“If we have truth, [it] cannot be
harmed by investigation. If we have not
truth, it ought to be harmed.”
—J.
Reuben Clark, as recorded by D. Michael Quinn, J. Reuben Clark: The Church Years.
Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1983, p. 24.
Book of
Abraham, Papyri and ‘Kirtland Egyptian Papers’
On
July 3, 1835, Joseph Smith bought four Egyptian mummies from an antiquities
dealer, Michael Chandler, traveling through Kirtland, Ohio. History of the
Church 2:235 https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/volume-2-chapter-16.
In
the sarcophaguses, Joseph Smith found scrolls of papyrus.
https://www.lds.org/topics/translation-and-historicity-of-the-book-of-abraham?lang=eng
Joseph Smith declared that the papyrus were ancient writings, on one fragment
even the story of father Abraham. History of the Church 2:236
https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/volume-2-chapter-16
Joseph
Smith translated some of the Egyptian characters (hieroglyphic and hieratic) on
the papyrus fragments into English, now called the Book of Abraham and
Explanations to Facsimiles. The
Facsimiles are three vignettes found on the papyrus; two of them were torn and
Joseph Smith “restored” them by filling in the missing gaps (called lacunae).
The
three chapters of the Book of Abraham, with the Facsimiles (1 and 2 as
restored) and the Explanations, were published in the Mormon newspaper, Times and Seasons, in Nauvoo
After
Joseph Smith was murdered in 1844, Franklin D. Richards became an apostle on
February 12, 1849. Two years later,
while in Liverpool, England, Richards compiled the Book of Abraham, with the
Facsimiles (1 and 2 as restored) and the Explanations, and Joseph Smith’s
re-write of Genesis 1:1-6:13; the re-write called the Book of Moses, chapters
1-8. https://www.lds.org/manual/the-pearl-of-great-price-student-manual/the-book-of-moses?lang=eng. The booklet was entitled by Richards, “The
Pearl of Great Price.” The Pearl of Great Price was canonized on October 10,
1880. (The other, initial part when
canonized was Joseph Smith’s re-write of Genesis 1:1-6:13; the re-write called
the Book of Moses, chapters 1-8. https://www.lds.org/manual/the-pearl-of-great-price-student-manual/the-book-of-moses?lang=eng). https://josephsmithpapers.org/site/the-pearl-of-great-price.
Meanwhile,
in late 1847, Emma Smith had remarried, to one Lewis C. Bidamon. Lucy Mack Smith (Joseph Smith’s mother) had
from the early 1840s through her death in 1856 been charging people to look at
the papyrus fragments. Two weeks after
Lucy died, Emma and Lewis Bidamon, and Joseph Smith III, sold the mummies and the papyrus
fragments. The mummies and some
of the papyrus fragments were burned up in the 1871 Great Chicago Fire. It was unknown for decades, until 1966, that
not all of those fragments were at and burned up in that Chicago museum in
1871.
In
1966, it was discovered that some of the papyrus were held by a different
museum in Chicago. One that closed in
1866--100 years earlier. It had transferred those papyrus fragments to the New York Metropolitan
Museum of Art (The Met). A century later it was discovered by a scholar that recognized on a papyrus
fragment at the Met the vignette that is known as Facsimile 1. An anonymous donation was made to the Met, in
exchange for it turning those fragments over to the Utah LDS Church.
Also
in 1966, the existence of a small collection of papers held in the LDS church
vault since 1855 came to light. The box
that they were in at the LDS church vault was labeled the “Kirtland Egyptian
Papers”. Not necessarily in the order
written, the contents of that box are
- Egyptian Ms. #1, 1 volume, 31 x 20 cm, titled "Grammar [and] A[l]phabet of the Egyptian Language," in the handwriting of W. W. Phelps, with brief addenda by Warren Parrish.
- Egyptian Ms. #2, 21 x 20 cm, titled "Egyptian Counting," in the handwriting of W. W. Phelps. Containing characters with English interpretations.
