The raising of Lazarus and baptism/initiation?

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nightshadetwine
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The raising of Lazarus and baptism/initiation?

Post by nightshadetwine »

I came across two sources that compare the raising of Lazarus to baptism/initiation and I'm wondering if anyone knows of any other scholars that make this connection?

The Baptismal Raising of Lazarus: A New Interpretation of John 11, Bernhard Lang, Novum Testamentum 58 (2016) 301-317
https://www.academia.edu/33654784/The_B ... 16_301-317
Though well hidden, the theme of baptism informs the whole story of the raising of Lazarus (John 11). The note about Jesus’ sojourn at the very place where John the Baptist had previously been active (John 10:40-42) forms the introduction to the Lazarus story. Just as a musical clef dictates pitch, this passage announces the theme: baptism. Once readers are set on this track, they cannot miss the hidden point. Ritually, the person being baptised is pushed into the realm of death, so that he can emerge to a new life...

Episodes that involve apparent death and an empty tomb are quite common in ancient Greek novels. In almost every ancient novel, the author has “his hero or heroine die and rise again.” Later, “one comes to realise that the dead person was only thought dead, or that a different but similar looking person died, or that the death was only apparent; nevertheless, the person found alive was greeted as someone who has returned from death"...

Stereotypical plots such as the one found in Callirhoë may bore the modern reader, because he fails to understand their twofold religious meaning. On the surface, they indicate that the novel’s heroes are accompanied by the gods; these protect the pious and guide them through their adventures to a happy ending. In the case of Callirhoë, the heroine’s singular devotion to, and protection by, the goddess Aphrodite is particularly striking. But this is not the end of it, for the ancient readers also pick up the deeper meaning of such scenes. For them, they imply a reference to the ritual movement from death to life in the context of the mystery initiations...

Unfortunately, our ancient sources on mystery religions tell us very little about how the “second birth” was ritually staged, for initiates were required to remain silent about it. Nevertheless, some hints found in ancient sources give an indication. The magic papyrus of Paris provides a good example. Around eleven o’clock in the morning and in the presence of the magician, the candidate is supposed to mount the roof of a house and spread out a piece of cloth. Naked he places himself upon it. His eyes are blindfolded, the entire body wrapped like a mummy. With closed eyes turning to the sun, he utters a spell that addresses the god Typhon, king of the gods. The spell is pronounced three times, anticipating a divine sign. When this occurs, possibly in the form of a draught of air felt by the candidate, the latter stands up. He dons a white garment, burns incense and again utters a spell. The rites completed, he descends from the roof. Now he knows that he has acquired immortality. Similar rites and symbolic representations of death and resurrection can be found in all ancient mystery cults. “When the candidate of the mysteries of Isis applies for initiation, he chooses the ritual death in order to gain true life,” explains Reinhold Merkelbach. In fact, according to the ancients, each initiation ritual involves the death of the old and the birth of a new person; there are no exceptions.

Early-Christian baptism divides the lives of those baptised in a sequence of three phases. In the first phase, the human being is enslaved to sin and the world. The second phase means death: the baptismal candidate is killed—symbolically, but not actually drowned by being forced under water. This “drowning” is the actual rite of baptism

And the other source:

Intolerance, Polemics, and Debate in Antiquity: Politico-Cultural, Philosophical, and Religious Forms of Critical Conversation(BRILL, 2019), George H. van Kooten, Jacques van Ruiten
A similarly playful combination of cognate forms... also occur in the Gospel of John, not only with regard to the pupils who are perfected and initiated into one, and with regard to Lazarus, but also with respect to Jesus himself: he loves his pupils "till the end", as the author notes in his description of the last symposium, and it is at this symposium that he talks about his pupils' perfection and initiation into one (17:23) before he finishes his life by exclaiming, again in marked difference from the Synoptic Gospels: "It has been finished, it has been perfected" (19:30). Both Lazarus's and Jesus's deaths are described in the ambiguous terminology of finishing, perfection, and initiation, and thus understood as initiations into a death that is followed by a resurrection, just as in the mystery religions. It seems that Jesus's final exclamation, "It has been finished", signals the end of such an initiation, thus putting the event of his death on a par with the place of intitiation at the Euleusinian mysteries, which--as becomes clear in Plutarch's description of the building of the Eleusinian sanctuary--is called a place for initiation..

