What Early Christians Said About Egyptians

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching

It is written in the sacred writings that a ruler of the Hebrews, forced by famine, went down into Egypt with all his family and relatives. While his descendants stayed in Egypt for a long time, they grew into a great nation. They were crushed under the heavy and unbearable yoke of slavery. Then God struck Egypt with a blow that could not be healed, and He set His people free. He led them through the middle of the sea. The waves were divided and stood apart on each side, and the people crossed over on dry ground. The king of the Egyptians tried to follow them as they fled, but the sea returned to its place, and he was destroyed with all his people. And this deed, so glorious and so wonderful, not only showed God's power to men at that time, but was also a foreshadowing and figure of a greater deed that the same God was about to do at the final completion of the times. For He will free His people from the crushing slavery of the world. But since at that time the people of God were one people, and in only one nation, only Egypt was struck. But now, because the people of God are gathered from all languages and live among all nations, and are oppressed by those who rule over them, it m

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Direct teaching

2. Up to that time the people served the Egyptians in the most abject slavery, as saith the Scripture: “And the Egyptians exercised their power rigorously upon the children of Israel;

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

...Jacob the father of twelve sons, and increased his posterity into a multitude, and brought him into Egypt with seventy-five souls. You, O Lord, did not ignore Joseph, but granted him, as a reward for his chastity for Your sake, rule over the Egyptians. You, O Lord, did not ignore the Hebrews when they were afflicted by the Egyptians on account of the promises made to their fathers, but You delivered them and punished the Egyptians. And when men had corrupted the law of nature, and had sometimes considered creation to be the result of chance, and sometimes honored it more than they should, and made it equal to the God of the universe, You nevertheless did not allow them to go astray, but raised up Your holy servant Moses. By him You gave the written law to support the law of nature, showed that the creation was Your work, and drove away the error of polytheism. You adorned Aaron and his posterity with the priesthood, punished the Hebrews when they sinned, and received them again when they returned to You. You punished the Egyptians with a judgment of ten plagues, divided the sea, brought the Israelites through it, and drowned and destroyed the Egyptians who pursued them. You swee

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching

Our ancestors, who were leaders of the Hebrews, crossed over into Egypt when they were troubled by famine and need, so that they could get a supply of grain. After living there a long time, they were crushed under an unbearable yoke of slavery. Then God had pity on them, led them out, and freed them from the hand of the king of the Egyptians after four hundred and thirty years, under the leadership of Moses. Through Moses, God later gave them the law. In this leading out, God showed the power of His majesty. He made His people pass through the middle of the Red Sea, while His angel went before them and divided the water, so that the people could walk over dry land. Of them it could more truly be said, as the poet says, that the wave, closing over him after the appearance of a mountain, stood around him. When the tyrant of the Egyptians heard of this, he followed with his great army of men. He rashly entered the sea while it still lay open, and he was destroyed, together with his whole army, when the waves returned to their place. But when the Hebrews had entered the wilderness, they saw many wonderful works. For when they were thirsty, a rock was struck with a rod, and a spring of

Justin Martyr, Hortatory Address to the Greeks Supporting witness

..., where he states that during Inachus’s rule over Argos, the Jews revolted from Amasis, king of the Egyptians, and Moses led them. Ptolemaeus the Mendesian, in his account of Egyptian history, agrees with this. Those who wrote the Athenian history, such as Hellanicus and Philochorus (the author of The Attic History), Castor and Thallus, and Alexander Polyhistor, along with the highly informed writers on Jewish affairs, Philo and Josephus, have mentioned Moses as a very ancient and esteemed leader of the Jews. Josephus, indeed, wanting to emphasize the antiquity and age of history by the title of his work, commenced it with these words: “The Jewish Antiquities of Flavius Josephus,”—highlighting the history's age with the word “antiquities.” And your most famous historian Diodorus, who spent thirty years summarizing the libraries and, as he wrote, traveled throughout Asia and Europe for the sake of accuracy, becoming an eyewitness to many things, composed forty complete books of his history. In his first book, after learning from Egyptian priests that Moses was an ancient lawgiver and even the first, he wrote of him in these words: “Following the ancient ways of living in Egypt, w

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Supporting witness

And the blood of the passover, sprinkled on each man’s door-posts and lintel, delivered those who were saved in Egypt, when the first-born of the Egyptians were destroyed.

