Jesus and the Horus Narrative

“The most pressing question on the problem of faith is whether a man as a civilized being can believe in the divinity of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, for therein rests the whole of our faith.” - Fyodor Dostoevsky


Alice C. Linsley


Recently a reader named Jonathan asked about the significance of the Horite Hebrew. I had identified Abraham's people as a caste of ruler-priests organized into 2 ritual groups (moieties): the Horite Hebrew and the Sethite Hebrew. The point of origin of this caste appears to be the Nile Valley where the Horites and Sethites maintained temples and shrines as early as 6200 years ago. It is clear in the Ancient Pyramid Texts (2400-2000 B.C.) that the Horites and the Sethites maintained separate settlements. Utterance 308 addresses them as separate entities: "Hail to you, Horus in the Horite Mounds! Hail to you, Horus in the Sethite Mounds!"

The Horites and Sethites often were in competition with one another. However, the Pyramid Texts make it clear that of the 2 Hebrew groups, the Horites were the higher ranking. PT Utterance 470 contrasts the Horite mounds with the Sethite mounds, designating the Horite Mounds "the High Mounds."

The oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship is Nekhen on the Nile. Nekhen predates the building of the Great Pyramids at Giza and the step pyramid of King Djoser (Third Dynasty). The oldest known tomb at Nekhen has murals on its plaster walls and dates to c. 3500–3200 B.C. 

Green malachite was placed in some graves at Nekhen. A leather pouch containing chunks of malachite was found in Tomb 39 in Nekhen, a city dedicated to Horus. Green malachite was associated with the falcon, the animal totem of Horus. The Book of the Dead speaks of how the deceased will become a falcon "whose wings are of green stone" (chapter 77). The protective Eye of Horus amulet was made of green stone. The Ancient Pyramid Texts speak of Horus as the "Lord of the green stone" (Utterance 301).

The Horites were devotees of Horus, the "Son of Ra/Re". In Ancient Egyptian he is simply identified as HR, meaning the "Most High One". In Ancient Egyptian Re means "father". (See BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Ancient Egyptian Lexicon.) Horus was said to be the parthenogenetic child of the virgin mother, Hathor, whose animal totem was the cow. Ancient images of Hathor show her overshadowed by the sun resting in the horns of the celestial bull. 

Prophesy concerning the Son of God

The Horite Hebrew believed in a divine son who would be conceived by divine overshadowing, just as the Angel Gabriel explained to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:34). The Son would embody kindness and unite the peoples. The Protoevangelium (Gen. 3:15) is the Word gone forth that shall not return void. Note that the "woman" to whom God speaks in Genesis 3:15 is not Eve. Eve is not named by Adam until 5 verses late (Gen. 3:20). So, who is "the woman" whose offspring will crush the serpent's head? "The Woman" can only be Mary, the Mother of God (Theotokos). Jesus is the Seed of the Woman of Genesis 3:15, the long-expected Immortal Mortal who tramples down death by death and receives an eternal kingdom.

Why He was Named Jesus

According to the early Nilotic Hebrew (4200-2000 B.C.), the first act of the Creator at the beginning was šw (Shu), meaning light. This is not the light of day. It is the eternal, uncreated light associated with the High God's son Y-shu (Yeshua), as proclaimed in John's Prologue.

Jesus or Yeshua is the name that was given to the son the Virgin Mary conceived by divine overshadowing. Luke 1:35 makes this clear. The angel explained to Mary: "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."

As Joseph's cousin bride, it was Mary's prerogative to name her firstborn son after her father, Joachim. However, according to Matthew's Gospel, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to name the child Jesus. The angel instructed Joseph, "You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins".

Prophesy about Crushing the Serpent's Head

The early Hebrew believed that HR would crush the serpent's head. The early Messianic expectation was expressed in the 4200-year-old Pyramid Texts: "Horus has shattered (crushed) the mouth of the serpent with the sole of his foot" (PT Utterance 388).

 

Prophesy about the Son's Resurrection

The early Hebrew prayers were written on the royal tombs along the Nile, and many are collected in the Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. These prayers reveal that the early Hebrew believed in bodily resurrection and expected a Righteous Ruler to rise from the grave and lead his people to immortality.

Prophesy about the Son's Ultimate Victory of God's Enemies

In Psalm 110:1 a Messianic prophesy says, The Lord says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet." This is drawn from the belief of the early Hebrew, as is evident from a text dating to the time of Abraham the Hebrew (2000 B.C.) Consider how Horus, the archetype of Christ, describes himself in the Coffin Texts (passage 148):

"I am Horus, the great Falcon upon the ramparts of the house of him of the hidden name. My flight has reached the horizon. I have passed by the gods of Nut. I have gone further than the gods of old. Even the most ancient bird could not equal my very first flight. I have removed my place beyond the powers of Set, the foe of my father Osiris. No other god could do what I have done. I have brought the ways of eternity to the twilight of the morning. I am unique in my flight. My wrath will be turned against the enemy of my father Osiris and I will put him beneath my feet in my name of 'Red Cloak'."

There is a great body of evidence to indicate that the Bible scholar Frank Moore Cross was correct to conclude that the God of Israel is the God of the Horites.

Related reading: The Shrine City of Nekhen; Why the Name Jesus?; Early Resurrection Texts, Horite and Sethite Mounds, Hebrew Names and Titles; Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection; Christ Descended to the Dead