“King Pharaoh, whose name is given in the characters above his head”

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Shulem
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“King Pharaoh, whose name is given in the characters above his head”

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THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS wrote:
A FACSIMILE FROM THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM NO. 3

Image

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

Welcome to the official thread of Explanation No. 2 (figure to the far left) of the Facsimile No. 3, here at Discuss Mormonism in the Celestial Forum.

This is the premier place to learn about truth claims made by the founding prophet Joseph Smith regarding Fig. 2 of the Book of Abraham, Facsimile No. 3. Please be aware that this is the only Explanation of the Facsimiles that will be discussed in this thread, hence this is *THE PLACE* to learn specific details about this particular topic. You are welcome to start another thread on any other particular of the Book of Abraham -- but this thread is specific to Fig. 2 and the discussion should focus and center specifically on the topic matter at hand. Thanks!

All Are Welcome, both the faithful and the unfaithful. We are all in this together! All are invited to participate in this thread or you can lurk and read the material and information that will be provided for your benefit and education. Again, this thread is about Explanation No. 2 of Facsimile No. 3 and is not intended to veer off on tangents that don’t directly or indirectly tie back to the topic on hand.

More content will follow. Again, welcome and please bookmark this page.

PEARL OF GREAT PRICE CENTRAL wrote: Isis the Pharaoh (Facsimile 3, Figure 2):
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Pearl of Great Price Central Mormon apologetic Book of Abraham website.
Last edited by Shulem on Sat Oct 02, 2021 5:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Isis

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Figure 2 depicts the lovely goddess ISIS as she stands proudly behind the throne of her husband, Osiris, who is seated on his divine chair in heaven. Isis is adorned in a lovely robe and atop her headdress is a goddess crown consisting of the solar disc flanked by cow horns which symbolize the eternal power and strength of a goddess, such as Hathor, who also wears this female regalia. In one hand she holds the sacred emblem that symbolizes life, the ankh is the hieroglyphic sign for life. The other hand is raised in acclamation of praise in honoring the sacred nature of the funerary procession at hand.

All hail Isis, royal wife of the heavenly king Osiris and mother of Horus the falcon, a son of the Egyptian god Osiris who sits firmly and everlastingly upon the throne depicted in Fig. 1!

We know the personage of Fig. 2 is as follows:

[X] Isis
[X] Goddess
[X] Immortal
[X] Queen
[X] Woman
[X] Wife
[X] Mother

EXPLANATION:

Fig. 2. King Pharaoh, whose name is given in the characters above his head.
Fig. 2. Queen Isis, whose name is given in the characters above her head.
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Re: “King Pharaoh, whose name is given in the characters above his head”

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So Osiris is the one wearing the crown of Egypt?

Why is Isis wearing a TV "rabbit ears" antenna on her head? Was it to better receive instructions from Kolob?

Anubis is still missing his snout.
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I can see clearly....

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Joseph Smith was 36 years old when he published the Book of Abraham including the Facsimiles in the Times and Seasons in 1842. To my knowledge, there is no indication that Smith ever examined the original vignette of Facsimile No. 3 under a magnifying glass or whether he donned eyeglasses to improve his visibility. Nobody can say that Smith’s vision was 20/20 or how hard it was for him to read. We don’t know! We can only speculate how well Smith was able to visually grasp the character of ISIS; thus, Smith’s ability to visualize the goddess on papyrus could have ranged from poor to excellent but we have no way of knowing how well he was able to actually define the character with regards to sex -- a man or a woman?

It could be argued that Joseph Smith’s vision was not very good even at the age of 23 when he was translating the Book of Mormon. An indicator of this is the alleged use of so-called spectacles Smith used to assist in the translation process of the gold plates. Hence, the miraculous magnification of spectacles would help him clearly see what he needed to see with God’s help! This seems to suggest that Smith had a hard time reading and that eyeglasses was something on his mind even at an early age. Thus, I propose that Joseph Smith needed glasses but we have no evidence that he actually wore devices when he provided the Explanations of the Facsimiles! Therefore, the prophet may have been hindered through shortsightedness or blurriness and unable to clearly visualize subtle nuances or definitive characters of a particular object, person, or thing.

It’s my opinion that Smith believed the personage of No. 2 was male in character as he indicates in the official explanation. The fact that Smith identified that person as “king” is strong evidence that he believed the person was a man. Perhaps unbeknown to Joseph Smith, with very few exceptions (notably famous Cleopatra) in Egyptian history, nearly all the king’s of Egypt were male. The Pharaohs were male and Smith would have rightly assumed that all of them mentioned in the Bible were also males. Therefore, Smith wrongly assumed that Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 (goddess Maat) were males. I strongly suspect this error was derived on account of Smith not having clear vision and not being corrected by others who viewed the papyrus who had good vision.


