True Origins of the 10 Commandments

By Mike Rashid King

A sacred echo resonates across millennia: a divine law spoken long before Sinai’s thunder. In ancient Africa, along the Nile’s fertile banks, the wisdom of Ma’at formed the spiritual code of a civilization – a code that Moses would later echo atop Mount Sinai. Ma’at, the goddess of truth, justice, and cosmic order, embodied a moral law in Kemet (ancient Egypt) that predates Moses by centuries. This is the story of how the Ten Commandments were not unprecedented revelations, but reflections – a sacred echo – of a much older African ethical tradition.

Ma’at: Goddess and Principle of Cosmic Order

Ma’at is more than a mythic figure; she is both a goddess and the very principle of order that underpins the universe. Ancient Egyptians understood Ma’at as the force that balanced creation – truth, justice, harmony, and reciprocity personified in goddess form. In art and inscription, Ma’at is depicted with an ostrich feather on her head, the feather of truth, symbolizing the lightness of a just soul. Kings of Egypt were expected to “live in Ma’at,” upholding justice and balance in governance. The pharaohs even styled themselves as “Beloved of Ma’at,” tasked with maintaining divine order in the realm. This principle wasn’t confined to temples or royal halls; it guided everyday life, ethics, and law. From the throne to the marketplace, Ma’at’s presence was felt as a lived reality – a commitment to truth-telling, fairness, and communal harmony.

Crucially, Ma’at’s influence permeated politics and society. The highest officials (viziers) bore the title Priest of Ma’at and oversaw courts where truth and justice were sacrosanct. The African worldview of Kemet did not separate religious principle from daily existence – Ma’at was the fabric of both cosmos and community. To live in Ma’at meant to practice honesty, compassion, and balance with one’s neighbors and environment. This deeply ingrained ethical paradigm set the stage for what we now call the “42 Laws of Ma’at,” a set of ideals that would later find an echo in Moses’ commandments.

Ancient Origins: Ma’at’s 42 Laws Long Before Moses

Long before the time Moses is believed to have lived (around the 14th–13th century BCE), the people of Kemet had already codified their ideals of right and wrong under Ma’at’s guidance. The 42 Laws of Ma’at – also known as the 42 Negative Confessions or Declarations of Innocence – can be traced back as far as the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom (circa 2400 BCE) and were firmly established by the Middle Kingdom (~2000 BCE). Some accounts even suggest that as early as the First Dynasty (c. 2925 BCE, under Pharaoh Menes) there is evidence of the 42 laws being observed . In other words, Ma’at’s code predated Moses by centuries, if not millennia.

These 42 principles were inscribed on papyri placed in tombs and taught as part of Egyptian spiritual life. One famous example comes from the Papyrus of Ani (c. 1250 BCE), which contains the Negative Confession in detail. By the time Moses would have been raised in Egypt, the ethical framework of Ma’at was ancient and deeply rooted.

Historically, Moses is placed roughly in the 1300s BCE – often around 1390–1270 BCE for his lifespan. By that era, Kemet’s civilization had long been flourishing under Ma’at’s moral order. The Declaration of Innocence (the 42 Laws) was recited by Egyptians upon death for entrance into the afterlife, demonstrating how fully the society embraced this moral code. In the divine tribunal of the afterlife, the soul declared each sin it did not commit: “I have not stolen. I have not slain men or women. I have not told lies,” and so on. For each confession, the soul addressed one of 42 spiritual judges, affirming a life lived in accordance with Ma’at’s law.

The 42 Laws of Ma’at: Personal Moral Declarations

Unlike the carved stone tablets of Sinai with their “Thou shalt not” directives, Ma’at’s 42 Laws were phrased as personal affirmations of innocence. In life and at judgment, an Egyptian would declare their purity of heart: “I have not committed sin. I have not committed theft. I have not borne false witness,” and so forth. These were not imposed edicts but deeply personal moral self-assessments. Every individual took responsibility for aligning with Ma’at, as if saying: I lived justly, I did right by others, and my heart is light.

The purpose of these declarations was spiritual and introspective. Upon death, the deceased’s heart was weighed against the feather of Ma’at’s truth in the Hall of Two Truths. If the heart, heavy with wrongdoing, outweighed the feather, the soul would fail the test – a fate more final than any earthly punishment. Thus the 42 Laws served as a guide for the living and a testament for the dead. They were ideals to internalize, not just laws to obey out of fear of authority. This system fostered a sense of personal accountability: each person had to cultivate Ma’at within themselves.

In the famous scene from the Papyrus of Ani, the deceased Ani’s heart is weighed against Ma’at’s feather of truth. Anubis checks the scales while Thoth records the verdict, and the monster Ammit waits to devour the heart if it’s heavy with sin. This vignette visually captures how central Ma’at’s moral law was to the Egyptian conception of justice and the afterlife.

Notably, the 42 declarations could vary slightly from person to person and were not a rigid, one-size-fits-all code . They reflected a common core of values – honesty, charity, fidelity, piety, and balance – but could be tailored to an individual’s life and confessions. Ma’at’s law, therefore, was a lived code. It was enshrined in myth and rite, yet flexible enough to be a personal creed. Everyone from pharaoh to farmer understood what it meant to “do Ma’at” – to act with righteousness and maintain the harmonious order willed by the Creator.

