Was Ham deified into the Egyptian god Horus?

 Was Ham deified as a form of ancestor worship in ancient Egypt as the god Horus?

Who knows but Gavin Cox of CMI has his case for it below and you decide what you out there in cyberspace think...

And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds,....Romans 1:23

"One of the most famous and ancient of Egypt’s many deities was Horus, the falcon sun-god.

1) Ham is 11^th from Adam; 

2) etymology of Ham’s name; 

3) Ham came from a family of eight; and 

4) Ham, the youngest of three brothers. 

These comparisons support the thesis that Ham was deified by the pagan Egyptians as Horus.

 

Egypt is eponymously called “the land of Ham” (Noah’s third son) in the Psalms (105:23, 27; 106:22) and “tents of Ham” (Psalm 78:51). 

Ham and Mizraim (Ham’s third son) appear together in Psalm 105:23 as designations for Egypt: “… Israel came to Egypt (miṣrāyim); Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham (ḥām).”

Here, ‘Mizraim’ is the common name for Egypt throughout Scripture. 

 

Ham was a first-hand witness of the Flood, and likely lived to a similar age as his brother Shem (500 years post-Flood, Genesis 11:11). 

--Via Noah’s teaching, Ham knew about creation and the pre-Flood world, knowledge he would naturally pass to his descendants. All this became paganized by the Egyptians. 

--Ham’s great post-Flood lifespan, involvement in re-establishing of post-Flood civilization, and knowledge of the pre-Flood world, likely meant he had divine status conferred upon him by the Egyptians.

 

Horus appears in Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts (OK PTs), along with his sons, father, and mother. Horus is depicted as a falcon or falcon-headed man, who was considered a creator god, as well as a form of the sun. His father was Osiris/Geb, with a notable brother, Seth. 

 

Myths associated with this family include the struggle between
Horus and Seth after Osiris’s murder. 

Here, both brothers injure each other through violent struggle for dominion. Horus loses his eye, which itself becomes deified as the moon (Thoth), and his healthy eye as the sun (RēꜤ). 

 

Pharaohs became the living embodiment of Horus, and received their ‘Horus name’. Upon death they were believed to fly to heaven as the Horus falcon, to join RēꜤ in the solar barge, crossing the sky eternally.

 

--The Genesis 5:1–32 chronogenealogies place Ham (with his

Atum (Adam?)

brothers) 11^th from Adam. Can a similar chronological relationship be discerned in Egyptian mythology, regarding Horus?

Egypt had a group of nine gods, called the Ennead, listed in OK PTs. Their sign was 9 flags, or vertical dashes, in Egyptian: psḏ.t (Wb 1, 558.12). They are listed in Pepis II PT-600§1655:

“O Great Nine that is in Heliopolis—Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Seth, Nephthys—Atum’s children!”

“The Greater Ennead” psḏ.t-ꜤꜢ .t (Wb 1, 559.5) included Thoth, and Horus. When Osiris is accounted for, who appears as (father/brother) bystander, Horus’s position appears 11^th from Atum, Unas PT-219§167–177:

“Atum … Shu … Tefnut … Geb … Nut … [Osiris] … Isis … Seth … Nephthys … Thoth … Horus.”

Atum is the Egyptians’ paganized memory of Adam. Here in PT-219§167–177, Horus is placed 11^th within the Greater Ennead—taking into account Osiris as bystander—from the Egyptian Atum. --This may represent a paganized memory of the genealogies of Genesis 5:1–32 where Ham (and brothers) stand 11^th in-line from Adam.

 

The 19^th Dynasty Turin Canon papyrus, though highly damaged,

provides information regarding Egypt’s earliest history, which designates Egypt’s Predynastic rulers as šms.w-ḥr.w “Followers of Horus” (Wb 4, 486.16–19).

 

Egyptologist K. Ryholt explains:

“The mythological kings consists [sic.] of gods, demigods, and spirits. … The first name [n ib […]] could be brought into relation with the primaeval ocean, the time before land existed and water was everywhere. The name ‘clod of the shore’ [pns.t n spt] can hardly be other than a reference to the creation of life

Horus (Ham?)

out of lifeless matter, earth. The two latter names [‘possessor of noble women’ (ẖrḥm. wt-šps.w[t]) and ‘protector of [noble?] women’ (ḫw-ḥm.wt-[šps.wt?])] could, perhaps, relate to the creation of women. Further below, in the now lost part of column 2, there was a further transition from demigods to spirits, which continues in the first nine lines of column 3. The spirits have generally been interpreted as prehistoric kings, but it remains unclear how much historical importance should be attached to the information the king-list has to offer.”

