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The Egyptian Gods in Midrashic Texts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2010

Rivka Ulmer
Rivka Ulmer*
Affiliation:
Bucknell University
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Extract

The engagement with Egypt and the Egyptian gods that transpired in the Hebrew Bible continued into the texts produced by rabbinic Judaism. Rabbinic texts of late antiquity and the early medieval period frequently presented images of Egypt and its religion. One of the critical objectives of these portrayals of Egypt was to set boundaries of Jewish identity by presenting rabbinic Judaism in opposition to Egyptian culture. The Egyptian cultural icons in rabbinic texts also demonstrate that the rabbis were aware of cultures other than their own.1 The presence of Egyptian elements in midrash had previously been noted to a very limited extent by scholars of the Wissenschaft des Judentums (the science of Judaism), and it has not escaped the attention of more recent scholarship.

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Harvard Theological Review , Volume 103 , Issue 2 , April 2010 , pp. 181 - 204
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Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 2010

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References

1 The trade contacts between Egypt and the land of Israel were well established. During the first six centuries of the Common Era there was extensive importation into the land of Israel of beer, fish, medical remedies, and chemicals from Egypt; during the same period substantial exports were sent to Egypt from the land of Israel (see Daniel Sperber, “Objects of Trade between Palestine and Egypt in Roman Times,” JESHO 19 [1976] 113–47). Generally, there were close ties between the Jews of Egypt and the land of Israel, especially with Jerusalem, in the last centuries B.C.E. and the early centuries C.E. Intellectual and religious contacts between the two countries included educational and methodological exchanges (e.g., teachers of Jewish traditions came to Israel from Alexandria).

2 Moritz Güdemann, Religionsgeschichtliche Studien (Schriften des Israelitischen Literatur-Vereins 2; Leipzig: Oskar Leiner, 1876); Bernard Heller, “Egyptian Elements in the Haggadah,” in Ignace Goldziher Memorial Volume (ed. Samuel Löwinger and Joseph Somogyi; Budapest: [s.n.], 1948) 1:412–18; Jakob Horovitz, Die Josephserzählung (Frankfurt am Main: Kauffmann, 1921), and others.

3 Samuel Krauss, “Aegyptische und syrische Götternamen im Talmud,” in Semitic Studies in Memory of Rev. Dr. Alexander Kohut (ed. George A. Kohut; Berlin: Calvary, 1897) 339–53, esp. 344.

4 Gideon Bohak, “Rabbinic Perspectives on Egyptian Religion,” Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 2 (2000) 215–31.

5 Rivka Ulmer, “Zwischen ägyptischer Vorlage und talmudischer Rezeption. Josef und die Ägypterin,” Kairos 24/25 (1992/93) 75–90; idem, “Discovering Mosaistics: Israel's Egyptian Roots,” Bulletin of the Israeli Academic Centre in Cairo 18 (1994) 24–27; idem, “The Divine Eye in Ancient Egypt and in the Midrashic Interpretation of Formative Judaism,” Journal of Religion and Society 5 (2003) 1–17; idem, “Visions of Egypt in Midrash: Pharaoh's Birthday and the Nile Festival,” in Biblical Interpretation in Judaism and Christianity (ed. Isaac Kalimi and Peter Haas; New York: T&T Clark, 2006) 52–78; idem, “Visions of Egypt and the Land of Israel under the Romans: A Dialectical Relationship between History and Homiletical Midrash,” Frankfurt Jewish Studies Bulletin 33 (2006) 1–33; idem, “Visions of Egypt in Midrash: The Nile as the Landscape of the Other,” in Discussing Cultural Influences: Text, Context, and Non-Text in Rabbinic Judaism (ed. Rivka Ulmer; Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2007) 193–234; idem, “Egyptian Magic and the Osiris Myth in Midrash,” in Midrash and Context (ed. Lieve Teugels and Rivka Ulmer; Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias, 2007) 139–79; idem, “Cleopatra as a Cultural Icon in Rabbinic Literature,” Hen 29 (2007) 327–53; idem, “Some Remarks on the Egyptian Language (Coptic) in Rabbinic Texts,” in Interpretation, Religion and Culture in Midrash and Beyond (ed. Lieve Teugels and Rivka Ulmer; Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias, 2008) 79–89.

