The Perception of Mormon Evidence
Can We Trust the Book of Abraham?
02/28/2005
Perhaps the most powerful evidence related to the trustworthiness of Joseph
Smith can be found in of the Mormon Scripture known as the Book of Abraham. In
July of 1835, an Irishman named Michael Chandler arrived in Kirtland, Ohio (then the home of the
Mormons) with an exhibit of four Egyptian mummies and papyri. The papyri
contained Egyptian hieroglyphics, a form of ancient writing that was unreadable
in America at the time.
Joseph Smith was given permission to look at the
papyri scrolls in the exhibit, and upon seeing them he declared that “one of
the rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of
Egypt” (History of the Church, Vol. 2: 236). Members of the Church raised money
and bought the entire collection. Seven years later, Joseph finished translating
the scroll and called it the Book of Abraham (the book of Joseph was never
translated). The papyri were lost soon after this and were thought to have been
destroyed in the “Great Chicago Fire” in 1871. As a result, there was no way to
validate Joseph's translation at a later date, after Egyptian hieroglyphics were
deciphered by archeological linguists in the years to follow. If the papyri could
be relocated and translated in light of later understanding of hieroglyphics,
we would at least be able to prove or disprove the abilities of Joseph as a divinely
inspired prophet of God. Without the discovery of the lost papyri, the Pearl of Great
Price, (a collection of writings which contained the book of Abraham),
was canonized as scripture by the LDS Church in October of 1880.
The Papyri Are Rediscovered
Amazingly (and to everyone’s surprise), the papyri were rediscovered in one of the vault
rooms of the New York’s metropolitan Museum of Art in 1966. The Mormon Church
validated the authenticity of these papyri, and the Deseret News of Salt Lake
City on Nov. 27, 1967 acknowledged their rediscovery. On the back of the papyri
were 'drawings of a temple and maps of the Kirtland, Ohio area,' so there could be
no doubt that this was the original document from which Joseph Smith translated
the book of Abraham. The Mormon community celebrated the discovery. Hugh Nibley,
then professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, commented
in the journal BYU Studies:
(the discovery of the Book of Abraham papyri is) a far more momentous transaction than might appear on the surface, for it brought
back into play for the first time since the angel Moroni took back the golden
plates a tangible link between the worlds.' (Winter 1968, p. 171)
With the papyri rediscovered and Egyptian hieroglyphics decipherable for over 70 years,
the Mormon world awaited confirmation of the true status and ability of Joseph Smith,
the prophet who said that it he had the gift of divine prophesy and translation.
Mormons hoped that the rediscovery and retranslation would prove the contents of
the Book of Abraham, and therefore validate Joseph’s ability to also translate
the Book of Mormon. One clearly hinged on the other. It was hoped that the Book
of Abraham would vindicate Joseph Smith as a true prophet of God. The
entire Mormon world was holding its breath in anticipation. What would the
scholars say? Would they finally confirm what the Mormon Prophets had been
saying for decades? Was Joseph Smith indeed a divinely inspired man who came up
with an accurate translation of these ancient papyri? The rediscovered papyri
would answer these questions once and for all.
A portion of the rediscovered
papyri from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Abraham
Both LDS and non-LDS scholars agree that these pieces of papyrus scroll we have
today were those possessed by Joseph Smith and used by him to produce the Book of
Abraham. A positive identification is possible because one of the rediscovered
scroll pieces, now called Papyrus Joseph Smith 1 (PJS 1), matches the picture
in the Book of Abraham called Facsimile No. 1. According to the Book of Abraham
chapter 1, verses 12-14, this picture or 'representation' came at the beginning
of the 'record' (papyrus scroll).
The Illustrations Are Examined
Scholars poured over the papyri, examining their contents and illustrations,
and comparing these to the translation of Joseph Smith. Joseph copied three
drawings from the Egyptian scrolls while creating the Book of Abraham, and he
labeled them Facsimile No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3. He placed these drawings in
the Book of Abraham and provided explanations of what they represented. For
years, Egyptologists had been looking at these illustrations and arguing that
Joseph’s interpretations were false. Scholars recognized similarities between
the drawings in the Book of Abraham and paintings that had been discovered in
Egyptian tombs. Particularly in Facsimile No. 1, which bore a striking resemblance
to existent paintings of embalming ceremonies involving the Egyptian God of
embalming, Anubis.
Facsimile No. 1 as Joseph placed it in the Book of Abraham.
Similar ancient Egyptian renderings of Anubis.
There were some notable differences, however. The head of the character that
Joseph drew standing over the table was not the head of a jackal as it should
have been in order to belong to the family of Anubis renderings. In addition,
this figure was holding what Joseph described as a knife, something that was
also not consistent with the Anubis family of drawings. Egyptologists maintained,
however, that the Facsimiles looked like a common configurations that might be
found in an Egyptian “Book of the Dead.”
Areas of inconsistency between Facsimile No. 1 and Anubis renderings.