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She’s a Lady

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The Book of Abraham provides an interesting yet fictitious origin story of how Egypt came to be. The first chapter tells of a man named “Pharaoh” of Ham’s progeny and when “the first government of Egypt was established by Pharaoh, the eldest son of Egyptus, the daughter of Ham, and it was after the manner of the government of Ham, which was patriarchal.” Here we learn that the government of ancient Egypt was believed by Smith to be patriarchal in order and that the kings were males who held a priesthood they fain claimed through Noah’s lineage.

Joseph Smith identifying the goddess Isis as so-called “King Pharoah” is an error of colossal significance! The Egyptian Isis is a queen, not a king. She is an immortal woman, not a mortal man. Joseph Smith’s error has created a paradox in which Mormon apologists and its Church cannot solve. A woman is a woman and a man is a man -- thus, according to current Latter-day Saint theology (THE FAMILY A PROCLAMATION TO THE WORLD), “Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.” But now we have an instance (two in fact in Facsimile No. 3) when a woman is being identified as a man. Nothing could be further from the truth! Isis is no more a king than Maat is a prince! Both Explanations given by Smith about these persons are false.

Furthermore, the same PROCLAMATION asserts that God affirms that “Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan”, hence, Smith’s declaration in identifying Isis as a man-king for all intents and purposes divorces her from her lawful husband Osiris who sits on his throne before her very presence. Thus, Mormonism has divorced Isis from Osiris and disregards the Christian caveat that “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

The Explanation of Facsimile No. 3 has turned Isis into a mortal man-king and has put asunder the godly marriage of Osiris & Isis which they have enjoyed since time began.
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It’s none other than Isis!

Post by Shulem »

Pearl of Great Price Central wrote:So while this figure might be reasonably identified as Isis based on similar iconographic elements found in comparable scenes, the identity of this figure cannot be securely reached based solely on reading the poorly-preserved hieroglyphs. The identification of this figure as Isis is therefore worth exploring, but there are reasons for this identification to be accepted cautiously.

A look at the above carefully crafted and deceptive statement made by apologists at Pearl of Great Price Central is in order. The statement correctly ties the pictorial image of Isis to the text above her. Thus, the text and image should agree, and in this case it does. But the statement creates a false out when it says that Isis cannot be positively identified solely on the reading of the text. BUT WE DON’T NEED THE TEXT! There is no need to proceed “cautiously”.

The very image of ISIS in her typical form and wearing one of her typical divine crowns that defines her power and dressed in her garb is all inclusive to prove that it’s her, Isis, manifested in the flesh. There need not be a caption of text above her because every Egyptian both in the north and in the south will know instantly who the person is just by the iconic image of her being adorned with the divine crown as she stands behind the throne of her seated greenfaced husband, Osiris.

We don’t need any inscription to prove that it’s Isis! That is the same lovely lady that is featured upon countless funerary papyri, inscribed on mighty monuments throughout Egypt, and specially adorned on temple and tomb walls -- being carved and painted manifestations of the divine queen of heaven.

We know Isis when we see her just as Christians know Jesus when they see a portrait or work of art depicting him doing his ministry and all the things associated with that.
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It’s none other than Isis!

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FURTHER THOUGHTS….

It seems clear to me that the apologists’ intentions are an attempt to stir confusion and doubt in the minds of their readers and to coax them into thinking there must be another answer rather than coming to the obvious conclusion that the person is none other than queen Isis. Why does the apologists do this? All for the purpose of getting their readers to take the eye off the ball. It’s a sneaky move by the apologist to sow doubt! But sow doubt in what? To sow doubt in true Egyptology and allow an unexplained backdoor for Joseph Smith’s explanation to somehow maintain some kind of strange legitimacy and to not be discarded on its face.

I point out that the statement “The identification of this figure as Isis is therefore worth exploring” is an insult to Egyptology and a slap in the face to the ancient Egyptian religion. It’s somewhat distressing for me to cite this apologetic nonsense and defend the most important female goddess in Egyptian mythology with regards to sacred writings and drawings that praise her. There is nothing really to explore in trying to determine the identity of the person of Fig. 2.

It’s Isis!

More will be said about the text above the head of Isis.
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Re: “King Pharaoh, whose name is given in the characters above his head”

Post by Shulem »

Moksha wrote:
Fri Oct 01, 2021 4:44 pm
So Osiris is the one wearing the crown of Egypt?

Indeed, Osiris (Fig. 1) wears the Atef Crown, a tall bulbous white crown at center position that is flanked by two ostrich feathers.

Joseph Smith led his followers to believe that Abraham was so crowned and usurped the throne by the polite permission of the king. Nothing could be further from the truth. No native Egyptian king who honored his birthright would have ever allowed an Asiatic foreigner to sit upon the throne in the presence of his courtiers and royal court.

