For most of my life, I saw the Book of Abraham as an additional witness of Joseph’s prophetic call. I never questioned it and never objectively looked at it. I simply accepted it because everyone else did. However, after studying things for myself then the Book of Abraham appears to be quite a bit different than I originally thought.
Overview
The Book of Abraham itself has a pretty interesting history, which for the interest of time I am unable to get into fully. However, for the purpose of this discussion it is helpful to know that for a long time throughout human history, mummies were seen as possessing a key to unlock health and secret lost knowledge. For quite a while, it was actually common to include ground up mummies in health potions and various incantations, as ingesting the mummies was seen as a way to unlock the hidden knowledge they possessed.
During the early 1800’s it was common for merchants to essentially steal mummies and other artifacts from Egypt and sell them throughout Europe and the Americas. On July 3rd, 1835, one of these merchants made their way through Kirtland and sold mummies and Egyptian scrolls to Joseph. Upon the purchase of the mummies, Joseph immediately began a study of Egyptian hieroglyphics and published a partial translation of the scrolls, in November 1835, which was known as the Book of Abraham. The translation was then complete in 1842 and published in the Times and Seasons. The Book of Abraham was canonized as scripture in 1880 in what was known as the Pearl of Great Price.
Book of Breathing
The actual scrolls that Joseph received, and believed to be from Abraham, appear to actually be part of a funerary text, known as the Book of Breathing, that was meant to assist the individual in navigating the afterlife. In this specific case, it appears to be for an important priest name Hor that had died and was given eternal life. However, in order to assist the individual then a document was prepared with magical spells and various instructions for the individual and the gods. Today we have numerous examples of texts like this for various individuals and they all share many similarities which have nothing to do with Abraham.
None of the Book of Breathing texts are exact copies of each other. However, we can certainly see the similarities if we look at the facsimiles from the Book of Abraham and compare them with other facsimiles in the Book of Breathing texts we have found so far. For instance, we can compare the published version of facsimile #2, to the copy in the Kirtland Egyptian Papers, which is the copy that Joseph had made, along with a similar copy from a different Book of Breathing. There are of course numerous visual similarities, along with the text itself around the outside of the diagram.
Joseph interpreted this diagram as representing celestial ideas such a Kolob, the throne of God, the Priesthood, or secret knowledge that is available in the temple. However, Egyptologists today have translated these diagrams to be magical spells and various information that was to be placed under the head of the deceased person in order to magically protect them in the afterlife. Again, these have nothing to do with the interpretation that Joseph said they did and certainly nothing to do with Abraham. The Book of Breathing text was a relatively mundane text, and certainly not divine scripture from God.
We can also compare the various versions of facsimile #1 and see the same level of differences between Joseph’s understanding and the actual diagram itself. The published version of facsimile #1 is a filled in version of the damaged record that we have from the scroll that Joseph translated from. This same diagram seems to be a version of depicting the god Anubis preparing a person for the next life. Joseph interpreted this diagram as a representation of Abraham being sacrificed to a false God. However, in every known Book of Breathing it is a representation of preparing the deceased for the afterlife. There is not a single case where Joseph’s interpretation is remotely accurate.
After Joseph’s translation of the scrolls, they were eventually donated to the St. Louis Museum, where Egyptologist Gustav Seyffarth was able to examine the scroll directly in 1856. He concluded that Joseph’s translation was incorrect, and the scroll was a normal funerary text and certainly not from Abraham. In that same year, the facsimiles made their way to another renowned Egyptologist who also concluded they were from normal funerary texts and that Joseph’s translation was guesswork and “rambling nonsense”.
Several years later in 1912, many Egyptologists reexamined the Book of Abraham facsimiles and compared them against Joseph’s interpretation. The conclusion was the same. Joseph’s understanding was completely against what the facsimiles themselves said and represented. One Egyptologist remarked:
To sum up, then, these three fac-similes of Egyptian documents in the ‘Pearl of Great Price’ depict the most common objects in the mortuary religion of Egypt. Joseph Smith’s interpretation of them as part of a unique revelation through Abraham, therefore, very clearly demonstrates that he was totally unacquainted with the significance of these documents and absolutely ignorant of the simplest facts of Egyptian writing and civilization
James H. Breasted, PhD, University of Chicago
Another Egyptologist was much more direct in his assertion that Joseph’s understanding of the facsimiles was completely at odds with actual study of Egyptian culture and language. He remarked:
I return herewith, under separate cover, the ‘Pearl of Great Price.’ The ‘Book of Abraham,’ it is hardly necessary to say, is a pure fabrication. … There were about forty of these latter known in museums and they are all very similar in character. Joseph Smith’s interpretation of these cuts is a farrago of nonsense from beginning to end.
