The Egyptian God Adam

Today I stumbled upon an Egyptian god I’d never heard of before, and yet he seems quite familiar. This god is named Atum. According to Egyptian legend he is the creator, “the deities and all things being made of his flesh.” He is the father of Shu and Tefnut. Atum phonetically sounds a lot like Adam. Could Shu refer to Seth? The Wikipedia article on Atum states, “Atum’s cult centred on the city of Heliopolis.” This is quite fascinating since Joseph of Egypt’s wife Asenath was “the daughter of Potipherah priest of On” (Genesis 41:45). On is another name for the city of Heliopolis. If this Atum is Adam, then maybe Joseph’s wife was also a Hebrew and believed in the same god that Joseph did.

“Atum is one of the most important and frequently mentioned deities from earliest times, as evidenced by his prominence in the Pyramid Texts, where he is portrayed as both a creator and father to the king. He is usually depicted as a man wearing either the royal head-cloth or the dual white and red crown of Upper Egypt, and Lower Egypt, reinforcing his connection with kingship.”

Apparently Atum is a more noteworthy god than our culture gives him credit for. What I find even more interesting is that Atum wears both a red and white crown. I think this symbolism has a more profound meaning than the author of the Wikipedia article leads us to believe. If red represents the flesh and white represents the spirit, then this crown would suggest that the God Atum is a resurrected being, his flesh having been quickened by the spirit. Why would the Egyptians believe that Adam is the creator of mankind and that he also is a resurrected god? Was Brigham Young a reincarnated Egyptian priest? Ok, ok, I’m being a bit facetious, but you get my point. Somehow early Mormon teachings about Adam being God match up with the beliefs of the ancient Egyptian religion.