Nothing is Right.... Nothing is right! On Kolob

Nothing is Right…. Nothing is Right…. The Anti-Mormon Comments on the Book of Abraham Facsimiles

 

By Kerry A. Shirts

 

John Ankerberg and John Weldon’s book Behind the Mask of Mormonism, contends that Egyptologists have proclaimed that nothing Joseph Smith translated in the Book of Abraham was correct. They quote an archaeologist, a Dr. Richard Fales as saying “Joseph Smith did not get right even one word in this whole translation.” 1 They then use Gleason Archer, a fine Bible scholar, as saying that the facsimiles have also been shown to be incorrect. “Their findings [the Egyptologists of 1912] was that not a single word of Joseph Smith’s alleged translation bore any resemblance to the contents of this document.”2

 

These are fundamentally incorrect conclusions however, especially concerning the Facsimiles in the Book of Abraham. I will concentrate on a couple of particularly interesting correlations with the facsimiles, since they have been attacked mercilessly through the years, always without going into the Egyptian writings and concepts themselves. The key element in criticisms I am responding to in this paper is the principle claim that there is nothing that Joseph Smith said that has been correct or even plausible. James White rather adamantly claimed Joseph Smith “…grossly misidentified each of the items not only in this facsimile, but in the other two as well.”3

 

We cannot honestly see if there is anything correlating to ancient Egyptian words or thoughts if we do not explore the ancient Egyptian ideas and words. Very good conclusions show that Joseph Smith may be onto something after all, especially in his explanations in the facsimiles and some words he used in them to describe what have been found to be genuine ancient Egyptian views. I will explore and suggest, rather than prove and come to final hasty conclusions as critics are wont to do. I say the scholarly verdict is still out on whether Joseph Smith was a phony or not. I also say without hesitation, there are real possibilities with Joseph Smith’s interpretations of the facsimiles.

 

Lets look at Kolob.  Joseph Smith said this was the governing power, stands nearest to God’s throne, a star, etc, in his explanations in facsimile 2 in the Book of Abraham. The 1912 Egyptologists who ridiculed the Prophet’s explanations claimed this is not an Egyptian word and in fact is not a word at all.

 

Robert C. Webb wrote an article “Have Joseph Smith’s Interpretations Been Discredited?” in the Improvement Era, back in 1935 discussing this with them. He noted that “it is absurd to argue that a foreign proper name could not appear in an Egyptian text, or that its alleged presence would argue the book a forgery.”4 Yet that is precisely what the critics were arguing. One thing that needs to be understood is that Semitic languages do not deal with vowels, either in Hebrew or Egyptian. Webb noted that in Arabic, the ancient Arabian astronomers knew of and used the word “Kalab”, “a dog,” and “qalab,” “heart.”5 Some of their stars were “Al Kalb al Akhbar,” “the greater dog,” of course, for Canis Major, the Big Dipper, and “Al Kalb al Asghar,” “the lesser dog,” meaning the little dipper. Three different stars were called Al Kalb al Rai, “The Shephard’s dog.” In fact, Sirius itself was called “Al Kalb,” since it was the dog running before the hunter (Orion).  On Qalb meaning heart, we know the Arabs had “Al Qalb al Akrab,” “The scorpion’s heart,” as well as “Al Qalb al Asad,” the lion’s heart.” That Webb was correct noting this so long ago, we know from Richard Hinckley Allen, who noted also that “Al Kalb al Mutakaddim,” means “the Preceding Dog,” as well as the other Arabic names which Webb discussed 4 decades earlier.6 Webb also noted in another article that cuneiform texts have “Kalab Samsi,” “Dog of the Sun.”7 He also noted in the same article that the Hebrew word “Qorob,” means “near, or nigh unto,” which is cognate with the Hebrew word “Cherub,” a messenger near unto God.