- Egyptian Ms. #3, 32 x 30 cm, titled "Egyptian Alphabet," in the handwriting of W. W. Phelps.
- Egyptian Ms. #4, 33 x 20 cm, titled "Egyptian Alphabet," in the handwriting of Joseph Smith.
- Egyptian Ms. #5, various sizes, in the handwriting of Oliver Cowdery. Title is unreadable, but probably read "Egyptian Alphabet".
- Egyptian Ms. #6, 1 volume, 20 x 13 cm, titled "Valuable Discovery of hiden [sic] records..." in the handwriting of Joseph Smith. English contents in the handwriting of Oliver Cowdery.
- Egyptian Ms. #7, 1 volume, 20 x 16 cm, English contents in the handwriting of W. W. Phelps. "F.G.W." and "William" are written on the back cover.
- Egyptian Ms. #8, 32 x 40 cm. Egyptian Characters and hieroglyphics.
- Egyptian Ms. #9, 39 x 19 cm. Characters by an unknown author.
- Egyptian Ms. #10, 33 x 20 cm. Egyptian papyrus attached to a sheet of paper.
- Book of Abraham Ms. #1, 10 pages, 32 x 20 cm. Translation of Abraham 1:1 to 2:18 in the handwriting of W. W. Phelps and Warren Parrish.
- Book of Abraham Ms. #2, 4 pages, 33 x 19 cm. Book of Abraham 1:4 to 2:6 in the handwriting of Frederick G. Williams.
- Book of Abraham Ms. #3, 6 pages, 32 x 19 cm. Book of Abraham 1:4 to 2:2 in the handwriting of Warren Parrish.
- Book of Abraham Ms. #4, ca. 1841, 29 x 20 cm. Book of Abraham 1:1 to 2:18 and 3:18b to 3:26a in the handwriting of Willard Richards. Explanations of Facsimile No. 1 appear on p. 2, obverse.
- Facsimile No. 2, ca. 1841, various sizes. Includes explanations in the handwriting of Willard Richards.
- A Facsimile from the Book of Abraham No. 2 ca. 1843. 32 x 19 cm. Engraved by Reuben Hedlock. On the back is a letter dated August 1, 1843 to Clyde Williams [and] Co. of Harrisburg, Pa., signed by Joseph Smith [and] W. W. Phelps.
These
documents are in the handwriting of Joseph Smith, and his 1835 scribes, W.W.
Phelps, Warren Parrish, Oliver Cowdery, and Frederick G. Williams, and later
scribe Willard Richards.
The
two 1966 discoveries—that some of the papyrus fragments did not burn up in the
1871 Great Chicago Fire and that for at least 111 years, the LDS Church had
tucked away in its vaults various manuscripts for the Book of Abraham (i.e.,
the Kirtland Eqyptian Papers)—has significantly deterred the LDS church from
promoting the Book of Abraham in the way that Joseph Smith had claimed.
* *
* * *
"Soon
after this, some of the Saints at Kirtland purchased the mummies and papyrus...and
with W. W. Phelps and Oliver Cowdery as scribes, commenced the translation of
some of the characters or hieroglyphics, and much to our joy found that one of
the rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of
Egypt, etc..."
History of the Church, 2:236, emphasis added
https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/volume-2-chapter-16.
·
The LDS introduction to the Book of Abraham pronounces
it to be:
A Translation of some ancient
Records that have fallen into our hands from the catacombs of Egypt. The writings of Abraham
while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus.
