Book of Abraham as Autobiography

[Guest]

Going over some old notes on the Book of Abraham today, I ran across some observations that I thought I would share with you here. It's well-known that Joseph Smith included in the Book of Mormon a number of autobiographical elements. Lehi's family mirrors Joseph's own, as does the Brother of Jared's. Many of the Smith family's relationships and struggles find their way into the Book, as does the prophet's conversion and miraculous ability to receive revelation through sacred stones. I'd like to suggest that there are some similarly autobiographical features in the Book of Abraham. There aren't many, since the book is so short, but the extant text is suggestive in several respects.

Take for example Abraham's journeys. Now, I don't want to make too much of this, because the Book of Abraham account of Abraham's journeys are largely based on the Bible. Nevertheless, Joseph may have selected this particular biblical narrative precisely because it was suggestive of his own life, and some of the ways he modifies the biblical narrative are suggestive. In the Book of Abraham, Abraham starts in Chaldea and then moves to Haran, where he stops and settles for a time on the way to the promised land of Canaan. In Haran, Abraham gathers followers; these followers come with him when he finally travels on to Canaan. When Joseph stops translating in 1835 at Abr. 2:18, Abraham has just entered the land of Canaan. When Joseph resumes translating in 1842, the Nauvoo period, he has Abraham almost immediately fall upon hard times in Canaan and choose to flee to Egypt. The prophet died before he could tell the story of Abraham's return to the promised land.

The stages of Abraham's journey correspond roughly with the stages of Joseph's.

Joseph was born in Palmyra, New York, his "Chaldea". His "fathers" are in apostasy, but he is a seeker of greater righteousness, and so miraculously receives the priesthood. Like Abraham, Joseph's contemporaries refuse to listen to his message. Like Abraham, Joseph undergoes a traumatic event (in his case, leg surgery) in which he is held down on a table while someone cuts him with a knife. Joseph's anger at the surgeon is perhaps expressed in the narrative by the fact that the idolatrous priest Elkenah is smitten and dies. Just as Abraham's father repents and Abraham preserves the ancient records in Abr. 1:30-1, so Joseph Smith's own father repents and Joseph reveals the Book of Mormon.

The Prophet soon moves to Kirtland (his "Haran"), a sort of waystation on the road to the promised land of Missouri. Here he does much of the work of revelating, just as Abraham receives visions during the same period. Promises are made to him about a promised land. The translation of the Book of Abraham ends during this period at a point roughly corresponding to Joseph's own point in his journeys.

Joseph doesn't take up the pen again until after the expulsion from Missouri. He of course intends to return there to reclaim the promised land someday. He has Abraham almost immediately forced from the land of Canaan by famine, and go to sojourn in Egypt. Here God tells Abraham to lie about his marital relations for safety's sake, and commands that he ask Sarah to do the same. Similarly, safety required that Joseph lie about the practice of polygamy, and that he ask his wives-- notably Emma-- to do the same. Unlike in the biblical narrative, where Abraham does this on his own initiative, the Book of Abraham represents this as a command directly from God. It is also in Egypt that Abraham has visions about the cosmos, pre-existence, and creation; these things first come into Smith's theology during the same period. I will just briefly add here that the structure of the cosmos-- described most fully in the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar-- mirrors the structure of the LDS priesthood. Like the Abraham narrative, Joseph's life was cut short before a return to the Promised Land could be effected. Neither return was ever completed, for Brigham Young set his sights past Egypt/Nauvoo, to the vast and unknown frontiers beyond.

[_CaliforniaKid]

Nobody else finds this nearly as interesting as I do, do they?

[_Who Knows]

Makes sense. And appears a lot more of a reasonable/simpler (occam's razor...) explanation, than what the mopo's are offering. Nice job.

[_Dr. Shades]

Very, VERY interesting contribution, CaliforniaKid.

It's not often that something brand-new enters into the debate that none of us had ever considered before. Congratulations!

[_CaliforniaKid]

Thanks, Shades and WK. I should give credit where it's due: two of the observations I posted above are not new developments.

The first is the bit about God telling Abraham to tell Sarah to lie about their marital relations. That particular connection to Nauvoo polygamy was first made by Susan Staker in an essay in Line upon Line. The whole essay is quite interesting, so I'd recommend giving it a look if you haven't already. It suggests that the reason the women of the Relief Society were given a semblance of the priesthood was so they would be under oath to keep their mouths shut about polygamy. Don and I have discovered that this narrative about Abraham lying to Pharaoh seems to have been translated on the same day and in the same building that one of the prophet's plural marriages was performed.

The other insight that's not new is the bit about the structure of the Abrahamic cosmos mirroring the priesthood. That particular observation comes from "Joseph Smith's Scriptural Cosmology", an essay by Vogel and Metcalfe in The Word of God.

