The Hidden God: From Amun to Amen to Afikomen
The Thread of Sacred Hiddenness Through Time
Picture this progression: In ancient Thebes, priests invoke Amun, "the hidden one," the invisible force that pervades all existence. Centuries later, Jewish families hide the afikomen—a piece of matzah that children must seek and find before the Seder can continue. Fast forward to the Book of Revelation, where Jesus declares himself "the Amen" to a congregation in Turkey who still understood this wasn't just an affirmation, but a divine title.
This isn't coincidence. This is the survival of a profound spiritual concept across millennia, religions, and cultures—the understanding that the divine reveals itself through hiddenness, that seeking what is concealed is itself a sacred act.
The Egyptian Foundation: Amun, the Hidden One
2000-300 BCE: Amun rises from a local Theban wind god to become Egypt's supreme deity, eventually syncretized with Ra as Amun-Ra. His very name means "the hidden one" or "the invisible." But this isn't hiddenness as absence—it's hiddenness as omnipresence. Amun was understood as the divine force that animates all existence while remaining essentially unknowable.
The theological sophistication here is remarkable. Egyptian hymns describe Amun as:
"He who hides his name as Amun, he appears to the face as Re"
"The hidden one whose form is unknown"
"The mysterious one who cannot be seen"
This wasn't primitive theology—this was recognition that ultimate reality transcends human comprehension while remaining intimately present in all things.
The Jewish Transformation: Hidden Wisdom in Sacred Ritual
c. 1000 BCE onwards: The concept of sacred hiddenness flows into Jewish practice through the afikomen ritual. During Passover, the middle of three pieces of matzah is broken, and the larger half is wrapped in linen and hidden somewhere in the house. Children must find it before the Seder can conclude.
The word "afikomen" itself carries that ancient Egyptian echo—sharing the root "amon" meaning "hidden one." But notice what's happened: the concept has been democratized and pedagogicalized. Every Jewish child becomes a seeker of the hidden divine. The ritual teaches that:
The sacred often comes disguised as the ordinary (a simple cracker)
Seeking what is hidden is essential to spiritual completion
The divine reveals itself through acts of discovery
Community celebration depends on finding what was concealed
This isn't just borrowing—this is brilliant theological adaptation, taking an Egyptian insight about divine hiddenness and turning it into an educational tool that engages children in understanding the nature of God.
The Christian Culmination: Jesus as "The Amen"
c. 90-95 CE: In Revelation 3:14, something extraordinary happens. Writing to the church in Laodicea (in modern-day Turkey), Jesus doesn't just use "amen" as a closing affirmation. He declares himself to be "the Amen"—using it as a divine title, a proper noun.
This is crucial context: Laodicea was in Asia Minor, where Greek culture had absorbed Egyptian religious concepts for centuries. When Alexander visited the Oracle of Amun in 331 BCE, he brought Egyptian theological ideas into the Hellenistic world. By the first century CE, educated people in this region would have understood "the Amen" not as a Hebrew word meaning "truly," but as a divine title referencing the hidden god who reveals ultimate truth.
Look at the full context:
"And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God" (Revelation 3:14)
This isn't Jesus using a Hebrew affirmation. This is Jesus claiming the title of the hidden god who is both concealed and revealed, invisible yet omnipresent—the same theological concept that began with Amun in Egypt.
The Pattern of Sacred Hiddenness
What we're seeing isn't random borrowing but the preservation of a sophisticated understanding of divine nature:
Egyptian Amun: The hidden one who is everywhere present Jewish Afikomen: The hidden matzah that must be found for completion Christian "Amen": The hidden truth that reveals itself as ultimate reality
Each tradition recognizes that the sacred often operates through concealment and revelation, that seeking what is hidden is itself a form of worship, that the divine presence is most powerful when it cannot be directly grasped or controlled.
Why This Matters
Understanding these connections doesn't diminish any of these traditions—it enriches them. It shows that profound spiritual insights tend to survive and adapt, finding new expressions while preserving their essential wisdom.
The Jewish innovation wasn't just borrowing from Egypt—it was taking a priestly concept and making it accessible to every family, every child. The Christian development wasn't just Greek theology—it was claiming that the hidden divine principle had revealed itself in historical reality.
Most significantly, recognizing these connections helps us see that rather than being competitors, these traditions are part of a continuing conversation about the deepest questions of existence: How does the infinite relate to the finite? How does the transcendent become accessible? How do we encounter what is beyond our comprehension?
From Temples to Tables to Turkey
The journey from Amun's temples in Thebes to family Seder tables to the churches of Asia Minor shows how spiritual wisdom travels—not through conquest or conversion, but through the recognition that certain insights are too valuable to be contained by any single culture.
When we say "Amen" today, whether at the end of a prayer or in agreement with truth, we're participating in a conversation that began in ancient Egypt about the nature of ultimate reality. We're acknowledging, whether we know it or not, that some truths are so profound they can only be approached through the recognition of their hiddenness.
The threads connect: the hidden god of Egypt, the hidden matzah of Passover, the hidden truth that reveals itself in Christ—all pointing to the same insight that the most important realities often come disguised, requiring not just intelligence but wisdom to discover.
The Systematic Erasure: Power Through Amnesia
Here's what should stop us in our tracks: 66% of the world's population follows religions that emerged from Jewish tradition, yet most Christians and Muslims have never read Jewish texts. They follow a Jewish teacher (Jesus) or revere Jewish prophets (Moses, Abraham), yet systematically ignore the very tradition that produced these figures.
This isn't accidental ignorance—this is systematic erasure. For nearly two millennia, institutional Christianity has taught that it "superseded" Judaism, that the "Old Testament" was just preparation for the "real" revelation. Meanwhile, they completely ignore Egypt, the civilization that gave birth to the alphabet they use to write their scriptures, the mathematical principles that built their cathedrals, the very word "Amen" that concludes their prayers.