6 See, for example, Jack Lindsay, Daily Life in Roman Egypt (London: F. Muller, 1963) 160–75, and Alan Bowman, Egypt after the Pharaohs, 332BC–AD 642: From Alexander to the Arab Conquest (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986; repr., Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996).

7 Gen. Rab. 13:9 and parallels.

8 Gen. Rab. 69:4 and parallels.

9 Pesiq. Rab. 17:13, Ulmer, ed. and parallels.

10 Esth. Rab. 4:12 and parallels.

11 Exod. Rab. 11:11 and parallels.

12 t. Nid. 4:17 and parallels.

13 Pesiq. Rab Kah. 11 and parallels.

14 Mek. Beshallah 1 and parallels.

15 t. Avod. Zar. 5:1.

16 Yal. 1, 372 Ki tissa and parallels.

17 y. Mo—ed Qat. 3:7, 83c and parallels.

18 See Donald B. Redford, A Study of the Biblical Story of Joseph (Genesis 37–50) (VTSup 20; Leiden: Brill, 1970) 211–14; Gary A. Rendsburg, “The Egyptian Sun-God Ra in the Pentateuch,” Hen 10 (1988) 3–15, and the literature cited therein.

19 See Ulmer, “Zwischen ägyptischer Vorlage,” 85.

20 Alfred Hermann, “Der letzte Apisstier,” JAC 3 (1960) 34–50.

21 Erik Hornung, Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many (trans. J. Baines; Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982) 109, 136; E. A. Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians (2 vols.; London: Methuen & Company, 1904; repr., New York: Dover, 1969) 1:195–201.

22 Michael Jones, “Memphis, Apis Bull Embalming House,” Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, 491–93.

23 Abraham S. Yahuda, The Language of the Pentateuch in its Relation to Egyptian (London: Oxford University Press, 1933) 99.

24 Yahuda, Language of the Pentateuch, 31–32.

25 Hornung, Conceptions, 281; Alexandre Piankoff, The Litany of Re (Bollingen Series XL; New York: Pantheon, 1964); Ulmer, “The Divine Eye.”

26 Rendsburg, “The Egyptian Sun-God,” 7. Although the focus of Rendsburg's article is the Bible, he included several midrashic interpretations.

27 Umberto Cassuto, Perush ‘al sefer shemot (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1965; repr., Jerusalem: Magnes, 1982) 72–73.

28 Lauterbach ed., 211.

29 See Ulmer, “The Divine Eye,” 3.

30 Pharaoh is said to be like a snake in Exod. Rab. 9:4; 20:6.

31 See Ulmer, “Egyptian Magic,” 167–68.

32 Exod. Rab. 9:3, with variations.

33 See Erik Hornung, “Die Bedeutung des Tieres im alten Ägypten,” StG 20 (1967) 69–84.

34 Exod. Rab. 20:6.

35 Exod. Rab. 16:2.

36 Mek. Beshallah 2 (Lauterbach ed., p. 211).

37 See Ulmer, “Egyptian Magic,” 168–69; Pesiq. Rab Kah. 11, Vayehi beshallah (Mandelbaum ed., 187–88).

38 See Ulmer, “The Nile,” 207–8; Tanh. Bereshit 7.

39 See Ulmer, “The Nile,” 208–9; Exod. Rab. 10:2–3.

40 See Ulmer, “Egyptian Magic,” 163–64; b. ‘Avod. Zar. 43a; Gen. Rab. 86:3.

41 Hornung, Conceptions, 137.

42 See Klaas A. D. Smelik and Emily A. Hemelrijk, “—Who Knows not what Monsters Demented Egypt's Worship?‘ Opinions on Egyptian Animal Worship in Antiquity as Part of the Ancient Conception of Egypt,” ANRW II.17.4, 2337–57.

43 See Meyer Reinhold, “Roman Attitudes toward Egyptians,” Ancient World 3 (1980) 97–103; Holger Sonnabend, Fremdenbild und Politik. Vorstellungen der Römer von Ägypten und dem Partherrreich in der späten Republik und frühen Kaiserzeit (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1986) 19. Josephus, however, contains comparisons of Judaism to Egyptian religions: “Again the contrast between the two cults created bitter animosity, since our religion is as far removed from that which is in vogue among them as is the nature of God from that of irrational beasts. For it is their national custom to regard animals as gods, and this custom is universal, although there are local differences in the honours paid to them.” (C. Ap. 1.224–225).