This sounds like a paganized reference to creation, Adam (from the earth), and Eve, up to later stages in the chronogenealogy, listed in Genesis 5:1–32.

 Ham’s name can be understood via phonetic connections to similar-sounding words within the Hebrew text, Biblical scholars call this ‘paronomasia’, (play-on-words, puns). At Genesis 6:11 the reason for the Flood is given—the earth is full of ḥāmas “violence, wrong”

(HALOT-2980).

    “And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham (ḥām), and Japheth.
Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence (ḥāmās)” (Genesis 6:10–11).

Theologian Moshe Garsiel states of the pun that it: “… does not serve here merely as sound play but implies a connection between Ham and ‘lawlessness’. Later on (9:22–27), this son indeed displays the inferiority of his nature compared to his brothers.” 

Ham’s grandson Nimrod at the construction of the tower of Babel provoked the next judgment of humankind.

 

--Ham belonged to a family of eight—comprising four males and
their wives. Ancient Egypt had a group of eight gods—comprising of four males and their wives (the Ogdoad) whose names appear in OK PTs. As Ham came from Noah’s family of eight, Horus also comes from a group of eight gods. 

 

Scripture states Noah had three sons: Ham “his youngest” (Genesis 9:24) and “Shem … brother of Japheth the elder” (Genesis 10:21 YLT). Here Scripture employs the adjective: קָטָן (qāṭān) HALLOT-8338 ‘small, youngest’ to describe Ham. Can similar relationships be discerned in Horus’s family? The following evidence suggests this is so.

Horus is described in Pepis I PT-539§1320c as:

Hr.w nẖn(.w) ḫrd

“Horus, the little child.”

Horus had a notable brother called Seth, with whom he violently

struggled (see motif 8), for instance:

Merenre PT-615§1742a.

jmi.y jr(.t)-ḥr.w ḥr ḏnḥ n.j sn=f stš

“Put the eye of Horus on his brother Seth’s wing.”

Also Pepis I-667a§1948b:

“[Horus will] be cleansed of what [his] brother [Seth] did to him, [Seth will be cleansed of what his brother Horus] [did] to him … Horus will be purified when he [embraces] his father Osiris.”

Another god, called Thoth is constantly associated with Horus and Seth in PTs, indeed, there is a clear overlap between Seth and Thoth as noted by Čermák, who also recognizes family relationships are often contradictory. Seth is brother to Horus, and yet simultaneously brother of Osiris in PT. However, Seth and Thoth are described as brothers together in:

Neith PT-218§163d.

m=k jri.t.n stš ḥna ḏḥw.tj sn

“See what Seth and Thoth have done, your brothers” (referencing Pharaoh Neith).

Neith PT-370–375.

ḫai.t (j) m bj.t (j) ḥr.w ḏḥw.tj snsn.w jr=k m sn bj.t (j) {ḥr.w} {ḏḥw.tj}

“You appeared as King of Lower Egypt and Horus and Thoth have joined you as the two brothers of the King of Lower Egypt” (referencing Pharaoh Neith).

The following (MK) Coffin Text makes clear the brotherhood of Horus, Seth, and Thoth: CT-681.

“O Thoth, son of the Harpooner, brother of Horus and Seth, who are on your throne, silence Seth.” (Faulkner 2004: II, 246).

Horus had a brother, Seth, (both sons of Osiris) with whom he struggled violently for political dominion. A closely aligned god called Thoth is described as a brother of either Seth, or Horus in the PTs, and one example in the Coffin Texts of Horus, Seth, and Thoth being described as brothers. In BOD, Thoth shares the same father (Osiris) as Horus and Seth. When these examples are considered, then Horus is comparable to Ham in having two other brothers, and himself being described as the ‘youngest’." CMI

 

***Just a thought...but IF there is any validity to the theory put forward by Mr. Cox, I'm wondering if this was an embellishment of

the story of that terrible incident between Ham and Noah (Osirus)? Did they change it around and make Shem (Seth) the bad guy and their direct ancestor Ham (Horus) the hero?

Did Shem and Ham have a falling out over it and Japheth (Thoth) was the peacemaker as in the Egyptian story? In the Egyptian myth Seth and Horus fight over Seth killing their father Osirus.

Because clearly Shem didn't kill Noah. A possible twist or embellishment for dramatic effect based on Ham's incident with Noah?....or blending of another event of a fight between some other relatives of that era...hmmm....well whatever...And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. Genesis 9:22-24