The Weighing of the Heart – Book of the Dead

weighing of the heart scene (spell 30b)

Perhaps the best known scene from the Book of the Dead (which isn’t really a book, just a long papyrus.. see this website) is the weighing of the heart. The deceased and his wife are dressed in white on the left. In the center Anubis is working the scales, which hold on one side the heart of the deceased and on the other the feather representing maat (truth, order). Thoth with his ibis head stands ready to record the proceedings on his tablet and behind him is the scary creature Ammit, clearly hoping the deceased fails the test so that it can have at him. Running along the top of the scene is a convocation of gods who affirm the verdict and pronounce the reward.

The scene might seem to speak for itself: one’s deeds need to be characterized by maat. The scale is as clear an image as possible that the judgment is a form of what the New Testament might call “works righteousness.” But the text related to the weighing of the heart points a different direction:

O my heart which I had from my mother! O my heart which I had from my mother! O my heart of my different ages! Do not stand up as a witness against me, do not be opposed to me in the tribunal, do not be hostile to me in the presence of the Keeper of the Balance, for you are my Ka which was in my body, the protector who made my members hale. Go forth to the happy place whereto we speed; do not make my name stink to the Entourage who make men. Do not tell lies about me in the presence of the god; it is indeed well that you should hear!

This is a spell in the book of the dead. The same spell would also be inscribed on the back of a heart amulet and inserted into the mummy wrappings. It’s difficult to know how to take this. Is this an instance of using magic to keep the heart from testifying about one’s various misdeeds? Or is it just a way to make sure that the heart doesn’t panic and say untruths? In the balance here, so to speak, is the nature of salvation in ancient Egypt.

By the New Kingdom the deceased had to make it through this “weighing of the heart” to claim the afterlife. At the successful conclusion of this event the deceased is led before Osiris, and we read: “Let there be given to him the offerings which are issued in the presence of Osiris, and may a grant of land be established in the Field of Offerings” (spell 30b). So getting through this is the key to the rest of one’s afterlife, but what was it that got you through?

Another point that becomes evident reading through these spells is that there was no place for sin. The image of “weighing” might cause one to believe that life must be “on balance” characterized by maat, and that perfection is not required. But perfection is definitely claimed! Again from spell 30b we read Thoth’s announcement: “I have judged the heart of the deceased, and his soul stands as witness for him. His deeds are righteous in the great balance, and no sin has been found in him.” Or just a little later the convocation of gods announces: “…he has no sin, there is no accusation against him before us.” If we look to the related spell 125 we find the deceased making this claim: “I am pure, pure, pure, pure! My purity is the purity of the great Benu-bird…”

This all points to a rather radical version of afterlife justification. There’s nothing here about being “good enough,” only full confidence in one’s  absolute personal purity. And it’s not like there are no ethical standards. Spell 125 is the famous negative confession, containing 42 “I have not” statements. These cover the general sins of the ten commandments (leaving aside “no other gods” and the Sabbath) and add a number of sins that we would think of more as character traits (impatience, hot-temperedness). But there’s no doubt there was a sense of an ethical imperative. The trick is to understand how they get from this imperative to their claim of absolute purity.

My suggestion is that in ancient Egypt we see develop something parallel to the New Testament (Pauline) notion of grace. This might be the most helpful way to think of magic.. as a kind of grace. Human beings would fail the weighing of the heart—their own hearts calling out their misdeeds!—if it were not for the cover of magic. Just as the New Testament attempts to get one clear of the dangerous scale that balances works against absolute goodness, the Egyptians were similarly interested in getting around the scale.. and wound up sending each of their dead to the afterworld with an absolute confidence that they would be pronounced pure! pure! pure! pure!