The Egyptian Goddess Ma‘at and Lady Wisdom in Proverbs 1–9: Reassessing Their Relationship

Abstract

Scholars of the Hebrew Bible have a long tradition of seeking out parallel texts and concepts in the surrounding cultures of the ancient Near East for use as comparative data or as precedents available to the authors of the Hebrew Bible. This chapter reassesses the relationship, which has been both accepted and denied in scholarship, between the Egyptian goddess Ma'at as described in ancient Egyptian literature and the depiction of Lady Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9, with a particular focuses on the description in Prov 8:22-31. The brief survey of Ma'at in ancient Egyptian literature provides key elements with which to compare the description of Lady Wisdom in Proverbs 8. Their relationship is obviously complex. It is clear that there is not a one-to-one relationship between the two. Keywords:ancient Egyptian literature; Egyptian Goddess Ma'at; Hebrew Bible; Lady Wisdom; proverbs