I have finally made it through Numbers, and perhaps I should now retire my humor lense.

Neith

Today's key lecture question for me was:  "Who has seen the face of God?"  I had assumed that Moses had seen the face of God, because he speaks to Him in what I had interpreted as several face to face encounters.  I had attributed the discrepancy found in the short, lovely narrative in which Moses glimpses God's "back parts" to the patching of redactors, but perhaps I did not read the text closely enough.  This made me think of an inscription apparently found on a statue of Isis ( I have read these words before, but never took the time to really think about them until now):  I am all that is, that was, and that shall be, and no mortal has lifted my veil.  I did know these words were associated with Isis, and that Isis was an ancient Egyptian Goddess, so I wondered if there was any more intertextuality to be explored--especially since these two religions presumably existed around the same time, and in close proximity to one another.  While researching the phrase I discovered that Isis was not the first to utter it.  She had a predecessor named Neith.  Neith was a war goddess in Egyptian religion before the epochs of the pharaohs.  It was said that she made weapons, and that she kept a death watch over the bodies of slain warriors.  Apparently her name can also translate to "water" and "weaver."  She is the mother of Ra.  In later times, because of the interpretation of the word "weaver," she was believed to be the creator of all the universe; for she had woven everything into being on her loom.  She is also famous for arbitrating the bitter feud between Horus and Seth.  I am just as ignorant about Egyptian religion as the Bible, so I did a little research into this feud.

Apparently there were once two predominant gods in the land of Egypt; Horus ruled the northern part of the land, and Seth ruled the southern end.  At some point the two lands became one, and this is where the trouble starts.  Seth is brother to Osiris, Isis, and Nephtys.  Nephtys is Seth's wife and Isis is married to Osiris.  Horus is their son.  Seth is very well known for killing his brother, Osiris, and attempting to murder his nephew Horus.  Horus is awarded full reign over all of the now united land, and Seth is banished to wander the desert forever.  This myth sounds hauntingly familiar.  The same themes of fratricide and banishment and incestuous treachery ( Nephtys slept with her other brother and bore him a son, yet Seth never sired any offspring).  However, some interpretations say that Seth was not all bad.  According to Wikipedia, he came to be viewed as a protector who kept the dangers of the desert at bay.  He is quite often pictured alongside Horus bequeathing the power of divine rule upon the infamous pharaohs. 

Seth was also given the Semite goddesses Astarte and Asat in an attempt to soften any hard feelings incurred after the pantheon's ruling.  This stopped me in my tracks; then led me on another line of research.  I always thought the term "Semite" was a synonym for "Jew" or "Hebrew."  This is how Wikipedia defines the word:  "The term Semite means a member of any of various ancient and modern Semitic-speaking peoples originating in southwestern Asia, including Akkadians, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Hebrews, Arabs, and Ethiopian Semites."  It further states that "the word Semitic is an adjective derived from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah."  It should also be noted that the Semitic family of languages and peoples does not include the Egyptians.  I found a very interesting learning module at wsu.edu/~dee/HEBREWS/WANDER.HTM.  The author admits that virtually nothing is known about the Hebrew occupation in Egypt beyond what is recorded in the Old Testament, but asserts that several educated guesses can be made about the events leading up to migration out of Egypt.  The Hebrews weren't the only Semitic peoples living in ancient Egypt; in fact, for a time, the foreigners were so populous that they ruled over the Egyptians.  Once the Egyptians regained dominance, they either expelled or punished the Semitic peoples residing within their kingdom.  The Egyptians also made several militaristic changes within  their society.  The author believes that "garrisoned" cities cropped up during this time, and taxation in the form of labor was extolled from the Semitic peoples.  This could explain why an Egyptian was beating a Hebrew on that fateful day after Moses was grown, and why Moses, in turn, killed that Egyptian.  That day, generations of bad blood finally came to a boil, and for Moses there was no turning back.  The author even goes so far as to speculate that Moses learned of the religion of Yahweh from the Midianites, and that the Exodus consisted of a mixed band of Semitic people.  I find this very fascinating because this amalgam of beliefs appears to be the rudimentary beginning of Hebrew religion.  "I AM THAT I AM" is not so far removed from "I am all that is, that was, and that shall be...."  Perhaps the pages upon pages of the tedious hashing out of laws and punishments in the book of Leviticus is a testament to the blending of several diverse cultures into one new, complex society.