Dr. Arthur C. Mace, Department of Egyptian Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Even today there is not a single Egyptologist who has looked at the facsimiles and have concluded they have anything to do with Abraham or what Joseph claimed they did. As others have claimed, the text and the facsimiles are simple and quite common funerary documents in order to prepare the deceased for the next life. They most certainly have nothing to do with Abraham or Abraham seeking the Priesthood or hidden keys of knowledge like Joseph claimed.
Abraham’s Record
One interesting thing about the Book of Abraham itself is that Joseph felt it was written personally by Abraham upon the papyrus which he physically had. This would be remarkable since Abraham had lived more than 3000 years before Joseph. Therefore, having his personal writings on a subject would be a great find in the study of religion. It also would be remarkable considering the sheer volume of mummies and scrolls which had already been distributed, and Joseph was fortunate enough to obtain the personal writings of Abraham.
From the Kirtland era writings that were eventually published, as the first part of the Book of Abraham, then we can see a clear preface that Joseph wanted included. The language has changed slightly between official versions however, it has always been consistent. Joseph indicated that the Book of Abraham was personally written by Abraham upon the papyrus. The translation account we have from November 1835, reads:
Translation of the Book of Abraham written by his own hand upon papyrus and found in the CataCombs of Egypt
Book of Abraham translation – November 1835s
This of course is slightly problematic since there would have to have been at least a 3000-year difference between Joseph and Abraham. This would make any literal writings very unlikely. Of course, people today have redefined what “by his own hand” means so that it is no longer literal, but more symbolic. It also admittedly could be Joseph’s personal opinion and not reflective of the text itself. If Abraham did write the record, then it is unclear why he would be writing a funerary text with magical spells to protect deceased individuals.
However, it seems, almost all of what Joseph understood about the text of the scrolls has been shown to be wrong. From the information that we actually have, the scrolls were not written by Abraham and frankly have nothing to do with Abraham. Joseph and the other members were simply caught up in an Egyptian craze at the time and so anything to do with Egypt was seen in an esoteric light. Even today ancient Egypt is seen in a very romanticized light.
Literal Translation
Upon receiving the scrolls, Joseph immediately began a study of the Egyptian language. The Rosetta stone had been found about 30 years prior to this point, however Joseph seemed to be unaware of this discovery. In order to understand the Egyptian grammar, Joseph seemed to have attempted a systematic study of the hieroglyphics with their associated English meanings. Between June and November 1835, Joseph personally wrote a record of Egyptian characters and their English meanings. This is known today as the “Egyptian Alphabet“. This record lists a column of Egyptian characters on the left side of the document and then lists the English meaning on the right.
For instance, the document lists several symbols along with their meaning according to Joseph. Today, Egyptologists have looked at this and found that it is frankly completely wrong about every single thing. There is not a single character which has a valid meaning. Of course, this may have just been a learning document for Joseph, however it appears to have been a springboard for the later translation of the scrolls themselves.
During the actual translation of the scrolls, it appears that Joseph followed a very similar model. He wrote Egyptian characters along the left margin of the document, and then the English equivalent text. In most cases Joseph assumed a single Egyptian character would expand to multiple sentences of English text. If we look at the translation, then we can see that the first almost 300 English words from the Book of Abraham were translated from just 6 Egyptian characters. This gave Joseph immense leeway for the translation.
Some have claimed the translation was not meant to be a literal translation of the Egyptian scrolls. However, if this is the case then why have the Egyptian characters written and then their seemingly English equivalent? For instance, in the third and fourth pages of the translation starting about verse 11, the translation document lists five Egyptian characters and their English equivalent.