 

Robert F. Smith, who has discussed the various names and historical situations in the Book of Abraham, noted that the Arabic words “qurb,” “qorb,” and “muqarib,” mean “proximity, near, midst,” though he prefers the Hebrew word “”Qarob,” meaning “The Near One,” which is used at Psalms 119:151, which directly parallels the Hebrew “Qedem” the “Primeval One,” in verse 152.8  Interestingly, on the Henry Meux hypocephalus, Budge translates the central figure: “May the God, who himself is hidden, and whose face is concealed, show shineth upon the world in his forms of existence, and in the underworld, grant that my soul may live forever.”9 It is interesting that this figure is in the center, the shining one, is equated with the first creation, Kolob, a governing star (shining) and a measurement of time, something stars do, as the orbit each other and centers of galaxies, etc. Nibley further follows Lane’s Arabic Dictionary showing that “Qalb” means “to alter, change, invert, turn upside down, turn over and over, go flip flop.”10 Heart is also the seat of intelligence and as an adjective, the Arabic word also means a genuine or pure in respect of origin or lineage, holding a middle place among his people. E. A. W. Budge translates chapter 30 of the psychostasy scene of the weighing of the heart showing that the owner’s heart was not against him, “Thou art my genius in my body,” the text says, as well as functioning by strengthening his limbs.11 On the star called the Dog Star, the principle idea for the Arabs was a dominant star, Sirius, which also figured strongly in ancient Egyptian thought and is in our Book of Abraham, as Shagreel.12

 

It is important to understand that the figures in the facsimiles are not pictures, but they “represent,” “signify,” “are called”, “answers to,” etc. “These are representations, symbols pure and simple.”13 We need to also keep in mind that to the Egyptians the daily rising and setting of the sun was a symbol of the resurrection and life and death. It was the symbol par excellent, which indicated power, strength, life, death and resurrection which was a key part of their theology and indicated in our three facsimiles.14 The astronomical symbolism of sun, moon and stars, so prominent in the art and descriptions of the facsimiles demonstrate the Egyptians believed they were directly tied in with the cosmos. The key element in that was their temples, which oriented them to the cosmos, hence the creation, which is clearly indicated by the Prophet’s explanations in facsimile 2.15 In the temples, creation was the theme, along with the Osirian mysteries of resurrection.16 The royalty of the kings in the temples came from acquiring the flail of Osiris which was kept in the temple at Heliopolis, hence our figure also has the Osirian flail in Figure 1 of facsimile 2.17 To the Egyptians, the establishing of the name in earth and heaven was crucial to a continued life, as in King Tut’s tomb.18 In fact, the kings were thought to go to heaven and become stars, that is divine beings, especially Orion and Sothis (Sirius), a most important star to them.19 Our central figure is also Khnum, who was also a protector of the House of Life [the temple] as well as the builder, and even the creator.20  All these elements are background to the Kolob idea, being first in government, creation, a measurement of time, astronomical information, etc. The very center of things as the cognates of Kolob indicate, whether from Hebrew, Arabic, or other languages.

 

 Endnotes

 

1.     John Ankerberg & John Weldon, Behind the Mask of Mormonism, Harvest House Publishers, 1992: 314.

   2. Ankerg,Weldon: 315.

    3. James White, Letters to a Mormon Elder, Bethany House Publishers, 1993: 167. For reviews of White, see L. Ara Norwood, “Ignoratio Elenchi: The Dialogue That Never Was,” in FARMS Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, 5(1993): 317-354; Darryl L. Barksdale, “A Response to James White’s ‘Review’ of How Wide the Divide?, in Journal of Mormon Apologetics, FAIR, Vol. 1, 1999: 20-27; Darryl L. Barksdale, “With Brothers Like This, Who Needs Enemies?,” in Journal of Mormon Apologetics, FAIR, Vol. 1, 1999: 28-46; Malcolm Ross, “Dude!,” Journal of Mormon Apologetics, FAIR, Vol. 1, 1999: 47-63; Russell C. McGregor, Kerry A. Shirts, “Letters to an Anti-Mormon,” in FARMS Review of Books, 11/1(1999): 90-298.

