The Tree of Life in Ancient Egypt and the Book of Proverbs
In: Journal of Ancient Near Eastern ReligionsSearch for other papers by William R. Osborne in
Current site
Google Scholar
Since the mid-twentieth century, scholars have highlighted the similarities between the book of Proverbs and wisdom texts from ancient Egypt, the most recognized being “The Instruction of Amenemope” (ca. 1100 bce). Consequently, some have asserted that this relationship points toward a likely Egyptian provenance and origin of biblical concepts like the Tree of Life in Proverbs 3:17–18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4. Recognizing the undisputable contact with ancient Egypt, the present work argues through the method of comparative study that the Tree of Life in the book of Proverbs should not be interpreted with an ideological antecedent of a divine tree goddess in the New Kingdom period of ancient Egypt.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Allen Thomas George The Egyptian Book of the Dead Documents in The Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago 1960 Chicago University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Oriental Institute Publications 82
-
Billing Nils Nut: The Goddess of Life in Text and Iconography 2002 Uppsala Studies in Egyptology 5 Uppsala Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University
-
Black Max Models and Metaphors: Studies in Language and Philosophy 1962 Ithaca Cornell University Press
-
Clements Ronald Wisdom in Theology 1992 Grand Rapids Eerdmans
-
Conzelmann Hans Robinson James M. “The Mother of Wisdom” The Future of Our Religious Past: Essays in Honor of Rudolph Bultmann 1971 New York Harper & Row 230 243
-
Crenshaw James L. Old Testament Wisdom: An Introduction 2010 3d ed. Louisville, KY Westminster John Knox
-
Currid John D. Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament 1997 Grand Rapids Baker
-
Fox Michael V. Proverbs I–IX 2000 Anchor Bible 18A New York Doubleday
-
Foreman Benjamin A. Animal Metaphors and the People of Israel in the Book of Jeremiah 2011 Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments 238 Göttingen Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
-
Gamer-Wallert Ingrid Helck W. , Otto E. & Westendorf W. “Baum, heiliger” Lexikon der Ägyptologie 1975 vol. 1 Wiesbaden Harrossowitz 655 656 7 vol.
-
Garrett Duane Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs 1993 New American Commentary 14 Nashville Broadman
-
Graves-Brown Carolyn Dancing for Hathor: Women in Ancient Egypt 2010 London Continuum International
-
Hadley Judith M. Day John , Gordon Robert P. & Williamson H. G. M. “Wisdom and the Goddess” Wisdom in Ancient Israel 1995 Cambridge CUP 234 244
-
Hallo William W. “Biblical History in Its Near Eastern Setting: The Contextual Approach” Scripture in Context: Essays on the Comparative Method 1980 Pittsburgh, PA Pickwick 1 27
-
Hallo William W. Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World The Context of Scripture 1997 Vol. 1 Leiden E. J. Bril
-
Haynes Gregory Tree of Life, Mythical Archetype: Revelations from the Symbols of Ancient Troy 2009 San Francisco Symbolon
-
Hays Christopher B. Wagner J. R. , Rowe C. K. & Grieb A. K. “Echoes of the Ancient Near East? Intertextuality and Comparative Study of the Old Testament” The Word Leaps the Gap: Essays in Scripture and Theology in Honor of Richard B. Hays 2008 Grand Rapids Eerdmans 20 43
-
Irwin William H. “The Metaphor in Prov. 11,30” Biblica 1984 65 97 100
-
Kayatz Christa Studien Zu Proverbien 1–9 1966 Wissenschaftliche Monographien Zum Alten Und Neuen Testatment 22 Neukirchen-Vluyn Neukirchener
-
Keel Othmar Das Recht der Bilder gesehen zu warden: Drei Fallstudien zur Methode der Interpretation altorientalischer Bilder 1992 Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 122 Göttingen Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
-
Keel Othmar & Uehlinger Christoph Trapp Thomas H. Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel 1998 Minneapolis Fortress
-
Kitchen Kenneth A. Poetry of Ancient Egypt 1999 Documenta Mundi, Aegyptiaca 1 Jonsered Paul Åströms
-
Kitchen Kenneth A. “Proverbs and Wisdom Books of the Ancient Near East” Tyndale Bulletin 1977 28 69 114
-
Kovecses Zoltan Metaphor: A Practical Introduction 2002 Cary, NC Oxford University Press
-
Lakoff George & Johnson Mark Metaphors We Live By 2003 2nd ed. Chicago Univeristy of Chicago
-
Lichtheim Miriam Ancient Egyptian Literature: A Book of Readings 1976 Vol. 2 Berkeley and Los Angeles University of California Press
-
Marcus Ralph “The Tree of Life in Proverbs” Journal of Biblical Literature 1943 62 117 120
-
McKane William Proverbs: A New Approach 1970 London SCM
-
Murphy Roland E. The Tree of Life: An Exploration of Biblical Wisdom Literature 1990 New York Doubleday Anchor Bible Reference Library
-
Nielsen Kirsten Neumann-Gorsolke U. & Riede P. “Der Baum in der Metaphorik des Alten Testaments” Das Kleid der Erde: Pflanzen in der Lebenswelt des alten Israel 2002 Stuttgart Calwer 114 131
-
Perdue Leo G. Wisdom Literature: A Theological History 2007 Louisville, KY Westminster John Knox
-
Richards I. A. The Philosophy of Rhetoric 1936 London Oxford University Press
-
Shupak N. “The ‘Sitz im Leben’ of the Book of Proverbs in the Light of a Comparison of Biblical and Egyptian Wisdom Literature” Revue Biblique 1987 94 98 119
-
Steinmann Andrew E. Proverbs 2009 Concordia Commentary; Saint Louis, MO Concordia
-
von Rad Gerhard Wisdom in Israel 1972 Nashville Abingdon
-
Wallace Howard N. Freedman David Noel “Tree of Knowledge and Tree of Life” Anchor Bible Dictionary 1992 vol. 6 New York Doubleday 656 660 6 vols.
