The Religious Symbolism of Green Malachite

 

Malachite amulet of Horus falcon, 1550-1069 BC (New Kingdom)

The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

Green malachite was associated with the Son of God. He was called HR in Ancient Egyptian (Horus in Greek). HR was regarded as the patron of royal priests and kings. Green malachite pigment was used in the cosmetics that high ranking Egyptians would paint around their eyes to mimic the falcon-headed Horus.

Green malachite was associated with the falcon, the animal totem of Horus. The Book of the Dead speaks of how the deceased will become a falcon "whose wings are of green stone" (chapter 77). The protective Eye of Horus amulet was made of green stone. The Ancient Pyramid Texts speak of Horus as the "Lord of the green stone" (Utterance 301).

Malachite is a copper-based mineral, and copper was associated with the sun, the symbol of the High God and his son HR. The Nilotic Hebrew were known for their work with gold and copper. Copper and gold artifacts appeared in the region between the First and Second Cataracts in graves of the Middle A Group. These are dated 3600–3300 BC (Killick 2014).

Around 3,200 BC copper balances and weights were used at Nile shrines to determine cargo taxes and for trade.

Green malachite was placed in some graves at Nekhen on the Nile, the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship (4200 BC). A leather pouch containing chunks of malachite was found among the grave goods at Tomb 39 in Nekhen, a city dedicated to Horus.

Timna is the site of some of the world's oldest copper mines. The oldest mines are at least 6,000 years old and there are newer ones as well, totaling about 10,000 shafts. The miners at Timna venerated Hathor, the mother of Horus. A temple dedicated to Hathor was discovered at the southwestern edge of Mt. Timna by Professor Beno Rothenberg of Hebrew University.

This green malachite stone, a gift from the Egyptian king with whom the Hittites signed a treaty in 1258 BC, was at the center of a shrine in the Hittite capital of Hattusa (in Çorum Province in Turkey). Among the ancient Nilotic Hebrew, green malachite represented new life and the hope of resurrection. The land of the blessed dead was described as the "field of malachite."

Many of the priests of the ancient world, including some Hittite priests, were devotees of God's son Horus. Some shrine centers among the Hittites reflect this: Horoztepe (Horus Hill) and Išuwa (Yeshua/Yesu). According to the early Hebrew (4000-2000 BC), the first act of the Creator at the beginning was šw (Shu), meaning light. This is not the light of day. It is the eternal, uncreated light associated with the High God's son Y-shu (Yeshua), as proclaimed in John's Prologue.

The name Jesus is related to the Hebrew word Yeshua, meaning Salvation. However, the name is older than the Hebrew language. It is found as early as 2600 BC among the Hebrew priests of the Nile Valley as Yesu or Yeshu.

A prince named Yesu is mentioned as the son of Ameny, the son of Shenwy, the son of Nakht on a memorial stela from Abydos. It speaks of Shenwy and his wife, Hedjret. One of Hedjret's grandsons is called išw, which could be an early form of the name Jesus/Yeshu (Bill Manley, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, p. 77.)

The name Yesu is attached to the roles of priest and king in ancient hieroglyphics. Reading from left to right: The feather represents judgment. The horn represents power. The staff represents royal authority, and the chick represents new life. All of these symbols speak of Jesus Christ.

Related reading: The Religious Symbolism of Gold; Malachite and The Ancient Egyptians; BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Copper and Iron; Just Genesis: Why the Name Jesus?

Midianite Potters of Edom

A tent-shrine or tabernacle was discovered at Timnaʿthat resembled the biblical description of the tabernacle of Moses in the wilderness. Stone-lined post-holes were found with acacia wood fragments and numerous copper rings. There were copious fragments of copper wire knots likely used to suspend the tent curtains.

At all sites where Midianite sherds were found (B. Rothenberg and Glass 1983; Parr 1988; Knauf 1988: 21-23), their dating was of the New Kingdom period of Timna, an industrial-scale metallurgical site in and around the Wadi Arabah in ancient Edom. The region was rich in copper and the metal work done there appears to have involved religious ritual. Juan Manuel Tebes points out that the Midianite ceramic wares also appear "consistently in cultic contexts, administrative buildings, and burial offerings."

In the early 2000's, Dr. Thomas E. Levy led an archaeological survey that yielded earlier dates than had been assigned to the Edomite kingdom. The team found scarabs, painted pottery shards, metal arrowheads, hammers, grinding stones, and slag heaps. Dr. Levy stated, "Only a complex society such as a paramount chiefdom or primitive kingdom would have the organizational know-how to produce copper metal on such an industrial scale." 

An "impressive amount of Midianite ware" was found around the tent-shrine at Timna. The Midianites were related to Abraham through his son Midian, born of Abraham's cousin wife Keturah (Gen. 25). They should be considered a Horite Hebrew clan of Edom. Moses married his cousin Zipporah, a daughter of the Midianite priest Jethro. Moses' father married a Horite woman of Edom (see diagram above).

At Timna there was a shrine to Hathor, the mother of Horus. (Horus is derived from the Ancient Egyptian HR, meaning "Most High One.") Hathor was the patron of the Horite metal workers at Timna and at other metal workers sites in the region. A temple dedicated to Hathor was discovered at the southwestern edge of Mt. Timna by Professor Beno Rothenberg of Hebrew University. In his book Timna, Rothenberg concluded that the peoples living in the area were "partners not only in the work but in the worship of Hathor." (Timna, p. 183)

Concerning House 314 at Tel Masos near Beersheba Juan Tebes writes: “Within several of its habitations, rests of metallurgical activities were visible on the ground, possibly connected to a ritual function, as has been suggested by the appearance of ‘human’ figurines very similar to those found at the Hathor temple of Timna."

Tel Masos sits at the gateway to Hebron where Sarah resided. Keturah likely resided at or near Tel Masos or Beersheba. These sites were within Abraham's territory in Edom as shown on the map above. Note the placement of the wives on a north-south axis, a characteristic of the Horite marriage pattern involving two wives.

Horite Hebrew priests were active in metal work, as is evidence in the stories of Aaron and Moses fabricating ritual objects. They were rather widely dispersed in the ancient world. Horite Hebrew priests were found in Aram, Edom, Judah, and Moab. The Midianite potters were among them.


Related reading: The Chiefs of Edom, The Substance of Abraham's Faith, The Ra-Horus-Hathor Narrative; A Land Whose Stones are Iron and From Whose Hill You May Mine Copper.; The Antiquity of the Edomite Rulers