Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Part 15

When Moses came down from off the Mount, he found the children of Israel dancing around a golden calf, which his brother Aaron had made, and, as his "anger waxed hot," he cast the tables of stone on the ground, and broke them.[58:3] Moses again saw the Lord on the Mount, however, and received two more tables of stone.[58:4] When he came down this time from off Mount Sinai, "the skin of his face did s.h.i.+ne."[58:5]

These two tables of stone contained the _Ten Commandments_,[59:1] so it is said, which the Jews and Christians of the present day are supposed to take for their standard.

They are, in substance, as follows:

1--To have no other G.o.d but Jehovah.

2--To make no image for purpose of wors.h.i.+p.

3--Not to take Jehovah's name in vain.

4--Not to work on the Sabbath-day.

5--To honor their parents.

6--Not to kill.

7--Not to commit adultery.

8--Not to steal.

9--Not to bear false witness against a neighbor.

10--Not to covet.[59:2]

We have already seen, in the last chapter, that Bacchus was called the "_Law-giver_," and that his laws were written on _two tables of stone_.[59:3] This feature in the Hebrew legend was evidently copied from that related of Bacchus, but, the idea of his (Moses) receiving the commandments from the Lord on a _mountain_ was obviously taken from the _Persian_ legend related of Zoroaster.

Prof. Max Muller says:

"What applies to the religion of Moses applies to that of Zoroaster. It is placed before us as a complete system from the first, _revealed by Ahuramazda_ (Ormuzd), _proclaimed by Zoroaster_."[59:4]

The disciples of Zoroaster, in their profusion of legends of the master, relate that one day, as he prayed _on a high mountain_, in the midst of thunders and lightnings ("fire from heaven"), the Lord himself appeared before him, and delivered unto him the "Book of the Law." While the King of Persia and the people were a.s.sembled together, Zoroaster came down from the mountain unharmed, bringing with him the "Book of the Law,"

which had been revealed to him by Ormuzd. They call this book the _Zend-Avesta_, which signifies the _Living Word_.[59:5]

According to the religion of the Cretans, Minos, their law-giver, ascended a _mountain_ (Mount Dicta) and there received from the Supreme Lord (Zeus) the sacred laws which he brought down with him.[60:1]

Almost all nations of antiquity have legends of their holy men ascending a _mountain_ to ask counsel of the G.o.ds, such places being invested with peculiar sanct.i.ty, and deemed nearer to the deities than other portions of the earth.[60:2]

According to Egyptian belief, it is Thoth, the Deity itself, that speaks and reveals to his elect among men the will of G.o.d and the arcana of divine things. Portions of them are expressly stated to have been written by the very finger of Thoth himself; to have been the work and composition of the great G.o.d.[60:3]

Diodorus, the Grecian historian, says:

The idea promulgated by the ancient Egyptians that their _laws_ were received direct from the Most High G.o.d, _has been adopted with success by many other law-givers, who have thus insured respect for their inst.i.tutions_.[60:4]

The Supreme G.o.d of the ancient Mexicans was _Tezcatlipoca_. He occupied a position corresponding to the Jehovah of the Jews, the Brahma of India, the Zeus of the Greeks, and the Odin of the Scandinavians. His name is compounded of Tezcatepec, the name of a _mountain_ (_upon which he is said to have manifested himself to man_) _tlil_, dark, and _poca_, smoke. The explanation of this designation is given in the _Codex Vatica.n.u.s_, as follows:

Tezcatlipoca was one of their most potent deities; they say he once appeared on the top of a mountain. They paid him great reverence and adoration, and addressed him, in their prayers, as "Lord, whose servant we are." No man ever saw his face, for he appeared only "as a shade."

Indeed, the Mexican idea of the G.o.dhead was similar to that of the Jews.

Like Jehovah, Tezcatlipoca dwelt in the "midst of thick darkness." _When he descended upon the mount of Tezcatepec, darkness overshadowed the earth, while fire and water, in mingled streams, flowed from beneath his feet, from its summit._[61:1]

Thus, we see that other nations, beside the Hebrews, believed that their laws were actually received from G.o.d, that they had legends to that effect, and that a _mountain_ figures conspicuously in the stories.

Professor Oort, speaking on this subject, says:

"No one who has any knowledge of antiquity will be surprised at this, for similar beliefs were very common. All peoples who had issued from a life of barbarism and acquired regular political inst.i.tutions, more or less elaborate laws, and established wors.h.i.+p, and maxims of morality, attributed all this--their birth as a nation, so to speak--to one or more great men, all of whom, without exception, _were supposed to have received their knowledge from some deity_.

