Psalm 104 and a Hymn to Aten. Was Akenaten influenced by Hebrew ideas?

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I did my ThM thesis on Psalm 104. While I did not spend much time on the Hymn to Aten, I would have to conclude that any similarities are quite vague.
It is a real stretch to try to draw any dependence of the one on the other. You have two different poetic observations of the same creation/world from two closely related cultures. There are bound to be some similarities between some pieces of literature, if you look long enough to find the right (i.e., similar) writings. None of this convincingly argues dependence or derivation.
 
Pergamum,

Was Akenaten's monotheism influenced by knowledge of the Hebrew god?

I would say that Akenaten was not a monotheist. He might be called a henotheist at best. However, it was not like what is put forward in the Hebrew Bible.

Does it appear that the hymn to Aten and Psalm 104 have similarities?

Yes, there are. However, one must be careful in how you handle parallels. There is a problem in scholarship today with something called "parallelomania." People can find parallels to just about any ANE writing, if they look hard enough. You have to make sure the parallels do justice to both the Hebrew Bible and the ANE writing you are dealing with. If they don't make both contexts, then it is not a very accurate parallel. They must be aspects unique to each text as well, and that is what I would say is the problem here. While there is an interesting parallel about the young lions withdrawling when they see the sun, it is basically the kinds of things one might expect to find in any creation story, and thus, things that would not be unique to these two texts.

Also, you must beware of parallels that actually prove the opposite of borrowing. There are some parallels to the Hebrew Bible that show that the text of the Bible is a polemic against the other nations, or, more accurately, a setting of the record straight. The parallels between the Gilgamesh epic and the Bible would be a clear example of setting the record straight.

God Bless,
Adam
 
Adam,

You think that Moses intentionally mirrored Gilgamesh and other ANE myths as a way to correct them?
 
Pergamum,

You think that Moses intentionally mirrored Gilgamesh and other ANE myths as a way to correct them?

I would cautiously accept that statement, so long as we remember that we are talking about actual historical events recorded in the Bible. For example, if you go to the flood story in the Gilgamesh epic, you will find that the man who survived the flood, Uta-Napishti, has a father who is actually mentioned in the Sumerian King List. That same list also mentions a flood after his reign.

In other words, in the case of the flood, we are dealing with an actual historical event which is interpreted through the lens of Mesopotamian religion and ideology in the Gilgamesh epic. If you study the Mesopotamian account of the flood outside of the Gilgamesh epic, the differences in ideology and religion become even more obvious, and the facts that Moses includes are used to show the truth of what happened, and to refute the error.

In other words, I am not comfortable with the language "intentionally mirrored," as it suggests that what Moses was writing at those points is mythology like that of the ANE myths. No, Moses was writing about facts that happened in the past, and included the details of those historical events that would set the fiction of the ANE myths straight.

God Bless,
Adam
 
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