Mormons, in defense of their book of scripture, maintained that the resemblances
of these facsimiles were not sufficient to prove that Joseph Smith was false
in his translation. But now, with the rediscovery of the papyri in 1966,
Mormons hoped to vindicate Joseph completely. The rediscovered papyri contained
not only text, but the same drawings that Joseph had drawn into the Book of Abraham!
It was now possible to absolutely determine whether or not Joseph Smith
was a true prophet of God.
Comparing Joseph to the Original
Experts examined the illustrations on the papyri and looked closely at Facsimile
No. 1. They discovered that the complete illustration was not actually in the
original papyri. There were two critical areas missing in the original that
Joseph drew into Facsimile No. 1 on his own. Can you guess which two areas
were missing on the original? The areas related to the head and hands of the
Anubis type character, the very areas that made experts suspicious for all those
years! It was now obvious to Egyptologists that Joseph reconstructed the Facsimile
on his own and along the way, revealed a complete lack of understanding of
Egyptian practice and theology.
Joseph's version of Facsimile No. 1 compared to the original papyri remnant.
It was starting to look like Joseph had added something that was obviously
inconsistent with the papyri contents, but only a finished translation of the
papyri would determine this with complete certainty, so the translation began
in earnest. Joseph Smith said that Facsimile No. 1 depicted a bird as the
'Angel of the Lord' with 'Abraham fastened upon an altar,' 'being offered up
as a sacrifice by a false priest. The pots under the altar were various
gods 'Elkenah, Libnah, Mahmackrah, Korash, Pharaoh,' etc. But Egyptologists
translated to original papyri and discovered that it was 'an embalming scene
showing the deceased lying on a lion-couch.' Facsimile No. 1 actually 'depicts
the mythical embalming and resurrection of Osiris, Egyptian god of the underworld.
Osiris was slain by his jealous brother Set, who cut up his body into 16 pieces
and scattered them....The jackal-headed god Anubis is shown embalming the body
of Osiris on the traditional lion-headed couch so that he might come back to
life...' ('...by his own hand upon papyrus' Institute for
Religious Research, Grand Rapids, Mich. 1992, p. 62).
The Truth of the Translations
In the original papyri, Facsimile No. 1 is attached to hieroglyphics from
which Joseph derived the beginning of the book of Abraham which begins with the
words, 'In the Land of the Chaldeans, at the residence of my father, I, Abraham,
saw that it was needful for me to obtain another place of residence'(1:1).
In reality, however, the hieroglyphics translate as, 'Osiris shall be conveyed
into the Great Pool of Khons -- and likewise Osiris Hor, justified, born to
Tikhebyt, justified -- after his arms have been placed on his heart and the
Breathing permit (which [Isis] made and has writing on its inside and outside)
has been wrapped in royal linen and placed under his left arm near his heart;
the rest of the mummy-bandages should be wrapped over it. The man for
whom this book was copied will breath forever and ever as the bas of the gods
do.'
The document is not the writing of Abraham in Egypt, but is instead the
opening portion of an Egyptian “Shait en Sensen”, or “Book of Breathings”,
a late funerary text that grew out of the earlier and more complex “Book of the Dead.”
This particular scroll was examined by experts (including Mormon experts who
agreed with the findings) and after analyzing handwriting, spelling, content,
and other contextual issues, determined that the papyri was written sometime
during the late Ptolemaic or early Roman period (circa 50 B.C. to A.D. 50).
This is problematic for Mormons, however, for if the papyri are only about
2,000 years old, they are far too “new” to have been 'written on by the hand
of Abraham '.
Facsimile No. 2 from the Book of Abraham.
There is another Facsimile in the Book of Abraham that further reveals yet more
mistranslation on the part of Joseph Smith. Facsimile No. 2, as it is explained
by Joseph Smith and included in the Pearl of Great Price, contains different
scenes which Joseph Smith interpreted. They vary considerably in
content: 'Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to the celestial, or
the residence of God.' '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.' 'God, sitting upon his throne, clothed with power
and authority.' '...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...'
Facsimile No. 2 compared to a similar Egyptian hypocephalus amulet.
But again, the experts discovered that Joseph’s translation did not match the
evidence. 'It is actually a rather common funerary amulet termed a hypocephalus,
so-called because it was placed under (hypo) a mummy’s head (cephalus).
Its purpose was to magically keep the deceased warm and to protect the body from
desecration by grave robbers.' (Ibid, pg. 104). This type of amulet was very common,
and several similar amulets have been recovered and translated over the years,
confirming their nature and their contradiction with Joseph’s translations.
None of the content translated by Joseph appears on the amulet. It is simply
not what Joseph claimed it to be.
Facsimile No. 3 from the Book of Abraham.
Similar Egyptian renderings of Osiris and Isis.
