Here Comes The Book of Abraham Part I, II, III

[_Shulem]

[_Shulem]

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

I decided to assemble and craft this work and release it online now as Part I!

Enjoy. If you like it, then by all means share it with others!

Here Comes The Book of Abraham Part I

You won't be disappointed, enjoy!

[_Philo Sofee]

Fantastic!!! Man you are putting a ton of work into this. Lookin good!

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Not hijacking this thread. However, I read this post about the Abraham myth development and thought it'd be relevant:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblic ... y/f72ymm2/

[–]zanillamilla

Quality Contributor 36 points 14 hours ago

Israel Finkelstein and Thomas Römer wrote a pair of very interesting articles on this subject (HeBAI 2014; ZAW 2014). I'll summarize their reconstruction of how the narratives came together. First of all, there were actually three origin stories: Abraham, Jacob, and the exodus (i.e. Moses). The exodus story was a charter myth for the northern kingdom in the time of Jeroboam and was strongly associated with the cities of Shechem, Bethel, and Dan (probably the latter two not until the 8th century BC). The Jacob cycle was another alternative charter myth for the origin of the northern kingdom, originally arising from local legends about certain places. The oldest legends of Jacob arose in the Gilead area, but in the 8th century in the time of Jeroboam II, Jacob became a hero of the central highlands as well and thus became associated with Bethel, Shechem, and other cities (as a consolidation of the Jacob narrative with exodus tradition). Hosea in the 8th century contrasts both origin stories and holds the exodus in high esteem while regarding the Jacob traditions poorly. He also was familiar with both the Jacob-Laban block of tradition as well as the Jacob-Esau block, though in the latter the brother was unnamed.

Abraham appears only in later extra-Pentateuchal sources from the 6th century BC (Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah). He arose as a local etiological hero in the southern kingdom of Judah, associated first probably with the cultic site of the Oak of Mamre, but also later with other southern sites lying at political borders such as Beersheba, the Dead Sea, and Gerar. Like Jacob, he was remembered as the father of the nation. Finkelstein and Römer believe that the Jacob cycle was imported to Judah after 720 BC when the northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians, and then Judeans composed an Abraham cycle out of their own local hero in the 7th century BC. The Jacob-Esau brotherly conflict was imitated in the Isaac-Ishmael narrative. Ishmael gives a clear indication of date since the name alludes to the Shumu’il confederation which flourished in the 7th century BC (reflecting a southern expansion of Judah under Assyrian hegemony) but which came to an end by the 6th century. The Lot narrative pertaining to the origin of the nations of Moab and Ammon were also more pertinent to the 7th century as well. The Judean author subordinated the Jacob stories by placing Abraham first chronologically and also by making Abraham imitate various deeds of Jacob, such as going first to Bethel and Shechem ahead of Jacob. From the allusion in Amos 7, it is possible that Isaac was an independent local ancestor in the south (Beersheba?) who was then integrated with the Abraham cycle as his son. Then the two cycles, Abraham and Jacob, were glued together by making Isaac the father of Jacob. The reign of Josiah is a logical time for the composition of this combined narrative; note also Moriah as the place of animal sacrifice in Genesis 22 which clearly reflects a southern perspective and presuppose the centralization of the cult in Jerusalem under Josiah. (The Joseph novella was also possibly composed around this time in the Saite period in order to link together the Jacob cycle with the exodus narrative). The next stage of the process was the composition of P, probably in the exilic or the early post-exilic periods. P gives a coherent rewritten story of Abraham and Jacob with some major changes. Abraham is made a Mesopotamian from Ur of the Chaldeans and Haran, the capital of Assyria in the early Neo-Babylonian period, is also his home. This reflects the situation of the Babylonian golah and the wish for them to return to land of Israel. Another innovation of P was Machpelah, which brought all three patriarchs into Judah for burial. The older tradition was likely that Jacob was buried in Shechem; there was indeed a later tradition of this (contradicting P) as found in Acts 7:16 and Jerome (cf. also John 4:5-6 on an example of a local Shechemite Jacob tradition). The last parts of the Abraham narrative to be redacted in the Torah, according to Finkelstein and Römer were likely Genesis 14 (with the very late Melchizedek insertion) and 15

[_Maksutov]

You have my enthusiastic support.

[_Shulem]

Fantastic!!! Man you are putting a ton of work into this. Lookin good!

Thank you for the compliment. Coming from you that means a lot! Let's not forget the fine work you did in putting together all kinds of yummy nuggets in this link:

Joseph Smith Said He Did, in Fact, Possess Abraham's Literal Autograph and the Papyri Were Written By Abraham's Own Hand 3,500 Years Ago: The Evidence

And to show my appreciation for the good work YOU do and your continued interest in this subject, I have some early Christmas presents for you to hang on your Abraham tree this year:

Before he was twenty-five years of age he had received nearly two hundred revelations from God and had translated the Book of Abraham from rolls of papyrus written by Abraham himself, while he was in Egypt, which came from the catacombs of Egypt.