This is by no means the only allusion to the Eleusinian mysteries in John's Gospel. Just before his death, at the beginning of the last festival that he attends in the Jerusalem temple, it is the very Greeks who wish to see Jesus whom he answers with a reference to his approaching death, cast in a hidden allusion to the Eleusinian mysteries, which revolve around the contemplation of an ear of wheat that was seen as the fruit of the resurrection of Aphrodite/Kore: "unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit"(12:24)

I've always suspected that themes of initiation are to be found throughout the texts of the NT.

Notice that in one of the rituals that is described in the article by Bernhard Lang, the initiate is wrapped like a mummy. Some of the earliest initiation texts that we have are ancient Egyptian. The ritual resurrection of the deceased was considered to be an "initiation into the netherworld" according to Jan Assmann in Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt(Cornell University Press, 2003).

In accordance with the image of death as mystery, the deceased not only crossed over, or returned, to the netherworld, he was initiated into it. In their rubrics, many spells of the Book of the Dead identify themselves as initiations into the mysteries of the netherworld. The following rubric, for instance, accompanies a whole series of spells:

'The mysteries of the netherworld,
initiation into the mysteries of the realm of the dead'...

In any event, the Egyptian texts say one thing clearly enough: that all rituals, and especially those centered on Osiris and the sun god, were cloaked in mystery. And it is also clear that there is a relationship between initiation into these (ritual) mysteries and life in the next world. He who knew these things overcame the dangers of the realm of death and managed the passage into Elysium and the “going forth by day”...

There is good reason to think that ancient Egyptian burial customs lived on in the Hellenistic Isis mysteries, though in the latter case, they were enacted and interpreted not as a burial of the deceased but as an initiation of the living.

Notice Assmann says that the rituals centered on Osiris and the sun god Re were especially cloaked in "mystery". Those are the two Egyptian deities that died and resurrected or conquered death. You find constant ritual identification with those two deities throughout Egyptian texts.

The deceased being initiated is ritually identified with the death and resurrection of Osiris. Part of the initiation ritual was:
  • The deceased in the role of Osiris
  • Another person in the role of Horus resurrecting Osiris
  • Two women in the role of the mourning sisters of Osiris, Isis and Nephthys
This ritual is taking place in a tomb. This has always reminded me of the raising of Lazarus and his two mourning sisters.

The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts(SBL Press; Second edition, 2015), James P. Allen:
Recitation 194: This Teti’s sister (Wadjet), the Lady of Pe, is the one who cried for him, and the two attendants, (Isis and Nephthys), who mourned Osiris have mourned him...

Recitation 152: Isis, this Osiris here is your brother, whom you have made revive and live: he will live and this Unis will live, he will not die and this Unis will not die, he will not perish and this Unis will not perish; Nephthys, this Osiris here is your brother, whom you have made revive and live: he will live and this Unis will live, he will not die and this Unis will not die, he will not perish and this Unis will not perish; Horus, this Osiris here is your father, whom you have made revive and live: he will live and this Unis will live, he will not die and this Unis will not die, he will not perish and this Unis will not perish

Recitation 526: Raise yourself, clear away your dust, remove the shroud on your face. Loosen your ties...

So "Unis", or the deceased king who is ritually identified with Osiris, is told to raise himself and to remove his shroud and ties. Compare that to Jesus raising Lazarus in John 11:
When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Another aspect of the initiation ritual was the purification of the deceased by water. This water was said to be the water that came out of the wound of Osiris when he was killed. This water was also associated with the Nile waters and the primordial waters and it purified you of your sins and gave you a new life or rebirth. Just like baptism.

Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt(Cornell University Press, 2003), Jan Assmann
This was the place where the life juices flowed out of Osiris and flooded Egypt, giving rise to all the means of life. When it was offered to him in the cult, the water of the inundation, which had flowed out of the body of the slain god, made it possible to restore life to him, as well as to all the dead, who were equated with him...The inundation water that flowed from the wound of the god produced new life; it was a veritable elixir of life that brought forth and nourished all living things in the land. Thus, in many representations of water flowing out of a libation vessel, the water is depicted as a chain consisting of hieroglyphs for “life”... Whoever immersed himself in the primeval water escaped death and gained strength for new life...

we live again anew,
after we enter the primeval water,
and it has rejuvenated us into one who is young for the first time.
The old man is shed, a new one is made ...