·
Ten fragments of papyrus
(https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/egyptian-papyri-circa-300-bc-ad-50/1),
including the Hor Sensen Papyrus or fragments "Joseph Smith Papyrus I, XI
and X", were thought lost in 1871 in the great Chicago fire. (After Joseph Smith's murder in 1844, Emma
Smith remarried; she and her new husband sold the papyrus fragments to a museum
in Chicago in 1856.)
o
In 1856, as Egyptology was beginning to bloom
given the find of the Rosetta Stone and being able to now translate ancient
Egyptian writings into English, Frenchman Theodule Deveria opined that the Book
of Abraham was not a correct translation of the papyrus
o
in 1861, Egyptologist Jule Remy agreed, as did
T.B.H. Stenhouse in 1873 and Franklin S. Spaulding in 1912.
o
The LDS Church claimed that if only the
papyrus had not been burned up in the 1871 Chicago fire, those fragments would
prove that the Book of Abraham was a proper translation, as Joseph Smith and
then the LDS church claimed.
o
In 1966, however, these Sensen Papyrus
fragment and several other papyrus fragments were found, intact, in the
archives of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and handed them
over to the LDS church in 1967 (the Chicago museum to which Emma Smith had sold
the fragments closed in 1866, five years before the fire; it had transferred
the fragments to New York City museum before the fire of 1871).
o
The Church now concedes in its essay, Translation and Historicity of the Book of
Abraham, that "None of the characters on the papyrus fragments
mentioned Abraham’s name or any of the events recorded in the book of Abraham. Mormon and non-Mormon Egyptologists agree that the characters
on the fragments do not match the translation given in the book of Abraham,
though there is not unanimity, even among non-Mormon scholars, about the proper
interpretation of the vignettes on these fragments.27 Scholars have identified the papyrus fragments as
parts of standard funerary texts that were deposited with mummified bodies.
These fragments date to between the third century B.C.E. and the first century
C.E., long after Abraham lived."
https://www.lds.org/topics/translation-and-historicity-of-the-book-of-abraham?lang=eng#15
(Fn 27: " Kerry Muhlestein, “Egyptian Papyri and the Book of Abraham: A
Faithful, Egyptological Point of View,” and Brian M. Hauglid, “Thoughts on the
Book of Abraham,” both in No Weapon Shall Prosper: New Light on Sensitive Issues, ed.
Robert L. Millet (Provo and Salt Lake City, UT: Religious Studies Center,
Brigham Young University, and Deseret Book, 2011), 217–58. On the lack of
unanimity among Egyptologists, see, for example, John Gee, “A Method for
Studying the Facsimiles,” FARMS Review 19, no. 1 (2007): 348–51; and Hugh
Nibley, The
Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment, 2d.
ed. (Provo and Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book and Foundation for Ancient
Research and Mormon Studies, 2005), 51–53. For translation of and commentary on
the fragments, see Michael D. Rhodes, Books of the Dead Belonging to Tschemmin and Neferirnub: A
Translation and Commentary (Provo, UT: Maxwell Institute,
2010); Michael D. Rhodes, The Hor Book of Breathings: A Translation and Commentary(Provo,
UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2002); and
Nibley, Message
of the Joseph Smith Papyri, 34–50.")
o
Non-LDS scholars that have
opined that the papyrus does not translate, linguistically, to be the Book of
Abraham include: Peter Brand- Professor of Ancient History and
Egyptology, PhD in Ancient Egyptian Language and Literature from the University
of Toronto; Salima Ikram- Professor of Egyptology at the American University in
Cairo, PhD in Egyptology and Museum Studies from the University of Cambridge;
Peter Der Manuelian, Professor of Egyptology and Director, Harvard Semitic
Museum, Harvard University. PhD in Egyptology from the University of Chicago;
Dr. Arthur Mace, Assistant Curator for the Department of Egyptian Art of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; Dr. A. H. Sayce from Oxford, England;
Dr. Flinders Petrie of London University; Dr. James H. Breasted of the Haskell
Oriental Museum University of Chicago; and Prof. C. S. A. B. Mercer, custodian
of the Hibbard collection of Egyptian reproductions at the Western Theological
Seminary
· The
"Kirtland Egyptian Papers" refers to a collection of writings that
were contained in a box so labeled and kept in the Church's vaults for more
than 100 years GAEL (Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language, part of the
workpapers of Joseph Smith and his scribes that was kept hidden away for more
than 100 years by the Church in a file labeled "Kirtland Egyptian
Papers" https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/grammar-and-alphabet-of-the-egyptian-language-circa-july-circa-november-1835/1). A BYU student leaked the existence and pages
of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers in 1965—two years before the Sensen Papyrus,
thought to be lost in the 1871 Chicago fire were in fact found; now the Church
admits to their existence and has published them as part of the Joseph Smith
Papers project.
