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An early Egyptologist who found Joe Smith's explanations of the
Facsimiles in the Book of Abraham false was M. Theodule
Deveria. In 1856, M. Deveria was working for the Louvre in Paris
when he saw a copy of the Pearl of Great Price. Respected as
a pioneer in Egyptology, he was asked to comment on Smith's
translation of Egyptian hieroglyphics. His comments were published
in Jules Remy's and Julius Brenchley's two-volume book Voyage au
Pays des Mormons (Paris, 1860). The following year an English
translation of Remy's and Brenchley's book was titled Journey to
Great Salt Lake City (London: W. Jeffs, 1861).
Egyptologist M. Theodule Deveria found that Joe Smith had not
only made a false translation of the Facsimiles, but also had
altered some of them from the original source. Together with later
Egyptologists, M. Deveria found Joe Smith's Facsimiles to be
funerary documents that were taken from the Osiris mysteries and
the Egyptian Book of the Dead.
Modern Egyptologists would corroborate most of Deveria's
explanations and would also find Smith's explanations completely
false. In the table below, are Joe Smith's incorrect guesses to the
left of M. Theodule Deveria's explanations. Even in the 1850s, God
had provided a way for people to see Smith's fraud.
Facsimile No. 1
The Resurrection of Osiris from the Book of the
Dead
INTERPRETATION
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Joe Smith's
Explanation
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M. Theodule
Deveria's Explanation
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| Fig. 1 |
The angel of the Lord. |
The soul of Osiris, under the form
of a hawk (which should have a human head). |
| Fig. 2 |
Abraham fastened upon an
alter. |
Osiris coming to life on his
funeral couch, which is in the shape of a lion. |
| Fig. 3 |
The idolatrous priest of Elkenah
attempting to offer up Abraham as a sacrifice. |
The god Anubis (who should have a
jackal's head) effecting the resurrection of Osiris. |
| Fig. 4 |
The altar for sacrifice by the
idolatrous priest standing before the gods Elkenah, Libnah,
Mahmackrah, Korash, and Pharaoh. |
The funeral-bed of Osiris, under
which are placed the four sepulchral vessels called canopes, each
of them surmounted by the head of the four genii. |
| Fig. 5 |
The idolatrous god of
Elkenah. |
Kebh-son-iw, with a hawk's
head. |
| Fig. 6 |
The idolatrous god of
Libnah. |
Tioumautew, with a jackal's
head. |
| Fig. 7 |
The idolatrous god of
Mahmackrah. |
Hapi, with a dog's
head. |
| Fig. 8 |
The idolatrous god of
Korash. |
Amset, with a human
head. |
| Fig. 9 |
The idolatrous god of
Pharaoh. |
The sacred crocodile, symbolic of
the god Sebet. |
| Fig. 10 |
Abraham in Egypt. |
Altar laden with
offerings. |
| Fig. 11 |
Design to represent the pillars of
heaven as understood by the Egyptians. |
An ornament peculiar to Egyptian
art. |
| Fig. 12 |
Raukeeyang, signifying expanse, or
the firmament over our heads; but in this case, in relation to this
subject, the Egyptians meant it to signify Shaumau, to be high, or
the heavens, answering to the Hebrew Shaumahyeem. |
Customary representation of ground
in Egyptian paintings. (The word Shauman is not Egyptian, and the
Hebrew word is badly copied). |
Facsimile No. 2
Hypocephalus
INTERPRETATION
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Joe Smith's
Explanation
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M. Theodule
Deveria's Explanation
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| Fig. 1 |
Kolob, signifying the first
creation, nearest to the celestial, or the residence of God. First
in government, the last pertaining to the measurement of time. The
measurement according to the celestial time signifies one day to a
cubit. One day in Kolob is equal to a thousand years, according to
the measurement of this earth, which is called by the Egyptians
Jah-oh-eh. |
The spirit of four elements
(according to Champollion), or rather of the four winds, or the
four cardinal points; the soul of the terrestrial world. This god
is always represented with four ram's heads, and his image has
certainly been altered here. - They have also evidently made a very
clumsy attempt at copying the double human head of the god figured
below, fig. 2, instead of the four ram's heads. The word Jah-oh-eh
has nothing Egyptian in it ; it resembles a Hebrew word badly
transcribed. |
| Fig. 2 |
Stands next to Kolob, called by the
Egyptians Oliblish, which is the next grand governing creation near
to the celestial, or the place where God resides; holding the key
of power, also, pertaining to other planets; as revealed from God
to Abraham, as he offered sacrifice upon an altar which he had
built unto the Lord. |
Ammon-Ra, with two human heads,
meant probably to represent both the invisible or mysterious
principle of Ammon, and the visible or luminous principle of Ra,
the sun; or else the double and simultaneous principle of father
and son; which characterizes divinity in the religion of ancient
Egypt. - The word Oliblish is no more Egyptian than those already
met with, nor than those which are to be found in the Mormon
explanation. |
| Fig. 3 |
Is made to represent God, sitting
upon his throne, clothed with power and authority: with a crown of
eternal light upon his head: representing, also, the grand
key-words of the Holy Priesthood, as revealed to Adam in the Garden
of Eden, as also to Seth, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, and all to
whom the Priesthood was revealed. |