Compare that to what Paul says about baptism in Romans 6:
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

In the following quote Pharaoh is being baptized with the water that came out of the wounds of Osiris. He's also ritually identified with the Sun god Re who dies and resurrects every night/morning. Re is reborn/resurrected after entering the primordial waters, and so is Pharaoh during his baptism.

"Conceptions of Purity in Egyptian Religion", Joachim Friedrich Quack in * Purity and the Forming of Religious Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean World and Ancient Judaism*(BRILL, 2012), Christian Frevel, Christophe Nihan
O Water, may you abolish all bad defilement of the pharaoh,
O inundation, may you wash off his errant demons...

[Come] that you [erase] all evil in him.
Any taboo he did, [...] at the lake!...

Pharaoh is purified with this water which came out from Osiris...
Pharaoh is Re, arising in the primeval ocean,

[His] purity is [the purity of... in the] water,
With big flame...

In the Pyramid Texts the person being resurrected/deified is said to drink the bodily fluids of Osiris in the form of beer. This was all part of the deification process.
THE OFFERING RITUAL: Unis, accept the foam that comes from Osiris. 1 BLACK QUARTZITE BOWL OF BEER.

Compare the water that comes out of the wound of Osiris to what Craig R. Koester says about the water that comes from Jesus' wound in gJohn:

Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel: Meaning, Mystery, Community(Fortress Press, 2003)
When he died later that afternoon,"one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water"(19:34-35)... Earlier in the Gospel Jesus promised that the living water, which signified the Spirit, would flow "out of his heart" or "belly"(7:37-39), and the water issuing from his wound confirms this promise, identifying the crucified Jesus as the source of the Spirit... On one level the water imagery helps convey the cleansing effect of Jesus' death... Connections between water, purification, and Jesus' death were established early in the narrative... Given these connections, readers are prepared to see the water flowing from Jesus' side as a way of conveying the purifying effect of his death... in the eyes of the evangelist, the crucified Christ is a source of cleansing for sin. The water from Jesus' side is not primarily a baptismal symbol, but when related to the comments about baptism earlier in the Gospel, it shows that baptism becomes significant through association with the Spirit that engenders faith in Jesus, who was "lifted up" in death (3:5, 14-15, 22-30)... Jesus previously invited those who were thirsty to come and drink from him (John 4:13; 6:35; 7:37)... The Jesus who thirsted was the fountain of living water. He gave life to others at the expense of his own. The speat that pierced Jesus' side demonstrated that he was dead; yet the water that came forth revealed that in death he was the source of life.

Notice in the article by Bernhard Lang that I linked to at the beginning of this post it says: "The second phase means death: the baptismal candidate is killed—symbolically, but not actually drowned by being forced under water. This “drowning” is the actual rite of baptism"

He refers to baptism as a symbolic "drowning".

For the Living and the Dead: The Funerary Laments of Upper Egypt, Ancient and Modern(I. B. Tauris, 2010), Elizabeth Wickett
... deceased king and subsequently all deceased, male or female, are to become 'the god Osiris' and are symbolically 'drowned' (Pyr 24d, 615d, 766d). Osiris was believed to embody the source of the inundation: "You have your water, you have your flood, the fluid which issued from the god, the exudation which issued from Osiris(Pyr 436)"