44 For the “calf” ('egel) in the golden calf episode (Exod 32:1–33:23) as a young ox or a bull see Nahum Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991) 203.

45 The American Israelite, 35, 16 (Oct. 19, 1888) 4, presented this claim; Allan M. Langner, “The Golden Calf and Ra,” JBQ 31 (2003) 43–47, esp. 44.

46 See also Tg. Yer. to Exod 32:5; y. Sotah 3:4, 19a; Exod. Rab. 9:49.

47 Philo and additional sources are cited in Jan Assmann, Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997) 71–72.

48 Nahum M. Sarna, Exploring Exodus: The Origins of Biblical Israel (New York: Schocken, 1986) 218, states that there is “no need to turn to Egypt.”

49 Num. Rab. 16:25; Shir Rab. 2:45.

50 Hornung, Conceptions, 274, 278. Concerning a Khnum amulet found in Israel, see Gideon Bohak, “A Note on the Chnoubis Gem from Tel Dor,” IEJ 47 (1997) 255–56.

51 Herodotus, Hist. 2.28 mentions Khnum as the guardian of the Nile source and as a horned ram, ibid. 2.42; 4.18.

52 See Stefan Pfeiffer, “Die Entsprechung ägyptischer Götter im griechischen Pantheon,” in Ägypten, Griechenland und Rom. Abwehr und Berührung. Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, 26. November 2005–26. Februar 2006 (Frankfurt: Liebighaus, 2005) 285–90.

53 See Stefan Schmidt, “Ammon,” in Ägypten, Griechenland und Rom, 187–94.

54 Herodotus, Hist. 2.38, 41, 42, 45, claims that the Israelites sacrificed sacred animals, e.g., the sacred cow of Isis.

55 The temple of Yah at Elephantine and its sustaining Jewish community demonstrate “clear signs of the penetration of Egyptian religious cults into the life of the community,” according to J. Gwyn Griffiths, “The Legacy of Egypt in Judaism,” CHJ 3 (2000) 1025–51, esp. 1029. Bezalel Porten, Archives from Elephantine: The Life of an Ancient Jewish Military Colony (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968) 279–93; Alexander E. Cowley, Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1923; repr., Osnabrück: Zeller, 1967) 21, provides the so-called “Passover papyrus;” see also Detlef Franke, “Elephantine,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, 1, 465–67; Lester L. Grabbe, A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period, vol. 1, Yehud: A History of the Persian Province of Judah (London: T&T Clark, 2004) 211–12; Assmann, Moses the Egyptian, 61–64.

56 Tal Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity (TSAJ 91; 2 vols.; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002) 1:48, 50.

57 Plutarch, Is. Os., 12–19.

58 Ilan, Lexicon, 1:335.

59 Krauss, “Aegyptische,” 344.

60 PGM I, 247–62.

61 Herodotus, Hist. 11:59; 11:62 mentions the annual festival of Isis-Neith at Saïs.

62 Gary Greenberg, “Neith and the Two Biblical Deborahs: One and the Same,” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Research Association in Egypt, 1995.

63 See Ulmer, “Egyptian Magic,” 152.

64 Neith had different attributes; often she was depicted as “the terrifying one” with arrows and a shield. Herodotus identified her with Athena (Neith-Athena, see Olaf Kaper, “Stele für Tutu mit Neith-Athena und Nemesis,” in Ägypten, Griechenland und Rom, 619). Alternatively she was a serpent goddess, see Erika Feucht, “Ein Bildnis der Neith als Schlangengöttin,” in Egyptian Religion: The Last Thousand Years, Studies Dedicated to the Memory of Jan Quaegebeur (ed. Willy Clarysse, Antoon Schoors, and Harco Willems; OLA 84–85; Leuven: Peeters, 1998) 105–15. Neith was also a primeval goddess involved in creation and protecting the pharaoh (Hornung, Conceptions, 280); see also Susan Tower Hollis, “Five Egyptian Goddesses in the Third Millenium B.C.: Neith, Hathor, Nut, Isis, Nephtys,” KMT 5/4 (1995) 46.

