Abraham, Facsimile 3: Abraham in the King’s Court

About this facsimile

The explanation sets this scene in Egypt: its last line reads, “Abraham is reasoning upon the principles of Astronomy, in the king’s court.” In chapters 2 and 3 Abraham is on his way there. The Lord speaks to him as he comes near to Egypt (Abr. 2:22), and after showing him the stars says, “I show these things unto thee before ye go into Egypt, that ye may declare all these words” (Abr. 3:15).

As with the other two plates, the explanation was printed with the book in 1842. Most of what the explanations say differs from what Egyptologists say of the same figures, some parallels have been noted, and how the pictures relate to Abraham’s text is not known; the page for Facsimile 1 gives the Church’s words.

A line drawing with numbered figures: a seated figure wearing a tall crown, a figure standing behind the seat, and three figures approaching from the right, under a band of stars and above a line of written characters. — The plate as printed in *The Pearl of Great Price*, 1921 edition (1929 printing; public domain), scanned at the Internet Archive.

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its figurein the margin.

Joseph Smith’s explanation, by figure

Explanation of the Above Cut

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.

Context #

A judgment scene, or a presentation scene?

The plate has in the past been identified as the judgment of the dead before the throne of Osiris, a reading that has been prevalent among Egyptologists, and it has been argued…

The plate has in the past been identified as the judgment of the dead before the throne of Osiris, a reading that has been prevalent among Egyptologists, and it has been argued that the plate lacks most of what such a scene had. The judgment meant is that of chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead, in which the dead person declares innocence before forty-two gods while the heart is weighed against the feather of Maat. A copy of the Book of the Dead from the first century AD, about the time of the Joseph Smith Papyri, describes what the scene was expected to hold: the forty-two gods, Hathor, a balance attended by Thoth and Horus, the devourer Ammut, a lotus bearing the four sons of Horus, Osiris in a chapel. Facsimile 3 has no forty-two gods, no Hathor, no balance, no Thoth, Horus or Ammut, and no sons of Horus on its lotus; Osiris is seated, but in no chapel. Almost all of what the Egyptians thought important for the scene is absent, so that it may reasonably be asked whether this is a judgment scene at all.

The plate belonged, moreover, to a Book of Breathings and not to the Book of the Dead, which raises the question whether chapter 125 is the right comparison in the first place. A comparison of the throne scenes in other copies of the Book of Breathings has sorted them into four types (invocation, weighing of the heart, presentation, and hybrid) and found that the plate compares best with the presentation scene, in which one or more gods bring the dead person into the presence of Osiris. That placing has challenges of its own: the plate has several elements that are not standard, and it stood at least two columns into its scroll, not at the beginning of the text.

If the plate is closer to a presentation scene than to a judgment, it is added, it “might have a plausible connection with astronomy”: parallel scenes on Egyptian temples are reported to be labeled as initiations, and initiation rites known from Greco-Roman Egypt included instruction in astronomy. That would converge with the last line of the explanation, where Abraham reasons on astronomy in the king’s court.

Sources: Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, and John S. Thompson, “Facsimile 3: Judgment Scene or Presentation Scene?”, BYU Studies Quarterly 61, no. 4 (2022): 264.

Context #

Why Egyptologists see Osiris, and a case for Abraham in his place

Egyptologists identify the seated figure as the god Osiris, and ancient texts have been pointed to in which Abraham appears where Osiris would be expected.

Egyptologists identify the seated figure as the god Osiris, and ancient texts have been pointed to in which Abraham appears where Osiris would be expected. Two Egyptologists have claimed to reach the identification by reading the hieroglyphs beside the figure. A comparison with the engraving printed in 1842 shows difficulties, so that the reading may not be as straightforward as has been assumed. Even so, Osiris appears a reasonable identification from comparable pictures.

How then could Abraham be named in his place? In the Egyptian tale of Setne a poor man who had no dignified burial is glorified in the presence of Osiris; in Luke’s parable the poor man Lazarus is carried to Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22). Some scholars have argued that Jews borrowed and adapted the tale and that it so reached Luke, with Abraham put where Osiris had been. An Egyptian funerary formula asking that a soul live in the presence of Osiris-Sokar was likewise rendered in Greek as a prayer that it rest in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Why some anciently saw Abraham as a substitute for Osiris cannot be known exactly. That the Egyptians saw some connection is the conclusion drawn, which “might shed some light” on the explanation of this figure. The same proposal appears in the note on figure 10 of Facsimile 1.

Sources: Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, and John S. Thompson, “Abraham and Osiris (Facsimile 3, Figure 1)”, BYU Studies Quarterly 61, no. 4 (2022): 270. Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, and John S. Thompson, “A Semitic View of the Facsimiles”, BYU Studies Quarterly 61, no. 4 (2022): 215.

