3 Review(s)

When the word Sheol in the Old Testament is rendered in English by “the grave,” it is inadequate times out of number. The Hebrew writers were not always speaking or thinking of the grave when they wrote of Sheol, which has to be bottomed in Amenta, the divine nether-earth, not simply in the tomb. The grave is not identical with hell, nor the pit-hole with the bottomless pit. The pangs and sorrows of Sheol, like the purging pangs of the Romish purgatory, have to be studied in the Egyptian Ritual. —from “Egyptian Wisdom in other Jewish Writings” It goes unappreciated by modern Egyptologists, but it is embraced by those who savor the concept of a “hidden history” of humanity, and those who approach all human knowledge from the perspective of the esoteric. Gerard Massey’s massive Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World—first published in 1907 and the crowning achievement of the self-taught scholar—redefines the roots of Christianity via Egypt, proposing that Egyptian mythology was the basis for Jewish and Christian beliefs. Here, Cosimo proudly presents Book 8 of Ancient Egypt, in which Massey connects the stories of the Egyptians with the tales and lessons of the Hebrew prophets, likening David to Osiris and the “King of Glory” and “Lord of Hosts”—that is, Yahweh—to the sun-god of astronomical mythology. With similar symbology of flocks and shepherds, light and darkness, and immortality in an afterlife, it is impossible, Massey argues, not to see deep connections to and influences of Egyptian wisdom in that of the Hebrews. Peculiar and profound, this work will intrigue and delight readers of history, religion, and mythology. British author GERALD MASSEY (1828–1907) published works of poetry, spiritualism, Shakespearean criticism, and theology, but his best-known works are in the realm of Egyptology, including A Book of the Beginnings and The Natural Genesis.