65 Redford, A Study of the Biblical Story of Joseph, 229.

66 See James K. Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt: Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) 85, who provides this explanation, summarizes the research, and states that “no example of the name ns-nt is known in ancient Egyptian onomastics.” Kenneth A. Kitchen, “Genesis in the Near Eastern World,” in He Swore an Oath: Biblical Themes from Genesis 12–50 (ed. R. S. Hess et al.; Cambridge: Tyndale House, 1993) 77–92, esp. 79–80, argues that the translation “belonging to (her father)” makes sense in both the Hebrew and the Egyptian. In the Jewish-Hellenistic novel Joseph and Aseneth, Asenath is renamed “city of refuge.”

67 Krauss, “Aegyptische,” 345; on Arueris, see Plutarch, Is. Os., F 355 (trans. Frank Cole Babbitt; LCL; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1949) 33.

68 The variants include, but are not limited to, the following: in y. ‘Avod. Zar. 3:11, 43b (Krotoshin); in y. Ber. 2:5, 4b (ed. Peter Schäfer et al., Synopse zum Talmud Yerushalmi.I/1-2 [TSAJ 31; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1991]), y. Ber. 2:11, MS Paris Bibliothéque Nationale Heb. 1389 and MS London British Library Or. 2822–24 , ed. Amsterdam (1710) ; in y. Sheqal. 2:5, 47a (ed. Venice, 1523: ), Synopse II/5–12 (2001, TSAJ 83), y. Sheqal. 2:6, Oxford and in the Bavli, Munich, 2:6 , MS London: ; in y. Mo—ed Qat. 3:7, 83c.

69 t. ‘Avod. Zar. 5:1; Ulmer, “Cleopatra,” 341–43.

70 See Ulmer, “The Nile,” 217–24.

71 See Sarolta A. Takâacs, Isis and Sarapis in the Roman World (Leiden: Brill, 1995).

72 See Smelik and Hemelrijk, “Who Knows not;” Reinhold, “Roman Attitudes toward Egyptians,” 97–103; Sonnabend, Fremdenbild, 19.

73 For example, Heidelberg, Ägyptologisches Institut der Universität, exhibit no. 961.

74 Kleopatra. Ägypten um die Zeitenwende. Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, 16. Juni–10. September 1989 (Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 1989) 191 (no. 57u).

75 Frédéric Manns, “Nouvelles traces des cultes de Néotera, Sérapis et Poséidon,” Liber annuus 27 (1977) 229–38, 233 discusses .

76 Nicole Belayche, “Les dévotionsà Isis et Sérapis dans la Judée-Palestine Romaine,” in Nile into Tiber; Egypt in the Roman World. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference of Isis Studies, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, May 11–14, 2005 (Leiden: Brill, 2005) 448–69; Jodi Magness, “The Cults of Isis and Kore at Samaria-Sebaste in the Hellenistic and Roman periods,” HTR 94 (2001) 157–77.

77 Samuel Krauss, Griechische und lateinische Lehnwörter im Talmud, Midrasch und Targum (2 vols.; Berlin: Calvary, 1898) 2:182; J. Gwyn Griffiths, “Ïsis and Agape,”CP 80 (1985) 139–41.

78 For example, cameos in Kunsthistorisches Museum, Antikensammlung, Vienna, IX A 8, and the Brooklyn Museum, 73.85, Charles Edwin Wilbur Fund.

79 According to Moritz Güdemann, “Mythenmischung in der Hagada,” MGWJ 5 (1876) 177–195; 6 (1876) 225–31; 7 (1876) 255–61, the Tosefta and the Bavli clearly refer to a representation of Isis holding Horus, 225; see also Heinrich Blaufuss, Götter, Bilder und Symbole nach den Traktaten über fremden Dienst (Aboda Zara) in Mischna, Tosefta, Jerusalemer und Babylonischem Talmud (Nuremberg: Stich, 1910) 19; Krauss, “Aegyptische,” 346; Saul Lieberman, Hellenism in Jewish Palestine (New York: JTS, 1962) 136–38.

80 Margarete Schlüter, ‘Derãqôn— und Götzendienst (Judentum und Umwelt 4; Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1982) 126–27.

81 A. Marmorstein, “Egyptian Mythology and Babylonian Magic in Bible and Talmud,” in Dissertationes in honorem dr. Eduardi Mahler (Budapest, [s.n.], 1937) 469–87.

82 The Toseftan context refers to the moon and the stars on white garments symbolic of Isis, see Blaufuss, Götter, Bilder und Symbole, 30, 44.