"Baptism and initiation in the cult of Isis and Sarapis" by Brook Pearson, in Baptism, the New Testament and the Church: Historical and Contemporary Studies in Honour of R.E.O. White, edited by Stanley E. Porter, Anthony R. Cross
Because of the interest New Testament scholars have had in Rom. 6.1-11, the question of baptism in the Isis/Sarapis cult has received a certain amount of attention from this group. This has primarily been for the purpose of either 'proving' or 'disproving' the existence of this act in the initiatory practices of the Isis/Sarapis cult as a parallel to Christian baptism, specifically in it's formulation by Paul Rom. 6.1-11...This material from Apuleius provides us with more than enough evidence to suggest that the connection between baptism, death(symbolic, actual or simply the possibility thereof) and initiation into the cult of Isis would have existed in at least the popular mind...This mosaic is connected with Isis and depicts a scene of the Nile Valley in flood. On it (center, left) is the representation of a temple with what looks much like a bath or, as Witt styles it, 'a kind of baptismal font'. In his rather more full discussion of the archaeology of the 50 or so sites of centralized worship in the Isis and Osiris cult, with specific reference to the water-related facilities, Wild suggests that 'they appear to have a significant function within the cult'. Wild is, however, in some disagreement with Salditt-Trappmann, who suggests that the 'crypt' of the Iseum at Gortyn on Crete was used for actual baptism. While he does not fully share Salditt-Trappmann's extended views on Isiac baptism, he does support this aspect of her interpretaion: 'That individuals entered basins in these crypts'- here referring to the widespread existence of crypts in Graeco-Roman Isea- 'to undergo a ritual drowning appears somewhat...credible.'...It does not seem that Wild has actually inspected the evidence at Gortyn about which he speaks, while Salditt-Trappmann's discussion of the site seems to be based not only on published details of the archeology of the sites, but also upon first-hand investigation...However, it would appear that he does stray into the realm of 'their nature and meaning' in his theory that the crypts found in many Isea and Serapea were 'places in which [the Nile] flood symbolically but "really" recurred from time to time', which would then 'preserve this sacred water for the need of the cult.'...

In ancient times, the Osiris myth was the basis for what are perhaps the first mysteries- the lawful succession of the pharaohs, their burial and eventual union with Osiris in the afterlife. This 'mystery' eventually became something in which not only kings but other Egyptians could partake, and, in time, spread across the known world, along with the worship of Isis and Sarapis. For our purposes here, both of these elements separately and in combination suggest that the Isis initiate did indeed go through a process of identification with the god Osiris, and that this fact would have been the assumption behind the entire initiation process. In the first place, the ancient form of the Isis-Osiris mysteries clearly has the kings, and later normal people, identifying with the god Osiris in the hope of unification with him in the afterlife (and even, possibly, in his resurrection). This is indisputable.

Corresponding Sense: Paul, Dialectic, and Gadamer(BRILL, 2001), Brook W. R. Pearson
Are Hellenistic mystery religion initiatory rites parallel to Paul's interpretation of baptism in Rom. 6:1-11? And, how and why might they be parallel? Following some of Wagner's critics, my assessment is that the evidence does indeed suggest that Paul's interpretation of baptism in Rom. 6:1-11 is parallel to elements in the mystery religions, especially the Isis cult, which was located in many different Hellenistic centres throughout the Greco-Roman world. In my opinion, the most important element of this similarity is the language of identification utilized by Paul of the individual Christian's 'sharing' (Rom. 6:5) in the activities of Jesus by participation in a ritual reenactment of Christ's death. As we shall see, the language used in Romans 6 to describe this participation, in addition to the similarities of Paul's equation of baptism and death with the similar equation in the Osiris myth, clearly evokes a connection with Rom. 1:23, and stands in developed contrast to typical Jewish use of similar language.

So it seems very likely that this death/rebirth initiation ritual that was performed on the deceased in ancient Egypt eventually became an initiation ritual that was performed during one's lifetime when joining the mysteries. In ancient Egypt we already have an example of the Pharaoh performing a death and resurrection/rebirth ritual while he was alive.

Amenhotep III: Egypt's Radiant Pharaoh(Cambridge University Press, 1992-2012 ), Arielle P. Kozloff
The royal jubilee, or heb-sed, was a festival of renewal rooted in Egypt's most ancient history...The Sed festival traditionally took place during the thirtieth year of the reign...Timing was crucial for the climax of the festival deep inside the royal tomb. There Pharaoh faced the images of the gods represented on his tomb walls and remained for a period of time before going to his funeral bed, where he "died" and was "reborn" in a series of rituals, incantations, and offerings...This resurrection was the culmination of a process of deification that had began with Amenhoteps III's coronation. At the time, like all Egyptian kings, he was the representative and high priest of each god on earth.

Temples of Ancient Egypt(Cornell University Press, 1997), Dieter Arnold, Gerhard Haeny, Lanny Bell, Ragnhild Bjerre Finnestad
This ceremonial regeneration of the king's divine powers was carried out, ideally, thirty years after his coronation or appointment as official successor to the throne. Apparently the rites of this renewal of the royal reign were also performed in the fortress of the gods, where the gods again arrived in the boats that play an important role in this ceremony...These powerful rites, which influenced the nature of Egyptian kingship until the end of pharaonic rule, could culminate in a ceremonial death and rebirth of the aging king...

