From: gclapp@javelin.sim.es.com (Glenn Clapp)
Subject: BoA Papyrus (SLCM-9/92-3/7)
Organization: Evans & Sutherland Corp.
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 19:24:02 GMT


GEE'S MAGICAL PAPYRI

        One of the more desperate attempts to save the Book of Abraham
is the attempt to link it to late magical papyri. John Gee, the Mormon
apologist who has criticized Charles Larson's book, has been trying very
hard to promote this view. On page 116 of his rebuttal to Larson, John
Gee reported: "David Cameron discovered an Egyptian lion couch scene
much like Facsimile 1 explicitly mentioning the name Abraham." Mr. Gee
has provided research on this subject for an article published by
F.A.R.M.S. and has also prepared an article for the church's magazine,
_The Ensign_.

        The "lion couch scene" Gee speaks of is found in the Leiden
Papyrus I 384. The F.A.R.M.S. article concerning this matter caused some
Mormons to be very excited because it stated that the "lion couch scene"
shows "Anubis standing over a person..." (Insight: An Ancient Window,
September 1991, page 1) Many were undoubtedly led to believe that the
"person" on the couch must be Abraham as shown in Facsimile No. 1 of the
Book of Abraham. Unfortunately for Mormon apologists, this has not
turned out to be the case. Mormon Egyptologist Edward Ashment claimed
that it was actually a woman who was lying on the couch. In his article
published in _The Ensign_, July 1992, p. 61, John Gee acknowledged that
this is the case: "The figure on the lion couch in this papyrus is a
woman."

        While many Mormon apologists have argued that Facsimile No. 1
shows a priest with a human head attempting to sacrifice Abraham, it has
been obvious to Egyptologists for many years that the standing figure is
really the jackal-headed god Anubis preparing the deceased for burial.
The rediscovery of the Joseph Smith Papyri shows that the head was
missing on the original papyrus, and it is clear that Joseph Smith made
an imaginative restoration which is incorrect. In the papyrus John Gee
speaks of it is obvious that the woman is being attended by the
jackal-headed god. As we have shown, the article in _Insights_ plainly
states that it is "Anubis standing over a person..."

        In _The Ensign_, Mr. Gee reveals that even the text speaks of
the jackal-headed god: "Later in the text we read, 'I adjure you spirits
of the dead, [by] the dead (pharaohs) and the demon Balsamos and the
jackal-headed god and the gods who are with him.'... The 'jackal-headed
god' is most likely Anubis, who usually officiates in lion couch
scenes..." It is obvious, then, that this papyrus provides no support
for the sacrificial scene found in Facsimile No. 1.

        If this papyrus were dated 2,000 years earlier, the discovery of
the name Abraham on it might be significant. It, of course, would not
prove the Book of Abraham to be true, but would merely establish that
the name "Abraham" was known in Egypt at that time.

        One of the problems with the Book of Breathings Papyrus--the
text Joseph Smith believed was the Book of Abraham--is that it is not
old enough to have been written by Abraham. According to Josiah Quincy,
Joseph Smith claimed that the papyrus he had contained the very
handwriting of Abraham himself: "That is the handwriting of Abraham, the
father of the Faithful..." (See _Mormonism--Shadow or Reality?_ page 321
for additional evidence concerning this matter). A number of Mormon
scholars feel that Abraham lived in the twentieth century B.C.

        When the Joseph Smith Papyri were rediscovered, it soon became
obvious that they were not nearly old enough to support Joseph Smith's
claims concerning the Book of Abraham. Dr. Hugh Nibley admitted that the
Book of Breathings only dated back to the first century: "...It has now
become apparent... that our Joseph Smith Book of Breathings is one of a
very special and limited and uniquely valuable class of documents
clustering around a single priestly family of upper Egypt in the first
century A.D." (The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian
Endowment, 1975, p. 3) Since the Book of Breathings--which, of course,
contains the drawing Joseph Smith used for Facsimile No. 1 in his Book
of Abraham--was written about 2,000 years after the time of Abraham, the
Mormon Church is faced with a serious dilemma.