·
o Because the writings in hieratic characters on
the Sensen papyrus do NOT linguistically correlate to be what the Book of
Abraham purports, the LDS Church takes great pains to try to 'disconnect' the
Book of Abraham from the Kirtland Egyptian Papers
"Later that year [1935] and in early 1836, Joseph Smith
and his scribes spent considerable time engaged in two separate but related endeavors: the translation
of the Book of Abraham, a first-person narrative recounting a portion of the
life of the biblical patriarch Abraham; and a language-study effort that
produced a number of Egyptian alphabet and grammar manuscripts."
o
But, at another point the Church concedes that
the Book of Abraham is 'more textually tied' to some of the Kirtland Egyptian
Papers. In describing the Kirtland
Egyptian Papers, the Church explains the are
"one ledger book, six other assorted records, and two
small notebooks of copied hieroglyphs with English commentary. Some of the
records are integral to one another; others are more textually tied to the
papyri and extant manuscripts of the Book of Abraham."
o
Joseph Smith claimed that for the rest of July
1835, he "was continually engaged in translating an alphabet to the Book
of Abraham, and arranging a grammar of the Egyptian language as practiced by
the ancients" (History of the Church 2:238
https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/volume-2-chapter-16)
o
On October 1, 1835, Joseph Smith said that
"This afternoon I labored on the Egyptian
alphabet, in company with Brothers Oliver Cowdery and W. W. Phelps, and during
the research, the principles of astronomy as understood by Father Abraham and
the ancients unfolded to our understanding, the particulars of which will
appear hereafter." (History of the Church 2:286
https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/volume-2-chapter-21)
o
Warren Parrish wrote in an 1838 letter in the Painesville Republican: “I have set
(sic) by his side and penned down the Egyptian hieroglyphicks (sic) as he
claimed to receive it by direct inspiration from heaven.”
·
Were the Sensen Papyrus found in 1966 the
fragments from which Joseph Smith "translated" the Book of Abraham,
despite there being no linguistic correlation between the Book of Abraham and
the hieratic characters on the Sensen Papyrus, i.e., no translation of them as
Joseph Smith claimed he had translated them, or might there yet be other, yet
lost fragments from which the Book of Abraham was translated?
o
three 1835 translation manuscripts together
contain the text of Abraham 1:1-2:18. Four pages of the Kirtland Egyptian
Papers in Frederick Williams' handwriting (called Manuscript 2) correspond to
Abraham 1:4-2:6. Joseph Smith's
secretary Warren Parrish's handwritten Manuscript 3 corresponds to Abraham 1:4
(“I sought for mine appointment …”) to the end of 2:2 (“… the daughter of
Haran.”). These two manuscripts copy the same Egyptian signs for the same
English text from other parts of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers.
o
Egyptian characters, in order, from the Sensen
Papyrus—GAEL "degree" expansions—Book of Abraham 1:1-3
JS
Papyrus X JS
Papyrus XI (Sensen Papyrus) JS Papyrus I (Facsimile 1)
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/egyptian-papyri-circa-300-bc-ad-50/19;
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/egyptian-papyri-circa-300-bc-ad-50/1
Here
is the part of the Sensen Papyrus from right above the word "Sensen"
above, with three characters identified as 3, 2 and 1
Here,
those same three characters appear in part of the GAEL (part of the Kirtland
Egyptian Papers)
Here
is as typed to make more easily readable
Juxtaposing
these, side by side
These
passages from the GAEL (trying to interpret Egyptian characters from the
1967-found Sensen Papyrus) appear as Book of Abraham 1:13-14, 1:15, and 1:16-18.