During the Sed-Festival, the living king, as part of his eternal cycle, underwent a ritual death and rejuvenation. In the rite's critical climax, the king experienced the nadir of his strength...

All throughout Egyptian texts you find ritual identification with a deity that dies and is resurrected/reborn. The person shares in the deities resurrection/rebirth just like in Christian baptism.

Becoming Divine: An Introduction to Deification in Western Culture(Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2013), M. David Litwa
After his rebirth, the king entered a long hall oriented east-west with twelve pillars. The twelve columns may have represented the twelve hours of the Sun God's journey through the netherworld. By processing through the colonnade, the king imitated the voyage of the Sun God in his journey by night in the underworld. Now seething with divine energy, the king finally reappeared as if from a divine womb into the sunny court...When the Pharaoh emerged from the shadows, he reflected the bright Sun with his robe of shining gold and silver. The people roared at the sight of the regenerated divine king, splendidly crowned and glorious in triumph...As the living manifestation of the Sun God, the people adored their transformed king as the source of their own life.

Giuseppe
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Re: The raising of Lazarus and baptism/initiation?

Post by Giuseppe »

written in the wrong thread.
Last edited by Giuseppe on Mon Jul 06, 2020 6:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
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Joseph D. L.
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Re: The raising of Lazarus and baptism/initiation?

Post by Joseph D. L. »

Great post nightshadetwine! Definitely gives me something to mull over.

If Lazarus can be shown to be an inference of the baptism ritual, then it may lend more credit to my theory that Paul and John/ur-John are of the same tradition.
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Re: The raising of Lazarus and baptism/initiation?

Post by Charles Wilson »

Joseph D. L. wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 2:59 amIf Lazarus can be shown to be an inference of the baptism ritual, then it may lend more credit to my theory that Paul and John/ur-John are of the same tradition.
Josephus, Antiquities..., 15, 3, 3:

At first they were only spectators of Herod's servants and acquaintance as they were swimming; but after a while, the young man [Aristobulus], at the instigation of Herod, went into the water among them, while such of Herod's acquaintance, as he had appointed to do it, dipped him as he was swimming, and plunged him under water, in the dark of the evening, as if it had been done in sport only; nor did they desist till he was entirely suffocated. And thus was Aristobulus murdered, having lived no more in all than eighteen years, and kept the high priesthood one year only; which high priesthood Ananelus now recovered again.

CW
nightshadetwine
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Re: The raising of Lazarus and baptism/initiation?

Post by nightshadetwine »

Joseph D. L. wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 2:59 am Great post nightshadetwine! Definitely gives me something to mull over.

If Lazarus can be shown to be an inference of the baptism ritual, then it may lend more credit to my theory that Paul and John/ur-John are of the same tradition.
Thanks. I figured you would find it interesting.

What are some of the reasons you think Paul and gJohn are from the same tradition? Have you made a post on that topic? I can definitely see some similarities in Paul and gJohn.
nightshadetwine
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Re: The raising of Lazarus and baptism/initiation?

Post by nightshadetwine »

Giuseppe wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 1:00 am written in the wrong thread.
I guess this post would fit in your thread. Didn't want to hijack it though or go too off topic.
Charles Wilson
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Re: The raising of Lazarus and baptism/initiation?

Post by Charles Wilson »

Charles Wilson wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 12:52 pm
Joseph D. L. wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 2:59 amIf Lazarus can be shown to be an inference of the baptism ritual, then it may lend more credit to my theory that Paul and John/ur-John are of the same tradition.
Josephus, Antiquities..., 15, 3, 3:

At first they were only spectators of Herod's servants and acquaintance as they were swimming; but after a while, the young man [Aristobulus], at the instigation of Herod, went into the water among them, while such of Herod's acquaintance, as he had appointed to do it, dipped him as he was swimming, and plunged him under water, in the dark of the evening, as if it had been done in sport only; nor did they desist till he was entirely suffocated. And thus was Aristobulus murdered, having lived no more in all than eighteen years, and kept the high priesthood one year only; which high priesthood Ananelus now recovered again.

CW
[Edit Note: I trust everyone can see the connection here. Another Herod story, Typed as a "Baptism" by Josephus. You should remember that "Baptism" doesn't always mean some Deacon Dunker submerges you into the Watery Abyss and brings you up. It is another equivalent of "Trial by Fire", esp. an Action of War. See also: 1 Corinthians 11: "I baptized the house of Stephanas" and etc.

