The Book of Abraham and the Facsimile Image-Part IV

Continuing from the last three posts, in which was discussed how Joseph Smith obtained the mummies and papyri that led to the Book of Abraham, we showed and answered in the last post several criticisms that have been raised about his translation of the papyri. Here are more:

• Criticism: Abraham's name does not appear anywhere in the papyri or the facsimiles on the fragments available.

Response: The first reaction to this criticism is that, as an author, when writing something about myself, and including a picture of me, etc., I do not identify myself in the picture—it is understood who the image is of since it supports the written text involved. On the other hand, such an explanation would not suffice the critics views, so let’s take Facsimile 1 which dates to about the first or second century B.C., showing Abraham laying upon a lion couch.  It is interesting that, according to the highly credentialed and acclaimed professor of Egyptology in the Oriental Institute, Janet H. Johnson, The Demotic Magical Spells of Leiden I 384, there is a lion-couch scene similar to the one in Facsimile 1, and underneath the text reads “Abraham, who upon…” There is a break in the text here, so we do not know what word followed. The point is that an ancient Egyptian document from approximately the same time period as the papyri Joseph Smith had in his possession, associated Abraham with a lion-couch scene.

A lion couch scene appears in Leiden Papyrus I 384 (PGM xii). The outline marks Abraham’s name, written in Greek. These references to Abraham appear in five languages—Demotic, Old Coptic, Coptic, Greek, and Hebrew. After gathering dust for many years in various museums and libraries, several of these old vignettes are now drawing the attention of scholars

According to Francis Llewllyn Griffith and Herbert Thompson, in an Egyptian papyrus of the early Christian period, there is the phrase "Abraham, the pupil of the eye of the Wedjat,” which, according to Richard Lepsius, compares with the 162d chapter of the Book of the Dead, which tells how to make a hypocephalus, in which the Wedjat eye is described, and the hypocephalus itself is called an "eye.” And James H. Charlesworth states that in the Apocalypse of Abraham, a pseudepigraphical text dating from the early Christian era, describes a vision Abraham saw while making a sacrifice to God. In this vision, he is shown the plan of the universe, "what is in the heavens, on the earth, in the sea, in the abyss, and in the lower depths,” which language closely agrees with the phrase found in Facsimile 2 of the Book of Abraham.

The important point is that we find ancient Near Eastern documents that are roughly contemporary with the hypocephalus and the other Egyptian papyri purchased by Joseph Smith that relate the scenes portrayed in facsimiles 1, 2, and 3 with Abraham, just as Joseph Smith said. Significantly, none of these documents had even been discovered during Joseph Smith's lifetime.

• Criticism: The standing figure in Facsimile 1 is not a priest but is, in fact, the Egyptian god Anubis. As represented on the papyrus, the figure is indeed Anubis. However, there are examples from Egypt of priests wearing masks of gods when carrying out their priestly duties. John Gee's book on the Joseph Smith papyri shows an example of an Egyptian priest wearing a mask of Anubis as well as an actual mask of Anubis found by archaeologists.

Left: Priest wearing jackal mask to represent the god Anubis) and holding the ankh in his right hand, symbolizing that he (god) commanded the powers of life and death and was immortal; Center: Pharaoh, holding the ankh in his left hand, symbolizing that he was the spring from which flowed divine virtues and the elixir of immortality; Right: Sem-Priest without mask and without ankh, showing no power with life or death

Response: This refers to John Gee’s Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri, p36. The names of the idolatrous gods mentioned in facsimile 1 provide another example of the validity of the Prophet Joseph's explanations. If Joseph Smith had simply made up the names, the chances of their corresponding to the names of ancient deities would be astronomically small. The name Elkenah, for example, is clearly related to the Hebrew el qanah/qoneh "God has created/the creator." Elkenah is found in the Old Testament as the name of several people, including Samuel's father (see 1 Samuell:1). The name is also found as a divine name in Mesopotamian sources as dIl-gi-na/dIl-ki-na/dEI-ke-na. Libnah may be related to the Hebrew lebanah "moon" (Isaiah 24:23) from the root laban "white." A city captured by Joshua was called libnah (Josuah 10:29). The name Korash is found as a name in Egyptian sources. A connection with Kores the name of the Persian king Cyrus (Isaiah 44:28), is also possible.

• Criticism: The name Elkenah appears twelve times in the Book of Abraham, yet there is no record of a god named Elkenah in the Egyptian pantheon.

Response: In Facsimile 1, Elkenah is represented by the falcon-headed canopic jar of Qebehsenuf, one of the sons of Horus, and reading right to left, Elkenah is mentioned first, suggesting he is the chief or preeminent god of the four or five mentioned. However, there is some question as to whether the name Elkenah refers to a god, or a place, or a person, since Hugh Nibley in An Approach to the Book of Abraham (2009), claims the name could be that of a person or place, rather than of an Egyptian god. On the other hand, since each mention of Elkenah is preceded by “the god of,” “the gods of,” “the priest of,” or “the altar of,” it should be noted by comparison that it is never used in the Old Testament to refer to a human being who has built the altar or owns it in the 23 listings found in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Nehemiah and Malachi, such as “the altar of the Lord,” or the “altar of Baal,” etc.

The rising Sun and Bull-Calf, along with the Sycamore trees that provided food and drink in the Afterlife to the righteous dead, were associated with the Egyptian goddesses Nut, Isis and Hathor; but the bronze bull covered in gold leaf found in a Phoenician Temple at Byblos, Phoenicia, was called the Bull-El of the Phoenician, Canaanite, and Syrian god El, which was Mesopotamian. During Yahweh, Elohim's manifestation at Mt. Sinai, which was as a thundercloud, Aaron made the Phoenician-Syrian Golden Calf for Israel to adore   

It should also be noted that the name Elkenah begins with El, the Semitic name for diety (ilu in Akkadian), thus the first syllable element could be interpreted through : 1) Onomastics Theophory, where the name of god (El) is embedded in a personal name, possibly in whose care the individual is entrusted, such as Daniel: “God is my judge;” Theodore: “Gift of God;” Christopher: “Christ-bearer;” Gabriel: “Strong man of God;” or Elizabeth: “My God is abundance;” 2) Appelation Description, or more at a description of God, as in “the god Kenah”; however, the Old Testament El is rarely, if ever, used as the proper name of a non-Israelite deity, since it was from Elohim (name of God appearing 2570 times in the Old Testament, beginning in Genesis 1:1), and was the original name for God whom the ancients worshipped; 3) Sobriquet Name, having the last element, kenah, describe the first element, el, such as “El is Mighty,” “El of Kenah,” etc.; 4) Possessive Description, where the last element, kenah, would be a person’s name, such as “the God of Kenah” (the God of Abraham); 5) Location Description, where the last element, kenah, refers to a place or a populace, such as “the God of Kenah Valley (city, kingdom, etc.)”; 6) Populace Description, where the last element, kenah, refers to a group of people, a populace small or large, such as “the God of the Kenahs” (the God of Irsael).

In addition, Elkenah may not have been either Egyptian or Chaldean, but from elsewhere, such as Canaan, whose name for god was also “el.” A priest could live in one area and still belong to a religious group of another area. After all, the presence of a Canaanite cult (together with some Egyptian beliefs among others, seen in the priest of Elkenah also acting as the priest of Pharaoh) in that area would not be surprising.

(See the next post, “The Book of Abraham and the Facsimile Image-Part IV” for more of the criticisms about the Book of Abraham and our responses)