The Egyptian Setting of the ,serpent> Confrontation in Exodus 7,8-13 By John D. Currid, Jackson MS Several recent studies in the area of the Egyptian background of the Exodus traditions have focused on the polemical nature of the Biblical accounts 1. The principal thrust of many of these works has been in comparative linguistics and, particularly, in the comparison of the paral­ lel usage of idiomatic expression. For instance, Pharaonic power was characteristically described in ancient Egyptian texts in terms of Pha­ raoh's «Strong hand», his being «possessor of a strong arm», and his nature as «the one who destroys enemies with his arm». Ironically, the same qualities were assigned to Yahweh and his humiliation of Pha­ raoh and Egypt in the Exodus account (Ex 3,19-20; 6,1; 7,4; 15,16; etc.). An additional example appears in Ex 5 in which both Yahweh and Pharaoh gave mandates according to the idiom «Thus saith ···" (5,1.10). The Egyptians were well aware of the meaning of that expression as reflecting the commands of a deity. Their own texts, such as the Book of the Dead, frequently communicated the desires of the gods with the opening words «Thus saith ... »2 Such ironic use of idiom by the biblical writer in Ex 5 set the stage for the following confrontation between the gods of Egypt (including Pharoah) and the God of the Hebrews. Some scholars see in those parallels a purposeful criticism of Pharaonic so­ vereignty by the biblical writer: it is really Yahweh who possesses a long arm, it is only he who can thunder «Thus saith ... », and it is he who is all-powerful. As Hoffmeier comments, «What better way for the Exodus traditions to describe God's victory over Pharaoh, and as a re­ sult his superiority, than to use Hebrew derivations or counterparts to Egyptian expressions that symbolized Egyptian royal power»3. 1 See, for example, J. K. Hoffmeier, The Arm of God Versus the Arm of Pharaoh in the Exodus Narratives, in: Biblica 67 (1986) 378-387; A. Niccacci, Yahweh e ii Faraone. Teolo­ gia biblica ed egiziana a confronto, in: BN 38/39 (1987) 85-102; and, D.R. Seely, The Image of the Hand of God in the Exodus Traditions, Dissertation, University of Michigan, 1990, Dissertation Abstracts 51. 2 So see, The Primeval Establishment of Order, ANET, 9-10. 3 J. K. Hoffmeier, The Arm of God (s. Anm. 1) 387. 204 Currid, The Egyptian Setting of the <Serpent> I would suggest, however, that such parallels go far beyond mere linguistic affinity4. In reality, I would argue that many of the very events and circumstances of the Exodus contain a polemical element against Egyptian life and culture. The occasion of the dividing of the Red Sea for example, may be an ironic, belligerent critique of Egyptian magic and its written spells. The ancient Egyptians, in fact, possessed their own account of a priest's separation of a large body of water. The Pa­ pyrus Westcar tells of a bored King Snefru who summoned the chief lector and scribe Djadjaemonkh to give him advice to gain pleasure6. The priest suggested that the Pharaoh travel on a lake in a boat with many beautiful and naked woman as rowers. His heart was happy until one of the rowers dropped her fish-shaped charm in the water. She would accept no substitute, so Snefru called for Djadjaemonkh to solve the problem with his secret arts. «Then said the chief lector Djadjae­ monkh his magic sayings. He placed one side of the lake upon the other, and lying upon a potsherd he found the fish-shaped charm. Now he brought it back and gave it to its owner. Now as for the water, it was twelve cubits deep, and it amounted to twenty-four cubits after it was folded back. He said his magic sayings, and he brought back the wa­ ter of the lake to its position/ The story is reminiscent of the biblical account of the Red Sea crossing, and it may be that the Hebrew writer consciously drew a pa­ rallel for polemical reasons. Thus, the chief lector priest of Egypt may have divided a lake in search of a valuable stone, but the God of the Hebrews parted the entire Red Sea and caused a nation to pass through on dry ground. Who had the greater power? The incident of the hardening of Pharaoh's heart was also an event that ironically ridiculed Egyptian culture, particularly its view of the after­ life. We will not take time to review that issue here because I deal with it elsewhere in the article8. I would like to examine another example of an event in the Exodus traditions that played off of the writer's knowledge of Egyptian religion 4 For further study, see, T. 0. Lambdin, Egyptian Loan Words in the Old Testament, in: JAOS 73 (1953) 145-155; T. 0. Lambdin, Egyptian Loan Words and Transcriptions in the Ancient Semitic Languages, Baltimore 1952; and, R. J. Williams, Egypt and Israel, in: The Legacy of Egypt, ed. by J. R. Harris, Oxford 1971, 257-290. 5 We possess one incomplete manuscript of the Westcar Papyrus, and it dates to the Hyksos period before the XVIII Dynasty (began 1550 B.C.). Its composition, however, ap­ pears to be as early as Dynasty XII (c. 1991-1783 B.C.). See, WK. Simpson (ed.), The Literature of Ancient Egypt, New Haven 1973, 15-30. 6 This is merely one story in a cycle about miracles performed by lector priests at the court of Cheops. They were reportedly narrated by Cheops' sons. 7 WK. Simpson, Literature (s. Anm. 5) 21. 8 John D. Currid, Stalking Pharaoh's Heart: The Egyptian Background to the Harden­ ing of Pharaoh's Heart in the Book of Exodus, in: BR IX: 6 (1993): 46-51. .