Everything that I know about ancient Egypt screams against that notion and serves to prove Smith’s story is utterly false.
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They are ladies

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Pearl of Great Price Central wrote:The identification of this figure as Isis is therefore worth exploring, but there are reasons for this identification to be accepted cautiously.

There is no reason to “cautiously” recognize Isis for who she really is in the funerary vignette of Facsimile No. 3 or any other funerary vignette for that matter. It’s really a rather simple and easy process to come to a natural conclusion. All one need do is open their eyes and ask the question, “who is this lovely lady” and who is the other lovely lady designated as Fig. 4? They are Isis & Maat, two of the most prominent goddesses of Egyptian mythology! Nothing could be more logical than to recognize her for who she really is.

It is by that which Fig. 2 is NOT that defines her!

She is NOT a man.
She is NOT a king.
She is NOT mortal.

She IS a woman.
She IS a queen.
She IS immortal.


Image

Isis & Maat of Facsimile No. 3 (Fig. 2 & 4)

EXPLANATION

Fig. 2. King Pharaoh, whose name is given in the characters above his head.
Fig. 4. Prince of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, as written above the hand.
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Re: “King Pharaoh, whose name is given in the characters above his head”

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Pearl of Great Price Central wrote:By virtue of her royal associations and because of her extensive worship throughout the Mediterranean world, by the time of the Joseph Smith Papyri Isis had come to be identified as the very Pharaoh(ess) of Egypt. In one text from this time period, for example, she is called “the Pharaoh(ess) of the whole land” (tȝ pr-ˁȝt New Testament tȝ r-ḏr·f).10 Of her additional dozens of epithets and titles, she was also designated, among other things, “ruler of the two lands in the house of joy” (hḳȝt-tȝwy m ḥwt ȝwṯ-ỉb),11 “ruler of gods and goddesses” (hḳȝt nṯrw nṯrwt),12 “the Pharaoh(ess) of everything” (pr-ˁȝt New Testament tm nb),13 “the queen who seizes office by her power” (nswt ỉṯỉ ỉȝwt m sḫrw·s),14 “excellent ruler” (ḥḳȝt mnḫt),15 “excellent queen” (nswt mnḫt),16 “excellent ruler on the throne of her father” (ḥḳȝt mnḫt ḥr nst ỉt·s),17 “ruler of Egypt” (ḥḳȝt New Testament bȝḳt),18 and “queen of all Egypt” (nswt New Testament snwt r ȝw·s).19

The historical extrapolation in the apologetic excuse above given to justify Smith’s mistake in labeling Isis as a pharaoh is not without its own problems and contradictions of what the prophet originally claimed concerning the nature and origin of the papyrus itself. The papyrus was said to be a LITERAL 3500 Year Old Abraham Autograph, written by his own hand. Abraham’s roll was a sacred writing preserved in a tomb said to have dated that era and was interned with mummies which Smith claimed were royal. All of these claims are documented in official church historical records. Smith identified the papyrus to have been as old as the patriarch himself.

According to Smith, the person sitting on the throne is Abraham, drawn by his own hand. The person behind the throne is said to have been the king of Egypt that was alive during Abraham’s sojourn in Egypt and he too was drawn by Abraham’s own hand. All of the writing on that scroll was written by the hand of Abraham during his ministry. Everything written and drawn on the scroll was a representation of events that occurred during Abraham’s lifetime. The apologists attempt to get their readers to take their eyes of the present and look to a future in which had nothing to do with what Smith said the record represented.

It makes no difference what anyone in the Mediterranean world thought of Isis during Late Egyptian times. The only Egyptian time we need concern ourselves with is Abraham’s time -- an Egyptian dynasty that is far removed from the actual age of the papyrus which Smith mistakenly misdated. The apologists attempt to rationalize Smith’s mistake in identifying a DEAD WOMAN (ISIS) with a living king of Egypt. Smith was wrong. The person he identified as a king was not the man-king Abraham visited and Isis was not alive on planet earth at the time Abraham visited Egypt. Furthermore, Smith makes no allusion or reference to having been visited by an Egyptian goddess representing herself as “King Pharaoh” and neither does the record state that “King Pharaoh” is a representation of a goddess of the Egyptian religion. Those kinds of inferences come from apologists attempting to excuse Smith’s mistakes by applying creative principles of syncretism of the Egyptian religion.

Do note that apologetic twists and turns do nothing to justify Smith’s mistake in identifying Maat (Fig. 4) as a “Prince of Pharaoh”. Never is Maat called or referred to as a PRINCE of Egypt! She, like Isis, is a woman, not a male. Thus, we see that the apologetic attempt to justify Smith’s mistakes by trying to find obscure representations outside of the historical context of what Smith was originally claiming is a complete failure. They are welcome to ascribe Isis as kingly from a certain point of view if that is what they want but they will have a serious problem with ascribing Maat as prince of Egypt. It’s entirely a losing proposition. MAAT is *NOT* a son.
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