        The magical texts which John Gee uses as evidence for the Book
of Abraham present an even greater problem. In the article published in
_Insights_, p. 1, it is claimed that the texts "date to about the same
time as the Joseph Smith papyri." According to Edward Ashment, however,
they were not written until the third century A. D. In his article
published in _The Ensign_, p. 60, Mr. Gee agrees they date "to the third
century A. D...." As we will show, they are so far removed from the time
of Abraham that they are of no value.

        In 1978 Morton Smith published a book entitled, _Jesus The
Magician_. While we disagreed with his conclusion that Jesus was a
magician (see Salt Lake City Messenger, Jan. 1986), Professor Smith
presented a great deal of material concerning the type of magical papyri
we are dealing with here.

        Although we know that Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, the
Bible indicates that many of them desired to return. By the fifth
century B. C. there was a colony of Jews living at Elephantine in Egypt.
Even though these Jews built a temple, it "has been argued by some
scholars that the Jerusalem priests regarded the Jews in Egypt as
semi-heretical, and therefore did not encourage them in their apostasy."
(The Bible and Archaeology, by J. A. Thompson, 1962, page 226)

        In any case, we know that by the time of Jesus there was a large
Jewish population in Egypt, which was at that time a Roman province.
Jesus, himself, was brought to Egypt by his father and mother to escape
the rage of Herod. On page 62 of his book, _Jesus The Magician_, Morton
Smith says that "There was a long standing legend that the god of the
Jews was a donkey, or donkey-headed.... The Jews were among the largest
groups of foreigners in Egypt, so their god, Iao, was identified with
Seth."

        F.F. Bruce says that "Philo of Alexandria estimated about A.D.
38 that there were at least a million Jews in Egypt and the neighboring
territories. We may subject this figure to a substantial discount, but
the Jewish population of Egypt was certainly very great. In Alexandria
itself at that time one out of the five wards of the city was entirely
Jewish and a second was very largely so." (New Testament History, 1980,
page 136) Bruce felt that "Christianity had found its way to Alexandria
by A.D. 41." (Ibid., p. 294)

        It is obvious that there would have been a good deal of
information available in Egypt concerning the God of Israel and
important Biblical characters long before the magical papyri were
written. It is no surprise, then, that the names of prominent
individuals mentioned in the Bible turn up in the magical texts written
in the third century A. D. Many of those who practiced magic wanted to
use the names of as many gods and religious leaders as possible and
seemed to have little concern about mixing the Hebrew God and Biblical
characters with Egyptian gods. C.K. Barrett observed: "Those in
particular who practiced magic were willing to adapt from any source
names and formulas which sounded impressive and effective." (The New
Testament Background: Selected Documents, by C.K. Barrett, 1987, page
34)

        On pages 34-35, Barrett quotes from the _Paris Magical Papyrus_,
written about A.D. 300. This text tells how to exorcise demons. We cite
the following from this lengthy text:

                "The adjuration is this: 'I adjure thee by the god of
   the Hebrews Jesu [Jesus], Jaba, Jae, Abraoth, Aia, Thoth, Ele, Elo,
   Aeo, Eu, Jiibaech, Abarmas, Jabarau, Abelbel, Lona, Abra Maroi... I
   adjure thee by him who appeared unto Osrael [Israel] in the pillar of
   light and in the cloud by day, and who delivered his word from the
   taskwork of Pharaoh and brought upon Pharaoh the ten plagues because
   he heard not. I adjure thee, every daemonic spirit, say whatsoever
   thou art. For I adjure thee by the seal which Solomon laid upon the
   tongue of Jeremiah and he spake.... I adjure thee by the great God
   Sabaoth, through whom the river Jordan returned backward..."

        The reader will notice that the author mixed Jesus in with the
Egyptian god Thoth. It is hardly surprising, then, that we would find
the name Abraham--one of the most important characters in the
Bible--mentioned in the magical papyri. On page 114 of his book, Morton
Smith pointed out that, "Jesus' name was used in spells as the name of a
god. So were the names of Adam (PGM III. 146), Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, and of Moses and Solomon who were famous as magicians."