On
the next line from the Sensen Papyrus (aka Breather Permit of Hor and aka
Joseph Smith Papyrus XI)
These
passages from the GAEL (trying to interpret Egyptian characters from the
1967-found Sensen Papyrus) appear as Book of Abraham the last part of 1:31 and
all of 2:1-2
These
passages of the GAEL (trying to interpret Egyptian characters from the
1967-found Sensen Papyrus) appear as the text Book of Abraham 1:26-31.
In
light of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers, it is extremely dubious for anyone to
doubt that the papyrus fragment(s) from which Joseph Smith translated the text
of Chapters 1, 2 and 3 of the Book of Abraham is the Sensen Papyrus (JS Papyrus
XI), even though the characters on the Sensen Papyrus do not even mention
Abraham, but instead are the “Breathing Permit” of Hor, an ancient
Egyptian. (Despite how clearly the
Kirtland Egyptian Papers tie the English verbiage of the Book of Abraham to the
Sensen Papyrus, some try to claim that the source papyrus fragment has yet to
be found.)
More
difficult to be explained away are the Explanations to Facsimiles 1, 2 and 3. The vignettes on the papyrus fragments
include Egyptian writing, but Joseph Smith’s Explanations of those writings are
not linguistic translations.
· The
Facsimiles and their Explanations—Abraham ostensibly in the Book of Abraham
refers the reader "to the representations at the commencement of this
record" (Book of Abraham 1:12) and "That you [the reader] may have an
understanding of these gods ["Elkenah, Libnah, Mahmackrah, Korash, and
also a god like unto that of Pharaoh, king of Egypt"], I [Abraham] have
given you the fashion of them in the figures at the beginning, which manner of
figures is called by the Chaldeans Rahleenos, which signifies hieroglyphics." (Book of Abraham 1:13-14).
o
Facsimile 1 and Explanation—Facsimile 1 is,
according to leading Egyptologists, a Leiden magical papyrus in Demotic
Egyptian and Greek (P. Lugd. Bat. I 384 verso = PGM XII), that includes a
picture of a mummy attended by Anubis—mentioned by name—on a lion funerary
couch (not an “altar”), and the Egyptian text is a love compulsion spell
intended to force a woman to submit to a male’s sexual lust. The speaker recites “..aydyo oryx thambyto
abraam o epy … planoyegxybyoth” etc. The string of abracadabra words does
include “abraam,” and this spelling has been corrected to “Abraham” in a recent
edition.6 However, the name is just one of a string of magical names and no
more relevant to the image than “oryx thambyto” or “planoyegxybyoth.” Moreover,
there is no intent here to represent a sacrifice, just Osiris tended by Anubis,
who are both invoked to inflame the libido of the female victim of the spell.
The body on the lion bed is certainly that of the deceased Osiris (as it is in
Hôr’s vignette). H. D. Betz, ed., The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation
Including the Demotic Spells, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1986,
p. 171.
Here
is the fragment as found with a mummy, glued to a lighter sheet of paper, with
some drawings then made in the missing parts.
The
Egyptologist rendition is very common one that is found and similar, as to the
intact portions, of the papyrus fragment.
In
all of the Egyptian ones, the head on the standing figure is that of a jackal,
it is the Egyptian God Anubis. Joseph
Smith, however, "restored" the image portion missing the head with
that of a man.
Here is the LDS official Facsimile 1:
The
Explanation (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/abr/fac-1?lang=eng), keyed to
parts of Facsimile 1 with numbers 1-12,
Explanation
Fig. 1. The Angel of the Lord.
Fig. 2. Abraham fastened upon an altar.
Fig. 3. The idolatrous priest of Elkenah
attempting to offer up Abraham as a sacrifice.
Fig. 4. The altar for sacrifice by the
idolatrous priests, standing before the gods of Elkenah, Libnah, Mahmackrah,
Korash, and Pharaoh.
Fig. 5. The idolatrous god of Elkenah.
Fig. 6. The idolatrous god of Libnah.
Fig. 7. The idolatrous god of Mahmackrah.
Fig. 8. The idolatrous god of Korash.
Fig. 9. The idolatrous god of Pharaoh.