83 Schlüter, Derāqôn, 126–28.

84 Marcus Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (2 vols.; New York: Pardes, 1950) 1:312b, s.v.

85 See Schlüter, Derãqôn; Emmanuel Friedheim, “Who Are the Deities Concealed behind the Rabbinic Expression ‘A Nursing Female Image’?” HTR 96 (2003) 239–50, maintains that the “nursing female” refers to Nysa-Atargatis, Dionysus, and Jupiter Heliopolitanus.

86 Martin Hengel, The ‘Hellenization’ of Judaea in the First Century after Christ (Philadelphia: Trinity, 1989).

87 MS Munich Cod. Hebr. 95 has Serapis in one word [].

88 Suidas, Lexicon, s.v. Σάραπιϛ; Horovitz, Josephserzählung, 120–28; Gerard Mussies, “The Interpretatio Judaica of Serapis,” in Studies in Hellenistic Religions (ed. M. J. Vermaseren; Leiden: Brill, 1979) 189–214, esp. 212; Güdemann, “Mythenmischung,” 255; Lieberman, Hellenism, 138 n. 87. Midrashic references to Osiris in the Horus and Osiris myths have little in common with Osiris-Apis, i.e., Serapis. The equivalence of Joseph and Serapis is in all likelihood based upon Manetho's etymology of Osarsyph (Josephus, C. Ap. 26.26). Mussies, “Interpretatio Judaica,” 193, states that this identification dates at least from the second century B.C.E. Giuseppe Veltri, Eine Tora für den König Talmai. Untersuchungen zum Übersetzungsverständnis in der jüdisch-hellenistischen und rabbinischen Literatur (TSAJ 41; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1994) 69, mentions that the identification of Serapis with Joseph in b. ‘Avod. Zar. 43a could have derived from the identification of Joseph with a bull since Serapis was a designation of the divine Apis. However, I agree with Mussies that there is no relation between the bull in Deut 33:17 and Serapis, the god who may have had the form of a bull.

89 See John E. Stambaugh, Serapis under the Early Ptolemies (Leiden: Brill, 1972).

90 For Hellenistic and Romanized descriptions of Apis, see Herodotus, Hist., 3.28, 38, 41; Strabo, Geogr. 17.17, 22, 23; Diodorus Siculus, Bibl. Hist. 1.25; Aelian, Nat. an. 11:11; Plutarch, Mor., Is. Os. 56, 43; Cicero, Resp. 3.9.24.

91 Günther Hölbl, “Serapis,” LÄ 5, 870–74, s.v. states that “Serapis” is a more recent form of “Sarapis.” In rabbinic literature the spelling fluctuates between one word and two words (Serapis or Sar Apis); however, other than the nô ārîqôn method there does not seem to be any meaning attached to this difference.

92 Peter Mayr, “Serapis: Göttliche Interpretationshilfe,” Antike Welt 35 (2004) 30.

93 Jean Vercoutter, “Apis,” LÄ 1, 338–50.

94 See Philippe Borgeaud and Youri Volakhine, “La formation de la légende de Sarapis. Une approche transculturelle,” Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 2 (2000) 37–76, 53–55.

95 Άοσοράπιϛ is the same as the Egyptian w jr p (Osiris-Apis). Alternatively, the name of Serapis may have been derived from sr p (Apis prophesying). Mussies, “The Interpretatio Judaica,” 210, offers a reasonable explanation of “Osarseph” based upon the Egyptian name w jr sp3 (Osiris-Sepa).

96 D. Kessler, “Das hellenistische Serapeum in Alexandria und Ägypten in ägyptologischer Sicht,” in Ägypten und der östliche Mittelmeerraum im 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr.: Akten des interdisziplinären Symposions am Institut für Ägyptologie der Universität München 25.–27.10.1996 (ed. M. Görg and G. Hölbl; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2000) 163–230, esp. 217. Other locales included Letopolis, Prosopites, Saïs, and Sakkarah.

97 See Stefan Schmidt, “Serapis—ein neuer Gott für die Griechen in Ägypten,” in Ägypten, Griech-enland und Rom, 291–304, for a review of the literature.

98 Schmidt, “Serapis,” 294; J. Gwyn Griffiths, Plutarch's De Iside et Osiride (Cambridge: University of Wales Press, 1970) 43, states: “In the Roman era … at Memphis and Abydos there was a revival of Oserapis.”

