A Hidden God: Isaiah 45’s Amun Polemic and Message to Egypt

Abstract

This article demonstrates that Isa 45:1–19 is a pro-Persian oracle of well-being, promising the Achaemenid emperor that he will conquer Egypt, and subsequently impugning the theological ignorance of the Egyptians. The Egyptians misspeak in saying that Yhwh is a “Hidden God” like their own Amun (45:15). The unique title, the only reference to divine hiding that uses the reflexive hithpael, was chosen to echo the reflexive formulations in Egyptian texts (including during the early Persian Period) describing Amun’s self-hiding. Two other aspects of Amun’s mythology as creator are also alluded to: His close association with the primordial chaos (45:18–19) and his identification as the divine potter (45:9). Each would have been understandable to an audience in Egypt that lived among the cults of its deities in a very hybridized religious culture. They also would have been clear to elites in Jerusalem who were in regular contact with the Egyptian diaspora.