Joseph Smith claimed that Facsimile No. 3 depicted “Abraham sitting upon Pharaoh’s
throne, by the politeness of the king, with a crown upon his head, representing
the Priesthood...King Pharaoh, whose name is given in the characters above his
head...Signifies Abraham in Egypt...Olimlah, a slave belonging to the prince...”
But this is contrary to the true translation of the hieroglyphic. The facsimile
actually depicts 'the deceased being led before Osiris, god of the dead, and
behind the enthroned Osiris stands his wife Isis.' (Joseph Smith Among the
Egyptians, by Wesley P. Walters 1973 pg. 29).
The Text is Fallacious, Even When There is No Facsimile
To make matters worse, areas of text retranslation identified by church documents
for generations prior to the discovery of the papyri also conflict with the true
translations. Not only is the translation related to the facsimiles untrue, but
every other portion of the papyri also betrays the false nature of Joseph's
translation.
Papyrus section known as PJS11.
This piece of papyri, designated Papyrus Joseph Smith 11 (PJS 11), was originally
connected to PJS 1, from which Facsimile No. 1 was derived. This was verified
by Dr. Klaus Baer, an Egyptologist at the University of Chicago who wrote:
'They clearly adjoin as proposed . . . . Papyrus fibers are always irregular
and can be used (much like finger prints) to check whether fragments come from
the same sheet; in this case the horizontal fibers on the left and right
edges of Papyrus Joseph Smith I and XI, respectively, match exactly.'
(From Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Autumn 1968, pp. 133, 134).
This portion of the papyri has been translated by Professor Richard Parker of Brown
University (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Summer 1968, p. 98):
(line1) … this great pool of Khonsu …(line 2)… [Osiris Hor, justified],
born of Taykhebyt, a man likewise… (line 3)… After (his) two arms are
[fast]ened to his breast, one wraps the Book of Breathings, which is…
(line 4)… with writing both inside and outside of it, with royal linen,
it being placed [at] his left arm… (line 5)… near his heart, this having
been done at his… (line 6)… wrapping and outside it. If this book be recited
for him, then… (line 7)… he will breathe like the soul[s of gods] for ever and…
(line 8)… ever. (the left side of the fragment begins the series of spells to
be recited).
Even before the original papyri was rediscovered, the Mormon Church had been
in possession of a series of original Book of Abraham Translation Manuscripts.
These manuscripts were used by Joseph Smith as his translation notes and several
had a mysterious set of symbols located in the left margin. For years these were
understood to be the Egyptian hieroglyphics from which all the English text
(to the right each page) were translated.
Manuscript Translation notes from Joseph with Egyptian symbols in the margins.
Now, with the discovery of PJS 11, experts finally located the series of hieroglyphics
that had been seen on the translation Manuscript for years. The Egyptian characters
in the left margin of page 3 of the original Book of Abraham translation manuscript
(above right) right) match up exactly with a succession of Egyptian characters from
the upper right column of a section of the PJS 11 Book of Abraham scroll.
In essence, the original translation notes have a succession of Egyptian characters
from the papyrus scroll copied down the left margin, indicating that the Book
of Abraham is supposed to have been translated from this section of the papyrus
scroll. But, as you might have expected by now, none of the true translation of the
papyri matches the translation of Joseph Smith in any way.
Consecutive hieroglyphics on the PJS11 found on the notes.
The results of modern examination of the papyri did not provide the confirmation
that the Mormons were hoping for, but it did confirm something. Mormons had
accepted the Book of Abraham for decades, believing the church’s assertion that
Joseph Smith translated it by the power of God as he had claimed. This manner
of translation, divinely empowered, is the same mechanism by which Joseph claimed
to translate the Book of Mormon. The discovery that the translation of the
Book of Abraham is false, therefore, casts serious doubt on the Book of Mormon
as well, and forever cripples Joseph’s claim that he was a true, inspired prophet
of God. Thousands of Mormons left the church as the result of this discovery,
while thousands more are completey unaware or refuse to see the truth.
So What Are We To Believe?
Obviously Joseph Smith had a vivid imagination and was perfectly capable of
creating 'translations' of real and imagined ancient texts. Some have argued
that it is virtually unthinkable that Joseph could imagine a text such as the
Book of Mormon or the Book of Abraham, but if you think about it, these two
books pale in comparison to the complexity and imaginative history and geography
of say perhaps, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. No one argues that the Tolkien
trilogy must be true historical non-fiction based on its level of detail or
believability. Joseph’s work is far less developed; why would we doubt that
it could be imagined?
When Joseph first published his translation of the Egyptian papyri, hieroglyphics
were undecipherable. Today they are fairly easy to decipher. In his day, he
was safe in saying anything he wanted; there was no way to prove that his
translation was false at the time of the publication. But with the resurfacing
of the papyri he used for the translation, we now have a tool to use to
evaluate Joseph once and for all. What do you think? Does the book say
anything about Joseph's “divine” abilities? His status as a
prophet can easily be evaluated in this Book. It's up to you to decide.
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