99 Günther Hölbl, A History of the Ptolemaic Empire (trans. Tina Saavedra; London: Routledge, 2001) 100, notices the shifting nature of Isis and Serapis. The temple of Edfu, outer hypostyle, interior, north wall, depicts Ptolemy VIII offering a pectoral to Osiri; see Marco Zecchi, A Study of the Egyptian God Osiris Hemag (Archeologia e Storia della civiltà egiziana e del vicino oriente antico 1; Imola: Editrice la mandragora, 1996) 42.

100 Vespasian sought the counsel of Serapis during his stay in Alexandria in 69/70 C.E.

101 Coins issued in Jerusalem from the time of Hadrian to Valerianus depict Serapis; additionally, there is a second century inscription referring to Serapis in Jerusalem, see also Mussies, “The Interpretatio Judaica,” 191. For further discussions of the Serapis cult in the land of Israel, see Manns, “Nouvelles,” 235, who specifically refers to the identification of Joseph with Serapis in the Tosefta and the Bavli. Representations of Osiris were found in Gezer and Ashkelon.

102 Mussies, “The Interpretatio Judaica,” 194, states that the modius is mentioned by Firmicus Maternus (346–350 C.E.) and others.

103 For example, a bust in Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin, 11 479, second century B.C.E., from the nome of Arsinoë; see Osiris, Kreuz, Halbmond: 5000 Jahre Kunst in Ägypten (ed. E. Brunner-Traut, H. Brunner, and J. Zick-Nissen; Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 1984) 143 (no. 116).

104 See, for example, the description of Isis-Tyche in Campbell Bonner, Studies in Magical Amulets (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1950) 273.

105 Jastrow, Dictionary, 2:904.

106 The Vulgate contains the term “Nilus” (Isa 23:3).

107 An early attestation of the retrieval of Joseph's coffin from the Nile is found in t. Sotah 4:7 (ed.Lieberman); see also Mek. Beshallah (Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishma—el (ed. Horovitz and Rabin; 2d ed.; Jerusalem, 1970); Exod. Rab. 20:19; Pesiq. Rab Kah. 11; Tanh. Beshallah 2; Yal. 1, 247 Beshallah; Midr. Aggadah 13. Mishnat Rabbi Eliezer 19: “they put him into the ocean.”

108 Sifre Deut. 38; Midr. Tannaim 11:10; Gen. Rab. 13:9; Tg. Yer. Gen. 47:7.

109 Pesiq. Rab. 6:2, Ulmer ed.; Gen. Rab. 87; 13:7; Exod. Rab. 11:11, (ed. Shinan). Rashi on Gen. 39:11 refers to the Nile festival.

110 The biblical etymology of Moses' Hebrew name is found in Exod 2:10; in David's song of deliverance (2 Sam 22:17 = Ps 18:17), the same Hebrew root is utilized.

111 Josephus V. Jewish Antiquities (trans. H. St. J. Thackeray; LCL; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1930). See Lester Grabbe, Etymology in Early Jewish Interpretation: The Hebrew Names in Philo (BJS 115; Atlanta: Scholars, 1988) 188, refers to Philo's interpretation and its difference from the LXX.

112 Gesenius, Hebräisches und Aramäisches Handwörterbuch, 17th ed., s.v. .

113 Rainer Hannig, Die Sprache der Pharaonen. Groβes Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch-Deutsch (2800-950 v. Chr.) (Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 1995), s.v. ms, 361.

114 Thomas A.G. Hartmann, “Moses und Maria–‘Amuns Kind und Liebling—’Auf den ägyptischen Spuren zweier biblischer Namen,” ZAW 116 (2004) 616–22, esp. 618.

115 WÄS, 2:137, s.v. , meaning “to conceive, bear.” See also John Gwyn Griffiths, “The Egyptian Derivation of the Name Moses,” JNES 12 (1953) 225–31. Donald B. Redford, “Moses,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, 2:438–39, relates the name Moses to the same Egyptian root msi (to bear), but also considers the Canaanite serpent god, Muŝ.