Fig. 10. Abraham in Egypt.
Fig. 11. Designed to represent the pillars of
heaven, as understood by the Egyptians.
Fig. 12. Raukeeyang, signifying expanse, or
the firmament over our heads; but in this case, in relation to this subject,
the Egyptians meant it to signify Shaumau, to be high, or the heavens,
answering to the Hebrew word, Shaumahyeem.
As
for the Explanation to Facsimile 1, here's a comparison of what Joseph Smith
claimed and what Egyptologists can tell us, now that we have the Rosetta Stone
o
Facsimile 2 and Explanation—this was a
hypocephalus, placed under the head of a mummy in the sarcophagus, as shown
here (also notice the colors-the red and blue are what Joseph Smith added to
"restore" what was missing)
Here
shown on the left below is the torn hypocephalus as found in the mummy’s
sarcophagus and on the right is as “restored” by Joseph Smith for 1843
publication in the Times and Seasons
and made a part of the Book of Abraham as Facsimile
2:
Here's
what Joseph Smith came up with, after he "restored" the missing parts—this
is the woodcut that was used in the 1843 printing process for the Times and Seasons
Some
of what he used for characters to restore into the hypocephalus was taken from
the Sensen Papyrus, the one found in 1966 and discussed at length above.
Ironically,
what he filled-in in the outer ring were hieratic characters—all the intact
portion of the outer ring had was hieroglyphs, which demonstrates he did not
even understand the difference. Further,
he inverted and put the hieratic characters he added upside down to the
orientation of the hieroglyphs that remained in the intact portion of the outer
ring.
Hypocephalus
like the one Joseph Smith had are commonly found in sarcophagus, as this
colorful one shows
Here is the LDS canonized Facsimile 2:
The
Explanation (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/abr/fac-2?lang=eng), keyed to
parts of Facsimile 2 with numbers 1-11,
Explanation
Fig. 1. Kolob, signifying the first creation,
nearest to the celestial, or the residence of God. First in government, the
last pertaining to the measurement of time. The measurement according to
celestial time, which celestial time signifies one day to a cubit. One day in
Kolob is equal to a thousand years according to the measurement of this earth,
which is called by the Egyptians Jah-oh-eh.
Fig. 2. Stands next to Kolob, called by the
Egyptians Oliblish, which is the next grand governing creation near to the
celestial or the place where God resides; holding the key of power also,
pertaining to other planets; as revealed from God to Abraham, as he offered
sacrifice upon an altar, which he had built unto the Lord.
Fig. 3. Is made to represent God, sitting upon
his throne, clothed with power and authority; with a crown of eternal light
upon his head; representing also the grand Key-words of the Holy Priesthood, as
revealed to Adam in the Garden of Eden, as also to Seth, Noah, Melchizedek,
Abraham, and all to whom the Priesthood was revealed.
Fig. 4. Answers to the Hebrew word Raukeeyang,
signifying expanse, or the firmament of the heavens; also a numerical figure,
in Egyptian signifying one thousand; answering to the measuring of the time of
Oliblish, which is equal with Kolob in its revolution and in its measuring of
time.
Fig. 5. Is called in Egyptian
Enish-go-on-dosh; this is one of the governing planets also, and is said by the
Egyptians to be the Sun, and to borrow its light from Kolob through the medium
of Kae-e-vanrash, which is the grand Key, or, in other words, the governing
power, which governs fifteen other fixed planets or stars, as also Floeese or
the Moon, the Earth and the Sun in their annual revolutions. This planet
receives its power through the medium of Kli-flos-is-es, or Hah-ko-kau-beam,
the stars represented by numbers 22 and 23, receiving light from the revolutions
of Kolob.
Fig. 6. Represents this earth in its four
quarters.
Fig. 7. Represents God sitting upon his
throne, revealing through the heavens the grand Key-words of the Priesthood;
as, also, the sign of the Holy Ghost unto Abraham, in the form of a dove.
Fig. 8. Contains writings that cannot be
revealed unto the world; but is to be had in the Holy Temple of God.