Exodus 11:3 Direct teaching

And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people.

Exodus 14:9 Direct teaching

The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

Exodus 12:36 Direct teaching

And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.

Numbers 33:4 Direct teaching

For the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had killed among them. Also on their gods the Lord had executed judgments.

Numbers 20:15 Direct teaching

how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. And the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers.

Exodus 12:33 Direct teaching

And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men.

Deuteronomy 23:7 Direct teaching

Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land.

Deuteronomy 23:8 Supporting witness

Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, because he is thy brother; thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching

Accordingly it is expressly said, You shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you were a sojourner in Egypt;

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

Deuteronomy 23:7 designating by the term Egyptian either one of that race, or any one in the world.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Background

3. Since, therefore, the Scriptures have been interpreted with such fidelity, and by the grace of God, and since from these God has prepared and formed again our faith towards His Son, and has preserved to us the unadulterated Scriptures in Egypt, where the house of Jacob flourished, fleeing from the famine in Canaan;

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Background

Moses was originally from a Chaldean family, but he was born in Egypt. His ancestors had moved from Babylon to Egypt because of a long famine. He was born in the seventh generation and received a royal education. These are the circumstances of his history. The Hebrews had become very numerous in Egypt, and the king of the country became afraid that they might rise up because of their numbers. So he ordered that all female children born to the Hebrews should be raised, since women were considered unfit for war, but that the males should be killed, because he suspected strong young men. But the child was beautiful, and his parents secretly nursed him for three months, because natural affection was stronger than the king's cruelty. At last, however, they feared that they might be destroyed along with the child. So they made a basket from the papyrus that grew there, put the child in it, and set it on the bank of the marshy river. The child's sister stood at a distance and watched to see what would happen. In this crisis, the king's daughter came that day to the river to bathe and wash herself. She had not been pregnant for a long time and longed for a child. When she heard the child c

Isaiah 19:21 Direct teaching

And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.

Isaiah 19:23 Supporting witness

In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.

Acts 19:21 Supporting witness

And the Lord shall be known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day; and they shall offer sacrifices, and shall vow vows to the Lord, and pay them.

Acts 19:23 Supporting witness

In that day there shall be a way from Egypt to the Assyrians, and the Assyrians shall enter into Egypt, and the Egyptians shall go to the Assyrians, and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrians.

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness

So, let what has been said be enough as evidence from the Phoenicians and Egyptians, and from the account of our chronology given by the writers Manetho the Egyptian, Menander the Ephesian, and also Josephus, who wrote about the Jewish war that they fought with the Romans. For from these very ancient records, it is proved that the writings of all the others are more recent than the writings given to us through Moses, and yes, also more recent than the later prophets. For the last of the prophets, who was called Zechariah, lived at the same time as the reign of Darius. But even the lawgivers themselves are all found to have made laws after that time. For if someone mentions Solon the Athenian, he lived in the days of Kings Cyrus and Darius, in the time of the prophet Zechariah just mentioned, who was the last of the prophets by many years. Or if you mention the lawgivers Lycurgus, Draco, or Minos, Josephus tells us in his writings that the sacred books are older than they are. This is because the writings of the divine law given to us through Moses already existed even before the reign of Jupiter over the Cretans, and before the Trojan War. And so that we may give a more exact prese

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness

So then let what has been said suffice for the testimony of the Phœnicians and Egyptians, and for the account of our chronology given by the writers Manetho the Egyptian, and Menander the Ephesian, and also Josephus, who wrote the Jewish war, which they waged with the Romans.