116 Yahuda, Language of the Pentateuch, 258.

117 Midrash Ha-Gadol Shemot 2:10 and Midrash Tehillim 90.

118 Hornung, Conceptions, 275; Apuleius, Metam. 11.

119 See Ulmer, “Egyptian Magic,” 169.

120 Reinhold Merkelbach, “Diodor über das Totengericht der Ägypter,” ZÄS 120 (1993) 71–84, in his analysis of the final judgment according to Diodorus Siculus refers to the voice of Anubis, 77; see also Günter Vittmann, “Von Kastraten, Hundskopfmenschen und Kannibalen,” ZÄS 127 (2000) 167–82, esp. 167; Josephus, C. Ap. 2.85, mentions Anubis. Propertius, Elegies 1, 39 writes that [Cleopatra] “dared to pick barking Anubis against our Jupiter,” and Mark Anthony is said to have been accompanied by Egyptian gods in the battle against Octavian, such as “Anubis the barker” (Virgil, Aeneid 8.698–700).

121 Tanh. Beshallah 2:5; Eqev 6:5 Mek., Beshallah., Petih.ta (ed. Horovitz and Rabin); Deut. Rab. 11:5 (Vilna: Romm, 1887); Pesiq. Rab Kah. 11:5; Midr. Petirat Moshe in Bet ha-Midrash, 1:115–16; Midr. Shir ha-Shirim, ed. Grünhut, 13a–b; Midr. Aggadah, 13; Pesiq. Zut·. Shemot 13:19; Divre Ha-yamim shel Moshe, Bet-Ha Midrash, 2:10–11; Pereq R. Yoshiahu, Bet Ha-Midrash, 6:112–13 (repr., Otzar Midrashim; Midrash Ha-Gadol, Bereshit on Gen 50:24); Yal. 1, 226 Beshallah, passim; t. Sotah 4:7 (ed. Lieberman; ed. Zuckermandel, 299–300); versions in: b. Sotah 13a; Bereshit Rabbati, Va-yehi 264; Tg. Ps.-J. to Exod 13:19 and Gen 50:26.

122 Brigitte Altenmüller, “Anubis,” LÄ, 1:327–33.

123 Pyramid Texts 1122c–d; the Tomb of Rai, Dra Abu el-Naga, 18th dynasty, 1300 B.C.E. (Staatliche Sammlung Ägyptischer Kunst München, 1996); Der el-Medina, Tomb No. 1; Papyrus Rhind (ca. 9 B.C.E.); Reinhold Merkelbach, “Diodor über das Totengericht der Ägypter,” ZÄS 120 (1993) 71–84, 77, refers to the voice of Anubis; Günter Vittmann, “Von Kastraten, Hundskopfmenschen und Kannibalen,” 167; Josephus, Ant. 18.65.

124 An Alexandrian tomb, the Tigrane Tomb, which was moved to Kom el-Shoqafa, depicts a corpse flanked by two jackals, cf. Susan Marjorie Venit, Monumental Tombs of Ancient Alexandria: The Theater of the Dead (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) plate X.

125 Christian Cannuyer, Coptic Egypt: The Christians of the Nile (New York: Abrams, 2001) 12, depicts a shroud in Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin.

126 Geraldine Pinch, Magic in Ancient Egypt (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995) 166.

127 Siegfried Morenz, “Anubis mit dem Schlüssel,” in Religion und Geschichte des alten Ägyptens (ed. Elke Blumenthal and Siegfried Hermann; Cologne: Wöhlau, 1975) 510–20.

128 Gen. Rab. 73:4; Deut. Rab. 7:6; Pesiq. Rab. 42:6 (ed.Ulmer); b. Ta‘an. 2a; b. Sanh. 113a.

129 See Rivka Ulmer, “Consistency and Change in Rabbinic Literature as Reflected in the Terms ‘Rain’ and ‘Dew’,” JSJ 26 (1995) 55–75.

130 Book of the Gates, tomb of Ramses VI (1142–1135 B.C.E.); in the Greco-Roman period Apopis is thought to have been created by Neith (Esna temple). In Coptic Egypt Apopis is also mentioned, see Joris F. Borghouts, “The Evil Eye of Apopis,” JEA 59 (1973) 114–50.

131 Robert K. Ritner, The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice (SAOC 54; Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1993) 147, mentions Apopis as the enemy of Horus.

132 Krauss, “Aegyptische,” 346–48.

133 See also Ezek 23:3, 8.

134 The theory of inversion is based upon Theodor W. Adorno, Negative Dialectics (trans. E. B. Ashton; New York: Seabury Press, 1973, repr., 1994; Negative Dialektik [Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp; repr., 1975]).