"Whence did Zoroaster, the prophet of the Persians, derive his religion? According to the beliefs of his followers, and the doctrines of their sacred writings, it was from Ahuramazda, the G.o.d of light. Why did the Egyptians represent the G.o.d Thoth with a writing tablet and a pencil in his hand, and honor him especially as the G.o.d of the priests? Because he was 'the Lord of the divine Word,' the foundation of all wisdom, from whose inspiration the priests, who were the scholars, the lawyers, and the religious teachers of the people, derived all their wisdom. Was not Minos, the law-giver of the Cretans, the friend of Zeus, the highest of the G.o.ds? Nay, was he not even his son, and did he not ascend to the sacred cave on Mount Dicte to bring down the laws which his G.o.d had placed there for him? From whom did the Spartan law-giver, Lycurgus, himself say that he had obtained his laws? From no other than the G.o.d Apollo. The Roman legend, too, in honoring Numa Pompilius as the people's instructor, at the same time ascribed all his wisdom to his intercourse with the nymph Egeria. It was the same elsewhere; and to make one more example,--this from later times--Mohammed not only believed himself to have been called immediately by G.o.d to be the prophet of the Arabs, but declared that he had received every page of the Koran from the hand of the angel Gabriel."[61:2]

FOOTNOTES:

[58:1] Exodus xix.

[58:2] Exodus x.x.xi. 18.

[58:3] Exodus xxii. 19.

[58:4] Exodus x.x.xiv.

[58:5] Ibid.

It was a common belief among ancient Pagan nations that the G.o.ds appeared and conversed with men. As an ill.u.s.tration we may cite the following, related by _Herodotus_, the Grecian historian, who, in speaking of Egypt and the Egyptians, says: "There is a large city called Chemmis, situated in the Thebaic district, near Neapolis, in which is a quadrangular temple dedicated to (the G.o.d) Perseus, son of (the Virgin) Danae; palm-trees grow round it, and the portico is of stone, very s.p.a.cious, and over it are placed two large stone statues. In this inclosure is a temple, and in it is placed a statue of Perseus. The Chemmitae (or inhabitants of Chemmis), _affirm that Perseus has frequently appeared to them on earth, and frequently within the temple_." (Herodotus, bk. ii. ch. 91.)

[59:1] _Buddha_, the founder of Buddhism, had TEN commandments. 1. Not to kill. 2. Not to steal. 3. To be chaste. 4 Not to bear false witness.

5. Not to lie. 6. Not to swear. 7. To avoid impure words. 8. To be disinterested. 9. Not to avenge one's-self. 10. Not to be superst.i.tious.

(See Huc's Travels, p. 328, vol. i.)

[59:2] Exodus xx. Dr. Oort says: "The original ten commandments probably ran as follows: I Yahwah am your G.o.d. Wors.h.i.+p no other G.o.ds beside me.

Make no image of a G.o.d. Commit no perjury. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. Honor your father and your mother. Commit no murder. Break not the marriage vow. Steal not. Bear no false witness. Covet not."

(Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 18.)

[59:3] Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 122. Higgins, vol. ii. p. 19. c.o.x: Aryan Mytho. vol. ii. p. 295.

[59:4] Muller: Origin of Religion, p. 130.

[59:5] See Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. pp. 257, 258. This book, the _Zend-Avesta_, is similar, in many respects, to the _Vedas_ of the _Hindoos_. This has led many to believe that Zoroaster was a Brahman; among these are Rawlinson (See Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 831) and Thomas Maurice. (See Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 219.)

The Persians themselves had a tradition that he came from some country to the East of them. That he was a foreigner is indicated by a pa.s.sage in the _Zend-Avesta_ which represents Ormuzd as saying to him: "Thou, O Zoroaster, by the promulgation of my law, shalt restore to me my former glory, which was pure light. Up! haste thee to the land of _Iran_, which thirsteth after the law, and say, thus said Ormuzd, &c." (See Prog.

Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 263.)

[60:1] The Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 301.

[60:2] "The deities of the Hindoo Pantheon dwell on the sacred Mount Meru; the G.o.ds of Persia ruled from Albordj; the Greek Jove thundered from Olympus, and the Scandinavian G.o.ds made Asgard awful with their presence. . . . Profane history is full of examples attesting the attachment to high places for purpose of sacrifice." (Squire: Serpent Symbols, p. 78.)

"The offerings of the Chinese to the deities were generally on the summits of high mountains, as they seemed to them to be nearer heaven, to the majesty of which they were to be offered." (Christmas's Mytho. p.

250, in Ibid.) "In the infancy of civilization, high places were chosen by the people to offer sacrifices to the G.o.ds. The first altars, the first temples, were erected on mountains." (Humboldt: American Researches.) The Himalayas are the "_Heavenly mountains_." In Sanscrit _Himala_, corresponding to the M. Gothic, _Himins_; Alem., _Himil_; Ger., Swed., and Dan., _Himmel_; Old Norse, _Himin_; Dutch, _Hemel_; Ang.-Sax., _Heofon_; Eng., _Heaven_. (See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 42.)

[60:3] Bunsen's Egypt, quoted in Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 367. Mrs.

Child says: "The _laws_ of Egypt were handed down from the earliest times, and regarded with the utmost veneration as a portion of religion.

Their first legislator represented them as dictated by the G.o.ds themselves and framed expressly for the benefit of mankind by their secretary _Thoth_." (Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 173.)

[60:4] Quoted in Ibid.

[61:1] See Squire's Serpent Symbol, p. 175.

[61:2] Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 301.