Comparison of Egyptian Hymn and Biblical Psalm

“Hymn to Aton,” translated By John A. Wilson, Oriental Institute, Chicago

Thou appearest beautifully on the horizon of heaven,
Thou living Aton, the beginning of life!
When thou art risen on the eastern horizon,
Thou hast filled every land with thy beauty.
Thou art gracious, great, glistening and high over every land; 5
Thy rays encompass the lands to the limit of all that thou hast
made.
As thou art Re, thou reachest to the end of them;
(Thou) subduest them (for) thy beloved son.
Though thou art far away, thy rays are on Earth;
Though thou art in their faces, no one knows thy going. 10
When thou settest in the western horizon,
The land is in darkness, in the manner of death.
They sleep in a room, with heads wrapped up,
Nor sees one eye the other.
All their goods which are under their heads may be stolen, 15
And they would not perceive it.
Every lion is come forth from his den;;
All creeping things, they sting.
Darkness is a shroud, and the earth is in stillness.
For he who made them rests in his horizon. 20
At daybreak, when thou arisest on the horizon,
When thou shinest as the Aton by day,
Thou drivest away the darkness and givest thy rays.
The Two Lands are in festivity every day.             
Awake and standing upon (their) feet; 25
For thou hast raised them up.
Washing their bodies, taking (their) clothing,
Their arms are (raised) in praise at thy appearance..
All the world, they do their work...
How manifold it is, what thou hast made! 30
They are hidden from the face (of man).
O sole god, like whom there is no other!
Thou didst create the world according to thy desire.
Whilst thou wert alone:
All men, cattle, and wild beasts, 35
Whatever is on earth, going upon (its) feet,
And what is on high, flying with its wings...
The world came into being by thy hand,
According as thou hadst made them.
When thou hast risen they live, 40
When thou settest they die.
Thou art lifetime thy own self,
For one lives (only) through thee.
Eyes are (fixed) on beauty until thou settest.
All work is laid aside when thou settest in the west. 45
(But) when (thou) risest (again),
[Everything is] made to flourish for the king...
Since thou didst found the earth
And raise them up for thy son,
Who came forth from thy body: 50
the King of Upper and Lower Egypt,...Akh-en-

Aton,... and the Chief Wife of the King...Nefert-iti,
living and youthful forever and ever.

Ps.104 (Revised Standard Version translation)

[1] Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD my God, thou art very great!
Thou art clothed with honor and majesty,
[2] who coverest thyself with light as with a garment,
who hast stretched out the heavens like a tent,
[3] who hast laid the beams of thy chambers on the waters,
who makest the clouds thy chariot,
who ridest on the wings of the wind,
[4] who makest the winds thy messengers,
fire and flame thy ministers.
[5] Thou didst set the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be shaken.
[6] Thou didst cover it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
[7] At thy rebuke they fled;
at the sound of thy thunder they took to flight.
[8] The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
to the place which thou didst appoint for them.
[9] Thou didst set a bound which they should not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.
[10] Thou makest springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills,
[11] they give drink to every beast of the field;
the wild asses quench their thirst.
[12] By them the birds of the air have their habitation;
they sing among the branches.
[13] From thy lofty abode thou waterest the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy work.
[14] Thou dost cause the grass to grow for the cattle,
and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth,
[15] and wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine,
and bread to strengthen man's heart.
[16] The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon which he planted.
[17] In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has her home in the fir trees.
[18] The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the badgers.
[19] Thou hast made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting.
[20] Thou makest darkness, and it is night,
when all the beasts of the forest creep forth.
[21] The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
[22] When the sun rises, they get them away
and lie down in their dens.
[23] Man goes forth to his work
and to his labor until the evening.
[24] O LORD, how manifold are thy works!
In wisdom hast thou made them all;
the earth is full of thy creatures.
[25] Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
which teems with things innumerable,
living things both small and great.
[26] There go the ships,
and Leviathan which thou didst form to sport in it.
[27] These all look to thee,
to give them their food in due season.
[28] When thou givest to them, they gather it up;
when thou openest thy hand, they are filled with good things.
[29] When thou hidest thy face, they are dismayed;
when thou takest away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
[30] When thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created;
and thou renewest the face of the ground.
[31] May the glory of the LORD endure forever,
may the LORD rejoice in his works,
[32] who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke!
[33] I will sing to the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
[34] May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the LORD.
[35] Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more!
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
Praise the LORD!

[Hymn translation from http://thejoshu.virtualave.net/thejoshu/aton.html; very close to Durant's translation in Our Oriental Heritage 208]

COMPARISON – Hymn to Aton and Psalm 104

  1. In what ways do the hymn’s descriptions of Aton resemble a modern understanding of the monotheistic God? (Is God the creator, the source of goodness, etc.?)  Provide specifics.

  1. In what ways does the hymn seem to be more about primitive sun-worship than about the Deity as we think of the Deity?   Provide specifics.

  1. What similarities do you see between Aton’s relationship to the natural world in the hymn, and the Lord’s relationship to the natural world in the psalm?  Provide specifics.

  1. The pharaoh lived in the 1300s b.c., over 400 years before King David.  Tradition holds that David is the author of the psalms, although modern scholars believe that they were collected and written down during his reign.  What textual parallels between the hymn and the psalm are so striking that they would have led scholars to conclude that the hymn is a source of the psalm?  Provide specifics.