For this blog I would like to explain my opinion as to who the five gods are in Facsimile 1 of the Book of Abraham. The Book of Abraham is the second book of scripture in the Pearl of Great Price, the fourth book in the scripture cannon of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are four books recognized as scripture by the church: the King James Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. The Pearl of Great Price consists of necessary doctrinal information for Mormons from each of the seven dispensations of time. The Book of Abraham is from Abraham's dispensation.The picture posted with this blog is Facsimile 1 of the Book of Abraham. Egyptologists have identified this as being a scene from the Book of Breathings and critics of the church have claimed this proves that Joseph Smith didn't know what he was talking about when he attributed it to the life of Abraham. However, in later years Hugh Nibley was able to show that similar scenes have since been found that use this very motif in depicting the life of Abraham.
Joseph Smith identified the gods in the picture, which are the Four Sons of Horus, as Elkenah, Libnah, Mahmackrah, Korash, and Pharaoh. Sobek, the crocodile god in the picture, has long been identified with the god of Pharaoh, so I would like to focus on two of the other gods.
I believe that the four gods next to the altar may be astrological, and that this was an astrological cult doing the sacrificing. According to Albert Pike, in the Scottish Rite ritual monitor, Elkamer was the name of the moon god in pre-Islamic Middle Eastern countries. Going back to Abraham's time this name could have originally been Elkenah. "El Kamer," sometimes spelled "Al-Qamar" is a name used for the moon in some dialects even today.
The other god, Korash, bears a similarity to what Albert Pike calls "Korasht" in the Scottish Rite ritual monitor. This is the god of Jupiter that was worshiped the same as Elkamer. Also interesting is the number 4, as in Jupiter's four moons. Some Egyptologists have identified Horus and his four sons with Jupiter and its four moons, so this doesn't sound like much of a stretch. This link has an interesting article on Jupiter worship: http://www.varchive.org/itb/jupiter.htm
Anyway, it makes one wonder if Albert Pike and Joseph Smith could have been exposed to any of the same material, or if these were direct hits and that the people that were going to sacrifice Abraham were practicing an astrological cult.
Of course they could have been exposed to the same material. They both would have had ready access to the Scottish Rite rituals. The SR did not begin with Albert Pike.
ReplyDeleteBTW have you notices that "Abraham" is giving the Masonic distress call and potentially on the five points of fellowship?
ReplyDeleteYes, they could have been exposed to the same material, but I believe the Pike material was not part of the degree itself but was part of what Pike elaborated onto the legend of the degree. However, we can't quite call this a bulls-eye since these gods were known of long before the 1800s and could have came from a different source altogether.
ReplyDelete...could also be "Sign of Adoration"...lol
ReplyDelete