4.     R.C. Webb, p. 347.

5.     Webb, p. 348.

6.     Richard Hinckley Allen, Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Dover, 1963: 133, also 129, 130.

7.     R. C. Webb, “Joseph Smith as a Translator,” in Deseret News, Saturday, August 31, 1935: 8.

8.     Robert F. Smith, “Some Neologisms From the Mormon Canon,” unpublished essay in author’s possession, p. 2. He also notes the North East Semitic or Akkadian word “qerbu,” meaning heart, which is cognate with the Assyrian “libbu,” and Samarian, SA.MES, while the Ugaritic word “qrb” means the dwelling place of El, “midst of the source of the two deeps.”

9.     E. A. W. Budge, Egyptian Magic, Wings Books, 1991: 120. Cf. Hugh Nibley, “The Three Facsimiles of the Book of Abraham,” FARMS (1991): 52 for Birch’s translation.

10.  Nibley, “Three Facsimiles,” 53.

11.  E.A.W. Budge, The Mummy, Wings Books, 1989: 239.  On p. 263 he discusses the heart amulets and what they signified, namely not allowing the heart to be taken from the deceased in the underworld.

12.  Hugh Nibley, “The Unknown Abraham,” Improvement Era, March, 1969.

13.  Hugh Nibley, “Figure 6 of Facsimile 2,” FARMS Brown Bag Lecture given 15 March, 1995: 1.

14.  Michael D. Rhodes, “The Joseph Smith Hypocephalus… Seventeen Years Later,” FARMS RHO-94, (1994): 1.

15.  See the excellent overview by Byron Shafer, Temples of Ancient Egypt, Cornell University Press, 1997: 1-30.

16.  Raymond O. Faulkner, “The Bremmer-Rhind Papyrus,” Part I, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 21(1935): 122, where the temple of Denderah is described as a place of the Osirian Mystery Drama. That both men and women were involved in the temples and played as important of roles as the other, see Julia Samson, “Nefertiti’s Regality,” in Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 1977: 88-99.  In the Sun Cult of Heliopolis, the living were washed and re-enacted the birth and death of the sun according to Aylward M. Blackman, “Some Notes on the Ancient Egyptian Practice of Washing the Dead,” in Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 5(1918): 117-122.

17.  Percy E. Newberry, “The Shepherd’s Crook and the so-called ‘Flail’ or ‘Scourge’ of Osiris,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 1929: 84.The crook was a sign of a “ruler” or “prince.” (p. 85).

18.  Hany Assad and Daniel Kolos, Hieroglyphic Inscriptions of the Treasures of Tutankhamun Translated, Mirror Press, Canada, 1979: 39.

19.  Raymond O. Faulkner, “The King and the Star-Religion in the Pyramid Texts,” in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 25(1966): 153-161.

20.  Alan Gardiner, “The House of Life,” in Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 1938: 174, 178. 

Comments

[Anthony E. Larson]

You neglected to mention other important elements in Egyptian thought that bears upon the meaning of Kolob and substantiates Joseph's interpretations. Kokab (KKB) is "star," as in Joseph's phonetically written "ha-kokau-beam," which would have been properly written "ha kokab im" (meaning: "the stars"). Thus, the similarity between "kolob" and "kakab" indicates they both mean or relate to "star." Further, Horus, the son of Isis, was said by the Egyptians to be the "ab" in "hat," meaning he was the ab heart within the hat heart of Osiris. So, Nibley concluded from these two facts that Kolob meant something like "heart star."

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You neglected to mention other important elements in Egyptian thought that bears upon the meaning of Kolob and substantiates Joseph's interpretations. Kokab (KKB) is "star," as in Joseph's phonetically written "ha-kokau-beam," which would have been properly written "ha kokab im" (meaning: "the stars"). Thus, the similarity between "kolob" and "kakab" indicates they both mean or relate to "star." Further, Horus, the son of Isis, was said by the Egyptians to be the "ab" in "hat," meaning he was the ab heart within the hat heart of Osiris. So, Nibley concluded from these two facts that Kolob meant something like "heart star."

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I would like to say, without hesitation, there are real opportunities with the interpretations of Joseph Smith facsimiles.