PTAHHOTEP AND TIMOTHY

                                                                                    by

                                                                      Asa G. Hilliard, III

                                                                         November 1994

Hilliard, A.G.; Williams, L.; & Damali, N.  (Eds).  (1987).  The teachings of Ptahhotep:  The oldest book in the world.  Atlanta:  Blackwood Press.

Over 4,300 years ago, Dja Ptahhotep, a royal scribe of KMT (Ancient Egypt), wrote what is the oldest surviving book in the world.  It was ancient African wisdom literature.  It contained 37 wise instructions for the "king's son."  The teachings to the son of the king was a literary device to express values, philosophy, theology, and a behavioral code.

II Timothy 6: 4                                           He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmising.

Ptahhotep, teaching 1:           Do not be proud and arrogant with your knowledge.  Consult and converse with the ignorant and the wise, for the limits of art are not reached.  No artist ever possesses that perfection to which he should aspire.  Good speech is more hidden than greenstone (emeralds), yet it may be found among maids at the grindstones.

II Timothy 6:10                                         For the love of money is the root of all evil:  which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and perceived themselves though with many sorrows.

Ptahhotep, tch. 19:                                If you want to have perfect conduct, to be free from every evil, then above all guard against the vice of greed.  Greed is a grievous sickness that has no cure.  There is no treatment for it.  It embroils fathers, mothers and the brothers of the mother.  It parts the wife from the husband.  Greed is a compound of all the evils.  It is a bundle of hateful things.  That person endures whose rule is rightness, who walks a straight line, for that person will leave a legacy by such behavior.  On the other hand, the greedy has no tomb.

Ptahhotep, tch. 20:                                Do not be greedy in the division of things.  Do not covet more than your share.  Don't be greedy towards your relatives.  A mild person has a greater claim than the harsh one.  Poor is the person who forgets his relatives.  He is deprived of their company.  Even a little bit of what is wanted will turn a quarreler into a friendly person.

II Timothy 6:11                                         But though, o man of God, flee these things:  and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Ptahhotep, p. 32, par 2           If an example is set by him or her who leads, he or she will be beneficent forever, his wisdom lasting for all time.  The wise person feeds the Ka with what endures, so that it is happy with that person on earth.  The wise is known by his good actions.  The heart of the wise matches his or her tongue and his or her lips are straight when he or she speaks.  The wise have eyes that are made to see and ears that are made to hear what will profit the offspring.  The wise person who acts with Maat is free of falsehood and disorder.

II Timothy 6:17                                         Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.

Ptahhotep, tch 1:                                    Do not be proud and arrogant with your knowledge.  Consult and converse with the ignorant and the wise, for the limits of art are not reached.  No artist ever possesses that perfection to which he should aspire.  Good speech is more hidden than greenstone (emeralds), yet it may be found among maids at the grindstones.

Ptahhotep, tch 9:                                    If you plow and if there is growth in your field and God lets it prosper in your hand, don't boast to yourr neighbor.  One has great respect for the silent person.  A person of character is a person of wealth.  If that person robs, he or she is like a crocodile in the middle of the waters.  If God gives you children, don't impose on one who has no children.  Neither should you decry or brag about having your own children, for there is many a father who has grief and many a mother with children who is less content than another.  It is the lonely whom God nurtures while the family man prays for a follower.

Ptahhotep, tch 22:                    Help your friends with things that you have, for you                                                                have these things by the grace of God.  If you fail                                                       to help your friends, one will say you have a selfish                                                          Ka.  One plans for tomorrow, but you do not know                                                      what tomorrow will bring.  The right soul is the soul                                                                 by which one is sustained.  if you do praiseworthy                                                        deeds your friends will say, "welcome" in your time                                                                   of need. 

II Timothy 6:18                                         That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.

Ptahhotep, tch 34:                                  Be generous as long as you live.  What leaves the storehouse does not return.  It is the food in the storehouse that one must share that is coveted.  One whose belly is empty becomes an accuser.  One who is deprived becomes an opponent.  Therefore, do not have an accuser or an opponent as a neighbor.  Your kindness to your neighbors will be a memorial to you for years, after you satisfy their needs.

II Timothy 6:19                                         Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against time to come, that they may hold on to eternal life.

Ptahhotep, p. 32, par 2           If an example is set by him or her who leads, he or she will be beneficent forever, his wisdom lasting for all time.  The wise person feeds the Ka with what endures, so that it is happy with that person on earth.  The wise is known by his good actions.  The heart of the wise matches his or her tongue and his or her lips are straight when he or she speaks.  The wise have eyes that are made to see and ears that are made to hear what will profit the offspring.  The wise person who acts with Maat is free of falsehood and disorder.