Here, the Deaths of the Hasmoneans at the hands of Herod are reflected in the Baptismal Death of Aristobulus - He is "Dipped" and murdered. This Priesthood is transitory. Aristobulus is dead. Better to have a Priesthood transferred to Eternal Rome.

"Didja' hear that Jesus done rised from the dead?..."

And so on...]
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Joseph D. L.
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Re: The raising of Lazarus and baptism/initiation?

Post by Joseph D. L. »

nightshadetwine wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 1:27 pm
Joseph D. L. wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 2:59 am Great post nightshadetwine! Definitely gives me something to mull over.

If Lazarus can be shown to be an inference of the baptism ritual, then it may lend more credit to my theory that Paul and John/ur-John are of the same tradition.
Thanks. I figured you would find it interesting.

What are some of the reasons you think Paul and gJohn are from the same tradition? Have you made a post on that topic? I can definitely see some similarities in Paul and gJohn.
I've made a posts in the past about it.

It comes down to three main points: the Vision of Nicodemus, the Paraclete, and the crucifixion of Jesus.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus[a] by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.[c] 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You[d] must be born again.’ 8 The wind[e] blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you[f] do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.[g] 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.[h]

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Paul hits all three signs that Jesus mentions. Being born again/above (Gal 1:15-16), and through water and Spirit (Rom 6:1-16); ascending to heaven and descending from heaven (2 Cor 12:2-4); and shares in the crucifixion (Gal 2:20).

Jesus mentions these things to Nicodemus as if they are yet to happen, which conforms to John 14: when Jesus tells of "another Paraclete" to come. Now, there's good reason to think that Jesus is not a Paraclete himself. He doesn't refer to himself as one, nor meets any of the requirements listed, safe for the crucifixion. The first Paraclete was John the Baptist, and the one to come after him is Paul. Jesus is just the intermediary between them. Whereas John baptized with earthly water, Paul baptizes in the water and Spirit of Jesus. Which leads to the crucifixion scene, and why Jesus has water pouring out of his side when he is pierced by the centurion. The water is the water of the new baptism preached by Paul. It is this water the gives rebirth, in which those who undertake it are themselves crucified with Christ, dead, and resurrected. Paul's main claim is that he himself was the first to undertake this process, and thus has the authority over Cephas, James and John to preach; that he and not them was dead to the Law and reborn outside of it, thus no longer bound by it.
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Re: The raising of Lazarus and baptism/initiation?

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Further to the excerpt of Recitation 152 in The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts in nightshadetwine's OP, here is a fuller excerpt of it and excerpts of Recitations either side of it [link to the The Pyramid Texts of Unis in Google Books]

Recitation 151

[starts]

Osiris, this Unis has come, the Ennead's fledgling, an imperishable akh. He will claim minds, take away life forces, and bestow life forces, as what he reckons, including whomever he associates to himself or petitions to him. There is none who will be excluded without his bread, without his ka's bread, deprived of his bread.

Geb has spoken, and it has come from the mouth of the Ennead: "O falcon who succeeds (his father) in acquiring (the throne)," they said, "you are ba and in control."

This Unis has come, the Ennead's fledgling, an imperishable akh, who surpassed you and surpass you, wearier than you and greater than you, sounder than you and more acclaimed than you, and your time therein is no more. It is what Seth and Thoth have done, your brothers who do not weep for you.

Isis and Nephrhys, assemble, assemble, gather, gather: this Unis has come, the Enneads, fledgling, an imperishable akh,

The westerners in the earth are for this Unis:
this Unis has come, the Enneads fledgling, an imperishable akh

[repeats for 'those' from the other 3 points of the compass: easterners, southerners, & northerners. Then - ]

Those in the undersky are for this Unis:
this Unis has come, the Enneads fledgling, an imperishable akh
.

Recitation 152

[starts]

Arum, this Osiris here is your son, whom you have made revive and live:
...he will live and this Unis will live, he will not die and this unis will not die,
...he will not perish and this Unis will not perish;
...he will not be taken away and this Unis will not be taken away;
...he will be taken away should this Unis be taken away.

