what the egyptians got right

What the Egyptians got right

 

I went to see the Omni presentation of “Mummies: secrets of the Pharaoh’s” recently and was surprised to see how much they got right about the future. The ancient Egyptians believed there was an afterlife that would unite them with their bodies someday (if not nightly) so they took immeasurable care in preserving their bodies and internal organs; separate jars for liver, lungs, intestines and stomach. The heart was left in situ because that would be weighed for judgment in the afterlife.  The exception was their brains which they didn’t consider important, and for some of us that is absolutely true; not to be judgmental or anything. The pharaohs believed they would spend time with Ra following him around doing his duties, still acting powerful and deity-like but commoners were sent to a separate less comfortable existence.

The Omni presentation even showed the mummy of Ramses, presumably the pharaoh that went head on with Charlton Heston, I mean, Moses of the book of Exodus fame. Ramses is possibly  the only biblical character we have a visual of. That was awesome, to see the face of the man that battled with God and had seen the face of Moses, who had seen God. Well Exodus 33:11-23 says he had seen God’s back side, anyway, that’s more than we’ve seen. I have witnessed his miracles and sensed his presence, but I’ve not been on a mountain while God passed over to let me see his glory. That was Moses gift alone.

Over time, from the elite to the lower classes, mummification eventually became the norm. The preservation of bodies was discovered by unearthed corpses that had been buried and found in the desert soil that had never decayed due to the dehydrating nature of the local sands combined with the bacterial killing properties of the environment which halted natural rotting. Yet, the rich Egyptians paid in advance for a 70 day mummification process and well stocked burials while the common man was just put in a hole in the ground with a few meager processions and achieved the same effect albeit without an elaborate tomb warehouse since the affluent not only preserved their bodies they built extravagant tombs expecting to wake up in the realm of Osiris well supplied. In their eternal resting place they stored food, gold, furniture, statues, seeds to plant for more food, personal grooming items, and clothes. The list goes on and varied with each person. Eternal resting places, that is, until discovered by looters, apparently even then the prosperous dead were victims of criminal activity. No amount of curses or magical incantations could prevent theft at that time anymore that security alarms today can.

I also believe in an afterlife where we go and reside with a God (The God, actually) and become kings, queens and priests, Rev 1:6. I don’t need to have my physical heart examined or weighed for entrance, as Jesus took care of my admission into heaven by shedding his blood for me, Romans 3:21-26. However, my spiritual heart will be judged, Romans 10: 9-13.  I also believe, like the Egyptians, we’ll  be reconnected to our bodies again but no  matter  what state they were left in here on earth; mummified, burnt, eaten by wildlife, or naturally disintegrated; Job 19:26-27, 1 Corinthians 15:35-49 (one of my personal favorite scriptures). I’m also pleased to know that when I die and God reconnects me to my restored celestial body I don’t have to worry about housing arrangements because he’s there now constructing my living space, John 14: 1-4 (another one of my personal favorites). Food will be abundant, Rev 19:9, and we’ll be well dressed, Rev 19:8 in clothes provided for us in advance. There will be no caste system; the poor and well-off will enter through the same gates. I don’t need to stock pile accessories that can be stolen (Luke 12:32-34) because my God is clearly more capable of meeting all my needs than Ra was for the Egyptians. My needs, not my wants. That isn’t even true, because all I want is to bow before God in thanksgiving and see Jesus on his right hand side before I search eternity’s sector for my relatives and meet all the heroes of old and hear their wonderful testimonies. Amen and Alleluia.

So even though the Egyptians got the after life scenario right;resurrection of body and heavenly existence, they just put their eggs in the wrong basket, faith in the wrong deity, bodies in the wrong sarcophagus.