I was quite pleased with myself for noticing the similarity of Abraham's sacrifice on the altar to Joseph's leg surgery. The leg surgery features prominently in nearly all psychological analyses of the prophet. It was one of the more traumatic and memorable events of his lifetime.

[_Tom]

I was quite pleased with myself for noticing the similarity of Abraham's sacrifice on the altar to Joseph's leg surgery. The leg surgery features prominently in nearly all psychological analyses of the prophet. It was one of the more traumatic and memorable events of his lifetime.

Along these lines, I understand that William Morain read a paper at the 2008 Restoration Studies Symposium connecting the surgery and Joseph Smith's reconstruction of Fac. 1.

[_CaliforniaKid]

D'oh! It appears I've been pre-empted!

[_solomarineris]

Going over some old notes on the Book of Abraham today, I ran across some observations that I thought I would share with you here. It's well-known that Joseph Smith included in the Book of Mormon a number of autobiographical elements. Lehi's family mirrors Joseph's own, as does the Brother of Jared's. Many of the Smith family's relationships and struggles find their way into the Book, as does the prophet's conversion and miraculous ability to receive revelation through sacred stones. I'd like to suggest that there are some similarly autobiographical features in the Book of Abraham. There aren't many, since the book is so short, but the extant text is suggestive in several respects.

Take for example Abraham's journeys. Now, I don't want to make too much of this, because the Book of Abraham account of Abraham's journeys are largely based on the Bible. Nevertheless, Joseph may have selected this particular biblical narrative precisely because it was suggestive of his own life, and some of the ways he modifies the biblical narrative are suggestive. In the Book of Abraham, Abraham starts in Chaldea and then moves to Haran, where he stops and settles for a time on the way to the promised land of Canaan. In Haran, Abraham gathers followers; these followers come with him when he finally travels on to Canaan. When Joseph stops translating in 1835 at Abr. 2:18, Abraham has just entered the land of Canaan. When Joseph resumes translating in 1842, the Nauvoo period, he has Abraham almost immediately fall upon hard times in Canaan and choose to flee to Egypt. The prophet died before he could tell the story of Abraham's return to the promised land.

The stages of Abraham's journey correspond roughly with the stages of Joseph's.

Joseph was born in Palmyra, New York, his "Chaldea". His "fathers" are in apostasy, but he is a seeker of greater righteousness, and so miraculously receives the priesthood. Like Abraham, Joseph's contemporaries refuse to listen to his message. Like Abraham, Joseph undergoes a traumatic event (in his case, leg surgery) in which he is held down on a table while someone cuts him with a knife. Joseph's anger at the surgeon is perhaps expressed in the narrative by the fact that the idolatrous priest Elkenah is smitten and dies. Just as Abraham's father repents and Abraham preserves the ancient records in Abr. 1:30-1, so Joseph Smith's own father repents and Joseph reveals the Book of Mormon.

The Prophet soon moves to Kirtland (his "Haran"), a sort of waystation on the road to the promised land of Missouri. Here he does much of the work of revelating, just as Abraham receives visions during the same period. Promises are made to him about a promised land. The translation of the Book of Abraham ends during this period at a point roughly corresponding to Joseph's own point in his journeys.

Joseph doesn't take up the pen again until after the expulsion from Missouri. He of course intends to return there to reclaim the promised land someday. He has Abraham almost immediately forced from the land of Canaan by famine, and go to sojourn in Egypt. Here God tells Abraham to lie about his marital relations for safety's sake, and commands that he ask Sarah to do the same. Similarly, safety required that Joseph lie about the practice of polygamy, and that he ask his wives-- notably Emma-- to do the same. Unlike in the biblical narrative, where Abraham does this on his own initiative, the Book of Abraham represents this as a command directly from God. It is also in Egypt that Abraham has visions about the cosmos, pre-existence, and creation; these things first come into Smith's theology during the same period. I will just briefly add here that the structure of the cosmos-- described most fully in the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar-- mirrors the structure of the LDS priesthood. Like the Abraham narrative, Joseph's life was cut short before a return to the Promised Land could be effected. Neither return was ever completed, for Brigham Young set his sights past Egypt/Nauvoo, to the vast and unknown frontiers beyond.

Don't under-estimate yourself.
It is a very convincing parallel.

[_Danna]

Yes, very interesting. You have pulled some separate threads together. something to mull over, great work.

[_Enuma Elish]

Nice work Chris.

Clearly you've identified some intriguing parallels. While very interesting, the links, however, tells us nothing about authorship, since as you acknowledge, Abraham's journey in the Book of Abraham derives from the biblical account.

Moreover, both Abraham and Joseph's story reflect the pattern for nearly every heroic adventure ever told where a hero ventures forth from a troubled world into a region of supernatural wonder, encounters a fabulous mystical force, secures a decisive victory, only to return to his promised land with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.

Joseph's leg, Abraham's experiences upon the altar, Moses slaying the Egyptian, Gilgamesh exhausting the citizens of Uruk, etc., etc., etc.

best,

--DB