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Background

Therefore, they were foreigners in the land of Egypt, though by birth they were Hebrews from the land of Chaldea. At that time there was a famine, so they had to move to Egypt to buy food there, and they also lived there for a time. These things happened to them in keeping with a prediction from God. Then, after they had lived in Egypt for 430 years, when Moses was about to lead them out into the desert, God taught them through the law, saying, "You shall not afflict a stranger; for you know the heart of a stranger, because you yourselves were strangers in the land of Egypt." Exodus 22:21

Cyprian, Treatises Direct teaching

... beforehand. When God was their guardian and avenger, they escaped the harsh slavery of Pharaoh and Egypt—that is, of the devil and the world. Yet they were faithless and ungrateful toward God. They murmured against Moses, looking back to the hardships of the desert and of their labor. Not understanding the divine benefits of liberty and salvation, they wanted to return to the slavery of Egypt—that is, of the world from which they had been brought out—when they should instead have trusted and believed God, since He who delivers His people from the devil and the world also protects them after He has delivered them. "Why have you done this to us," they say, "by casting us out of Egypt? It is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in this wilderness." And Moses said to the people, "Trust, and stand firm, and see the salvation that is from the Lord, which He will do for you today. The Lord Himself will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." Exodus 14:11-14 The Lord also warns us of this in His Gospel, teaching that we should not return again to the devil and to the world, which we have renounced and escaped from. He says, "No man looking back, and putting his hand

Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Direct teaching

... been written: "I said, You are gods, and all children of the Highest." If you hurry to flee out of Egypt, and go beyond the Red Sea into the wilderness, that is, from earthly intercourse to the Jerusalem above, which is the mother of the living, Galatians 4:26. And if you return again to Egypt, that is, to earthly intercourse, you will die as men. For every generation below is mortal, he says, but what is begotten above is immortal, because it is born of water only and of Spirit, being spiritual, not carnal. But what is born below is carnal. That is, he says, what is written: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," John 3:6. This, according to them, is the spiritual generation. This, he says, is the great Jordan, Joshua 3:7-17, which flows on down here and keeps the children of Israel from departing out of Egypt—I mean from earthly intercourse, for with them Egypt is the body. But Jesus drove it back and made it flow upward.

Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews Supporting witness

So, too, Egypt is sometimes understood to mean the whole world in that prophet, on the count of superstition and malediction.

Hippolytus, Exegetical Fragments Supporting witness

Under Egypt he meant the world, and under things made with hands its idolatry, and under the shaking its subversion and dissolution.

Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Supporting witness

...e mysteries, it certainly follows that those prophecies also which were delivered either concerning Egypt or the Egyptians, or Babylonia and the Babylonians, and Sidon and the Sidonians, are not to be understood as spoken of that Egypt which is situated on the earth, or of earthly Babylon, Tyre, or Sidon. Nor can those predictions which the prophet Ezekiel delivered concerning Pharaoh king of Egypt apply to any man who may seem to have reigned over Egypt, as the nature of the passage itself declares. In a similar manner also, what is spoken of the prince of Tyre cannot be understood of any man or king of Tyre. And how could we possibly accept, as spoken of a man, what is related in many passages of Scripture, and especially in Isaiah, regarding Nebuchadnezzar? For he is not a man who is said to have fallen from heaven, or who was Lucifer, or who arose in the morning. But with respect to those predictions which are found in Ezekiel concerning Egypt, such as that it is to be destroyed in forty years, so that the foot of man should not be found within it, and that it should suffer such devastation that throughout the whole land the blood of men should rise to the knees, I do not kn

Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Background

...e listen to the words of Paul as those of God, and of one who utters wisdom, we must understand the Scriptures as speaking of the heavenly city, and of the whole territory included within the cities of the holy land. For perhaps it is to these cities that the Savior refers us, when to those who have gained credit by having managed their pounds well, He assigns the presidency over five or ten cities. If, therefore, the prophecies relating to Judea, Jerusalem, Israel, Judah, and Jacob, not being understood by us in a carnal sense, indicate such mysteries as already mentioned, it will follow also that the predictions concerning Egypt and the Egyptians, Babylon and the Babylonians, Tyre and the Tyrians, Sidon and the Sidonians, and the other nations, are spoken not only of these bodily Egyptians, Babylonians, Tyrians, and Sidonians, but also of their spiritual counterparts. For if there are spiritual Israelites, it follows that there are also spiritual Egyptians and Babylonians. For what is related in Ezekiel concerning Pharaoh king of Egypt does not at all apply to a certain man who ruled, or was said to rule, over Egypt, as will be evident to those who give it careful consideratio

Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness

Now, on the point of their not being fugitives, nor Egyptians, but Hebrews who settled in Egypt, we have spoken in the preceding pages.

Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness

In the following way, also, we may conclude that they who came out of Egypt with Moses were not Egyptians;

Origen, Against Celsus Background

And if the Egyptians related fables of this kind, they are believed to convey a philosophical meaning by their enigmas and mysteries;

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Typology

...ng to the flesh had indeed to be sought after by the people to be killed, but was to be set free in Egypt, that is, among the Gentiles, to sanctify those who were there in their early state, from whom He also perfected His Church in that place (since Egypt was Gentile from the beginning, as was Ethiopia also); for this reason, by the marriage of Moses, the marriage of the Word was shown; and by the Ethiopian bride, the Church taken from among the Gentiles was revealed; and those who detract from, accuse, and mock it will not be pure. For they will be covered with leprosy and expelled from the camp of the righteous. Likewise, Rahab the harlot, despite condemning herself as a Gentile guilty of all sins, nevertheless received the three spies, who were scouting all the land, and hid them at her home; these three were undoubtedly symbolic of the Father and the Son, along with the Holy Spirit. And when the entire city in which she lived collapsed at the sound of the seven trumpets, Rahab the harlot was saved, when all was finished, along with her whole household, through faith in the scarlet sign; as the Lord also declared to those who did not accept His coming—the Pharisees, without

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Typology

For as He who was born Christ according to the flesh, had indeed to be sought after by the people in order to be slain, but was to be set free in Egypt, that is, among the Gentiles, to sanctify those who were there in a state of infancy, from whom also He perfected His Church in that place (for Egypt was Gentile from the beginning, as was Ethiopia also);

Cyprian, Treatises Typology

In Exodus the Jewish people, prefigured as a shadow and image of us, when, with God for their guardian and avenger, they had escaped the most severe slavery of Pharaoh and of Egypt— that is, of the devil and the world — faithless and ungrateful in respect of God, murmur against Moses, looking back to the discomforts of the desert and of their labour;

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Direct teaching

...They were very far indeed from being gods. However, in the times before them it was otherwise. Then Egypt had gods for its rulers, who lived on the earth with men, one always being supreme above the rest. The last of these was Horus the son of Osiris, called Apollo by the Greeks. He deposed Typhon and ruled over Egypt as its last god-king. Osiris is named Dionysus, or Bacchus, by the Greeks. Almost all the names of the gods came into Greece from Egypt. Apollo was the son of Dionysus and Isis," as Herodotus also affirms: "According to the Egyptians, Apollo and Diana are the children of Bacchus and Isis, while Latona is their nurse and preserver." They had these beings of heavenly origin as their first kings. Partly because they did not know the true worship of the Deity, and partly because they were grateful for their rule, they regarded them as gods, and their wives with them. And the male cattle, if clean, and the male calves, are used for sacrifice by the Egyptians everywhere. But they are not allowed to sacrifice the females, since they are sacred to Isis. The statue of this goddess has the form of a woman, but with horns like a cow, like the Greek images of Io. And who could

