight-out misleading articles on the origin and nature of Iah, I sought a primary disseminator of this information, hoping to enter one-on-one dialogues with the current authorities on the subject. I'm told there are none! Then how does one account for the authors who are mainly cited when it comes to obtaining insight on the god Iah? I've read most of them and each one simply repeats the other. A few, however, deign to profess a deeper understanding of the matter. As an example I'm going to quote, verbatim and in its entirety, an entry on Yah from George Hart, Egyptian Gods And Goddesses, 1986. An Authority(?) on the matter. In the notations following afterwards, I intend to address each point in turn and in a most plain and basic manner.
Concerning Mr. Hart we are told:
The Author
George Hart holds a Master's Degree in Egyptian Art and Archaeology from the University College London. A staff lecturer in the British Museum Education Service, covering the Greek Bronze Age and Egyptian Collections, he also teaches Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics for the University of London Department of Extra-Mural Studies. Mr. Hart makes annual visits to the archaeological sites and monuments of Egypt and the Aegean as a guest lecturer on specialist cruises.
YAH
In its earliest attestation the name Yah¹ refers to the moon as a satellite of the earth. Yah then becomes conceptualized as a lunar deity, iconographically anthropomorphic but whose manifestations, from the hieroglyphic evidence, can include the crescent of the new moon, the ibis and the falcon² - comparable to the other moon deities, Thoth and Khonsu.³
It is probable that the contact with the Middle Eastern states of Palestine, Syria and Babylonia was instrumental in the development of Yah as a deity. Certainly the zenith of Yah's popularity lay in the period following the Middle Kingdom when immigration from the Levant was high and princes from Palestine, known as the Hyksos,⁴ rulers, dominated Egypt. These foreigners may well have looked for a lunar deity analogous to the Akkadian moon-god Sin who had an important temple at Harran in north Syria. Strangely, it is within the Theban royal family eventually responsible for the expulsion of these alien rulers that there is a definite inclination for names involving the moon-god Yah. The daughter of Seqenenre Tao I (Dynasty XVII) is Yah-Hotep ('Yah is content'). The founder of Dynasty XVIII was called Yahmose ('Yah is born') and the same element is in the name of his wife Yamose-Nefertari. Most likely the Middle Eastern deity who gave the stimulus for the adoption of Yah is the influence behind the name Kamose, the brother of Yahmose, who began the thrust against the Hyksos domination. Kamose ('The bull is born') might be the Egyptian equivalent of the epithet applied to Sin⁵ describing him as a 'young bull... with strong horns' (i.e. the tips of the crescent moon). This imagery would be totally compatible with the Egyptian concept of the pharaoh as an invincible bull (see Apis).⁶
In the tomb of Thutmosis III (Dynasty XVIII), the pharaoh whose campaigns took him to the banks of the Euphrates river, there is a scene where the king is accompanied by his mother and three queens, including Sit-Yah 'daughter of the moon-god'. Traces of his cult beyond this period are sporadic.
1. The anthropomorphic form of Iah (Fig 1).
2. As Ibis, Falcon and Baboon (Fig 2).
3. Thoth (Djehuty) and Khonsu (Fig 3).
4. Mr. Hart has suggested that the Egyptians had adopted, or modified (?), the religion of their foreign rulers in both name and iconography, thus confirming that they --- the Hyksos and the Biblical Israelites --- worshipped the same god! Actually, there was no way for him to circumvent this admission without contradicting Exodus 6:3, "... And I appeared unto Abraham ... by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them." Which implies a single [Moon-] God known by at least 2 different names: Sin and Iah. It is obvious, however, that the assimilation happened the other way around; because the Egyptians didn't adopt the name Sin, but the Biblical Israelites began to call Sin by the name of Iah instead (cp. Hosea 13:4 AKJV & LXX). Which is why Iah became construed as a contraction of Iah-WEH! Below (FIG 4) are the known names of those foreign (Hyksos) rulers. With the exception of Yaqub-Har & Yanassi --- whose names come the closest to containing a Iah-element --- none of their names hint at any connection to the Moon-God.
5. Mr. Hart implies that the bull symbolism encountered in Egypt was most likely an import from the East. But I will prove him and his supporters wrong during my elaboration of Note 6. Here, though, I want you to direct your attention to the symbol on the left in image E below. Along with a scarab, the crescent and triangle are the other two distinct markings on the Apis bull, the animal sacred to Ptah of Memphis.
