Walk Like an Egyptian? Part One (Senet)

My Father's World

Creation to the Greeks

Wk. 9

Many years ago, I overheard part of a song playing. All I know is that it exists and the only part I recall hearing is "Walk like an Egyptian..." Perhaps you are familiar with it... perhaps you are not. I have never cared to look further into it.

But just that portion of the song alone struck me. Should we walk like an Egyptian? What does that mean? Are we walking in Egyptian steps... without even realizing it?

© Principled Academy

It's fun studying history! There are so many things to learn... the people are interesting, the way they lived is interesting...

...but it's sobering at times too. Some people did not follow God. Their education and forms of government were centered around their beliefs and those beliefs greatly affected life (and life eternal) for people.

Those things being said, I think it can be easy for all of us to do something without realizing what it is we are doing!

Senet

One of the recommended activities is to make the Ancient Egypt board game Senet. Having researched about this game, I learned that...

The word Senet means "passing." This had religious significance. The players believed that "good luck" was a blessing from their gods. The winner was the first person to pass into the afterlife by getting all their pieces off of the board.

Resource: www.eyelid.co

Also:

The game had become a talisman for the dead on their afterlife journey.This game had an element of luck to it and they believed that the successful player would receive protection from their major gods (so that would be Ra, Thoth, and sometimes Osiris).

Senet boards were found among the graves (like many other objects thought to have gone into the afterlife with the dead). This game is referred to in the Book of the Dead.

 Resource: Wikipedia

Being followers of Christ, we know there isn't truth to the beliefs the Egyptians had about this game. Just the same, this game had religious significance to people who did not worship God. If they weren't following the One True God, there is only one other option (who was behind their gods?). Therefore, why would we want to learn and teach a game which is not centered around truth? 

Blessings!

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