From Nile to Sinai: Moses and the Kemet Connection

Moses, according to biblical tradition, was born a Hebrew but raised as an Egyptian prince – “educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22). Before he ever stood on Sinai, Moses had spent decades immersed in Kemet’s culture and spiritual environment. He would have known the precepts of Ma’at as part of the very fabric of royal education. The Bible itself hints at Moses’ Egyptian upbringing and knowledge. By the time he led the Israelites out of Egypt, he was a man formed by two worlds: the African world of Kemet and the Hebrew heritage of his birth.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the laws Moses delivered to his people mirror the ethics of the land where he was raised. Moses did not invent morality from thin air – he translated and transmitted an existing sacred law. African scholars have long pointed out that the Ten Commandments echo Ma’at’s earlier declarations. Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan (Dr. Ben), a renowned Egyptologist, argued that when Moses ascended Sinai, he was drawing on laws “that were already in existence, and were thousands of years old,” known in Egypt as the Admonitions to Ma’at. In essence, Moses’ revelation was a replication of the universal truths he learned in Africa.

Even the form of the commandments can be seen as a transformation of Ma’at’s confessions from the first person (“I have not…”) to the imperative (“Thou shalt not…”). Moses, acting as a lawgiver, took what had been a personal code of righteousness and presented it as divine legislation for a newly freed nation. The continuity is unmistakable: the command to not kill, not steal, not commit adultery, not bear false witness, not covet – all have their counterparts in Ma’at’s much older 42 principles. What changed was the context: in Kemet these principles were woven into everyday life and the cosmic order overseen by Ma’at; in Moses’s hands, they became the foundation of a covenant between a people and a single deity.

Importantly, Moses’ transformation of those principles also had to suit a new cultural narrative – one God instead of many, a law given in the desert instead of affirmed in the weighing of the heart. But beneath these differences lies a common moral core. The Ten Commandments can thus be seen as Ma’at distilled into ten fundamental rules.

Continuity in Commandments: Ma’at’s Laws and the Ten Commandments

To illustrate the direct continuity between Ma’at’s code and the Ten Commandments, one can compare them side by side. The overlap is striking, underscoring that this is no coincidence but a clear cultural inheritance:

• Do Not Kill – In Ma’at’s code: “I have not slain men or women.” In the Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt not kill.” (Exodus 20:13)
  
  
• Do Not Steal – In Ma’at: “I have not stolen.”  In the Commandments: “Thou shalt not steal.” (Exodus 20:15)
  
  
• No False Witness – In Ma’at: “I have not falsely accused anyone.” In the Commandments: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16)
  
  
• No Adultery – In Ma’at: “I have not committed adultery.” (also phrased as “I have not seduced anyone’s wife” in some versions). In the Commandments: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14)
  
  
• Honor the Divine – In Ma’at: “I have not cursed the gods.” In the Commandments: “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD in vain.” (Exodus 20:7) and “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)
  
  

These parallels reveal a sacred ethic consistent across time and culture. The ancient Africans recognized these moral imperatives as the basis of a just society and a pure soul; Moses carried the same imperatives into a new context. The 42 Laws of Ma’at include additional virtues, prohibitions against greed, arrogance, polluting oneself or the earth, harming children, etc., many values that resonate beyond the scope of the Ten Commandments. But the core tenets that Moses proclaimed on Sinai were already cornerstones of Ma’at. Far from being a novel code of law, the Ten Commandments represent continuity with this African heritage of spirituality and ethics.

Moses’ Egyptian education likely exposed him to the principle that law is sacred. In Kemet, the idea of maat was not separate from religion – to do right was to please the gods and uphold the divine order. The Bible itself notes that Moses “was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians”, which strongly implies he was versed in Ma’at’s system of justice before receiving his mission to lead Israel. Rather than crediting Moses alone for these ideas, we see him as a conduit. He took the law that was written in the hearts of the African people of Kemet and delivered it to the Hebrews in a form they could accept, under the authority of Yahweh.

Reclaiming Ma’at: A Timeless Path of Truth and Balance

Understanding that the Ten Commandments are a sacred echo of Ma’at’s 42 Laws has profound implications. It reminds us that moral truth is universal and timeless – and that Africa’s contributions to spiritual civilization run deep. Ma’at’s system, established thousands of years ago, still calls out to us today as a guide to living in harmony with each other and creation. In a world plagued by injustice and imbalance, the ancient wisdom of Ma’at is not antiquated; it is urgently relevant.

To reclaim Ma’at is to return to a state of balance, justice, and truth as the foundation of our lives. It means recognizing, as the ancients did, that we must keep our hearts light by aligning with what is right. The goddess Ma’at may not be widely worshiped in modern times, but the principles she embodies – truth, justice, order, reciprocity, and righteousness – are eternal. They belong to no single religion; they are the law of the universe, echoed on Sinai but born in Africa.

In conclusion, Moses should be seen not as the originator of ethical monotheism’s laws, but as a transmitter – a bridge between the African wellspring of spiritual law and the emerging Israelite nation. The Ten Commandments were a translation of Ma’at into a new cultural language. By recognizing this truth, we pay homage to the African ancestors who first illuminated the path of righteous living. We are called to reclaim Ma’at’s legacy: to uphold truth in the face of falsehood, to practice justice in a world of injustice, and to restore balance where chaos threatens to reign. This timeless system of divine balance invites us, still, to harmonize our lives with the sacred order of Ma’at – the original guide to living in truth and light.

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