Amenemope and the "Thirty Sayings" of Proverbs
The Urantia Book · 95:4.5
The Melchizedek Teachings in the Levant
Amenemope taught: "Riches make themselves wings and fly away," and, "All men are the work of God." This Egyptian, the second Moses, gave to the world a moral philosophy and a religion of common sense, and his teachings are now embalmed in the so-called "Wisdom of the Hebrews," the Book of Proverbs.Read the full UB paper →
Ancient Source · Egyptian (New Kingdom)
Amenemope, Instruction of Amenemope (~1300 to 1100 BCE)
Give thy ears, hear the sayings, give thy heart to understand them. To put them in thy heart is worth while. Beware of robbing the poor, and of oppressing the afflicted. Cast not thy heart in pursuit of riches, for riches make themselves wings, like geese, and fly away to the heavens. Better is poverty in the hand of God than riches in the storehouse.
Chapters 1, 6, and 7 (lines 1 to 35), trans. F. Ll. Griffith / J.B. Pritchard
The Amenemope papyrus was first translated into English by E.A. Wallis Budge in 1923. Its discovery established that Proverbs 22:17 to 24:22 is a near direct adaptation of the Egyptian original.
The Parallel
The parallel is one of the best documented in biblical scholarship. Proverbs 22:17 reads, "Incline thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge." Amenemope opens, "Give thy ears, hear the sayings." Proverbs 23:5 reads, "Riches certainly make themselves wings, they fly away as an eagle toward heaven." Amenemope says virtually the same thing four centuries earlier. Roughly thirty Hebrew proverbs in this section align line for line with the thirty chapters of Amenemope.
Why It Matters
The Urantia Book confirms what scholarship discovered in the 20th century. The "Thirty Sayings" section of Proverbs is not original Hebrew wisdom; it is borrowed Egyptian wisdom that traces back through Amenemope to the Salem missionary tradition Melchizedek seeded throughout the Levant. The UB names Amenemope as the channel and credits Psalm 1 to him as well (95:4.4).
Scholarship
- Budge, E.A. Wallis. The Teaching of Amen-em-Apt, Son of Kanekht (1924).
- Pritchard, James B. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton, 3rd ed. 1969), pp. 421 to 424.
- Washington, Harold C. Wealth and Poverty in the Instruction of Amenemope and the Hebrew Proverbs (Scholars Press, 1994).
- Emerton, J.A. "The Teaching of Amenemope and Proverbs XXII.17 to XXIV.22," Vetus Testamentum 51 (2001).