Joseph and Osiris/Serapis
Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2019 4:12 pm
D. N. Boswell did a blog regarding the syncretism of YHWH and Horus, which is very illuminating, but he also wrote a blog covering the apparent syncretism of Osiris/Serapis, and Joseph, the Jewish diviner who divined the dreams of Pharaoh and who eventually became a ruler in his own right in Egypt, and was even mummified, a practice used to allow the deceased to emulate Osiris.
But far be it from modern writers and sceptics to make such claims, we can see that ancient writers thought the same thing:
So the conflation of Joseph and Serapis was established and known within the second century AD.
Lest a critic or sceptic lays claim that these are responses to pagan charges against Christians, all of the above quotations make it clear that it is the reverse. The Christians are claiming that the pagans recognized Joseph as Serapis, and the Christians are claiming mimicry between Joseph and Serapis.
But the kicker? This wasn't limited to Christian observation:
So even the Jews recognized that such a confluence existed between their own religion and this gentile religion. Why not? Even their own texts say that they spent over four hundred years in Egypt; that Joseph had ruled Egypt and had participated in their rituals; and had their own temples next to the temples of Iah and Re: and that Moses himself was raised by an Egyptian princess and had been a priest of Osiris, and taught the gentiles their philosophy!
But God forbid anyone even suggest that a significant connection can be made between Christianity, Judaism, and paganism.
But far be it from modern writers and sceptics to make such claims, we can see that ancient writers thought the same thing:
The Egyptians worshipped Joseph the Hebrew, who was called Serapis, because he supplied them with corn during the years of famine.
Melito of Sardis, Fragment 1. 56
Melito of Sardis, Fragment 1. 56
Learn also, Saerosant Emperors, of the venerable divinity from Alexandria, where its beginnings started, so that when the inept frailness of this one is detected, our trifling speech may be recalled to the origin of truth. When the destruction by the hot weather--the shriveling fruits of the wretched famine--was imminent in Egypt, a young man was born from the devout line of a patriarch and interpreted the dream of the king. He revealed everything that was imminent. Joseph, the son of Jacob, was put into prison because of his modesty. After the interpretation of the dream, he was the partner in the kingship. For by the foresight of a divine mind, he overcame seven years of poverty by seven years of collecting and saving fruits. Then after his death, the Egyptians made temples to him according to the ancestral patterns of their own race. And in order that posterity might learn the gratitude of a just stewardship, a peck by which he distributed the crops to the starving was placed over his head. So that he might be worshipped, he even received a more holy name from the first author of his family. For since he was a great-grandson of Sarah who at age ninety, by the favor of God, gave birth to a son for Abraham. He is called Serapis in the Greek language, that is Σάραπάις. This was against his will, so he was called this after his death.
Firmicus Maternus, The Error of the Pagan Religions, ch. 13
Firmicus Maternus, The Error of the Pagan Religions, ch. 13
I laugh often enough at the little coteries of gods in each municipality, which have their honours confined within their own city walls. To what lengths this licence of adopting gods has been pushed, the superstitious practices of the Egyptians show us; for they worship even their native animals, such as cats, crocodiles, and their snake. It is therefore a small matter that they have also deified a man — him, I mean, whom not Egypt only, or Greece, but the whole world worships, and the Africans swear by; about whose state also all that helps our conjectures and imparts to our knowledge the semblance of truth is stated in our own (sacred) literature. For that Serapis of yours was originally one of our own saints called Joseph. The youngest of his brethren, but superior to them in intellect, he was from envy sold into Egypt, and became a slave in the family of Pharaoh king of the country. Importuned by the unchaste queen, when he refused to comply with her desire, she turned upon him and reported him to the king, by whom he is put into prison. There he displays the power of his divine inspiration, by interpreting aright the dreams of some (fellow-prisoners). Meanwhile the king, too, has some terrible dreams. Joseph being brought before him, according to his summons, was able to expound them. Having narrated the proofs of true interpretation which he had given in the prison, he opens out his dream to the king: those seven fat-fleshed and well-favoured cattle signified as many years of plenty; in like manner, the seven lean-fleshed animals predicted the scarcity of the seven following years. He accordingly recommends precautions to be taken against the future famine from the previous plenty. The king believed him. The issue of all that happened showed how wise he was, how invariably holy, and now how necessary. So Pharaoh set him over all Egypt, that he might secure the provision of grain for it, and thenceforth administer its government. They called him Serapis, from the turban which adorned his head.
Tertullian, Ad Nations, bk. 2, ch. 8
Tertullian, Ad Nations, bk. 2, ch. 8
So the conflation of Joseph and Serapis was established and known within the second century AD.
Lest a critic or sceptic lays claim that these are responses to pagan charges against Christians, all of the above quotations make it clear that it is the reverse. The Christians are claiming that the pagans recognized Joseph as Serapis, and the Christians are claiming mimicry between Joseph and Serapis.
But the kicker? This wasn't limited to Christian observation:
Thereupon said Abayi that it is so. Rabha, however, asserted that the three statements have all reference to the finding, and as for the statue of a person, he says, the Boraitha is in accordance with the following: R. Jehudah prohibits also found vessels with the image of a nurse or of a serapis on them. The nurse signifies Eva, who was nurse to the whole world; serapis signifies Joseph, who was a prince and supplied the whole world with bread, thereby appeasing mankind. The human image and that of a nurse are however, prohibited only when having respectively a measure in the hand and a son in the arms whom she is nursing.
Tractate Avodah Zara, ch. 3
Tractate Avodah Zara, ch. 3
So even the Jews recognized that such a confluence existed between their own religion and this gentile religion. Why not? Even their own texts say that they spent over four hundred years in Egypt; that Joseph had ruled Egypt and had participated in their rituals; and had their own temples next to the temples of Iah and Re: and that Moses himself was raised by an Egyptian princess and had been a priest of Osiris, and taught the gentiles their philosophy!
But God forbid anyone even suggest that a significant connection can be made between Christianity, Judaism, and paganism.