The god Ra, the sun, with a hawks
head, seated in his boat. In the field the two symbolical figuring,
according to M. de Rouge, the fixed points of an astronomical
period. |
| Fig. 4 |
Answers to the Hebrew word
Raukeeyang, signifying expanse, or the firmament of the heavens;
also a numerical figure, in Egyptian, signifying one thousand;
answering to the measuring of the time of Oliblish, which is equal
with Kolob in its revolution, and in its measuring of
time. |
The Hebrew word Roki'a, expansuna,
solidum, ecalum, firmamentum, besides being badly described, has no
relation whatever to this figure, which represents a mummified
hawk, called in Egyptian Ah'em. It is the symbol of the divine
repose of death; its extended wings have reference to the
resurrection. |
| Fig. 5 |
Is called in Egyptian
Enish-go-on-dosh; that is, one of the governing planets also; and
is said by the Egyptians to be the sun, and to borrow its light
from Kolob through the medium of Kae-e-vanrash, which is the grand
Key, or in other words, the governing power, which governs fifteen
other fixed planets or stars, as also Floeese, or the moon, the
earth, and the sun, in their annual revolutions. This planet
receives its power through the medium of Kli-flos-is-es, or
Hah-ko-kau-beam, the stars represented by numbers 22 and 23,
receiving light from the revolutions of Kolob. |
The mystic cow, the great cow,
symbolizing the inferior hemisphere of the heavens. It is called
the virgin cow at ch. 162 of the funerary ritual, which,
particularly enjoins that its image be painted on the hypocephalus,
and another image of it in gold on the throat of the defunct. It is
the form of Hathor, who figures on several monuments under the name
of noub, gold. Behind the cow is a goddess, whose head, represented
by a mystic eye in a disk, is incorrectly copied. |
| Fig. 6 |
Represents the earth in its four
quarters. |
The four funerary genii, the sons
of Osiris, Amset, Hapi, Tioumautow, and Kebhsoniw. |
| Fig. 7 |
Represents God sitting upon his
throne, revealing through the heavens the grand Key-Words of the
Priesthood; as, also, the sign of the Holy Ghost unto Abraham in
the form of a dove. |
The form of Ammon, with a bird's
tail, or Horammon (?). An ithyphallic serpant, with human legs,
offers him a symbolical eye. This last figure has certainly been
altered in the hypocephalus of the Mormons. |
| Fig. 8 |
Contains writing that cannot be
revealed unto the world; but is to be had in the Holy Temple of
God. |
Four lines of the linear
hieroglyphic text, which are numbered from bottom to top, instead
of from top to bottom. The meaning is: O great God in Sekhem; 0
great God, Lord of heaven, earth, and hell. . . . Osiris S'es'enq.
These last words inform us that the personage in whose mummy this
hypocephalus was found was called S'es'enq or S'esonchis, a name
written Sesak in the Bible, and of which there is no known example
anterior to the twenty-second dynasty; that is, to the ninth
century before our era, but which may be much posterior to
it. |
| Fig. 9 |
Ought not to be revealed at the
present time. |
Also. |
| Fig. 10 |
Also. |
Also. |
| Fig. 11 |
Also - If the world can find out
the numbers, so let it be. Amen. |
Also. |
| Fig. 12 - 15 |
Will be given in the own due time
of the Lord. The above translation is given as far as we have any
right to give, at the present time. |
Four lines of writing similar to
the former, of which they are the pendant. They appear to be
numbered upside down, and are illegibly copied. |
| Fig. 16 - 17 |
Also. |
Two more lines which cannot be
deciphered in the copy. it begins above the god with two human
heads, fig.2; and there is in it twice mention made of a sacred
dwelling-place in Heliopolis. |
| Fig. 18 - 21 |
Also. |
These columns of writing, illegible
in the copy. It is evident to me that several of the figures to be
found in these various MSS. have been intentionally altered.
- T. DEVERIA - |
Facsimile No. 3
INTERPRETATION
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Joe Smith's
Explanation
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M. Theodule
Deveria's Explanation
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| Fig. 1 |
Abraham sitting upon Pharaoh's
throne by the politeness of the king, with a crown upon his head,
representing the Priesthood, as emblematical of the grand
Presidency in Heaven; with the septre of justice and judgement in
his hand. |
Osiris on his seat. |
| Fig. 2 |
King Pharaoh, the first person on
the left of our engraving, whose name is given in the characters
above his head. |
The goddess Isis. The star she
carries in her right hand is the sign of life. |
| Fig. 3 |
Signifies Abraham in Egypt; as
before in the interpretation of No.1, Fig.10. |
Alter, with the offering of the
deceased, surrounded with lotus flowers, signifying the offering of
the defunct. |
| Fig. 4 |
Prince of Pharaoh, King of Egypt,
as written above the hand. |
The goddess Ma. |
| Fig. 5 |
Shulem, one of the king's principal
waiters, as represented by the characters above his
hand. |
The deceased led by Ma into the
presence of Osiris. His name is Horus, as may be seen in the prayer
which is at the bottom of the picture, and which is address to the
divinities of the four cardinal points. |
| Fig. 6 |
Olimlah, a slave belonging to the
prince. Abraham is reasoning upon the principles of astronomy in
the king's court. |
An unknown divinity, probably
Anubis; but his head, which ought to be that of a jackal, has been
changed. |
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