Curiously these five Egyptian characters match the exact order, right to left, from the surviving pieces of the scrolls today. I don’t see why this would be the case unless the Egyptian characters themselves had some kind of connection to the English text of the Book of Abraham. As we know today these five Egyptian characters have a completely different meaning from what Joseph indicated they meant. Not a single Egyptologist, LDS affiliated or not, agrees with Joseph’s translation.
False Doctrine
The last interesting aspect of the Book of Abraham is the new doctrines that are introduced. Most of the Book of Abraham is really just a retelling of what is already contained in the Bible. However, there are some things like the Council in Heaven which are greatly expanded in the Book of Abraham. This council is described in Abraham 3 and heavily influences Mormon doctrine today and the temple Endowment.
In retelling the Council in Heaven, we generally simplify it by just saying God presented a plan and then asked for volunteers. Jesus volunteered, was accepted, and Satan was upset by this and rebelled. The LDS understanding of this event is really that simple. However, if you actually read the text then it is much more complicated, and honestly much more confusing.
The Council in Heaven story begins in verse 22, by describing God showing Abraham all his creations and his plan to help elevate them spiritually. For simplicity we can refer to God as Jehovah. We are then next introduced to a person that “was like unto God”. This person introduces Jehovah’s plan and states he is the one to test and prove the people to see if they will follow Jehovah or not. According to LDS theology this person is Christ, however the name Michael actually means “Who is like God”. It is not clear who the individual is, however both Christ and Michael pose problems in the story so far.
The next thing to happen is Jehovah asked who was going to make this happen. One “like unto the Son of Man” said he wanted to do it and then another answered he wanted to do it. According to LDS theology, this first person was also Jesus, and the other person was Satan. Jehovah chose Jesus and this resulted in Satan getting upset and rebelling.
This is problematic because if the one who “was like unto God” was in fact Michael, then it strongly suggests that Michael had more authority than Jesus. This is actually what Brigham Young believed in his Adam God theory and according to the text makes some degree of sense. If the individual was Jesus instead, then the story is basically saying Jesus told Jesus that they needed to go down and form the earth. Jesus then accepted Jesus’ plan and things proceeded as Jesus planned.
From the Book of Mormon, we know that Jehovah is Jesus, so this makes the story even more confusing. In this case, the story can be summarized to Jesus showed Abraham his creations. Jesus then said to Jesus, let us go down and form the earth. Jesus asked who would go. Jesus answered that he would go. Jesus chose Jesus and Satan was upset because of this. This is actually not a council at all. Jesus is really the only character in the entire story.
Conclusion
As we have seen, the Book of Abraham has many problems with it. Today since it is canonized then we accept the text automatically, however this doesn’t mean it is actually scripture. The book itself was canonized in 1880 and there is no indication that Joseph or the early church ever thought of it as sacred scripture from God. At that time most members likely didn’t even know the accurate history of the text so if their leaders said it was scripture, then they accepted it as scripture without question.
It does seem Joseph made a good faith effort to translate what he thought was the writings of Abraham. However, as we have seen this effort turned out to be the work of men and not the work of God. Today, many apologists have developed sophisticated arguments to work around the simple fact that the Book of Abraham is not what Joseph thought it was. This doesn’t need to be complicated or even a problem at all. However, today many people are unable to admit that Joseph was a human that made human mistakes.
Even a mistake as large as the Book of Abraham shouldn’t be a problem. People get carried away with fanciful ideas and sometimes forget to inquire of God. Even if they do ask God, then sometimes it is with preconceived ideas and already determined outcomes. This is human nature and has played out countless times since the dawn of humanity.
Based on other examples in the life of Joseph then we can also see that Satan is willing and able to also give revelations. Joseph received many revelations that turned out to not be from God. For instance, selling the copyright to the Book of Mormon, establishing the Kirtland Safety Society, and starting the Council of Fifty. All were based on undeniable revelations from God and all eventually proved to be failures based on the ideas of men.
Many have problems with this based on their mental model of how a prophet should operate. However, this doesn’t have to be. A prophet is called to a work which doesn’t mean everything that prophet does is God’s will. Today we assume though that a prophet means always a prophet. Joseph himself said that was not the case, yet we still want to deny the simple fact that when God uses humans to accomplish his work then sometimes, we will get things wrong. Even sometimes we will get big things wrong. This is why judgement and not blind acceptance is so vital.