The oldest recorded artifact from the examples below is said to be 'A' (a fragment of the Ur-Nammu Stele, from the Ur III period of Mesopotamia (c. 2100 - 2000 BC). That's not old enough! In order to argue that the ancient Egyptians got the bull iconography from the Mesopotamians, an actual stele or other visual media presenting Sin in the form of a bull must be presented --- that predates the Narmer palette. Does such an artifact exist?
In the etymology of Sin's name (FIG 5b), the Jadeists trace the origin of Zi-On/Si-On, Sinai, and the Wilderness of Sin.
6. Now it really begins to get interesting. Apis (Api in ancient Egyptian) was the name of the black bull quartered in a special temple in Memphis (FIG 6). As an earthly embodiment of Ptah, it was supposed to be an oracle of mediation between the god and mortal men. Note that in drawings, inscriptions, and statuary of the Apis, he is sometimes depicted with a full lunar disk between his horns (which resembles a crescent moon), and a uraeus rearing from his brow (FIG 6b). According to the myth concerning his birth, his mother had become impregnated by either a stroke of lightning or a moon-beam. The moon disk and crescent easily supports the latter. His mother was not a Solar goddess as stated on Wikipedia (FIG 6a)
Whether his name was Narmer or Menes, the warrior who united Egypt built Memphis as his main base of operations. Since ancient Egypt was theocratic, we may presume that he was religeously/politically vested in Ptah, the moon cult, and the Apis. That he considered himself to be a bull is conspicuously featured on the Narmer Palette (FIG 6c).
The cow heads at the top are said to represent the goddess Bat, whose cult was centered in the 7th nome of U.E. [The name of its main city being called Hut-Sekhem ("House of Power"); located south of Abydos (nome 8), from whence hailed the warrior Narmer/Menes. Note that Abydos is therefore situated between Hut-Sekhem to the south of it, and Akhmim (nome 9) to the north, the city dedicated to the god Min]. It is known that the cult of Hathor absorbed some of the features originally belonging to Bat, thus simply morphing into a modified version of Bat herself. If, then, Hathor = "House of Hor" (a "God); Bat must also had been a "House of God", or Bat-el → baetyl → Beth-El/On. Bat's consort was Ptah, the god of the city founded by Narmer/Menes! If the bull on the palette is equated to Apis, then Narmer/Menes may be regarded as a consort of this goddess and, by extension, a living manifestation of Ptah --- The Master Architech. And Narmer/Menes did indeed build a city! I drop these jewels (Papyrus Ani, Chapter IV): "O thou god Ȧn (FIG 6d) of million of years; Lord of the Hidden House; the creator of Het-Ka-Ptah and of the gods therein. Thou causeth the Utchat to rest upon its throne" (FIG 6e). "Lord of the Great House in Khemennu" (Ibid).
Let us now establish the nature of Ȧn. Most of us were first introduced to this word in Exodus 1:11 LXX. Upon further study we found out that the word meant 'pillar', and was really pronounced 'onT'. Furhermore, that its correct spelling was (FIG 6f). Upon an even more thorough investigation, we discovered that the 'n' and 't' hieroglyphs formed the ancient Egyptian word for 'town' or 'city' (Nt), which is emphasized by the determinative of the circle and crossroads. So, basically, we end up with the words 'Ȧh Town'. This is confirmed by the fact that 'Ah' (a variant of Iah) may be rendered in the following manners (FIG 6g). The records of Ancient Egyptian History assures us that a Lunar Theology preceded the Solar. We can deduce corroboration for this from the literature of the Westcar Papyrus, in which mention is made of a sanctuary of Djehuty (the Moon-God), so ancient by this time that not even the contemporary pharaoh --- Khufu --- knew of its location, except that it was somewhere in Ont. We may rationally conclude that, before it was called 'city of the sun', On was originally the 'city of the moon'. The first author I ever seen cited as saying that "Upper Egypt used to be called Khemennu, Land of the Moon", was Hallet, Jean-Pterre. Pygmy Kitabu, p. 115, New York: Random House, 1973. But he still hadn't provided sufficient proof of it to me. I believe I've finally located the proof, though. There is a flint knife (Figs. 6h-6i below) given a provenance of Abydos during the Naqada II period of Egyptian pre-history (c.3500-3200 BC). On one side of its handle you will find the symbol of Iah attached to a standard. The scene depicts what is now called the first amphibious battle in recorded history. Not only is Iah in the house, He's "... a man of war" (Ex 15:3 AKJV); thus "... bringing wars to nought." LXX). And other textual evidence points to a direct political connection between Khemennu, Memphis, and Ȧn.
Compare to FIG 6g(b) above!
TO BE CONTINUED ....