-
Waltke Bruce K. The Book of Proverbs: Chapters 1–15 New International Commentary on the Old Testament 2004 Grand Rapids Eerdmans
-
Walton John H. Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible 2006 Grand Rapids Baker
-
Whybray R. N. Wisdom in Proverbs: The Concept of Wisdom in Proverbs 1–9 1965 Studies in Biblical Theology 45 London SCM Press
-
Winter Urs “Der stilisierte Baum: Zu einem auffälligen Aspekt der altorientalischen Baumsymbolik und seiner Rezeption im Alten Testament” Bibel und Kirche 1986 41 171 177
-
Winter Urs Neumann-Gorsolke U. & Riede P. “Der Lebensbaum im Alten Testament und die Ikonographie des stilisierten Baumes in Kanaan/Israel” Das Kleid der Erde: Pflanzen in der Lebenswelt des alten Israel 2002 Stuttgart Calwer 138 162
-
8
Othmar Keel and Christoph Uehlinger, Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel (trans. Thomas H. Trapp; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998), 272.
-
10
Christopher B. Hays, “Echoes of the Ancient Near East? Intertextuality and the Comparative Study of the Old Testament,” in The Word Leaps the Gap: Essays on Scripture and Theology in Honor of Richard B. Hays (ed. J. R. Wagner, C. K. Rowe, and A. K. Grieb; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 40.
-
13
See William W. Hallo, “Biblical History in Its Near Eastern Setting: The Contextual Approach,” in Scripture in Context: Essays on the Comparative Method (Pittsburgh, pa: Pickwick, 1980), 1–27.
-
17
See, Judith M. Hadley, “Wisdom and the Goddess,” in Wisdom in Ancient Israel (ed. John Day, Robert P. Gordon, and H. G. M. Williamson; Cambridge: cup, 1995), 235; Hans Conzelmann, “The Mother of Wisdom,” in The Future of Our Religious Past: Essays in Honor of Rudolph Bultmann(ed. James M. Robinson; New York: Harper & Row, 1971), 231–34.
-
19
Nils Billing, Nut: The Goddess of Life in Text and Iconography (Uppsala Studies in Egyptology 5; Uppsala: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, 2002), 185.
-
20
Gregory Haynes, Tree of Life, Mythical Archetype: Revelations from the Symbols of Ancient Troy (San Francisco: Symbolon, 2009), 179–80.
-
23
Carolyn Graves-Brown, Dancing for Hathor: Women in Ancient Egypt (London: Continuum International, 2010), 162.
-
27
English translation by Allen, The Egyptian Book of the Dead, 135.
-
28
Ibid., 276.
-
29
Ibid., 183.
-
32
Kenneth A. Kitchen, Poetry of Ancient Egypt (Documenta Mundi, Aegyptiaca 1; Jonsered: Paul Åströms, 1999), 343–52.
-
33
Ibid., 349.
-
48
Waltke, Proverbs 1–15, 259. See also, Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, 82. Commenting from a Christian canonical perspective, Waltke argues that the Tree of Life “functions symbolically (and provisionally) as the “Tree of Life” that was lost in Gen. 2:22–24. By including this metaphor with some prominence, the author makes clear that until we reach the “tree of life, which is in the paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7), we hold fast to the life-giving wisdom of the book of Proverbs and, more importantly, to Jesus Christ, who supersedes Solomon’s wisdom.” Thus, the Tree of Life within its early interpretive history in the nt is associated with the afterlife and re-creation. See, Waltke, Proverbs 1–15, 260
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 2349 | 256 | 36 |
| Full Text Views | 346 | 8 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 262 | 26 | 3 |
The Tree of Life in Ancient Egypt and the Book of Proverbs
In: Journal of Ancient Near Eastern ReligionsSearch for other papers by William R. Osborne in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Since the mid-twentieth century, scholars have highlighted the similarities between the book of Proverbs and wisdom texts from ancient Egypt, the most recognized being “The Instruction of Amenemope” (ca. 1100 bce). Consequently, some have asserted that this relationship points toward a likely Egyptian provenance and origin of biblical concepts like the Tree of Life in Proverbs 3:17–18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4. Recognizing the undisputable contact with ancient Egypt, the present work argues through the method of comparative study that the Tree of Life in the book of Proverbs should not be interpreted with an ideological antecedent of a divine tree goddess in the New Kingdom period of ancient Egypt.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 2349 | 256 | 36 |
| Full Text Views | 346 | 8 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 262 | 26 | 3 |