Shu, this Osiris here is your brother, whom you have made revive and live:
...he will live and this Unis will live, he will not die and this Unis will not die,
...he will not perish and this Unis will not perish;
...he will not be taken away and this Unis will not be taken away;
...he will be taken away should this Unis be taken away.


Tefmur ... [same, brother] ...

Geb ... [same, brother] ...

Nut ... [same, brother] ...

Isis, [same, brother] ...

Seth, [same, brother] ...

Nephthys, [same, brother] ...

Thoth, this Osiris here is your brother [too], whom you have made revive and live that he might catch you:
...[etc]

Horus, this Osiris here is your father, whom you have made revive and live:
...[etc]

Big Ennead, this one here is Osiris, who you have made revive and live:
...[etc]

Little Ennead, [also] this one here is Osiris, who you have made revive and live:
...[etc]

Nut, this one here is your son, of whom you said: "Someone has been born to me," and you wiped his mouth for him after his mouth had been parted [sic]* his beloved son Horus and his limbs numbed by the gods:
...[etc]

[i.e. Twelve entities for "X, this Osiris/one here is..." - Nut twice]

In your identity of the Heliopolitan, enduring in his necropolis:
...he will live and this Unis will live, he will not die and this Unis will not die,
...he will not perish and this Unis will not perish;
...he will not be taken away and this Unis will not be taken away;
...he will be taken away should this Unis be taken away.


[there's 10 more of these 'in your identity of', including "he will live and this Unis will live" ... "should this Unis be taken away."]

...[it finishes]


Your body is the body of this Unis, your flesh the flesh of this Unis, your bones this Unis's bones:
you will go (from life) should this Unis go; should this Unis go, you will go. [end]
.

* there's lots of commentary about mouths from Recitation 23, including a mouth opening ritual, the mouth opening meal, - including lots of bread and wine, - cleaning the mouth, spells for the power of nourishment, including
  • Recitation 117 - "Osirus Unis, accept the pupil of Horus's eye: part your mouth with it."
  • Recitation 118 - "Osiris Unis, accept Horus's eye, which he captured; part your mouth with it."

Recitation 153 [in its entirety]

.
The Akhet's door has been opened, its door bolts have drawn back.

He has come to you, Red Crown; he has come to you, Fiery One;
he has come to you, Great One; he has come to you, Great of Magic -
clean for you and fearful because of you.

May you be content with him, may you be content with his cleanliness,
may you be content with his speech when he says to you:

"How fine you look, content, renewed, and rejuvenated, for the god who is the gods 'father has given you birth!"

He has come to you, Great of Magic: he is Horus, encircled by the aegis of his eye, the Great Magic.
.


Recitation 155

[starts]

You will stand up on this land [that came from Atum...] that came from the Beetle, and evolve on it and become high on it, and your father will see you, [the sun] will see you.

He has come to you, his father: he has come to you, O Sun;

. . < snip lots > . .

[last verses - ]
You will go up and go down: you will go up with the sun and rise up with the One of the Great Reedfloat.
You will go up and go down: you will go down with Nephthys, one of the duck with the Nightboat.
You will go up and go down: you will go up with Isis and rise up with the Dayboat.
You will gain control of your body, without impediment, having been born to (be) Horus and conceived to (be) Seth, having become clean in the Western nome (sic), having received your cleaning in the Bubastite nome, with your father, with Atum.

You have developed, you have gone high, you have become effective, it has become cool for you, inside your father's arms, inside Atum's arms.

Atum, elevate him to you, encircle him inside your arms: he is your son of your body, forever
.

There are similarities, albeit vague, to the accounts of the NT Jesus here.
Last edited by MrMacSon on Thu Jul 09, 2020 1:58 pm, edited 3 times in total.
nightshadetwine
Posts: 253
Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2018 10:35 am

Re: The raising of Lazarus and baptism/initiation?

Post by nightshadetwine »

MrMacSon wrote: Thu Jul 09, 2020 4:19 am * there's lots of commentary about mouths from Recitation 23, including a mouth opening ritual, the mouth opening meal, - including lots of bread and wine, - cleaning the mouth, spells for the power of nourishment, including
  • Recitation 117 - "Osirus Unis, accept the pupil of Horus's eye: part your mouth with it."
  • Recitation 118 - "Osiris Unis, accept Horus's eye, which he captured; part your mouth with it."
Yes, the eating of bread and drinking of wine/beer plays an important role in the deification/resurrection of the deceased. Horus's Eye is eaten in the form of bread.