Fig. 9. Ought not to be revealed at the
present time.
Fig. 10. Also.
Fig. 11. Also. If the world can find out these
numbers, so let it be. Amen.
Figures 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17,
18, 19, 20, and 21 will be given in the own due time of the Lord.
The above translation is given
as far as we have any right to give at the present time.
To
sum up what Joseph Smith "restored" by way of Explanation compared
to what the study of ancient Egyptology shows,
Here is the LDS canonized Facsimile 3:
The
Explanation (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/abr/fac-3?lang=eng), keyed to
parts of Facsimile 3 with numbers 1-6,
Explanation
Fig. 1. Abraham sitting upon Pharaoh’s throne,
by the politeness of the king, with a crown upon his head, representing the
Priesthood, as emblematical of the grand Presidency in Heaven; with the scepter
of justice and judgment in his hand.
Fig. 2. King Pharaoh, whose name is given in
the characters above his head.
Fig. 3. Signifies Abraham in Egypt as given
also in Figure 10 of Facsimile No. 1.
Fig. 4. Prince of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, as
written above the hand.
Fig. 5. Shulem, one of the king’s principal
waiters, as represented by the characters above his hand.
Fig. 6. Olimlah, a slave belonging to the
prince.
Abraham is reasoning upon the
principles of Astronomy, in the king’s court.
· Joseph
Smith Used the GAEL (part of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers) to “Translate"
the phony Kinderhook Plates—
https://www.lds.org/ensign/1981/08/kinderhook-plates-brought-to-joseph-smith-appear-to-be-a-nineteenth-century-hoax?lang=eng
o
6 plates were fabricated with 'characters',
made with a chemical applied to look old, and then planted in a mound near
Kinderhook, Illinois, next to a skeleton.
A tip was then given to the Mormons.
They went and dug up the mount, found the skeleton and the planted
plates. Joseph Smith examined the site,
and the plates
·
o
Joseph Smith attempted to translate the
characters. His scribe at the time,
William Clayton, wrote in the journal he was keeping for Joseph Smith (and so
it reads as though Joseph Smith was the author as Clayton was just recording
what Smith had said orally): "I have translated a portion of them, and
find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a
descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he
received his kingdom from the ruler of heaven and earth.”
Faithful
Mormon and historian Don Bradley (who resigned from the Church, only to rejoin
later) found this connection, that Joseph Smith had attempted to use the
GAEL/Kirtland Egyptian Papers to try and translate a similar looking character
on one of the phone Kinderhook Plates.
o
The significance here is that Joseph Smith
used the GAEL/Kirtland Egyptian Papers to try to decipher the phony characters
on the Kinderhook, thought he got a positive, and that is why he proclaimed
that the skeleton was that of "a descendant of Ham, through the loins of
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the ruler of
heaven and earth." Compare that to
Book of Abraham 1:11 and 1:21.
Questions:
4a-Why
does the Church deny the obvious, that the GAEL/Kirtland Egyptian Papers
inextricably tie the Book of Abraham to the 1967-found Sensen Papyrus (other
than the fact that Egyptologist can now, as a result of Champollion having
found the Rosetta Stone and thus the 'key' to translating ancient Egyptian
writings into English)?
4b-Why
don't the Egyptian characters on the Sensen Papyrus translate into the Book of
Abraham, as Joseph Smith claimed and the LDS church yet claims?
4c-Why
did God have Joseph Smith buy the mummies and 'translate' the papyrus found in
the sarcophaguses if God was inspiring the story of Abraham, while Joseph Smith
thought he was 'translating' the Egyptian characters on the papyrus?
4d-Why
did God not have Joseph Smith "restore" Facsimiles 1 and 2 correctly?
4e-Why
did God not have Joseph Smith, through translation or mere inspiration, get the
Explanations correct?
4f-Why
did Joseph Smith use the GAEL/Kirtland Egyptian Papers to try in May 1843 to
"translate" the Kinderhook Plates (which decades later were revealed
to be phony plants)?
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