What is the King Mystery?
A mystery is a secret, but a secret requires that only a few know it. And the best way to hide something is often to show it fully visible, but disguised as something else. Myths, legends and sacred writings was often built around the mystery, which has two sides. An open side for everyone and a closed side only for the initiated. The open side of the mystery was based on a narrative about the gods and ancestors and on heroic figures or other role models.
In ancient kingdoms, the ancestor of the royal family was conceived by a deity, and therefore the royal family could not die. All subsequent kings were mysteriously this ancestor, reborn in each new generation. The firstborn son of the king was therefore the son of the god himself. When the king died, the king's son replaced him, they became identical - they were the royal line. In a ceremony that included, among other things, a sacred wedding between the king's son, the god, and the king's land and people, who were seen as the king's and god's wives, the king's son was recognized as the king. The royal line had thus been continued – everything was new, yet nothing was new, the king lived forever.
The myths about the mystical continuation of the royal families have often been told in an almost standardized form. It will be referred to here as the King Myth, and it was widespread throughout most of the world, where it existed in many variations. The King Myth is the open side of the King Mystery. It is a cult myth, an origin myth[1], which recounts that the young king's son is raised up as a king, often far from home, and as an adult he accomplishes great feats. The king is then gone for a long time, and the kingdom is threatened by enemies. But then he finally returns and retakes his country.
Just like the king on earth, the king of the gods in heaven also had his own King Myth. The King Myths affirmed the king's and god's right to the "Daughter of the Land", the land and the people. In many places in ancient times, it was celebrated in an annual mystery play, which dramatized the return of the king and the god and their right to the kingdom.
There are many more or less well-known myths, legends and fairy tales that are, in fact, King Myths. Mention must be made here of the Greek poet Homer's tale of the king and sea hero Odysseus' adventurous journey home from the battle for the city of Troy in Asia Minor. Also the legends about the English King Arthur, the Greek King Oedipus, King Gilgamesh from Babylonia, and the Danish legendary king Amled are King Myths, which cover the King Mystery.
These and many more are discussed and explained in the book ’The King Mystery. Yahweh and the Daughter of Zion.'
However, the best-known example of the King Mystery and the King Myth is from the Bible. During the reign of Israel and Judah, the god-king Yahweh had come every year at Pentecost for a sacred wedding with the Daughter of Zion, the land and the people. The temple in Jerusalem was the place where it happened. But when the kingship ended on earth, Yahweh's kingship in heaven naturally also ended. Centuries later, Jesus, as King David's "son", was to restore Israel's kingship on earth - and in heaven.
Come behind the curtain in the Holy of Holies of the temple, and see what no one was allowed to see - unless they were initiated into the King Mystery!
Noter:
- (↑) Everything that happened had already happened to the gods or the ancestors, and was thus only a repetition of what originally happened.