Mu-Chou Poo, Wine and Wine Offering in the Religions of Ancient Egypt. London: Kegan Paul International, 1995
What came out from the eye is the divine blood of Horus. … The rejuvenating and creative power that wine symbolizes, moreover, is reflected in the designation of wine as “Green Horus Eye.” The term Green Horus Eye, which combines “the Eye of Horus” (or “the deed of Horus”) with the green papyrus plant, implies a rejuvenating power that creates prosperity. All these symbolic associations, therefore, point to a basic fact concerning the significance of wine in the offering ritual, namely that wine was a creative and rejuvenating power. This is further confirmed in the mythological roles—wine’s association with the inundation and the blood, both different manifestations of the creative and life-giving power

Jan Assmann even compares it to Christian communion in his book "Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt"(Cornell University Press, 2011):
Perhaps we are to understand this talk about bread that does not grow moldy and beer that does not grow sour quite literally, as an allusion to symbolic and thus imperishable representations of these offering items, in the reliefs, for example, or more likely, on the offering tray placed in front of the false door... The relationship between the offering meal and ascent to the sky, the latter being the sacramental explanation of the former, is one of the fundamentals of the Egyptian mortuary cult. The offering was the ritual framework for the image of death as transition. Spells that mention the deceased's passage from the realm of death, where the conditions of life are reversed, into the Elysian realm, where the order of eternal life prevails, have especially to do with eating and drinking... The nourishment to which he had a claim demonstrated that the deceased no longer belonged to that realm[of the dead] but rather had been called to life eternal. He strove for a share of this nourishment in the Elysian realm, and he ate of this nourishment in order to belong to it. Means and end intertwined, with the result that the deceased's food became the medium of his salvation from the realm of death (the aspect of salvation is clearly expressed by the verb sdj "to take out, rescue"). The offerings therefore had to be pure, for only thus did they belong to the realm of the gods, into which the deceased was integrated by receiving them. This initiatory, transformative aspect of taking nourishment is familiar to Christians through the ritual of Communion, though the latter rests on different traditions of offerings and sacred meals.

Bojana Mojsov also compares the bread and beer that issue from Osiris to the Christian eucharist in her book "Osiris: Death and Afterlife of a God:(Wiley-Blackwell, 2005):
All justified souls were admitted to the community of gods and spirits, modeled after the pattern of earthly society. The giving of the bread and beer that issue from Osiris was not unlike the Christian bread and wine offered at the mass of the Eucharist. Osiris, the Good Being, gave sustenance to the righteous and pointed the way to immortality with the shepherd's crook.

There's another interesting spell in the Coffin Texts.

Spell 226:
Ho N! Sky and earth are opened for you, the great gates are opened for you,
the gates of the plebs are thrown open for YOU...

Ho N! The Ram conducts you to his altars, Sopd being at his ...
Ho N! They remove the dimness of your sight and the wrinkles which are
on your limbs; they open your blind eyes, they extend your contracted
fingers.
Ho N! Lift yourself up upon your left side, place yourself upon your right
side.

Eat your portion, consisting of the pure bread which is issued,
namely the collected loaves of this great god whose name is unknown.
Ho N! Drink your portion, consisting of this pure water which issued upon this plateau of the
citizens, that Ram who is in his blood has given to you what is in his redness
...

Ho N! May you go out by day and by night; may you eat bread and drink
beer; may you receive the invocation-offerings which are yours.

Commenting on this passage, William Ward in his book "The Four Egyptian Homographic Roots B-3: Etymological and Egypto-Semitic Studies"(Biblical Institute Press, 1978) says:
The emphasis on ram-gods here suggests that "the Great God whose name is unknown" is none other than the Ram of Mendes which did not possess a name but was known only as "the Ram".

He also says:
Most modern scholars agree that a close connection between the ram of Mendes and Osiris was facilitated by the proximity of Mendes to Busiris(a main Osirian cult-center), by the use of the jd-pillar in the spelling of both these place names, and the relation of the two deities to fertility. Furthermore, ba, "sacred ram," sounded similar to ba, "supramundane power," so the ram of Mendes became a visible manifestation of Osiris, and later Re...

So in that spell it sounds to me like the resurrected/deified deceased is eating and drinking from a sacrificial ram who was associated with Osiris.
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