2 King Pharaoh, whose name is given in the characters above his head.

Context #

Isis, the throne, and the title “Pharaoh”

Scholars identify figure 2 as the goddess Isis, and it has been argued that, if she is Isis, the titles Isis bore when the plate was drawn give the explanation’s “King Pharaoh”…

Scholars identify figure 2 as the goddess Isis, and it has been argued that, if she is Isis, the titles Isis bore when the plate was drawn give the explanation’s “King Pharaoh” some justification. The identification itself is to be accepted cautiously. The three signs above the figure’s head that would spell her name are effectively illegible in the 1842 engraving, whether because the engraver preserved them poorly or because the ancient scribe drew them poorly (without the papyrus fragment it cannot be told), and Egyptologists who read the name of Isis there appear to have reconstructed the signs as they think they ought to read. The figure could with good reason be called Isis from similar figures in comparable scenes, but not securely from the signs alone.

Granting the identification, Isis was the mother of Horus, the divine form of Pharaoh, and had long been regarded as the royal mother and the king’s wife; her name in Egyptian means “throne” or “seat.” By the time of the Joseph Smith Papyri she had come to be called the Pharaohess of Egypt: one text is cited that names her Pharaohess of the whole land, and another title makes her ruler of the two lands.

Sources: Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, and John S. Thompson, “Isis the Pharaoh (Facsimile 3, Figure 2)”, BYU Studies Quarterly 61, no. 4 (2022): 276.

3 Signifies Abraham in Egypt—referring to Abraham, as given in the ninth number of the Times and Seasons. (Also as given in the first facsimile of this book.)

The current edition reads “Signifies Abraham in Egypt as given also in Figure 10 of Facsimile No. 1.”

Context #

The ninth number of the Times and Seasons

The “ninth number” is the issue of the Times and Seasons for 1 March 1842, which printed Facsimile 1, and the figure sends the reader back to it.

The “ninth number” is the issue of the Times and Seasons for 1 March 1842, which printed Facsimile 1, and the figure sends the reader back to it. The explanation was first printed in that paper, where it refers to “the 9th No. of the Times & Seasons”; the issue numbered volume 3, number 9, is dated 1 March 1842, and its first page carries the first facsimile from the Book of Abraham. There figure 10 is “Abraham in Egypt.” The 1921 edition adds a second pointer, “(Also as given in the first facsimile of this book.)”, and the current edition drops the issue number and points only to figure 10 of Facsimile 1.

Sources: The Pearl of Great Price, Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1921 edition (1929 printing), scanned at the Internet Archive. The Joseph Smith Papers, Book of Abraham and Facsimiles, 1 March–16 May 1842, Times and Seasons 3 (1842), p. 784 (explanation of Facsimile No. 3), Joseph Smith Papers. Times and Seasons, 1 March 1842, The Joseph Smith Papers, p. 703 (Vol. III, No. 9). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

4 Prince of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, as written above the hand.

5 Shulem, one of the king’s principal waiters, as represented by the characters above his hand.

Context #

Shulem’s name and title

Shulem’s name and title have been compared with what is known of Semitic people in Egypt in the time of Abraham.

Shulem’s name and title have been compared with what is known of Semitic people in Egypt in the time of Abraham. The name is reported to be widely attested in Semitic languages of that time, Old Akkadian, Old Babylonian and Ugaritic among them, and its form is taken to point to the late Middle Kingdom or the Second Intermediate Period, about 1800–1600 BC. The title is arguably attested as well: an Egyptian title, “butler of the ruler,” is offered as a fairly close match to it. There is evidence of Asiatics moving into Egypt in that time (retainers, dancers, singers and other workers are listed), and the kings of the Fourteenth Dynasty had mostly West Semitic names. From these it is surmised that Shulem was probably a first-generation immigrant who likely served in the court of a Fourteenth Dynasty ruler. Nothing more is known of him, since he does not appear in the text of the Book of Abraham; the evidence is offered as reinforcing the book’s historical plausibility.

Sources: Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, and John S. Thompson, “Shulem, One of the King’s Principal Waiters (Facsimile 3, Figure 5)”, BYU Studies Quarterly 61, no. 4 (2022): 280.

6 Olimlah, a slave belonging to the prince.

Abraham is reasoning upon the principles of Astronomy, in the king’s court.

Sources & further reading

The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Origins of the Book of Abraham”, Topics and Questions, Gospel Library.
The Pearl of Great Price, Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1921 edition (1929 printing), scanned at the Internet Archive.
Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, and John S. Thompson, “A Semitic View of the Facsimiles”, BYU Studies Quarterly 61, no. 4 (2022): 215.
Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, and John S. Thompson, “Facsimile 3: Judgment Scene or Presentation Scene?”, BYU Studies Quarterly 61, no. 4 (2022): 264.
Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, and John S. Thompson, “Abraham and Osiris (Facsimile 3, Figure 1)”, BYU Studies Quarterly 61, no. 4 (2022): 270.
Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, and John S. Thompson, “Isis the Pharaoh (Facsimile 3, Figure 2)”, BYU Studies Quarterly 61, no. 4 (2022): 276.
Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, and John S. Thompson, “Shulem, One of the King’s Principal Waiters (Facsimile 3, Figure 5)”, BYU Studies Quarterly 61, no. 4 (2022): 280.
The Joseph Smith Papers, Book of Abraham and Facsimiles, 1 March–16 May 1842, Times and Seasons 3 (1842), p. 784 (explanation of Facsimile No. 3), Joseph Smith Papers.
Times and Seasons, 1 March 1842, The Joseph Smith Papers, p. 703 (Vol. III, No. 9).