Please note that apostle Smoot says Smith translated the Book of Abraham before he was 25 years old! What an idiot. He doesn't even know basic Mormon history which was Smith was born in 1805, hence:

1805 + 25 = 1830 which is the year the church was founded. The papyrus didn't enter the scene until 5 years later. But hey, he was speaking by the Spirit!



But at least Smoot was preaching what Joseph Smith preached which was Abraham literally wrote on the papyrus when he was in Egypt and that Smith translated that very papyrus. I give Smoot credit for keeping his story straight which is more than I can say for Mormon apologists today who deny virtually everything the founding apostles and prophets said about the papyrus.

More early Christmas presents for Kerry:

We also have the Pearl of Great Price containing other information that the Lord has revealed, including in it the Book of Abraham translated from papyri found buried with mummies in the catacombs of Egypt.

Imagine that. The Book of Abraham was translated from papyri that was buried with mummies which the early Mormons said were 4,000 years old. Go figure.

And then there fell into the hands of Joseph Smith some ancient scriptures from the catacombs of Egypt that were the writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt and that were written by his own hand upon papyrus, from which they were translated and are known as the Book of Abraham.

Spencer-baby is saying that the papyrus was literally written by Abraham's own hand and fell into the hands of Joseph Smith, literally. It had to be Smith's own hand to be able to hold the roll, unroll it, and translate it. From Abraham's hand to Smith's! That's what Spencer-baby was preaching as he maintained the original claim. But apologists today are mobsters who deny, deny, deny, in order to preserve their silly testimonies of Smith's Book of Abraham.

[_Physics Guy]

I don't expect this to faze any Mormons but to me it's odd that there's so little fanfare about the "coming forth" of the Book of Abraham. This time 'round there are no angels and no digging; no plates either found or taken back to heaven; neither urim nor thummim, nor any manner of -ims.

The papyri simply fell into Smith's hands, and it wasn't even a miraculous literal fall from a portal to heaven that opened in the sky over Smith's head as collectively attested by half a dozen of Smith's friends and family who never recanted. I understand he picked them up for a few bucks from a traveling dealer. Quite a change in Smith's style.

[Guest]

The papyri simply fell into Smith's hands, and it wasn't even a miraculous literal fall from a portal to heaven that opened in the sky over Smith's head as collectively attested by half a dozen of Smith's friends and family who never recanted.

Actually the story of how a up-until-now, one of a kind, totally unknown actual autograph by a mythical man (Abraham)purported to live 4000 years ago, and a similar autograph by his son (Joseph), each buried on different mummies hundreds of years apart, 2000 years ago, arriving in Kirtland, after traveling to Italy, New York and half a dozen other Eastern US cities, to the only man in the world who was capable of translating them at that time, is in some ways, more unbelievable than an angel giving Joseph Smith the gold plates.

I understand he picked them up for a few bucks from a traveling dealer. Quite a change in Smith's style.

Chandler was paid $2400.00 dollars and not a dime of it came from Joseph Smith nor was that money ever paid back to those who ponied up for it. Those "few bucks" translate to $70,000.00 dollars in today's dollars.

[_Shulem]

This time 'round there are no angels and no digging; no plates either found or taken back to heaven; neither urim nor thummim, nor any manner of -ims.

You're right about no angels and no digging for plates but the Urim and Thummim was said to assist Smith in translating:

The Lord is Blessing Joseph with Power to reveal the mysteries of the kingdom of God; to translate through the urim & Thummim Ancient records & Hyeroglyphics as old as Abraham or Adam, which causes our hearts to burn within us while we behold their glorious truths opened unto us

The record is now in course of translation by the means of the Urim and Thummim, and proves to be a record written partly by the father of the faithful, Abraham, and finished by Joseph when in Egypt. After his death, it is supposed they were preserved in the family of the Pharaohs and afterwards hid up with the embalmed body of the female with whom they were found.

The testimony supplied by those two apostles is a solid declaration to the church that Smith claimed to use the magic stone. I don't give a rat's ass what apologists say today. They weren't there. They aren't apostles. They didn't assist Smith in translating and printing the Book of Abraham as these two were in 1842. Those two apostles had the inside scoop. Apologists today are like blind mice that are never able to find their way out of the box in which they are imprisoned. They have no authority to represent the church. Their articles are crap. Their apologetics stinks. They disagree and contradict each other and are a house divided among themselves and a house divided is a house that cannot stand. Where did I hear that?

[_Shulem]

Chandler was paid $2400.00 dollars and not a dime of it came from Joseph Smith or was ever paid back to those who ponied up for it. Those "few bucks" translate to $70,000.00 dollars in today's dollars.

Did Joseph Smith ever actually work for a living? From what I understand about church history everything was pretty much supplied for him and handed to him on a silver platter.

The Egyptian relics were put on formal display in Nauvoo. It was said that the customary payment to tour was 25 cents and that money went to Smith's mother. A lot of people toured Nauvoo and saw the Book of Abraham exhibit. Makes me wonder how much money they made with their con in telling people they had an Egyptian king and royal mummies.

The Mormons were nothing but con artists.