Think about what this means: Christianity claims to follow a Jewish rabbi who would have read Torah, studied in synagogues, celebrated Passover (including the afikomen ritual!), and understood Hebrew prayers. Yet Christians are actively discouraged from studying these same texts, from understanding the tradition that shaped their savior's mind.
It's even more stark when you realize that Judaism itself exists only because of the Exodus from Egypt. The entire Hebrew Bible begins with the story of a people shaped by Egyptian civilization, carrying Egyptian wisdom into new forms. Moses—the most foundational figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—was raised as an Egyptian prince, educated in Egyptian schools, trained in Egyptian magic and wisdom.
Yet somehow we're supposed to understand these traditions while ignoring Egypt completely?
The Power Grab: Severing the Roots
This erasure wasn't accidental—it was strategic. By cutting off knowledge of Egyptian and Jewish sources, institutional Christianity could claim exclusive authority over spiritual truth. They took Egyptian innovations (alphabet, mathematics, calendar, architectural principles) and Jewish theology (monotheism, messianism, scriptural interpretation) and rebranded them as uniquely Christian revelations.
The pattern is clear:
Egyptian alphabet → claimed as "universal" human development
Egyptian "Amen" → treated as Hebrew word with no older connections
Jewish scriptural interpretation → dismissed as "legalistic" and "superseded"
Egyptian mathematical and astronomical wisdom → attributed to "Greek genius"
African architectural innovations → called "Roman engineering"
This isn't just cultural appropriation—this is systematic theft of intellectual heritage combined with the demonization of the sources.
Most Christians today have no idea that:
Their savior was Jewish and would have practiced Jewish customs they're taught to ignore
The word "Christ" comes from Greek translation of Hebrew "Messiah," a Jewish concept
Their scriptures are built on Jewish interpretative traditions they're told are "obsolete"
Their most basic prayer conclusion ("Amen") likely preserves the name of an Egyptian god
Their calendar, mathematics, and architectural knowledge derive from Egyptian innovations
Breaking the Spell: What We Could Learn
Imagine if Christians actually read the Talmud to understand how Jesus would have approached scripture. Imagine if they studied the Mishnah to understand the religious world Jesus inhabited. Imagine if they learned about Egyptian wisdom traditions to understand the intellectual foundation that shaped Jewish thought.
Imagine if Muslims recognized that their reverence for Moses, Abraham, and Jesus connects them not just to Jewish tradition, but to the Egyptian civilization that shaped these figures.
Imagine if both traditions acknowledged that saying "Amen" connects them to thousands of years of African spiritual wisdom.
Instead, we get this: Christians are taught that Judaism is "superseded," that Egyptian civilization was "pagan," that African contributions were "primitive." Muslims are taught similar separations. Both traditions claim exclusive access to divine truth while systematically ignoring the sources that actually shaped their own beliefs.
The African Foundation They Won't Acknowledge
The hardest truth for institutional Christianity and Islam to face is this: their traditions are fundamentally African in origin. Not just influenced by Africa—born from African wisdom.
Alphabet: African innovation (Egyptian) that made their scriptures possible
Mathematics: African principles that built their sacred architecture
Calendar: African astronomical knowledge that times their holy days
Monotheism: Developed in the shadow of Egyptian theological sophistication
Scriptural interpretation: Jewish methods developed during centuries in Egypt
Theological concepts: Including the very nature of divine hiddenness we see in Amun/Amen
Yet both traditions systematically teach contempt for their African origins, dismissing Egyptian civilization as "pagan" and treating African wisdom as "primitive."
The Real Tradition: Wisdom Without Walls
Here's what these connections actually reveal: the greatest spiritual insights transcend the boundaries that institutions try to build around them. The wisdom that began in Egyptian temples, flowed through Jewish communities, and found expression in early Christianity and Islam belongs to humanity, not to any single institution claiming exclusive authority.
When we trace "Amen" from Amun to afikomen to Jesus's divine title, we're not diminishing any tradition—we're seeing how spiritual truth moves through cultures, adapts to new contexts, and preserves itself even when its origins are systematically erased.
The real tradition isn't Christianity versus Judaism versus Islam. It's the ongoing human quest to understand the sacred, a quest that has always involved learning from elders, honoring sources, and building on the wisdom of those who came before.
But that kind of humility doesn't serve institutional power. So instead we get artificial divisions, manufactured conflicts, and systematic amnesia about the African and Jewish roots that actually gave birth to the world's largest religions.
The Invitation to Remember
Today, every Jewish child searching for the afikomen participates in an ancient understanding of divine hiddenness that stretches back to Egyptian temples. Every Christian who encounters Jesus as "the Amen" connects with African theological concepts they've been taught to ignore. Every Muslim who honors Moses and Abraham touches the same tradition.
The threads connect whether institutions acknowledge them or not. The wisdom survives whether it's credited or stolen. The conversation continues whether it's encouraged or suppressed.
What if we chose to remember instead of forget? What if we honored sources instead of erasing them? What if we saw these connections as invitations to deeper understanding rather than threats to institutional authority?
The hidden god continues to reveal himself, not through dogma or institutional control, but through the very human capacity to seek truth wherever it leads—even when it leads back to Egypt, back to Africa, back to the Jewish communities that preserved and transmitted this wisdom for millennia.
The conversation continues, and the threads still connect, weaving together the wisdom of Egypt, Israel, and early Christianity into a recognition that ultimate truth doesn't belong to any institution—it belongs to anyone willing to seek it, to honor its sources, and to follow it wherever it leads.