TREE OF KNOWLEDGE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 659, 11 October 1933, Page 7

TREE OF KNOWLEDGE

did it exist? ^ ,n r ■ • * . DWELLING PLACE OF GODDESS IN EGYPTIAN PARADISE. INTERE STIN G FACTS. In the same region of the Eastern Heaven where the Tree of Life stood in the Egyptian Paradise there was also a lusty sycamore. To it was :assigned extraordinary importance, as being the seat pf the gods, as appears from numerous passages of funeral texts, and espeeially ' as the seat of the supreme god Ra. The goddess Hathor is repfesented as the native goddess of tlie sycamore; In some pictures in "The Book of th'e Dead" she appears beneath the sycamore or .among its ibranches; in one of them the deceased is seen at the edge of a pool of water kneeling beneath a sycamore, ;and holding in his right hand a bowl, into* which Hathor pours water from a vessel. In another funeral papyrus it is the Nut, the goddess of Heaven, wh'o appears as a goddess of the sycamore or the persea (a laurel tree). Nere, too, the deceased is seen kneeling be-' side a pool, out of which a sycamore grows. The goddess Nut emerges from the branches, and with one hand pours water from a ewer into his hands, and offers him cakes with the other hand. In one of the tombs we seet the deceased beside his mother and wife, sitting beneath a sycamore. Humanheaded soul-birds stand before an altar tahle set with' all kinds of food and drink. The goddess Nut offers the deceased water and food; his soulbird is also refreshing its heart with the same gifts. There are other fine and most vivid representations of a Paradise, with woriderful groves of sycamore, dumpalms, and other fruit trees in the tomhs. In one of them the deceased and his wife are sitting beneath sycamores, being fed by a goddess with the fruit of the trees. A Sacred Tree.

Veneration of the sycamore as a sacred tree is very ancient, and can be traced as far .baclc as th'e Fifth Dynasty, 3000 years B.C. Its figs

were considered as the most luscious food of the Beyond, and were offered as delicious food to the dead. Moreover, the gods hacl a special predilection to the sycamore figs; they descended up'bn the sycamores to enjoy the fruit. That the deceased should eat this sweet fruit beneath a sycamore, in the midst of the Divine beings surrounding it, was the highest bliss of the "glorified and blessed" in the heavenly paradise. Together with it the fig' and wine are mentioned as food and drink of gods and kings, "the b.'loved of the gods," who are represented in their paradisial life, leaning on their sceptre, clothed in red linen, living on figs, drinking wine like water, and anointing themselves with fine oil. A Love Symbol. The most important polnt for our investigation, however, is that the sycamore always figured in Egyptian love-poetry, as. th'e love-tiae, and its fruit as love-fruit. Aspiration to enjoy sycamore fruit and wine in the Fields of the Blessed is thus closely connected with the ycarning for the enjoyment of love, which is expressly mentioned as one of the chief blisses in the Beyond among gods anj men. The lover is compared with the fig tree, whereas "the little sycamore" •symbolises the beloved love, and spealts out her heart wishes to her lover. With the tree's whispering that is "as sweet- as pure honey," it lures the lover to its coob shadow for the love potion, and h'e hastens to it, "drunken without having drunk." From this and other passages in Egyptian love poetry, the sycamore and fig tree appear as poeti!al and eschatolog'ical symbols of love, stimulating passion and filling the hearts of gods and men with joy. Now it was long ago suggested that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was a love tree, either a fig tree or a vine tree, so the whole episode which led the first men to hecome conscious of passion and sin was prompted iby the love fruit enjoyed hy them. The Biblical Tree. That in the Biblical paradise the fig tree substitutes the sycamore can be explained by the fact that whilst the sycamore was characteristic of Egyptian poetry, in Hebrew poetry the fig was symbolical as a love tree (Song of Songs, ii, 13). This because in Canaan the fig was more frequent and more popular, and therefore became even proverbial of the fertility and beauty of the land (Num. xx, 5, Deut. viii, 8, Kings v, 5, etc.). In the light of all fhese observations, the mention of the fig leaves in the Paradise story (Gen. iii, 7) assumes special significance. It is a clear indication that the author, in the moment when he lifts the veil of mystery, hints of the kind of the Tree of Knowledge hy mentioning the leaves.