        On page 63, Morton Smith quotes _PGM_ IV, line 1233: "'Be
blessed, God of Abraham. Be blessed, God of Issac. Be blessed, God of
Jacob. Jesus Christ, holy spirit, son of the Father, who art under the
Seven and in the Seven, bring Iao Sabaoth. May your power increase...
until you drive out this evil demon, Satan.'" On page 69, we find this
statement by Smith: "The Jews's God, Yahweh... was particularly famous
for his usefulness in magic. In the magical papyri (which contains a
sprinkling of Jewish spells, but are mainly pagan documents) his name
outnumbers that of any other deity by more than three to one." Smith
quotes the following from "an invocation of the world ruler the Good
Demon": "For I have taken to myself the power of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob and of the great god-demon Iao Ablanathanalba." (page 102)

        In the article published in _The Ensign_, page 60, John Gee
notes that there is a similarity between a verse in the Bible and what
is found on the papyrus with the "lion couch scene": "The first
reference occurs in a chapter on how to make a signet ring. One of the
steps is to 'bring a white stone' and 'write this name upon it...:
Abraham, friend of m[an].'" This, of course, is similar to Revelation
2:17, which speaks of "a white stone, and in the stone a new name
written..." It is interesting to note that this is the only mention of
"a white stone" in the entire Bible.

        The fact that both documents mention "a white stone" with a
"name" written on it seems too close to be a coincidence. The book of
Revelation, of course, was not written until about A.D. 90. This would
be around 2,000 years after the time of Abraham. The implications of
this quotation from the book of Revelation in the papyrus are clear: the
author of the text in the magical papyrus must have either seen or heard
someone read from the book of Revelation. Once it is conceded that the
author was acquainted with the book of Revelation, then it is also easy
to believe that he or she had access to other information contained in
Bible manuscripts and would have known about Abraham. It should also be
noted that the magical papyrus speaks of "Abraham, friend of m[an]."
This sounds like a quotation from the book of James, which speaks of
Abraham as "the Friend of God." (James 1:23)

        Speaking of the same papyrus, John Gee says that the "second
instance of Abraham's name occurs in a description of how to use a ring
to obtain 'success and grace and victory.' As a part of his invocation,
the petitioner says, 'O mighty god, who surpassest all powers, I call
upon thee, Iao, Sabaoth, Adonai, Elohim, [six other names], Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, [82 more names].' The first four names are Hebrew for
'LORD of hosts, my Lord, God.'" (The Ensign, July 1992, page 60)

        The brackets found in the quotation above appear in the original
publication. From this it is clear that the name Abraham in this section
of the text was only one of ninety-five names that were being invoked!
It would appear, then that the name Abraham was just one of many magic
names needed so that the person who recited the spell would be able to
use "a ring to obtain 'success and grace and victory.'"

        There seems to be no evidence that the name Abraham came from
any ancient Egyptian source or that it had anything to do with the Book
of Abraham. Although John Gee's writings may have given some members of
the Mormon Church the idea that evidence had been found to support
Joseph Smith's translation, when the facts are known, it is clear that
the magical papyri, dating to the third century A.D., provide absolutely
no support for the Book of Abraham. Mr. Gee's attempt to make a case
from these second-rate papyri tends to show how empty-handed Mormon
apologists are when it comes to defending the Book of Abraham. Mormon
scholars cannot find the name of Abraham on any part of the papyrus
which Joseph Smith claimed was written by Abraham himself and even
contained Abraham's own signature. Therefore, they have turned to
magical papyri which were written two centuries after the text Smith
translated as the Book of Abraham. We find it especially strange that
they would make an issue of the name Abraham on other papyri, when it
cannot be found on the papyrus scroll Joseph Smith designated as the
Book of Abraham.

        On page 62 of his article in _The Ensign_, John Gee acknowledges
that the texts he has cited do not really inform us about Abraham or his
history: "Though these texts tell us nothing directly about Abraham,
they do tell us that there were traditions circulating in Roman Egypt.
Traditions we must remember, often stem from older truths.... Even if we
had a manuscript for the book of Abraham in Egyptian, dating to
Abraham's time, the critics still would not accept the book of Abraham.
Those who seek to know the truth of the book of Abraham will have to
wait upon the Lord."
-- 
=============================================================================
= Glenn Clapp                          |  gclapp@thunder.sim.es.com         =
= Evans and Sutherland Computer Corp.  |  My opinions are my own, but then  =
= Salt Lake City, Utah  (801) 582-5847 |  that's my opinion.                =
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