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Re: Lions or Sphinxes *LINK*

Posted By: Malcolm Hutton
Date: Tuesday, 27 July 2004, at 4:22 p.m.

In Response To: Lions or Sphinxes (Charles Pope)

In Egyptian Mythology, according to Gerald Massey - "Ancient Egypt", a pair of lions supported the solar disc. - "At dawn the mount of sunrise in the garden eastward was attained. This was the mountain of Amenta, also called Shennu or Shenni=Sinai. Shena in Egyptian signifies the point of turning in the orbit of the solar course. This point was figured on the mountain where the lions rested as supporters of the solar disk at dawn"

As for a human face, Massey wrote - "The lion in sign-language was an Egyptian type of the terrible (Hor-Apollo, I, 20). This was applied to the sun or solar god as an image of his double force, and represented by Anhur and Tefnut. The hinder part of the lion that is carried on the head of Anhur is a sign of force. But the fore-part, the face and front of the lion, which reads peh-peh, denotes the glory of the double force. The fore-part of the lion or lion-god being the symbol of his glory, this was not to be seen by Moses, who is told to stand in the cleft of the rock whilst the glory of the Lord, or fore-part of the lion, passes by, and he is only to see the deity’s hinder part. As Egyptian, the cleft in the rock was the place of entrance to and egress from Amenta. The solar god who rose again as lord of terror was the lion of the double force, the power and the glory of the god being figured and differentiated by the hind-part and the fore-part of the lion. In strict accordance with Egyptian symbolism, the dual nature of Ihuh was made known to Moses — that is, if the promise was kept and the Lord revealed his hinder part (Ex. XXXIII. 18, 23). Moreover, it was made known by means of the lion or the man-lion as zootype. Moses asks to see the glory, and the Lord replies, “Thou canst not see my face” and live, so terrible was the glory imaged by the lion’s face. The glory being in front, the power was behind, and this alone could be seen by the mortal who desired to live. The unbearable glory obviously depended on the Lord as solar lion because he had first shown his face to Moses “as a man”. "

I must mention a very strange coincidence. When referring to 1Kings 10:20, my KJV opened at that very page. Some years ago, this happened to me quite often, whenever I was looking for some guidance.

Malcolm

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