Ancient Near Eastern Parallels to the Trinity

The biggest Near Eastern parallel lies in the fact that God's Spirit can enter people and in some sense become one with them. This is echoed in the Near Eastern idea that lesser gods could be manifestations of higher gods, and that rulers could be earthly manifestations of the gods. One of the more interesting Egyptian texts that talks about this is Coffin Spell 317. In this text Pharaoh declared that he had appeared on his heavenly throne, had become a spirit, the spirit of the god Horas who possessed the offerings of the underworld. H. Frankford noted another example of this in a text describing the succession of Amenhotep II. This text claimed that when King Tuthmosis III went up to heaven he was united with a sun disc, and then the body of the god joined him who had made him. Interestingly, there is even a tendency in Egypt for the high gods to be arranged in a sort of trinity. For example, one text quoted by Pritchard in Ancient Near Eastern Texts, claimed that all of the Egyptian gods were really manifestations of the three high gods Amon, Re, and Ptah. Amon was the hidden god, Re was the aspect of god shining in man's faces, and Ptah was the body of god.

In Isaiah 48:16 God made a very interesting claim through the prophets. God said, "Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there." And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit." Here God Himself claimed that both He and His Spirit had been sent by the Lord God. In this one verse the whole Trinity can be seen.

In Isaiah 63:9, 10 God made another interesting claim through His prophet Isaiah. He said, "In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them." Here God claims that He was afflicted because His people were afflicted, so Jesus or the Angel of His presence saved them, redeemed them, and carried them throughout the past. But, by their disobedience they grieved His Holy Spirit and God therefore turned with their enemy and Himself fought them. Here once again we find the Trinity in the Old Testament. This time mentioned as God, the angel of His presence or Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

Likewise, Job 33:4 and Job 34:14-15 both show God's Spirit giving life to man. Ezekiel 2:1-2 further shows God's Spirit entering Ezekiel and empowering Him to be obedient to God by standing, just as the Lord had commanded.

Once again, this writer believes the Ancient Near Eastern mysticism was a perversion of the Triune God, the true God of Israel. The Ancient Near Eastern parallels are easily explained this way; it really just depends on the reader's presuppositions. If you trust in the God of Israel who created all things, understanding the sinfulness of humanity, the truth being perverted by sinners isn't hard to understand or believe.