Minucius Felix, Octavius Direct teaching

...s mingled also of a goat and a man, and gods with the faces of dogs and lions. Do you not, with the Egyptians, adore and feed Apis the ox? And you do not condemn their sacred rites instituted in honor of serpents, and crocodiles, and other beasts, and birds, and fishes. If anyone were to kill one of these gods, he is even punished with death. These same Egyptians, together with very many of you, are no more afraid of Isis than they are of the pungency of onions, nor of Serapis than they tremble at the basest noises produced by the foulness of their bodies. He also who invents fables against us about our adoration of the members of the priest tries to lay upon us what really belongs to himself. For perhaps these are the sacred rites of their shamelessness, among those with whom every sex is exposed in all its members; among whom utter indecency is called refinement; who envy the license of prostitutes; who lick men in the middle; who cling with lustful mouth to groins; men of evil tongue even if they were silent; men whom their shamelessness disgusts before it shames them. Abomination! They suffer on themselves such evil deeds as no age is so effeminate as to be able to bear, and

Aristides, The Apology Direct teaching

Since the Egyptians were more foolish than the rest of the nations, these gods and others like them were not enough for them. No, they even give the name of gods to animals that have no soul at all. Some of them worship the sheep, and others the calf. Some worship the pig, and others the shad fish. Some worship the crocodile, the hawk, the fish, the ibis, the vulture, the eagle, and the raven. Some worship the cat, and others the turbot fish; some the dog, some the adder, and some the asp, and others the lion. Others worship garlic and onions and thorns, and others the tiger and other such things. And these poor people do not see that all these things are nothing, even though they see every day that their gods are eaten and consumed by men and also by their own kind. Some of them are burned, and some die and rot and become dust, yet they do not notice that they perish in many ways. So the Egyptians have not understood that things which cannot even equal their own deliverance are not gods. And if, indeed, they are weak when it comes to their own deliverance, from where do they get power to help with the deliverance of those who worship them? Great, then, is the error into which the

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Supporting witness

If Herodotus alone had said that the Egyptians spoke in their histories of the gods as of men, when he says, What they told me concerning their religion it is not my intention to repeat, except only the names of their deities, things of very trifling importance, it would behoove us not to credit even Herodotus as being a fabulist.

Aristides, The Apology Supporting witness

12. The Egyptians, moreover, because they are more base and stupid than every people that is on the earth, have themselves erred more than all.

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness

and first of all, Egypt will pay the penalties of her foolish superstitions, and will be covered with blood as if with a river.

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Supporting witness

and no wonder, when they look upon the brutes as gods, and shave themselves when they die, and bury them in temples, and make public lamentation.

Arnobius, Against the Heathen Supporting witness

the fourth is the offspring of the Nile, whose name the people of Egypt dread and fear to utter.

Julius Africanus, Extant Writings Background

The Egyptians, indeed, with their boastful notions of their own antiquity, have put forth a sort of account of it by the hand of their astrologers in cycles and myriads of years;

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Background

...me of the teachings belonging to each sect were gathered from other Barbarians, especially from the Egyptians. This includes other teachings, and especially that of the transmigration of the soul. For the Egyptians follow a philosophy of their own. This is shown chiefly by their sacred ceremonial. First the Singer comes forward, bearing one of the symbols of music. For they say that he must learn two of the books of Hermes. One contains the hymns of the gods. The second contains the regulations for the king's life. After the Singer comes the Astrologer, with a horologe in his hand, and a palm, the symbols of astrology. He must always have the astrological books of Hermes, which are four in number, in his mouth. Of these, one is about the order of the fixed stars that are visible. Another is about the conjunctions and luminous appearances of the sun and moon. The rest are about their risings. Next comes the sacred Scribe, with wings on his head, and in his hand a book and rule, in which were writing ink and the reed with which they write. He must be acquainted with what are called hieroglyphics, and know about cosmography and geography, the position of the sun and moon, and the f

Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness

In the next place, referring to the statements of the Egyptians, who talk loftily about irrational animals, and who assert that they are a sort of symbols of God, or anything else which their prophets, so termed, are accustomed to call them, Celsus says that an impression is produced in the minds of those who have learned these things;

Arnobius, Against the Heathen Background

But if you inquire into the credibility of the matter, I too will bring as witnesses the Egyptians, in whose language I am called Neith, as Plato's Timaeus attests.